Then start a discord of players who prefer a BR starts and then host a bunch of custom games.
Custom games are not the solution, playlist variety is. Nobody is saying completely remove AR starts playlists, they need to ADD BR starts playlists. Btb needs to be BR starts by default though, it’s not fun for anyone with ARs.
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Im not sure that the social matchmaking weights SBMM more than “pick up whoever there is”. For me it feels that the ranked teams are more balanced as social teams.
BR as a starting weapon does not solve that issue. It could even be worse, because a less skilled player could be overwhelmed with a BR.
I see the BR as a higher tier weapon as the AR.
BTB should be BR starts
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Most of my halo friends are back to Halo 5. But not because AR / Sidekick start. They went back because of warzone, spartan companies and more playlist available.
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That will all change once Forge arrives to Infinite.
I would be ok for BTB to start with BR. The BTB maps are way bigger and there it would make sense.
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In BTB ok with BR starts.
Not in quickmatch though.
Just can’t move around if everyone has BR…makes the delays and restrictions of the game seem even worst.
If all the artificial delays were removed then BR starts wouldnt as big of a deal.
But then again, I fully believe it should have multiple starting weapons at least in BTB.
Arenas can stay assault rifle.
AR, BR and commando…let us choose in BTB but that is just me.
Also, battle rifle ONLY starts are horrendous and a borefest.
I don’t care how “skilled” it’s supposed to be.
It’s dumb to not have a secondary weapon to switch to.
Just bad gameplay…keep that out of quickmatch it’s disgusting.
What do you mean by delays and restrictions?
Just attempt to switch weapons or throw a grenade.
There is a clear artificial penalty to prevent you from completing other actions
Or
Jump in the air and throw a frag.
It simply isn’t instant to your response.
I even accidentally drop my weapon when attempting to switch weapons sometimes due to the nasty jank/clunk/stiff restrictive gameplay.
These are placed there on purpose to limit players abilities.
Isn’t this present in other games? 
They need to do like MCC and have a match composer so players can pick wether they want BR or AR starts. I do prefer AR starts as players tend to move around the maps more and in BTB tend to use vehicles more.
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As someone who significantly appreciates AR Starts far more than BR Starts, I do nonetheless want people to have playlists where they can have their BR Starts and not be confined to Ranked or Tactical Slayer.
AR/Sidekick should be the norm in my honest opinion and, thus, I think regular BTB and Quick Match should keep them without a singular doubt from me. But you can have a particular BR BTB Playlist or at least particular game modes for BRs like BR Slayer or BR Objectives. I am all for people having those options.
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I don’t fully understand what the BR restricts that the AR and Sidekick don’t
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Bro it’s the movement.
You clearly can’t be hurt the same across the map.
Have you ever played gears?
It’s lancer versus hammer burst starts.
Assault rifle is close to mid range and fully automatic
Battle rifle is mid range to longe range and burst firing.
Assault rifle can’t kill you from afar, thus automatically allowing freedom of movement in game and fast paced engagements.
Battle rifle is stronger and more accurate and thus creates “zones” and a deeper relevance on “team shooting” to lock down movement of the map and assist in kills. It promotes More pop shooting around corners etc.
I
Its not so much what the BR Restricts so much as what the BR Discourages in my mind which is variety.
Assuming you played the previous Halos, I think its pretty obvious how very few people would ever swap out their BRs for anything else because you pretty much had your best, all-purpose weapon right there. No one was going to pick up an SMG or a Bruteshot or an Assault Rifle or any other non-power weapon because you had your BR and when everyone was going to play with the BR, they’re all going to play to the BR’s strengths: keeping themselves at the appropriate distances and firing upon each other.
Its really bad in particular with BTB where you had a map like Valhalla where players would have this big map but you were really just stuck at either the giant hill in the center of the map firing into the base of your enemy or you were firing at the enemy that was camped at the top of the hill at the center of the map and firing from your base. Playing for objectives like CTF and Territories was a real pain in the butt when - at least in my experience - you had a lot of people who just settled with camping and getting kills rather than playing objectives.
If you were going to pick up a weapon it’d be a power weapon like the Shotgun, Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, or Spartan Laser. The first two - despite being power weapons - could be a very dubious weapon choice to pick up if you were in the bigger, more open maps due to their obvious disadvantages.
AR/Sidekick starts encourage a bit more variety. I have never seen the amount of weapon variety in a regular BTB than I do in Infinite. People are still going to pick up their BRs and the maps usually provide, but then you have options like the Stalkers, Shock Rifles, Commandos, even Needlers and Sentinel Beams that I’ve been seeing people using - and none of those are power weapons. And when you start with your AR on, lets say, Deadlock, and you see the BR still needing time to respawn on that Weapon Pad, maybe you want to give that Warthog a spin instead once you find a gunner for it and get that BR if it comes back next time.
People will also be pushed more in playing objectives. I’d play Behemoth with AR Starts in Quick Match and people will go for the flag and make off with it, while playing Ranked with BRs in Behemoth will lead to rather infuriating experiences when you kill people, go take their flag, and they’re still able to immediately respawn and start pelting you as you make a break for it cause they can just gun you down at those ranges since they’re using BRs. In BTB I’ll very often be making a stand at a pile of Power Seeds on Stockpile or a Territory in Total Control against people that are charging in to get them.
So for all that, I love AR Starts and highly prefer them.
But, once more, if people want their BR Starts I say give them the chances to play with them in BR-centric playlists.
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the only weapon you would pick up less in BR starts than AR starts is the BR, since you already have it. Everything else is worth picking up besides the Ravager, which is just dog awful
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Once again, if you have the BR the chances of you picking up any of these other weapons would go down significantly.
Try to think of playing on Deadlock or Highpass with their preferences for big open areas. I think it would be rather obvious that the only weapon you would be tempted to take your time to turn around and pick up instead of just keeping to your BR would be a Sniper Rifle at that point or a Skewer.
There’s also some of my other issues which you didn’t appear to address such as playing a Total Control or Stockpile game when everyone has BRs and would probably be far more willing to stay back and shoot than they would be to go after such objectives and get shot from their more distanced enemies that all have the capability to reach out and touch you at those distances that they would normally be better to close in for - if not for the objective than at least the fight and the kill.
This argument just isn’t as valid in Infinite as it is in some other halos. There are only 2-3 weapons that are comparatively bad and not worth picking up in this game. In BR starts most weapons outshoot the BR inside mid range, so that alone makes them worth using
But an issue that I believe that can be detrimental, even for Infinite, is how AR Starts encourage people to go inside those mid ranges so they’ll find uses for not only the ARs but other weapons that they’ll pick up like the Sentinel Beam. If people start with BRs, there’s going to be fewer instances of people wanting to play inside those ranges instead of just sticking to those long ranges where their weapon is best at.
At least from what I experienced in Ranked, there was definitely a very low percentage of people trading in their BRs for other weapons unless they were power weapons or a very effective close range weapon like the Bulldog as opposed to regular Quick Matches. I suspect it to be especially worse in a BTB setting but we will only really know if we do get some BR modes for BTB maps.
But when that happens I’ll still be sticking to my AR Starts and those who want the BR Starts can go to those and we can all be happy.