Hey all. I'm a regular to the Versus Saxton Hale server that Skial hosts (IP: 104.153.106.180:27016) and I had a suggestion to deal with Sniper, since I feel he is too powerful.
Some context for those unfamiliar: most classes have a way of getting a lot of damage quickly. Soldier can Market Garden, Spy can backstab, Demoman can set himself up to always have crits or set a large sticky trap. Heavy with uber can do thousands if positioned and timed correctly. Sniper, however, is a class that relies on consistent damage as opposed to certain hits that do particularly high damage. To do this, the mod is setup so that Sniper does headshot damage on any hit he lands, at least for the stock Sniper, the AWP, and most other sniper rifles. This seems fine on paper, but I think this design has backfired because it has made Sniper too dangerous.
It might seem fine since Demoman is also a class that does consistent damage as opposed to going for burst damage like Soldier and Spy. However, Sniper uses a long range hitscan weapon with no spread, whereas the Demoman is limited to certain ranges. The sniper rifle is also a much easier weapon to master than the grenade launcher, since, as Demoman, you have to account for the travel path of the projectile, Hale's momentum and movement patterns, as well as your own momentum. Sniper has to worry about none of this - he simply has to point and shoot. So it's very easy to rack up damage fairly quickly by either noscoping/quickscoping or charging all the way up. Either method is very effective for racking up a ton of damage. Sniper's unlocks are also great for helping him move around easily. Losing a bit of health to climb walls is no big deal for a class that gets one-shot anyways in this mode and using the Cozy Camper opens up even more opportunity to use this new mobility option.
It wouldn't be so bad if the sniper rifle also didn't have immense knockback. The Sniper can completely alter Saxton's direction and velocity when he is in the air with a simple body shot; not just "Hale" as the boss, but Saxton in particular, tied for the heaviest and hardest to budge boss iirc. Vagineer and Christian Brutal Sniper are even more badly effected by this. The amount of knockback Sniper can easily inflict on the boss can cripple Super Jump, one of the boss's most vital assets, making it virtually impossible for them to deal with clusters of people or take down other key threats like Medic if the boss doesn't go for all the Snipers immediately.
On top of all of this is that skial has a lot of really open maps which are very, very biased towards sniper. Toys, Dust Showdown, Weapons Depot, Jurassic, Egypt Spot, Streets and Urban Works are all favorite map choices in skial and they all have a very heavy Sniper bias. Urban Works had to be remade so Sniper couldn't be as dominant as he is, but the issue wasn't just the map. It was the class itself. Even older maps like Mann Co. HQ and Hakurei Shrine have serious sniper issues and Hale hemorrhages health if he doesn't deal with them right away.
But the real cherry on top is that Sniper has no class limit on skial, despite a general consensus among experienced and regular VSH players that Sniper, relative to the other classes, is very low effort/high reward. In my time playing Sniper, I have never had an easier time getting a ton of damage. Almost all other classes have some sort of risk to get a lot of damage. Scout has to survive a long time or goomba. Soldier has to have proper directional control, prediction and timing to Market Garden consistently. Pyro is...Pyro. Spy needs to position himself carefully and take the risk of getting close to Hale. Sniper just needs to not be noticed, something any class can do fairly easily. Engineer needs to do this too, and his setup is much, much riskier and more noticable once it is all said and done. I don't understand why Engineer would have a class limit when there is so much more risk to him, whereas Sniper has much lower risk while getting much more consistent results.
In my opinion, this should be tackled one of two ways. The first option is that Sniper has to headshot to get a ton of damage, and maybe bodyshots do increased damage but not headshot damage. It's difficult, but requires a fair bit of effort and isn't a free chunk out of Hale's health. The knockback should also be reduced if this route is taken. Sniper shouldn't have so much control over Hale's momentum. The second option is that a class limit is imposed on Sniper. I personally would say 2, but the general limit is 4. Sniper is one of the most powerful classes and to not give him a limit can hurt a lot on some maps.
TL;DR Sniper does too much damage for too little effort on a server where many of the maps are biased towards him, and he does not have a class limit. When there are multiple Snipers, killing them quickly is too important to Hale's game plan. He should either have his damage and knockback reduced, or there should be a class limit imposed on him.
