SnipeR

Thoughts On Current Weapon

I laid out my thoughts on the rifles in the disclaimer, so I won't repeat them for the sake of brevity.

Potential Ideas

I want the rifles to focus more on being more of a midrange damaging option, and I see this being best done by starting with adding a functional clip and reload feature, allowing the Sniper to fire more shots at a faster speed but have downtime with a reload. This can be combined with reduced damage per shot and either reduced zoom on the scope and/or damage fall-off to extenuate the idea that long range damage isn't the most effective. I'd also suggest an alternative system instead of critical hits to reward headshots, as crits (and mini-crits, for that matter) completely negate damage fall-off.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Bazaar Bargain is a prime example of an improperly handled snowball effect. The weapon is a straight downgrade to stock when starting out, yet after 2 headshot kills, you are now perfectly even, and any more headshot kills from there make your rifle a straight upgrade in every sense of the word, up to the downright ridiculous cap of 100% faster charge rate (fun fact, even though the weapon claims it goes up to +200%, the game is hardcoded to not go above +100%, so it caps at 6 heads instead of 8). As cool as snowball effects can be at times (think the Air Strike), it is never healthy for them to erase a downside, let alone all of the downsides to using it, as this essentially just makes for a massive upgrade for those who were already winning.

Potential Ideas

I don't think Sniper can work well with a snowball effect, being as distant from the enemy as he is. I think rather that the Bazaar Bargain could be remade to have instant On Kill rewards that trigger just the once and aren't permanent stat boosts. This would keep the spirit of the Bazaar Bargain intact, but make it more accessible to those who aren't dominating the server and also keep said person dominating the server in check by not compounding multiple stat boosts on top of each other. As for a downside, I cannot be sure, but ideally something that isn't negated by the On Kill effect. An idea I've had in mind in the past was a downside that damaged the user, which could actually make the item set it has with the Shahanshah somewhat relevant, but I'm not entirely set on what form that could take.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Classic is... plain bad. There's no ifs or buts, the Classic has only a mere quality of life upside that makes closer range shots easier to go for, but downright brutal downsides that ruin any serious purpose you may have thought about using it for. It needs far more positives if this is gonna change.

Potential Ideas

Considering that I'm attempting to make the rifles more mid-ranged, I think the Classic either can actually stay the same and ironically be a neat alternative, or focus more on these unscoped shots that are easier to aim since you have no reduced mouse sensitivity while aiming this way, giving more specific benefits for aiming this way. Also, just like the Original, I would definitely tack on a description of "From another era."

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Hitman's Heatmaker is the weapon the Sniper bots used when they were around. Besides that, all you ever see of this weapon is in MvM. After all, the Bazaar Bargain outclasses it 9 times out of 10, and you're likely choosing a different rifle when it's that 1/10 situation.

Potential Ideas

The main part of the Heatmaker that is interesting is the fact the FOCUS meter can be activated at any charge level. Though I have my doubts about it being intentional since every sign points to it supposed to be only available when fully charged, this feature is currently unique to the Heatmaker and it'd be a shame if the reworked version didn't utilize it. Personally, one cool idea that I can think of for a new FOCUS effect that fits the whole "silent assassin" concept while providing a completely new effect to utilize would be... cloak! Obviously, not as long lasting as Spy's cloak, no damage resistance, and with the same downsides of being unable to shoot while cloaked and bumping into enemies etc, but it would provide for some very interesting plays that doesn't entirely ruin Spy's role but would open up a completely new way to approach playing Sniper.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Huntsman is the ONE Sniper primary that I'm actually okay with. (The joke is that I put "okay" in italics because actually there are many issues with it, please laugh!) The main two issues the Huntsman has besides the rifles being an objective upgrade over it in most cases is the fact that Sniper is too frail and doesn't have the mobility to stay in the frontlines for long, and much like the rifles - does everything in a single shot, resulting in it either doing a gross amount of damage in a single go, or doing absolutely nothing and making the Sniper in a super vulnerable position with a slow reload.

