So let me prefix this post by saying that I am all in favour for KEEPING shotguns in the game as they are currently (for the most part). Yes, I agree the shotguns are strong but I do not believe they are “broken” as many people like to say… Here is why…
Shotguns often get called “Over Powered” or “Broken” in many of the games they appear in. Most of the time this comes down to the feeling that there was nothing you could do to avoid being killed by them. My honest opinion is that people are only thinking about the instance in which they died. Sure, a player with a shotgun is most likely going to do a lot of damage or even kill you if they are within a certain distance. Yes, there will be times where you physically will not have time to react because you have just run into a room, turned a corner or was approached from behind… In game design the act of dying and being killed often comes under the heading of “Counter Play” and shotguns (unfortunately) always manage to fall into the camp of “Bad Counter Play”. Truth is, unless everything in the game is a one shot kill or the TTK is super high, there is very little you can do about it. That however, does not make them overpowered.
One of the biggest complaints is that they should not be a one shot kill and fire as fast. The problem is, mathematically if the shotguns required more than a single shot at super close ranges, or a couple of shots vs heavies and at further distances, The shotgun would be out “DPS” practically, by almost every other weapon in the game. An example would be Sawbones for instance, if he started shooting instantly after the first shot of a shotgun and hit 100% headshots, he would always kill the shotgun Merc before they could fire a second shot. Now, to be fair, no one hits 100% headshots and especially 10ms after being shot at. Normally you would balance around expected hit percentages, Damage per second and Damage over time (Damage over time is the concept of practical damage) but with shotguns these numbers are so limiting.
If a shotgun shoots exactly 1 round per second and each round does 100 damage, in 3 seconds the shotgun does 300 damage (simple right).
However, In 2.97 seconds the shotgun only does 200 damage.
If a SMG shoots 10 rounds per second and each round does 10 damage, in 3 seconds the SMG does 300 damage (see where this is going?)
However, different from the shotgun, in 2.97 seconds the SMG does 290 damage.
If both players have 210hp, technically the SMG user should always win (if they have 100% accuracy)
If every Merc in the game had the same HP and size, this would be a little easier to try and tweak but obviously thats not going to happen. It is also very possible to make it only 1 shot lights and mediums but that would make heavies almost a hard counter. Actually, one of the biggest issues and hardest issues to deal with when it comes to shotgun “Counter Play” is what its like to be shot as a player that has already taken damage. In general shotguns are often tweaked (when removing the one shot kill) to do as much damage as possible without actually killing you. This means that if you as a player has as much as been sneezed on in the last 10 seconds, that shotgun is going to one shot you and possibly at a much greater range then you are used to. I know that I am very much guilty of getting frustrated and calling OP when I die like this.
Now don’t get me wrong, these are just numbers up until now and no aspect of skill and positioning have not been taken into consideration. Once these aspects are considered the picture becomes a little easier to see. Take a look at this video…
So, basically, I shoot a few people in the back and then shoot down onto some people… The shotgun seems very strong and people was getting very angry with me. I actually managed to even pull out Godlike for my trouble. First off, lets just say that at any point during the 3 sprees, someone could have quiet easily killed me if they had batter awareness or aim. Let’s not also ignore the time, skill and foresight that got me into the positions where I was able to kill. The first spree for instance took 7 seconds and lets not get it twisted here… 7 seconds is a very long time in a game this fast. The reasons I manage to pull this off is due mostly to map design, timing and most importantly lack of feedback from the game to players I am shooting. A functional mini map, auto voice shouts, positional audio, hud feedback or VoIP would have likely countered my attempts. Also, due to the players being in a fight with the rest of my team, most of them where low hp (you can see this by seeing how many points I get per kill). This in my eyes, is a prime example of a shotgun NOT being the problem. The final spree where I have the ledge is a little different. That time, I should have died but I only one person even tried to shoot me and he did it rather badly. I stayed in view because I felt safe, shotguns now do hs damage so the height advantage made sense and I knew one player was just reviving. All in all, looks a lot more impressive then it actually is.
So much could have killed very fast… however, due to a mixture of skill, luck and poor game feedback, the shotgun ends up looking like the problem. I am not going to try and say its not frustrating to die to, cause it is. All I can say is that if it was as strong as people make out every noob that boots the game would be going 20/1 KDR and having fun…
Finally, I see a lot of hate towards the shotguns and how they should be removed and/or nerfed but I see very little going towards the Snipers. This is something that interests me because on paper they are far worse when it comes to “Counter Play” and balance in general. I was kinda wondering if it was due to the perception of a shotgun being considered a “low skill” weapon, compared to a sniper that is considered a little more “high skill” but still cannot come up with a definitive answer. Personally I find the sniper much easier to use and much safer also. Take a look at this video…
I kill a fair few people (get a Godlike again) and yet got very little rage in the chat compared to when using shotguns. I also feel like overall the sniper had a much bigger impact on the game overall as instagibbing people fresh out of spawn leaves them waiting like 22 seconds to respawn. I also find my accuracy to be better at a little bit of range and due to fall off damage I no longer need to concern myself with being so much in cover… If you was to remove the shotguns, snipers would have to follow and I think losing either would be a huge mistake. I even thing that nerfing either of them too much would take away from the game massively.
In conclusion, I honestly feel the main issue people are complaining about when they call out shotguns is poor “Counter Play” and game feedback. I do not believe that they are over powered (at least not to the levels many people on these forums claim) and I would love to hear what everyone else believes.
/me puts on his flak jacket…