The plateau of tech development.

[Fubarius]

Here's a picture that went a bit viral of me, at a paintball tournament, using a gun that was made 13-14ish years prior...



That's a Golden Eagle of course. They came out in 89, but those early ones were grey, this green one was a wee bit newer. The event, the 2005 IAO tournament in Pittsburg, owners group division. That's coming up on 21 years ago.

So the time from when that gun was made to when the picture was taken is WAY LESS than the time from when the picture was taken until NOW. Even disregarding performance tech, the basic shape and form factor of gear went through huge changes in the earlier 14 years. From the GE and .68 Special to the Dye Matrix 5. From a VL100 to a Halo. Barely recognizable as the same category of thing. In the proceeding 21 years, the form factor of gear has hardly changed, just the hoses got internal and drops got unpopular. The bunkers are effectively the same. Heck I'm still using the same brand and model of goggles (replaced a few times, and always a fresh lens).

[Fossilhead]

You could mount em to your arms like an anime mech deal.

Maybe develop a hopper that isn't a hopper. Just a ink cartridge that makes perfect .685 paint as you shoot it.

[William the Third]

[The Jayster]

We live in interesting paintball times. We now have relatively inexpensive guns like the Emek which are considered "entry-level" and rental material, yet had they existed in the '90s would have been considered the utter pinnacle of gun tech. I'm sorry to say, but my Emeks today are absolutely far superior to any Autocoker or Automag (or Angel and Shoebox Shocker for that matter) I've ever owned. Hell, I think that even a 100% stock A-5 would have been quite a contender back in the early '90s.

The same could be said for very inexpensive masks like the Empire E-Vent, which has what would have been considered then 'high-end features' such as quick change thermal lens, wide visibility, good breathability and being lightweight.

[vijil]

The only real tech change that's happened between 2005 and now is serviceability. That's 20+ years of the overall tech being 99% unchanged.
In the 20 years before that we went from PGPs to egos, a huge change.

There are plenty of quite major innovations that were considered and theoretically could still happen.
The reason they haven't is because the market is too small to justify the RnD these days, *not* because we've reached any kind of pinnacle.

[The Jayster]

Besides, what's the point of ultra advanced pneumatics if the projectile itself is of lacklustre quality?