Solution for too many online snipers.

[Jonluw]

I think placing a restriction on the number of people using the same class in each game might be a better idea.

Or maybe people could design lobbies like they did in Graw 2 (a system that I love), and allow the host to customize the game to his/her heart's desire.

i loved that game with the amount and types of guns. *sigh* the M4SD. It was silenced with a 4x scope, grenade-launcher and 30 round clip with single, burst and full auto.

I always used the semi-automatic, one-shot kill, 10 round clip, sniper rifle. I was a notorious camper. I like to think I am excused for that since I was young though.

 

[Chester41585]

Hey now. I respect the snipers in BFBC2. Sniping actually takes skill in that game.

 

[PTSpyder]

I don't think it's a problem, just keep moving and don't go out in the open.

I don't see anyone complaining about the overabundance of assault rifle users.

Ill go ahead and join onto that bandwagon. Screw all you people who refuse to use ANYTHING besides assault rifle. At least sniping takes skill and patience.

 

[Slycne]

I always thought Americas Army had a clever way of going about this problem. As more people joined the match additional squads would open up.

You started with the first rifle team then a sniper team would become available, if those filled up then it would repeat. There were 2 full fire teams( 2 riflemen, 1 grenadier and 1 machine-gunner) and 2 sniper teams( 1 sniper and 1 riflemen), so at any one time there were only 2 of each of the special weapons on either side. At the beginning of each match positions were picked based on your game points and your honor points(a kind of leveling/griefer tracking system). Weapons did not carry over between games.

So your better players got first pick at the special weapons, but a new player could progress and do well enough to select them or pick them off fallen players.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

This problem is news to me. I like to snipe, it gives me a chance to hunt certain people. I only really have Modern Warfare 2 to do this with though. But I don't really see the problem, most people can't shoot for shit with a rifle and half the people who start off using them change after a couple easy kills. That's why you can often see people who couple their rifle with One Man Army.

 

[MakeLoveNotWar]

I don't think it's a problem, just keep moving and don't go out in the open.

I don't see anyone complaining about the overabundance of assault rifle users.

Ill go ahead and join onto that bandwagon. Screw all you people who refuse to use ANYTHING besides assault rifle. At least sniping takes skill and patience.

Yes I said how crappy automatics are didn't I? I'm with you

 

[asgardmothership]

Well... I must say I was a little disappointed with your 'solution', I envisinged something actually in game to deal with those buggers that can pick you off from a mile away. Though, to my view I would say Bad Company 2 has got it nailed: Snipers are very vulnerable at anything but extreme range, and there are particular places they tend to squat, espeically on ridges. The best part is, Bad Company 2 lets you ping the bastards so even if they do get you, they'll be dead soon enough.

I have recently become a rampant pinger, it is good fun.

Actually, I have no problem with snipers, they can be quite handy support for the assaulters like me, thin the ranks before I get there

I do however despise anyone who uses "Sn1peR LRd" or a variation on it as their gamertag. There is nothing cool about hiding in a bush for 10 minutes like a coward picking off enemies.

"Sniper rifle is a cowards weapon!.... Continues below...

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Well, I see what you mean. Snipers are a big problem in most games; essentially because there are no limits to how many snipes you can have. This problem is most prominent in games like Call of Duty where bullet physics don't apply. There should be playlists in games that give you the option of playing with limitations; especially to the number of snipers.

 

[Kryzantine]

I had a really detailed post from another recent thread about the problems with facing snipers in modern FPS games, using MW2 as a focal point of why the sniping mechanic itself is flawed, and how the game renders normal countersniping tactics ineffective; sometimes by incorporating tools that render said counter-tactics useless, and sometimes by simply not incorporating the ability to use said counter-tactics. I also offered a solution likely to make sniping a strategic gameplay experience in this same post. Let me pull it up for you.

EDIT - This post might be a doozy.

The problem is that since most people play infantry roles (assault, medic, etc), more people will be inclined to go sniper (because after all, snipers are anti-infantry units), and the tool traditionally used for beating the sniper (armor) is almost non-existant in a lot of FPS games. The use of the sniper rifle in itself isn't cheap, by any means. In fact, the whole point of the sniper is that they bleed the opponent dry by eliminating their top soldiers, and cause heavy morale losses to the opponent by instilling fear (if you knew you could be targeted any time by a sniper, odds are good you won't be at optimal efficiency). But the way most FPSs are structured right now, the sniper can be considered cheap.

