Golden Azrael

I like knbk. The more annoying it is, the better. Azrael.

*Big smile! "LeandroToday at 6:07 PM Back to 12 second recharge and 14.352 end cost. Will now have a base 2.28 scale damage in their "quick" form. Every point of ToHit buffing the player has will increase this damage, up to a cap of 2.76 scale damage with +22% ToHit buff. Slow form will do 4.5 scale damage." :D Ty, Leandro. Can't wait to test this. Just caught this on Discord. *Breaths a sigh of relief. Big thanks. :)) Azrael.

This is absolutely not true. The Paragon Studios dev team "left" snipe in Issue 23. Issue 24 was in beta, and there are clear indications in the code and data that the snipes were not going to be "left" in the state they are currently in, had the studio not been shut down. For example, the sequencers data contains half-finished moves called "QUICK SniperBlast" (Q_SniperBlast, Q_SniperBlast2, A_Q_Sniperblast and A_Q_SniperBlast2) for the real animations to be used in Quick Snipe, rather than the unfinished hack that exists in Issue 24 Beta with the blast firing on frame 0 and having broken FX and bad synchronization for multiple powers. The current animation tweaks are more in line with what would probably have hit the Live servers when Issue 24 was finished, so I am pretty sure the animation tweaks are going live regardless of what happens to any other changes. When it comes to snipes, I am treating this Beta as a direct continuation of Issue 24 Beta. They were definitely not finished. Hello Leandro. Good to see that team SCORE are reading the feedback and listening. Ty for the response. 'Pitch perfect.' In terms of how it plays. Absolutely true. 'Just right.' Said Goldilocks. But that is subjective to me. Technically? You're in a better place to judge how the i24 beta was left. (That's SCORE's dept'. I'm not a coder, so I can't vouch for what's under the bonnet, obviously.) But in terms of how it plays...? It plays 'just fine' on live. Better than the previous snipe. And better than on Homecoming Beta. However, the technical revelations are intriguing. And should, perhaps, have been in with your 'patch' notes for the Beta to explain the motivation as you have done so here. So, basically, under the hood, you have 'fast snipe' and 'snipe 2' (ie auto snipe and standard snipe with a potential tweak. Ergo why the animations don't sync because they weren't quite finished. That's intriguing.) A 'fix' for graphical sync for a faster snipe makes sense. (Though I didn't notice too much wrong with how it triggers/animates on live? Unless I'm missing something?) Democratisation of powers is fine, in principle with auto available with 'no fuss.' It just works out of the box. Again, the faster up '1st strike' is fine. The extra 'up front' damage on 1st strike is fine. How auto triggers is 'fine.' 'SNIPE!' is cool. Those, in principle, are broadly welcomed and you could argue are in the spirit of the sniper changes the Dev's intentioned. The extra recharge time in combat? Clunky. The removal of manual mode? 'Less fun.' It would be nice to test the 'auto mode' with the original recharge times and see 'how it feels' or 'how smooth' it is under greater time pressure. The time nerf (in combat) seems an obvious step backward and the lack of 'option' to enter the mode via BU/AIM/PBoost 'feels' less fun to me. But the greater sniping populace may disagree. Regards, Azrael.

If you want something to 'bug fix' how about taking perma-hasten's 70% (I know with IOs you can get faster...) from behind the pay wall? I'd happily put x3 more slots in it to x6 slot it. Or...put back the KN bk boost in Power Boost from the en 2ndary. I didn't agree with either being taken away. Now that I'm enjoying Energy again, the Snipe is being made into a pregnant pause. And I waited 7 years to play it. You couldn't make it up. :) Asides from the puzzling snipe focus, the rest of what you're doing has been monumental. Servers smooth as butter. The graphic fixes clever. And a mountain of bug fixes. But I'm wary of changing the snipe when the devs had it spot on. I guess I've said what I like and what I don't like. My first beta feedback ever. Azrael.

