Rifleman Archive

yepper.

i pointed this out on the GCWforum when that patch note was first hinted at.

also, ranges get very very buggy in large battles. I have a screenshot of me getting incapped by a large turret that was 92m away from me. it engaged me at about 70m (supposedly the max at that time).my client saidi was 75m away, but server/client issues make a 5m variance understandable in my mind. however, when i ran back away from the turret and still got incapped (and killed), i decided enough is enough.

rifles aren't meant to take out structures anyway, so now i just run counter-infantry against any imp defenders.

still, several things in the game hit from beyond 64m. they could increase rifle ranges if they wanted to.

Don't get me wrong. I think it is ridiculous and totally unrealisticthat rifles have only a 64m range. I also dislike the way the reasoning for why it is limited to 64m is being explained. We all know they can increase it. However, we need to get over the idea that they are going to increase the range, because they won't, and pushing this issue is only going to lead to us getting nerfed and nerfed badly.

First, we have to suspend some disbelief here. Yes, with a .50 cal sniper rifle, I could put a hole through the engine block of a vehicle from a mile away, and, therefore, any personal armor an individual could wear.Even so, if youtake a direct hit to thehead with a.50 cal bullet, even if you are wearing a helmet, you are going to fall down and you are going to be unconscious or disorientedwhether the bullet penetrates the armor or not. It is also true that somebody shooting a .44 magnum from that same distance would have virtually no chance of hitting you, especially if they were running around trying to keep from getting hit. On the other hand,a .22 cal pistol only takes one hitin the appropriate spotto kill you just as dead as one hit from a 120mm shell from an M1A2. In a game, however, you cannot have that kind of realism and remain balanced, and you cannot have it so everything is a one hit kill. So weapons are given different characteristics, and those characteristics have different strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes they match reality; sometimes they do not.In short,reality is a guide, a framework, but not an option when it comes to game balancing.

With that in mind, calling for longer, more realistic ranges is only going to get more changes to balance that advantage: higher speed caps, lower damage, or other negative balancing factors to balance out the fact that no one can hit you at range. This is not something we want. PvP, or even PvE, is not about being untouchable, abouthaving the most ubber weapon, but about using your weapon and classstrengths and minimizing their weaknesses. It is about being smart.

Having a weapon with a longer range is not going to make us smarter, and the "balances" that will come with it will only make us weaker as a profession. Besides I can guarantee you that you will never be able to be at a range that other ranged professions cannot hit. Forget it. It is not going to happen. Yes, there are ranges from which meleers cannot hit, but melee gets an unrealistic 16 - 20m lunge (52 - 66 feet, that is more than one and a half to over two first downs!) and they can always pickup a ranged profession to supplement it. If Rifles can hit at ranges that even other ranged professions cannot hit, then the only answer would be for everyone to have rifle skills, and that is not something the Devs are going to put in the game.

So, please, drop the calls for longer ranges. It is only going to bring the nerf bat, and this one will say "Louisville Slugger" and be made from ash, not foam rubber.