Cold War dev explains why Sniper Rifles had to be nerfed so aggressively
Players have been complaining about the lack of sniper flinch for some time now, and Treyarch has announced that Season 3 Reloaded will see it return. A dev has commented on the problem and why it needed to be fixed.
A major risk and reward feature of Sniper Rifles is that you get a huge damage bonus if you manage to score a hit – maybe even a one-shot kill. But this benefit comes at the expense of your aim being compromised if you’re getting hit by an enemy, usually.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War has deviated from the norm and opted to make it so that players will not flinch when being shot, allowing the sniper to aim as normal. This is counterintuitive to what CoD has taught players over the years, so Treyarch has listened, and flinching is being added.
It was recently that players had taken a stance and demanded that Treyarch devs address the overpowered zero flinch on snipers.
It’s now been confirmed in the full list of buffs and nerfs for Cold War Season 3 Reloaded that sniper flinch is back, and Treyarch Lead Game Designer Tony Flame verbalized his thoughts on the matter.
“Gonna be honest: I haven’t touched weapon balancing since launch. But I did help establish the processes our balance team uses. Snipers get better and grow in number over time. There’s a point we must respect the curve trend, or eventually “everyone” Snipes. Sorry, Love you all.”
The honesty is much appreciated as it becomes clear that Tony is working on many aspects of Call of Duty right now, and it’s even better that he’s been able to acknowledge a big gripe in the Cold War community.
With the ZRG 20mm and the Swiss K31 adding to Black Ops Cold War’s arsenal of long-range fear machines, the use of Sniper Rifles has definitely increased in the game.
So it does feel time to ‘respect the curve trend’ and see players play accurate games of cat and mouse with enemy players.
Image Credit: Activision / Treyarch