I assume everyone who watched the recent multiplayer gameplays has realized this already. As it currently is, the BR is a 5 shot kill with 12 shots per mag. There is no bloom on it (thankfully), but there is spread and recoil that keeps it from being dominant at longer ranges. Right now, the maximum number of kills you can get with it before reloading is 2, which in a game with nearly unlimited sprint and other AA’s doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.
The BR currently kills significantly slower than the DMR and Carbine, even in its optimal range. Throw in the fact that it is a burst fire weapon with spread and online latency issues and it will be rare for anyone to even get two kills with it on xbox live. Now I assume 343 is already making final tweaks to the weapons and their role in the sandbox, but it should be obvious that the BR needs to be brought back down to a 4 shot kill weapon. This would balance it out with the DMR and Carbine in terms of usefulness, give it a maximum of 3 kills per mag, and help make it useable online.
Now I know many people will argue that the DMR and Carbine should just be nerfed so that the Storm Rifle and AR do not get overshadowed, but that would only lower kill times in a game that is supposed to be fast paced. If it is necessary, those weapons should receive a slight damage increase too. The Storm Rifle in its current state is amazing at close range, along with the AR. Throw in the Melee bleedthrough advantage for those weapons and everything will remain balanced.
I don’t want the BR to be buffed because I want a “one gun game”. I want it to be buffed so it will actually be worth using online. Increasing the damage on it would not break the balance of the sandbox, unless 343 decides to nerf every weapon like Bungie did with Reach, and I honestly don’t see them making that mistake.
Anyone have any thoughts on this or arguments against it?
This can work if the BR’s RoF is significantly slower than it is now so that it lines up with the other weapons. Some might say that such a change would be pointless, but there are a few points in that the BR IS a burst weapon, which not only gives it an automatic disadvantage on high latency sessions, but also in that it is generally easier to land one shot than it is to land three shots (with short delays in between each) that equates to one shot.
I contend that a similar treatment happen with the Carbine. A 7sk is a bit much with any headshot-capable weapon, so a 6sk with yet another RoF reduction would make it more feasible.
It would still be at a disadvantage in terms of kill speed though. As it is now you can miss a shot with the DMR and still kill someone who lands a perfect 5 shot with the BR.
> > Increase clip size
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> It would still be at a disadvantage in terms of kill speed though. As it is now you can miss a shot with the DMR and still kill someone who lands a perfect 5 shot with the BR.
> > > Increase clip size
> >
> > It would still be at a disadvantage in terms of kill speed though. As it is now you can miss a shot with the DMR and still kill someone who lands a perfect 5 shot with the BR.
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> Increase firing speed and clip size
Why do that when it still seems that a change to a 4sk with a RoF reduction is significantly more advantageous, given all of the things against the BR?
This is something I am going to have to wait and play for myself before saying what it should be… Wasn’t H3 a 5 shot kill. I played mlg so i know it was 4 there…
From the analyses that I saw, the BR is far worse than the Carbine and the DMR, which currently seem pretty even (a good thing). It definitely needs a buff.
And please don’t pull a Reach move and instead just nerf EVERYTHING ELSE.
> This is something I am going to have to wait and play for myself before saying what it should be… Wasn’t H3 a 5 shot kill. I played mlg so i know it was 4 there…
> From the analyses that I saw, the BR is far worse than the Carbine and the DMR, which currently seem pretty even (a good thing). It definitely needs a buff.
>
> And please don’t pull a Reach move and instead just nerf EVERYTHING ELSE.
This. One of the worst parts about playing Reach on launch was finding out that Bungie nerfed every single weapon from the Beta in an attempt to “balance” the game.
> > This is something I am going to have to wait and play for myself before saying what it should be… Wasn’t H3 a 5 shot kill. I played mlg so i know it was 4 there…
>
> It was always a 4 shot in Halo 3.
> > From the analyses that I saw, the BR is far worse than the Carbine and the DMR, which currently seem pretty even (a good thing). It definitely needs a buff.
> >
> > And please don’t pull a Reach move and instead just nerf EVERYTHING ELSE.
>
> This. One of the worst parts about playing Reach on launch was finding out that Bungie nerfed every single weapon from the Beta in an attempt to “balance” the game.
The advantage of the BR is that while not quite as potent it’s a more reliable weapon than the DMR for the simple fact that it’s a burst fire weapon (if you don’t understand this point you have no business dressing yourself in the morning. The more bullets you have the more likely it is that any given one of them is going to hit their target. In competitive terms this cuts down on the effect of luck in deciding combat by subjecting it to a greater number of “statistical trials”/shots.)
Anyway if you make the BR more powerful, or even just as powerful as it’s counterparts, there wouldn’t be any reason besides looks for using them because the extra amount of work necessary to more precisely put a third as many bullets on target would not receive appropriate compensation. Even the added range wouldn’t be enough to make those weapons useful because Halo’s combat just doesn’t take place far enough for that to matter much in a direct contest between scoped weapons which aren’t the sniper rifle. Plus you would further -Yoink- over automatic weapons (which are in a precarious enough state as it is) by empowering the LR weapon closes to their niche. That shrinks, perhaps falls again into the shotgun and sword’s domain, and you end up with a game no better than -Yoinking!- Reach which had one right answer in the sandbox (besides power weapons) and a lot of ancillary -Yoink-.
It’s not like these things would disappear if the BR got a 1 shot buff. They keep the BR in its own niche, which is medium range. The Carbine will beat it at close range and the DMR at long. As for automatic weapons they will have the close and beatdown range advantage as long as 343 doesn’t nerf them.