Gun Recoil

This is an interesting chain. I've literally been shot by a top-level pro streamer in a ranked match (a member of TSM). He was 200 meters away and I was lazered as I was crossing a very narrow gap between a wall and a building. It certainly felt like he was cheating because I had never been killed that quickly. In fact, I am almost completely convinced this is what he is doing because he lacks any tactical thought or perception about the game. He simply runs around and attacks aggressively. 

I follow his twitch channel and I did, in fact, wonder how he and other pros have near zero recoil. This led me to think that there was something wrong with how I was playing and I have spent quite a lot of time in the firing range trying to learn patterns and reduce my recoil. Yes, while you can "pull down on the mouse" and reduce your recoil, you can't eliminate it completely. For example, the 301 is pretty easy to mitigate most of the mag, but the very end (the little hook pattern), can not be mitigated. Most targets you shoot at are moving and compensating for recoil WHILE following a moving target at the speeds the game is played is quite literally impossible. I also use the Logitech G-502 Lightspeed and I never knew it was capable of this, but a simple google search reveals these scripts for sale all over the internet. I'm convinced people are using scripts as they wouldn't be software to be detected by EAC, but would simply be a mouse function. Unless someone can tell me that EAC monitors your mouse, or looks for suspicious mouse triggers in game, then I don't see how a person could be caught.

As a side note, this specific streamer - which you may have already been able to guess by now - is "all about the money". He was literally playing RAID Shadow Legends the other day. His twitch page is full of affiliate links to various companies. He has a bad attitude and doesn't speak with his chat very much. It is quite obvious that he doesn't particularly like playing the game and is simply playing it for an income. He streams tournaments he plays in as an obvious way to monetize it, despite there being a prize pool. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of this, it establishes a motive to "be the best". That fact makes the claim that he uses a script more credible because he can't afford NOT to use one.

In contrast, I am subscribed to another (European) top level player, and I KNOW he isn't using scripts or cheats. He does not have many viewers or subscribers, and he plays the game to have fun. I watch him play, and he fights the recoil, but he outsmarts his opponents. He says what they are going to do before they even do it. He baits his enemy into moving the way he wants them to. He dies unexpectedly from random stuff we all have to put up with, such as someone sniping from across the map so it's not like he's invincible. He sometimes dies immediately on drop just like the rest of us. He is also a world champ in four other FPS games spanning his lifetime and he's not 21 years old. This means he's gained this ability over a career of playing FPS games.

There is a video put out by Linus Tech Tips which featured Shroud and a host of other professional gamers. The point of the video was to test whether monitor refresh rates mattered. Given the data collected in the video, it is quite obvious that there is a physiological difference between a "pro" and a regular person gaming. They have faster twitch muscle response, their vision is better, their brain processes information faster by milliseconds. Just like Usain Bolt running in the Olympics, they are simply BETTER than you and there's nothing you can do about it. That being said, none of those physiological advantages can make recoil on the weapon disappear at 200 or 300 meters, like we see on many streams.

Linus Tech Tips Video, Click Here 

I would also like to say, for the record, that I don't believe this problem is as widespread as its being made out to be. Mostly because I think the amount of "in the know" you would have to possess limits the field. You would have to own a specialty mouse such as the G-502 or the G-Pro, etc. You would have to know that macros exist. You would have to purchase it. I have owned this G-502 for months now, but have played the game since Season 1 on a regular mouse and was never aware of this until this very night. I also haven't spent but $10 on this game to buy a battle pass this season (Season 6). Before that, I hadn't spent a dollar on it. I think most players do NOT spend money on free-to-play games. Kind of like a church offering collection or a charity event. Most people DON'T give money, but some people do, and some people give a ton of money. But the quantity of people spending or giving money is less than a majority, so I am not persuaded that a majority of players are using macros, or even sizable percentage since it requires spending money and specific knowledge.

I do think I have encountered a not insignificant amount of players who are using scripts. I have screamed out many times "How the f*** did I just get lasered by a havoc from that far away"? Just earlier today I was headshot from 100+ meters by a longbow without a scope. Spectated the guy, he missed all the rest of his shots and died to a third-party. Can't definitively say that was cheating. Perhaps he got extremely lucky. But a havoc hitting every shot from 100 meters over? That's not possible.

All that being said, I think that, perhaps, people may be blaming some of their frustrations on this issue, when the real issue is their general incompetence at the game. I am not including the OP and many of the commenters on this thread in this assessment. I believe they've played the game long enough to know the difference.

Things people can do which make them instantaneously better players are tactical things such as:

• sticking with your team;
• not standing out in the open while attacking another player;
• being aware of where the entire team of three is before you start shooting at one of them and give away your position to the other two;
• get to cover after gunfire exchange;
• keeping aware of your shields and health;
• not landing on other team at the drop;
• pinging enemies and waiting for the rest of your team to show up before you start shooting;
• moving in circles or flanking the enemy team before shooting and revealing your position;
• being aware of the ring, and how much time you have before it closes;
• not attacking teams that have a distinct height advantage on you;
• not attacking up a hill;
• not pushing teams with a character advantage such as a Wattson fence or an enclosed room with Caustic traps;
• not trying to pick your downed teammate up while members of the enemy team are still on the prowl during a fight;
• not legitimately thinking you can "Rambo" an entire squad by yourself;
• picking weapons that compliment each other, such as a medium range / short range weapon - or a long range / short range weapon, and not choosing two medium range weapons;
• picking characters that are useful like wraith, Gibraltar, and crypto and avoiding stupid non-meta characters like loba and rampart (just a minor suggestion);
• actually practicing your aim;
• setting your mouse sensitivity and DPI to a reasonable level;
• stop the endless looting;

I think the script thing is a problem at the highest levels. After watching countless hours of pro streamers, and banging my head on the table saying "Its like they give out cheats to the best players or something" or "its like I'm missing something here, what am I doing wrong" This is most decidedly what I was missing. I think the issue needs a response as well. If nothing else, but an acknowledgement to say... it's part of the game, because we can't do anything about it.

Now that I am aware this stuff exists, I am not sure how to feel. I definitely expect to be unfollowing many pro streamers from my account. I also think there is a level of "coverup" to this issue, as Twitch shows Apex having 31k viewers, but "Among Us" with 212k, Fortnite with 74K, and Valorant with 42K. That makes Apex a AAA game title with one of the lowest viewer populations on the streaming platform. If word were to get out that the top streamers on the platform were using scripts, it might likely cause an exodus of interest.