I've been reading and while I didn't sign up, some of my friends did, so I hear lots of stories
As far as accuracy goes - yes, Virginia, there are people out there who are such badass that they can hit you fifteen ways before you even know they are there. It isn't the weapons that are innacurate to be sure. (eg: a typical .50 cal round is accurate to 6-8 inches at over a mile. While this may not sound great, put a paper plate on your chest - comfy fit, no?)
Ideas:
- First off, add in a skill system. We need classes BADLY. There is no chance that someone is going to be skilled with every single weapon the game, so make different types.
An optimal approach would be to have a point-allocation system. You have say 50 points and they go into 8 or 10 skills. You might have good speed or good aiming or be a total badass with demolitions or heavy weapons or...
(something like 10 points max each skill)
Everyone of course has 2-3 points in every skill, since they do train you to use just about everything. You just aren't going to be really
acurate with that thing.
A hybrid apporach would be even better. You have classes and some limited flexibility to assign points so for instance, your sniper isn't a total dumbass with that grenade launcher(at least on paper - we know differently). He would still have 2-3 points in most skills, of course - and higher in others. You just would have say 10 points to allocate.
- impliment some sort of system like CS has, where you move SLOWLY when using a scope.
- Ballistics for everything would also make a huge improvement. I tire of this "aim and wherever the crosshair is, it is dead on" crap that I see in all of these games.
I have spent many years shooting various guns myself and the thing is aligned to fire accurately at ONE range. Closer or farther out, it requires you to make an educated guess and manual adjustment.(rangefinders help lots)
Most serious guns have elevation marks on the crossairs(or a nice flip-up type if you have iron sights) to give you a idea of how to adjust. Sniping at someone should take time and require you to adjust for range.(Wind as well)
Close-in, your accuracy is actually likely to be WORSE because a 1-2 inch movement while jogging makes the end the barrel move a LOT. I have seen where people unload at each other at close range and completely miss. Now, true, this is Special Forces we are supposed to be playing, but you just don't bring a sniper-rifle to a close-range fight. Sniping at under 50ft? Too much movement and your point of impact is not even IN your view.
Notable exception - low-power scopes mounted at the end of the barrel. Not usually done, but if you have ever used one, you'll love it. They allow you to get an accurate shot and still have the kind of speed you get out of iron sights.
Still no substitute for a good handgun at close-range.
I play a lot of paintball as well. We also allow use of most banned(from courses) types, like blowguns and so on. Expect to be hit easily at well over 50yds. You should see my 6-shot sniper-blowgun - heh. All 5 lbs of it. Paintball was never this much fun... Okay - so it is 6 pvc pipes with three wooden spacers in the middle to seperate them by about 2 inches from the center. Infuriates the hell out of people how fast I can fire it off and reload. 6-inch accuracy at 200ft. >
- Add in a laser for most other weapons and a LOT more trouble aiming while moving unless very skilled. Make them plainly visible to the enemy at a HUGE distance compared to what you can see with the dot. Also they are nearly useless in daylight.
(ie: take a flashlight out to a park - how far can you see with it and how far away can your friend see you using it?)
- Many more dark areas. IR should be a all but required when going into a dark and smoke-filled building.(time to turn on the laser as well, lest you shoot your own guys)
- Make it so you don't die - you are just too wounded to fight. Less dramatic, but more realistic. Save dead and gone for being hit with explosives(grenade in your chest, rocket, whatnot) and simmilar gruesomeness. Sure, headsots and such are lethal, but you people don't drop dead 5 seconds later - it usually takes them a while to actually die.
More realistic would be to have 2 types of damage - lethal and non-lethal. You can be out of the game for either, but lethal has the added problem of getting worse(bleeding). Maybe have a medic option/first-aid pack and it takes you literally 30 seconds doing nothing else to stop the bleeding - not likely to be enough time, but hey, it's there.
- WAY more damage from grenades. Scare the crap out of people. Make friendly-fire HURT. Try playing CS sometime where FF is on - notice how much less people run amok and how they don't throw grenades around? Your teammates will shoot the hell out of you if you open up on them.
You actually take a split second to verify that the person in front of you is the enemy. Then it is all about reflexes.
- To be honest, in RL, grenade-launchers *are* badass. Make the maps have much more hard cover. They will run out and especially so if they only are useable at 50-100ft+ With FF on, there is no way that they would dare shoot it with their buddies nearby - only to soften you up or to lob into a window or room.