Let's look at the elements of MW2 that make the sniper rifle a genuinely cheap weapon:

1. Thermal scopes. When a squad encounters a sniper in real life, the first thing they do after identifying the sniper's location is to put up a smoke screen, and then advance either to better cover or towards the sniper. Only in COD, the sniper can use a thermal scope to see past smoke screens. To get out of their location, they would have to be running towards the next cover location and expose themselves to the sniper. This is not a successful tactic in real life and definitely isn't successful in gaming. So when the sniper is using a thermal scope, he is extremely likely to get a kill if he pins somebody down or even catches them at long distance even if his element of surprise has been lost.

2. Enclosed environments. This is a natural limitation of video games, but if the sniper is in a corner and cannot be flanked or surrounded, he has a much larger chance at survival when dealing with a standard assault rifle wielding player/s.

3. Lack of armor. This is the biggie, especially on maps where there is little to no cover (Wasteland as an example is a map where snipers can absolutely dominate the game because there is little natural cover to exploit). When you're not in cover, you're a dead man against a sniper. To compensate, we have tanks and APCs in real life; our soldiers simply use them as cover because after all, they're pretty damn close to a wall. But since there is no armor in MW2, you have no way of nullifying the distance advantage a sniper will have over you.

4. Quick scoping. The sniper rifle, as a general rule, is simply too unwieldy to use as a close quarters weapon. They take a while to reload, they're quite heavy and long, and the weapon is not designed to take on more than 1 enemy at a time. But MW2 didn't exactly catch this. The sniper rifle could be used at any range with no loss of effectiveness. This means that even if its distance advantage were nullified, it could still be used in close quarters combat. This is an inherent flaw in a lot of games.

5. Movement. This is a major oversight on a lot of developers minds, that snipers generally don't move when they're firing. It kind of ruins your accuracy in real life, but not so much in MW2. Also, one of the best ways to deal with snipers in real life (artillery) is limited by the fact that after sniping someone or as soon as the strike is announced, the sniper is capable of sprinting out of there, getting away from the strike, then going back once it's over to take up his place again, or moving away and popping someone while the strike is happening.

These complaints can go for a lot of FPS games out there, and are inherent flaws in counter-sniping. The methodology behind the sniper itself is also flawed. In real life, the sniper is used as a tool of efficiency. Assuming the sniper has enough skill, they will most likely get at least 1 kill, but will rarely go much higher. 1 kill is generally enough to instill panic, eliminate any leadership advantage or get rid of a skilled opponent. In video games, snipers are the exact opposite; it's not surprising to get no kills just by being unlucky or not supremely skilled, but if you have the skills, you could get a ton of kills. Player's morales will not falter much with just one kill because it's really insignificant to them, but multiple kills will just make us start raging because we realize we don't have the tools to actually eliminate these snipers.

What could possibly be the solution to all of this? I refer to a few of my real life experiences when I started using a rifle, and one particular campaign mission in COD:MW, when I suggest that tripods might be the key start to balancing out the sniper rifle. Think about it, really the most problematic issue when dealing with a sniper online is that they have free motion reign. If they have a 360 degree view of the area, it'd be hard to flank them because they generally know you're coming, and can target you directly after popping someone else. A tripod will take a short period of time to set up for the sniper, take a short time after being set up to actually remove before the sniper can move again, and limit the directionality of the rifle. In real life, since we're actually only going to aim at just one specific target, we accept these negative aspects of a tripod because the steadiness of the rifle outweighs them. In video gaming, this would be seen as a severe nerf. It eliminates the possibility of using a sniper rifle as a close range weapon (and let's face it, against an assault rifle in close range, the sniper loses 99.8% of the time), eliminates quick scoping, eliminates imbalanced movement, and makes airstrikes semi-effective against snipers. Snipers might actually require strategy to play again, because they would be more confined to specific locations, would need to be patient and would need to scout out the right target, and once they have made a kill, would need to decide between staying put or moving to another location. And in close quarters combat, perhaps the sniper would, heaven forbid, switch to his side arm or use his knife; assuming, of course, he's knowledgable enough to know when somebody is sneaking up on him.

