No love for the focus proficiency? « Thread Started on Nov 28, 2011, 12:55am »
Hey bros, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like no one talks about using the focus proficiency in this game.
I hear a lot of talk about using the kick proficiency, and range for SMGs, but rarely does focus seem to get mentioned in the discussions, which I find odd cuz I use focus on practically every single class I play.
I understand its not really helpful unless you're being shot at, which is a fraction of the time you spend in a game, but I would argue thats the most crucial time, since focus can mean the difference between life and death when you miss or don't shoot first.
I will make an addendum that I understand about using the range prof. on silenced SMGs; is it just me or did they reduce their range from previous games? But I've been rocking a silenced SCAR-L lately and since it has practically no kick and the sway can be reset by tapping the sights, I feel like focus is the way to go. I used to like impact, but I find that if I'm shooting a target behind cover, they'll either die anyway cuz they're unaware, or be shooting back which makes focus more important.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #2 on Nov 28, 2011, 2:33am »
The thing is, Kick is almost always useful, unless you're within shotgun range. It helps in killing opponents practically any time you take a shot ADS. Focus, on the other hand, is only useful during a time when you're already getting shot, a situation that more or less usually has a decided outcome, and it's one where Kick gives weaker but similar results. Focus also doesn't help against shotguns, FMG-9s, Sniper Rifles, close-range Type-95s, and more.
Its main use is on 1 shot kill type guns like the Type-95 and SRs. Other than that, Kick >>> Focus.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #4 on Nov 28, 2011, 6:18pm »
OP, it's just that Focus is a defensive proficiency. Defensive attributes forgive flawed tactics and bad luck, while offensive attributes reward superior tactics and good luck.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #6 on Nov 28, 2011, 6:37pm »
Meh, a 50% reduction in DVK is nothing to write home about. I use it for sniper rifles, but only because all the other proficiencies are even less appealing.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #8 on Nov 28, 2011, 10:40pm »
These are some pretty good points. I guess I always used focus just cuz none of the other proficiencies caught my eye. You make a good point about it being defensive spry -- maybe I'll deprive myself of focus for awhile and see if I can get better instead of relying on it to save my ass when I mess up Xp
If I'm running something like the SCAR-L though, is kick really worth it? It feels like that gun has negligible kick already, so I feel more like opting for impact or attachments (not sure what second attachment though) if I'm gonna drop focus.
And for the record revolution, you're right. Focus is what reduces how much you flinch when shot. The reduced sway proficiency is aptly named "sway".
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #9 on Nov 28, 2011, 11:36pm »
Getting into a firefight is not "messing up", and Juggernaut would be the best perk 2 if it were in this game with no Stopping Power around, despite being defensive. You are doing nothing but useless theorycrafting if you believe that getting shot is something that is at all avoidable against anything but the most braindead of enemies, no matter how skilled you are.
There are two points against "kick is always useful". The first is that something that is always useful vs. something is situationally useful doesn't necessarily mean the former is better, if how useful they are differs. See: the term "jack of all trades, master of none". Second, kick is NOT always useful. There are plenty of times where, with an accurate gun, I will kill in the minimum number of shots required at medium and even long range. In these situations kick would have done nothing. On top of this, even if you miss a shot, kick would not necessarily have made you hit. This argument is as stupid as the argument somebody gave for the P90 vs. MP7 - that the extra 10 rounds is always useful. That argument is beyond retarded because anytime you reloaded or died with more than 10 rounds left in the magazine, it didn't do anything.
PS. The reduced sway enchantment is named "Stability".
There are two points against "kick is always useful". The first is that something that is always useful vs. something is situationally useful doesn't necessarily mean the former is better, if how useful they are differs. See: the term "jack of all trades, master of none". Second, kick is NOT always useful. There are plenty of times where, with an accurate gun, I will kill in the minimum number of shots required at medium and even long range. In these situations kick would have done nothing. On top of this, even if you miss a shot, kick would not necessarily have made you hit. This argument is as stupid as the argument somebody gave for the P90 vs. MP7 - that the extra 10 rounds is always useful. That argument is beyond retarded because anytime you reloaded or died with more than 10 rounds left in the magazine, it didn't do anything.
PS. The reduced sway enchantment is named "Stability".
If you're quoting me, I said Kick is almost always useful
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #12 on Nov 29, 2011, 6:12pm »
^Agreed. Rapid Fire & Mags.
Rainbows, I didn't mean to imply that getting hit by bullets is a mistake. What I was getting at is that focus is only going to help win firefights when you either have an inferior weapon or are simply leaving yourself open to fire/surprise too often.
You can resolve both of those problems by choosing a gun with a decent TTK (or easy handling), and by maintaining awareness of your opponents' locations.
Once I had my favorite guns and learned the maps I found that my main frustration was that kills were escaping. Either I couldn't quite reach enemies far down range of shooting lanes, or multiple bogeys were leaving themselves open but my mag wasn't big enough to take them all out.
Believe me, if you practice then your only concerns become agility and kill power/capacity, not basic defense for firefights.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #13 on Nov 29, 2011, 11:29pm »
Now that I have had time to think, let me give my two cents:
Focus is a proficiency meant for precision-based one hit kill weapons I.E. Burst-Fire Assault Rifles, Manual-Action Shotguns, and Sniper Rifles. In a gun fight with these weapons, it does not matter how much kick the weapon has if only one hit is required to kill the opponent. This is where focus comes into play. A player who gets the jump on another player will almost certainly win the gun fight, given that he does not have the Focus proficiency. Focus essentially allows a player to fight back while being shot at, barring laggy situations.
