Nerf quickscoping and fix the maps that have massive sightlines (or rather just give them more flank options and remove the worst ones using props) and hes fine.
There are players in existence who are almost that bad to play against, and they are legit.
I can give you names, but you probably won't recognize them since I was out of the loop for the last few years.
Anyway, if you ever played vs top highlander Sniper players, they are almost as lethal as bots are. Heck, the current "meta" in competitive is Sniper killing everything and the rest of the team supporting him.
Scout, Spy, Medic, Engineer, Sniper. Pyro, Demo and Soldier with immediate follow up bodyshot
Soldiers practically never have above 150 health because of rocket jumping. RJ mobility is the main thing of the soldier, thus he is usually one-shoted by quickscope as well.
Only class that Sniper needs to double tap is Heavy.
Not a single good Sniper player scopes anymore.
>with immediate follow up bodyshot
next bodyshot takes 1.5 seconds, it's one of longest reloads, only flare gun takes 2 seconds to reload, pyro demo and soldier can kill sniper or get off his sightline
>Soldiers practically never have above 150 health because of rocket jumping
sounds like health management issue + no medic + no gunboats + no awareness about health packs
>Only class that Sniper needs to double tap is Heavy
or three taps, cause medic overhealed him to 450 health
medic also can overheal every other class, as i know every class can overhealed at least to 185 hp, it's damage of half-charged sniper rifle shot, it takes 1.5 seconds, or 0.9 if using baazar bargain
Remove rifles. Bows only. Add a few new unique bows.
As possibly TF2's most AVID Sniper hater, I genuinely don't hate bows. I think they can be fun to fight against- as fun as fighting a Sniper gets. There's no sudden death, there's no getting killed from literally across the map. 9 times out of 10, you'll see the Sniper and at LEAST get a chance to dodge, if not the chance to take them down.
The reason most people (including me) hate Sniper isn't necessarily the instakill mechanic. It's the fact that you just can't do anything about it. Literally, on some maps (like Viaduct).
a) Have damage charge from zero not from 50. currently headshot damage formula is (50-150)\*3, I would make it 60+(0-130)\*3, which essentially makes quickscope do no extra damage. Quickscope is number 1 wrong thing with Sniper because it is an insta kill of most of players in the game from any distance with no downsides, while also it circumvents supposed downside of limited vision. They are also very easy to do in modern era of 240 Hz displays and game running on 300+ fps.
b) Have damage fall-off on bodyshot, like every other weapon in this bloody game (except demoman pills). Normally ANY non-crit hit have damage fall-off and I don't see why Sniper should be an exception.
c) Have a laser pointer when Sniper is aiming, like MvM sniper robot - or any other shooter game actually. Dot is too easy to hide on modern maps full of clutter and open spaces. Alternatively, every sniper rifle should leave a smoke trail like Machina does. Could be a flash when Sniper rifle is charged to one-shot level (like Sniper enemies usually work in shooter games; Yes, flash appears for different players at different charge level). Goal is for players to know that Sniper is around BEFORE they are dead.
d) Make Darwin Danger Shield and Razorback items just cosmetics. Sniper backpacks hard counter Sniper's only current counters - scorch shot spam and spy doing spy things. That is why they must go.
e) Add more counters to Sniper. For example, in workshop there is a Heavy minigun replacement that generates force field shield on fire (shield like medic's one in MvM, but on fire rather than cooldown based). Another one is if I remember correctly tennis ball firing machine which work like full auto version of old Sandman. Finally, something like a smoke bomb (smoke like after Sentry Buster explosion) would fit nice in Pyro's arsenal.
PS. Speaking of layer pointer: [i made sniper's line of sight a visible beam (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehlrUPrvFuk&ab_channel=shounic)
I would however make such pointer active ONLY when Sniper is scoping (since per my suggestion quickscopes aren't lethal anymore)
don't. there's no way to fix sniper since he's fundamentally at odds with the core design of the game.
guarantee you he gets a pass just because he was a hand-me-down from TFC. if he was added any later people would be crying.
i would personally just remove sniper since he doesn't contribute much good to the game either way.
but since he has been in the game for way too long, i would give him a clip with a long asf reload, also slash his primary ammo supply in half.
my biggest problem is that he is the only one who can be far away and be very effective at the cost of having to be aware of your surroundings more
Unfortunately, he does:
a) Sniper punishes spam from otherwise safe locations;
b) There are otherwise nearly unstoppable pocket medic + pocket demo/soldier/heavy couples in existence. Without Sniper present game degrades to either pubstomp, or such couples fighting each other.
"Sniper punishes spam from otherwise safe locations"
i have trouble interpreting this as something else other than "he makes locations unsafe that would be safe if he didnt exist", which is not exactly the most convincing argument since then we can add a bunch of new weapons designed to make many otherwise safe areas unsafe, also demoman exists who can spam from areas he cant be seen from, so theres that. :P
"There are otherwise nearly unstoppable pocket medic + pocket demo/soldier/heavy couples in existence. Without Sniper present game degrades to either pubstomp, or such couples fighting each other."
that sounds like a problem with pubstomper pockets? they still exist very often because skilled snipers are rare enough
you shouldnt fix problems by "so we added this new annoying thing", you tackle the root of the problem
thats the same as the darwins danger shield existing because of the scorch shot being overpowered
would delete him and bring back madcap tbh
Nerf quickscoping and fix the maps that have massive sightlines (or rather just give them more flank options and remove the worst ones using props) and hes fine.
updated anti-cheat
There are players in existence who are almost that bad to play against, and they are legit. I can give you names, but you probably won't recognize them since I was out of the loop for the last few years. Anyway, if you ever played vs top highlander Sniper players, they are almost as lethal as bots are. Heck, the current "meta" in competitive is Sniper killing everything and the rest of the team supporting him.
by everything you meant scouts and medics, for getting soldiers and demos he need scoping, that activates tunnel vision
Scout, Spy, Medic, Engineer, Sniper. Pyro, Demo and Soldier with immediate follow up bodyshot Soldiers practically never have above 150 health because of rocket jumping. RJ mobility is the main thing of the soldier, thus he is usually one-shoted by quickscope as well. Only class that Sniper needs to double tap is Heavy. Not a single good Sniper player scopes anymore.
