Hello, my name is Demolition and I am currently the rank 2 Deadeye in North America (soon to me Rank 1 SURELY copium). As you can see I have a LOT of games played in this season of Arena of Solare (AoS) for Deadeye. I have been completely focused on Deadeye since her release in all content - PvE, Large Scale PvP, Small Scale PvP, Dueling, and AoS. I am a seasoned veteran of PvP in BDO on a multitude of classes. This is to establish my credentials for submitting this feedback and this following subject -

How To Correctly Nerf Deadeye

It is no secret that Deadeye has currently captured the ire of many PvP players in AoS. There are a lot of great things about it and a few negative mechanics that have taken dominance in the PvP sphere. Most of these issues are not as prevalent in large or small scale PvP but are an extreme issue in 1v1 and 3v3s. I will discuss the most important changes that MUST be addressed in order of magnitude (in my opinion). I hope this will be helpful in further balancing of my beloved class.

!!MUST CHANGE!!

"Absolute: Run 'N Gun" **MUST** be removed from the passive "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly" Reset function -

The most egregious issue is the ability to reset the 5 second cooldown of "Run 'N Gun" (A/D + LMB) with "Switch 'N Load" (E) due to the class passive. This combination allows for 5 seconds of continous Super Armor protected movement that ALSO causes Knockback crowd control on the first 4 hits of each cast. That is 8 opportunities to Knockback and SEVERELY punishes any gap based classes such as Ninja and Kuno. While this is a strong feature and counter to 'assassin' styled classes, it becomes a HUGE issue when you consider the hit registration and the potential issues of 16 hits in such a small window. This skill is hands down the largest issue in her kit when interacting with players. It is unfun, unskilled, and unnecessary.

Recommended Changes: First and foremest it MUST be removed from the "Switch 'N Load" reset function of "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly". This is non-negotiable. Even considering the following changes I will recommend, it will not be enough. My second recommended change for this skill is to reduce the Knockback on 4 hits to Knockback on Hits First and Last (Hits 1 and 8): this will keep the effectiveness of the skill without being as oppressive. One of the following changes I will recommend is to reduce overall hit count of her skills, so take that into consideration (Down from 8 hits to 4 overall)

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!!SHOULD CHANGE!!

There are TWO main issues that SHOULD change for Deadeye in the PvP environment. These issues are egregious and do not operate properly in the Black Desert Online PvP sandbox. However, these are more complicated changes and could be argued for or against. I am, however, completely in favor of these issues being addressed and STRONGLY FEEL they should be.

#1 - Multi-Hit Crowd Control

As mentioned above, in the MUST CHANGE section, the Multi-Hit Crowd Control of "Run 'N Gun" is extremely oppressive. It is not the only ability to have such function on Deadeye though. This tells me it was the Deadeye designer's intent that her kit would involve Multi-Hit Crowd Control as a function to counter assassins. However, this does not operate properly in the Black Desert Online PvP sandbox due to hit stutter, hit registration, lag, desync, and much much more. There are few abilities in BDO that have Multi-Hit Crowd Control and are often considered the strongest due to their CC abilities.

"Absolute: Gunslinger's Entrance" is an example of a very powerful Multi-Hit Crowd Control. It is the primary super armor protected ability used by Deadeye to crowd control an enemy traget, resulting in a final Knockdown - the most powerful crowd control. Like "Absolute: Run 'N Gun" this ability has several hits of Knockback that exasperates the issues mentioned above. This SHOULD change.

Recommended Changes: Reduce the Knockback On Attack 1 Hits TO Knockback on First Attack of Attack 1 Hits. Keep the Knockdown on Attack 2 Hits, as it is only 1 hit. The skill should operate as a fluid Knockback to Knockdown, the timing and speed of this skill might need to be adjusted. This follows my concept of reducing the egregious issues seen in Deadeye's Multi-Hit Crowd Control without completely destroying the skill. As mentioned before, reducing the overall hits will also improve the function (reducing Attack 1 Hit count to 3 or 4 from 7)

#2 - Hit Count: "Didn't we just nerf this?"

Another change that SHOULD be made is reducing the overall Hit Count of Deadeye's abilities. Not long ago we had a MASSIVE Overhaul to BDO classes to reduce overall hit amount. However, Deadeye doesn't seem to follow the methodology of those changes. I do not understand why but the issues from the past have been re-introduced. Almost every ability in Deadeye's kit has too many hits causing hit stutter, desync, lag, and more. These issues are out of the player's control and effect the game state in an extremely negative way.

Recommend Changes: Follow the same methodology used in the massive overhaul of Hit Count from before - Reduce Deadeye's Hit Count on average by 50% to 70%. Her current average is about 7 or 8 hits, going all the way up to 12 hits. The amount of Hit Stutter that occures with these abilities, especially when interacting with opposing players using MOVEMENT Based abilities is honestly disgusting. This SHOULD change. 

