Why so few Snipers?

[Defilade]

Other ranged classes do everything better than the sniper(except damage, though the method and delivery of the damage makes a HUGE difference). There seriously is not one thing that makes snipers superior over a sorc/merc.

 

And.. Of course after the Biochem nerf mercs/sorcs/ops are still able to get the 2.5k/5k heal medal, while this has been taken away from us. Sorry, there is my biochem QQ.

 

Bioware needs to either do away with cover or make it as unique and worthwhile as all us suckers that rolled snipers thought it would be. Right now its just a crippling burden, that also happens to be buggy.

[Dravinian]

Firstly, requires skill to play? rofl I played a sniper for awhile, it required no more skill than any other class. High DPS is easy because the class is ranged, as is the kills because it deals quick and instant AoE pretty easily pretty early on in the class design.

 

As a 32 Sage I have to spec my AoE, and it is ground specific, not single target, so I have to place it on the floor to use it, and its rubbish. Sure I might get another one later on, but it describes the discrepancy between the classes at an early stage.

 

Secondly, name me a famous sniper from Star Wars? No? Me neither.

 

For smugglers and scoundrel, you have Hans Solo, for Mercenary and BH you have Boba Fett, for the Force users you have plenty of choices, even for the troopers you have Jango Fett and the plentiful number of Clone Wars books, cartoons and whatever to become enamoured with a Trooper.

 

Operatives have more because they been flavour of the month for awhile and people moved to them, but even given that, there are not that many of them.

 

This is a Star Wars game, not like people rolled up to it with no preconceived ideas of what is "cool" in the game.

 

I knew what I wanted to play 3 years ago, was always going to be a force user.

 

These are the reasons that no one plays sniper.

[Zederok]

honestly?

 

Because Gunsliger and Sniper is not easy mode. You actually have to play well to survive.

 

Play a sorc or sage. You'll understand.

 

QFMFT

 

My Sniper is 25 currently, very very hard class to play and Cover has tons of issues its the reasons why I prolly wont go further unless I decide to go Lethality cause Cull is just "Boss".

 

Whereas my guildie plays a Sorc and he is absolutely a very bad player. KieyBoard Turns, Clicks half his abilities, and never got above 1580 rating in WoW's Arenas system, but in this game he routinely gets 8-10 Medals per WZ, has under 3 deaths, and can kill any class with ease except for Op's who got the drop on him and I wasnt around to Taunt off. Sorcs are grossely Overpowered and everyone knows it.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Paralassa
content quote

[Alkei]

To be effective sniper have not just DPS people from 30m away but take down required targets quickly in needed situations, requiring him often to be on frontlines.

 

I'd really like to see you "taking down quickly" 20k hp tank with his shield and +def ability up carrying the ball. You can't? Correct. But that tank can't mitigate or deflect missile or lightning. So who would you pick up for your premade if you're any smart?

Edited January 22, 2012 by Alkei

[MatchpointServe]

You only are top damage because I'm not in your WZ.

[CaptainInsano]

Mostly because they are the weakest AC in PvP at the moment. Yes, weaker than Marauders and Juggernauts, don't let anyone fool you. They have low group utility and don't do enough damage to justify being a turret class. There is a reason they are the least played.

[Awakelol]

A skilled Gunslinger/Sniper can still be very effective in WZ's.

 

 

The problem is, if they played Sorc/Sage or Com/Merc they would be even better.

[sjwho]

You want to know the REAL reason?

 

 

Its because snipers animations are bugged to hell. Snipe, the #1 skill they have to use, is bugged so bad that it bugs literally every 3rd shot. And you have to use it a lot as it is your only spammable skill till later when you can combo followthrough. Even then its still your most used skill.

-----------------------------------------------------------

 

Here are the other reasons:

 

1. They only have 1 viable tree for pvp AND pve(marks).

2. Their dps isn't top burst, and their energy runs out FAST(regens incredibly slow).

3. They are squishy in comparison to everything cept maurauder.

4. Cover is still bugged.

5. For utility or damage, sorc/merc is better.

6. They have horrible pvp armor.

7. Who wants to play a dps only class that has less dpds, utility, and survivability?

Edited January 22, 2012 by sjwho

[totofrito]

The energy system for sniper needs a bit of love.

 

cover system - works whenever it wants.

 

Ambush, needs a bit more love. Ambush should root the person in place imo to make it what it is. A long channeled ability that does crap dmg since is mitigated by everything.

 

Our level 50 skill.....is eLOheL "Target Acquired" needs revamp. It needs to match that of the Powertech "Explosive fuel"

 

 

also, you can tell this was the last class made. They dont even have Tech sniper rifles. We are missing some Sniper specific gear. A lot of the items are for Operatives Medics and operatives OP stealth rapeass.

