SpaceDandyGuy
New member
At first glance, this might be a low skilloid complaint, and it sort of is. But, bear with me. I'm gonna argue for why we should delegate head shots to an item or hero skills, and allow for a buff to all guns across the board.
Headshots are and have been a staple to skill expression in videogames that gatekeep good players from great players. However, this game, as fun as it is, is a fast action paced hero shooter with a nice MOBA sheen. I love it, I enjoy it, but in the end there's an issue that persists with the hybridization of these two game styles. If you lean one way too hard, it throws off the other end violently.
We already see this. Good hero shooter players will either stomp their opponents or make up for their lack of MOBA skills with superior aim. Moba players, who may not be as good in their aim, will express their skill in objective control and resource amassment will find themselves wary of gun items if they don't feel confident in their aim, then being swept out by impeccable shooters.
Now, I'm not saying aiming is a sin, it's necessary. But another game has had success not adding headshots, and that's Quake. Quake doesn't have headshots because they account for rapid movement, aoe weaponry, projectile travel, etc.
Now, in my short lived hero shooter experience... headshots suck. Not just because I get headshot, but because sometimes characters get balanced around headshots and hitscans. Widowmaker vs Pharah from Overwatch come to mind. Pharah is just headshot bait, and Widowmaker is simultaneously the best and worst character in her game, in low tiers, players can't aim, they don't play her, and when they do, she's probably one of the worst heros. In high tiers, she dominates. This occurrence is a common theme in shooters across the board. If your aim is subpar, you are actively gatekept from playing characters that would help you in your game because you don't have the aiming skill to play them.
But, we're not in a complete hero shooter. We're in a hero shooter moba Hybrid where everyone is dancing around sliding on walls and adapting their builds to deal with enemies. Adaptations of which sort of fall apart if you're not that good at landing headshots vs someone who is. So, we will see, if it's not already occurring, balance that goes one of two ways. Either they baby the ADC players and maintain the high domination of bullet damage to the few players that are blessed with headshot capability, or they baby the spirit/tank builders that will always have an AOE and objective coverage. If one gets too comfortable, the other just leaves to another game, as this happens. In the end, I suspect that the lower tier players are going to be filled to the brim with spirit builds, while top tiers are all gun builds, if that's not the case already. Holliday comes to mind.
I, for one propose a third solution. Remove headshots, and bump up gun damage across the board. If headshots are necessary to a character, put it in their passives, or, add the boost as a temporary thing that the items already account for. Don't balance guns around headshots, make them viable and reachable to more people. I for one have quit League of Legends for this game, and I've started aim training to learn to play this game better, but I have friends who want to do the same, but feel inadequate with their aim, so they just stay in their game/games.
I don't want to see this game fail. In fact, I think that it could become a great success. I just think that headshots cater to a shooter experience too hard, and I'd hate to see characters get delegated to corners because they cater too hard to certain types of players. Such as, "we can't buff this guy because he's too good in high tiers, but sucks in low tiers," or, "This character should only be picked up if you can land the headshots, otherwise you're the worst in the game."
Think about it. I'll close with an example. Vindicta, her ult is a long range nuke... but it doesn't head shot. If it did, she'd be the ultimate noob stomper and a pestilence everyone would knock on until she was massacred with nerfs... but she doesn't, and she can be balanced otherwise. Remove headshots, buff guns across the board, prioritize general game skill over aim skill.
Headshots are and have been a staple to skill expression in videogames that gatekeep good players from great players. However, this game, as fun as it is, is a fast action paced hero shooter with a nice MOBA sheen. I love it, I enjoy it, but in the end there's an issue that persists with the hybridization of these two game styles. If you lean one way too hard, it throws off the other end violently.
We already see this. Good hero shooter players will either stomp their opponents or make up for their lack of MOBA skills with superior aim. Moba players, who may not be as good in their aim, will express their skill in objective control and resource amassment will find themselves wary of gun items if they don't feel confident in their aim, then being swept out by impeccable shooters.
Now, I'm not saying aiming is a sin, it's necessary. But another game has had success not adding headshots, and that's Quake. Quake doesn't have headshots because they account for rapid movement, aoe weaponry, projectile travel, etc.
Now, in my short lived hero shooter experience... headshots suck. Not just because I get headshot, but because sometimes characters get balanced around headshots and hitscans. Widowmaker vs Pharah from Overwatch come to mind. Pharah is just headshot bait, and Widowmaker is simultaneously the best and worst character in her game, in low tiers, players can't aim, they don't play her, and when they do, she's probably one of the worst heros. In high tiers, she dominates. This occurrence is a common theme in shooters across the board. If your aim is subpar, you are actively gatekept from playing characters that would help you in your game because you don't have the aiming skill to play them.
But, we're not in a complete hero shooter. We're in a hero shooter moba Hybrid where everyone is dancing around sliding on walls and adapting their builds to deal with enemies. Adaptations of which sort of fall apart if you're not that good at landing headshots vs someone who is. So, we will see, if it's not already occurring, balance that goes one of two ways. Either they baby the ADC players and maintain the high domination of bullet damage to the few players that are blessed with headshot capability, or they baby the spirit/tank builders that will always have an AOE and objective coverage. If one gets too comfortable, the other just leaves to another game, as this happens. In the end, I suspect that the lower tier players are going to be filled to the brim with spirit builds, while top tiers are all gun builds, if that's not the case already. Holliday comes to mind.
I, for one propose a third solution. Remove headshots, and bump up gun damage across the board. If headshots are necessary to a character, put it in their passives, or, add the boost as a temporary thing that the items already account for. Don't balance guns around headshots, make them viable and reachable to more people. I for one have quit League of Legends for this game, and I've started aim training to learn to play this game better, but I have friends who want to do the same, but feel inadequate with their aim, so they just stay in their game/games.
I don't want to see this game fail. In fact, I think that it could become a great success. I just think that headshots cater to a shooter experience too hard, and I'd hate to see characters get delegated to corners because they cater too hard to certain types of players. Such as, "we can't buff this guy because he's too good in high tiers, but sucks in low tiers," or, "This character should only be picked up if you can land the headshots, otherwise you're the worst in the game."
Think about it. I'll close with an example. Vindicta, her ult is a long range nuke... but it doesn't head shot. If it did, she'd be the ultimate noob stomper and a pestilence everyone would knock on until she was massacred with nerfs... but she doesn't, and she can be balanced otherwise. Remove headshots, buff guns across the board, prioritize general game skill over aim skill.
