I personally think they are balanced, but there are one of two (not both) nerfs I think could be acceptable. Un-zoom from sniper scope while taking damage (like Halo). Take away Hidden Hand perk for Sniper Rifles. I don't like either because sniping can easily be countered by not double peeking, choosing certain attack routes, or special maneuvers to rush. I've gone up agains some fantastic snipers in this game, and I've always done well to avoid them with those tips.

High impact rifle should not get high AA like over 60 but only low impact sniper rifle.

One thing I have come up with is that if you use a scope with more zoom, you'll take less flinch, the short range scopes will take a lot of flinch. Idk how this would go down but...

Buffing primaries is the answer. I'm sorry but a casual like urself has no clue what a weapon needs to be balanced. You may have an opinion but the changes u want to make will make snipers useless. Snipers weren't never a problem in year 1, the reason is because snipers had a lot of counters. Primaries were strong and shotguns were op in year 1. Snipers were punished alot quicker if they didnt land their headshot in year 1. Nerfing snipers isnt the answer as we will jus end up with a weapon that useless and continue to water the game down. Sniping to a certain point takes skill, players who sit in their spawn and camp do so because primaries no longer pose as great a threat. The changes to snipers u suggest would discourage a player from moving while sniping. That's a terrible idea as a player should be able to move around while they snipe. But ya as a top player in the world and after talking to other top players, we can agree that primaries need buffs to compete better with special. Sniping casuals is easy but when it comes to playing good players, sniping can be a challenge if u don't have a team to bait. Snipers don't need nerfs and if u really believe so, let's play any game mode and Il show u how op a shotgun can be in the right hands lol.

Or they just add more flinch on primary critical hit....

Zoom out when you get shot at, either regular or crit shot.

No.

More people use shotguns. Even in Skirmish Shotguns and snipers are pretty darn close. Numbers according to Guardian.gg from June 1st 2016 to now. Xbox Trials Snipers 22.44 - 38.16 Shotguns 14.38- 24. 6 Rift Shotguns 13.62 -15.51 Snipers 11.24 - 13.3 Rumble Shotguns 17.47-23.25 Snipers 4.27 - 8.53 Clash Shotguns 13.19 - 18.04 Snipers 8.48 - 12.31 Salvage shotguns 16.62 -19.42 Snipers 10.15-12.72 Control Shotguns 14.65 17.56 Snipers 7.27 10.92 Skirmish Shotguns 14.46 - 18.3 Snipers 13.74 -19.56 Why on earth should snipers change when they are a lesser threat then shotguns? Expect one playlist the chances of dying by a sniper at times is ridiculously low yet people want it nerfed. Shut up. You are wrong. And yes faster primary kills are the answer. .8 kill times are stupidly slow for a meta built like Destiny.

J...,i have been think in bout this alot and what im gonna say may seem crazy I actually made a post similar about snipers but literally got zero response... snipers are slow heavy weapon with pin point accuracy... so my solution is to make them a Long ,medium Long weapon only as they should be...bare with me... in order to balance snipers and get them.to stay in their respected niche i think u buff sniper accuracy slightly while stationary and slightly more when crouched even though they already really good when sitting still...but if u were to modify the size of the accuracy cone if the guardian is in motion it will drop accuracy significantly even up 70%80% especially jumping and sliding even if the guardian is straffing accuracy loss of significant proportion... and the accuracy cone must take a second to settle when ads so that quickscopes all but stop and all the super agile sniper shits shots at impossible angles would stop...if u gonna be accurate u must be stationary if ur moving in anyway a headshot is almost impossible just by the mathmatics..sniper is not a run and gun weapon And it needs to be kept in long range...this way flinch or sway or even the low power scopes doesn't matter...if they r still the r deadly if they moving they r trash...now this will likely increase camping hardscopers but it will limit so much of the other illegitimate shots that keep happening over and over...

What if I told you all of that is already a thing. Bungie has already mentioned it, but it's not visible for some bungie-reason. The problem is that it's all tied to range, of which, snipers have plenty.

