I’m not holding out any hope. If it gets here then I’ll think about it when it gets here. A shame that custom games are so fickle and discouraged, otherwise people would be trying this stuff out themselves.
Being able to experience Team Slayer with both AR and BR Starts now, I just prefer my AR Starts and, despite being bigger maps, I think BR Starts would kill the fun factor for me as much as they have for Arena.
It might not be so bad on Fragmentation given the amount of obstacles and movement that would still be required, but imagining playing Deadlock or Highpower or maybe even Breaker with BR starts with their more open spaces…eugh. I just like having AR Starts a lot more than I would having BR Starts, in my opinion. Its just a more casual, fun experience to me where people are inclined to do more movement, more pushing, and incentivized with trying out more weapons as opposed to the BR where I can’t see anyone wanting to pick up anything except power weapons - especially in a BTB setting.
And even then I wonder if people will want to pick up weapons like the Gravity Hammer, Sword, and even the Rocket Launcher with everyone keeping their distance and using the more precise BRs on these bigger maps.
As always, I remain of the opinion that players should be able to get more precision-based options later down the road in Infinite’s life, but speaking for myself…I just like AR Starts a lot more than I ever would with BR Starts.
I just had another losing streak where I went 30+ kills and still lost because my team all has AR’s and runs around dying all game
it’s not fun. It’s toxic and frustrating.
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You’re mad, to the point of calling people toxic, because they’re not as good as you are? 
People generally get better at the games at their own paces. Some faster then others that look up videos or read up on how they can improve their game. But over all, you’re going to meet people of difference skill settings. More so in social then anything…
I’m waiting for BTB BR starts and I’m there to BTB!
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This is a good idea that I can get behind. I am a fan of BR starts in general, but 343i have made the gun so strong in both H5 and now Infinite that BR starts on BTB maps would slow the gameplay down to a crawl because everyone would be able to shoot anyone that they saw. This ruined H5 BTB for me and I campaigned to have AR/Magnum starts in that to no avail.
I mean…that’s what happens sometimes with BTB, whether it be BR Starts or AR Starts. People are just as susceptible to running out and dying whether they have ARs or BRs. That’s just how things are when you’re playing solo with 23 other random people - or regular Arena when you and another guy have like 11-13 kills but still lose cause the other two guys have like 3 or 5 kills and twice as many deaths no matter what weapon starts you have.
In every Halo game ever, anytime I play BTB CTF I just assume that every game is gonna end in a draw cause you can’t seem to count on either team to get together and get the flag - or just not rush in and die while trying to get it 
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I didn’t call anyone toxic, I said the game is toxic. AR starts is toxic.
But in BR starts its not an uphill battle the entire time, and the team can contribute to the match instead of running and dying without being able to shoot at anyone.
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People are going to do that regardless of which weapon they spawn with, wither it be assault rifles/pistol or battle rifles. You’re playing with 23 other, random people that you don’t know a thing about, how they play, how they prefer to progress, how good they are at the game.
The only real way around this is to start parties before hand.
It’s a simple truth unfortunately.
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no really, BR starts it happens far less and everyone can actually contribute. When its just AR starts its like 2/3 of the team is an anchor
The only thing I generally see is that I can guarantee I won’t be waiting for better weapons at the start. I see only slight improvements from most players outside of that…
…I honestly find these claims very dubious and I think a rather large percentage of Halo players would feel the same. In some ways, BR Starts would make things worse in this regard because people who can’t shoot are just really going to be fodder to people who can shoot and now start with weapons where they can reach out at far greater distances and kill them, which leads to one team being surrounded and camped for kills at their own base - something that happened a lot more regularly in previous Halos when it was all about precision-weapon starts, at least in my long experience with Halo.
No matter what starts you start with - whether AR or BR - chances are you’re going to commonly feel like your team is holding you back or blaming them for losing. This has been a thing since Xbox Live was invented - and even before that with Halo PC - and we got our online Halo community. Especially in games involving more people. This isn’t even a Halo-only thing, this’ll happen in every game in existence.
I’ve just happened to accept that and that’s why I just play my vidya games for the casual, fun experience. And I find that experience more easily attained with AR Starts instead of BR Starts as is my preference for Infinite.
