What I constantly see happening: People commenting on the Sharpshooter's ease-of-use , or overestimating their own abilities (especially in CQC) with the mech. They then use this self-serving baseline to argue balance issues.
As I've written before,
Nept, on November 17 2013 - 06:25 PM, said:
Presently, there are many players - and many community veterans - who believe themselves far more proficient with the SS than they actually are. They make this mistake because their SS experiences are limited to hiding behind teammates and sniping with far more support than they'd normally receive (against equally-skilled, knowledgeable opponents). Against high-level players, you've little target acquisition time, and few open sightlines. These players will use cover - of which there is plenty - to avoid SS fire and rapidly approach. If you're unable to respond instantly to directional shifts, and aren't hitting 80-100% of your shots, you will not be effective. There is very little margin for error.
Why that's frustrating: They're providing a false portrayal of the mech's abilities. In reality, there are very, very few good Sharpshooters.
Rei, on December 15 2013 - 04:38 PM, said:
You're right, they're very scarce.
That has been the case since I started playing in early Beta. Were the mech as simplistic and easy to use as is often argued, you'd see numerous Sharpshooters at the top-tier level; instead, you've a handful able to hold their own in 1v1 situations.
*Edit* You know all those people posting about how easy it is to use a Scout and who are utterly unable to use Scouts themselves_ It feels a lot like that.
My team comprises some of the top players in the game. I recognize that my experience with certain SS players is limited – too limited to draw conclusions on their abilities. However, I can gain a better appreciation by polling my players. The consensus amongst OmniStone, hestoned, Leonhardt, MagicalPancake, and myself echoes JeffMagnum's earlier opinion:
JeffMagnum, on December 12 2013 - 08:01 PM, said:
This entire post is basically Nept bait fyi. Anyway, I'd argue that SS is actually one of the hardest mechs in the game to play well and requires an immense amount of skill to play at a high level compared to other mechs, at least when enemies play intelligently. Sure, you have two hitscan burst weapons, but you also have terrible DPS, awful maneuverability, and no way to hit enemies that aren't in your LOS. Everyone acts like playing SS is mind-numbingly easy, but honestly I've only ever seen two SS players able to play the mech at anywhere near a mastery level--those players are Nept and Climatic.
If you aren't amongst the Sharpshooters in question, that's alright – it's only our opinion, after all. You are more than welcome to join our duels and demonstrate your CQC abilities against good players. Personally, I believe you'll be surprised with the mech's inefficacy against quality pilots. Regardless, please recognize that this isn't an “ego thing”. This is a “game balance thing”. Unless we accurately assess the mech's potential, we risk running it into the ground
only because a handful of players use it well. Whether that number is two or four or six, it's extremely low – far lower than we see with other mechs, and far lower than we'd expect to see were the mech the “master duelist” people were claiming it was.
Also, seems some people have forgotten my earlier post:
Nept, on December 12 2013 - 05:41 PM, said:
Lowest DPS and some of the poorest maneuverability in the game. Was an over-nerf.
That being said, I'm indifferent so long as they leave the firing mechanics alone. They make things interesting, and I don't want Adhesive fuzzy bunny with them.
Can I use the mech effectively as is_ Absolutely. Can the mech afford a movement increase_ Absolutely. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.
I apologize that my frustration with these recurrent events led to being more blunt than normal. However, I've been seeing the whole “look at all these amazing SS'ers” since I started playing, and I've yet to encounter them. Getting a bit tiresome.
Edited by Nept, December 15 2013 - 10:56 PM.