Let's talk about snipers...

[exaltedvanguard]

So I'd like to hear from the PC crowd on this one. For us on consoles, the only thing keeping snipers balanced is the fact they've been made incredibly unwieldy by removing aim assist. How do they perform on PC?

Because it sure seems like making a weapon really really good but obfuscating it behind a wall of jankiness is a terrible way to balance something. Makes it feel awful to use for new players, and awful to play against good players using it... Are these things superweapons on PC?

And a further question regarding snipers: do they still belong in CoD? We've gone so far that we're changing maps and warping gameplay (eliminating lines of sight, etc) in order to keep them in check. While they certainly appeal to a gaming archetype, would the game be, overall, improved by their removal?

[Pegasus Actual]

I think snipers are pretty much always viable in SND. Modern COD general respawn modes though... yeah pointless meme weapon for the most part. I haven't played much of regular multiplayer on PC but it seems like if you have the aim and reflexes to make a sniper work, you'd still be more effective with an AR. I don't know, I'd say I haven't really enjoyed snipers in multi since... MW3 or so? Even though I'm a filthy hardscoper I think the other main issue, aside from the Nuketownification of the map pool over the years is that ADS times went up. Or that could just be a tale from my ass as I don't have the numbers. But it seemed like in older games your fast ADS perks would work on snipers and at some point that went away. Or maybe old age reflexes are the culprit. Either way ADS, re-acquire target and flick plus shoot just didn't work.

I just don't see the point. You can go into Blackout and get a pretty fun sniping experience. Or play PUBG and it's even better. Or any Battlefield game if you want to snipe in a regular multiplayer mode. Quickscoping has always been stupid shit.

I'd say current COD would be better without snipers entirely, sure, but there are a million other ways COD could be better at this point. But maybe MW Reboot sniping will be good. What with the supposedly more tactical gameplay and all. Are they actually doing something different? And wtf is BOIIIII 2-year cycle cross-gen panic development going to put out? Seems like if MW is actually different, and a big hit, BO5 might feel like a huge step backward.

[Usagi]

I'm prestige master on PC and yeah snipers are focking DUMB. I maintain that the Koshka and the Outlaw (sans operator mod) are ass but the Paladin and the Outlaw with its operator mod shit all over every other gun. No other guns can challenge them really. The Paladin takes a lot of skill to do well with consistently due to how blazing fast and chaotic these maps are but the opmod Outlaw is just the same thing with the skill requirement completely removed, seriously one of the scummiest guns in CoD history (except for the opmod Stingray but that's a whole other can of worms).

It's interesting to compare it to last year in WW2. Stat-wise, relative to the rest of the guns in their respective games, the WW2 snipers are much worse mostly due to 100 health vs. 150. However, the maps in WW2 were 24/7 naturally occurring spawntraps and that made them just as dominant as they are in BO4. Personally I found quickscoping very easy in WW2 but it's much harder in BO4.

I think I'd be okay if all of the bolt action snipers were removed from future CoDs and keep any semi-autos that can't kill in one shot and lump them into the DMR/Tactical Rifle class.