This question is really aimed at people who have sunk a ton of hours into the game so far, have got a verdict on the state of most weapons and a feel of the overall balance/state of gameplay. It would also be nice if said players had a good amount of experience with Crysis 2 MP.

Lets put the whole Jackal mess aside for now (it's a minor imbalance that can be easily fixed) and look at something that Crytek genuinely intended to be part of the game that wasn't a part of Crysis 2 - OHK weapons.

I'm referring to:
> Bolt Sniper
> Xpac Mortar
> Swarmer
> Gauss
> Bow

There may be one or two that I have missed, I don't know whether the automatic alien rifles (Pinch and Reaper) are insta-kill on non-armor.

The first 3 weapons on that list will kill you instantly with a direct impact regardless of whether you have Armor on or not. You don't have a say in whether you live or die, your fate was decided when your enemy pointed his cursor in your general direction and clicked.
The last 2 weapons on that list will instantly kill you if you don't have Armor activated, or don't have Auto Armor.

At this point a lot of the "top tier" players have dropped Auto-Armor because they know the maps and movement well enough to not die to newbie-average users of Bow/Gauss. But please tell me, what happens when that Bow/Gauss user knows what they're doing and can almost always land their first shot on you from across the map? Do you feel you were killed fairly?
How about when you are destroyed by an alien weapon, do you feel you were killed fairly, that you died due to your mistake, or your opponent's amazing skill?

In general, how do you feel when you are OHK'd by a highly powerful weapon?
Since everyone has access to said weapons, one could say all is fair in love and war - but on the other hand, one could also call it a 1-shot-kill mess.

Do you feel it suits Crysis 3's fast-paced gameplay, or do you feel it is a step backwards from Crysis 2's more "disciplined" shooting where your skill mattered more than the jizz-cannon you were holding?

This also applies to players who are heavily into Cell vs Rebel, I know for sure that Gauss/Bow are always OHK in that mode no mattter where you get hit.

Remember this isn't a minor balance concern, this is a laundry list of weapons/mechanics that were intended by Crytek to be that way - so lets keep the discussion about the weapons I listed above i.e. alien weapons, swarmer, gauss and bow.

Gauss can use a Fire Rate Reduction, Alien Sniper reduced to 2 bullets, Xpac is fine, its suppose to be used for the Pinger. Swarmer is fair since potentially a Orbital can take out an entire team; Bow? Try running around with it and not camping, see if you wont wish it were a bit stronger.

And yes, if i was cross map'd it was fair, he actually needed to aim, the silly assumption is you think i'll allow him to persist sniping, and if you do, shame on you, next life, go up to him and kill him, do this 2 or 4 times, i will guarantee you he will switch positions.

Gauss and bow are not a OHK when in armor(except headshots). All the other weapons are fine. The bolt sniper is okay, for now. It is bugged in a way it doesnt reduce sensitivity when ADSing. 4 shots seem okay i have never seen it abused much and there is often only 1 on the map. I think every gun except the gauss is balanced. Gauss has 10 rounds and pretty high ROF. Might need a little ROF reduction or an Ammo reduction, 1 of the 2.

If i die by xpac/swarmer it is often my own fault when i run into them from the side thinking i can kill them gast enough(often not)

Neither of these answer my questions above, nor do they do anything to solve the problem - it doesn't matter if I get access to a hand-held NUKE that only has 1 shot, the poor player I point it at is still going to feel cheated out of gameplay.


Oh, so it doesn't work if I point it at say...a player? Didn't know that.


Stuff like Orbital Strike is aimed vaguely at best and doesn't work if the enemy is under cover - the speed of nanosuits and the delay in firing can also mean you end up hitting nothing. Meanwhile if I sit in a corner with Swarmer, the next enemy that comes around the corner no matter how prepared they are. I'm holding a weapon the size of a car and they are going to die instantly. It's almost a guaranteed 3 kills as long as you keep your back covered.


Define "stronger". Do you want it to do more damage? It is OHK on non-armor and 2HK on armor. How do you make it stronger? It already received a draw-speed reduction.
Secondly, the weapon is built ground-up to be used with camping tactics. But that's besides the point.


I already mentioned that, headshots are sort of excluded from this discussion since they are a justified insta-kill and actually require good aim to pull off intentionally.
Are you always in armor, or do you use Auto Armor? If you don't use AA, how do you feel when you take armor off for just a second and get OHK'd by a Bow/Gauss who happened to shoot you? Bad luck?


So you feel OHK weapons suit this game fairly nicely. Fair enough, thanks for your response :)

28 hours on C3 so far.
More than enough hours into C2 (I played competitively there though).
I usually play around with several weapons on C3.
Average player to say the least though.



The first 3 should kill you instantly, no doubt. No one should ever complain.
The reason behind it is:
>Bolt Sniper
>X-PAC MORTAR

These two are alien weapons.
There is a tip during the loading mentioning that alien weapons can be picked up and are essentially the "power up" weapons.
If it is a weapon accessible by both a Rank 1 and a Rank 51, and is able to be picked up on the open field, then it's more than fair and balanced.
A power up weapon at that, I expect it to out-power any gun/weapon in game.

>SWARMER

This is a "reward" for a kill streak. Why would you want a nerfed kill streak?
Should the Orbital Strike be nerfed too?
I know it seems off tangent, but the point is, if I get a 5 kill streak and potentially risk my life to death by picking up the dropped dog tags, I deserve to be rewarded with a strong weapon.
That's the point of the streak support!
SWARMER even comes with tremendous disadvantages such as reduced movement and the incapability to grab ledges.

