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Post by ransurian on Mar 31, 2017 5:17:48 GMT
First of all, kudos to Bioware for ME:A. The game's open world format is a breath of fresh air, and I'm having more fun with it than any previous ME title. However, the game feels rough around the edges in a few spots, and one of those "spots" happens to be weapon balance - or the rather glaring lack thereof. Some of the game's sniper rifles in particular seem egregiously overpowered, mainly due to their versatility at all ranges.
In the original Mass Effect, sniper rifles felt somewhat more like... well, sniper rifles. Their exceptionally high zoom and relatively low sustained DPS often made them unwieldy and ineffective at closer ranges compared to assault rifles and shotguns, but the tradeoff was being able to safely pick off enemies at great distances. Sniper rifles had a niche - a specific purpose that they excelled at.
Fast forward to Andromeda, and sniper rifles like the Black Widow, the Valiant, and even the Viper can be effortlessly used to devastating effect at virtually all ranges, even at point blank. Why struggle to bring a single enemy down over a protracted period of time with an entire assault rifle magazine when, for example, you can just whip out your N7 Valiant and quickly plug two or three rounds into its head? Why bother trying to close the distance to use a shotgun like the Piranha when you could've wiped out most of an enemy encampment in that time with a Black Widow? Why bother having any other weapon equipped when you can just slap on a vintage heat sink and decimate everything with a semi-automatic sniper rifle?
I'm currently playing through the game on Insanity, and sniper rifles have utterly trivialized my experience whenever I've used them. Something needs to be done to emphasize their intended role while discouraging their use in CQB -- significantly more zoom, less rounds per magazine, and less damage per shot, perhaps. As it currently stands, many sniper rifles in ME:A are rendering most of the game's assault rifles obsolete. Assault rifles are supposed to be the jack-of-all-trades weapon, but sniper rifles perform better than assault rifles at all ranges, and have completely superseded them.
I hope this issue receives some attention from Bioware. Questionable animations, bugs, and lengthy planetary exit / entry cutscenes are certainly issues, but combat is a huge part of the game, and it deserves to be balanced sensibly.
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Post by Doctor Fumbles on Mar 31, 2017 5:24:07 GMT
I don't see the issue here. SR are finally in a good place in a game, and you want to them to be shitty? I just don't understand. SR should be able to take a camp out at 100 meters.
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Post by colfoley on Mar 31, 2017 5:27:34 GMT
I think part of the problem is this is kind of what people wanted from it. I have seen at least ONE post that was thanking them for being able to use Sniper Rifles more in close up scenarios. And honestly if I could swing an M-82 around in combat and use it like the Valiant or Black Widow....I'd do so.
The other big problem is that enemies refuse to engage beyond a certain distance. You can shoot them to your hearts content and they barely react. This works not only for Sniper Rifles but for all weapons with a scope. On the one hand I have never felt more like a Sniper before until I have played ME A...but on the other hand there is no silencer technology in MEA so the Kett should be able to figure out where you are. But, a lot of people I doubt like taking advantage of this because it makes the game a lot more...uh...what's the word...boring? Not the way the combat system was intended to be used?
The easiest fix for this would be to add Kett with similar capabilities. Either small land vehicles that once they realize they are being sniped they come out to try and chase you, or some Kett units with embeded Sharpshooters in the mix. The lack of cover in some of the open world areas of Andromeda makes sniping bit of a dangerous act if the enemy could reliably hit you back.
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Post by KaiserShep on Mar 31, 2017 5:30:31 GMT
This and ME1 are the only games in the franchise where sniper rifles truly feel meaningful and at home, so I'll take them being powerful as hell.
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Post by colfoley on Mar 31, 2017 5:32:38 GMT
This and ME1 are the only games in the franchise where sniper rifles truly feel meaningful and at home, so I'll take them being powerful as hell. I forgot about the Explosive Rounds I put on Ashley and Garrus. Watching those Krogan Mercenaries explode then fly half way down the mountain was a thing of beauty.
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Post by rahavan on Mar 31, 2017 5:50:37 GMT
IMO I think that if anything other guns need to be buffed up. Shotguns a little bit along with some pistols (most pistols though are bad). ARs need a damage buff desperately same with SMGs. Also get rid of the stupid beam augment, what a joke.
