Poll: do headshots in FPSs matter?

[Coffeejack]

It depends on whether the game is made to realistically reflect the human body's structure. I personally prefer games like Borderlands 2, because they introduce bosses that have critical points in all sorts of places to give things more variety. If training to hit the head gets the job done fastest, I guess you should go for that. I'd like to see a game in which people's critical points are in their feet. That would be a nice challenge.

 

[deathninja]

If you have time to line up a headshot, go for it (so sniping).

Taking point and clearing a room/street is all about centre of mass.

Though at the end of the day Sniper Elite 2 showed it best: It's all about ballistic vasectomies.

 

[gnihton]

What I was trying to argue was 1 > 0, because a succesful bodyshot is still better than an unsuccesful headshot.
Cue me telling you that the Boston Dormer is a good weapon for beginners who want to try and practice a bit.



In summary: It compensates for lack of skill, which is half the point of this thread.
This was your summary, whilst I clearly added, that it compensates for a lack of skill, thus enabling players to learn said skill WITHOUT being nothing but a nuisance for their team.
New players can not be relied on to perfectly headshot everything all the time, so this weapon might allow them to practice headshotting, whilst also enabling them to partake in a more heated firefight, durin which their skills will not allow them to accurately headshot an enemy any more.

You don't get better by letting something (and somebody) else do the work for you, this is a point you repeatedly ignore. Come to think of it, even if the player was new they have a number of options to use the Sniper more effectively than the Sleeper:

A) Bodyshot other than when they feel confident they can manage a headshot, such as on a heavy. Even bodyshots with just an occasional headshot will probably do more good than constant sleeper effects. (This would obviously allow them to get better also, increasing the number of hits and headshots they land)
B) Just go exclusively for headshots. That should get them some experience with it fast, and it would probably surpass the sleeper for aid to the team as intermittently headshotting somebody is still probably better than constantly Sleeper debuffing them.

 

[Something Amyss]

In real life you don't aim for the head. You aim for the largest body mass... because chances are that bullet is going to kill them anyway, and you have a better chance of hitting it...

Sadly, this is about juvenile male power fantasy, so the headshot pwns.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Head shots kill in fewer shots therefore allowing you to conserve more ammo. This makes them better.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

meh it depends on the game/what class you are (if any) and what kind of gun you are using.

i will say, if you're in tf2 as a sniper with the machina charged up waiting for something to come around the corner and bodyshot them in the toe or something, then yeah, you're being a bit of a ****, but nothing absolutely horrible.

still, as a sniper with a sniping weapon, in games you should always strive for the headshots, it's generally what get's the job done better and/or the intimidation factor it involves (if you drop an entire team in tf2 with pure headshots in a row, they are probably going to not charge/use that path again, so your teammates can flank them in other spots or bumrush forward.)

whatever floats your boat for the most part, the only time i ever get remotely peeved is when someone talks trash while bodyshotting with the piss rifle, you just look like a harley doucher and you're going to be trolled on for the rest of the match.

 

[TilMorrow]

however a headshot that isn't [charged] does not always cause an instant kill as I specified before.

It does, with the exception of Dalokahs heavies, but they basically don't exist.

Spoiler: Ahem...

A headshot that is not a charged shot does not insta-kill every class on TF2. Sure it can probably insta-kill the classes that I referenced for the fully-charged bodyshots however if I shot a Heavy or a Soldier in the head with a bullet that wasn't charged they would still be bearing down on me with their bullets/rockets. It would take about two uncharged headshots to kill them.

Also I didn't specify how much damage a fully-charged body shot does. Instead I was referencing the crit number that I most enjoy seeing whenever I headshot a piss-stained Jarated enemy.

You explicitly said that your bodyshots did 500 damage. Maybe you meant the Machina though, I'm not sure of the damage on that.

I was talking about the basic Sniper Rifle and the Jarate crit buffer. Please point out from the line below where I mention the amount of damage a bodyshot does.

...Also bodyshots are possible if you have a full charge on the sniper rifle. 500 dmg ftw!

And for your information it is possible for a Fully-charged bodyshot to insta kill certain classes that have low enough health namely all the support classes and one of the defensive and offensive classes.

I never said they didn't.

That is true, however the tone of your post heavily suggested that you thought otherwise.

Edit: I feel this discussion is derailing a bit from the main topic. I suggest if we are to continue it that it should be done through personal messages.

 

[Batou667]

I'm mostly a Halo player so my perspective is perhaps different to the OP. I'd say headshots are favourable in many circumstances. I'm not hung-up on them to the point where I'd message an opponent apologising for using two rounds to kill him instead of one - this is a game where it's perfectly fine to unceremoniously run over an enemy and drive into the distance while your teammates hump their fallen corpses, after all. A kill is a kill.

 

[hoboman29]

I went with as long as they're dead who cares because in an fps that really is the main goal. About sniping on TF2 I have to say headshots are a sign of skill more than anything else because most classes die to a bodyshot in 1 shot or are nearly dead after it. Funny story I've been called a bodyshot noob for using the sydney sleeper a gun that can't headshot totally off topic but funny if you ask me.