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I see we are back to high minded takes like “actually wouldn’t it be worse for if fresh spawns could attempt to defend themselves against ranged threats with a BR instead of being completely helpless…” Do you even listen to yourselves?
Bad players existing does not justify bad/limiting starting weapons like AR starts. People have this idea that any chance of players overcoming a deficit then the starting weapons are fine. AR starts don’t completely prevent the possibility of a comeback so its fine. Its not. There needs to be a reasonable expectation, and AR starts do not provide that reasonable expectation even if the AR has a snappy TTK. Full auto bullet hoses, give or take a heavy bloom spam pistol are simply too limited and as a result it is too easy to predict and counter the actions a fresh spawn will take for anyone who even has the slightest bit game knowledge.
The anti-BR/Precision start position remains incredibly shallow. “People are not using other weapons” Wow really? Close range weapons take a backseat in a scenario where maps are more open then Chiron, let alone BTB, color me shocked.
The complaints are never about how badly balanced, poorly designed and shallow certain underperforming weapons are especially when compared to how anemic the Infinite BR actually is. All the complaints boil down to is “I don’t like looking at the BR that much.” God forbid we push for a more universally engaging sandbox with some actual depth, nope instead we are just going to stubbornly demand players use every part of the sandbox regardless of quality or context because a greater variety of pretty lights and colors takes precedence over engaging gameplay.
The bottom line is that a full auto high bloom bullet hose like the AR simply does not deliver as engaging experience as an actual precision based weapon like the BR(as flawed as it is in Infinite), or CE Magnum, or Halo 5 Magnum, or the DMR and they do not create as many opportunities for comebacks or counterplay.
But sure tell me again how engaging shooting mechanics and depth don’t matter in a shooter and basic knowledge of shallow rock paper scissor game design(close range weapon beat longer range weapon, wow such depth) totally makes up for it.
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the situation you’re describing is exactly what happens in AR starts…the team with the precision weapons surrounds the other team and spawn kills them over and over.
And now, thanks to the AR/Sidekick that people are under the false impression they want in this situation, they have no way whatsoever of fighting back. They can’t even do damage to snipers or people with BR’s at enough of a distance, let alone ever actually kill them.
Every single argument against BR starts and in favor of AR starts is proven the opposite by nearly every match of AR starts BTB.
“not enough movement”, well sure, you have to run for 5 minutes until you’re in range so you can shoot someone
“not enough weapon variety”, everyone uses the same weapons regardless of the mode, with the same regularity and for the same reasons. This is not a valid argument and never has been.
“It’s monotonous”, I mean, is the popopopopopop of the sidekick and holding down the AR trigger not also monotonous? Is dying repeatedly not monotonous?
I could go on
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The players on the team with the precision weapons provide an advantage, perhaps, for more of their number to move in with their other weapons, but from my experiences I still find it a farcry to the previous Halo iterations where everyone will always have them and the better-performing team will crush them with far more volume and coverage that the BR provides. Doesn’t matter if everyone has a BR to possibly fight back - if its to the point that they’re pushed so far back, rarely will I see that backfooted team turn things around and more commonly see them just shut down throughout the rest of the game. This as opposed to the current circumstances where once the ranged support of a currently dominating team runs out of ammo or are taken out - typically by the hard-pressed defenders who have the advantage of close, base-spawn ranged weaponry now with the attackers having limited access to rearm/reload, pressing so far -, then the defenders have a higher chance of at least beating them back.
In my personal experience, I’ve seen less spawnfests than I have in previous, BR-oriented games. Or at least a far fewer number that couldn’t be broken.
Typically you’re going to need to travel whether you have ARs or BRs. Just because you’ll be able to spawn at your base in Deadlock and pick up a BR immediately doesn’t mean you can start shooting. You’ve still got terrain to cross whether the rocky plains of Deadlock, the cliffs of Fragmentation and Highpower, and so on to get in suitable range and even closer actually fight for objectives and, given the opportunities you have with the lesser presence of BRs, you can choose to take maybe a different path if you see an advantage that you have more room to press. What makes me like ARs more is that objectives like Total Control and Stockpile you have the bulk of your forces going in closer to battle for them with BRs acting as ranged support, as opposed to BR Starts where people will much more often be unwilling to go for the objectives and just sit back and get kills. I’ve found holding the line at the Pelican and firing bursts from my AR to hold back advancing enemies, keeping my head down from distant enemies with their ranged weaponry, and falling back to my Sidekick to be much more engaging and fun compared to the precision-centric era where everyone just surrounds the point but don’t actually go for it, instead settling in for a a K/D game.
