News: News on Nanoweave Armour and Sniper Rifles

[GreyFrog]

Yeah which means flak loses its appeal again.

I'm all for the balancing they are doing, but shit SOE stop and think about things for a second. Maybe explosions are fine if flak stops direct hits?

[Sirisian]

I have another conspiracy theory. Maybe the PS4 can't handle the render distance so they lowered it and thus are trying to repurpose sniping.

[Taramafor]

Originally Posted by HereticusXZ

So I hope I'm reading this wrong... concerning Snipers, we can't head shot instant kill past 150m? The entire point of being a Sniper is making a extreme range kill 300m+. Now that damage tops off at 150m I have to get 2-3 shots depending on how significant this new Nanoweave change is

If I want to do close-range guerrilla Sniping I'll pickup a TSAR-42 or faction equivalent for NC and VS. Maybe even the AMR-66 Battle Rifle, or more reasonably a Heavies LMG like the TMG-50 or the Rhino.

Fvck close range BS, this isn't Arenaside it's Planetside! Snipers not dumb enough to stand in the battle line there off flanking and finding a decent Snipers-Nest... Your telling me you can't see the damage indicator or faction specific colored tracer and Q up the Sniper with a Doritos and respond accordingly?

/rage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5xhLSn-5Mo

This. The whole point of sniper rifles is LONG RANGE. And it takes skill to head shot one at extreme distence when they'll still, never mind moving.

[War Barney]

Originally Posted by Taramafor

This. The whole point of sniper rifles is LONG RANGE. And it takes skill to head shot one at extreme distance when they'll still, never mind moving.

Are we playing the same game? cos it seems easy the amount of times im seeing people get 1 shot. It would be better if they couldn't stealth but even if you work out where a sniper is then trek over without getting shot they will just stealth away and most likely then pistol you in the back.

What should be fixed really is sodding stealth.... one of the most irritating aspects this game has to offer as even if you know you're looking for a stealther its hard to see them point blank, if you aren't expecting one you pretty much don't have a chance. Combine this with snipers being able to use it for a free escape card and it just makes it even more annoying. Theres literally no point chasing a sniper because as said before either you'll get head shot before you reach em or they'll stealth away.


Annoyance is a major thing people forget that needs balancing too... you might love it being able to sit miles away from a fight 1 shotting people and stealthing off before they get close but those people find it insanely annoying. They even explained why a change is needed, the areas are HUGE with ways to get shot all over, its easy for a sniper to stealth behind you onto a mountain and get free kills then move to another hill, and theres normally a ton of them doing just that.

The main way I die in this game is snipers... one I'm in a building its fine most people die nicely then I go outside walk a couple of steps and a sniper from halfway across the continent shoots me in the head...

[OCNSethy]

Looks like this is going to break into two camps and neither will convince the other of the virtues of their POV.

I cant say Im happy with the max range reduction but atm, it sounds like a starting point to which to work from.

As to the annoyance factor of snipers, well, welcome to PS2. Lolpodding ESFs and daltons annoy the crap out of me. Harrasser self repairing reapers of death also rate high on my annoyance list. My biggest annoyance is getting run over by my own side

But hey, its dangerous out there

[HereticusXZ]

Yeah your right, the two camps are every single Sniper telling you it's a bad change, Snipers meant for Long-Range not CQC versus all the rambos and shotgun players telling you to "Come at me bro!"

Meanwhile the vehicle peeps are /shrug

[Edfishy]

Annoyance is a major thing people forget that needs balancing too... you might love it being able to sit miles away from a fight 1 shotting people and stealthing off before they get close but those people find it insanely annoying. They even explained why a change is needed, the areas are HUGE with ways to get shot all over, its easy for a sniper to stealth behind you onto a mountain and get free kills then move to another hill, and theres normally a ton of them doing just that.

As a sniper, hunting other snipers is the most fun part! Scan the ridgeline, watch for a guy to decloak, and *pop*, one less sniper. At 300m. Been doing it a whole bunch tonight, constantly checking the distance with the waypoints. 150m is going to be too close, 200-250m will likely be the sweet spot if it's needed at all. =\

[OCNSethy]

Originally Posted by Edfishy

As a sniper, hunting other snipers is the most fun part! Scan the ridgeline, watch for a guy to decloak, and *pop*, one less sniper. At 300m. Been doing it a whole bunch tonight, constantly checking the distance with the waypoints. 150m is going to be too close, 200-250m will likely be the sweet spot if it's needed at all. =\

Agreed 200 -250m would be better. Sitting off on the rocks outside of Ti Alloys last night, sniping into the main bulding and surrounds... 155m plus. Made a few OHK but mostly had to keep my head down to avoid suppressive fire. If the 150m rule had been in place, those headshots would not have been allowed.