This is kind of making me want to actually try incorporating this into a game like MW, and seeing the end result.

 

[Chamale]

The problem with snipers is that they exist in unrealistic proportions. If you want an unrealistic game, this shouldn't bother you.

In a realistic game, though, I'm very annoyed when I get sniped the moment I turn a corner, or while I'm sprinting through a trench. Snipers in video games have even more control than snipers on the front lines in World War I, which was one of the most sniper-happy wars ever. Even at the battle of Stalingrad, soldiers didn't have to worry about being sniper while driving at 50 km/h.

 

[Life_Is_A_Mess]

When there are too many snipers, I complain. I tell them to change class. If they don't listen, I take out MY sniper and have some fun picking them off over and over again as they come back to the spot after a headshot, gladly delivered by me.

Always fight fire with fire. But first, give a warning.

Apply this rule on MW, MW2, UT3, BBC2 and others.

 

[Xyliss]

I don't think we should do this. Simply because if someone wants to play as a sniper then let them. People who complain that there are too many are only doing so because they aren't able to avoid them and get way too serious about the games instead of just having fun with them

 

[Mukil]

If there are no sniper rifles in the game, I will start sniping with ak-47's and rocket launchers.

 

[squballs1234]

if your on a PC press this button combination, it'll make all snipers on the map magically disappear! the combination is ALT+F4

If you are playing on a console, you jump up and down viciously while spinning constantly, and then as fast as you can throw a grenade and right before it hits the ground you hit your power button. it glitches out the connection and makes the snipers console turn off.

 

[SalamanderJoe]

Its a good idea for COD, but snipers are a crucial part for the team based gameplay that Bad Company 2 needs. You need snipers to help team mates with the Assualt, Engineers and Medics up front in the war by providing cover, sending enemy position intel to the minimap and counter-sniping. In Call of Duty, people just use sniper rifles as one hit kills in CQC situations by no-scoping/quick scoping.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

I don't think getting rid of snipers entirely but rather do what Team Fortress 2 did and limit the amount of people that can play a certain class.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

This is an idea I've passed around a few times and people have said they like it.

Basically for any online game that uses playlists, such as Call of Duty or Halo, there should be a few options for a 'sniper free' playlist. This removes all sniper weapons from the game.
For games such as Battlefield, the class option and items all stay, but you cannot use snipers.

So what do you think? Could this work and if it was implemented would you use it?

EDIT: For peoples information... I'm not the one complaining about online snipers, this is a idea I give to people who do complain.

And the game most people complain to me about is Battlefield Bad Company 2.

So no elitism here thank you.

instead of being so much radical, there could be a restriction for none, or 1 or 2 snipers etc....

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

This is an idea I've passed around a few times and people have said they like it.

Basically for any online game that uses playlists, such as Call of Duty or Halo, there should be a few options for a 'sniper free' playlist. This removes all sniper weapons from the game.
For games such as Battlefield, the class option and items all stay, but you cannot use snipers.

So what do you think? Could this work and if it was implemented would you use it?

EDIT: For peoples information... I'm not the one complaining about online snipers, this is a idea I give to people who do complain.

And the game most people complain to me about is Battlefield Bad Company 2.

So no elitism here thank you.

ahh and this was one of the beautiful things about socom, which socom 4 is coming out soon so i will be enjoying it again, is its all custom games, so many people outlaw certain weapons, sometimes sniipers, sometimes ONLY snipers

but regardless, why do you have THAT big of a problem with snipers? i have a huge bone to pick with shotguns but i dont take it THIS far

 

[murphy7801]

A good sniper is a necessity on the battlefield and I'd hate to not have them around. I think the best solution against bad snipers is to just troll the shit out out of the ones on your team and to incessently knife the ones on the other team. Or if you're a server admin, just ban them.

Oh wait, consoles, hur hur.

Anyhoo, smoke grenades - not just for concealing your advance. *trollface*

The joys running your own server thank for reminding me.

 

[DogofRaw]

I always find being the best sniper on the server effectively limits how many other people want to play as a sniper. This is in BFBC2 mind, having to play against aimbots, lag, bad hit detection and a sky full of 40mm grenades nullifys that tactic in MW2.