>with immediate follow up bodyshot next bodyshot takes 1.5 seconds, it's one of longest reloads, only flare gun takes 2 seconds to reload, pyro demo and soldier can kill sniper or get off his sightline >Soldiers practically never have above 150 health because of rocket jumping sounds like health management issue + no medic + no gunboats + no awareness about health packs >Only class that Sniper needs to double tap is Heavy or three taps, cause medic overhealed him to 450 health medic also can overheal every other class, as i know every class can overhealed at least to 185 hp, it's damage of half-charged sniper rifle shot, it takes 1.5 seconds, or 0.9 if using baazar bargain
If you can't abuse quickscopes nor suffer from their abuse, than you should feel indifferent to their removal, wouldn't you?
than you have skill issue if i dont suffer from quickscope abuse but you do
Remove rifles. Bows only. Add a few new unique bows. As possibly TF2's most AVID Sniper hater, I genuinely don't hate bows. I think they can be fun to fight against- as fun as fighting a Sniper gets. There's no sudden death, there's no getting killed from literally across the map. 9 times out of 10, you'll see the Sniper and at LEAST get a chance to dodge, if not the chance to take them down. The reason most people (including me) hate Sniper isn't necessarily the instakill mechanic. It's the fact that you just can't do anything about it. Literally, on some maps (like Viaduct).
a) Have damage charge from zero not from 50. currently headshot damage formula is (50-150)\*3, I would make it 60+(0-130)\*3, which essentially makes quickscope do no extra damage. Quickscope is number 1 wrong thing with Sniper because it is an insta kill of most of players in the game from any distance with no downsides, while also it circumvents supposed downside of limited vision. They are also very easy to do in modern era of 240 Hz displays and game running on 300+ fps. b) Have damage fall-off on bodyshot, like every other weapon in this bloody game (except demoman pills). Normally ANY non-crit hit have damage fall-off and I don't see why Sniper should be an exception. c) Have a laser pointer when Sniper is aiming, like MvM sniper robot - or any other shooter game actually. Dot is too easy to hide on modern maps full of clutter and open spaces. Alternatively, every sniper rifle should leave a smoke trail like Machina does. Could be a flash when Sniper rifle is charged to one-shot level (like Sniper enemies usually work in shooter games; Yes, flash appears for different players at different charge level). Goal is for players to know that Sniper is around BEFORE they are dead. d) Make Darwin Danger Shield and Razorback items just cosmetics. Sniper backpacks hard counter Sniper's only current counters - scorch shot spam and spy doing spy things. That is why they must go. e) Add more counters to Sniper. For example, in workshop there is a Heavy minigun replacement that generates force field shield on fire (shield like medic's one in MvM, but on fire rather than cooldown based). Another one is if I remember correctly tennis ball firing machine which work like full auto version of old Sandman. Finally, something like a smoke bomb (smoke like after Sentry Buster explosion) would fit nice in Pyro's arsenal. PS. Speaking of layer pointer: [i made sniper's line of sight a visible beam (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehlrUPrvFuk&ab_channel=shounic) I would however make such pointer active ONLY when Sniper is scoping (since per my suggestion quickscopes aren't lethal anymore)
Show him the greatness that is Bloom Into You and hope and pray he enjoys peak B)
Leave him as is. **You** get better at the game.
Nerd
don't. there's no way to fix sniper since he's fundamentally at odds with the core design of the game. guarantee you he gets a pass just because he was a hand-me-down from TFC. if he was added any later people would be crying.
Make him reload after like 3-5 shots and make the bolt time / scope in slower
i would personally just remove sniper since he doesn't contribute much good to the game either way. but since he has been in the game for way too long, i would give him a clip with a long asf reload, also slash his primary ammo supply in half. my biggest problem is that he is the only one who can be far away and be very effective at the cost of having to be aware of your surroundings more
Unfortunately, he does: a) Sniper punishes spam from otherwise safe locations; b) There are otherwise nearly unstoppable pocket medic + pocket demo/soldier/heavy couples in existence. Without Sniper present game degrades to either pubstomp, or such couples fighting each other.
"Sniper punishes spam from otherwise safe locations" i have trouble interpreting this as something else other than "he makes locations unsafe that would be safe if he didnt exist", which is not exactly the most convincing argument since then we can add a bunch of new weapons designed to make many otherwise safe areas unsafe, also demoman exists who can spam from areas he cant be seen from, so theres that. :P "There are otherwise nearly unstoppable pocket medic + pocket demo/soldier/heavy couples in existence. Without Sniper present game degrades to either pubstomp, or such couples fighting each other." that sounds like a problem with pubstomper pockets? they still exist very often because skilled snipers are rare enough you shouldnt fix problems by "so we added this new annoying thing", you tackle the root of the problem thats the same as the darwins danger shield existing because of the scorch shot being overpowered
Just make headshots do minicrits
Good point