I'd echo this sentiment. The Paragon Studios dev' team left snipe in 'pitch perfect' shape. You don't NEED an IO to have it playing 'most' of the time. I know. I have an en/en blaster with tactics. (My 1st time using that power.) Sure, I had to 'ask' how to get the 'to hit' instant snipe working. (That 'bit' isn't intuitive.) But taking tactics (which saves alot of acc slots...) and the new inherent perma energy power is a revelation. I have the 'end' and the 'acc' to trigger snipe....WITH AIM or BU or Power Boost. If I want it up for even longer? Buy aim inspires. They drop pretty often. So, the devs fixed the health issue in en blasters. They fixed the end issue that soaked En blasters. They gave en blasters a '3rd' heavy hitting power. Compared to Water blast? En or even elec seem slow and dated and lacked utility. Water was the future when I last played it on live. The changes to all blast sets of the ones I've experienced in EN/Elec or Ice are transformative. Sorting out the end and health regen issues is great. And I don't get de-toggled as easy, either..? My point. The auto snipe is perhaps something that doesn't need fixing. It isn't broke. And I can argue it isn't behind an IO pay wall because I can use 'auto' snipe MOST of the time in a minute. 1. The tradeoff of taking tactics instead of stun or power push is hardly back breaking. The whole point of the game, even mainstream game is....'choices.' 2. I (!) can decide, manually, when to activate instant snipe mode. That brings 'gamesmanship' to the play. eg. Like the cool orange ring combos in dual blades. 3. It works and plays beautifully as is. Pitch perfect. I...don't like... 1. The longer 3 sec recharge whilst Domi's (I pay one, by the way...) get an 8 second snipe recharge cut. Eh? 2. The above makes it far more awkward putting snipe in the attack chain as you're waiting...and waiting for it...which means the scales have tipped back in favour of the mob. That's going back to i23. i24 was liberating. The Dev's had this one spot on. 3. Never has a 'timing' nerf spoiled my fun since the post i3 perma hasten nerf. (if I wanted to waste 6 slots making hasten perma, what of it?) 4. The inherent 'acc' 1.20? Has gone AWOL? (Did I read that right?) 5. It doesn't seem instant activating compared to live. Seems to be a slight pause compared to. I'm sure I've counted 'up to' 2 secs. It seems to vary. My imagination. But it doesn't not 'feel' instant. I do like the idea of... 1. Democratisation. But it kinda already is. And if I can have it up for most of the minute of combat without IOs anyone can. I'm no IO whizz. 2. The bigger 'up front' damage is decent. 3. 'Snipe!' fun stuff. 4. 2 second 'long snipe' on the standard opening snipe is ok. Trimming a slow activating power. That's in spirt of issue 24. (Which begs the question, you make it activate it quicker to recharge it slower? Eh? And in combat...why do you want snipe to be slower in your attack chain when the original devs (who, yes, didn't get everything right...) wanted this to equalise the older blaster sets with the new ones in terms of a 3rd solid single strike power with some utility in 2ndary. I've really enjoyed the attack chain with combo-ing the snipe withh other powers. Now? It feels clunky. Slow. Pauseworthy.) If it aint broke, don't fix it. For me, snipe was the one thing I was really looking forward to. And it plays perfect. And now someone is mucking around with it. I know it's beta... So here's my idea. 1. Put the darn recharge back to where it was. (That is as bad an idea to affecting play as was the range brainstorm.) 2. This one came to me last night before bed, have a 'manual' over-ride mode that is activates the 'auto' snipe if you have selected aim, bu or Pb. ie. Plays how it is now! You over-ride the auto. When out of AIM/BU/PB or AIM inspire? It defaults to auto. 3. Tie better recharge rates scaling with tactics. The more SOs in tactics the more efficient your snipe is. 4. I still feel you can get the auto and keep things as they by just slotting 'to hits' in aim. It's 3 slots. Hardly back breaking. 5. Keep the up front damage and the 2 second 'normal' snipe trim...I'm not opposed to 'everyone' having the auto snipe. But it's hardly a major problem having the code as it is now as a manual over-ride for those that want that autonomy? 6. I hope 'instant' means instant. It doesn't feel that way on test. I don't feel much has to change. Keep the up front dam / faster normal snipe initial strike. But allow the manual mode to activated as above. For those that don't care? They can have 'auto'. It may be that if the recharge time is taken back to 12 seconds it may not be necessary for a manual mode. But I like it. I think it plays better or more intelligently. Azrael.

