*Boom* Headshot!

[Eggsnham]

If you've played a shooter in the last couple of decades, then you've likely been killed by a person sitting in a bush on the side of the map with a super powered rifle and a jar to piss in when things get slow.

What I want to know is, why? Sure, every now and then I get the urge to just try and beat my own long range headshot record in a game I'm playing, or to just kick back and take potshots at whoever dares to enter my tunnel vision, but I don't understand why people would want to do that every time they play.

It's not very fun unless you happen to be doing very well and the enemy team is dumb enough to keep walking into your sniper's nest, but that doesn't happen that often. So why does everyone always go for the sniper setup?

I'm just reliving some frustrating moments from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, where I played mostly on hardcore mode, and could expect to see no less than half a dozen bushwookies in any given game. Oh god the M95 with magnum ammo and 12x optic. So unnecessary, especially in hardcore.

EDIT: While we're discussing long range sniping, what's YOUR record? You can just estimate or something if the game you got it in didn't give you any indication of what the range was.

Mine was just a couple nights ago in Battlefield 3, where I got a 448 meter headshot on an enemy bushwookie in Operation Firestorm. Then I went to bed; my night was made from that outstanding display of camp-tastic bush-sitting.

 

[ViralBiae]

Because headshots are the most satisfying kills ever. Wade in under a load of fire, blindly firing your gun at enemies hoping you get them before they get you, or stay in a safe place several hundred meters away and calmly scoop out their brains with bullets? It's generally safer, practical and requires a bit of skill for that wonderful 1-shot-1-kill.

 

[Loonyyy]

I don't know. Whenever I snipe, I'm out in the open enough that I get to see more of the enemy than I would charging the front with an assault rifle. I don't hold with players who stay outside of anything useful: Long range specialists are good-but they have to be able to see most of the field and spot/kill anything they can see. The risk of course, is that you get shot at when doing this, so you have to be better than the guy trying to kill you.

I don't mind sitting back, especially in games like Battlefield or Bad Company, where sniping is pretty interesting with bullet drop/lag, but if there aren't enough targets to keep you in the upper half of the scoreboard, why bother?

 

[Elsarild]

First of all, if you are staying in the same place all the time. You.are.a.bad.sniper. Simple as that.

Second, I like sniping, because I'm good at it, and I actually do support my team, not only buy destroying an infantry offensive, but also (in BF3) spotting tanks, planes, helis, and infantry to my team together with a mobile spawnpoint and my SOFLAM.

Edit: my record is 600 something on firestom I think.

In BFBC2 it was 400-500 something.

 

[Zach of Fables]

May not be the most showboating way to play, but I can't fault people for choosing to do so.

 

[Roofstone]

Cause it's tense. Waiting, hiding, silent and motionless you wait for that perfect kill.. Then there it is! You aim, you squeeze; Boom. Headshot.

It is god damn satisfying!

 

[lord.jeff]

Because not everyone enjoys playing the game the same way, some people like sniping and it's a very useful strategy in capture the flag and king of the hill modes.

 

[Super Six One]

I'm a fairly ace sniper, good a getting distances and speed of target, it just awesome taking a shot at that range and hitting your target while he's on the move.

I rarley sit in the same place too, i'm always on the move and getting long distance headshots when YOU are on the move is somthing else.

Sniping is enjoyable, and one of the good things i'm good at, thats why i do it.

 

[TheRussian]

When I snipe in Battlefield, I take minutes at a time to line up shots, and end up one-shotting my target almost all the time.

In Team Fortress 2, I keep to the middle ground, suppressing positions and taking out key targets while Heavies and Soldiers cover my back.

In either game I always change my location after a kill, because the enemy will know exactly where you are.

 

[tippy2k2]

I love my sniper because I play Search and Destroy in CoD. People ***** at me for camping all the time but I'm not sure how else I should defend the spot except for watching it. I put C4 on Spot A and I snipe at Spot B, it works well. Penny Arcade recommended leaving notes but I have found that my thing gets blown up that way : (

My longest shot was over a mile long (I miss Sniper Elite, I wish another game like it would come out *that doesn't suck)

 

[Dogstile]

Its quite fun in BFBC2 (i'm not getting three, fuck Origin) to line up a shot and to see the downward curve of the bullet hit an enemy in the face, it's really quite wonderful to see. One of the most satisfying shots you can do.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

My longest headshot according to Battlelog is 631m on Battlefield 3.

Fairly certain it was on Kharg Island with those lovely snipers who like to lay prone on top of the boat and be fairly useless the entire match. Got two kills on them, easiest 1400 points ever.

 

[Lilani]

As someone else stated, headshots are just satisfying kills. In TF2 a headshot will even give its own kill animation, where the enemy will be spun around, or their head is knocked back. And many servers even have a mod where whenever you get a headshot you'll hear the sound "Boom, headshot!"

I actually named my sniper rifle in TF2 the Bodyshot Queen's Scepter. I tend to get bodyshots, but I'm proud of it. Because as the description says, "So? I'm not the one who's dead." Some people get just a little too elitist about them, worrying more about getting headshots than a high overall number of kills and being useful to the team.

