Community: Message List

Assault Rifle Guide

donotreply@activision.com — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:43:06 GMT

I've put about 7 hours into MP today, trying every weapon except the LMGs. Here's a little guide for those who haven't looked into weapon stats or haven't spent much time finding out what Assault Rifle suits their playstyle best, or what attachments suit each gun well. I will rank the guns best-to-worst:

1. SWAT 556:

A 3-round burst, but when put into full-auto, it becomes the best assault rifle in the game. Great damage/range (long 3-shot kill range, 4-shot maximum). Moderate-high fire rate(720 rpm), moderate recoil. Recommended attachments: Select Fire + Foregrip. Do not use with: Extended Mags (only 9 bullet increase).

2. Type 25:

Similar to the FAMAS in the original Black Ops, although slightly slower and less damaging. Also behaves like MW3 FAD. Recoil is low, almost too low. High rate of fire (900 rpm), low damage (4-5 shots), average range. Recommended attachments: Fast Mags + Stock + Laser sight. Do not use with: Select Fire

3. FAL DSW:

Like the SWAT 556, this gun becomes a monster when put into full-auto. Easy recoil, 2 shot kill in close range (3 at mid-long), 25 round mag. Beast weapon. Recommended attachments: Select Fire + Target Finder + Extended Mags. Do not use with: Silencer

4. M8A1:

Shoots 4 rounds within each burst. Each burst is a fast 900 rpm, and the delay time between bursts is relatively short, making a highly-mobile burst weapon. Switch into full-auto and it performs similar to the Type 25 but with slightly more damage (3 shot kill in short range, up to 5 at long range). Recoil is very controllable. Recommended attachments: Select Fire + foregrip + extended mags. Do not use with: Silencer

5. MTAR:

Like the game says, it's the most versatile overall assault rifle. Moderate damage (3-5 shots), moderate range, moderate recoil, moderate fire rate (720 rpm). Great for new players. Recommended attachments: Stock + foregrip + Laser sight (makes a very mobile setup). Do not use with: Select Fire

6. AN-94:

When in full-auto, this weapon is just a sleeper. When in burst mode, it becomes a whole different beast. When shooting this gun, the first 2 bullets always shoot twice as fast as the rest of your shots (600 rpm). Switching into 2-burst mode ensures you are pumping out bullets as fast as possible, with precision. Above-average damage and range (3-5 shots), moderate recoil. Recommended attachments: Select Fire + MMS + FMJ. Do not use this weapon in full-auto.

7. SMR:

We're now getting into the weaker side of the class. The SMR is a lot like the FAL DSW, just with a considerably longer 2-shot kill range. However, it has a smaller mag, more recoil, less mobility, and less bullet-penetration power. Be aware that in semi-automatic, you can reach a higher rate of fire than in full-auto with a trained trigger finger. Recommended Attachments: Silencer + Target Finder/Hybrid Optic. Do not use with: foregrip

8. M27:

This weapon handles somewhat like the ACR in MW2, althought not as accurate. It is essentially a Type 25 that shoots slower and has a little bit less recoil. While the recoil is the lowest in the Assault Rifle class, the low damage (4-5 shots) and medium fire rate (720 rpm) may not be enough to keep up. It does, however, posess the fastest reload in the class. Pick attachments that play to the weapon's strengths. Recommended Attachments: Hybrid Optic + Foregrip + Fast Mags. Do not use with: Laser Sight or Select Fire

9. SCAR-H:

Handles similarly to the MW2 SCAR-H. Among fully-automatics, it has the longest 3-shot kill range in the class, as well as the longest 4-shot kill range. However, a full-auto SWAT 556 does the same thing - just better, and at even longer ranges. Unfortunately, the damage will also eventually drop off to a 5-shot kill, and combined with the slow fire rate (600 rpm) and bumpy recoil, this gun will really struggle to compete with other Assault Rifles at the longest ranges. Avoid this gun unless you want style points. Recommended Attachments: Silencer + Target Finder + Foregrip. Do not use with: Laser Sight or Select Fire

Hope this helped, other classes coming soon!

Re: How's that there SCAR-H?

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:47:13 GMT

It has a 30 round mag. I'd rather it have a 20 round mag with more power.

Re: Better to practice on Black Ops 1 or MW3?