 

Im currently lvl 23 sage....omg, i **** ***...so easy to play. Every 1minute, i get to make you use scape. If im low, ill elevate you run away and heal to full and come back and **** you. lol so easy. snipers are clunky and needs love

Edited January 22, 2012 by totofrito

[sjwho]

Oh also like to add that if you dps someone and you are still in combat, you regen a total of 5 energy per second.

 

5. PER. SECOND.

 

 

So basically unless you can get ouf of combat by some miracle(as you remain in combat for random times regardless of actions taken or not taken).

 

You just run around goin "yipee i get max 30+ energy while sorcs get double their original!" while every other class rolls you over since you can't initiate a skill.

[DrekorSilverfang]

because huttball

[ZDProletariat]

because huttball

 

What the hell are you talking about? As a sharpshooter, you will have 6 energy a second which is more than enough for any player that has half a brain to sustain their burst unless they stay combat for longer than a few minutes spamming all their skills, which is unlikely.

 

As for your points above, you seem to not fully understand the class very well. You make it out to be far more horrible than it really is.

[sjwho]

What the hell are you talking about? As a sharpshooter, you will have 6 energy a second which is more than enough for any player that has half a brain to sustain their burst unless they stay combat for longer than a few minutes spamming all their skills, which is unlikely.

 

As for your points above, you seem to not fully understand the class very well. You make it out to be far more horrible than it really is.

 

Its awful, sorry. i already posted why.

 

Go figure you quote the spam instead of mine.

 

"its not that bad" oh really? What do you have thats better?

 

Dps-no

utility-no

Healing-no

tanking-no

 

Any combined better than any class with the same combination? NO

[Bbizzle]

Because they do white damage. The only damage type being mitigated by shields and avoided with defense. Why go out of your way to gimp yourself when you can just roll a class that can roll thier face across the keyboard and never get defended against due to it all being yellow damage.

[dcgregorya]

Here's why in short.

 

- Mercenary is easy. Sniper is hard.

 

- Mercenary can respec healing, sniper cannot.

 

- Mercenary survives easier than sniper.

 

Basically, mercenary > sniper.

 

Repeat points 1-3 for sorceror.

 

I play gunslinger, and I often get top damage and top kills, but I *work* for it. I've got so many keybinds I have to add shift+keybind around my main WASD keys just to use everything I need to use to stay alive and do my job. On top of that, I have to content with cover in place refusing to work for several seconds at a time and tab-targeting just being utterly terrible for dealing with stealthers who come up upon you. I need fast reflexes to do my job and the game is too stuttery and buggy at the moment.

 

So the long story short is that mercs/sorcs do everything a sniper/gunslinger does, but they do it better and with less effort.

[Slamz]

The real reason is because nobody says "Hey I want to play Star Wars. I hope I can be a sniper!"

 

Who says that?

 

Jedi yes. Sith yes (thanks to Darth Maul, mostly). Bounty hunter yes. Trooper yes. Smugger yes. Sniper...? Agents in general...? Who the heck was an Agent in Star Wars? They could have kept them almost as they are now but called them "Imperial Officers" or something and they'd be way more popular.

 

 

So that's the #1 reason.

 

 

Personally I have a Sniper alt and love it. I have a screenshot somewhere of scoring #1 in damage as a level 11. I think that was actually in Huttball too. I just get up on the platforms and snipe nonstop. Even better now that he's level 25 and has that energy regen ability.

 

But I think a lot of people don't realize you need to ditch to roll-to-cover ability and use only the static screen. And that you should additionally pick it up and put it down periodically to refresh your Marksman tree abilities (damage absorb, insta-snipe...)

 

Sniper is hugely fun in PvP. I might even like it more than my BH and that's saying a lot. They sure as heck aren't weak.

[ZDProletariat]

1. They have two viable pvp specs, not one.

2. Their DPS is still amazing, even if it's not the absolute top.

3. The operatives/scoundrels, the assassins, and the marauders have pretty much the same ability to survive.

4. There are three pvp armor sets to choose from, and you can mix and match them if you wish. How are they horrible?

 

It just sounds like you don't understand the class much at all.

[Bartes]

Because Sniper is not a solo class. If you play one as such and rack top kills and damage in warzone - you still suck and contribute little to team.

 

How you are suppose to play with group when you need to stop for few seconds to pop cover, cast some 1,5 - 2,5 seconds skill then cast 2-3 other skills that are bound to the first one to be effective to maintain burst and still hope that your group or enemies will be near you? Rly, in most cases (WZs) enemies break LoS or they are on top of you if you somehow manage to do significant damage. Cover mechanic is a handicap IMO not bonus.

