In Response to Vonic "Shotties Discussion"

A shotty will win any engagement within 10m, unless the user has terrible FPS or is not particularly good at placing the reticule on the target. I find that a majority of people who use shotguns are those who either A: KNOW that they're going into heavy CQB and bring out the shotgun to mow their targets down for an easier time, or B: Have terrible FPS and use the shotgun as a crutch for their disadvantage.

I'm a known fan of the Light Assault/Shotgun combo, I love using it, it's tons of fun. However, bringing a shotgun limits you to that 10m range, unless you're a dead eye with a revolver. Shotguns are good for fun, but not so good in a tactical sense. If everyone brings one, then your entire squad/platoon is limited to a 10m range.

Now, having played ALOT of light assault, I can tell you exactly who has terrible FPS problems and who doesn't. Unanimously, if I'm playing someone with lower Frames per Second, and I jump jet, they almost INSTANTANEOUSLY freak out and spaz out of control to get a shot off on me with their auto weapons. This makes killing them rather easy with my Serpent, let alone a Phobos or an autoshotty. Players that have terrible frames, or not enough time to put into practicing their aim, in my opinion, SHOULD be using shotguns, as that's the most effective tool for that person. I would rather have a player who can land a shotgun pellet on someone within 10m on my side, as opposed to someone who has a 5-10% accuracy with their fully auto weapons, like my serpent.

The main difference between shotguns and other weapons is that with a Shotgun, you need little to no practice with the gun. It's a very simple, look in the direction of your target, and press the trigger. Did they die? If not, try again. With other weapons you need to learn recoil patterns, how to manage recoil, ranges, damage, etc. It takes alot more time to learn a weapon that isn't a "Spray and Pray" type gun like a shotgun.

I suspect that the person your referring to considers shotgun no skill because they're exceptionally easy for him (As he's already a good player), and he regularly gets killed by them. Shotguns are the type of weapon where individual player skill matters slightly less, as it's frequently an instant kill.

If you ask me, everyone should play the game they feel is the most enjoyable, as it is a game. If you do best, and have the most fun, running around with a shotgun, run around with your shotgun. I don't think that anyone should tell others how to play, especially because this is a persistent world. There's no matches to win, no win/loss ratio to worry about, it's simply the flow of population, generally. Sure, tactics help here and there, and an even 50/50 split will be decided by who has the tactical advantage and better players, but in the end, that territory is going to cycle through all 3 colors. One person with a shotgun is not going to make or break the battle, just like one person with a Serpent won't.

 

Well said.

 

Being able to kill someone with the shotgun while LAing around the tower takes little to no skill. Running around as heavy with a autoshotty is a joke. Head to head you will always win.
I play infiltrator with an SMG and I havnt won single 1 v 1 vs heavy with shotgun when they had their shield up. Same goes for LA. I use NS11 and head to head its just not happening.
As a shotgun user, all you need to do is look at ur target and keep clicking ur mouse. No need to really aim or put any effort into getting a kill. So falling in love with a shotgun is like saying, I love playing this game on easy mode.
It doesn't make you a bad person, everyone should play the game the way they like and use the weapons that are in the game. After all, those very same weapons and in some cases even better ones, are being used against you so why not.

I personally will stick to my SMGs, NS11 and SV88. I don't like faceroll weapons or tactics and choose to play the game straight up but that's just me.

As for what Vonic said about the shotgun use, I support that 100%.
Our outfit stands out based upon our skill level. If we wanted to have 2 full platoons of noobs every night, we could of done it a long time ago.

 

Every first person shooter has a weapon that is considered over powered, I'm especially thinking recently of the CoD franchise. Sometimes that "OP'd" weapon will change and others trash talk you for using the next one.

With PS2 that weapon is the shotgun. I absolutely despise that gun in all its forms because for a person of my skill level, there is no retaliation for it. In fact I don't know how even a very high skilled person can mitigate it when someone using it is hiding behind a doorway. I've said I'd pay $200 to Sony to remove that gun. I'm pretty sure Sony has lost a good portion of their player base due to them implementing it.

However.......since it is in the game and people are using it, I can't think of a good reason not to use it. I remember playing CoD one night and players were harassing a guy for using the current OP'd weapon. His response to them was "Why would I choose to use a gimped gun?" If the gun is THAT good, then maybe if everyone used it, the game would be balanced and maybe, Sony would nerf it so it was less appealing

My main is LA and I don't use a shotty because when Vonic was teaching me he said, "You will be tempted to use a shotty but don't, because its so easy you will continue to use it and then loose your skill on the SMG" I thought that was good advice, but, when attacking or defending a tower and the large majority of the enemy are using shotties, I really do think I should be using a shotgun.