Fair point. Azrael.

Answers on a postcard... Azrael.

What I think I'm asking for. We've had the chance to test the auto snipe changes with range put back. Can we test the auto snipe changes with the original recharge times? Please? :) Azrael.

Amen to that. Give me: 1. 12 sec recharge back. 2. AIM/BU or PB to trigger combat range. Done. Azrael. PS. I'm going to bat for Leadership tactics to trim that recharge time further by eg. 0.5 sec' per each SO to hit slot... (That would mean a recharge time of 3.5 to 4 sec snipe with hasten and leadership tactics on.) See? No IOs necessary.

In addition to the 'scale' with leadership tactics idea. What about whenever you use aim/bu/power boost or tactics you can reduce your recharge time. Using AIM+BU means a quicker, devastating attack. Using AIM or BU or PBoost will each give a time discount to recharge for snipe. For each 'slot' of to hit in Tactics it further increases your snipe efficiency to get your shot off quicker. That way, IF you keep leadership you keep the 'old' recharge time of snipe...? If you want an even faster snipe? Hit Aim. or BU. If you want a 'hit like a truck' devastating and even faster truck bosser hurter? AIM+BU! And squeezing out even more efficiency if you hit PB as well! AIM+BU+PB! I've never been part of a coh beta before. So this is a chance to be creative rather than be negative. Thoughtfully... Azrael.

I think they're open to ideas. 1. It's easy to have the 'auto' trigger feature AND keep AIM/BU and PB to trigger combat (a perk to reduce your recharge times with those..?) As a snipe blaster specialist. Makes sense that you can 'choose' to go into that mode at any time close or far range. Currently I can't use this without Leadership Tactics. It's my 1st time using leadership 'properly' on a blaster to any obvious effect. It 'felt' kinda rewarding. 'Cool' if you will. 2. Recharge back to way it was to keep the smoothness of feel. Other than range. This seemed like an obvious backward step. 'Feel' is off. 3. AIM + BU with your 'Hit Like a Truck!' for the initial out of combat range is fine. You can still use that in combat range too? Easy. In addition. I did like the idea further above that having tactics could reduce your recharge time. If you pick an 'aiming' power than surely you'll be a quicker, more accurate shot? Having it slot to scale with the power makes sense. It was a sound idea. It gives Tactics a validation beyond 'more' overall accuracy. The more confident you are as a marksman/sniper the faster you can pull of a shot. Azrael.

