Cold War players call for even more nerfs to “dominant” Sniper Rifles
Even though Sniper Rifles received a considerable nerf in the Black Ops Cold War Season 3 Reloaded update, they’re reportedly still dominating Search and Destroy and the debate over their balance rages on.
Quickscoping has always been a major part of Call of Duty. Some of the biggest brands in gaming had their start as sniping teams, and sniper 1v1 battles have become ingrained in the CoD culture.
Cold War players felt that having zero flinch on Sniper Rifles made them severely overpowered. Call of Duty pros have a Gentleman’s Agreement not to use Sniper Rifles in the CDL, mainly because of how difficult it is to counter them. With no flinch, it’s easy for a sniper to line up a shot before the Assault Rifle or SMG player can land enough bullets to kill them.
After months of calls for flinch to be added, Treyarch agreed with the feedback and added custom flinch to Sniper Rifles in the Season 3 Reloaded update. However, some Cold War players feel that this nerf wasn’t enough, especially in the Search and Destroy game mode.
By equipping flinch-reducing attachments, the nerfs can largely be countered, leading to much of the same problems players originally complained about. The lack of flinch is amplified in SnD, where the gameplay is less chaotic and fights are often decided in a 1v1.
Reddit user bvckspaced posted a thread asking fellow players, “Can we address snipers dominating SnD?” This led to discussion in the comments, with players debating whether Sniper Rifles are balanced or not.
bvckspaced described how although they’re “pretty sweaty” in pubs, they “stand absolutely no chance of gunning snipers with an AR.” They said that adding flinch wasn’t enough, as they could still get quickscoped even when dumping bullets into their opponent.
Describing how “snipers are able to play hyper-aggressive with next to no counterplay against them,” they said they’re “truly not exaggerating” when they say that 90% of their SnD games includes a sniper dominating the round.
While many agreed that Sniper Rifles could use more nerfs, others argued that any more nerfs would make them useless.
The Sniper Rifle nerfs are still fresh, so perhaps the dust needs to settle to see exactly how it’s affected the meta. But for now, the community hasn’t reached an agreement on whether they should be nerfed further.
Image Credit: Activision
