I've been playing KF for a few months now (so not terribly long), and I'm admittedly hooked, despite being someone who doesn't care for zombie games in general. Jumping right into the purpose of this post, I want to bring to the attention of the developers my personal view on the M14 as it relates to the Sharpshooter perk. I know this isn't news to anyone, but I do not see any active topic making concrete suggestions for addressing the issue. This will be an extremely long-winded post, as I will use as much detail as is possible to accurately convey the reasoning behind my suggestions.
Firstly, let me define exactly what I see as the 'problem'. The Sharpshooter perk, in theory, is about high single target damage, long range, and precision firing. Essentially a sniper. The perk benefits loosely adhere to this, with the notable exception of the reload speed reduction (more on this in a moment). The weapons that the benefits apply to also loosely adhere to this principle of sniping, with the exception of the handguns (and, as I will argue, the M14). I find little issue with these aspects of the perk.
However, the reload speed reduction does not inherently make sense as a sniper benefit. You fire slowly, and you aren't going to be in some great rush to jam another magazine into your weapon to resume your slow firing. Obviously the reload speed is a benefit to the perk; It would be for any perk. However, I do not believe that this benefit is appropriate, and I recommend that the developers re-evaluate the inclusion of this benefit. I will not comment on possible alternatives, as I have none.
On to the M14. Anyone who has used it for thirty seconds knows what kind of weapon it is; It's an assault (or so I'm told, a 'battle') rifle. It has a fast fire rate, reasonably large magazine, high damage (sound like the SCAR to anyone else?), and extra headshot damage. Consider what one would call a sniper rifle. A high caliber, heavy hitting, high range, high accuracy, slow firing (personally bolt-action seems appropriate) weapon that doesn't hit terribly fast, but it hurts when it does. Looking at the attributes of the M14, the discrepancy is obvious; The high fire rate.
Additionally, when one thinks of precision, aiming seems like an almost interchangeable concept. Indeed, snipers are known for using high-magnification scopes to pinpoint their targets. The M14 does not have a scope. In fact, as we are all aware, it has a horrible iron-sight that is quite irritating to use. All of this ignores the laser sight; With this attachment, the rifle does not need to be sighted to know where the bullet will hit. With everything put together, sighting with the M14 is almost never appropriate. Now while this isn't inherently unrealistic, it does go against the idea of the sniper.
With the background covered, my suggestion for the M14 is as follows: I believe that the developers should reconsider the design of the tier 3 Sharpshooter weapon, and opt for something more closely resembling a sniper rifle. Specifically, a rifle that has 1) A scope, preferably with noteworthy zoom, and 2) a fire rate half or less than the M14 (again, thinking bolt-action here). While there's nothing game-breaking about the M14, it does (in my opinion) break the definition of the Sharpshooter perk, and I think the developers should be concerned about this.
In conclusion, I would like to open this thread for discussion on the topic, primarily the M14, but possibly branching into abstract concepts regarding the role of perks, and the definition of the class that it represents.
Firstly, let me define exactly what I see as the 'problem'. The Sharpshooter perk, in theory, is about high single target damage, long range, and precision firing. Essentially a sniper. The perk benefits loosely adhere to this, with the notable exception of the reload speed reduction (more on this in a moment). The weapons that the benefits apply to also loosely adhere to this principle of sniping, with the exception of the handguns (and, as I will argue, the M14). I find little issue with these aspects of the perk.
However, the reload speed reduction does not inherently make sense as a sniper benefit. You fire slowly, and you aren't going to be in some great rush to jam another magazine into your weapon to resume your slow firing. Obviously the reload speed is a benefit to the perk; It would be for any perk. However, I do not believe that this benefit is appropriate, and I recommend that the developers re-evaluate the inclusion of this benefit. I will not comment on possible alternatives, as I have none.
On to the M14. Anyone who has used it for thirty seconds knows what kind of weapon it is; It's an assault (or so I'm told, a 'battle') rifle. It has a fast fire rate, reasonably large magazine, high damage (sound like the SCAR to anyone else?), and extra headshot damage. Consider what one would call a sniper rifle. A high caliber, heavy hitting, high range, high accuracy, slow firing (personally bolt-action seems appropriate) weapon that doesn't hit terribly fast, but it hurts when it does. Looking at the attributes of the M14, the discrepancy is obvious; The high fire rate.
Additionally, when one thinks of precision, aiming seems like an almost interchangeable concept. Indeed, snipers are known for using high-magnification scopes to pinpoint their targets. The M14 does not have a scope. In fact, as we are all aware, it has a horrible iron-sight that is quite irritating to use. All of this ignores the laser sight; With this attachment, the rifle does not need to be sighted to know where the bullet will hit. With everything put together, sighting with the M14 is almost never appropriate. Now while this isn't inherently unrealistic, it does go against the idea of the sniper.
With the background covered, my suggestion for the M14 is as follows: I believe that the developers should reconsider the design of the tier 3 Sharpshooter weapon, and opt for something more closely resembling a sniper rifle. Specifically, a rifle that has 1) A scope, preferably with noteworthy zoom, and 2) a fire rate half or less than the M14 (again, thinking bolt-action here). While there's nothing game-breaking about the M14, it does (in my opinion) break the definition of the Sharpshooter perk, and I think the developers should be concerned about this.
In conclusion, I would like to open this thread for discussion on the topic, primarily the M14, but possibly branching into abstract concepts regarding the role of perks, and the definition of the class that it represents.
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