We knew since the E3 build that the BR was significantly worse than the other precision weapons and this has only been proven even more with the PAX gameplay. It had the longest kill time, spread that made it significantly worse at range, a slower fire rate, and only enough shots in a mag to get about 2.5 kills. Think about that for a minute, if you get a perfect 5 shot, which is no easy feat against a competent opponent, you will have essentially wasted about half of your magazine. A good player will more often than not get a 6 shot kill against another good player. An average player might usually get a 7 or even 8 shot against a good player. You’re at around 1 kill per mag at that point.
Instead of making the reasonable and most beneficial decision in buffing the BR up into a 4 shot, they chose to nerf the DMR to a 14 bullet mag, and reduce the fire rate of the Carbine. Great job taking a page out of Bungie’s balancing book. Obviously if one weapon is weaker than the others the best course of action is to nerf all the others! /sarcasm
And before anyone says that a 4 shot BR would be overpowered, please understand that the kill speeds have been broken down in multiple threads. The Halo 4 BR, if made a 4SK, would have a kill time perfectly in line with the DMR and Carbine.
Benefits of a 4 Shot BR :
1 - Kill time on par with the other precision weapons
2 - The BR will actually be good in its intended range (DMR and Carbine are definitely better right now)
3 - The BR will be able to get a maximum of 3 kills per mag, which has been the normal for precision weapons in Halo (excluding the CE pistol)
Drawbacks :
There are none. The automatic weapons will still dominate the BR at close range and so will all the power weapons in their appropriate ranges (assuming the player using them isn’t terrible).
According to sources who’ve played Halo 4, the BR still dominates at a mid to close range despite being a 5SK. The DMR is better at a longer range, but I still can see the BR winning out in most battles.
> We knew since the E3 build that the BR was significantly worse than the other precision weapons
Nope.
I don’t think the BR should be changed at all, LightRifle is a 5 shot kill, Carbine shoots faster but is a 6 shot kill, DMR has bloom and is also a 5 shot kill along with the BR.
There is no imbalance, "competitive" players; as they announce themselves to be, <mark>just want the BR to be better than all the other weapons</mark>. I don’t think there is any point to this thread.
The BR isn’t “Worse for no Reason”.
The burst and spread makes it much easier to use than the Carbine for example. There are fewer wasted shots with imperfect aim. You pull the trigger off center with the Car, and it’s a straight up miss. With the BR, it could be one or two bullets that hit. In a heated matchup, a BR user will have an easier time than a user of either of the true semi-auto rifles. All of this advantage is balanced by a slower kill time. A faster kill time with all the benefits of the spread and burst fire and now the BR is WAY OVER powered.
The BR is the Easy Mode precision weapon of the game. Nothing wrong with that. Somebody has to be the bottom of the totem pole.
I think that there are a lot of loyalists that simply cannot accept this. It really makes no sense to be so devoted to a weapon in a video game when there are alternatives right there in front of you to be selected.
Eh, seeing the whole sandbox in action I am pretty happy with the weapon balance. My only concern at the moment is that it seems like the Carbine got a lot more than a ‘slight’ nerf. Some of the people firing them like a BR/DMR is probably part of the problem, but it seems like the Carbine got nerfed pretty hard. Maybe I’m wrong, I can’t say for for sure until I play it.
As for the DMR I see why they did what they did. I kind of wish Bungie had stuck to their guns in Reach as the shallower DMR/N’ifle mags actually punished spamming as you were punished for missing more often. It also kept the precision weapons more in line with the other weapons kill/mag size without actually affecting kill times. I like the more restrained nature of the starting weapons while still keeping all types of starting weapons on par in both kill times and proportional mag size.
The BR itself seems like it is doing just fine. It looks to be a very versatile starting weapon. Forgiving at close range and usable at long, it bridges the gap well between auto weapons and other precision weapons.
> I don’t think the BR should be changed at all, LightRifle is a 5 shot kill, Carbine shoots faster but is a 6 shot kill, DMR has bloom and is also a 5 shot kill along with the BR.
>
> There is no imbalance, "competitive" players; as they announce themselves to be, <mark>just want the BR to be better than all the other weapons</mark>. I don’t think there is any point to this thread.
It’s really not difficult: I’m not going to waste my time handicapping myself with a weak BR. There are better alternatives out there that will outperform the BR in almost every situation. The BR was weakened to trick nostalgic players into using a crap weapon.
Call me crazy OP, but it looks fine. The kill times were pretty quick at medium range.
why making the br a 4sk would be a bad idea
- everyone would use it/ would be super overpowered
- would be the easiest wepon to use in the game. It is already easy at close to middle ranges so if its a 4sk it would rape everything else.
- it would end up like halo 3 (everyone and there dog using the br)
- hitting 4 br shots is alot easier that hitting 7 carbine shots so now u have an under powered weapon, the carbine
I know this’ll get mod action but I can’t resist…
I love how 3 out of 5 people who come on here to flame bait the same old tired topics, bash 343, and look down on other posters on the basis of “oh you must suck cuz your opinions different than mine.”, won’t link a profile to their accounts. I honestly can’t take people like the OP seriously. Lemme see that you can back up the talk and maybe, until then go regurgitate try hard talking points in an established thread for your subject, we don’t need new ones.
> Call me crazy OP, but it looks fine. The kill times were pretty quick at medium range.
Not quick according to any good Halo games I played, lol.
I thought the BR looked slow and weak. A couple of my talented friends played H4 and said the DMR was definitely better, just a little harder to aim(confirming what I believed by watching gameplay). They liked H4 just not the BR or AA’s. To each his own. We are all stoked though because it’s gonna be better than reach.
Back to the BR. When you’re good at Halo a little harder to aim is a wash and the DMR will dominate for you. I think the BR is the beginner precision rifle in H4. Maybe for the person with average ability. Can’t use the DMR yet but still wants a precision weapon. The DMR factually kills faster and has more range. So the BR is trash at higher levels of play. It is only balanced at low levels.
But people can’t be upset because they don’t have to use a weak weapon. The BR in Halo 4 is the training wheels and the DMR is the mountain bike.