Question: is there any hope of a ballistics rework?

[woeful depot]

In January of 2020 we got Scoring 2.0

Since then we've gotten dozens of new animals, guns and bows. Including some iconic weapons and animals.

With the addition of all these weapons there has been absolutely no mention of a change to the scoring system or class ranges of weaponry.

A hunting game depends on three factors, the map or terrain it takes place in, the animals available to hunt, and the weaponry that connects the player to the animals.

The last several maps have been stunningly beautiful and incredibly well made. They offer a fairly wide selection of animals and the animals themselves are constantly improving.

With the addition of Great Ones, everyone willing to work for one has collected an extremely rare trophy. That said, there's a large number of players who either don't have the time or are not interested in repeatedly hunting one kind of animal hoping for RNG to give up a unique trophy.

During all this, the balance of utility of the weapons in game has shattered. DLC weapons bypass roughly 90% of the progression system unlocks, the class system is extremely restricted and basically forces a player to choose between using the weapon they like or are familiar with and the weapon that actually let's you get a full score.

Adding to this, some weapons are effectively useless. .30-30 for example is regularly used for black bear and even moose. .45-70 used in the pistol has a longer effective range than in the rifle. Some rifles, .300 magnum comes to mind, are unrealisticly restricted.

I'm just really confused and disappointed that basically a third of the game is being ignored

[deep wedge]

I agree that it would be more than fair if we get an update for our gear. I'd even agree to an Ammo Expansion Gear Pack DLC that allows Calibers to pair &/or match the Game Class Utility Ranges as Bows, Shotguns, Drilling & Hudzik. Thus allowing various caliber use & applications more authentically & further expanding on player freedom utility options in-game.

[glacial kindle]

Bad balance is the best salesman of dlc.

[toxic ocean]

a change like this shouldnt be locked behind dlc. one of the issues mentioned is that the balancing of weaponry has been ruined because base game guns are pretty lacking compared to a lot of dlc weapons. the base game is more than due some additions and overhauls because once you own a couple dlc packs you realise it really is barebones.

dont get me wrong the basegame weapons are perfectly good, but i think its silly how many have been locked behind a paywall with how much more effective they are compared to dlc weapons.

[wraith bay]

I disagree somewhat. The Basegame weapons are NOT good. Especially not the .30-30 and .45-70.
And furthermore the Idea of weaponbalance in a Singleplayer/co-op Game in itself is stupid.

[woeful depot]

I sincerely feel like "weapon balance" is just an excuse for not doing proper research and putting in the level of effort that should be there.

Its been consistently shown that firearms are getting nowhere near the amount of work that the other parts of the game has, and like @wraith bay said. The .30-30 and 45-70 show it most.

Askiy Ridge's Outrider .30-30 was shown with new ammunition and presented as an upgrade to a base game weapon. When it came out however, there was no new ammunition and less than five points difference in the weapon stats. Quite literally a reskin that treated the ability to use a regular scope as some kind of huge improvement.

The .45-70 is another arguably worse case of this. They clearly stated multiple times that they had improved the ammunition and the update would apply to both rifle and pistol. What we got instead was a pistol that performs better than a rifle and absolutely no improvement in the performance of the ammunition.

Both cases show that EW simply doesn't care to put in the effort to make firearms as well as they do maps and animals. Its all focused on appearance and because the audience is mostly people with little to no hunting experience they get away with it

[deep wedge]

You miss understand. If Calibers are only going to have 2 ammo options it should be an update no question. If we are going to get additional ammo options it should be through a gear pk dlc. You cant tell me EW would make any changes w/o an incentive to do so. We've been asking for 3 yrs straight for something to change & we've mentioned various of ways it could be done from simple to elaborate. I don't disagree that we shouldn't have to ask, beg, or plea for change. But I have no faith that EW would even lift a finger to address this otherwise w/o an incentive. And what I proposed isn't unreasonable. I have a separate post that goes more in-depth in what I'm suggesting above. https://discord.com/channels/393040947006406657/1341880120440393840 Also bare in mind the dmg has been going on since 2019-current with every rifle/pistol added & new & old calibers. This further extends to buckshot. In short this isn't a simple fix anymore its an overhaul. Again, I don't disagree that it shouldn't rely on a dlc 200% just to update them, however..... If paying $10 for a new gear pack with more ammo options that makes calibers cover more game class ranges authentically with an overhaul update for all the base game & current weapons to me its worth it. In truth its no different than the Reticles. Everyone got the free update but if you wanted more & the scopes you had to buy the pack. Its the same in this case everyone will get the update however if you want the 3rd or 4th ammo option you'd have to buy the pack.

[limpid stratus]

I often have a ballistic issue from the fixed stand: the bullet hits the frame whenever the animal is at the tip of the scope. 🙁

On rare occasions, I have killed an animal by hitting its antler and grazing its skin. It needs to be fixed.

[woeful depot]

Ghost bullets are still a thing and weirdly common as well.

Scoring 3.0 needs to happen soon

[thorny rivet]

even discounting the actual projectile ballistics entirely, the mil dots and other reticles you can put on most scopes are really inconsistent in how holds and leads are visualized vs what they SHOULD be.

[woeful depot]

80 yard shot with the CB-60 versus 40 yards with a 12ga slug. Please explain

Oh, I have no archery perks either, will gladly show a screenshot of it

[wraith bay]

Lol as much as i love compoundbows, this is rediciolus

[woeful depot]

.375 vs .338(dlc rifle)

There's such a massive difference between them despite covering the same class ranges

[wraith bay]

That .338 is severely underperforming

[woeful depot]

We'll see if anything is done at TNS release but im not holding out hope

[thorny rivet]

one other thing- some of penetration characteristics of smaller cartridges and the shotgun buckshots is laughably anemic compared to their actual, IRL performance. that needs adjusting...

[woeful depot]

Impressively poor performance in some cases

[thorny rivet]

I was at the hirschfelden shooting range the other day, and just for fun I was using the shotgun. the 10ga birdshot I was using was taking over WELL a second to travel 150m. I recognize that the effective range of birdshot is well under 100m, but that's a velocity of less than 30% of actual listed birdshot. to hit that in that time it would have to slow down almost 300% over that distance. I've shot sporting clays before and used birdshot a lot, and the leads needed and time to target in this game compared to real life are bonkers inaccurate.

[woeful depot]

Oh yeah, have you not noticed how slowly the ammo travels? Its not just birdshot with an issue, sometimes rifle bullets are so slow rhe animal can turn before the impact

[thorny rivet]

considering all but the slowest rifle ammo in the game should be supersonic out to 250m, yeah it's a lil weird. the safe bet is most rifle rounds that aren't coldloaded specifically for suppressors stay supersonic at 300-500m, yet they are shockingly sluggish in this game. having to take a 1-2mil hold at 200m or less for something going less than 30mph is kinda wack.