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Post by crom on Mar 31, 2017 6:48:48 GMT
The sniper rifles are perfect in this game for what it is. Love my Black Widow
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Post by fenris on Mar 31, 2017 8:08:27 GMT
Good! Sniper rifles is my "go to" weapon in ME I love watching those little heads explode
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Post by kiranis on Mar 31, 2017 8:51:33 GMT
This and ME1 are the only games in the franchise where sniper rifles truly feel meaningful and at home, so I'll take them being powerful as hell. Can't recall how most other snipers were but in ME2 the Widow was silly powerful, especially if you combined it with an infilrator. Otherwise ARs feel kind of meh, falcon is still great, shotguns felt okay for me at least the N7 Valiant packed enough of a punch.
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Post by chugster on Mar 31, 2017 9:10:43 GMT
I do think sniper rifles need more zoom, the scopes seem exactly the same as the AR scopes. Long range sniping is harder than in the OT and as the OP says, the new AR-style scope makes alot of the ARs useless.
Increase the zoom and everyone is happy.
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Post by neoiceman on Mar 31, 2017 9:55:34 GMT
First of all, kudos to Bioware for ME:A. The game's open world format is a breath of fresh air, and I'm having more fun with it than any previous ME title. However, the game feels rough around the edges in a few spots, and one of those "spots" happens to be weapon balance - or the rather glaring lack thereof. Some of the game's sniper rifles in particular seem egregiously overpowered, mainly due to their versatility at all ranges. In the original Mass Effect, sniper rifles felt somewhat more like... well, sniper rifles. Their exceptionally high zoom and relatively low sustained DPS often made them unwieldy and ineffective at closer ranges compared to assault rifles and shotguns, but the tradeoff was being able to safely pick off enemies at great distances. Sniper rifles had a niche - a specific purpose that they excelled at. Fast forward to Andromeda, and sniper rifles like the Black Widow, the Valiant, and even the Viper can be effortlessly used to devastating effect at virtually all ranges, even at point blank. Why struggle to bring a single enemy down over a protracted period of time with an entire assault rifle magazine when, for example, you can just whip out your N7 Valiant and quickly plug two or three rounds into its head? Why bother trying to close the distance to use a shotgun like the Piranha when you could've wiped out most of an enemy encampment in that time with a Black Widow? Why bother having any other weapon equipped when you can just slap on a vintage heat sink and decimate everything with a semi-automatic sniper rifle? I'm currently playing through the game on Insanity, and sniper rifles have utterly trivialized my experience whenever I've used them. Something needs to be done to emphasize their intended role while discouraging their use in CQB -- significantly more zoom, less rounds per magazine, and less damage per shot, perhaps. As it currently stands, many sniper rifles in ME:A are rendering most of the game's assault rifles obsolete. Assault rifles are supposed to be the jack-of-all-trades weapon, but sniper rifles perform better than assault rifles at all ranges, and have completely superseded them. I hope this issue receives some attention from Bioware. Questionable animations, bugs, and lengthy planetary exit / entry cutscenes are certainly issues, but combat is a huge part of the game, and it deserves to be balanced sensibly. Yes i think the same, why should i bother take my PAW or Scorpio with me? My BW did the same job but better. SR are to much more multipurpose than other weapons, higher Zoom with the scope and less damage if not aimed should take the problem out. Its the same in Multiplayer, the guy with ARs and MPs shooting one magazine in the shield and another in the health to kill someone, my Widow fucks the shield and the healthbar in one go, in less time.
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Post by kpeter on Mar 31, 2017 10:02:20 GMT
Yes i think the same, why should i bother take my PAW or Scorpio with me? My BW did the same job but better. SR are to much more multipurpose than other weapons, higher Zoom with the scope and less damage if not aimed should take the problem out. Its the same in Multiplayer, the guy with ARs and MPs shooting one magazine in the shield and another in the health to kill someone, my Widow fucks the shield and the healthbar in one go, in less time. No, and just no. Snipers are most likely the only guns that are working as intended. It's everything else being underwhelming. Plus why should it deal less damage unscoped? It's just the same in the end, you pull the trigger and it shoots.
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Post by Cyan_Griffonclaw on Mar 31, 2017 11:23:46 GMT
I don't see the issue here. SR are finally in a good place in a game, and you want to them to be shitty? I just don't understand. SR should be able to take a camp out at 100 meters. My thoughts exactly. At least two or three kills before they start honing on your location.
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Post by peligrad on Mar 31, 2017 11:36:13 GMT
I haven't noticed snipers being too strong in my experience thus far. But I have noticed certain other weapons being very weak.
Shotguns and the talon pistol seem to hang right in there with sniper rifles.
It's the assault rifles and smgs that just seem a little "meh".
I remember getting my first Rev AR and thinking it was going to be awesome considering the clip size and look of the gun.
