I really, really hope so. (Destiny)

by Harmanimus , Friday, January 12, 2018, 19:16 (2514 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY

You’re bang-on in terms of the analogies between scout rifles and sniper rifles, or SMGs and shotguns. There are major differences though.
Snipers and Shotguns have much much higher DPS potential, mitigated by limited ammo. They also have far more specific use cases.

Yes, you have to consider their benefit of burst damage and their overall ammunition pool. But their use-cases are generally based on range. The identification of snipers being too useful in D1 is associated with a general lack of draw backs to close range use (such as having a minimum range for bullet/aim magnetism to kick in or minimum crit ranges) with a variety of archetypes. Especially high Aim-Assist Snipers. But the specific use cases associated with them are based more actively around range. A shotgun and a sniper are at opposite extremes of the range/damage valley. They're on the hills at each side.

But a shotgun goes from 1-hit-kill to utterly useless . . . Sniper Rifles are extremely punishing against missed shots . . . as far away from enemy fire as possible, taking careful aim, pacing your shots, etc.

And here I'm thinking that our use of weapons in D1 was substantially different. I don't like sniping in PvP, camping lanes isn't exciting for me and I think quickscoping is a bane of modern shooters. But excluding slow-loing a NF in Y1 with Icebreaker I never had that specific experience with snipers in PvE. Period.

But all the kinetic and Energy Weapons will work with the same basic play style . . . the difference isn’t THAT great.

When it comes down to it, in D2, the differences between a shotgun and an SMG aren't that great. The only reason a Sniper is more different than a Scout is because of the slower overall TTK.

But the weapons aren't dictating most of the combat engagements or situations you are identifying, it is purely the range of your engagement. Yes, some may be more efficient (if you are hitting all your shots) but the specific weapon differences are more negligible. If you are engaging at the same ranges, you'll take the same cover. If you are engaging within melee range you will probably soften up and melee to secure the kill. If there was a high range Scout that could easily get a sub-one-second TTK in PvP people would likely use it exactly how you describe snipers get used.

There are absolutely subtle differences between . . . nothing that completely changes your approach to an encounter the way going from a D1 primary to a D1 Special would. And I miss that variety.

When it really comes down to it, selective changes to playstyle in D1, it isn't something inherent to the weapons themselves. That's my point. It would be nice to have more variety options available, like Scout Rifles that punch like trucks. Or a semi-auto shotgun that can't get a one-shot but has substantially more range and isn't a Power Weapon. Or having Machine Guns again.

Year 1 I used to play Crucible with Word of Crota, whatever shotgun or fusion seemed fun at the time, and Thunderlord. And WoC and TL both got used like Scout Rifles, because I used them at the ranges I used Scout Rifles. /shrug