I have an opinion/suggestion that I have been wanting to see implemented into Halo for as long as I could remember playing it (and that’s been a VERY long time) and that’s the power/usability of the MA40 AR. I am curious to hear others’ thoughts on this as well. The AR for virtually all of Halo’s existence has been virtually useless, from CE to H4. It has always been both weak and very inaccurate. As a result, it has always been outclassed by nearly everything else and was always the first weapon to be discarded. It has always even been outclassed by the magnum pistol (personally, I find this to be utterly insane considering a RIFLE should always outperform a PISTOL). The AR may only be viable if you are within melee distance, but that’s it.
As I played the recent Infinite beta, I was saddened to find that the first thing you do after spawning is swap to your magnum. Again, the AR is being made virtually pointless. Anyways, to my suggestion in which you probably know where I am going. I think it would be great if the AR got a good buff for infinite making it a more viable weapon for not only short distance, but also medium distance as well (as long as you do controlled bursts). IMO, the way the new Commando performed was similar to how I’ve always wanted the AR to behave. The DMR/BR should be able to outperform the AR at medium and certainly long distance, but the AR should be able to dominate in the short and short-medium distances, but also able to hold its own with skilled use at medium distance. I think this would make the AR more viable and finally give it a purpose outside of the campaign.
What are your thoughts on this? I am sure there are a great deal of others who would agree with me on this point.
The AR was really, really strong and reliable (accurate) in close-range and mid-range. Imho, a buff of the AR would make this thing really overpowered^^
As others have said, AR felt strong in Infinite so I think 343 have addressed your concerns already.
I didn’t actually think it was that awful in H5 either - I definitely still get kills with it in multiplayer.
I don’t think the AR was ever truly useless, but I do agree that in the last they have been a little underpowered.
I didn’t play the last flight, but from what I’ve seen and heard, it seems the AR is packing a little more punch this time around. I guess will see on the 23rd just how viable this new AR really is.
Sorry, you’re just using the gun wrong. The AR is not a jack of all trades. In Halo, every weapon performs different. And in this game, the rifle is not always the most powerful. Ypu should know that and be comfortable about it if you played since the beginning.
I played the last flight, and still found the pistol (sidekick it’s now called I think) to be a more reliable and quicker killer at mid and even shorter ranges. I also found that is what most people used right out of the gate. I’ll be playing the next flight and I’ll give the AR more of a chance, but we’ll see… As for H5, I personally have never played it. I heard it was rather horrible so I never bothered to get it.
Currently, I mostly play Reach on the MCC. The AR in reach was particularly horrible in MP.
To be fair, it’s not supposed to be that reliable in multiplayer combat, that encourages experimentation and competition to grab stronger-class rifles and power weapons.
Honestly, the AR has always just been designed for for campaign and it’s role in multiplayer is just to be a low tier spawn weapon because something has to be. That being said, without the presence of the BR, I thought the AR was fairly effective in Halo 4 and somewhat viable in Halo 5. I highly prefer the SMG in every regard, but people seem pretty content with the Infinite AR, so it should probably remain where it’s at in terms of effectiveness.