It should also be noted that on any Manual-Action weapon, Focus should ALWAYS be used over Kick, given that Kick's benefits are not tangible.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #15 on Nov 30, 2011, 7:29pm »
I've lost a few fights I shouldn't have due to view kick. It's one of those game mechanics that was tossed in for realism, but from a gameplay perspective shouldn't be in a competitive shooter to begin with. I already wrote up my rant on that subject in one of the lag-compensation topics.
That said, the focus prof just isn't worth it on most weapons, because you gimp yourself in so many other situations. For example, I can take a G36C:
With Range + Silencer to make an effective defense assassin class With Kick + Sight to out-shoot anyone but snipers at range With attachments with RDS+Silencer to make a great offensive assassin class
And the list goes on... These will help you in almost every engagement. Focus will only help you if you're getting shot, and then not always because of how random and luck-based view-kick is. Better to just accept the fact you can do everything right and be better than your opponent and still lose every few fights than to gimp yourself in every fight.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #16 on Dec 1, 2011, 4:47pm »
focus is great on burst fire weapons. if you are getting shot and try to fire back without it , your one chance at success will always be off target. with focus you can use the power if the t95 to you advantage, and actually kill a full auto guy who got the jump on you. puts them on tilt hard.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #17 on Aug 28, 2012, 5:41pm »
Refresh an old thread to get some advice from bros who have experimented with Focus extensively.
Basically here is what I am wondering: what weapons would benefit most from it? I was told that precision weapons get the most help from it, so am I correct in assuming that the following weapons would see good results (assuming being used aggressively)?
1) Sniper Rifles 2) Semi auto ARs: MK14 / Type 95 / M16 3) Maybe auto weapons that have 4HK min?: FAD / MP9
Note: I am not trying to start another debate for Focus vs. Kick vs. Attachments. That has been argued many times in the past
---- PS - background of why I am interested in Focus:
As I am comparing MW3 and BO2 (thread http://denkirson.proboards.com/index.cgi....lay&thread=4941 ), I noticed that Focus is the only weapon enhancement proficiency/attachment/perk in MW3 that does not require an attachment slot in BO2 (you can get the equivalent from Toughness perk). As a result, I am planning to experiment with it in MW3 and see how much it helps my game play. Also, lately I feel much more comfortable with aggressive play style and start rushing more. I wonder whether Focus would be very useful to match this new level of aggression.
« Last Edit: Aug 28, 2012, 5:51pm by wittyscorpion »
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #18 on Aug 28, 2012, 6:21pm »
IMO most of the guns in mw3 lack any substantial recoil(obviously there are exceptions, especially in the lower tiered weapons) so the way I see it is that kick helps in gunfights I was going to win anyways, i.e. long range gunfights where I am not getting shot back. And focus helps me win gunfights I was going to lose i.e. nearly any gunfight where I am getting shot at. Though in reality it's pretty rare that I run anything other than attachments(all smgs, ars, and lmgs) speed(all snipers) or damage(all shotties of course) The only time I run focus is in search with either a red dot acr or an emags mp7(I suck at search so I use good guns)
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #19 on Aug 28, 2012, 7:25pm »
Focus only shines on the Mk14 and bursts. For all the other ars kick is better and if kick isn't needed attachments is the next prof. in line. Smgs are almost cemented into attachments given rapid, silencer, and exmags are so good on them. Snipers I would say stability is probably the best, or maybe kick if you use a semi like a Mk14. Shotguns trololol focus. Lmgs I would say attachments is best.
Focus is a specialist only kind of prof. I love it when its on, but I won't choose it over attachments or maybe kick.
^and range. There is no hope for focus to ever be a good pick on shotguns.
And the sad Foxtrotting thing is that Focus is really gosh darn golly gee whiz helpful on Shotguns. Try using the Stakeout with Hardened Pro. You'll know what I mean if you don't believe me.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #24 on Aug 28, 2012, 8:26pm »
I used to really like focus but now that I am more or less an average player, it is less attractive to me. As long as you get the first bullet (against anything but t95, akimbo, shotty, sniper) and set up your encounter (you have advantage, more cover, higher ground, full mag, are more aware of your surroundings, etc) then focus is not needed as much. It helps compensate for mistakes and really helps precision weapons, but I find kick, range (smg), damage (shotguns), speed (lmg/ shield) and attachments better in general. Melee is useless because you can just knife cancel, stability is not amazing because you can go in and out of ADS to reset the sway, same with breath and impact seems to have minimal effect.
Re: No love for the focus proficiency? « Reply #25 on Aug 28, 2012, 11:02pm »
Focus just sucks. Sorry. Using a proficiency just to help lag compensation is a pretty sad corner case. The fact that you have to get shot before it does anything is absolutely relevant; Juggernaut increases ttk. Focus does not. Focus makes you (hopefully) more accurate under fire. There are other proficiencies that make you more accurate under fire as well as at other times, not to mention a whole bunch of other benefits. The opportunity cost just isn't worth it. All the ARs without a single "precision" exception are better with Attachments (Mk14 and the bursts both want Rapid Fire, ACR would much rather have an HBS than Focus, etc). Many are better with Kick (ACR, G36c, FAD).
The bottom line is, for a reactive ability to be usable, it had better be Juggernaut powerful. Hardened Pro wasn't worth it in BO, and Focus is just a weaker version of Hardened Pro.
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