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:45:37 GMT

It may be the same developer but Black Ops 2 is a whole different beast than Black Ops 1. Practice on MW3, because the pace and gameplay of BO2 is more similar to MW3.

Re: How's that there SCAR-H?

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:17:36 GMT

Is the M27 a 3-shot kill? Cause apparently it has literally no recoil, 3 shots would be crazy OP

How's that there SCAR-H?

donotreply@activision.com — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:24:22 GMT

So, this is obviously directed at any of you who have the game already and have used dat SCAR. I noticed in gameplay videos that Treyarch gave it a 30 round mag instead of a 20 round, which, knowing Treyarch's history of overzealous nerfs, they probably gave it absolute poop damage. Shame, I was kind of excited when I heard the SCAR-H was returning.

So what's the verdict? How does it perform?

Re: Let's see if Treyarch stick to their word about keeping things balanced...

donotreply@activision.com — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:21:52 GMT

LOL.

Re: Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:28:26 GMT

I just dont understand how the exact same dogs from BO1 can be an 11 killstreak in that game but a 17 killstreak in BO2.

Re: Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 04:46:08 GMT

from all the leaked gameplay i've seen, 1 kill in TDM and FFA is still 100. Still a 14 killstreak for a Warthog, which is basically a glorified airstrike... And if they cranked it to 150 per kill, then the lower-level scorestreaks are too easy and too common. It's just very disproportional right now. The majority of the scorestreaks over 1000 need to be re-evaluated, as well the CUAV and Sentry Gun. I promise you, nobody will EVER use those two if those requirements are changed. Most common scorestreaks will undoubtedly be Hunter Killer, Hellstorm, and AGR, as those are the only ones that have truly sensible score requirements.

Swarm should be the highest at 1600. Something like the Lodestar should be 1150. The other side-effect I fear is this will cause more campy gameplay when people are enticed to play defensively enough to stay alive for 1000+ points. MW3's support package made me play so much more aggressively, not having to worry about my streak resetting. I camped hardcore with Assault, but constantly ran about with support. Same thing in Homefront with the Battle Points - they rolled over through death, encouraging aggressive play. I was hoping BO2 would take a cue from MW3 and continue moving away from the "streak" idea.

Re: what do you think of that xbox won't get the maps first in BO 2

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:52:17 GMT

How does nobody in this thread know that Activision renewed the DLC-exclusive deal with Microsoft? They announced this back at E3 this year. Xbox still gets the DLC a month early. It's because Activision is the biggest cash-mongering gaming corporation out there, and Microsoft pays an absurd amount of money to get it

Re: Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:44:49 GMT

such an intelligent and constructive response. You're so valuable to this community.

Re: Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:43:59 GMT

again, you are all forgetting about TDM/FFA where the objective IS KILLING PEOPLE. Not everyone plays the same game types as you, remember that.

Obviously they have the ability to alter the score requirements. That's what this thread is for - to give them feedback. Lowering the score requirement of any streak doesn't make it any easier to get a reward without playing the objective - In Dom, capping a flag still gets you 250 points, a kill still gets you 50 points. That's 1/5th of the points. If all the requirements are lowered, objective players still run circles around campers/killwhores in terms of rewards.

Re: Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:24:26 GMT

in objective game types. What about TDM/FFA?

Scorestreak tuning feedback

donotreply@activision.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 02:15:50 GMT

Alright folks, this is the finalized point requirements for the scorestreaks in the final version of the game on release day. Before this revision, the requirements were a little too low, but now it seems that Treyarch may have overcompensated in some areas. Here it is:

UAV: 350

RCXD: 450

Hunter Killer: 525

Care Pack: 550

Counter-UAV: 600 (wtf???)

Gaurdian (Microwave): 650

Hellstorm missile: 700

Lightning strike: 750

Sentry gun: 800 (yes, really)

Death Machine: 850

War Machine: 900

Dragonfire: 975

AGR (Assault Drone): 1000

Stealth Chopper: 1100 (wtf?)

