OP
🤝
So first off here’s the changes I’m proposing:
1) Revert s21 Sniper to s20 Sniper (75 damage amongst other things)
2) Reduce Sniper Rifle damage from 75 to 70. (Non-Medic clssses now die from 1 Snipe 3 AR hits instead of 1 Snipe 2 AR hits. This may seem small but it’s actually a big nerf.)
3) Medics receive armor that ignores 20 damage of snipes. (Snipes now only do 50 damage to Medics, allowing them to now not get 1 hit as long as they keep their HP above 50)
4) Sniper Rifle maximum range reduced from infinite to match Ripper’s range (Backs can no longer sit 3 coords back and allows a ripper to counter sniper easier)
5) Sniper HP raised from 75 to 80 but gets 1 hit by Snipes.
I believe the Season 20 sniper was very balanced in term of gameplay - probably something along the lines of 90 class rating if Marine is assumed to have a 100 class rating. While it could be very useful on maps like KR if consistently landing shots, it still gimped the squads ability to push or fight in many areas.
However, the main problem with that sniper was it was just unfun to play against - especially when you consider how it affects medics. Medics were of course the easiest snipe targets because if they didn’t keep their HP above 75 they could be 1 hit. As a medic playing against a sniper, you are constantly forced with the decision to a waste a heal on yourself when you have 50-75 HP to make sure you don’t get 1 hit rather than dodge it out and save your energy to heal another player with you. It completely changes energy management for medic when playing against snipers which hurts the medics ability to provide heals to rest of team. It also is extremely easy to die from snipe as medic in addition to just feeling lame as fuck for rest of team when a medic dies to a well timed snipe at start of the battle.
Most know that Season 21 introduced an old version of the sniper class that included:
1) Sniper Rifle doing 64 damage instead of 75.
2) Minimum range added to Sniper Rifle.
3) Sniper Rifle reload changed from Universal to Normal (if you press any other weapon while it is reloading, it resets it back and takes another 4.5 seconds)
4) Throwing Knives Removed
5) Hand Grenade limit reduced from 3 to 1
6) Sniper HP raised from 75 to 80 but is 1 Hit from snipes.
Season 21 changes to sniper were just excessive and rendered the class unplayable. 64 Damage Snipes were tested and I think everyone can agree that they aren’t lethal enough to be a concern, especially when RPG does 50 HP damage with lower reload, easier to hit, etc.
Before anyone tries to argue well “everyone voted to remove sniper” .. simply isn’t the case. If remember right, 39 people voted to remove it and 30 people voted to keep it. That’s less than 60% of players voting to remove it. A change that drastic like removing a class should require a super majority I.e. 75% or more support.
Regarding implementing these changes, I believe we should put them in asap and test briefly in the off season with a public poll at end of off season on the website or by using discord (discord has an advantage that we could restrict only players who played in S21 to vote.) Allowing everyone to vote whether or not keep the changes or not is much fairer than restricting class change votes to only captains. If a captain doesn’t want to run a sniper, it makes their vote biased and as we saw last season, captains didn’t consistently vote on behalf of their squad mates but rather their own interests.
1) Revert s21 Sniper to s20 Sniper (75 damage amongst other things)
2) Reduce Sniper Rifle damage from 75 to 70. (Non-Medic clssses now die from 1 Snipe 3 AR hits instead of 1 Snipe 2 AR hits. This may seem small but it’s actually a big nerf.)
3) Medics receive armor that ignores 20 damage of snipes. (Snipes now only do 50 damage to Medics, allowing them to now not get 1 hit as long as they keep their HP above 50)
4) Sniper Rifle maximum range reduced from infinite to match Ripper’s range (Backs can no longer sit 3 coords back and allows a ripper to counter sniper easier)
5) Sniper HP raised from 75 to 80 but gets 1 hit by Snipes.
I believe the Season 20 sniper was very balanced in term of gameplay - probably something along the lines of 90 class rating if Marine is assumed to have a 100 class rating. While it could be very useful on maps like KR if consistently landing shots, it still gimped the squads ability to push or fight in many areas.
However, the main problem with that sniper was it was just unfun to play against - especially when you consider how it affects medics. Medics were of course the easiest snipe targets because if they didn’t keep their HP above 75 they could be 1 hit. As a medic playing against a sniper, you are constantly forced with the decision to a waste a heal on yourself when you have 50-75 HP to make sure you don’t get 1 hit rather than dodge it out and save your energy to heal another player with you. It completely changes energy management for medic when playing against snipers which hurts the medics ability to provide heals to rest of team. It also is extremely easy to die from snipe as medic in addition to just feeling lame as fuck for rest of team when a medic dies to a well timed snipe at start of the battle.
Most know that Season 21 introduced an old version of the sniper class that included:
1) Sniper Rifle doing 64 damage instead of 75.
2) Minimum range added to Sniper Rifle.
3) Sniper Rifle reload changed from Universal to Normal (if you press any other weapon while it is reloading, it resets it back and takes another 4.5 seconds)
4) Throwing Knives Removed
5) Hand Grenade limit reduced from 3 to 1
6) Sniper HP raised from 75 to 80 but is 1 Hit from snipes.
Season 21 changes to sniper were just excessive and rendered the class unplayable. 64 Damage Snipes were tested and I think everyone can agree that they aren’t lethal enough to be a concern, especially when RPG does 50 HP damage with lower reload, easier to hit, etc.
Before anyone tries to argue well “everyone voted to remove sniper” .. simply isn’t the case. If remember right, 39 people voted to remove it and 30 people voted to keep it. That’s less than 60% of players voting to remove it. A change that drastic like removing a class should require a super majority I.e. 75% or more support.
Regarding implementing these changes, I believe we should put them in asap and test briefly in the off season with a public poll at end of off season on the website or by using discord (discord has an advantage that we could restrict only players who played in S21 to vote.) Allowing everyone to vote whether or not keep the changes or not is much fairer than restricting class change votes to only captains. If a captain doesn’t want to run a sniper, it makes their vote biased and as we saw last season, captains didn’t consistently vote on behalf of their squad mates but rather their own interests.
Gentlemen 
Phenylephrine HCI 
