respawn why do you hate snipers?

Surprised no one has responded to this, so I'll step up to the plate:

I've been watching this game slowly and systematically herd players toward "desirable" behaviors and away from "undesirable" behaviors since the first patch. Someone somewhere, probably at the behest of the most competitive players (since that's how all games work now) decided that CQC is "fun" and sniping is "annoying." Every season that goes by finds fewer range weapons on the ground, no new range weapons added (except Bocek which may be fun for some but is worthless to me), and several (Scout, Longbow) removed to special drop status. And because those nerfs were not enough they went farther and made scopes (especially mid-range) scopes harder to find, even beyond the general thinning of loot that has been a consistent feature of this game from about the third or fourth season.

Loot thinning I'll let go since it affects all players equally and doesn't tilt the playing field except toward luck and away from skill, and that may well be how a looter-shooter should work (question for another day), but: thinning out long-range weaponry in favor of short-range weaponry is favoring one play style over another, one kind of player over another, and is garbage. Respawn: If you don't want long-range gun play then shut down battle royale and go to an arenas-only game.

I don't know what the answer is, but I can tell you that my frustration is peaking this season and I've quit more than one match as I find myself in the final five without a charge rifle or a triple take. It isn't because I can't play without them, but because I resent being asked to more and more. Right there with you, darkdragon.