[b]This ended up as a small book, for which I apologize in advance. [/b] I'll try to address each in line. I am generally a shotgunner, but I have been using a sniper as a support weapon for my hand cannon lately. All observations are made from the standpoint of addressing both overall weapon balance and sniper balance as a whole. [i]First, the scope should be looked into for one full second before the reticle/crosshair/little circle is focused to its most concentrated accurate view.[/i] -I think this is not a realistic option. The main reason I say this is no other weapon in the game functions this way, and especially no other special weapon functions this way. Doing this would put the gun at the lowest tier of usability of anything in the game, literally increasing it's initial ttk by 1 second. Beyond that, snipers would scope while in cover and then strafe out for a quick shot, resulting in similar or more frustrating game play than what you have now. It also encourages camping hardscopers. [i]No more of this quick tapping of the left trigger followed by an immediate tapping of the right trigger to get a headshot, exploit.[/i] -This is not an exploit, actually. It is representative of a high level of what is called 'sight-picture'. It's basically how hand cannons used to be when the reticle didn't indicate where the bullet was going; instead of aiming with the red dot, you aimed where you know the bullet will go. Snipers that can pre-aim like this have put in a ton of work to be consistent with the ability. They know the way the game functions, and they play to it for maximum benefit, similar to anyone using meta weapons does. It is also a gamble. If the target jumps or strafes enough while the scoping occurs, the sniper has their pants around their ankles. They either have to pull off a perfect drag scope, or they are at a disadvantage. Plus how often do you legitimately get quick scoped? It's happened to me 10 times or less. [i]While aiming, the reticle/crosshair/little circle used to get a headshot, when using the left analog to strafe, should create an expansion in diameter of the reticle/crosshair/little circle.[/i] -This already happens, it's called bloom. It doesn't show up on a sniper because the developers probably felt it would be a distraction while shooting. I have experienced this enough in PvE and PvP to know it's a factor. But, lets assume that I'm wrong about that. In that case, I'm perfectly ok with this suggestion, as long as we implement it for all other weapons as well. Fair is fair. [i]While aiming, the reticle/crosshair/little circle used to get a headshot, when using the right analog to drag scope, should allow the focused critical ready reticle/crosshair/little circle to remain the focused & ready for a critical shot.[/i] --No need to address this, it describes current functionality. [i]This will keep snipers used for what they are, not as shotguns.[/i] -I don't get this concept; snipers aren't functioning this way already. I can count with one finger the number of quick scopes I have actually ever pulled off, and it was a desperation move (which ended up in a trade, btw). I don't even generally attempt them, because I know it takes more skill and practice than I have to bother with. If someone can pull one or two off a game, it's actually pretty amazing. No scopes simply aren't a factor; hitting one is purely luck based, even at point-blank range, and that's a no scope -to the body-. NS head shots are never ever something you can count on, or even expect to be a possibility; try it out on patrol, you'll see what I mean. [i]I think these changes/additions should be implemented into pvp ALONE.[/i] -In my opinion, this will never, never happen in Destiny. As a developer (not for Bungie), I can tell you that the complexity of managing two sets of assets for different arenas in a game like this would be abhorrently expensive, time consuming, complex, and even harder to balance than it is now. On top of that, the impetus of the game modes is to be uniform and allow the experiences from one mode to transfer into another. Can you imagine the PvE only player that decides to try Crucible for the first time? With a whole different set of rules and functions, it would be a nightmare, and chances are they would leave and never come back, essentially walling off half of the game content from them. It wouldn't be terribly fair either, as he who know the rules best wins, at that point. [i]Overview[/i] -Generally speaking, I do not approve of these recommendations, purely from a balance perspective. My thoughts are that the changes suggested would push snipers into the lowest usage tier in the game, and would either make them not worth equipping or prone to camping play. As a 90% shotgun, 10% sniper player, I do not feel that the buns are out of balance, and certainly are not overpowered in their current state. I kill snipers with a hand cannon frequently, and I am killed while sniping by primaries of all stripes often enough to know it is reasonably possible. Being 'OP' requires there to be no negatives to a gun or to not allow counterplays to a gun; neither of these is true in the current state of the game. [i]Final thoughts[/i] I have seen a lot of this lately, people trying to get snipers changed. I can only assume that these folks are getting killed by them frequently, which seems reasonable. I have been very vocal about my thoughts on the subject over the last week or so to both the joy and the dismay of different people in the community. I have based these thoughts on my experiences, both in the game, and in working on balancing in other projects for my work. Generally, I am not observing the issue of the sniper being heavy-handed. More correctly, I am seeing a combination of people trying to fight when the advantage favors the sniper, repeatedly challenging them despite multiple deaths, and not using circumstances and team mates to create an advantage for the attacker. Generally speaking, most of the people that are sniped pass through a choke point flat on the ground. This puts their head at normal head level, which is where the hard scopers are already aiming; 80% of the work was done for them by the victim. The next category I see are people that get past a choke point, on way or another, and try to duel with a sniper, typically with a scout or pulse rifle. And most of them die or fail to get the kill. Mathematically looking at the situation, you are fighting someone that needs 1 precision shot to kill you, while you need 3 or more to kill them. You only have a 33% chance of winning mathematically, even before taking skill into account, if you approach the situation as a flat-out fight. They have the advantage of position, they are pointed in a direction where they already expect you to be, and they have superior firepower. In short, trying to treat the encounter like a flat fight is the worst possible scenario for you. I observe that when someone approaches a known sniper on an unexpected route, uses grenades or smokes as an opening or distraction, avaoids staying still and keeps their head away from where the shooter expects it to be, the tables turn around 180 degrees. Removing the advantage of having a flat fight and a prepared position, and the shooter has less than a 40% chance to win. Add in a team mate attacking with you from another angle, and that drops to more like 20%; either clutch up or move out, essentially. There are a very few snipers that can handle a 2 on 1 flank, but they are few and far between. Without sounding preachy or accusatory, the problem I see with snipers is more perception and approach than it is the gun itself. My loadout generally makes me the most vulnerable to sniper fire, and yet I die to it 1 or 2 times a game, at a maximum. I do all of the above, and if all else fails, and there's a sniper somewhere causing me issues, I just don't got there; there's a whole map to occupy, why should I occupy that part of it? I really do think it's time to stop trying to tear these weapons down, and time to start building ourselves up as better, more adaptable and more versatile players. I look at snipers not as causing misery, but as punishing you for a mistake, and rewarding someone else for catching that mistake. There are outliers, there are quick scopes that happen sometimes, even a jump snipe here and there, but they are flukes. The main game play of a sniper isn't broken currently; the game play against them does seem to be a little misunderstood though. Hopefully food for thought, feel free to ask questions or make comments.

Snipers are fine, buff primaries