With regards to the argument that overuse of an unbalanced weapon portrays our Outfit as unskilled, again, I would lay the blame at Sony's feet for including it in the game. Aren't there other weapons in every class that are completely or nearly completely useless? We can go the other way and used the most gimped weapons in the game to show how good we are. I don't have the skill or desire to play that way though. At this stage in my "gaming career" I'm just playing to have fun by playing the game however I consider fun.

Rather than be concerned about what other Outfits think of us, I would be more concerned about getting the attendance and recruitment up. It seems to me that people aren't playing as much.

 

Momma's got a squeezebox, daddy never sleeps at night. She goes in and out, and in and out. She's playin' all night, and the music's all right.

 

I enjoyed using the shotgun. It is easy. I also have fps problems with planetside very frequently, one of the reasons I've been playing less is because it's getting worse.
I'd like to use carbines more, but getting hits is extremely difficult at times. But I always switch up weapons a few times in a game for when it feels best.
I probably will try carbines a little more, but sometimes a shottie is the only gun I have that can hit a player sometimes. My lag can change a lot so I can't learn to account for it when aiming.

 

I'll use this analogy to help better explain the whole shotgun thing. Imagine that instead of guns, we had just different types of bows & arrows.

There are certain skills to be expected of you in order for you to kill someone. Skills like loading the arrow from your quiver onto your bow, lining up your shots, using the right amount of force when pulling back on the bow leading your shots, picking the right type of bow/arrowhead, etc. There are a lot of skills that you require in order for you to be a skilled archer.

With all that in mind, instead of a shotgun, you have a handgun. When you're close up, you are almost always guaranteed a kill, it doesn't require loading each shot from your quiver, it doesn't require that you line up your shots (that much), there's no string to pull back, you don't really need to lead your shots either since you're already in their face. There's no type of arrowhead you need to use since you already kill instantly. Worst of all, everyone else is using a bow & arrow. With little to no effort, you could walk into a room full of people and kill everyone instantly with little to no effort. Each bullet is a guaranteed kill.

When you compare a bow & arrow to a handgun, the amount of skill required to operate either is drastically different. The amount of effort required to become a skilled marksman with either is completely different. The amount of planning and calculation involved to become proficient at operating either is drastically different.

I'd like to think that I'm in an outfit full of skilled players who strive not just to become not just better at the game, but the best at this game.

 

Some of us are, some of us just want to have fun. I think more of us are looking to be the best but we need to accommodate those who wish to play to win while having fun, not necessarily being "best".

That being said, I would like for there to be more Structured ops squads/platoons and less casual platoons so that we can accommodate to those who wish to be the best.

 

The entire point of that post was to provide Arguments and Counterarguments from different points of view, as per the OP's request. He wanted it explained to him why certain people think using shotguns makes you a bad player. I gave him arguments from both sides, for, and against, shotguns.

I concluded with my personal opinion. Sorry this was not made clear.

This is exactly what I just said, up until the last bit.

My point is that, while we're in casual ops at the very least, we should be playing to have fun, not conquer the world. Even if we were playing serious ops, a shotgun has a place in there. Just because it requires "No skill", as you put it, does not make it useless. On the contrary, because of the low skill cap, more people can do well with shotguns (In the right scenarios, it's up to the player to pick and choose the right situations, as apart of the "Skill" of using shotguns). I find the idea that someone would tell me how to play my game based on their own opinions sort of appalling. It's like picking on someone for their Profession. If I were a garbage man, and you made fun of me for earning money collecting garbage, I'd be offended. You and I share the same ultimate goal: To earn money, but you're telling me HOW I should be making money, specifically that I should be doing your profession, and ignoring the garbage collecting profession I've taken up.

Honestly though, would anyone want a player who plays on 15-20 FPS (Which I KNOW there are some in NNG with this problem) to pick up a carbine? Would you like to see the spraying that occurs there? There's a point where you cannot develop your skill because of technical limitations, and as such, should not be looked down upon.

I'm no longer going to post here, as it's just a negative thread that will likely lead to some harsh feelings. I've put my opinion out there, provided an answer to the question that was asked to the best of my ability, and replied to counterarguments on my opinion. This is all I need to do.