Orbital VSAT (Blackbird): 1200 (yikes)

Escort Drone (MW3 AH-6): 1250

EMP: 1300

Warthog (A-10 strafes): 1400

Lodestar (MW3 Reaper): 1500 (lol)

VTOL Warship (MW3 Osprey/BO1 Gunship): 1600

Attack Dogs: 1700 (holy sh*t)

Swarm: 1900

Aside from needing a 6 killstreak for a counter-UAV, most of the scorestreaks below 1000 seem at least somewhat reasonable... I mean, the Hellstorm is an upgraded predator missile, the Lightning Strike is a triple airstrike... but pretty much everything above 1000 seems absurd! Maybe an 11 killstreak for the Stealth Chopper makes sense if it's beefed up like the Pavelow, but a 15 killstreak for the equivalent of an MW3 Reaper? 12/13 killstreak for the MW3 AH-6? Maybe these would all make more sense if the scorestreaks fully stacked (100 points for each scorestreak kill), but they dont...

Attack Dogs were a 7 killstreak in WaW. An 11 killstreak in BO1. Now they are a 17 killstreak. How does that happen? I dont remember anyone complaining about 11 being too low in BO1. From the video footage I've seen, the swarm is very powerful. It was originally 14, which was too low, but a 19 killstreak? No.

I understand that it may be easier to rack up scorestreaks in some objective game modes. But I think Treyarch may have forgot about TDM/FFA players when updating these requirements. I think we need to give them some feedback to bring some of these scorestreaks down to reasonable requirements. Let me know what you think!

Re: MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:24:02 GMT

Like a lot of these, very good suggestions in here. If any devs are checking this thread, READ this =)

Re: MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:22:56 GMT

Well you've basically just made it clear that you don't really care about balance in this game, so I don't really know why you are posting in a thread about balancing the game.

Re: What guns do you think are overpowered?

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:19:36 GMT

ACR, MP7, Type 95, FMG9 - very OP

PP90M1, Striker, L86 - borderline OP

Can I play with your clan? I'd love to play games without the ACR, Type 95, or MP7.

Re: MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:26:17 GMT

WTF are you talking about? "The whole point of the care package is to give players that random chance to get ANY ksr/psr in the game." What your saying is that the point of the care package is to be a crutch for bad players to get a cheap advantage. Which is true. Last time I checked, anytime there is a crutch in something that is supposed to a balanced, fair, competitive multiplayer experience, that's a bad thing, and it usually makes it NOT a competitive multiplayer experience.

I would be fine with the charity package yeilding any possible KSR if it required a 6 killstreak. 4 is just pure bullsh*t, because charity packages don't even drop ammo anymore. So literally the ONLY thing you can get that takes less kills that the charity package is a UAV. Everything else is basically an unfair shortcut. There honestly should be about a 50% chance that the charity package yields a ksr lower than the charity package, and a 50% chance that it yields something higher. An Osprey Gunner can cripple an enemy team and it's extremely hard to obtain, as it should be. Why should some scrub with hardline be able to cripple an entire enemy team just because he got a free dom flag at the beginning of the game, destroyed a SAM Turret, and got 2 assists? Assault Juggs can also dominate an enemy team, and AC-130s/Pavelows can do some hefty damage as well. With Ospreys, Juggs, AC-130s, and Pavelows, I think 6 or 7 kills is fair for a care package. But IW is not going to change the amount of kills required, so I'll settle for removing any ksr above 12 from the charity package.

MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 20:13:13 GMT

Alright, so I did one of these threads a while ago, but gave up because the devs didn't care and nobody important was reading the feedback. Now all of the sudden in the last 2 months it seems like the IW devs care again and Mark Rubin has said multiple times that within the next few weeks they will be doing a weapons and pointstreaks "sweep" - meaning they are going to be tweaking/rebalancing many weapons and pointstreaks. I'd like to trust them in coming up with truly balanced weapon stats but I can't after MW2's weapon balance and the way MW3's weapon balance still is right now, because I have no idea how any dev ever thought the MP7, ACR 6.8, or Type 95 were at all balanced in any way. So let's get our community feedback in to help them. Post your suggestions in this thread about what guns you think are either overpowered or underpowered and include your suggestion for how to make the gun balance, and most importantly state your REASON for why you think your suggested changes would make the gun balanced. Don't just say "X is OP, because I said so. Fix it." Nobody will listen to you. Don't forget to also tweet your weapon balance suggestions to @IWMarkRubin, @Teanah, and @Candyslexia.

