In RO: OST, the Bolt Action was a finely balanced weapon. A skilled player could take out many enemies at range, and at close range, hip shoot, where a newer player would have no chance. This is not the same skill ceiling as present in an assault, or a semi auto weapon, where the higher damage per second, clip size, and fire rate makes it easier to use. In RO2 however, that balance has been completely disrupted, and the bolt action is in my opinion as a long term bolt player, pretty much worthless.
Hip shooting in RO2 is no where near as reliabale as it was in RO OST, in OST you could sprint to centre your aim, then you would have a reliable platform to shoot a hipshot from, in RO2 it's much less reliable, as there is no sprint gun centering. This means that, up close, a rifleman has very little chance against a man armed with a more powerful gun, which, in competetive games, is frankly ridiculous. The more skilled player should win the fight, not the one with the bigger gun.
Rebandaging - with the introduction of the bandaging mechanic, bolts take another hit, as you must now in many cases hit your opponent several times to kill them, rebolting and calculating your shot inbetween each hit, giving them ample time to bandage and return fire with their fully or semi automatic weapons.
The huge amount of, and stability of, assault weapons and semi autos is another massive massive blow to the bolt's balance in RO2. In RO OST the ppsh mp40 stg44 etc, if you auto fired, would ceiling in a matter of seconds, meaning that you could not reliably 'run and gun' at large distances. This, i am sad to say in RO2 is no longer the case, which i think everyone will agree (with the exception of the AVT, which was not in OST), the assault weapons in RO2 are much easier to shoot. This, combined with the hipshooting debuff, just makes it rather insanely hard to play a bolt at all effectively in any competetive or public arena when a player could simply use a semi auto and have a very similar accuracy, damage, and a much much higher fire rate.
The close nature of the maps, combined with the large hipshooting nerf, further limits the bolt .. as many of the objectives are indoors, where hipshooting is paramount, staying on cap and fighting off an enemy is just impossible. Bayonetting an enemy works fine in the back or against a newer player on a public server, but try doing that against an experienced RO OST assault player and it will not have a chance of success.
I hope the gun is buffed at some point, either by way of increasing the reliability of hip shooting, increasing the recoil on the assault and semi (which i doubt will happen), or some other fix, but, as it stands the bolt is just a deadweight in any clan game, and something that you should avoid picking in public games.
Thanks, Sah.
Hip shooting in RO2 is no where near as reliabale as it was in RO OST, in OST you could sprint to centre your aim, then you would have a reliable platform to shoot a hipshot from, in RO2 it's much less reliable, as there is no sprint gun centering. This means that, up close, a rifleman has very little chance against a man armed with a more powerful gun, which, in competetive games, is frankly ridiculous. The more skilled player should win the fight, not the one with the bigger gun.
Rebandaging - with the introduction of the bandaging mechanic, bolts take another hit, as you must now in many cases hit your opponent several times to kill them, rebolting and calculating your shot inbetween each hit, giving them ample time to bandage and return fire with their fully or semi automatic weapons.
The huge amount of, and stability of, assault weapons and semi autos is another massive massive blow to the bolt's balance in RO2. In RO OST the ppsh mp40 stg44 etc, if you auto fired, would ceiling in a matter of seconds, meaning that you could not reliably 'run and gun' at large distances. This, i am sad to say in RO2 is no longer the case, which i think everyone will agree (with the exception of the AVT, which was not in OST), the assault weapons in RO2 are much easier to shoot. This, combined with the hipshooting debuff, just makes it rather insanely hard to play a bolt at all effectively in any competetive or public arena when a player could simply use a semi auto and have a very similar accuracy, damage, and a much much higher fire rate.
The close nature of the maps, combined with the large hipshooting nerf, further limits the bolt .. as many of the objectives are indoors, where hipshooting is paramount, staying on cap and fighting off an enemy is just impossible. Bayonetting an enemy works fine in the back or against a newer player on a public server, but try doing that against an experienced RO OST assault player and it will not have a chance of success.
I hope the gun is buffed at some point, either by way of increasing the reliability of hip shooting, increasing the recoil on the assault and semi (which i doubt will happen), or some other fix, but, as it stands the bolt is just a deadweight in any clan game, and something that you should avoid picking in public games.
Thanks, Sah.
