BR.The good, the bad and a possible solution?

Games Other Halo
1

Brief outline (short version): In this thread I describe how I think the BR needs to either have a higher RoF or be more powerful; read on to see why.

Sorry about the wall of text, it’s a bad habit I’m trying to change!

As you have probably assumed from the title this thread will debate as to whether a 5-shot BR or a four-shot BR is better or worse (in relation to gameplay, balance and other). Firstly let’s analyse at the evidence

5ks (five kill shot)

The good

-In one aspect promotes skill as it takes more shots to kill somebody

-As the BR can now be equipped in loadouts, making the BR a five-shot makes it less powerful and no longer dominate the sandbox

The bad

-When compared to the other weapons in Halo4 the BR seems to be the worse out of all of them and doesn’t seem balanced (as claimed by an MLG player when he tried Halo 4: the only use of the BR now is nostalgia)

-Nostalgia clash. The new BR doesn’t live up to expectations which is frustrating to many players

But how would a 4 kill shot compare in MM? Well we can certainly say that the BR will be more useful and balanced when compared to its competitors - the carbine and DMR; however it is not solely the kill times which make weapons balanced. In essence (for precision weapons) <mark>it is the combination of accuracy, firepower and rate of fire (RoF)</mark> which makes weapons balanced. As always the answer is not black or white (simple). When we compare the BR to the carbine and DMR it becomes clear how to make the weapons balanced.

Precision weapons

Carbine: The most accurate weapon so far, quite weak, high RoF.

DMR: Second most accurate, medium damage, medium RoF.

BR: Inaccurate (when compared to the above), medium damage, medium RoF

As you can see I have highlighted medium damage in bold. This is because it makes no sense to me. In theory the Carbine should be able to kill the fastest due to its high RoF and accuracy, it is balanced by it not being powerful therefore meaning that if you miss a shot or two, you die. It also makes the carbine a skillful weapon

The DMR also makes sense, it is the all round weapon; not dominating at anything but not lacking in anything either.

However the BR does not make sense. It is the most inaccurate gun and still only does the same amount of damage as the DMR. This makes it useless - why take the BR when you have the BMR? Hence one of two things need to be done. 1. Make the BR more powerful aka a four-shot or 2. speed up its rate of fire. And I suppose the is a third option, change all of the guns characteristics completely.

So, to conclude the BR needs to be changed. It can be either a 5-shot or 4-shot however personally I hope that the BR strength in increased and not its RoF; that way the BR is more of a close range precision weapon and each precision weapon has its own niche. <mark>Now lets please stop arguing about the BR!</mark>

[I can’t wait to see how the light rifle will fit into all of this]

Thanks,

Better red than dead

2

China called.

Joking :stuck_out_tongue: Great post - hardly a “wall of text” either!

3

For some reason, I’m under the impression that the Light Rifle wont be featured as a 4th precision weapon. We already have 3. Also is it just me that seems to think that the LR doesn’t even sound like a burst weapon. In the campaign, it didn’t have a distinct burst sound. It just sounded like a laser.

4

I think the damage should be bumped to a 4sk. I know 343 can increase the RoF, but then it just makes it a DMR that burst fires. I think it makes sense for the BR to have a slightly faster kill time than the DMR, but it is hindered by a slower RoF, meaning missing a shot (or even a single bullet in the burst) is more punishing, and is limited at range by the spread and recoil.

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> For some reason, I’m under the impression that the Light Rifle wont be featured as a 4th precision weapon. We already have 3. Also is it just me that seems to think that the LR doesn’t even sound like a burst weapon. In the campaign, it didn’t have a distinct burst sound. It just sounded like a laser.

Personally I’m under the impression that the light rifle will be a powerful weapon and have a similar effect as the Halo 2 BR. You can probably only get it in weapon drops.

6

> I think the damage should be bumped to a 4sk. I know we can increase the RoF, but then it just makes it a DMR that burst fires. I think it makes sense for the BR to have a slightly faster kill time than the DMR, but it is hindered by a slower RoF, meaning missing a shot (or even a single bullet in the burst) is more punishing, and is limited at range by the spread and recoil.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Mind if I put this in the post?

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> > I think the damage should be bumped to a 4sk. I know <mark>we</mark> can increase the RoF, but then it just makes it a DMR that burst fires. I think it makes sense for the BR to have a slightly faster kill time than the DMR, but it is hindered by a slower RoF, meaning missing a shot (or even a single bullet in the burst) is more punishing, and is limited at range by the spread and recoil.
>
> Took the words right out of my mouth. Mind if I put this in the post?

Go ahead. I changed we to 343 in my post though. 'twas a typo.

8

Please direct BR discussion to this thread. Thanks!