Lets hope SOE is willing to be flexible with this.

[War Barney]

They already said they will be flexible, 150m is just a starting point and people need to stop acting as if this is the end of snipers ever getting kills again. Its just OHKs at over 150m they are stopping you will still get tons of kills while safe from reprisal either by getting faster firing snipers, getting that big closer, or head shotting people who are injured already (of which there will be many).

This change is suppose to give people at extreme range a chance to escape, I'm guessing if you head shot somebody even from further than 150m it will do a LOT of damage meaning 1 body shot after that will kill them.


And yes harassers drive me insane as well... if you could hit the sodding things it would be better balanced but they are so fast it takes small arms fire to hit them, all explosives will miss unless the harasser driver is a idiot.

[fastfregga]

Sorry if this question is already answered, but i cant find it anywhere.

When will these changes appear ingame? The 150 metres sniper and Nanoweave Armour?

[MegaSchlecht]

Hereticus:

"Infantry stop rendering at 350m unless there on a Engineers Turret in which they render at the same range as vehicles 800m+

200-250m is tolerable but still frustrating. What I'd prefer to see?
If players have a problem with Snipers then don't force the Sniper to abandon what Sniping is by putting him in what practically feels like CQC to a Sniper.

Instead give Infantry more tools to counter Snipers. Infantry have body-armor options for various stuff like Flak for Explosians to counter vehicles, Nanoweave for general purpose anti-infantry roles.

Well sense there removing armor value to the Heads hit-box how about "Reinforced Helmets" for counter-sniping? give it a 7-10% armor value resistance to head shots to deal with Snipers? make it a cert line like everything else.

Got a problem with Snipers thinning the flow at a Sunderer? Give Sunderers a defensive slot to put a shield yawning or Stealth Field over where Infantry spawn, or even give Engineers deployable shields/barricades to protect infantry/block Snipers LOS.

Don't nerf a Snipers killing-range that's just lazy problem solving. SOE has the technology, adding these tools to counter-snipers isn't mega game mechanics changes, flex some muscle and add this stuff in for greater diversity in the battles!

You need to supplement the many different play styles, tactics and strategies players come up with and use, not nerf and destroy! "

That's the Fact

Nothing more to say!

[qlum]

Originally Posted by Mordelicius

Four main concerns:

Low TTK infantry fights will be lower? - Shotguns are already beasts on CQC. Without any protection, they will one shot kill everything. This needs to be addressed. Shotgun damage need to be monitored along with the adjustments.

NC is a low accuracy faction - Our guns have massive recoil and cone of fire. In addition, our rof is normally on the low ranges. This is another buff to the Vanu guns who has no downside as it is. TR gets a buff too since the rof, the higher the chance for headshots. The reason why I've asking the Oracle of Death (Maradine) about headshot data is I want to know if a faction gets more headshots than others.

Vanu guns are highly accurate, with low recoil and no drop. Can be hipfired or ads and they even get movement bonus. Now, logically, higher accuracy is higher headshot rate, no?

Nanoweave Cert refund giving players over the 10k Cap - will the certs over 10k just DISAPPEAR? Make sure refunds give players an overflow buffer over 10k for the planned refunds.

Explosion Spamming - Explosion spam need to be nerfed if they are going to go ahead with this. Or else, air and ground vehicles will dominate once more just like in launch. Even with Nanoweave, explosion spam is a problem. Splash damages need to be nerfed. Splash damages are far more stackable and repeatable. Prowler HE alone, how do you mitigate their explosion spam?

Overall, the mechanic is a bit too sweeping, in that it will affect too much of gameplay balances. They really have to test this rigorously in PTS before releasing.

Before everyone gets worried about losing certs, just look at how much full nanoweave actually costs: which is 5x1+5x10+5x50+5x150 which amounts to 6051 certs so nothing to worry there.

[maradine]

For players that don't spend 40 hours a week on Auraxis, 6k is a hell of a lot of certs.