I was expecting it to be a Sci-Fi BAR. Then I started shooting stuff... It sounded fierce but shot airsoft BBs.
That's been my experience with all the ARs, but to a less extent.
I haven't even touched SMGs because their stats are the same as ARs but less accurate/worse
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Post by insanityoverload on Mar 31, 2017 11:51:37 GMT
Yes i think the same, why should i bother take my PAW or Scorpio with me? My BW did the same job but better. SR are to much more multipurpose than other weapons, higher Zoom with the scope and less damage if not aimed should take the problem out. Its the same in Multiplayer, the guy with ARs and MPs shooting one magazine in the shield and another in the health to kill someone, my Widow fucks the shield and the healthbar in one go, in less time. No, and just no. Snipers are most likely the only guns that are working as intended. It's everything else being underwhelming. Plus why should it deal less damage unscoped? It's just the same in the end, you pull the trigger and it shoots. Actually one of the loading screens says that sniper rifles already deal less damage when not scoped in. This is already a thing.
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Post by neoiceman on Mar 31, 2017 11:53:00 GMT
Yes i think the same, why should i bother take my PAW or Scorpio with me? My BW did the same job but better. SR are to much more multipurpose than other weapons, higher Zoom with the scope and less damage if not aimed should take the problem out. Its the same in Multiplayer, the guy with ARs and MPs shooting one magazine in the shield and another in the health to kill someone, my Widow fucks the shield and the healthbar in one go, in less time. No, and just no. Snipers are most likely the only guns that are working as intended. It's everything else being underwhelming. Plus why should it deal less damage unscoped? It's just the same in the end, you pull the trigger and it shoots. No they dont work as intednet, an Sniperrifle is called Sniperrifle for an reason and that is an Scope that magnifice round about between 4x and 12x in most cases, here it only have 2x - 2,5X and reminds me more of an ACOG. And the less damaged without aimed is to simulate graze shots, you cannot think you aim perfectly point blank with an SR. They are to strong anyway, i clear all without hard times on insanity, but with weapons like an AR und Pistol you have to watch out. I think all weapons are good balanced only the SRs are to strong.
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Post by kpeter on Mar 31, 2017 11:55:19 GMT
No, and just no. Snipers are most likely the only guns that are working as intended. It's everything else being underwhelming. Plus why should it deal less damage unscoped? It's just the same in the end, you pull the trigger and it shoots. Actually one of the loading screens says that sniper rifles already deal less damage when not scoped in. This is already a thing. I know. but its just bollocks. it was already a thing in me3.
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Post by kpeter on Mar 31, 2017 11:57:05 GMT
No, and just no. Snipers are most likely the only guns that are working as intended. It's everything else being underwhelming. Plus why should it deal less damage unscoped? It's just the same in the end, you pull the trigger and it shoots. No they dont work as intednet, an Sniperrifle is called Sniperrifle for an reason and that is an Scope that magnifice round between 4x and 12x in most cases, here it only have 2x - 2,5X and reminds me more of an ACOG. And the less damaged without aimed is to simulate graze shots, you cannot think you aim perfectly point blank with an SR. Im not saying you can always aim perferctly point blank with an SR. Im just saying the non scoped damage penalty is bollocks. How does the gun "know" if you aimed with the scope or not. You just pull the damn trigger. For the bullet it also makes zero difference, it just comes out with the same weight and same velocity.
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Post by neoiceman on Mar 31, 2017 12:01:46 GMT
No they dont work as intednet, an Sniperrifle is called Sniperrifle for an reason and that is an Scope that magnifice round between 4x and 12x in most cases, here it only have 2x - 2,5X and reminds me more of an ACOG. And the less damaged without aimed is to simulate graze shots, you cannot think you aim perfectly point blank with an SR. Im not saying you can always aim perferctly point blank with an SR. Im just saying the non scoped damage penalty is bollocks. How does the gun "know" if you aimed with the scope or not. You just pull the damn trigger. For the bullet it also makes zero difference, it just comes out with the same weight and same velocity. But not aimed at the target and thats why you must immulate grazed shots, or the accuracy must drop to 10 if not aimed, one of these two things must come to balance the SR to other weapons.
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Post by kpeter on Mar 31, 2017 12:09:54 GMT
Im not saying you can always aim perferctly point blank with an SR. Im just saying the non scoped damage penalty is bollocks. How does the gun "know" if you aimed with the scope or not. You just pull the damn trigger. For the bullet it also makes zero difference, it just comes out with the same weight and same velocity. But not aimed at the target and thats why you must immulate grazed shots, or the accuracy must drop to 10 if not aimed, one of these two things must come to balance the SR to other weapons. Lower accuracy makes sense, but lower damage doesn't.