I've played FPS games for a very long time and I have a very good sense for balance. I often realize that certain things are OP/UP a while before the broader community realizes it and starts begging for nerfs/buffs. When I take one look at the weapon stats and say "X is going to get nerfed," chances are it really will get nerfed somewhere down the road. I've studied every stat there is to study in MW3 and I know all the numbers behind every gun, perk, and poinstreak like the back of my hand. So I've taken the time to write up a MW3 weapon balance draft, and I've put a ton of thought into it. Here it is:

Assault Rifles:

M4A1: Increase range from 800-1400 to 1000-1500. This makes it more competitive with the SCAR-L.

SCAR-L: No change.

CM901: Increase min damage to 30 (for hardcore), increase range from 800-1900 to 1000-1900.

AK-47: Increase min damage to 30.

G36C: No change.

ACR 6.8: Reduce mag size from 30 to 20. Change damage from 45-30 to 35-25 (increase headshot multiplier to 1.5x to retain 2 headshot kill).

The ACR is currently the most dominant assault rifle, clearly outclassing all others except the Type 95, which is why it needs so many changes. Currently it takes the exact same number of bullets to kill as the CM901 and AK-47 (3-4) while ALSO having much less recoil, a higher fire rate, and faster reload, and having almost the same 3-hit-kill range. With the new damage, it will still take 3-4 shots but have a slightly smaller 3-hit-kill range. A 20 round mag will make it fit the role of the MW2 SCAR-H: a powerful, low recoil/long range weapon balanced with a moderate fire rate and small magazine. It will also no longer be a 1 shot kill at all ranges in hardcore, leaving that as a special trait to the AK-47, CM901, and unsilenced M16A4.

Type 95 option 1: Reduce max damage to 50, change range from 800-2000 to 500-2000 and reduce fire rate to 925 rpm. Also increase hip-fire spread from 4 - 7 to 5 - 7. This retains the 2 shot kill potential but the 2 hit kill range is much shorter, and it is no longer a make-shift shotgun with the hip-fire spread.

Type 95 option 2: Change damage from 55-20 to 49-25 with 800-1500 range and 925 rpm fire rate. Also increase hip-fire spread from 4 - 7 to 5 - 7.

* Type 95 is a tough one to balance. Not sure either of these suggestions are that great, but the bottom line is that the Type 95 needs some sort of nerf.

M16A4: Change damage to a flat 34 across all ranges. Give the silenced version 34-25 damage with 1000-2000 range (these would be the actual ranges when silenced, not pre-modified ranges).

Mk14: Slightly increase vertical recoil.

FAD: Increase range from 800 - 1000 to 1100 - 1300.

SMGs:

MP5: Reduce horizontal recoil to 65 left, 55 right.

UMP45: No change.

PP90M1: Increase horizontal recoil to 75 each direction, increase vertical recoil to 65 also. Decrease center speed to 1550. Normalize rapid fire effect to 25% like other SMGs. Keeps it still extremely dominant in close range, but difficult to use at mid-long range.

P90: No change.

PM-9: Reduce visual recoil (not viewkick). Reduce reload time to 1.8 seconds. Keep rapid fire effect at 33%. Possibly improve hip-fire from 3 - 5 to 2.5 - 4.5 (may be a bit much).

MP7: Reduce min damage from 20 to 17, slightly increase vertical recoil from 45 to 50.

LMGs:

L86 LSW: Reduce min damage from 38 to 30. It took 1 more bullet at long range than any other LMG pre-patch, it should be the same post-patch to make sure the MG36 and MK46 are still useful.

All other LMGs: No change.

Machine Pistols:

FMG9: Reduce damage from 40-20 to 30-17. It currently makes the other 3 machine pistols pointless, having the best damage profile, highest RPM, and largest magazine.

MP9: No change.

Skorpion: Reduce vertical recoil 15-20%.

G18: Increase min damage from 17 to 20.

All machine pistols: Akimbo should GREATLY increase the hip-fire spread on ALL of them, similar to PP2000 akimbo hip-fire in MW2.

Shotguns:

USAS-12: No change.

AA-12: Increase damage per pellet to 17-8. Increase starting ammo.

Spas-12: Increase damage per pellet to 35-15.

Model 1887: Increase damage per pellet to 40-20.

Striker: Reduce fire rate to 300 rpm.

KSG-12: No change.

Perks:

Extreme conditioning: 3x sprint instead of 2x.

