XDefiant‘s April server beta test wrapped today and players are buzzing after a smooth weekend of action, but one weapon archetype—sniper rifles—has ruled above all others.
The status of rifles has left fans worried the “overpowered” weapons will take over the game without prelaunch nerfs. Where the bulk of discussion following last year’s public beta was about the game’s shoddy netcode, discussion around the XDefiant community is mainly focused on weapon balancing and the best loadouts, with many crying foul over the power of the TAC-50 and M44 snipers. One player described every kill feed packed full of players sniping each other. “Snipers are absolutely insane,” another player said. “Every match is just dudes bunnyhopping around corners with snipers.”
After giving the game a crack this weekend, it’s hard not to agree. It didn’t feel like there were any drawbacks when using snipers seen in other shooters like Call of Duty and Counter-Strike 2. There is plenty of ammo to chew through, flinch didn’t feel like a factor at all, and while rechambering a shot took a short moment, the average time-to-kill in XDefiant meant I often got a chance to take a second shot—and it’s all I’d need to land a kill.
Some were even leaving XDefiant matches and the beta because of the weapon. “Once I see the enemy team has two or more snipers with amazing aim, I just leave the match,” one player said, while another called the archetype “too broken and easy to use.”
Players suggested nerfs like taking away the ability to one-shot without a headshot, which I think is a little too far. Snipers in any shooter are generally high-powered weapons with large caliber ammunition, and removing their ability to one-shot would make them all but useless. Instead, I, and other players, definitely feel there should be trade-offs like higher flinch or reduced mobility to counteract the damage capabilities of the TAC-50 and M44.
While Ubisoft meant for the April beta to stress-test the game’s network, here’s hoping devs take a good look at how the metagame developed over the weekend too, because there’s definitely room for adjusting a few overpowered weapons.