Potential Ideas

Like the rifles, I think the Huntsman would be best if it had a clip size (let's imagine it were refitted into a crossbow-like gun), being able to fire a few arrows quickly that did less damage per arrow to allow Snipers using it to have multiple chances to hit their target while also giving the enemy the chance to fight back even if they get hit by an arrow. I imagine a LOT more changes would be necessary to make the Huntsman's different mechanics fit the new streamlined rifles, but ultimately I don't think they'll be as hard to rebalance as the rifles.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Machina is... better than stock, honestly. The downsides do jack squat and the upsides, though not always applicable, are still definitely upsides and can turn the tides of the game with the proper shot. The only time I see it not being useful is if you're trying to be sneaky as Sniper (???) and the tracer shots are a genuine hinderance to your plan.

Potential Ideas

With the design of the Machina being sleek and futuristic, I think it deserves to be the most unique of the rifles, taking something about stock and pumping it up to the extreme at the cost of something else extreme. Not up to the levels of the Phlogistinator, mind, but something that stands out.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

I like using the Sydney Sleeper when I feel like being completely lazy and letting the rest of my team deal with enemies I lazily hit with simple bodyshots. However, this design is evidently not very interesting and is definitely not fun to fight.

Potential Ideas

I'd personally like to see the Sydney Sleeper encompass more of a damage/support role via having less damage output but dropping health packs on kills. This would get rid of the debuff on a hitscan weapon issue while also allowing the reintroduction of aiming for the head for huge damage that makes Sniper, Sniper.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The SMG is one of the most unfortunate secondaries in the game. Though it does have high accuracy, high shot count, and faster firing compared to the Pistol, it has almost half the damage and rarely gets the job done. Let's give it something to stand on its own two handles.

Reasons For Changes

This will give Sniper some much needed help with his self-defense moving forward on the rifles, and the reduced time to recover from random spread will now allow Sniper to have a fully accurate shot again after reloading without having to wait.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Cleaner’s Carbine is probably one of the most forgettable weapons in the game. Even when I think about explicitly Sniper secondaries, I tend to forget about the Carbine over the more interesting (and more effective) choices. It’s not that fun to use since gaining mini-crits is better done through other methods on Sniper (Jarate and Sydney Sleeper) and Sniper wants to go for critical headshots regardless. Heck, even if you plan to use the mini-crits just for the Carbine itself, it deals a whopping 6 more DPS than stock does at medium to close range, and if they're farther away than that you're usually shooting your primary weapon. It's gonna need something to actually look up to.

Reasons For Changes

Hear me out on this one. I know it seems silly to allow Sniper to gain Spy's cloak ability, but it would really open up new strategies for Sniper that don't entire invalidate Spy, especially with the fact you still have to use either the Carbine and/or Heatmaker first and annouce to the enemy team that your plan is to cloak behind them and go for sneaky plays, which fits the theme of the weapon of being a professional but silent assassin.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Cozy Camper is definitely a weapon that makes you feel more at home, but honestly? The stats it has are boring. Health regen is nice but not really anything to write home about, the no flinch stat is rare to trigger and often barely noticeable outside of being on fire, and the knockback resistance is more of a hinderance than a benefit. Let's make something new and fresh!

Reasons For Changes

Being a backpack, I thought that a cool idea would be the ability to swap weapons after scoring a kill, allowing a Sniper to have more variety in situations where resupply is far away. It still comes with the innate downside of not having an SMG, but it would allow for Sniper to come up with interesting combinations on the fly.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Darwin’s Danger Shield is an anti-Pyro tool on a class that didn’t need it. It’s only purpose now is to not be ignited by flares, which not only is super situational, but also doesn't need an entire weapon dedicated to the task. I'll be reworking it from the ground up instead.

