But the problem your not seeing is the after math of starting off with the BR. In MCC right now for H2 and H3 its extremely rare to see people using weapons that are weaker then the weapon you start with because it’s always BR Starts. Which turns into stale gameplay with the same results every time. When I play a shooter I want different engagements to happen. Not the same 
sandwich from McDonald’s. I want to see a Dr Halsey Spartans pulling off something that makes my mouth drop like in looney toons. Not a bunch Oni Spartans that are to scared to push forward and destroy the enemy team. Because they are to scared of dying over and over again.
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BR starts will always and forever make BTB a better experience. Halo 2 BTB SMG starts was so challenging to play. One day I hope Infinite will be BR starts for BTB.
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Every single one of those weapons has a faster time to kill than the BR, some just have less range.
The BR has a ttk of 1.55 seconds if you don’t miss a single bullet (which is of course not always easy to do). Most of those weapons kill in less than 1 second if you don’t miss.
Heck, the Shock Rifle is basically a one shot instant kill. It’s like a 0.15 second kill becuase of the way the burst works but still.
There’s a reason all those are power weapons in ranked. Even the Ravager used to be when Behemoth was in rotation, although at the time the Ravager was weaker than it is now.
I don’t know why people think when someone has a BR instead of an AR they suddenly crouch everywhere and don’t get into firefights.
I’m so confused where you guys are getting this from…
Even in Halo 2 and 3 people use most of the weapons anyway, other than the ones that are so bad nobody was going to use in the first place. AR/SMG starts weren’t going to increase the rate of using Needlers effectively. The only thing people pick up more often in AR starts than in BR starts IS THE BR
THAT’S TRUE AT RANGE AND IS EASIER TO DO WITH THE BR BECAUSE IT’S SO ACCURATE!
I keep telling you that those times to kill don’t matter when you increase range. The BR just becomes the best option outside of snipers. If you spawn with a BR you now have a weapon that is effective at all ranges and will be very reliable at long range. Which leads to everyone sitting in one spot cross map BR fighting every time.
This is the problem. You only want to use a BR. Halo is designed to use different guns in different situations. If the gun fits every situation why would you ever use anything else? You don’t! THAT’S THE PROBLEM!
That is not at all how things go down in BR starts.
You’re ignoring that all the other weapons are still used at their ideal ranges because they would beat the AR. As it stands, most close to medium range weapons aren’t worth picking up because the AR and Sidekick actually beat them at close range.
There is no reason to pick up a needler in AR starts. There’s no reason to pick up a disruptor or plasma pistol in AR starts. There’s no reason to pick up even some mid tier weapons other than to exclusively fight vehicles with them. Even the Bulldog and Heatwave can and often do lose to AR and Sidekick spam.
So what weapons do you think people use more in AR starts than BR starts?
Do you not realize who you’re talking to? I had a whole series of videos about killing warthogs with brute shots in Halo 3. Saying my point is to only use the BR is a wild claim to be making.
You know what weapons get used in ranked? Where everything is BR starts? ALL OF THEM. The weapons and items that aren’t in ranked are all excluded for being TOO STRONG.
Don’t try and talk about a series of videos you made that aren’t well known makes your opinion more valid. Anyone can make videos. I have and that doesn’t make my opinions more valid.
But when you start with a BR You will never drop it.
At their peak my montages would get 10’s of 1000’s of views, back When Halo 3 was the main game. They were featured more than once on Bungie.net
You’ll drop the BR for two power weapons. You might even drop it for a mid tier weapon in some situations.
Are you saying the only reason you like AR starts is so you can drop the AR? Why have the AR at all if that’s the mentality behind it?
I’m consistently baffled by this thread
Which is why the BR has always been OP in every Halo game. Your telling me out of all the weapons available the BR does the most damage and its actually useful more than anything else. All the more reason why I don’t want to start off with it. Because the gameplay experience will drop even more.
Here’s something how 
about everyone starts off with a BR and Energy Sword that way competitive fans can enjoy using there OP BR and casual fans can enjoy the Energy Sword and all it wonders. 