In one hand, this is easily solvable by making Aim and Build Up trigger the "in combat" flag. On the other, if you use Aim+BU with a slow snipe it really should hit like a truck. While the Aim text says it "slightly" increases damage, it actually increases damage by +62.5%, which is definitely not "slightly". Question is, do you ever use the slow snipe? If not, try the Fast Snipe proc in there and see how that "feels". And remember that Aim is not just ToHit. Thanks for the response to the posters above. I'd like AIM and BUILD UP to trigger the in combat tag. I think that's a good idea. (Also, I'd like en/en blaster to keep the Power Boost to trigger the in-combat tag). I think this is a good idea, Leandro. (You keep the auto-tag 'warning' for snipe for those that don't choose AIM and BU...but those that select those powers, you can 'trigger' the in combat tag 'outside' of the combat range. I guess I'm used to using my snipe now with AIM/BU or PB and 'AIM inspires' so I have plenty of choice to trigger. It now 'feels' odd not to have the 'snipe' circle trigger on test when I hit aim/bu or PB.) Ofc. In addition. Your 2nd point. AIM+BU used together (I don't tend to because I've spread their use out to 'trigger' the circle of snipe....but now I wouldn't have to...as is on test. But yes, AIM+BU should 'hit like a truck' (no chance of having that writing appear above the mob's head when you use that combo? :P ) My 3rd point. I think the 'main' thing or issue I have, other than being able to manually trigger the 'circle of doom' snipe is the recharge time. It's definitely lost the 'zip' and punchiness of combos in the attack chain. So, you 'insta-cast' to wait 'longer'. 15 seconds definitely feels wayyyy longer than 12. 9 seconds with x2 recharge SOs feels a lot longer than 7-ish seconds. With hasten? 6.3 to 7 secs feels longer than 5-ish. Just 'feels' off. It was alot 'smoother' and 'felt' better. It may only be 3 seconds unslotted difference to 2 seconds slotted for two and 1-ish for slotted and WITH hasten. But I can 'feel' that difference. In blaster terms? It's 'lost' something. It's the biggest obvious downer outside of range. i24 beta's snipe times gelled together the snipe with the other aspects of the powers and a hollistic whole. I can snipe-nova, I can snipe torrent, bone-smasher snipe...so many combos...because the wait time isn't epochal. I think that and the 'manual' trigger with AIM/BU/PBoost are my main issues with it. The recharge just slowed everything down (in my 'feel' experience.) The idea of democratizing auto-snipe (or other powers that have been behind the IO wall) was something I'd advocate. (I never was much of an IO-er. But for those that want to optimise their builds, it's there.) But the snipe is a great feature. Having to 'IO' it or pay £10 million for it seems off. For me, the penalty of choosing Tactics to get it and 3 slot to perma it would be fine. But I take on board the argument above, that Stamina...everybody took it. They baked it in. I can see why. It made 'non-stamina' builds (which i did a few times...) a thing of the past. Getting tactics and assault on Homecoming was a revelation. A bonus to damage and accuracy without having to slot everything double acc. It's saved loads of slots. As having perma energize has freed up a zillion end reduction slots on my En/En Blaster. Revelation. So, I can accept to have 'auto snipe' out of the box. Perhaps it should be that ONLY defenders or doms have to have Leadership to increase their damage output in comparison to specialist blasters. (I took Assault on my Domi to increase the so-so' tappy damage...and acc to aid my control powers...) I would have had them need to take leadership to get the auto-snipe too. But that's with my blaster hat on. With my def/domi' hat on, I might not say that. :P Regards, Azrael. PS. I have used the 'longer' snipe many times out of combat. It's certainly quicker to activate than the 'old' snipe. And it does hit harder and it DOES 'feel'(!) more satisfying with the 'SNIPE!' above the poor miscreant's head. Top marks on that one. Good humored but in keeping with the 'spirit' of the game.

I may be able to explain what you are perceiving as "slower." The cast time for Sniper Blast has not changed, it still is 1.33 seconds. However, if executed in fast mode, it would just shoot at frame zero, then a few frames later it would execute the arm movement, and stay there, slowly waiting to lower the hand for about 1.33 seconds. Basically, the entire FX and animation were all out of sync. The animation for all the 1.33 second snipes was altered so that now you lift your arm, point, and at frame 17 the shot is fired, then much quicker, but without skipping frames, the arm is lowered in place. The game internally runs at 30 frames per second, so 17th frame would be 0.567 seconds into the attack. That may give you a sense that things slowed down, but it also means you now spend less time after the shot rooted doing nothing. I understand that this may be a bit disorienting, but almost none of the interruptible sequencers were designed with the elimination of the interrupt window in mind. Only ones I think actually did OK were Blazing Bolt and Ranged Shot. Assault rifle was given a whole different animation in fast-mode, and this became way too apparent when the default animation at character creation was changed to display the fast version. Rest assured this does not change the DPA of the fast snipes. Ty for the explanation. ;) Azrael.

Amen. Azrael.

I never tried Assault Rifle and Devices. It always looked a brilliant and thoughtful set. Though my duo-buddy always felt he didn't do enough damage. I dunno...it always looked fun between the time bombs, trip mines, snipes and flame throwers....and...grreat explosions...! A thoughtful set? Azrael.

