Note: I will not be posting a TL;DR notice. Either read the entire post, or don’t bother replying. This is going to be a two-post topic.
I’ve lurked on these forums for a while. I figured I’d add my two cents on how weapon balance should be altered in Halo 4. I see a diamond of a game at its core. However, this particular diamond is covered in crap as a result of design decisions that have, in retrospect, been shown to be poor by players’ experiences over the last month.
It has become clear that the weapon sandbox has clear problems. Since those two weapons constitute the majority of the complaints, I will be focusing on the DMR and the Boltshot to a lesser extent in this post. However, I will be writing about all of the weapons in the game to some extent. I will be approaching this from a competitive viewpoint because I believe that viewpoint will produce conclusions that are best for the overall health of the game.
DMR: Let’s start with the big one. Suffice to say, this weapon is the subject of the brunt of complaints about weapon balance in this game. Thread after thread has popped up on this forum about how this weapon is too powerful, how it ruins Big Team Battle, and so on and so forth.
However, I feel that almost nobody has really hit the nail on the head as to what the real problem with this weapon is. The following video, which has been making the rounds on this forum, gets close to revealing the true problem with the DMR:
Halo 4 UNSC Weapon Bullet Magnetism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWaDwsGb1c0&feature=plcp
Are you done watching? Good. As you have undoubtedly noticed, the bullet magnetism on the DMR is, to put mildly, ludicrous. Bullet magnetism is a necessary evil to compensate for the intrinsic inaccuracy of a thumbstick as compared to a mouse and keyboard. However, the aim assist and bullet magnetism of Halo 4 are sheer overkill; this issue is further aggravated by the poor lag compensation in the game’s netcode. The other noticeable factors of the DMR’s power are its quick kill times, high rate of fire, long range, and lack of recoil. You also are no longer knocked out of your scope if you are shot.
All of these factors are symptomatic of the main problem with the DMR: it’s too easy to use for its level of power. In essence, the DMR is a low-risk, high-reward weapon that requires very little skill on the part of the user. As a result, there is very little separation (i.e. a small skill gap) between bad DMR users and good DMR users. If there is not a sufficient skill gap for a given weapon, then that weapon is not appropriate as a starting utility weapon in competitive play. This concept is the reason why MLG and other competitive game types do not have players spawning with the Rocket Launcher or Binary Rifle. Therefore, by that definition, the DMR should not be a starting weapon and should be considered a power weapon.
To emphasize my point, let’s compare the Halo 4 DMR to everybody’s favorite classic weapon: the Halo 1 magnum. At first glance, these weapons seem very similar to each other: both are semi-automatic weapons that can kill from decent ranges relatively quickly that the player can spawn with. However, that is where the similarities end. The Combat Evolved magnum is a three-shot kill, so it had the quickest kill time out of any utility weapon in the series. Despite that, however, there is a large skill gap for that weapon. Why is this?
The answer lies in how Halo: Combat Evolved was designed. Since it was made before Xbox Live and similar online services became the juggernauts they are today, all of the weapons shot rounds with travel time. Consequentially, to kill with the CE Magnum at longer ranges, one had to lead their shots by a good distance. This quirk added a layer of skill to using the CE Magnum; you could distinguish good Halo 1 players from great Halo 1 players by how well they could use the Magnum at range.
By now, it should be obvious that the Halo 4 DMR is not at all like the CE Magnum. As a hitscan weapon, the DMR’s rounds have no travel time. This is a necessary concession for consistent online play, but the factors I’ve already brought up make the skill gap for the DMR miniscule compared to the CE Magnum. Therefore, despite its quick kill times, the DMR is not a good choice for competitive play thanks to its tiny skill gap.
As things currently stand, the DMR is better as a power weapon than a starting weapon. If the DMR is to be a viable starting weapon, it requires both a noticeable decrease in its rate of fire and a massive decrease in its ridiculous bullet magnetism. If and only if these two changes are made, I would have no issue with it being a four-shot kill.
Battle Rifle: The Battle Rifle’s bullet magnetism, while less than that of its overpowered cousin, is still excessive. The magnetism should be reduced, but this change should also mean that the Battle Rifle is made a consistent four-burst kill. If the Battle Rifle’s inconsistency in number of shots to kill is fixed, then it and the DMR can exist in harmony without either dominating the other.
Carbine: The Carbine’s bullet magnetism is nowhere as much as either of the UNSC rifles, so it is not as much of a concern. However, despite its high rate of fire, eight shots to kill is too many, especially compared to the other rifles. Since it is difficult to land all eight shots on target while firing as quickly as possible, this weapon has a great skill gap. To bring it in balance with the other rifles, its power should be increased so that it kills in six or seven shots. Testing would determine which option is better.
Light Rifle: The Light Rifle technically has an even faster kill time than the DMR. However, the key difference is that there is a large skill gap in pulling off the quickest kill, as at least one of the shots needs to be made while scoped in to kill in four shots. Since its bullet magnetism is much less, I feel that the weapon is fine as it currently is, especially if the other rifles are changed as mentioned above.
Assault Rifle/Storm Rifle/Suppressor: All three automatic weapons are more or less similar to each other. Despite the complaints about the Assault Rifle, I feel that it and the other two automatics are mostly fine as they currently are. Returning to the style of Reach’s automatics is not a good idea; the Plasma Repeater and Assault Rifle were both piss-weak and thus useless 99.9% of the time.
I like to think of automatic weapons as a sort of litmus test for skill. Assuming the rifles are changed as I mentioned above, skilled players will be able to outplay and kill a player using an automatic. A decrease in the the bullet magnetism of the Assault Rifle, and, to a lesser extent, the Storm Rifle and Suppressor are the only real changes I would suggest.
Magnum: The Magnum also has bullet magnetism that needs to be toned down. That aside, six shots is too much for a weapon that has that has so much bloom. I’d say the Magnum should be a five-shot kill at most or possibly a four-shot. Again, testing should determine which is better.