I didn’t say the BR was the most powerful. It’s simply the most balanced. There’s a difference.
The sword is extremely powerful, that’s why it’s a power weapon. That’s also why they reduce its ammo in ranked.
The Energy Sword is power weapon only because of lunge ability which was reduced to almost a melee attack range. Which in some ways makes the sword almost useless.
Anyway in some ways I agree with you but as well disagree. Like I wouldn’t mind seeing BTB Rank return to Halo which would be awesome. Which is why I think BR Starts with NO Motion Sensor would work perfect for BTB Rank Matchmaking. I’m just not a fan of sweaty Social BTB Matchmaking where it makes it even harder to get the flag then it already is. 
That’s more of the H2 SMG being -Yoink!-, but I see your point.
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One thing I do want to clarify is that BTB doesn’t have to be big, long-ranged maps. All BTB mean is that the maps are bigger than arena maps and that the teams have 8+ players. There have been BTB maps with no or very few vehicles, as well as maps that have really short sight line and are comprised of small rooms. All of Infnite’s maps are sort of constructed like Blood Gulch or Valhalla where there’s at least of couple of lanes where a sniper-length sight lines. Basically the issue of BRs being to OP or ARs being too weak depends on the map.
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When will people understand that “variety” is not a good thing in and of itself? They seem to have this idea that using more weapons is inherently a good thing regardless of context. They whine about how people “don’t use anything other than BR and power weapons(which has always been an extremely exaggerated claim)”, but what are they actually demanding people do instead?
It isn’t interesting if people are using a skill based headshot weapon, but if more people are using mindless close range only bullet hoses like or passive lock on weapons like the Needler or Pulse Carbine suddenly the game is so much better?
Which isn’t to say that lower skill weapons don’t have a place in the game or that they can’t be fun in their own right, but they are inherently niche weapons with niche uses and a narrow skillgap. Expecting them to get the same level of play as a versatile skill based precision weapon is ridiculous.
Anyone with a modicum of common sense is immediately going to look a ranged weapons regardless, its just adding a pointless middle man to the proceedings. If spawning players with a basic ranged weapon like the BR is enough to stop people from picking up other weapons(which is again an intensely exaggerating claim), you don’t have a good sandbox to being with with or without BR starts. All you are doing is keeping players from using weapons they actually want to use until you hit your arbitrary quota of “variety.”
At that point you are not trying to make the game better, you are just demanding more pretty lights and colors to light up the screen in place of the BR.
God forbid we ever do anything to make underperforming parts of the sandbox better and more compelling. Nope actually other players have to use these niche and/or poorly designed weapons in an unsuitable environment because some other players are tired of seeing the BR’s model.
That’s ultimately what it boils down to. Whether its the BR, CE Pistol, Halo 5 magnum, or the DMR, if they see one weapon’s model one too many times for their liking, the game is “boring” no matter how shallow, poorly designed or balanced the alternatives are that they demand people use.
I want people to use a variety of weapons as much as the next person, but playing keep-away is not the way to go about. I want to see people use weapons because they are genuinely compelling and useful, not picking things up because “well its better than nothing.”
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Hot Take:
No AR starts.
No BR starts.
Just fists.
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hammers only no grapple
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Repulsors only, 200% knockback
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all jokes aside, AR starts is hot garbage and I feel like I lost a few thousand braincells tonight suffering through a bunch of matches
It feels like you’re completely defenseless off the spawn. Any vehicle or long range weapon just massacres everything without resistance. And THAT was on the match where I got a perfection
You’re completely defenseless off the spawn when 8+ people on the enemy team shoots a BR at the same time.
By having the BR and other ranged weapons still be on map pickups you limit how many are in use at the same time. Which in turn lowers the likelihood of you being spawn camped or forced instantly into cover.
You shoot back when that happens, you have BR’s too.
That’s what you’re not getting. Your hypothetical situation is already happening, you just can’t do anything about it with just an AR
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