Before I write this I need to mention that while I rarely play on the servers nowadays, the only balance update to my knowledge was the one by Opalium that got rolled back, so all of the weapons on the server have the same issues they've always had. So I've been a huge supporter of balance updates on the server to increase variety in loadouts instead of seeing everyone use the same few weapons. I've talked about nerfing the AK and SL8 before, but any time the topic of weapon rebalancing comes up there's always people who say that the vanilla shotgun needs to be nerfed too. I understand why people think that, but I think the gun is perfectly balanced. There's a reason people think the gun is OP. If you're an inno and a traitor with a shotgun walks up to you he can kill you before you have a chance to legally retaliate. If you're a traitor trying to jihad a well aimed headshot can be devastating. It feels really bad to lose to what feels like a harpoon gun at close range, but the shotgun can be played around. If you're an inno and a guy with a shotgun comes towards you, don't let them get close. If you're using a rifle and standing out of the effective range of an opponent's shotgun you're in an advantageous position if they do something traitorous (and if a player with a shotgun wont stop trying to close that distance you should kill them the moment you get a legal reason to). The shotgun also struggles with dealing with multiple opponents. If a traitor walks into a room with 3 innos and shoots one in the head, the other 2 are gonna team up on them. Even if the traitor is aimbotting (assuming no other hacks) the traitor might be dead before they can fire 2 more shots. If you're worried about dying to someone with a shotgun don't go off on your own. When you compare the shotgun to an actually broken gun like the AK it's night and day. The AK has a much higher range and a fire rate that makes it perfect for crowd control. A traitor with a shotgun can pick off lone innos easily, but a traitor with an AK can basically shoot fish in a barrel and get 3 kills (see this video for a good example of how fast the AK can kill). A lot of maps aren't big enough for players to back away out of range of an AK, and the combined DPS and fire rate lets traitors win 3v1s without as much skill as people think.
Bump.... Another way to counteract the shotgun is to have cover in between you and them. It doesn’t matter what it is, it could be something as simple as a corner wall. If you see someone in the distance with a shotgun and it looks like they’re approaching you, run to the nearest cover and if they try and shoot at you you can dash around the piece of cover and maybe even flank around them if possible. It’s saved me a couple times from dying a horrible death and it’s incredibly useful in any shooter game really.
It's like screw the shotgun, but how about screw @Rice and Chicken He's so OP, can we get a balance on him please?
