So it has long been known that sniper rifles have damage degradation over distance – even before SOE included weapon stats in the game, numerous youtubers and infiltrators have known that nanoweave armor would allow an infantry player to survive a headshot at a given range. I was probably one of the handful of infiltrators who naysayed in the forums, telling people that; yes, it happens, but no, it’s not gamebreaking. As is the tendency to overreact on the forums, I probably leaned too far in the other direction, pretending that you could still be a good infiltrator regardless of this mechanic.
Perhaps something changed in GU09, or perhaps on Mattherson (and I’m sure other servers), the overall high level of cert points have lead more people to fit nanoweave. Or perhaps as HE was nerfed, more and more people are using nanoweave over flak. For whatever reason, I have never had this much trouble sniping, and while it doesn’t make me mad, I am finally convinced that this is broken and should be fixed. I do not believe sniper rifles need a direct buff, however I do think the headshot multiplier should increase, such that a headshot = kill with the bolt action rifles. You sacrifice so much in order to do it, and it is not an easy thing to accomplish unless your target is stationary. If infiltrators cannot reliably be rewarded for landing headshots on targets at long ranges, than you will seriously negate the strength of the class. Perhaps another fix would be addressing the degree of damage degradation over range, as that also is part of the equation that allows users to survive headshots with nanoweave armor.
Either way, I confess, the forums had it right, even if the message was over-emotional and reactionary. This is broken and severely hurts the class in a game with short TTK and unforgiving combat.
Also linked is the video from DrankTHEKoolaid who demonstrates the nanoweave issue in a controlled setting.
Sorry for the chatter in my video, we were goofing off during double XP weekend and I need to include the audio to capture the headshot sounds.
Stay frosty,
Mustarde
Down The Sights 