The general consensus on TF2 is if you use the Sydney Sleeper, it's because you can't headshot, and I'm inclined to agree.

Well in the context the kid was trying to sound like I wasn't clearly better than him and long range jarate is very useful as a support weapon especially when 3 heavys are knocking on your spawn door.

It appears to me that the Sydney Sleeper is a support gun, which afflicts the target with a jarate effect, which can be very useful for your teammates and make you a great pillar of support to your team.

 

[Legion]

I get annoyed when I am playing as a sniper and get body shotted by another sniper in TF2 because I feel like I got killed by a less proficient player. The same way that I get annoyed if I kill a player with a body shot over a head shot.

That said, there is certainly nothing wrong with body shot. It's not like it's an exploit or a cheat. Valve could have easily made them weaker if they didn't think people should do it.

It's just better to head shot if you can, especially on MvM.

 

[Bomberman4000]

From the shooter's standpoint, headshots do matter. They conserve ammo, increase damage, and when hit, increase the chance your target catches the dead.

As the victim, I don't see why someone would be upset about getting body shotted (which is why the kid apologized I assume) from a sniper. A kil is a kill. As the person dying, I'd actually be more upset about a sniper not giving me a chance to get away (not saying they SHOULD but when you get body shot generally you have a second to get away before the 2nd shot hits).

The whole thing is baffling to me. Me personally, I don't really worry about getting headshots or conserving ammo because I know I'm not very skilled at most FPS games. I enjoy them, but know I sit around the middle level of skill and always will. For me, I'm happy if I have more kills than deaths so I've never been to found of jerking it to my headshot percentage.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

at full charge can kill all classes (except for an over-healed heavy).

What? Fully charged headshots do 450 damage, which is what an overhealed heavy has as health. They kill every class.

And that's why you head shot. Body shots make your bullets worth less per shot.


The Hitman's Heatmaker is the best sniper rifle and it does less body shot damage. I like it because I don't try for weak ass body shots, so that doesn't affect me.

right you are, my apologies. Not sure why I had that idea. Either I was drunk or having a bit of a brain fart. I'll leave now.

 

[Evil Smurf]

at full charge can kill all classes (except for an over-healed heavy).

What? Fully charged headshots do 450 damage, which is what an overhealed heavy has as health. They kill every class.

And that's why you head shot. Body shots make your bullets worth less per shot.


The Hitman's Heatmaker is the best sniper rifle and it does less body shot damage. I like it because I don't try for weak ass body shots, so that doesn't affect me.

right you are, my apologies. Not sure why I had that idea. Either I was drunk or having a bit of a brain fart. I'll leave now.

Bazaar Bargain is where it is at.

 

[Ljs1121]

It depends on the game. In Fallout, for example, I go for the head as much as possible because it does more damage and I can afford to miss a few shots. In Call of Duty, though, I'll happily target someone's left ankle if it means a kill.

 

[Ron Alphafight]

Meh. My view is if they're dead and I'm alive, it doesn't matter how we got there. That being said, it is demoralizing to see a teammate's head explode right next to me.

 

[Jmp_man]

I don't understand all this ridiculousness over headshots.

Dead is dead no matter how you die. The only thing you should worry about when shooting is killing your enemy as EFFICIENTLY as possible. Sometimes it means going for the easy kill if doing the MAXIMUM damage possible wouldn't matter if the enemy died or not.

 

[Ishigami]

When I read the topic title my first reaction was ?of course head shoots are a manifestation of skill?.
Then I read the OPs post and it wasn't really about rewarding head shoots by increased effectivity (hit zone with most damage, has it own counter etc.) or personally enjoying a successful head shoot but the attitude that only a head shoot is even worth mentioning/doing.
And that sounds like bullshit. Mind you I'm not particularly talking about TF2.
Anyway what matters in the end is stopping power. If I can kill the guy by shooting in his little toe and the only thing I could possibly hit with certainty is his little toe then I darn right will shoot him in his little toe.
Now that example is probably not that good because his little toe is a small target but the general idea is that whatever gets the opponent killed is fair game.
If I had to take two shoots to take an enemy down then so be it. This is certainly not an instance where I would apologise to the opponent. After all I was victorious and he missed to exploit my blunder. The only one I would not be satisfied with is myself in this case.

 

[Bagged Milk]

The thing with body shots is that it shows a lack of skill and a refusal to get better. If you only try for body shots, you are going to get raged at. Just like if you only go w+m1 pyro. It's just annoying
Although, it was kind of stupid for him to apologize. He was obviously trying to be a good sniper since he was trying to get head shots.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Depends on the game, surely? Being able to consistently get headshots with a BR in Halo is going to net you a whole lot of kills, bodyshots - not so much.
IRL military forces are generally trained to aim at the largest target presented. So they go for body shots.