Anyone else feel like sniping in Overwatch just doesn't feel right on Xbox and PS4? I ask because I've been trying to play Widowmaker to sharpen up my sniping skills for Ana, but I just can't seem to hit with consistency. I've never had this much of a problem sniping in an FPS before.

I thought all single shot characters felt bad. I've been playing pretty much exclusively on consoles for a few years now so shooters are nothing new for me on a pad. That said, McCree and similar single shot characters all felt bad to aim on console, which is why I decided to play the game on PC instead.

I don't even bother trying because it's always an exercise in frustration for me.

McCree is good for me but I'm not the biggest fan of how Widow and Hanzo feel at all. It's not even a case of it being slower or whatever, it's just... off. Iunno. This is coming from someone who thinks console controllers are actually a pretty good way to play shooters.

I've had good luck with Widowmaker and the sensitivity all up. Hanzo is a slightly different case because his shot has a parabola to it with a slower projectile speed than other characters.

That being said, no dice with Mcree.

I'm here to get the "well you are on a console" comment out of the way early.

When I do play a shooter with a controller, I need to crank the sensitivity up way high. See if that helps.

Yeah it wasnt great but im never good at sniping. I did alright with hanzo for a little while though but i couldn't stay consitent

I feel this way about pretty much any console shooting experience. There are a few exceptions, of course, but even with something like Destiny -- where the gunplay is extremely tight and tactile -- single shot weaponry never feels good. Like, it is literally physically uncomfortable to manipulate the controller that way. I'd much rather have a weapon that doesn't force me to repeatedly pull the trigger, something I can just hold down on the input.

Well the thing about sniping in Overwatch is that you shouldnt be sniping at all. Just spam bullets/arrows in the direction of bottlenecks where enemies are bound to turn up. Then the hitbox which is about 4 times bigger than the charactermodels and go through walls will do the rest.

Actually lining up headshots is just a waste of time no matter how good you are at it. You wanna be aiming somewhere around the underbody of the on you shoot.

edit: this is exclusivly from my point of view which is on the PC but i cant imagine it being any different on consoles.

I actually feel quite the opposite. I'd much rather use semi-automatics or bolt actions with a controller than with a keyboard and mouse. I find I tend to "misclick" if I have to click for each individual round, whereas when I have to pull a loose facsimile of a trigger myself, I'm much better at actually doing so only when I want.

There are, of course, exceptions. I can do just fine with the railgun in any Arena FPS on a mouse. Rockets are a close friend of mine. But anything more modern than 2001 is probably better off being done on a controller if it doesn't go automatic.

I feel the same (Hanzo still easy to play), but there are people on consoles that can get like 5 headshots in 3 seconds with Widowmaker, so surely it appeals to someone.

I guess you haven't played with or seen many good Hanzos or Widowmakers, then. A solid sniper going for headshots can almost shut down an entire enemy team. Body shots on lower HP characters can be somewhat effective, though.

I don't snipe because I'm bad at it, but this comment couldn't be farther off base.

@mike: A solid sniper not going for headshots can also lockdown an entire team, provided the other team doesnt know what they are doing ofc. The game considers those "bodyshots" as headshots anyway so theres no difference in dmg if thats what you mean.

Aim for the feet/ lower body in close to midrange and in long range aim for whatever. Especially with Hanz. Widowmaker is a bit more conventional but still lining up headshots is not the best way unless you are a demigod at it. I can see rank 80+ players with proper teams going for headshots but where im at in the sixties its not and the successfull players i play with doesnt seem to think that either.

ANYTHING can lock down a team that doesn't know what they are doing.

@mike: Yeh thats my point.

Hanzo's real good if you don't use him as a long range sniper. Stay just a bit behind the meat shields and arrow dudes all day (or flank at medium distance). Scatter arrows aimed about 2~ feet in front of someone's feet can kill just about anything, and the sonar arrow is just incredibly useful.

I'm terrible at Widowmaker though. I'll end up spending like 80% of actual combat with the SMG because I have Stormtrooper accuracy with the sniper.

This is completely wrong. Headshots account for double damage on all projectiles and triple damage for Widowmaker. The hitbox is also not '4 times larger than the body', it is maybe a headwidth around the character model. (And even that is getting shrunk in forthcoming patches, the hitboxes are different in the current public test server.)

That being said the different snipers have different abilities and as such need to be played differently. Hanzo actually does have a lot of utility as a spammer because he only needs to charge each shot for half a second and can't zoom in. Since her shots don't need to zoom in to do heals/damage I assume Ana will play more similarly to Hanzo than Widowmaker.

But, for the most part, if you aren't getting headshots as a sniper then you aren't playing that character as optimally as it can be, and I bet if you switched characters to something else you would be more of an asset to the team. My aim is sub-par at best so I mostly stay away from the snipers/mcree/76 and focus on the tanks or supports.

Widowmaker is the only character I have felt like suffers noticeably on console. Getting headshots halfway across the map is incredibly difficult with a controller.

Fortunately Ana does not play like Widowmaker. She is not meant to stay that far away from the team and she can't even get headshots regardless.

yeah Sniping is probably my biggest quibble with the game, but I've never been terribly adept at it so it's hard for me to know if it's game's issue or mine (probably mine).

Ive thought its mostly been fine

I'm generally very good at sniping in games like Call of Duty on console. I can't hit anything with Widowmaker on PS4.

Hanzo is fine because you get a pretty big hitbox with his arrows, which gives you a little leeway when it comes to aiming/timing. Widomaker on the other hand feels practicaly useless if you're not a crackshot. That plus the fact that her abilities are a little underwhelming, it explains why she's barely used.

Has sniping ever felt good on consoles? As someone who plays competitive multiplayer on both PC and consoles, it's always been an issue. Enough so that I wouldn't have a good time playing Overwatch without a mouse.

I'll say it felt pretty alright in the Battlefield games, especially in Battlefield 3.

I'm not generally into playing as a sniper, but I did alright with the semi-automatic sniper rifles in BF3, not the single shot ones though.

A lot of people love sniping in Destiny PvP

I generally like Hanzo and can perform relatively well as him, though I don't try to use him as a long-range sniper. I agree on Widowmaker though, I've never found her fun to play on PS4 and haven't seen many snipers that I've considered good on either side.

But I also hate the concept of a sniper taking you out long range out of nowhere, and I've heard effective sniping makes fun characters like Zenyatta unplayable, so I'm more than happy to have reduced effectiveness on snipers. I'll be happy if they tone down turrets and other stuff that the snipers would otherwise be countering more effectively, but a life without super-efficient Widowmakers works for me.

This was changed, they nerfed Widowmaker's body shot damage so Zenyatta is no longer one-shot by her.

My accuracy is definitely pretty bad with the game in general, but yeah, even moreso with characters like Hanzo or Widowmaker. Lately I've even just been trying to line up shots on the basketballs in the dropship and I have loads of trouble getting the reticule where I want it. "You're playing with a controller", blah blah blah, you'd think it was impossible to lineup a shot on consoles - it's not, it's just not as efficient as with a mouse. I'm still having a load of fun with the game, but it's certainly something that's been bothering me. I also can't seem to find the right sensitivity to aid this problem either.