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Conclusion:

I believe Deadeye is in an overall "Good" state for PvP - however, her micro interactions due to Multi-Hit Crowd Control and Hit Stutter are unintended, unfun, and unnecessary. There are many more suggestions that I could make; such as reverting the Marni Round buff (too much damage with too much range on shotgun) or increasing the cast speed of her Rocket Skills to incentivize using powerful unprotected abilities. However, I would like to focus on these MUST and SHOULD be changed functions of her kit.

If you have any thoughts or suggesstions about my feedback, please feel free to respond here or reach out to me in-game :).

If you agree with my proposed suggestions a "Thumbs UP" and comment go a LONG way to create visibility.

Thank You,

Demolition 

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EDIT & UPDATE [2/13]

As of today, a change was implemented to reduce the hit stutter and hit accel of Run n Gun and other Pistol skills for Deadeye. However, this change has still not solved the problem. Pistol skills are still ending other players protection early or penetrating protections from SA to FG due to hit accel and stutter.

This further reinforces that HIT CHANGES need to be made to Deadeye to reduce this unnecessary interaction.

I was wondering if it was hit stutter or maybe her marni round penetration effect was acting wonky but I feel like i've been CC'd out of FG (when they were directly in front of me) and SA even. I've had my weapons put away from some attacks by deadeye but its not often that happens. overall these changes are good and needed

as a deadeye enjoyer myself, all good changes we just went through a Maegu phase where the class had too many hits and PA reduces all hits across the board so why add a class that has 12 hits on a skill? (24 if you reset it)

Thanks a lot for taking the responsibility to ask for nerfs for your own class. It's refreshing to see!

I do wonder about your opinion on her mobility, especially in a large-scale setting (flying over siege forts/cleanly through 100-man balls).

Her large scale potential has mostly been untapped and untested. I think her mobility is amazing and the ability to flank a ball by flying over them is not a new mechanic - example: see Lahn.

My history as a large scale player has always been focused on special teams such as flex and flanking, or special roles, so I really enjoy her movement kit. If there is one thing I do not want touched, it is her stamina and movement. However, the reset of Run 'n Gun is just too powerful and needs to be removed even if it will ultimately reduce her overall movement.

If her range damage from rockets become more powerful with further Damage Buffs or even just receiving the cores, it could be problematic. For now though, she performs well - not top tier but not unplayable.

so im an awk ranger I know people hate this class I get it but listen. I linger superamors I do its something we have and use a good bit. In AOS right now If im sitting in a linger super armor half way through the linger if a deadeye uses her shotgun stiffin it almost always hits me in protection. 

yes there is a major bug with that skill going on some people have said its hit accel not sure what the issue is but the fact other classes are also noticing it means theres an issue.

This is a huge issue she has right now. The current Glabs patch is looking to implement a change that addresses it, however I believe it won't be fixed until they reduce her overall hit count - as I suggested in my orginal post.

Hit acceleration and Hit Stutter was a constant issue for years before the massive overhaul that reduced hit counts by 70%. Hopefully she will receive similar adjustments with the future PvP balance changes coming after AoS season.

EDIT & UPDATE [2/13]

As of today, a change was implemented to reduce the hit stutter and hit accel of Run n Gun and other Pistol skills for Deadeye. However, this change has still not solved the problem. Pistol skills are still ending other players protection early or penetrating protections from SA to FG due to hit accel and stutter.

This further reinforces that HIT CHANGES need to be made to Deadeye to reduce this unnecessary interaction.

DEMO IS MY E-BOYFRIEND AND I DIDN'T READ THE POST BUT I UPVOTE IT AND AGREE WITH ANYTHING HE SAID IN IT

Real issue: You CANNOT emergency escape "V" while in knockback even with it off cooldown. This is the only CC in the game to my knowledge in which you are unable to use your emergency escape while being hit with it as a means to escape death. (If there are other CCs in game which apply emergency escape lockout, I haven't noticed them being an issue the way this is due to it being a multi CC hit chain.)

I wouldn't really have an issue with the knockback CC string being a super abnoxious CC if players were atleast allowed to use emergency escape (V) while being animation locked by it. This is especially important in regards to AoS as it gives any team with a Deadeye a huge advantage over the opposing team. (Assuming they don't have a Deadeye themselves.) 

Most of the time, being hit with this CC is a death sentence. You can spam slam your V key 20 times from the first few milliseconds of the first knockback tick until time of death, and it will not have triggered the emergency escape despite the efforts or cooldown.

Side Note regarding SA breakage: I honestly haven't tried to analyze it enough to break down what exactly was causing it, but as others have mentioned, I also have been getting knocked out of Super Armor from time to time. I wish I had better feedback on what skill or skills are causing it to happen as it perhaps is a legitimatelly a code side bug, but unfortunetly I'm not sure yet. I just know that it is happening once and awhile.