>Gauss
>Bow

These are OHKO for default/cloak.
These weapons are definitely balanced in my opinion, because if you're running around, you are either given two-choices:
1. Be in armor mode where you glow and attract attention, but survive OHKO unless a headshot.
2. Be in default where you do not attract attention as much, but are in due of OHKO.

These choices are really irrelevant IMO, because personally, you should be depending on cover in addition to the armor and the cloak.
If a player who knows his/her **** about the Gauss/Bow and the map, then I'd expect the same for Run-N-Gun players to know their **** around the map and go from cover to cover.
That's what the kill cam is for, now isn't it?



I both use and do not use AA depending on the loadout (AA when using confrontational bow).
I damn do feel that I was killed fairly.
It's the same as being killed by someone who can aim well with their FY71M, SCAR, SCARAB, etc.
Plus, the snipers have the risk of standing still when aiming. This is a HUGE disadvantage as a player who once sniped in one spot.
In addition, if the player was able to kill me across the map, I'm usually a small-ass midget - and if they were able to crosshair me, I deserve to die.

When destroyed by an alien weapon, I have to admit that I intentionally chose not to grab the weapon and died due to the disadvantage.
It's war out there (setting wise), advantage is the key to winning.



Alien weapons are also limited in numbers, and do not always spawn.
In addition, alien arsenals slow you down (unless with a module), which is somewhat balancing.
Did you also know that alien arsenal will make your cloak "flicker"?
This is a HUGE advantage for bolt snipers.

Given that, I definitely think it suits the C3 fast-paced gameplay, because while everyone's out there run-n-gunning, someone out there is slowing down to pick up the alien arsenals or sniping. The slow game play these players provide gives balance to the overall match.

Honestly, C2 is different from C3, I admit.
However, I disagree strongly that you need no skill for C3.
C3 emphasizes a different skill set than that of C2, and demands you to Adapt. Engage. Survive.



I have not played the Cell vs Rebel, as I prefer to use the Nanosuit.
So I cannot give my input there, but I'd expect it to be substantially balanced.

If someone knows what they're doing, they deserve that kill, regardless of whether they use a Gauss rifle, Nova pistol or a lamp post. Threads like are something I hate, because they suggest that if someone can get really good with something we should nerf it to make them work even harder. Is that what you suggest ?
Alien weapons have their drawbacks they make you slower, they have spin up time etc. it's not like you grab one and slaughter entire enemy team like they are 5 years old armed with crayons. And it does not matter if I died because of my mistake or his skills. Mistakes do count if if you run straight into a guy carrying a XPAC mortar, well sorry not your best day.

"Uhh watch out, the enemy team has an XPAC-MORTAR activated."

Oh I guess I should ignore this **** operator and head-on straight towards the guy with an XPAC.



Yeah, definitely agreed.

Veterans/community - how do you feel about OHK weapons?


My Response:


I like it when the weapons that are supposed do what they are supposed to do:

""The much beloved Gauss rifle in its second generation form with more power and less recoil, improved in all the ways that matter. This electro-magnetic rifle will provide Snipers with the sheer power needed to get the job done."

Following the successful, albeit controversial, trials at Lingshan, CryNet accelerated development and within three years the M2014 became standard issue for the elite ranks of C.E.L.L. security forces. CryNet spokesman Elliot Schwarz sees the M2014 as a breakthrough in modern battlefield technology. "The M2014 is a ‘game changer’ that will take us through the unique challenges of the next decade"

And yet there are examples of the gauss not being that, like in Crysis 2 and More recently Crysis 3.

These weapons of the future are what they should be more efficient and reliable weapons.

Granted in terms of MP there are "Balances" that need to happen for "Competitive" reasons but to the general gamer when you use these weapons, the respect for the weapon is what determines whether it is used.

Well here lies the problem, while Gauss rifle would without doubt be able to tear to shreds anything human or even medium armoured vehicles. N2 is almost indestructible.

Personally I think they are all pretty well balanced. If you choose to run out in the open without armor or cloak, you deserve to be killed. This game requires some thinking and planning for your attack, not just "run run hurr durr i got shot, thats not fair. "

The Bow:
Yes the bow is a skill weapon, and when the game first released, everybody, i mean everybody, cried for it to be buffed. so what did crytek do, they buffed it only by decreasing the draw time. Now that people are getting good with the bow, some people are saying its op, some are saying its too hard to use. The people who shoot you while camping in cloak with the bow are the ones who go 5-7 in the round. They are not good with the bow, they just had 10 minutes to get lucky on 5 people. The good bow players, run around like any normal player because they know how to use close quarter tactics like melee, and pistols and are good with jumping and drawing the bow. I find on average I will get many more kills with the bow vs the gauss w/sniper scope because you have the option to not zoom in with the bow but still be very accurate in close quarters. Strictly speaking of long range sniping though, the gauss out performs the bow in every way - increased zoom, virtually 0 draw time, almost no bullet travel time (bow has significant arrow travel time and you need to lead your targets at very long range). I would be fine if they increased the draw time of the bow maybe to 1.15s (1.0s now and 1.3s pre-patch)

Gauss:
maybe needs a slight decrease to the ROF when rapid fire is equipped.

Bolt sniper. Its a ceph sniper rifle and there are only 1 or 2 per map, its fine, just fix the zoom sensitivity.

others are fine imo.

There are not any true OHK weapons (loadout items) which I think is perfect. If you're the kind of player that runs around in the open without armor or cloak, then you're the type of player that needs auto armor.