Aim Assist is currently way too strong

Games Halo Infinite
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#1

Disclaimer : This post is not meant to bash controller players in the slightest. I realize Halo is a game that originated on controller, and I believe controller should be as good or slightly better than mouse and keyboard. But as of right now, the sheer gap in difficulty to even compete using M&K is honestly ridiculous.

There is data backing this claim showing that the 50th percentile (average controller player) is as accurate, or MORE accurate than most of the top 100 Mouse and keyboard players. See link for data:

https://www.reddit.com/r/halo/comments/r3es60/accuracy_stats_for_kbm_vs_controller/

For context, I am a Diamond 5 M&K player, but I’ve played Halo for many years since CE on Original Xbox. I switched to PC gaming in 2014 and played MCC mostly on M&K and was able to get top frags pretty consistently despite aim assist also being quite strong in that game. Infinite on the other hand is much more difficult due to fast strafe speed and aim assist being ludicrously strong.

In Infinite, A good MK player will average around 45-50% accuracy while controller players easily push 60-70%. This is objectively imbalanced to a massive degree.

I don’t expect 100% parity but it’s very frustrating for many players like myself that have invested a lot of time in aim trainers and in various games trying to maximize human potential for aiming only to realize it’s very unlikely to win a fight at close range purely due to an artificial handicap of you having to out-aim a robot that does a large portion of lateral tracking by itself, and allows you to snap to heads with little fear of over/under shooting.

Again, this is no shade to controller players. This is just how the game’s system currently works. There are many videos on youtube showing the effectiveness of aim assist if you want proof.

But even if you are in that godly 1% of M&K players that can match these numbers, average Gold-Platinum controller players are hitting accuracy levels that are equal to or better than the highest ranked Onyx M&K players. Which is obviously not balanced.

And unfortunately, a single ranked playlist for M&K doesn’t solve the issue when every other mode in the game including casual is cross-input.

I worry that we are already seeing a mass exodus of PC FPS fans leaving the game. The viewership for streams and tournies as well as Pro player participation will also suffer if only one input method is viable for competitive play.

It’s not realistic to expect every MK player to learn an entirely different input they don’t enjoy as much just to be on a semi- level playing field with an average controller player. Other major FPS games in the market are able to make the two inputs competitive so there is no reason why Halo couldn’t follow suit. It’s present day, and Halo isn’t just a console shooter anymore.

My suggestion would be to make a very slight nerf to aim assist to try to get a little closer to parity between the inputs as far as accuracy metrics. Again, it’s okay if controller is considered a little stronger (Like in Warzone for example), but when it’s to this level, M&K can’t compete even if you are extremely proficient with it after many years like myself and others. 343, please consider this for the long term health of the PC population in this game. Thank you for reading.

28 Likes
#2

i understand the statement i play on pc mouse and keyboard because i never been good a shooter with controller that just me I have switch to pc for shooter game because personally wanted to enjoy the hard work and practice I never once used aim assistance because it kills my joy of hard work and practice I am pretty sure they been working on a fix just like master chief’s collection they have the option separate pc and console gamer within time they will have this option of separate pc and console gamer just remember game just came out not to long ago I am pretty sure they understand as well for other who are going with the same thing just remember many patches, update, and improvement will come in time nothing is right the first try.

3 Likes
#3

My only gripe with nerfing the aim assist on controller would be to then also limit the input of the fire rate that MnK can shoot.

Aim assist may seem a little stronger than other Halo games and that’s a fair assumption to make, However aim assist negatively effects controller players that are tracking between targets in any instance. The reticule will swap between the two targets if said targets cross paths,

This is made even more difficult if those enemies are at a distance because you will only do half damage to both targets which increases the time the enemies have to counter and shoot back which kills the element of surprise in each engagement.

Also from a controller perspective, a controller can never match the fire rate someone using a mouse can. therefore on PC you aren’t nearly as punished for missing your shots with single shot weapons.
Mainly, PC can dispense the entire mag of a pistol before a controller player can fire even 3 shots that’s even if they are feathering the trigger.
For PC It almost turns the pistol into an SMG in some instances.

That said, I will note that having an Elite controller with paddles also enables a controller player to have a much faster fire rate but the amount of players that have a $200 dollar controller are a lot less abundant than 100% of the PC population having a mouse.

I think there is always going to be pro’s and con’s for both inputs. But I thought I’d throw out some other instances off how aim assist can negatively work against you because it’s not a 10/1 ratio and it’s definitely not all positive effects from having aim assist, some can actually hinder you quite a lot when engaging more than one target.

4 Likes
#4

Then you should prove it and become #1 in the world! Easy right?

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#5

That is true and I have heard of aim assist messing up console players aim because of it’s snapping strength. That is another reason why it is way overtuned IMO.