The ten second delay? (What, you LIKE the increased recharge time? from 12 to 15 seconds?) *rubs chin, thoughtfully. Azrael.

Could you tell us what blast set you are using? I just got on the test server and with fire blast, instant blazing bolt fires for me precisely as quickly as it does on live. If animation times actually are slower, that's an issue, but I'm not seeing it myself. Hello Mecha. Blast set I'm using is En/En blaster. Yeah. Dunno. I heard someone talk somewhere about server variance on power activation re: snipe. Thought nothing of it. Till I had a closer look. I 'felt' there was slight variance on test vs live. (My imagination?) It could be up to 2 seconds longer on test. Like the in/out of combat was getting mixed up? *shrugs. Perhaps somebody else can replicate it? I've tried to go back and forth a bit to live and test to see if my 'resistance' to change is colouring my vision. I think the biggest dark cloud for me is the recharge. It just mucks up how I feel about the democratisation of the auto-snipe. (Though I ahve managed to get the 'auto' feature with 'just' 3 SOs in Tactics...no IOs...I can use the auto snipe at least 3 times in a minute wihtout hasten and far more with hasten.) It 'seems' less exciting waiting 6.2/3 secs vs 5 seconds. and without hasten, 9 vs just over 7 seconds. Hard to believe a few seconds makes all the difference. But the original devs tested these numbers. I DO like the idea of 'auto' (I groaned at the idea of needing an £8 million kismet special IO to get auto feature.) snipe democratisation. Like I said, I had to ask around how to use this. Which isn't in the spirit of 'pick up and play.' I DO like the idea of trimming the initial activation of a 'loooong' wind up for everrrrrrry snipe. It's 'a bit' quicker. For sure. I DO like the SNIPE (bit of fun!) when you've torpedo'd a Nemesis or some such mob. I DO like the dollop of up front damage for the 1st 'out of combat' hit. It 'makes sense.' But... I DON'T like losing Range (yes, I know they've fixed that crazyyy(!) idea.) for what is a snipe specialism. I DON'T like losing the insanely(!) good and fun recharge. 7.2-ish without and '5 seconds' with hasten? (x2 recharge SO in Snipe and 3 slot SO in Hasten) Far, far smoother. I DON'T, now, like losing that link to AIM/BU and PB (for en' en blasters, you get a nice 'to hit bonus' for 15 sec...) as it creates a nice sense of 'intelligent' play like the orange circles you get for combos in dual blades. Is there any way to keep this, perhaps even bypassing recharge using these features? I don't like the idea of leadership tactics being 'redundant' and the link to aim/bu and P boost now 'lost.' The game management of mashing buttons isn't quite as fun. Oh. I said that above. :P Azrael.

Went back to Test Server. Without Hasten, Snipe is 9 second recharge x 2 SO recharge in snipe. My slow count was a definite 9. With hasten..? It appears to be 6.2? 6.3? Although my slow count seemed more like 7. Either way. 'Feel'. It felt slower on both counts compared to live. I'd like to test Snipe WITH the original recharge (12 as opposed to 15...) with the auto snipe feature on. (But I do miss hitting AIM/BU or PBOOST to trigger to hit auto snipe. It reminded me of the combo stuff on dual blades but or the blaster. I wouldn't be opposed to combo features for future blaster updates. By the way, as I've said before. None of these have IOs in my build. Just x3 SOs in tactics. That's it.) Just leave the recharge numbers where they were. They 'felt' better in the attack chain. Especially with energy. It's one of the older attack sets. Taking snipe back to being slower in attack seems a backward step from Beta 24. It activates faster so you can wait longer to use it. Uh? It seems smoother on live with the original recharge numbers. Now it's pause worthy. wait...wait just a bit longer...meanwhile you're getting blastered. I will commend SCORE on the 'live' numbers feature. Simple but elegantly done. Top, bottom or dead centre? I went for dead centre. Great feature. Great to see the numbers falling down. Good job on that Team ScoRe. Azrael.

