How would the Sharpshooter best be nerfed?

[Undedd Jester]

The general opinion of the Sharpshooter is that its overpowered, and needs nerfing. The question is what would be the best way to do it. The only thread I've seen that doesn't become an absolute rage fest is Despara's thread, which put forward some very good ideas to bringing it down.

http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=39173[url]http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=39173[/URL]

So to make things more helpful I've decided to start a poll with these suggestions in to see how everyone actually feels it should be done... (also for my own interest )

If there is more than 1 option you would like to see please pick the one you agree with most and then post about the other as well

 

[Undedd Jester]

Or at least it would have a poll if not for the poll 1 minute timeout

Ah well here are the points

1)Keep damage the same/similar but have it ONLY apply for headshots, where bodyshots would do standard weapon damage
2)Reduce Sharpshooter damage period for both headshots and bodyshots by a sensible degree
3)Reduce the weapon damage for the crossbow and/or M14 EBR
4)Reduce the clip count for the M14 EBR from 15 mags to 7/8 mags
5)Reduce the clip capacity for the M14 EBR from 20 to 10 (Will also half the total number of bullets)
6)Remove the 9mm Pistol from the perk progression
7)Change a current specimen or add a new one to be headshot reisistant/or otherwise effective against Sharpshooters
8)Swap the M14 EBR Battle Rifle for a M21 Sniper Rifle with an actual scope, smaller clip and no laser sight
9)The perk is fine as it is, I like owning everything effortlessly

 

[MasterCheff]

1. take away the m14 and add a new tier of sniper weapon
2. take away all pistols for perk progression
3. increase sharpshooter requirements
4. take away damage add on when shooting body parts and make it only count to the head
5. crossbow has damage lowered
just my suggestions

 

[anthracy]

The main problem is the m14 ammo spam, it is treading on the commando's territory by being able to sweep lower level specimens quickly AS WELL AS being able to take out the high level ones.

If the ammo capacity was reduced significantly and the clip size lowered, say 10 bullets instead of 20, and 12 mags total. (120 bullets is plenty) This way, the sharpshooters would still rely on the handcannons for anything up close and be able to take out the larger specimens without reloading.

The headshot damage and everything else feels good, but my vote is for reduced ammo.

 

[JCashman]

Remove reload speed bonus. Yeah, that's it.

 

[vealck]

Remove laser sight from M14 EBR and lower its max mags count to 8.

 

[nath2009uk]

or make the M14 act like the rifles in games like CoD4, Killzone 2... Huge crosshair area so you can hit jack **** without using the sights.

 

[Reise]

Reduce magazine capacity and reduce recoil reduction percentage slightly.

IMO the issue is with the elements that make the M14 easy to spam, not that it can be spammed in the first place.

Remove the elements that bring people to empty magazines in the chests of FPs and you remove the problem entirely.

 

[TheTempestKing]

Less ammo for the M14EBR as well as a price increase to prevent high level players (who could likely afford multiple firearms) from stockpiling. Cutting the total ammo capacity down to 120 rounds would reduce spam significantly and force users to aim just a tad more. The bodyshot damage increase wouldn't really matter if ammo were reduced as if users were to fire at the bodies of specimens they would find themselves running out of ammo rather quickly; however, in order to keep the weapon (and perk) relevant, I don't see a need for removing this bonus.

Also, the addition of a Gunslinger perk that utilizes the Dea- er, Handcannon and 92- uh, 9mm would slow down Sharpshooter perk progression a bit. That said, I don't really see a need for simply removing the 9mm from perk progression altogether; under the same logic, something would have to be done about the Med Syringe and Welder as well.

 

[Nanostrike]

Or at least it would have a poll if not for the poll 1 minute timeout

Ah well here are the points

1)Keep damage the same/similar but have it ONLY apply for headshots, where bodyshots would do standard weapon damage
2)Reduce Sharpshooter damage period for both headshots and bodyshots by a sensible degree
3)Reduce the weapon damage for the crossbow and/or M14 EBR
4)Reduce the clip count for the M14 EBR from 15 mags to 7/8 mags
5)Reduce the clip capacity for the M14 EBR from 20 to 10 (Will also half the total number of bullets)
6)Remove the 9mm Pistol from the perk progression
7)Change a current specimen or add a new one to be headshot reisistant/or otherwise effective against Sharpshooters
8)Swap the M14 EBR Battle Rifle for a M21 Sniper Rifle with an actual scope, smaller clip and no laser sight
9)The perk is fine as it is, I like owning everything effortlessly