[Edfishy]

This change is suppose to give people at extreme range a chance to escape, I'm guessing if you head shot somebody even from further than 150m it will do a LOT of damage meaning 1 body shot after that will kill them.

I still need an incentive to take the time to be aiming for that itty-bitty head. Even at 98% damage I'd still need to fire twice to take out an enemy sniper at 150m+, which means I'll just skip the careful head-shot and throw out two lulz shots instead.

Again, 98% damage + stun/emp effects I'd be somewhat satisfied with (considering you just took a .50 caliber shot to your sci-fi helmet), and I would still retain the incentive to pulling off a skilled headshot. After getting stunned, enemy snipers would be dazed for a few moments and possibly dead with the next shot if they're not paying attention, and enemy infantry would have to take a knee someplace safe.

Throw in a notification "+20XP - Headshot Stun Damage" for not finishing the target but still hitting him in the head at such a range and I think you've got yourself a deal.

[GeoGnome]

Originally Posted by Sirisian

It's possible it's both. Release an overpowered weapon that is purchased in mass then do as the community says and nerf it into the ground before the next weapon release cycle. In theory it's a perfect marketing plan especially since it can be subtle.

I'll acknowledge the possibility, though again, I find it unlikely.

Originally Posted by Sirisian

I want to believe that, but honestly a few minutes of play testing in the VR by a designer will figure out a lot of these issues. I fail to believe a designer can't see the issues. In any case an ethical decision would be to release them slightly underpowered and balance upward. There's a calculated decision to go the other way. I think PTS is stopping a lot of that though now since players can review damage models and comment on them before they hit the game as long as they don't skip PTS.

Yeah, here I agree completely. I still say that the reason we didn't end up with max thumper arms, is because people absolutely (And understandably) lost their minds when they saw that.

I think it's a double edged sword though, because there are some places were frankly I think the community just doesn't know what they want or what would be best. The example of: "Doesn't know what they want" being Camo coverage. We've seen more, less, plenty, little, and now different camo coverage All toyed with at one time or another. People just keep railing on that issue regardless of it's outcome. They should probably pick a style and just Stick with it at this point.

The example of "Not knowing what would be best" comes with a lot of the mechanical stuff. To a point on some issues people seem to resist making things more difficult, while at the same time yelling for the game to be a bit deeper and more punishing. It really comes down to, them wanting the game to be difficult, but not if it will affect something they enjoy doing. Or, they want things to be more difficult, but not if it gives other people the potential to be better than they are. Outfit advancement comes to mind immediately. We have seen outfit or guild advancement carrying hefty boosts for members work well in WoW... yet people obsessively say that it should be nothing beyond Cosmetic changes. That really has the potential to be a wasted opportunity.

Originally Posted by Sirisian

Agreed. It's why I tend to not post on the main forums much. Every thread is drowned by every possible thought with no real discussion. It's not hard to break down the strengths of the harasser into composite armor, healing in the back seat, top speed, acceleration, turning, turbo, and secondary weapons and quickly see which changes would be necessary. I think you the nail though. (Well one of them at least).

Think me the nail? You lost me there.

That said, Yeah... that is why I post there more than anywhere else. The main forums are more nonsensical, but at the same time, I really think a Lot of that is just a lack of connectivity with the other communities. It's like this little Xenophobic portion of the PS2 community that needs attention from the rest of the community to make it a bit more realistic in it's expectations and demands. I will say that anytime I get something that requires a little more thought, I by default post it on PSU.

Originally Posted by Sirisian

I have another conspiracy theory. Maybe the PS4 can't handle the render distance so they lowered it and thus are trying to repurpose sniping.

My bet, is that they are going to lower the range of most Lock-ons and the Mana-AV turret. By lowering ALL of the infantry ranges like that, vehicles get a leg up on those infantry swarms (Long range bombardment) that can be easily countered (it's going to mean it's much more difficult to be precise with tanks, but you'll still get the job done). Further, by changing rocket ranges for infantry, you make a flight ceiling above which aircraft have more of a chance, you can nerf the phoenix back into usefulness (Goes from being the crappiest AV option, to the longest Range AV option), and having a lower sniping range isn't as big of a deal.

I'm guessing this because they left the AV Mana turret off the #2 balance post (It was supposed to be on there) and there is still a Ton of complaints (I would say they are justified) about fire and forget lock-on mechanics.