The experience you mentioned about single shot weapons like the pistol is predicated on misinformation. I played training mode just now with controller and attempted to fire the pistol as fast as I could to match how I do on mouse and it was not difficult at all. The fire rate is capped past a certain point. So it is not possible to reach “SMG” like fire rates on mouse, the game only lets you fire so fast for obvious balance reasons. So in this game I would not consider this an advantage at all.

As you said there are pros and cons to both, but currently in Infinite the amount of advantage aim assist gives you far outweighs any gains from using a mouse IMO. I appreciate the response though and like hearing other’s points of view.

11 Likes
#6

I will admit I was a bit dramatic with the smg fire rate comment. That’s not entirely true, But from my perspective I’m playing on 1080p 120fps on a 1ms response monitor because my TV’s input delay is too high and I only use my TV for singleplayer games. Yet on my monitor I always feel that STILL other players are expelling double the amount of rounds that I am with the pistol and it only is the pistol I should have mentioned. It’s not in any other instance with another weapon.

-I may ask, is there an option to enable “Impulse triggers” like MCC? because that may be the difference when I come to think about it, I’ve always used that in the past.

#7

Currently I can barely feel any aim assist on controller. The aiming in this is definitely the worst in the series. Sidenote, don’t compare the top stats in those as most top players are controller in Halo. You’re better off look at lower and mid ranges.

18 Likes
#8

There are many topics here that would state the opposite of what you’ve said. People think m&k have the advantage and that aim assist is not in the game.

You are completely correct and the numbers back you up. I gave up on m&k after one day of trying to make it work. I worry that the people that deny the hard numbers, which are readily available, have some serious issues.

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#9

My only gripe is watching HCS and literally every player is using controller. I can’t watch for more than 5 minutes before I cringe and have to turn it off.

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#10

Aim Assist is busted and inconsistent. Aiming has never felt worse and more erratic in a Halo game. Maybe it’s a different story on PC, but on my X1X it feels like trash, and I’ve been playing Halo for 20 years.

11 Likes
#11

It’s really good… when it actually works.

#12

100% agree.
I see this frequently in my games too.

You can also tell who is a controller player based on their strafe as well. The controller strafe is instantaneous, side to side, really quickly, which throws off bursts from the BR.
M/K strafe on the other hand has a very slow walk to start with, which means to fast strafe, you have to strafe for longer which results in the strafe being much more predictable and easier to track…

So, pair that you’re harder to hit, with insanely increased accuracy; the game gives an absolutely ludicrous advantage to controller players - and this certainly should not be the case, especially in ranked.

3 Likes
#13

As somebody who has played every single Halo game with a controller I have to say that Infinite is far and away the hardest one to play that way.

Mouse probably has zero aim assist, but if you’re thinking it’s wonderful with a controller, I’ve gotta tell you it ain’t.

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#14

I’ve played this game with both M&K and controller and I can tell you that it’s much easier to land consistent 4 BR shots with controller.

5 Likes
#15

I used to play all video games with a controller too…
I stopped using controllers back in 2009, and haven’t bought a console since Xbox One (that I barely played tbh).

I’m bad with a controller.
When I try to play Infinite with controller, I’m significantly worse with the controller.

This doesn’t mean that aim assist doesn’t exist, and the advantage the controller has isn’t clear…
It simply means I’m bad with a controller - and that’s because I haven’t picked one up and used one for 12 years.

The advantage is so glaringly obvious, you can tell who the M/K and Controller players are in the matches.

#16

Aiming is broken in this game. Aim-assist in not broken. As a console/controller player I, and most of the people that I play with, feel like there is something off and obviously so do the M&K users. On controller we’re getting basically 0 AA in most fights, and it feels horrible. Likewise, I recognize that M&K users don’t like the way that it feels currently as well, which, to me, means that there need to be some sweeping changes here, but lowering AA on console for a game that already has the lowest AA in the series seems like a band-aid at best. They need to rethink the whole thing.

4 Likes
#17

I’ll probably catch grief for this but 343 obviously knows what discrepancies exist between mouse and controller and I’m sure they will make an adjustment at some point.

1 Like
#18

The discrepancies between mnk and controller are way to big. We could go on and on about which side has the better advantage, but it’s simply not possible to balance the two inputs for competitive play.

Nerf aim assist all you like. It’ll only tip the scale in favor of MnK and then we’d be in the same situation before the nerf. Crossplay may be and industry standard now but it’s a disaster for sandbox balancing.

The only possible and fair solution is to separate both inputs and have crossplay off by default.

2 Likes
#19

I’d like to see crossplay remain. The largest possible population will ensure the best experience for everybody.

1 Like
#20

That clearly isn’t the case with so many people complaining about both inputs.

Crossplay is more of a nice to have sort a thing.

3 Likes