> IMPORTANT NOTE: This suggestion was first made as a possible update idea for Halo: Reach and not Halo 4, hence the emphasis on Reach in some parts. Of course, I have edited the post, but please keep this in mind while reading.
If you’ve played at least Halo 3 and Halo: Reach, and tend to look at the post-game carnage more than once every 50 games, then you must have noticed that assists are a whole damn lot harder to get in Reach compared to other games.
Of course, if you use an automatic weapon like the AR all the time, and have a decent team, it’s possible to get a few of them. But fact remains that the better players tend to use the DMR or the Magnum most of the time since it (DMR) is more versatile at most ranges, and it is the starting weapon in most semi-competitive or competitive settings. This is a trend since Halo 2 (at least the BR) and is expected to return in Halo 4.
As much as I hate to say this, a lot of people seem to judge skill based on stats now, due to the lack of any form of ranking besides the Arena’s divisions in Halo: Reach. And the support kind of player, those who are willing to die in order to keep their teammates alive by putting shots into the opponents, aren’t quite rewarded as much as they should be anymore, and it has for result of making them look worse than they are.
All of that because it seems that the requirement for an assist has been increased in Halo: Reach. That, or the DMR / Magnum just doesn’t deal a precise enough amount of the damage (which I believe is somewhere between 2 and 3 DMR shots) to obtain the assist without having to shoot 3 complete shots, like the BR once did. But 3 DMR / Magnum shots are, mind you, more than half of what it takes for a kill. Here’s the reasoning behind 3 DMR shots being more than half of what is needed to kill, 2 being less than assist-worth for those who don’t understand. Skip the quote if you do.
> Facts:
> • “100” is the damage value a Spartan can take (shield + health) before death.
> • It takes more or less 7 DMR shots to kill a Spartan. And 5 if a headshot is hit when the shields are broken.
> • A DMR shot deals [100 / 7 = 14.285] AT LEAST 14.29 damage. The true value is 15, but the 7th cannot deal that much damage due to Spartans not having enough health to show the full damage.
> • It takes 40% damage towards to obtain an assist as of now
> • It takes 60% damage (5 shots) to obtain a headshot kill using the DMR
> • Meaning, the game expects a player to do 2/3 of the damage towards a headshot kill to obtain an assist using the DMR or the Magnum.
> • 2 DMR shots = 30% total damage
> • 3 DMR shots = 45% total damage
This said, I thought it would be great if the damage requirement for an assist could be lowered, to make it possible to end games with more than 10 assists without it being an incredible feat, somewhat like back in Halo 2 or 3.
This couldn’t happen in Halo: Reach and caused somewhat of an upset. But Halo 4, it’s far from too late.
So the solution to fix the assist system again, would be to <mark>make the assist damage requirement 25 or 30% instead of 40%.</mark> And if possible, get rid of the 5-second-to-kill window. Nothing has been said about the shields in Halo 4, so it’s better to avoid talking too much about it. But the assist should NOT be cancelled unless that the damage is recovered.
TL;DR - The damage requirement for the assist medal is too high (40%) for an utility weapon such as the DMR or the BR, as it forces the player to go over half of the damage needed for a headshot kill to get an assist (3 shots out of 4 (BR) / 5 (DMR). It should be lowered to 25 or 30%, so that 2 shots are needed from either, and that assists don’t mean stolen kills, but a fair contribution towards a kill. As of now, assists just work with non-headshot weapons.
If you have a better idea for numbers, feel free to post them. Feel free to do it even if you don’t… and please do if you support this idea!
Thanks for reading.