Reasons For Changes

An idea that puts the "Danger" into "Darwin's Danger Shield", this one's purpose is pretty clear. You trade some of your health for improved mobility, allowing the user to get around easier and in more unique places, but can make escaping a little harder since you're more frail. A simple trade, really, and makes it so that Sniper doesn't have two survivability secondaries - which will come up soon via the Razorback.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

Piss-easy free damage. That’s pretty much what the Jarate is. Mini-crits only do provide +35% damage bonus to attacks, which may seem weaker than Mad Milk's 60% healing from damage done, but this skyrockets when the attack is made from further away, doing upwards of +170% damage from max range! This makes anyone on your team, no matter the distance, do crazy amounts of damage to any poor sap covered in the yellow stuff and basically guarantee their demise if visible. Oh, and did I mention that this jar charges on its own every 20 seconds? Crikey!

Reasons For Changes

Jarate shouldn’t charge with time and needs to start empty. Those are the things that needed changed right away, and replaced with a different method. Considering that damage varies a lot with Sniper, kills and assists seemed like a more reasonable route to go with instead of the usual damage to charge. I also made it just increase damage by 35% independently from mini-crits, making it not massively increase damage taken from far away while also making other sources of mini-crits not get cancelled out. This'll make Jarate not so free and not so oppressive.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Razorback is one of those weapons that counters one class only, but unlike some of the others, it doesn’t really do the job well. Sure, the Spy can’t backstab you (and won’t want to due to the electric stun), but they still have a revolver to use that will finish you off in 2-3 shots depending on which one they’re carrying. It also doesn't remotely encourage any sort of skill development from the Sniper, as the Razorback merely needs equipped to block a backstab, zero effort or awareness from the Sniper required, making it one of the few crutches still in the game. Let's make something better, shall we?

Reasons For Changes

With this, the Razorback is still the secondary choice to protect yourself, but now it applies to more than one class. It can help you survive for one more shot against flanking Scouts and bombing Soldiers/Demomen while making you a slightly easier target to Spies since it requires you to defend yourself without an SMG.

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Bushwacka is one of my least favorite designs for a weapon. Not only does it completely remove Sniper's weakness at close range with guaranteed critical hits, but rather that it is completely reliant on your weapon choice. If you don't have something to provide the mini-crits for you, being the Jarate, Cleaner's Carbine, or Sydney Sleeper, this weapon is directly worse than the stock Kukri. However, when you do pair it with these weapons, you get the sudden ability to deal guaranteed critical hits, arguably nullifying the close-range weakness Sniper is meant to have. Let's rework this one.

Reasons For Changes

The simple rework of this weapon already fixes a LOT of wrong with him by making him unable to have a pocket 195 at close range to nullify that weakness of the class, but in regards to the new stats, it's a fairly simple trade-off: kills heal you to get your current health up to 100 (unless you're at or above 100 already), but forces you to do the default Kukri taunt after said kill (which is actually pretty fast all things considered) after killing someone. Great to help reduce downtime after getting into a particularly damaging melee fight, but you'll have to have a plan for killing people you meet - you wouldn't want to get caught sending your regards while under attack!

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Shahasha—ahem, the Shanha… the Shahah… I give up. The "King of Kings" according to translation seems contradictory when you initially look at it, but it makes a little more sense once you think about it more. It's a weapon that you go more aggressive with, getting into scraps that cause you to be lower on health when it comes to melee combat to see the damage bonus come into play, but discourage passive play where you're often at full health and now have a damage penalty. Perhaps it could be changed to stand out more, but as I find it, this is a perfectly balanced weapon that is fun to use, fair to fight, unique, and simple to boot. No complaints from me.

NO CHANGES

Thoughts On Current Weapon

The Tribalman’s Shiv is quite bad, to be honest. The damage penalty is significant enough to where the bleeding really doesn’t matter. The only situation where it does make a big impact is when you’re attacking spies… which is again, not exactly the greatest weapon design in TF2 terms.

Reasons For Changes

Makes it more useful all around and not feel as 2010 to 2011-ey like it does now. Plus, it grants the creator’s ages-old request for the Shiv to use the proper edge when attacking.