Good catch. The countdown numbers indicators. I've just put this one. I'll post once I've checked the snipe out again. Azrael.

I've gone back to live to look at the numbers. 7.08 sec Recharge Time. (That's x2 recharge in my snipe power...) That's without Hasten. Hasten at 70% cuts that down quite alot. So it feels more exciting when you hit the Hasten button. I count the recharge time at 5 seconds with Hasten on. Hitting aim/bu or PBoost triggers snipe to activate immediately (this is with the Tactics toggle on x3 SO slotted for to hit.) There does seem to be a little server variance in the 'trigger' pull activation occasionally on the 1st snipe. Sure, it's longer if I don't hit AIM/BU or PB. It says, 4.33 secs? That's on live. But any of those buttons and it activates much quicker. Did they remove the inherent accuracy of 1.20 from Snipe in the test server? (Also, have the missing snipe damage numbers been 'found' yet?) Going back to the test for one more quick go. Azrael.

I think x3 slotting Tactics with to-hits and 3 slotting aim or build up are very mainstream ways of achieving a snipe specialism. The more slots you put in the more you scale your insta-status. Put them into BU-UP? You get a big 1st strike damage bonus. Put them into AIM? Triggers an insta snipe. Put them into tactics? They scale with slotting to get 'more instant' execuation. All done through slotting. You may have to sacrifice slots to your AoE or other powers (choices...) to do this. All very mainstream solutions. I never bothered with 'to hit' in AIM or BU UP before. It's x3 recharge and leave it. I never bothered with Assault and Tactics on my blaster before. It's been a revelation to trigger the insta-snipe after I asked around how to do it. (So, yes, the idea of not having to ask is very democratising. But having done it the AIM/BU/P BOOST and Tactics way? Somehow...less rewarding. And less fun because of the slow recharge time which has made energy seem quite slow again. And...it doesn't 'feel' instant.) Azrael.

That's a clever idea. Azrael.

