So what's the point of Marksman Rifles?

[Diogenes]

I'm probably one of the very, very few people who enjoy the bot matches in Ghosts. They do have serious hip fire head shot dead aim issues and shooting through wall abilities which I can't replicate for the life of me, despite trying, but I do enjoy a good match on it.

Got me wondering the other night though, what's the point of Marksman Rifles?

If you wanted a versatile, mid range, relatively decent Rifle, surely you would go with the Honey Badger with Acog Scope (Or RDS), Grip and Armor Piercing if you didn't mind taking the perk that gives you 3 attachments.

If you wanted a medium / long range high powered weapon, Why wouldn't you take a VKS? or L115? Put an Acog Scope for a better all round field of view and Armor Piercing on the VKS and job done. Like wise with the L115, why wouldn't you just put a chrome barrel and Armor Piercing on it, and maybe Acog Scope if you wanted to see more of your environment rather than just whats down your view finder?

What's the point of the Marksman Rifles?

Also, anyone else looking kinda forward to that new gun in the Onslaught DLC? I'm kinda interested by it since the Maverick is supposed to be a hybrid Assault Rifle / Sniper Rifle. Makes me wonder what attachment's you can take, say for example if they will let you use Armor Piercing and take the Shot Gun Attachment? I can see it being the only weapon that you'll ever need.

[JuLe]

Well my Ghosts doesnt work because of some bug (Fatal error when trying to start...) but Marksman rifles really are a class for their own... e.g. like FAL in MW2 is but now there're enough to make an own class of rifles :D

[Kanck]

True, assault rifles are very versatile, in that they perform well both in close, medium and long range encounters. I wouldn't recommend using acog on them though, especially on the honeybadger due to its low range, as red dot/iron sights will be sufficient for any situation. I personally never use the acog to be honest, as I find it easier to rely on the native sniper scopes due the reduced idle sway, and the assault rifles iron sight for close quarters and long range encounters both (red dot if the iron sights are clunky or obtrusive :p).

However, marksman rifles are a niche weapon. They have something assault rifles could only dream of. Two shots to kill, depending on range. Some marksman rifles even one-shot to the head. They're very effective for "counter sniping", and they are also extremely effective at locking down lanes. Consider them a superior LMG for players with better aim. For all-purpose uses I'd rather recommend an ak-12 than a marksman rifle though, as marksman rifles are piss poor in close quarters due to their slow rate of fire and large hipfire cone/spread. Marksman rifles are very decent silenced though, as they don't suffer too much from the silencer's range reduction.

Also, I believe the new weapons introduced in the DLC are two different guns. They're both the Maverick, but with different "pre-set-attachments". So you'll pick the sniper maverick from the sniper category, and the assault rifle maverick from the assault rifle category.

Edit: Check out Drift0r on youtube if you want very detailed analysis of each gun. He's not done going through every gun yet, but he just got done with all the marksman rifles. He's even done breakdowns on the Maverick rifles.

Here's a link to the Call of Duty: Ghosts in depth playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnPCJNn_eSoZcwa7Kb8JRVfrGmrWDe31Y
Take care!