Black Ops Cold War Dev Teases Upcoming Sniper Buff

A Treyarch developer has hinted that a buff to the M82 sniper rifle is in the works for a future Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War update.

Shortly after Treyarch released launch day patch notes for Black Ops Cold War on Nov. 20, game designer Tony Flame posted a photo of the M82 followed by a car getting polished.

"Next order of business," the developer wrote, referring to the sniper.

Sniper rifles have historically been one of the most polarizing weapon classes in multiplayer shooting games.

There is a fine balance between high risk and high reward that game developers must find. While the damage potential of the long-range rifles should be enough to take someone out in one shot, they must also feel difficult enough to use so that there is a certain skill gap needed to do so.

Here is Treyarch's philosophy on snipers as described on their blog in week one: "Out of every weapon in the game, sniper rifles are best in class when it comes to firepower due to their sheer damage and range statistics. They are capable of dealing one-shot eliminations at impressive ranges and can be deadly in the right hands."

Since Black Ops Cold War's first days of testing, Treyarch has stayed true to their word as players have made snipers look very powerful and easy to handle. Particularly with the Pelington 703; the gun has often been the source of flashy quickscoping killfeeds in multiplayer.

While Treyarch has already proven themselves to be far from shy about making bold tweaks to the most popular guns in Black Ops Cold War — R.I.P. to the FFAR — it will be interesting to see how they handle snipers going forward.

Although the Pelington 703 and its even more powerful bolt-action sibling LW3 - Tundra have been fairly consistent with their one-shot lethalities thus far, it appears Treyarch feels the semi-auto M82 could use some more love to make it a more viable option as well.

For those wondering which firearms to use in their loadouts after the latest patch, feel free to check out our weapon tier list for November here.