Scavenger: always replenish tactical grenades, lethal thrown grenades, and anti-air launchers

Blast Shield: Increase explosive resistance from 0.55x to 0.35x.

Assassin: Remove immunities to CUAV and EMP (move those over to Blind Eye Pro) and enable Marksman PRO to see red names above Assassin Pro users.

Pointstreaks:

Stealth Bomber: Decrease blast radius and damage of bombs

Strafe Run: Give all 5 helicopters 1 or 2 flares each, but all 5 should dump flares at the same time (only burns 1 or 2 rockets total).

Reaper: Decrease number of missiles to 10.

Attack Helicopter: Give it 1 flare.

Pavelow: Add one more flare.

Recon Juggernaut: Decrease total health.

Care package: Remove Osprey Gunner and Assault Juggernaut.

EMP: Reduce duration to 30 sec.

Ballistic Vests: Lower the health provided in HC modes to something more proportional to starting health.

Emergency Airdrop: Should not drop EMPs or Recon Juggernauts

Osprey Gunner: Needs at least 1 more flare, if not 2 more.

Equipment:

Frag grenades: Increase blast radius and also slightly increase maximum damage to create a bigger lethal range

*more to come in this section

I encourage you to leave your own feedback below, but if you don't know the numbers and statistics and variables behind the weapons in MW3 I highly suggest you take a look at the stats and learn them for yourself first so that you can craft better suggestions for the developers. You can find more statistics than you know what to do with here: http://symthic.com/mw3charts.php and http://denkirson.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=323 5. If you actually talk about very specific adjustments to specific variables like I did in my draft, they are more likely to listen to you. If you think any of my suggestions are too extreme, feel free to say so and if anyone has better ideas than mine (specifically the Type 95) I will updated the OP with your suggestion and give you credit for it. Also, if you have any questions about any gun, perk, or pointstreak, just ask me. I bet you anything I know the answer.

I will be moderating this thread and updating it daily. ALL posts must obey the following rules, and any that don't will be reported:

1. Debate is okay, starting a flame war isn't. If you disagree with someone, then you can state your disagreement in a mature, respectful, and intelligent manner. Anything along the lines of "No, this gun is fine and shouldn't be nerfed because you just suck and you need to get better and stop crying" will be reported without question. You think someone has a bad suggestion? Come back with a better suggestion, referencing the real weapon statistics (not the ones you pull out of your arse) and explaining WHY you believe your suggested changes to the weapon's statistics make better sense. Got it? If you don't, too bad.

2. Leave skill OUT of the debate. Skill has NOTHING to do with weapon balance. At all. If you think it does, you don't even understand the concept of weapon balance in the first place. Weapons are balanced in an attempted to make your score accurately represent your skill level, not make up for your lack of it. Two players with the same skill level playing with the same play style should not have drastically different scores because one of them uses an ACR and the other uses an M4A1. Guns should be statistically equivalent with each other so that a player can choose essentially any weapon in the game and get about the same score, with the only thing affecting his score being his skill level, not his gun selection. If one gun is always the superior choice because it gives you better scores, what is the point of having any of the others in the game at all?

Re: MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 04:43:23 GMT

"It has a flare, its hard to shoot down with bullets" - exactly. That, combined with 14 deadly missles for only a 9 pointstreak, is a little bit much, and makse the Strafe Run and AH-6 kinda obsolete. It just needs a little nerf in some way, whether that be less rockets or taking away its flare.

As for the PM-9, it has the highest recoil of any primary gun in the whole game (excluding Rapid Fire LMGs). And I'm not talking about a huge recoil reduction, just a moderate one to make it useable. It has two different kinds of recoil, combined. 1. Viewkick (your whole screen/point-of-view bouncing aorund) and 2. Gunkick (the gun itself jumping around your screen). I'm only talking about reducing Gunkick and leaving Viewkick alone, so you can actually see what you are aiming it. It would still be the highest recoil SMG.

Re: MW3 Weapon/Poinstreak/Perk Balance Community Feedback thread

donotreply@activision.com — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 04:36:44 GMT

Of course you don't. But it seems you are in the minority where that is concerned. The developers lack of balls to nerf things that are OP and actually require some effort/skill to get a good score instead of leaning on crutches is what makes IW games so disrespectable to many serious FPS players.