why is it so hard getting headshots now in version 0.54!?
in 0.52 i found it waaaaaay easier and I was like 1337.
but now it takes 3 shots in the head to kill them (well most of the time).

The rifle has a cone of fire.

Like sticking a funnel at the end of a barrel, the rounds will travel in accordance to how big the funnel is, which isn't very big.

But still fucking annoying.

Apparently the riffle is not as accurate as it was before.
New hit detection could be responsible as well.

I think the rifle was made less accurate, like what Spengbab said, it's not just a straight line with pinpoint accuracy but a cone with many varying places that could be hit.

i still find it pretty easy to aim, people who cant aim annoy me

then just aim down the sights most of the time :D

Headshots are hard to get these days in busier servers. Even if you see the blood fly, it doesn't like to count it.. Same with any other type of hit..

that cone of fire.... I really don't like the idea that perfectly aimed shots don't get rewarded with a hit, but if you misaim and get lucky, it's a hit.

The cone of fire is very frustrating when you're trying to get some kills, I always go for headshots with the rifle and a lot of the time it's very easy to tell that my crosshair was aimed directly on their head when I fired... so instinctively I would aim out and look for another target without thinking, assuming I got the kill I deserved. This is how it used to be, where I would actually get the kill, but now there's like a 20% chance of actually getting a shot on their head but not getting the headshot kill. It will hit their neck or chest or something and players need to be rewarded for their careful accuracy.
I hope this is changed soon.

My view is, that the game is simple and abstract.
People just want to load it up, run along, aim, shoot, get some kills, get killed and generally have a fun time, since it's a simple aiming/shooting system - straight lined and fairly easy to use.
The gameplay is very fun this way, as you must have precision mouse skills and timing to survive. The whole cone thing lessens this, it makes aiming harder and generally more frustrating for players that just want a bit of fun. Hit detection doesn't seem quite so responsive either, which doesn't improve the feeling.

That said, SMG and rifle do need good balancing. Though I feel that hefty recoil and big 'cones' for both weapons is not the way to go, since this makes everything slower and less 'clean'.
Personally, I would remove the cone effect from the rifle (if it exists, and if not, sort out whatever is causing the similar effect), and make the SMG have a small, circular recoil radius, whose centre increasingly travels upwards the longer you hold: as shown in my mockup.

You're exactly right, TheGrandmaster.
It takes away the feel of the game and, personally, the reason I play Ace of Spades over something like Call of Duty is simply because it is so different, it's just simple gameplay.

I only like icecream cones, not rifle cones...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGDCE6Nrz0&feature=player_detailpage#t=85s

I kinda hate these cones too.

EDIT: Wait... Does that mean we have reached... Level... RED?!

I hear you guys - I thnk the cone of fire for both weapons will be reduced in the future.

I'll explain some game mechanics to make things clear though.

Movement/stance affect recoil Moving+jumping is the worst, crouching and stationary is the best.

Also Ironsights affect accuracy (the cone of fire) by a signifiacant amount.

I still think both weapons are easymode if you play with the game mechanics instead of fighting it but for sure there will be tweaks in the future.

Hey and Ben, could you tweak the recoil animation, so sights aren't zoomed out at all times? Makes people go nuts.

@bcoolface:
Thanks for the reply.
I've only ever used the SMG while crouching, since it's unusable when standing..

One reason I enjoy the game is because there has been no 'cone' as such - on target shots are rewarded well, not so precise shots get little or nothing.
The SMG as we know is a special case.. But some side-to-side, up-and-down in terms of aiming, but in my view the shots should still remain straight and true..

SMG is extreme fun to simply shoot, but not really effective or useful at all. Maybe it could be balanced for some other purpose, where rifle wouldn't be too efective... For example, more damage to vehicles?

I personally think the SMG needs a different kickback pattern.

If you take it and fire, you'll notice how it swerves in an S.

I suggest setting the accuracy back to how it was before but make heads way smaller.

Yeah, the huge crate heads is the reason I didn't want things to be pinpoint accurate - especially when the rifle can get headshot kills on semi-auto.

And yes the recoil pattern is cyclical and predictable on purpose - it can be controlled if you really wanted to take the time to master it

That said, in 0.52 you could still tell a good player from a lucky camper - bigger heads mean that both the attacker and defender have a nice thing to aim for, but the person who is more precise with their aim would get the kill.

Inaccuracy is frustrating, recoil is a good thing.
Though with current SMG recoil, it can only be controlled for like 3 shots if at close range. Long range you might hope for a hit from each clip (especially if opponent is crouching).. and this is all due to the immense upwards motion that drags your cursor way beyond your target.

As far as the rifle goes, I think some of the terror has gone out of seeing a sniper in your sights looking right at you. Even though he has a huge block head, so do you, and the range is the same for both snipers. All the other uses of the rifle are the same, but the one-shot-one-kill aspect has been nerfed.

Your head is quite small when you know how to use cover... So yeah, it's all about skill. I never experienced people sniping me all the time or spawnkilling me.

So is the hit verification the leading cause behind the sudden decline in headshots or is it the cone? I'm talking more about the rifle since that's easier to do a "before and after" comparison.

I say it's either the cone or that people don't have second thoughts about joining servers that ping low to them.

Because I remember seeing a thread that said something about server side not being an issue with aiming.

The server-side hit verification MUST be playing a role in the rifle's lowered accuracy. I've been playing on the aloha desert server (which has a reasonably low ping of 30-50 for me) and I've seen some unmistakable trademarks of lag affecting a "kill shot." I shot the same person --who was standing still-- in the head 4 times (saw the blood spray on at least 2 of the shots), just to have him turn around and instantly nail me with a headshot. It turns out that the guy lived in the UK, which explains why it's easier for him to nail me while my rounds just bounce off.

Ben, why was the "server-side hit verification" added? What was its purpose? There are no aimbots for this game, what was the reason for this? Adding the cone of fire to the rifle is fine; I can handle that, but when you're at a disadvantage to someone who has a ping that is two times as high as yours, it just takes away from the game's enjoyability.

The client-side hit detection (or at least, the lack of a server-side hit verification) effectively left every player on a level playing field. Can you explain to me what "server-side hit verification" is by the way? I still don't know what that means if you're saying that the hit detection itself is still client side.

Thanks.

Yes, it's annoying to see blood after 3-4 headshots but no damage seams to happen. I guess it's because the blood appears right after client-side hit detected but before server-side verification. So if server-side verification fails because of lag, then their will be no damage but you can still see the blood. We should see blood only if real damage happens.

You see, that's why I question the "server-side hit verification." What exactly was the point of adding it? What is its purpose (other than disregarding legitimate hits)?

Also, ever since the physics/hit verification was switched to server side, everything seems to be lagging like crazy. Everyone (even on low-ping servers) is complaining about rubber banding and teleporting. I for one, am sick of sticking my head out of a sniper position to shoot someone who is crouched out in the open, just to have him teleport 20 feet forward after I've already put 3 rounds into him. By that time, he's already aiming right at me and I get blasted because of it.

Ehh. Not a fan of the new inaccuracy of the rifle. At all. That's just because I happened to be a rifle terrorist with a few others I guess. Seen some great players out there. Have we been leveled out?

I loved the accuracy it had, very rewarding if you could aim, definitely separated the skilled players from others. Now it feels like it's whoever gets the lucky shot first wins. That... Does not feel good.... Especially since I have some of the worst tendencies of luck.