I far more prefer a little more of a jog over that.
Or, you know, maybe get in that Warthog and pick up a gunner and see how that works.
Whereas I find this a rather callous and disingenuous dismissal to the reality myself and other AR-preferred players find to be the restrictive nature of BR starts. Having to go back and forth between AR and BR Team Slayer in particular, I’ve found games to be more restrictive not only in terms of weapon variety but playstyle with a lot of maneuvers and freedoms shut down by the coverage and power that the BR provides compared to ARs. I get more enticed by picking up weapons like the Pulse Carbine and Commando and the Heatwave/Bulldog because I find more opportunities to use them with AR Starts and wider windows of opportunity to push for more devastating plays as opposed to BR Starts where I just have the BR and unless my team is sufficiently dominating I don’t see any reason to try for more fun, sneaky plays - or to pick up any other weapons save for power weapons.
I don’t particularly look forward to the day where we start getting BR Starts mixed in with BTB and, when they do, I do hope we have an option by then to choose whether or not we want AR or BR Starts.
I find this as equally disingenuous as there are niches to the handling and mix-up of the AR and Sidekick that is the reason why I prefer them over BRs. Despite what some may think, you do still want to control your fire with the AR where even in close range you want to restrict your fire to more controlled bursts. At this point I’ve had countless duels where my steadier control and aim won me the duel over than just mindlessly holding down the trigger and spraying.
And after expending your mags even so and switching to the Sidekick to get that final headshot before they do me…yeah, I feel satisfied when I pull it off, especially when multiple opponents are involved. Then there’s just a lot of deliberation where, depending on your spot on the map and the engagement you see coming, maybe you think you’ll fair better by switching to the Sidekick instead of relying on the AR. There is more thought and skill involved that I think people choose callously ignore whether because it suits their arguments better to ignore them or they truly don’t want to give something they don’t like the time of day.
Or, you know, people do prefer standing in their distant spot and going ‘brrt-brrt-brrt’ with their BRs. Who am I to judge?
I’m not looking down on BR Starts. Its just I’ve tired of the precision-focused playstyle of the previous games and with the changes to this iteration of the AR that’s complemented with weapons like the Sidekick, I find AR Starts to be much more fun and enjoyable - especially since there are BR Start gamemodes for me to try and compare and I just don’t find them as fun. Considering how there’s been threads popping up of people disliking BR Starts and saying how its sapped the fun of Team Slayer for them, and that there’s people here who - if not prefer ARs - then at least don’t want everyone to have BRs even in a larger setting like BTB, clearly I’m not the only one.
At this point I’m just seeing/having the same conversations over and over again and trying the avoid the worst of the demonizing of the weapons and the people who use them. People such as yourself like your BR Starts, while I like my AR Starts. I’m just presenting my opinions as to why we may like them better and hoping we’ll each get our options to play just BRs or just ARs.
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All anyone does in AR starts is crouch near the precision weapon spawns and snipers, or jump in vehicles.
What? AR starts cause people to use vehicles? Unacceptable!
I don’t know what kind of games you’ve been playing but people only camping near precision weapon spawns, in my experience, is total and complete bogus.
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Weapon pickups in Halo have never been fair buffs, never, and they’re not supposed to be. Both teams are supposed to get the same amount of resources though, and if both teams get the same unbalanced weapons, then it’s fair again.
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And somehow you believe this will happen less when the entire enemy team spawns with weapons that are even more effective at long range?
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true, its ok to give each team uncontested buffs but its easy to steal another teams “buffs” so it has to be balanced properly. i dont like the idea of having like 50 buffs on the map but then we pretend its ok because each team has the same resources. buffs should be power weapons/vehicles/equipment only.