Some context for those unfamiliar: most classes have a way of getting a lot of damage quickly. Soldier can Market Garden, Spy can backstab, Demoman can set himself up to always have crits or set a large sticky trap. Heavy with uber can do thousands if positioned and timed correctly. Sniper, however, is a class that relies on consistent damage as opposed to certain hits that do particularly high damage. To do this, the mod is setup so that Sniper does headshot damage on any hit he lands, at least for the stock Sniper, the AWP, and most other sniper rifles. This seems fine on paper, but I think this design has backfired because it has made Sniper too dangerous.
It might seem fine since Demoman is also a class that does consistent damage as opposed to going for burst damage like Soldier and Spy. However, Sniper uses a long range hitscan weapon with no spread, whereas the Demoman is limited to certain ranges. The sniper rifle is also a much easier weapon to master than the grenade launcher, since, as Demoman, you have to account for the travel path of the projectile, Hale's momentum and movement patterns, as well as your own momentum. Sniper has to worry about none of this - he simply has to point and shoot. So it's very easy to rack up damage fairly quickly by either noscoping/quickscoping or charging all the way up. Either method is very effective for racking up a ton of damage. Sniper's unlocks are also great for helping him move around easily. Losing a bit of health to climb walls is no big deal for a class that gets one-shot anyways in this mode and using the Cozy Camper opens up even more opportunity to use this new mobility option.
It wouldn't be so bad if the sniper rifle also didn't have immense knockback. The Sniper can completely alter Saxton's direction and velocity when he is in the air with a simple body shot; not just "Hale" as the boss, but Saxton in particular, tied for the heaviest and hardest to budge boss iirc. Vagineer and Christian Brutal Sniper are even more badly effected by this. The amount of knockback Sniper can easily inflict on the boss can cripple Super Jump, one of the boss's most vital assets, making it virtually impossible for them to deal with clusters of people or take down other key threats like Medic if the boss doesn't go for all the Snipers immediately.
On top of all of this is that skial has a lot of really open maps which are very, very biased towards sniper. Toys, Dust Showdown, Weapons Depot, Jurassic, Egypt Spot, Streets and Urban Works are all favorite map choices in skial and they all have a very heavy Sniper bias. Urban Works had to be remade so Sniper couldn't be as dominant as he is, but the issue wasn't just the map. It was the class itself. Even older maps like Mann Co. HQ and Hakurei Shrine have serious sniper issues and Hale hemorrhages health if he doesn't deal with them right away.
But the real cherry on top is that Sniper has no class limit on skial, despite a general consensus among experienced and regular VSH players that Sniper, relative to the other classes, is very low effort/high reward. In my time playing Sniper, I have never had an easier time getting a ton of damage. Almost all other classes have some sort of risk to get a lot of damage. Scout has to survive a long time or goomba. Soldier has to have proper directional control, prediction and timing to Market Garden consistently. Pyro is...Pyro. Spy needs to position himself carefully and take the risk of getting close to Hale. Sniper just needs to not be noticed, something any class can do fairly easily. Engineer needs to do this too, and his setup is much, much riskier and more noticable once it is all said and done. I don't understand why Engineer would have a class limit when there is so much more risk to him, whereas Sniper has much lower risk while getting much more consistent results.
In my opinion, this should be tackled one of two ways. The first option is that Sniper has to headshot to get a ton of damage, and maybe bodyshots do increased damage but not headshot damage. It's difficult, but requires a fair bit of effort and isn't a free chunk out of Hale's health. The knockback should also be reduced if this route is taken. Sniper shouldn't have so much control over Hale's momentum. The second option is that a class limit is imposed on Sniper. I personally would say 2, but the general limit is 4. Sniper is one of the most powerful classes and to not give him a limit can hurt a lot on some maps.
TL;DR Sniper does too much damage for too little effort on a server where many of the maps are biased towards him, and he does not have a class limit. When there are multiple Snipers, killing them quickly is too important to Hale's game plan. He should either have his damage and knockback reduced, or there should be a class limit imposed on him.