Hey guys, I joust found a post on the Halo council forums regarding an alternative shooting system in Halo. Note that it’s not my idea, I’m gonna quote the post of the user TiberiusAudley from THC highlighting the important part.
It’s basically the opposite of Bloom:
> It should be noted that I am never an advocate of a method of bloom that actually includes randomness.
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> I should’ve been more clear in my initial post, but – if I were to make a console arena-type shooter, and I wanted the guns to have an ideal “cadence” with the ability to kill faster than that – my implementation of bloom would be as follows:
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> Rather than the bloom decreasing the accuracy of a gun, it would actually INCREASE the accuracy (but decrease the chance most players would actually hit.)…by which I mean…
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> In the future, all guns are equipped with an onboard computer that assists the user in hitting their targets, allowing the user some leeway in personal targeting…but firing beyond the recommended rate of fire will overload the computer quickly, reducing its capability to process a moving target’s positioning.
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> In other words, the faster you fire, the less bullet magnetism and aim assist/reticule magnetism you get. Your reticule would technically “shrink” – making the bullets fire straighter, rather than curve into the target.
> This would serve a few purposes that work on both a casual and competitive level:
> 1) It allows weaker players a way to ensure their bullets are hitting…assuming their reticule -is- near the target. As long as they fire at the recommended rate, they will be able to score kills without a substantial amount of effort (much like the weapons are currently in H4)
> 2) It allows stronger players a way to kill faster, as long as their thumbs’ accuracy is pinpoint. It is a gamble to fire beyond the “cadence” / paced rate – but it is not a gamble against the game…but rather against the two players’ levels of skill in their strafe and accuracy.
> 3) It ensures a differentiation between “average” kill time and “fastest” kill time (see Menotyou’s power of individual thread.)
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> And beyond that, I would balance the sandbox by the range and strength of the aim assist of the different weapons, in addition to their reload speed / clip size.
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> 343 came close to my own ideal sandbox balance for a game of the sort – but missed the mark due to the DMR being a bit overtuned, and the existence of too heavily random factors in some of the guns (Magnum, BR).
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> I would want a three-tiered sandbox, where there is a “pistol” that is the fastest kill time, but has the least effective range, and the least kills-per-clip (But fastest reload speed) – it would be a great choice for close-ish range combat. 343 did this…but littered the pistol with so much bloom it is a luck of the draw if it can get that kill speed consistently. (I would either go 4 shot, 8 clip, or 5 shot, 10 clip)
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> Secondly, a “carbine” that pretty much has the average of all stats, but at medium range kills slightly faster (on average) than the cadenced next tier of gun… I would give this gun more shots to kill than the next tier, but a significantly larger clip, giving it the best potential to be the game’s “utility” weapon, since it should be able to compete at all ranges – and be ready to continue competing after any one on one battle. (5 or 6 stk, 20+ clip)
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> A “rifle” with the highest range of aim assist, and the strongest aim assist, but also the fastest “bloom” (the aim assist decay). It would have a fairly fast potential rate of fire, and be very few shots to kill, but very slow OPTIMAL rate of fire, meaning, at long range, you’ll want to pace, but if you get caught up close, spamming can actually compete with the other guns…though they will still have a faster average kill speed. This gun would generally only require a few shots to kill and have a smallish clip. (4 stk, 10 clip or something along those lines)
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> As a general performance (not accounting for difference in player skill) of the weapons in their niches:
> Close range: Pistol > Carbine > Rifle
> Medium range: Carbine > Rifle ~= Pistol
> Long range: Rifle > Carbine > Pistol
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> Of course, player skill and execution would be able to overcome any of those differences at any time…in an ideal world.
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> Anyway, that’s just how I view things, personally.
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> I feel 343 came close, but missed the mark due to Lottery Cannon Pistol, the BR (one this game’s 3 “Carbine” options) having random factors, the Carbine taking too long to kill on average, and the LR being a bit unintuitive to new players…and the DMR being too accurate/fast at all ranges. And I don’t feel the “rifle” option should be a starting option 
It’s just…the “Carbines” in this game aren’t great for competitive Halo 4 for various reasons (BR Random, Carbine doesn’t feel good, LR feels wonky and is orange)
I think this could work very well if correctly implemented and fix the issues many people have with the DMR. It would satisfy both “casual” and “competitive” players.
What do you guys think?
Link to the post: http://www.halocouncil.com/community/index.php?/topic/11804-if-you-were-343-how-would-you-fix-the-starting-rifle-balance/page__st__40