[Agent Buckshot Moose]

Didn't vote on a balance option. The Sniper is mostly balanced, and I'm still convinced that most people who are hating on the Sniper just suck at dodging or still have that "lol no snipers" mentality from TFC stuck in their heads, especially since the only hard data (server stats) that I actually saw posted in that thread did not unveil any kind of imbalance numbers-wise. Nevertheless, the thread did show that there are some problems with the Sniper. So I guess I probably should've voted for "The sniper is balanced." But meh.

The main problem with the Sniper is his binary nature, as well as his dependence on long range. At long, long range against slow classes, they have almost no chance of getting across a large map. Against fast classes, the Sniper only has a few chances to hit them. It's either shoot an enemy once (or twice), or be completely useless. At close range, he's as good as dead.

He's almost overpowered in a public play environment because people run around like chickens with their heads cut off, but completely useless in league play because everyone comes out of the base so fast and ignores the Sniper, and can actually press the strafe keys to dodge. The hitboxes are also a huge problem with the hitscan weapon.

I voted that the Sniper needs to be tweaked to be useful in all "levels" of play, as well as made a bit more "fair" for some people. I think the first step would be a projectile-based sniper rifle. Perhaps it could have gravity effects. Charge and move slowly only while in scoped mode. in unscoped mode it should be accurate at close range, but not at medium or long range.

With this projectile-based sniper rifle should come a fix of the hitboxes issue (turn it into a fast moving invisible rocket projectile if you have to). At super long range, the projectile and gravity effect make it harder for the sniper to hit people. At closer range, the sniper still has a fighting chance.

It may be that getting rid of charging and switching to a more "traditional" sniper rifle would work as well. I'm mostly imagining the Halo sniper rifle, but with some tweaks. Keep radio tagging, leg shots, and locational damage, but no charging. Just quick firing instead. Radio tags should stack, so each hit gives a few extra seconds. Leg shots likely the same deal. The movement speed should also come back quickly over time, and not last that long. Leg shots should only be usable by the sniper to temporarily slow down an advancing offense for a short period of time so he can line up a better shot.

Those are my thoughts on it anyway.