1) Trivial. Face it: Most Sharpshooters, ESPECIALLY the close-range M-14 spammers, can hit the head 90+% of the time.
2) A good option, but they need to be careful not to cripple the class.
3) With Crossbow, a little would be nice. But with the M-14, I actually think it should do MORE damage with less ammo...as mentioned below.
4) Acceptable. The ammo amount is the M-14's biggest issue. Make it truly an advanced Lever Action Rifle, not just a SCAR with headshot damage bonuses. Every shot should count and the Sharpshooter should be forced to rely on the 9mm/Handcannon for smaller enemies to conserve his M-14 ammo.
5) No way. In real life, the M-14 has a 20-round clip. Plus, that's part of the "Upgrade" from the Lever Action.
6) Making 9mm headshots not count towards Levelup would just encourage grinding in other ways. And if the M-14/X-Bow is nerfed, the Sharpshooter will need the perk-boosted 9mm's power.
7) IMO, adding specimens tailored against one or two perks is kinda lame. Plus, all the Sharpshooter will have to do is buy Dual Handcannons and spam bodyshots...
8) I'd favor keeping the M-14, but possibly adding a sniper rifle. In general, I'd say that the chances of outright removing a weapon are slim to none...
9) This is the general consensus on the Steam forums at the moment, sadly...

 

[Bio666]

7) IMO, adding specimens tailored against one or two perks is kinda lame.

Zerker vs siren or crawler?
Support vs bloat?
Anything big vs commando?
Husk vs Firebug?

Every perk got their worst nightmare, except SS, where you can 1-shot anything and everything.

By your argument, it's already been lame.

 

[MasterCheff]

actually firebug didn't get its nightmare if you ask me the husk is a giant joke to the firebug

 

[Reise]

5) No way. In real life, the M-14 has a 20-round clip. Plus, that's part of the "Upgrade" from the Lever Action.

In real life they make different magazines for just about every weapon so a 10 round magazine for example, would be entirely realistic. Just the fact that the weapon is semi-auto and uses detachable magazines should be enough of an upgrade, I think.

 

[-[SiN]-bswearer]

SS thread #4. there's still two more open and you should use them instead of making another thread as it's just spam.

 

[Bio666]

actually firebug didn't get its nightmare if you ask me the husk is a giant joke to the firebug

It's the nightmare because firebug can not kill husk at range, and husk block all specimen behind them, and husk can melee you, so there's only one way left: run. And turning your back against specimen is not very smart.

 

[CandleJack]

1)Keep damage the same/similar but have it ONLY apply for headshots, where bodyshots would do standard weapon damage
4)Reduce the clip count for the M14 EBR from 15 mags to 7/8 mags
7)Change a current specimen or add a new one to be headshot reisistant/or otherwise effective against Sharpshooters
8)Swap the M14 EBR Battle Rifle for a M21 Sniper Rifle with an actual scope, smaller clip and no laser sight

I personally find the iron sights on the M14EBR quite challenging, i find the Laser sight too easy, i find the Xbow perfect, and on every round up to 11/10 i would simply use the Xbow/HC combo. The M14 simply comes in when the patty appears in front of me and i don't have time to sharpshoot. Also swapping the M14 for the M21 with a scope might make people go SS because they can aim, not because they like to run'n'gun.

 

[Red Giant]

Reduce extra mags for M14 from 14 to 7.
Or reduce ammo to 10 and keep the extra mags at 14.

Either way, reduce the ammo by 1/2.

 

[Ihmhi]

Removing an existing weapon isn't really so much an option - a lot of work goes into modelling and animating a weapon, not to mention the coding. Here's what needs to happen to fix Sharp and its weapons overall:

1) Level Action Rifle needs to be made more useful as a T1 Sharp weapon. The ammo reserve should go up along with perk level to a maximum of 100 or 120.

2) The Crossbow "ammo is more expensive than the gun" bit needs to be fixed.

3) Crossbow damage needs to go down.

4) Crossbow penetration needs to go down - no perk can take out 20 Zeds with one shot except for maybe Demolitions, and Demo has greatly reduced ammo capacity compared to Sharp.

5) M14 ammo reserve needs to go down to something more reasonable like a max of 8-10 clips at Level 6. Default should be something like 4 or 5 clips - it's more powerful than the LAR and it has more ammo? No way, that's Imba.

6) Dual Handcannons need to have their weight counted like Dual Pistols - right now, you get a pass on the weight for the second Handcannon. A Crossbow and Dualies is an ***-kicking machine right now.

7) Pistols should (eventually) be sidelined into a Gunslinger perk and taken away from Sharp; Sharp already has 5 weapons. Only Berserker has that many; most other perks typically have 3.

 

[Nazarov]

Let's revisit my original proposal of putting in G41 semi automatic rifle. Slow reload! Huge recoil! But packs a bunch. And get rid of the spamsicle.

 

[NitroBullet]

Why do you guys even bother? TWI doesn't give a single damn about any of your suggestions!