Now. I'm going to reply to me. ;) That was yesterday. Leandro and team SCORE have been listening to feedback. Good. That's what we like to here. The original developers used to come across as a bit immutable at times. At least SCORE are listening! :D The Good. 1. Range seems better. 2. I do like the 'SNIPE' graphic for the 1st hit. 3. It comes with 1st strike bonus damage. 4. 2 seconds trims the fat for what was a lumberingly slow power (that was easily nudged to rub salt in the wounds...) to 2 secs from 3. The Bad. 1. It doesn't feel 'instant' ironically. 2. It seems to play slower. The Ugly. 1. Part of me still feels the original developers got this one right. Keep. 1. The 2 second long inital strike trim. 2. The opening target damage. 3. MAKE all in combat snipes fire instantly. (Unless test has lag issues...it seems to take 2 seconds to activate? On live it 'feel's instant.) Lose. 1. The biggest culprit other than range, the glaringly obvious without even needing to play it is? The Achingly long rechange time. It seems like a 'fun tax.' :P A formerly dev' approved attack chain has been made to feel slower, clunkier, less smooth. It feels 'slow' even with hasten. And in melee proximity. It doens't trigger instantly. It does on the live server..? I hit AIM, BANG! I hit build up. BANG! Power Boost? BANG. 2 aim inspires? BANG. I don't know if it's server lag. But lets keep it really simple. Out of melee opening gambit? 2 sec. IN combat close or at extreme range? INSTANT! 2. Remove the 'removed' link to AIM/BUILD UP/POWER BOOST for en/en blasters. I like this way of utilising the snipe. It seems intelligent play? It's fun too. GIves me something 'to do.' If I hit any of those, why not remove the recharge limit all together so I can fire SNIPE instantly? It allows me to keep the link to Tactics. If you three slot tactics you have an insta snipe. Or if you 6 slot AIM or BUILD UP for damage/to hit you have instant hit with no recharge at all. Just triggers a INSTANT HIT ring. Press and go. I still enjoy this method of 'clever' play as part of my attack cycle. It would keep the smoothness and speed I've become accustomed to in my attack chain. Otherwise, why bother taking leadership so much? I like the link to the snipe. It makes sense. It's a mainstream game choice. Just make it so it doesn't need x6 sniper IO set to trigger auto snipe. I appreciate the SCORE's philosophy of i26 aint a dead game but a living one. Their policy of fixing bugs and sorting out the bugs or glitches in the original artwork to 'work as intended' is fine. But was Snipe bugged? No. It was as the dev's intended. A trim of the original activation. Fine. A boost for 1st hit damage. The move to democratise features instead of behind an IO pay wall. I get the spirit of that. But the current snipe isn't. As such. Just do it through slotting. Put 3 to hits in AIM or BUILD UP. Simple solution. 3 slot tactics makes all blasters insta-trigger. But if you allow insta-tigger and it doesn't instantly fire or you have a yawningly slow recharge time then it's not very instant. And attack chain wise? Less intuitive, ironically, less punchy, less fun, more...well, 'they took the fun away.' That's the end result. It still doesn't feel 'fun' even with the latest changes. Removing the range limit was pure common sense. That didn't need testing. The recharge addition? Doesn't need explaining. It's made the attack chain more awkward. More 'wait...and wait...' We've had this insta-snipe fire (and with Hasten it comes around pretty quick...) but now it's a pregnant pause. Yep. Been on P.Isle tested it on Nemesis and war hulks and Death Mages. I don't kick ass anymore. I wait to kick ass. And I'm sure, 'one day' SCORE will create new archetypes, missions, arcs maybe even raise the level cap to 60 to sort out the MESS that is incarnate fussy non-intuitive incarnate system. (A great idea that didn't use the standard interface BUT SHOULD HAVE!) That I'm all for. But the dev's really got this right. Sure, you can argue that if you want it 'on all the time' it's stuck behind an IO pay wall. You need an £8-£10 milliion kismet IO. That I find annoying. So insta-snipe sounds great. Then it's oh. Range has been nerfed. (I never did like playing at that long range...but Insta-snipe has been fun targeting snipers and runners and playing from safe range because the snipe was much quicker with insta AND hasten.) Then it's oh. It takes ages to come round. And awkward 'ages' with Hasten. Anyway. I've done my 2nd round of testing. It's still not as good as live. You have some good bits. You've fixed the range. But the recharge time and link to AIM/BU/PBoost and Tactics needs re-engaging. Put the 3 seconds back to where they were. Re-store the intelligent gameplay link so that clicking anyone of those buttons means an instant execution. They're hardling gamebreaking. They each take 3/4s of a minute to come around and PB about half a minute. Azrael.

Are you reducing people's criticisms to "gut feelings" just because they didn't play on the beta branch? Don't you find that a bit ridiculous? 1. You don't need to play on the beta branch to know that ToHit (namely from tactics) is going back to being a useless endgame stat. 2. You don't need to play on the beta branch to know that people will have to re-work their builds and that new builds (on sets with snipe) will not work for other servers anymore. It's not just about the numbers. People have alot of experience playing CoH. 'Gut' feelings can trump numbers. eg. How it 'feels' to play. Numbers can say one thing. 'Feel' says another. Yesterday. The snipe felt(!) worse all around to me. I'm a mainstream non-IO (largely) player who does stuff through SOs and power selection. No maths or science here. Just 'feel' in. (Pun intended.) You don't need to play to know that nerfing range and and recharge is going to be a backwards step for something the original devs got right. :) However, Leandro is right. This is a 'beta' and they want feedback. So I don't wish to sound negative. The SCORE people have done a fab job so far. But the Snipe changes, overall, felt(!) wrong to me. They 'felt' slower, more awkward and not 'instant-snipe' at all. Azrael.

There's other fish to fry. The one thing I loved about issue 24 MORE than rinse repeat NOVAs...and they're nerfing it. *wait a whole month, at least. That will give all the blasters enough time to line up with their (think Airplane comedy movie with the hysterical woman...) slaps, boxing gloves, baseball bats... :P Hopefully, it won't come to that. ;) Azrael.