Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Hard-Scoping VS Quick-Scoping, Rational or Skill?

Is traditional hard-scoping or flashy quick-scoping a more effective way to snipe off targets in Modern Warfare 2?

In old fashion first-person shooter games, sniper roles would hide in a high vantage point while blending with their surroundings to slowly pick off hostiles. With the new wave of first-person shooter games, many people find that too boring and ineffective. Instead, they rely on their skill to quickly centre their target to quickly scope in and shoot their target, hence the technique, quick-scoping.

In Modern Warfare 2, it is often frowned upon players for people to hide in bushes, waiting to snipe an unsuspecting target. As a player walks by, the sniper would aim down their scope, line up their crosshair with their head, and wait for the perfect opportunity to fire. If done properly and in the right places, one can pick off many targets without them ever know what hit them or from where.

Many players find this an unfair advantage towards snipers, as they can easily take down targets with one shot and with ease, while the front linesmen are simply soaking up all the damage without a decent chance to hit back their stalker.

It is popular culture to explore the map, and quickly scoping and shooting any players who come into sight. For those who are skilled enough, this can be a deadly technique to quickly rack up kills. A sniper rifle shot can easily kill a player with a single hit. This is only for those players who are skilled enough, however.

So the question comes. Which technique is the most deadly?

How does traditional hard-scoping work? Let’s consider the requirements of a camping sniper. Firstly, they would need intense patience for players to walk into their range. Not only that, they have to be in a low profile spot where not many players will search. There are few maps that truly give snipers a useful vantage point while being able to look down high traffic areas. Already the ingredients for a strong sniper are at an impasse. Secondly, the player would need a strong sniper rifle that can generally kill in one shot. When shooting from long ranges, the sniper rifle’s range will decrease and become less lethal. A useful perk to strengthen bullets is Stopping Power, but by using this perk you would not be able to use Cold-Blooded, which makes snipers virtually invisible. You would also need a silenced sniper rifle to not show up on enemies’ radars when you fire, which greatly reduces the range of a sniper rifle, and further decreases its lethality. Finally, ammunition may also be a problem, as not only will your bullets disappear quickly, your claymores will not protect you for long either.

These requirements can be quite daunting to new snipers. However, if this is an experience player, they can easily headshot players, which is almost a definite instant-kill. Traditional scoping will be more welcoming to new players as they can take their time to line up targets. This technique of sniping also allows you to hit players across the map with ease with the long zoom a sniper scope gives.

What about quick-scoping then? Quick-scoping can effectively take any players at any distance. The con? The skill level required. A player who has been quick- scopes every day for three months is likely a professional quick-scoper, being able to hit virtually anyone at anywhere. But this requires immense patience and practice. Imagine walking into a building with a sniper rifle that has at least one hostile with an automatic firearm. Before getting the chance to even aim down their sights, that other soldier could already spray several dozen bullets into your body and head. This leads to another disadvantage of quick-scoping.

A low kill to death ratio. Generally, a highly skilled quick-scoper will do significantly better than everyone else in the game. An average quick-scoper can expect to get a decent amount of kills in return for a lot of deaths in return. Quick-scopers travel the entire map looking for targets. Unlike hard-scopers, they are much less protected by their surroundings and much more visible to the enemy.

If one truly does put the effort and practice in quick-scoping, they could become a dangerous one man killing machine. Sniper rifles work in a specific way in Modern Warfare 2. As long as you aim through the scope and if you don’t move or get shot, the bullet will fly and hit wherever you point your gun at. Quick-scopers take advantage of this by spotting their targets, and immediately centering their target, and shoot before the other player can react. Due to this programming, this makes quick-scopers able to accurately hit targets from long distances as well.

So who wins at the end? If you have the patience to wait in tall grass for a victim to walk by, then you’ll generally get a better kill to death ratio when hard-scoping. If you have the skill and experience however, quick-scoping will score much more kills than traditional hard-scoping.