 

[Vrach]

Well the amount of people playing snipers did used to get stupid at times during BFBC2 matches... but that's really just one of the joys of random matches, you've probably had teams where half your guys were assault, medics or engineers too, but you just didn't notice.

I agree it's silly for half a team to do that (and not adapt to that fact quickly), but as for "why would you wanna play a sniper every day"... well... cause it's fun? And cause you can do it well? A decent sniper can place himself in a position where he can cover his teammates. This is especially true in BFBC2/BF3 where you can tag players (I suppose it's not the case in Hardcore mode, I'll give you that) as even just tagging enemies helps your team loads. But I've been in a position lots of times where I could just thin down most assault teams coming in to ambush my own, help them take flags by taking out those guys hiding in the demolished buildings and just generally killing shit that comes at them.

I prefer the sniper gameplay when it's done right to running and gunning. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy the latter, but I have no problem sitting down for a whole day and playing a sniper.

Sadly, BF3's mostly killed my desire to snipe. Getting a huge arrow pointing down at your head, revealing your location every time you zoom in with a scope just makes a sniper useless. The one advantage you have is your stealth and it flies straight out the window with the sniper glint. And I don't quite see what they've solved with it either, considering ridiculously long range snipers still do fine, it's those mid range snipers who actually help their team more often that are fucked with the change.

 

[Lunar Templar]

cause true sniping is a true skill,
finding a safe spot with a good view of the map, fairly hard to get to and harder to shot into, and lining up shots, waiting for that right moment to ventilate some ones skull.

and ... i suck horribly at it XD, but its fun when i can get it to work like it should.

as for my longest range? no idea, my shooter doesn't tell me that

 

[AugustFall]

It can be useful in certain games. Sniper in TF2 can take out an overhealed heavy in one shot which can really mess up the opposing teams push. In a balanced, objective based team game it makes sense as certain classes have definite advantages in close/mid range and the sniper counters them but sacrifices vision while scoped thus making them easy to sneak up on.

It can be fun too as it's much harder to hide in TF2 it being a bold art style. You have to smart about where you are and move around a lot to prevent spies/pyros sneaking up on you. Also anything less than a headshot will not kill most (maybe all) classes outright and all the snipers are single shot I'm pretty sure so getting that second shot off is more of a non-option.

I'm just geeking out really, I love TF2.


Also as someone said above me you get different kill feeds for head shots and with the Machina (can penetrate multiple enemies) if you get two kills with one bullet it will play a very obvious (and epic) sound effect which is heard by everyone on the server.


Edit: I should state I don't snipe, I suck at it in all games. I just recognize when someone is supporting their team with it. In objective based gameplay a sniper is one less person capping points or whatever so they have to play well to make up for that.

 

[White-Death]

In say, Battlefield 3, I would stay about in the middle of the map, preferably where most of the foliage is. I would take a long time to line up my perfect shop, on the most high value targets that pose a threat to my squad, in this case, an machine-gunner on the roof of an unreachable building.
after killing him with a perfect headshot, i would change position, and sometime a friend would drop by to replenish me some ammo.Most of the time, i booby trap(Place C4) around area where i am vulnerable, and use the foliage as a good ambush spot, perfect for a knife kill when some yobbos go and try to kill me. All at that time while lining up my shot, i tell me squad & the team where enemies are(only the ones i can see)

 

[Jegsimmons]

If you've played a shooter in the last couple of decades, then you've likely been killed by a person sitting in a bush on the side of the map with a super powered rifle and a jar to piss in when things get slow.

What I want to know is, why? Sure, every now and then I get the urge to just try and beat my own long range headshot record in a game I'm playing, or to just kick back and take potshots at whoever dares to enter my tunnel vision, but I don't understand why people would want to do that every time they play.

It's not very fun unless you happen to be doing very well and the enemy team is dumb enough to keep walking into your sniper's nest, but that doesn't happen that often. So why does everyone always go for the sniper setup?

I'm just reliving some frustrating moments from Battlefield: Bad Company 2, where I played mostly on hardcore mode, and could expect to see no less than half a dozen bushwookies in any given game. Oh god the M95 with magnum ammo and 12x optic. So unnecessary, especially in hardcore.

EDIT: While we're discussing long range sniping, what's YOUR record? You can just estimate or something if the game you got it in didn't give you any indication of what the range was.

Mine was just a couple nights ago in Battlefield 3, where I got a 448 meter headshot on an enemy bushwookie in Operation Firestorm. Then I went to bed; my night was made from that outstanding display of camp-tastic bush-sitting.

well if your a veteran BF player, sniping is very satisfying, very correct, and rewards patience very well.
my longest shot was a 600 (it was really in the 585+ range but what ever) yard/meter shot in Battlefield 2 , it was basically a pot shot where the guy faded in the distance on the map Kubra dam, i was on top of a mountain and was putting a hurt on a spawn point with a bunker, i actually had to request a supply drop twice (obviously not AT my position, a little bit behind so im not spotted) and one was running straight away and i arched my rifle a little bit and fired, he disappeared at this point but i didn't look away from the scope, after a second or so i saw the cross hair mark that declared a hit and ahead shot none the less. DAMN i was lucky. i went to claim 42 kills that game and 26 were head shots. I had a M95.