Rifleman Archive
Thread: Our 3rd Question(Version 2.1)- All Riflemen, Please Read. [Updated Again!]
Here is our 1st question to the Devs and their reply to us. Followingit is a proposed 3rd question as a follow-up. I would like as many Riflemen to comment on it as possible and providerelevant feedback. Whether you want to be a Sniper, Infantryman, or something else altogether, we wanna hear what you have to say! Thanks! 
Note: The most updated version of this question which is also on page 2, has been moved here so it is easier for everyone to find 
Question 1:
Rifleman: What is the Development team’s vision for Rifleman with the upcoming combat system overhaul?
Development Team: The vision for the rifleman hasn’t changed. They are still intended to be the long range snipers and that will stay the same. What will change is the mechanical balance - - especially with the HAM revamp portion of the CB. The new HAM system will be much more dynamic and as a result will change the focus on “mind hits”. I don’t know to what degree, but that is something that will surely be looked at.
(Proposed)Question 3:
Given the constraints of the current battle system, the Rifleman class does not feel that their role canfit that of a sniper. A sniper needs range(in excess of 300 meters), concealment(radar invisibility), and power that results in the majority of kills requiring but a single shot(think in terms of 10x our current damage or greater). These requirements cannot be met now and even if they were feasible following the Combat Rebalance, it would severely overpower the Rifleman class and imbalance the entire combat system.
Since being a true sniper is not possible given the above limitations, we would like to see the Rifleman profession shaped as more of a hybrid between a Sniper and a standard Infantryman. Many Riflemen feel that our Mindshots and Headshots are toomuch a part of what 'makes us what we are'to just give them up in order to make us purely Infantry. This fits with your stated vision of us. However, as many(or more) members of the Rifleman community feel our AoEs are too integral to the profession to give up even though they do not fit the Sniper role, but rather that of the Infantryman. As it is now, the Rifleman profession is very close to this hybrid and would require very little change aside from fixing a few broken or redundant specials. (Yes, we know- in addition to whatever the CB brings 
)
All that said, our 3rd question to the Development Team is this: Do you agree with the above and will you work to adjust your views to reflect this or do you see the Rifleman profession as one of 'sniping and nothing more'? Please explain why or why not. Thank you!
Message Edited by XaverriJade7 on 06-03-200410:19 AM
Message Edited by XaverriJade7 on 06-03-200404:23 PM
Message Edited by XaverriJade7 on 06-11-2004 04:30 PM
Message Edited by XaverriJade7 on 06-11-2004 04:39 PM
well, as a new rifleman I dont think my voice matters a lot, although I do agree with you.
tbh, I chose rifleman to be the first prof I did, but that was with the melee modifier, etc.. so I quickly gave up (yes I know 
).
now I'm retaking it, plain because of its dmg types and AP. I dont want to be a pvp god, hell, I rarely even pvp (and if I do, I sure as hell go as fencer..)
the prob is that the devs dont realise (or didnt at release anyway) that 64 meter is nothing, espec with all the mobs being so fast. so as you said, they have 2 options:
1) increase our range AND our radar (no use being able to shoot from 200 meters when not detecting anything there..) --> game totally unbalanced
2) change their vision
because of this, I totally agree
ps: after typing this I read that it is just the same as your post
realvorda wrote:
well, as a new rifleman I dont think my voice matters a lot, although I do agree with you.
tbh, I chose rifleman to be the first prof I did, but that was with the melee modifier, etc.. so I quickly gave up (yes I know
now I'm retaking it, plain because of its dmg types and AP. I dont want to be a pvp god, hell, I rarely even pvp (and if I do, I sure as hell go as fencer..)
the prob is that the devs dont realise (or didnt at release anyway) that 64 meter is nothing, espec with all the mobs being so fast. so as you said, they have 2 options:
1) increase our range AND our radar (no use being able to shoot from 200 meters when not detecting anything there..) --> game totally unbalanced
2) change their vision
because of this, I totally agree
ps: after typing this I read that it is just the same as your post
All comments are helpful. Regardless if they are from a long time Rifleman orsomeone new to the profession.
Things have changed since many of us finished our grind. So the concerns we may have from what we remember may not be the same as they are now because of changes made to the game.
Lets keep the comments comming from everyone.
Looks good XaverriJade7, pretty airtight question, nicely worded, great job. Heh! Imagine if they answered it like this.
I never used to be this cynical.I think we should sacrifice accuracy while moving for a higher amount of damage than other range professions. It doesn't make sense that a Rifleman is able to stand up and kite another player and get off as many shots as they currently do.
