Now I honestly never use this weapon, I know nothing about its stats, but when I look at the last few 'metas' in the game I notice a few similarities between the Auto Sniper and the Aug/Krieg.
•Very strong developed opinion and meta around the AWP, same as the M4 to AUG and AK to Krieg.
•Slightly higher priced, could be seen to have been enough of a deterrent, stopping people from actually trying the weapon out, again same as aug and krieg.
•This one is unique to the Auto Sniper. Seen as rude or BM to use.
•Seen as useless, or at best niche. Ex: Its not enough that the awp works well, but that you would be an idiot to use to Auto Sniper.
•Somewhat continued from the last point, a different gameplay mechanic. And this is where the real impact is, at least in the pro scene.
The Aug/Krieg added a scope, all of a sudden these rifles could hold new angles, even challenge the awp, which changed how the game was approached.
The Auto Sniper could do that. Off the top of my head: ct side the impact of having to be flashed off of angles, no more baiting shots because the recovery on the Auto Sniper can punish that. Wall bang potential, Vertigo especially. Spam through smoke top banana.
The fact that the gun is not a choice however works against this idea. Noone has had to 'choose' between the AWP and Auto Sniper like they do with the AUG/Krieg, so it is much easier to just use and figure if its good. I think the well defined meta of the awp, and the fear of looking like an idiot though is enough to negate any impact this could have.
All in all I think theres a very real chance that we've all been sleeping on the Auto Sniper the same way everyone was with the krieg and aug. A strong awp meta and terrible (somewhat unfounded) opinions about the Auto have prevented it from getting a true chance at being used competativly.
Thoughts?