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Post by lastpawn on Mar 31, 2017 12:23:16 GMT
I agree with the OP.
If devs have an interest in keeping the various weapon classes about even, either sniper rifles need to be nerfed slightly, or other weapons need to be buffed a bit. Also too many weapons not worth crafting.
While we're at this, why is the sidewinder so mediocre when it was featured so prominently pre-release? And while we're at that, why does its loading animation look like that?
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Post by neocodex and 23 others on Mar 31, 2017 12:28:34 GMT
The Black Widow is so good in SP. I haven't even tried other sniper rifles yet. I think I'm in love.
That. Sound.
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Post by ShadowAngel on Mar 31, 2017 12:30:21 GMT
Snipers seem just as effective as previous games to me. No joke I used them close quarters, mid range, or long range, they don't have a weekends lol. However in Andromeda they're really the only weapon tier that do damage, most of Andromedas weapons suck asss, so make them better rather than making snipers less viable, you're doing game design incorrectly nerfing things to the ground.
Some people seem to forget how effective the widow was in the OG trilogy too, don't be suprised that it can take entire health bars out.
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Post by kpeter on Mar 31, 2017 12:34:09 GMT
I agree with the OP. If devs have an interest in keeping the various weapon classes about even, either sniper rifles need to be nerfed slightly, or other weapons need to be buffed a bit. Also too many weapons not worth crafting. While we're at this, why is the sidewinder so mediocre when it was featured so prominently pre-release? And while we're at that, why does its loading animation look like that? Well, if everything will be piss poor in the end its also some kind of balance. Don't want the only good stuff to be nerfed. Thats the wrong approach. The bad stuff should be buffed. Shotguns and assault rifles in general are very underwhelming. Snipers were just as good in previous ME titles,or even better. Look at Me2 Widow, or look at ME3 Javelin. But you didn't need a whole clip of AR bullets to just remove only half the health or shield bar of a basic opponent. We had viable choices among assault rifles and shotguns that could just deal as much damage as snipers. Hell, even some pistols and smg's were very good.
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Post by mordrek on Mar 31, 2017 13:09:52 GMT
First of all, kudos to Bioware for ME:A. The game's open world format is a breath of fresh air, and I'm having more fun with it than any previous ME title. However, the game feels rough around the edges in a few spots, and one of those "spots" happens to be weapon balance - or the rather glaring lack thereof. Some of the game's sniper rifles in particular seem egregiously overpowered, mainly due to their versatility at all ranges. In the original Mass Effect, sniper rifles felt somewhat more like... well, sniper rifles. Their exceptionally high zoom and relatively low sustained DPS often made them unwieldy and ineffective at closer ranges compared to assault rifles and shotguns, but the tradeoff was being able to safely pick off enemies at great distances. Sniper rifles had a niche - a specific purpose that they excelled at. Fast forward to Andromeda, and sniper rifles like the Black Widow, the Valiant, and even the Viper can be effortlessly used to devastating effect at virtually all ranges, even at point blank. Why struggle to bring a single enemy down over a protracted period of time with an entire assault rifle magazine when, for example, you can just whip out your N7 Valiant and quickly plug two or three rounds into its head? Why bother trying to close the distance to use a shotgun like the Piranha when you could've wiped out most of an enemy encampment in that time with a Black Widow? Why bother having any other weapon equipped when you can just slap on a vintage heat sink and decimate everything with a semi-automatic sniper rifle? I'm currently playing through the game on Insanity, and sniper rifles have utterly trivialized my experience whenever I've used them. Something needs to be done to emphasize their intended role while discouraging their use in CQB -- significantly more zoom, less rounds per magazine, and less damage per shot, perhaps. As it currently stands, many sniper rifles in ME:A are rendering most of the game's assault rifles obsolete. Assault rifles are supposed to be the jack-of-all-trades weapon, but sniper rifles perform better than assault rifles at all ranges, and have completely superseded them. I hope this issue receives some attention from Bioware. Questionable animations, bugs, and lengthy planetary exit / entry cutscenes are certainly issues, but combat is a huge part of the game, and it deserves to be balanced sensibly. I'd say the weapons need to be buffed up. 1 shot kills with a sniper rifle is what you want. It's just that most of the NPC's are bullet sponges with the other weapons. It shouldn't take a full clip to the body of a standard chosen or raider to kill him.
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