I feel Carbineers are already the foot soldiers of the game.
I feel that our class right now is more along the lines of a gunner. A normal infantry grunt. However we still have some of the sniper aspects (bear in mind this is the WW2 version of a sniper not today's military assassin's) available to us...they're just less appealing to be used the way they should be and can be outshone most of the time by our grunt skills. Well why should we be forced to take one side take it or leave it? Why can't we continue to be a split class with our options available to us.
When they answered us, and told us we were to become just snipers in the game, part of my character died. If we were to send this and tell them we just want to be infantry my character would be revived in that part, but another would die off. Ask them to give us, or rather tweak,both of our roles. Tailor our weapons half and half to work with half of our skills but be a horrid choice for the other. A sniper gets drawbacks against a horde of enemies advancing quickly and a machine gunner gets disadvantages taking on justa handful ofguys at range. If they were to make our rifles decide our role, and allow us todecide our rifle then the game would get a lot more interesting for a rifleman in combat and give PvP a few more factors.
PsychoticChipmunk wrote:
I feel that our class right now is more along the lines of a gunner. A normal infantry grunt. However we still have some of the sniper aspects (bear in mind this is the WW2 version of a sniper not today's military assassin's) available to us...they're just less appealing to be used the way they should be and can be outshone most of the time by our grunt skills. Well why should we be forced to take one side take it or leave it? Why can't we continue to be a split class with our options available to us.
When they answered us, and told us we were to become just snipers in the game, part of my character died. If we were to send this and tell them we just want to be infantry my character would be revived in that part, but another would die off. Ask them to give us, or rather tweak,both of our roles. Tailor our weapons half and half to work with half of our skills but be a horrid choice for the other. A sniper gets drawbacks against a horde of enemies advancing quickly and a machine gunner gets disadvantages taking on justa handful ofguys at range. If they were to make our rifles decide our role, and allow us todecide our rifle then the game would get a lot more interesting for a rifleman in combat and give PvP a few more factors.
There really isn't much difference between a WWII sniper and todays military sniper. The role and abilities are pretty much the same. Only some of the equipment has changed.
The point of the question is to show how we can't really be snipers. Though we can have some sniper like abilities. Though we barely even have those presently. The only true sniper like ability we have now is ConcealShot.
SniperShot is just a ranged DB. That isn't very sniper like since it can only be used in PvP and only against an incap'd opponent. Snipers are not limited to killing someone that is not moving and semi-concious in real life.
MindShot and HeadShot are not very sniper like either. They are just pool targeting attacks that pretty much every profession has. Yes it says "Head" in it. But that has no real bearing in the game other than how the Devs made Mind the determining factor in PvP. In PvE it has no greater effect than being able to target any other pool since almost all MOB pools are even nor do they generally heal themselves.
You say the sniper is at a disadvantage against large numbers of targets while the gunner part is disadvantage against a small group at range.
Neither statement is really true. One of the primary abilities of the sniper in the military is the ability to cause fear. Eliminating the chain of command to cause confusion. Even when out numbered theycan very often stall or drive off an enemy.
The machine gun makes up for it's lack of accuracy by sheer volume. And the farther away the target is, the closer they have to come, and the more time the gunner has to take them out.
Now if we are talking about making certain weapons "sniper" weapons that would only work with sniper like abilities and other that only worked with the "gunner" type abilities. That may work. But then we have the problem about snipers in the first place. No range, no concealment, no very high sniper damge, etc.
If the Devs decide we are snipers they are going to have to revamp the profession. If we can convince them that we are infantry with maybe a couple sniper like abilities we keep what we have now. Then just fix a couple things like SurpriseShot and StartleShot.
Rifleman is a profession that mostly works. That's an advantage over a number of professions. I'd prefer to keep it working as is and fix a couple minor things instead of getting the whole thing turned upside down to fit a role we can't do given the limitations imposed by the Devs.
xavierwalls wrote:
Give us more range (200m). I would gladly take the more range at the cost of losing accuracy while moving. My point being is if we could shoot from more than 64m away we wouldnt have to run around as much.
They've said they can't increase ranges because of limitations of the game engine and bandwidth. If combat is possible at longer ranges, then the server has to send data about everything in that range and it'd become unplayable for dialup users.
You havea well-worded question on an important topic that could potentially produce a useful response, but I expect them to ignore the actual question and respond to part of the setup paragraph with some crap that they already said months ago, or to give some useless generic "wait and see" answer.