Panel Discussion

What are the advantages to using your class?

Justin "prank" DeMara - Well obviously being the scope gives you the advantage to get long distance picks. You really get the advantage in the window and "glitch" battles because you have a much more magnified picture of what's happening. Positioning yourself correctly as a sniper in the beginning of rounds is an important aspect to being your team's sniper. This gives you the ability to completely stop or call the opposing team's strategy which could essentially win your team the round. I have won my team multiple rounds without firing a shot simply by calling that at least four are rushing in one direction quickly and this allowed my SMG's to rotate and decimate their push.

Rob "rob-wiz" Kennedy - The biggest advantage of using the sniper would be having the ability to give your team the advantage in a round by picking people off early on. CoD4 is a very fast game and a lot of teams tend to rush areas on certain maps. Having a sniper there to kill even at least one of them is important.

Robert "griM_" Koster - The advantage to using a scope is simple. Usually 1 shot kills, or if they don't die its usually a 1 deag afterwords. You can use distance to your advantage and while we can scope in others have to iron site and as we all know, the further away the harder it is to hit iron sited!

Alex "MasterAlex" Solis - Apart from the range associated with the class and being able to one shot kill opponents, I think the biggest advantage to having a sniper is that he can act as the eyes and ears of the team. On most maps where the sniper is used, he is the one who gets the first look at what the other team is doing. The sniper is able to give his teammates a heads up on what the other team is doing, and, at the same time, he also has the opportunity to give his team an early advantage with a pick. Early picks often shake up the other team before any other elements come into play during the round (such as set grenades, flashes, and firefights), and often times you will find your team winning that round.

Chris "-47-!" Maglio - Well first off, the most obvious one would clearly be the range advantage you have over your opponents. Take a map like Strike for example, you can see whether your opponents cross to A or B depending on which spot on the map you're watching. Just announcing that on ventrilo already prepares your teamates as to what direction they're going and you can even get some early picks on that cross which is an instant advantage to your team going into a early 4v5 or even 3v5 situation.


What are some disadvantages to your class? In what ways do you compensate for those disadvantages?

Justin "prank" DeMara - The disadvantages of scoping are not being able to push up with confidence to try an assist your teammates, and the fact that the class is so aim-reliant. You really have to think about what areas have been cleared so you can push accordingly. You also have to very confident with yourself to take certain key shots that could cost your team a round. To compensate for the pushing issue, I usually wait to make sure one of my teammates is spotting the general direction in which I want to push. This way if I do encounter someone they can easily spray and get a tag on them and I can finish them off with a deagle. The aim dependency issue is really something that came with time. There are certain moments when there will be multiple enemies on your screen and you only have one bullet to fire. You have to pick out which is the biggest threat and if it is even logical to take the shot depending on how difficult it may be, but this is a hard thing to learn because it requires very quick decision making.

Rob "rob-wiz" Kennedy - Most people would say the disadvantage of the sniper class would be that they are weak at close range. I disagree because the deagle is as good as any smg, the only downside would be that it only has 7 bullets.

Robert "griM_" Koster - Some disadvantages of the scope is that if you miss a shot the enemy has a few seconds to get to a secure spot away from you. It takes a couple seconds to load a new bullet and scope back in. Usually by that time the enemy is hiding or ran to a new location. Also, when maps are smaller and close proximity combat is key, our weapon of choice is dominated by smgs, and mgs. To compensate you need to be an expert at your pistol (deagle).

Alex "MasterAlex" Solis - I think the biggest disadvantage the sniper faces is the possibility of getting into a close range battle without an automatic weapon. I don't really know if this is compensating for having a deagle vs an automatic but I tend to play very aggressive. I'm confident in my ability to frag the other player despite him having the advantage and find myself constantly pushing and peaking the other player in an attempt to kill him. I'm sure this style of play would drastically change if the DAMN mod became the standard as I would no longer have a miniature hand cannon.

Chris "-47-!" Maglio - Disadvantage would be at close range, especially if an SMG is rushing you. I compensate by either getting a nice quickscope, since noscoping is pretty much out of the question in this game. Pistols are also pretty powerful so you aren't at a complete disadvantage. Also by setting up in spots for entry kills. So if I know they're rushing a certain area, I set myself up to watch those entrances with my scope zoomed-in and ready for when they peak.