CoD Developer Seeks Balance Between “Quickscopers” and “Hardscopers”

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David Vonderhaar, Gameplay Designer at Treyarch, sits down with Call of Duty fans in an attempt to find peace in the war between “quickscopers” and “hardscopers”.

First, a quick definition of terms: A “quickscoper” can be considered someone who fires a high-powered rifle (usually a bolt-action sniper rifle in this case) immediately after acquiring a target using the game’s built-in crosshairs, taking little to almost no time to aim down the the sights of the rifle scope; a risky but efficient maneuver. “Hardscopers” seek targets in the more traditional sense of scanning the battlefield while aimed down the sights of a rifle scope and firing from this scoped state, usually from an advantageous position.

Along with the rise of quickscoping — a technique that caught some attention possibly during the CoD 2 era, but gained commercial popularity during Modern Warfare 2 — came the controversial debate of whether it can be considered a legitimate technique, or does it exploit the mechanics of a first-person shooter, giving an unfair advantage to the user? Call of Duty developers, Treyarch, made conscious effort to keep 2010′s Black Ops free of such “exploitations”, while Infinity Ward’s recent Modern Warfare 3 embraced it with open arms.

In a conversation with Call of Duty fans, Vonderhaar stated, “I’d like to sit down with the worlds best drag & quickscopers and those who despise it and find something directly in the middle.” He continued, “ADS [Aim Down Sight] sway as well as the ADS and hipfire aim assist (ranges) are tunable on a per gun level. Let’s do this.” To get down to specifics, he then proposed, “.4 ADS raise time. No ‘random bullet.’ Limited hip fire aim assist (MW1 was 1000 inches of hip fire aim assist). Thoughts?” He then clarified that “0.4 is the average on a MW1 style sniper.”

Some fans have expressed concern over receiving only a hit marker when achieving a clear shot to the chest in Black Ops. Vonderhaar explained that this is common “when you are used to ‘chest’ being all the same thing.” However, he admits, ”we wanted it to be a precision shot. Upper torso or head but it was probably too confusing in the end.” It “also had to do with penetration settings,” he added. “You can’t hit a guy in the chest without hitting his arms and hands and sometimes gun first,” which may have added to players’ frustrations.

Vonderhaar was also asked if the possibility of removing aim assist was optional, something that many quickscope nay-sayers would argue is the source of their frustration. He replied, “Yes. It’s now possible to remove aim (hip and ads) from a gun. He also admitted, “the gun not shooting straight till 100% scoped in caused a lot of confusion and frustration for snipers.”

To close, Vonderhaar stated these words: “Balance. That place in the middle where everyone is equally pissed off. Thanks for sharing your passion with me. Reading every reply.”

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Source: http://mp1st.com/2012/02/18/call-of-duty-developer-seeks-balance-between-quickscopers-and-hardscopers/

Comments

"CoD Developer Seeks Balance Between “Quickscopers” and “Hardscopers”" :: Login/Create an Account :: 116 comments

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OdinPosted:

-Yonkers- Quickscoping should stay.
If its a passion of many, and one of the main reasons for sales.
I would keep it in the game.
Treyarch ruined a great game due to no quickscoping.


its not even close to being a main reason people buy the games, and i personally hate quickscoping

FYIPosted:

They need to keep it as they said it's risky.
it makes the game harder for the player to achieve the shot which is more fun.

FinancialChadPosted:

There should definitely be a balance between the two. There's no doubt about that. Quickscoping shouldn't be the easiest thing ever, but harder than in MW3. I think a somewhere between MW3's quickscoping and Black Ops updated quickscoping would be a balance.

JimboPosted:

Idc how much balance it needs if I barrel stuff a kid and get a hitmarker then something needs to be fixed or if I barrel stuff a guy and miss something needs to be fixed....

-.-

YaoMingPosted:

I don't see anything wrong with hardscoping its the same as using any other gun and quick scoping is supposed to be hard isn't it ?

DjinnPosted:

Quickscoping should stay.
If its a passion of many, and one of the main reasons for sales.
I would keep it in the game.
Treyarch ruined a great game due to no quickscoping.