i made sniper's line of sight a visible beam

(the experiment is over, you can't play it anymore. there is no server)

This test made me paranoid, and now wrangler lasers scare me

A “Sniper ahead!” voice command would also be appreciated, similar to the one for Spy. I believe Overwatch characters automatically call out when a sniper is nearby, which I thought was a helpful mechanic.

I think it might be interesting if the Sydney Sleeper SPECIFICALLY did not have the laser, allowing snipers using it to actively support their team while being harder to find

here's a suggestion: remove the beam's visibility completely when the sniper isn't scoped in or has zero percent charge while scoped in, and gradually decrease the opacity of the beam, making it more clear to see, as the charge increases

maybe we can change the strength of the beam depending on the charge of the rifle and scoping status. The beam only appears when scoped in. When there is no charge, the beam will be weak but still visible to vigilant players. When the sniper is fully charged, the beam will become very obvious. Such change will also balance unfair guns like Bazzar Bargain since the beam will become very obvious very quickly.

having this be a thing when they're SCOPED sounds like an actual good idea to put in the game

I can't tell you enough how much this looks like those levels in Half Life 2 where you dodge combine snipers. Technically, Valve themselves have already engaged in this solution!

I really like the idea of the laser sight when scoped for another reason: this actually gives a new play for Wrangler Engies. If they have similar lasers, then an Engie can pretend to be a Sniper and intimidate enemies, even if just for a short period of time.

This is a really interesting mechanic that could be explored more to address the sniper issue. Maybe the beam should only appear when scoped like others said or only be visible when the sniper fires like the machina, then give the machina the permanent beam (which would probably look really cool with the reskin)

In general, Sniper needs to be more visible. I saw a suggestion to give him a clip and an exceptionally loud reload, I've been thinking "what if every rifle had a Classic-style Tracer", but this is also a good solution.

What's funny is that I think this is already an active feature, but it's specific to Sniper and Sydney Sleeper Robots in Mann vs Machine. It's not quite as visible, but they do have a blue Laser Sight that stretches from their eyes which is quite fitting considering they are robots with very bright eyes.

I believe that even with a sort of "dusty hazy appearance" of a red line could make the experience a lot more fun while not completely giving away the sniper (essentially you would need to actually be aware of what the laser would look like before being able to spot it)

Interesting. People always say "respect the sightline," but this definitely makes it clear when you need to respect it. I assume this laser indicator was taken from the MVM robots? Did Sniper v Sniper duels become more enjoyable? Did this change affect the effectiveness of heavies or medics significantly? People often cite overhealed heavies as one of the main reasons why Sniper is healthy for the game. Did people start running the Machina/Heatmaker/Huntsman more? The laser tracers inherent to the previous two weapons becomes less of a nerf when all the other rifles have a giant laser, while the Huntsman presumably didn't have any laser at all? (Edit: Frpm the video it looks like the giant laser shows up even while unscoped? Which is kinda odd.) Were the viability of any sniper secondaries/melees affected? I assume the Cozy Camper would have been most impacted, but... Were there situations where big sightlines made the laser not inhibit hardscoping at all? Were there any major complaints after this change?

This is what the Splatoon games do with the charger class, and it goes a long way towards balancing them. Chargers have the most range and can one-shot - allowing them to control a huge amount of space - in a game all about controlling space. However, the laser makes it more obvious where they’re aiming and where their maximum range is, making them much easier to counter. Despite this, a good charger player can still be very effective, because they can hide the laser behind a wall and then flick onto their target.

Typically with sniper, the problem is the "good" snipers that can quick scope on demand. "Bad" snipers can be annoying but they aren't overly crazy. The laser I think will be to punishing for bad players so maybe some changes like the laser only appears while they scope, and hangs for a few seconds after they unscope. The most interesting factor though for me is that it is a new variable to balance the game. Both the class itself and and a new stat you can balance individual weapons.

As a game dev who really likes playing sniper but knew it would be frustrating to play against, this video might just be the solution i was looking for. Good ideas, and I hope to see more!

I think the beam being implemented this "crudely" would alienate the class by a lot. Perhaps it should only show up when sniper is aiming down the scope, and as he charges the shot, the beam becomes more and more opaque. It would at least force snipers not to stare into some location as they would unscope and move often to keep their beam as low-profile as possible. Also, snipers can still hide their beam by aiming into a nearby wall, and when a player pops out, they can flick shot them. Whenever or not this should be rewarding to sniper, I dunno.

I think maybe the closer the laser gets to you, the more visible it should be. Like it fades in based on distance/closeness. Mostly because seeing all those lasers flying all over the place I feel kind of makes the visuals of the game a bit messy and too hectic, even for tf2 standards.

This is how it’s done in Splatoon and I think it’s a great improvement, although it’s pretty easy to avoid showing the sight line by flicking. Splatoon also adds a limit to how far you can snipe.