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Currently in the game, there's two civilian (!) guns of the same caliber, 7.62x51, the strongest bullet in the game, what are being counterpart to each other.
The vepr hunter: https://imgur.com/10VJPqY
Pros:
Good ergonomics, fast ADS.
ADSing doesn't give you any debuff, you can move while in ADS while standing and your stamina won't be affected.
Good sights.
Recoil is easy to control, can hipfire up to 30 meters.
Reliable.
1-4 shots is enough to kill a player in any armor (depending on the bullet type).
Frequently spawns on scav and scav players with highest armor penetration value bullet.
Can be found in weapon boxes.
Cheap. Vendor price - 47K roubles, flea market ~30K.
Doesn't have barrel, so it's not suffering bullet velocity/ergonomics debuff.
Cons:
Small magazine. 10-round mag unlocks on jaeger lvl 3
Almost to none modding.
Everyone loves that weapon for as much low risk - high reward profit it can provide, you'll hear it shots almost in every raid. Because of this, it is being used as a DMR, assault carabine, or a better replacement for the nerfed mosin and 7.62x54 bullet.
Now let's take a look at it's western brother:
M1A - https://imgur.com/uV2eZ2z
With Archangel stock - https://imgur.com/FVdJWVp
With EBR stock - https://imgur.com/GiSAijC
Default SASS stock - https://imgur.com/LV85iPQ
Pros:
Same bullet, will take a scav or a player in few shots.
Recoil is less on base version than at Vepr, can be lowered even more via modding.
A variety of mags, starting with 20-rounders.
Can be modded.
Cons:
Default ergonomics is too low, ARCH/EBR stocks won't give you enough ergonomics to shoot it effectivly. Because of that, base/ARCH/EBR versions ADS time is pretty big and eating your stamina.
Does have barrel as a modding slot, which decreases ergo/velocity.
Aperture sights might be confusing.
Modding parts are expensive.
The rifle itself is expensive.
Does not spawn on scavs.
Cannot be found in weapon boxes, only has a single rare spawn at balcony of locked room in resort.
Base price at Peacekeeper LVL3 - 756$ or 82K roubles, flea market - even more.
There's almost no reason to pick M1A over a Vepr Hunter, the base versions sucks, EBR version designed for marksmans doesn't really fit in marksman role because of how quickly your stamina will be drained in ADS, ARCH version is a joke of how low ERGO it provides in exchange for how many tactical slots EBR have.
The only remaining solution to go with m1a is to build it with the SASS stock, which will provide you with high enough ergo and excellent recoil control.
First major problem is ADS speed. Because of low ergonomics, vepr hunter has advantage almost over every version of m1a
Vepr hunter ADS time: https://imgur.com/KAzmLKH
Default M1A: https://imgur.com/Fwo45Nk
High ergo modded (https://imgur.com/3NwQM44) M1A: https://imgur.com/Ux2dkoU
In direct firefight, this 8 miliseconds could cost you 1-2 bullets in your body from any autorifle while you were trying to ADS
Second one is stamina usage. While any version of M1A except SASS will drain your stamina anyways, vepr hunter won't take a single point even standing, ADSing AND moving.
Comparison between M1A and Vepr: https://imgur.com/c6LTxsg
Third one being the price and rarity of this weapon. 756$ for a civilian rifle, or its better cheap version which has of worlds spawns and requires no modding? Why should you even bother. The prices for modding M1A is huge, EBR version will cost additional 29K roubles (or another vepr), ARCH - 26K roubles, functional SASS stock - at least 50k. Add to that the second barrel version, muzzlebrakes and scopes.
Fourth is it's worlds spawn. Besides the 221 west wing balcony you won't find it anywhere, not the scavs, not the weapon boxes.
I'm not a game designer, neither i know anything about game balancing, but in this case, M1A is outdated, it was added in 0.8 while we didn't had the Vepr, which was added in 11.7 So, here's a few suggestions on making M1A at least somehow useful:
Lower it's price. It does not cost that much, even m4 had it's price lowered someday with the introduction of ADAR, HK and MDR. It has a russian counterpart, which is cheaper, i can't see the reason why I should go with M1A instead of Vepr. Plus the barter on 3rd Peacekeeper for 2 intel folders is outdated, USB Adapters does not have any utility, why not make them tradable for M1A?
Buff the stocks ergonomics. It's a civilian version of m14 military rifle, which is being used from vietnam until today for a reason. ADSing with any stock except for SASS is terrible.
Make it spawn in the world. Give it to scavs except for Glukhar's bodyguards. Give it to sniper scavs. Make it a rare spawn on player scavs, remove the frontsight/rearsight so it wont be so easy to shoot with it while playing on scav. Add it to the weapon boxes lootpool.
Add the barrel segment for Vepr Hunter. While M1A suffers from debuffs it carries from the barrel, Vepr is doing fine with it.
I love the M1A rifle, for how strong this weapon can be in right hands. but i see it very rarely being bought and taken in raid by players for reasons listed above, and time for this to change is now.
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