As some said earlier it really doesn't protects you from anything except few absorbs or CC immunity if you want to waste GCD to cast it. Typical rotation after popping cover uses like 4-5 skills which (depending on buffs/alacrity value) may take up to 6 secs + few GCDs and in that time you will break your root/stun on target, the target will prolly stun you or pull you out of cover and finally will be on top of you doing 10x more damage then you. Not to mention, as said before, that in some cases 2-3 of your abilities will be mitigated.

I play SS gunslinger and what I mostly notice is absorb, absorb, absorb then crit or two for like 2-3k and Return to medcenter. And that's on light armored target FFS! I don't have bad gear for PvP and I try to play with group but I can't expect that my group will stay around me and guard/heal/wait for me to do my job, right? SS/gunslinger is more like turret with no purpose.

[sjwho]

The energy regen is.....1 more per second(out of 100).

 

Wooooooooo

Edited January 22, 2012 by sjwho

[Slamz]

Oh, Hutball protip for snipers:

 

Don't kill people unless you really have a good reason to. I just shoot everyone down to about 20% health and switch targets. They kill our ball carrier, the ball goes to someone with 20% health, bam, dead, we get the ball back.

 

Healers I will look for and aim to kill, and ball carriers of course, but most other people I aim to wound and leave mostly dead. My ideal setup is a bunch of bad guys with a sliver of health each. (This also avoids sending them back to their spawn, where they will meet your ball carrier going the other way...)

[Delease]

Snipers don't do anything better than other classes and are far less versatile. Not to mention that all of the snipers damage aside from dots, goes through every ones shields and everyones defenses. IE If I see a sniper is about to ambush me, I hit dodge button, it will miss. Where as with merc, none of their main abilities are defendable or go through main shields, so a merc spamming tracer missile at me, I can't dodge, I have to LOS it or stun him.

 

So in essence ranged dps is done better by mercs, sorcs, close up DPS is done better by the melee classes. Sniper really brings nothing to the table.

 

Yea that is a big problem. They really need to either

 

1. change damage type the class does

2. up the damage to compensate

 

Nothing worse then firing off a casted shot only to see absorbed. I run from heavy armor wearers because our damage is mitigated big time because of this issue.

 

I crack up when I end up in melee range and my shiv ( melee attack ) is doing more damage then most of the ranged shots I have.

 

Plus the cover system is..wonky. Along with the fact I have to be in cover to do anything worthwhile. Like my knockback, I have to be in cover..while other classes run around and do it, I have to take an extra GCD to get my KB off.

 

Up the damage, change the damage, increase our max range to 40m, remove cover only requirement on some of our abilities

[sjwho]

1. They have two viable pvp specs, not one.

2. Their DPS is still amazing, even if it's not the absolute top.

3. The operatives/scoundrels, the assassins, and the marauders have pretty much the same ability to survive.

4. There are three pvp armor sets to choose from, and you can mix and match them if you wish. How are they horrible?

 

It just sounds like you don't understand the class much at all.

 

 

1. Marks is the only pvp spec. Operatives pull of lethality a LOT better than snipers because of stealth.

 

2. Their DPS is burst, so no, its not amazing. Its extremely low overralll and inconsistent. ALSO IN PVP it gets mitigated like 2-3 times for tanks.

3. Exactly, the same one with consistent dps.

4. ALL the amor sets look like junk.

 

 

But hey, be blind mr wk.

[ZDProletariat]

The energy regen is.....1 more per second(out of 100).

 

Wooooooooo

 

Like I said, it's obvious you don't understand how to manage your energy, and therefore play your class.

 

Oh, now I get it. The armor LOOKS bad. lol oh well yeah, then I agree. Obviously the class is complete junk because the armor looks bad. Woe is us.

Edited January 22, 2012 by ZDProletariat

[CaptainInsano]

1. Marks is the only pvp spec. Operatives pull of lethality a LOT better than snipers because of stealth.

 

2. Their DPS is burst, so no, its not amazing. Its extremely low overralll and inconsistent. ALSO IN PVP it gets mitigated like 2-3 times for tanks.

3. Exactly, the same one with consistent dps.

4. ALL the amor sets look like junk.

 

 

But hey, be blind mr wk.

 

In fact, lethality is complete garbage for Operatives and actually decent for Snipers. Mixing DoTs with a class that relies on burst damage and ability gates didn't go over so well.

[Slamz]

The energy regen is.....1 more per second(out of 100).

 

Wooooooooo

 

The biggest help is getting you out of the rut. When you run your energy down and are regenning slowly, that +1 per second is HUGE. It also keeps you out of the rut a little bit longer.

 

The Powertech ability that auto-vents 8 heat every 6 seconds is just as huge for the same reason. Keeps their gun out of the "high heat rut" a little longer and gets them out of it much faster than normal. It's a big impact.