Ridicule bloom- A probability based variable bullet spread mechanic designed to simulate Recoil.
Recoil- Recoil.
Both mechanics limit a weapons effectiveness at long range and encourage players to pace their shots in long range encounters to improve accuracy. But which is better from a gameplay standpoint?
For me the answer is obvious, for head shot capable weapons , recoil is a vastly superior balancing mechanic than bloom. In Reach the only way to guarantee a 5 shot kill with a DMR was to pace your shots but by doing so you risked losing to an opponent who is spamming the trigger as fast as they can. In Reach you could spam and fire 6 shots in exactly 2 seconds, but if you paced your shots, such that the ridicule reset between shots, it would take a minimum of 2 seconds to fire 5 shots. Sooo… The guy spamming would have to miss 2 shots to be at a disadvantage to the guy pacing. And the range at which you need to pace your shots is variable because the bullet spread is random.
Precision weapon bloom has returned in Halo 4 within the Magnum and the DMR which I find disappointing. But at least the DMRs bloom is so negligible that it is completely negated by bullet magnetism. The problem is the DMR is proving to be overpowered in its current form and the prospect of a TU2 is looming and the prospect of the inglorious return of DMR randomness. NOOOOOOO!
Now imagine if 343 kept all precision weapon mechanics consistent and used Recoil universally instead of Bloom. I personally feel the DMR would immediately become more balanced. If 1 bullet fired from a DMR had the same amount recoil as a burst from a BR, logic would dictate that zoomed in the DMR, with its 3x zoom, would suffer from its effects more severely and there for be harder to use at long range. And with its faster rate of fire it would be even harder to accommodate for. And the best part, it is not random.
Recoil is FAR, FAR superior. It wouldn’t exactly balance the DMR since the issue is also related to how strong it is, but if it was given enough recoil, that would be another solid way to balance it.
Perhaps add recoil, lower damage AND drop aim assistance/whatnot (for all weapons).
Oh and I forgot to mention earlier but it’s ‘reticule’, not ‘ridicule’. A reticule is what you get to help you aim, and ridicule is what you get when you say the DMR or Boltshot are balanced.
Bloom is easily the worst idea I have ever heard of. I dont know how the thought of having it on a gun got thru developement but it being gone is possibly the best part of Halo 4. Halo Reach fixed Halo 3s terrible shot detection but then undid that by having a stupid mechanic that made it pointless.
> neither. i hate bloom and recoil is suppose to be taken out with the spartans armor
If Spartan armour completely removed recoil why have automatics always had some manner of bullet spread/ bloom mechanic? Do bullets just fire sideways out of an AR? Plus Halo has always had recoil animations just it never effected gameplay until Reach.
The problem with the BR for me is not that it has recoil but that it has severe bullet spread. Recoil can be adjusted for but bullet spread is just as random as bloom.
Recoil is far better than Bloom. Not only is it more “realistic” (as bullets don’t travel out of a barrel in random directions), but it’s less frustrating for the player.
Frankly, Gears of War 1&2 did it perfectly. No bloom, and (depending on the gun) either a massive, uncontrollable amount of recoil (spamming the Hammerburst Mk. II), or a small, easily controlled amount (Lancer).
Halo 4 seems to incorporate a little of both, which is acceptable, though not optimal.
> Neither. I’m pretty sure the sandbox can be perfectly balanced without the addition of limiting game mechanics.
In Reach we had Bloom, in previous Halo games we had bullet spread, my point is the sandbox can be balance without introducing randomness, weapon ranges can be limited without making weapons inaccurate. Recoil is one option, aim assist range is another, giving bullets travel time can also work. Some sort of range balancing mechanic I feel is needed to prevent cross mapping and encourage map movement, making for better gameplay in my opinion.
Bullet spread is a limiting mechanic just like bloom and recoil, only recoil adds a skill element. And if you don’t like Recoil that is an incentive to choose an alien recoilless weapon as your primary like maybe a Carbine.
> In Reach the only way to guarantee a 5 shot kill with a DMR was to pace your shots but by doing so you risked losing to an opponent who is spamming the trigger as fast as they can.
Dude, the way bloom works isn’t that simple. It’s not as simple as pace versus spam. You have to judge the distance between you and your opponent and fire appropriately. You be as accurate as you can and only need to pace the final shot. That’s not taking into account force multipliers as well. If a teammate runs forward firing a Plasma Pistol, then you would only need to pace two shots.
> Recoil is far better than Bloom. Not only is it more “realistic” (as bullets don’t travel out of a barrel in random directions), but it’s less frustrating for the player.
> Not only is it more “realistic” (as bullets don’t travel out of a barrel in random directions)
Umm, yes they do. There are many factors that change the trajectory of a bullet to fly way off from the intended target. From something as simple as the barrel of the gun getting too hot, to the wind, even the temperature of the day alters the bullet in some way.
Hell, real sniping has nothing to do with skill, it’s all about math.
> > In Reach the only way to guarantee a 5 shot kill with a DMR was to pace your shots but by doing so you risked losing to an opponent who is spamming the trigger as fast as they can.
>
> Dude, the way bloom works isn’t that simple. It’s not as simple as pace versus spam. You have to judge the distance between you and your opponent and fire appropriately. You be as accurate as you can and only need to pace the final shot. That’s not taking into account force multipliers as well. If a teammate runs forward firing a Plasma Pistol, then you would only need to pace two shots.
The problem was it was a random mechanic so there was not a set definitive distances where different fire rates could not achieve a 5 shot kill.
Personally, I believe bloom works best only for close range guns only, such as the Automatics and the Magnum. At those ranges, it becomes understandable that spamming does not work at those distances due to the already large reticule.
At a distance, recoil would be better. If done at a predictible rate, it would be something a player would learn to get used to and learn to work with the effect in mind. If they can recognize that at X meters, the gun becomes inaccurate, they’ll learn not to shoot at that distance.
To me, recoil is the better option for long range due to the easier to understand concept. IMO, if they want to take anything from the modern shooters, while keeping Aim-Down-Sights, its this feature.