The weapon sandbox is pretty good, and the starting weapons (AR and pistol) are in a good place as well. So I’ve been wondering, why does ranked even need to be exclusively BR starts?
Starting players with BR’s is a nerf to almost every other weapon pickup in the game. Even snipers aren’t unscathed by the power of starting with a BR in hand.
The game plays so beautifully with default weapons because they encourage players to fight in slightly closer quarters, which also creates even more opportunities for the weapon sandbox to flex it’s muscles.
Often, with BR starts, the most powerful thing you can pickup on the map is equipment, something that will supplement the BR only playstyle, like overshield. I was just playing on Live Fire against an Onyx and a couple of Diamonds, and even then, the Sniper was virtually an after thought.
The things players actually want on the map are extremely limited when everyone starts with a BR, and it just feels like it takes the soul away from Halo and its arena shooter roots. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of spawning in weak and fighting for every possible advantage out on the map. The current ranked mode gets away from that gameplay model, almost entirely. Its almost like playing swat with shields lol.
Br starts has been a part of Halo for a really really long time, and I understand why people have grown accustomed to it. But it always felt like those games needed BR starts out of necessity. Largely because those games weapons sandbox were very poorly balanced. Thankfully Halo Infinite doesn’t suffer from that, at least not nearly on the same level.
So would you be ok with a ranked mode that had default weapon starts? Or is the BR gameplay loop enough to keep you satisfied?
Definitely not the only one. This playlist should be called MLG and they should also add a AR start in an entirely different ranked playlist. More variety the better
Personally I’ve never been a massive fan of the BR (or burst weapons in general) so I was a bit disappointed about it being the starting weapon for Infinite’s ranked mode. If they gave me a sidekick along with it I wouldn’t mind just so I can have a semi-auto option, though.
The problem is, these are less ranked settings and more HCS/eSports/MLG settings. I think ranked should just be regular settings but in a more competitive environment.
I think ranked is in quite a great spot at the moment with the BR. Close-mid range fights are challenging with the fast strafing and long range good poke and cover.
The only map which I’m really not fond off in ranked is currently Bazaar, the BR as a starting weapon eliminates too much of the map as a death zone and the only “safe crossing” is easily covered making the matches feel very static (and really unforgiving for impatient players like me lol)
yeah bazaar does not play well. It is too “campy” at higher level play. It just is not a play tested map. at least not for flag. Slayer is not that bad and ball would be fun.
Please leave my BR alone. Ranked is the only mode i can still enjoy. You can have everything else. Stop it go and crosmap ppl in big Team with your insane AR and pistol.
Currently ranked is the only mode where I get to enjoy what I associate with traditional Halo gameplay. AR starts would completely ruin this because the AR dominates the BR unless you never miss shots with the BR.
And this brings up a problem when the game is balanced and designed around what top tier players are capable of versus what most players are capable of. Most of this sandbox is useless to the majority of players. The consistent theme I get when I look at this sandbox is that unless you are a super good shot don’t bother picking up the majority of these weapons.
I have to say I don’t really understand the balancing here at all. Hammer was buffed to have extreme range which is fun admittedly but I don’t get it. Shotgun nerf means you can’t get a Bulltrue against a sword wielding player anymore. That’s a super fun thing that 343 has apparently decided to opt out of. 343 has consistently made decisions here that limit the amount of fun the average player can have.
There’s still fun to be had here though but only for as long as you can soak up the sweat. And man, my shirt is soaked, my hat brim is dripping, and I’m swimming in my shoes, I don’t know how much more sweat I can take.
There’s honestly no good reason for ranked to have any of the alternate settings that it does. The game is designed around AR/pistol starts and radar.
Ranked is supposed to be about how good you are at the game, and when the game and maps are all designed around settings that AREN’T in the ranked playlist, you’re not getting an accurate assessment. The game isn’t flowing how it was designed to flow, and somehow that’s the mode that gives you your rank.
Every match just ends up being a campy shootout especially on Bazaar where everyone is too afraid to actually traverse the map and just wants to play peakaboo. BR starts turn the game into call of duty.
Just give Ranked standard settings and then make some kind of MLG/HCS playlist for the sweaties. Don’t make it so that anyone who wants to have a rank (and get the achievement) has to play that stuff that’s traditionally been an alternate mode in every other Halo.
No, you arent the only one. I asked my buddy last night if he could remember how it was in Halo 3 when playing ranked. Halo 3 is also arugably the best MP and best ranking system out of all the games.
It was a machine gun not BR. When did that change? Like I dont remember BR ever being a start except on like MLG or SWAT playlists.
BR is fun but the game need to go back to its roots and bring back machine gun for ranked.
You typed paragraphs for this, feel that strongly about it? Do you genuinely see the AR having a place as a standard ranked weapon start especially after the intensive testing Esports Engine and the competitive team QA testers have done on the game?
Are you telling all of us off right now that hours and hours of work was stupid to get Halo to where it is right now? Like come on man, just queue quickplay.
Or, you know, they didn’t actually choose BR starts because of the testing and it was a predetermined decision to attract the old school MLG types because Infinite is basically a fan commission game that panders to nostalgia.
I am usually an AR starts guy, but the AR in Infinite is too powerful and makes the game dull to play. Maybe it’s because of a lack of pick-up weapons, or maybe it’s just because the AR is OP, but I cannot stand being sprayed down by an AR. It does not feel good. Losing a fight in the other Halos feels fine. I can recognize that that guy got the better of me. But the AR in Infinite feels cheap to die to. The kill time is too fast to it’s intended range, so it either needs a range nerf of a damage nerf. I don’t know which.
That being said, I think that BR starts in Infinite feel really good. I wish that we got a dedicated social BR starts options because my major complaint with Ranked is lack of radar.
I don’t mind the BR but I can see your point of view and it’s a good idea, the Pistol seems to feel better while firing (to me). I actually like the tactical idea in unranked of switching to AR or risking it with the pistol at close range. Ranked right now is you either master the BR or you’ll never rank up, they should vary the spawn weapons like before: BR, Pistol, and Commando (once it’s fixed), then it tests a person’s overall skill, not just with 1 weapon. If everyone had pistols for 1 game, then all the other pickups weapons would actually be worth picking up.
Have you seen the weapon variants? lets just say that I feel they’ll end up swapping the BR with a pistol variant over the course of Infinite’s lifespan.
Real question is when they’ll remove Behemoth from Ranked, garbage tier map.