The main issue of hiding in bodies was the fact that we clipped through them and bodies absorbed bullets. If the bodies were made to not absorb bullets, I think it would be far less of an issue. Bonus points, your characters move broken objects. They kick debris around.
Instead of making dead bodies disappear, they could’ve made it so you pushed bodies away as you laid down and let them ragdoll some more.
Instead by removing dead bodies, you now cannot go prone anywhere with the plan to ambush someone that thought you were a body lying out in the open like that. Nobody in their right mind would be that exposed… so that is why the tactic worked.
Some maps have become more balanced, not going to lie. But a lot of the remakes just make it so every room has six entry-points now.
And look at Favela. A map that USED to have a realistic and consistent design, but now it is just a confusing design and everyone bans it during the map-ban phase.
In a “realistic tactical shooter”, which is what Rainbow Six Siege WAS, hiding in shadows was a descent tactic. But it was also predictable, so you were likely to be fragged if you hid somewhere that is a common hiding spot.
But now that you are shiny, it diminished the quality of some Operators. VIGIL for example was made to hide in the dark, with velvet-like clothing that doesn’t reflect light so easily.
I played some matches before work today.
They changed some of the spawn locations and now it does less damage to shields.
Still, my point stands.
Plenty of pros cry and whine and the devs change games to prevent that.
No pros playing means less revenue from those tournament events and the merchandise in their game that you can get like Skins and such.
I just tested it out, the mangler functions exactly as it did before. 2 shots to break shields, 3 to kill to the head, and 1 shot melee to kill.
Spawns have always been random in casual. Sometimes you get mangler, sometimes you get disruptor, plasma pistol, or the sidekick.
The only place where spawn locations are static is ranked, which I’m sure haven’t changed either.
And no, I’m not on team liquid. I just liked them when I was a kid. The only thing I could really be considered a pro in is the HCS FFA where I’m top 10 ranked at the moment.
Well then I must have been suffering from Halo Infinite’s desync earlier because it took more than two shots to break a guys shields and in another match the melee strike only broke shields like with a normal strike.
Gotta love a game that is having server issues so bad that sometimes even the bots begin to lag.
Well then now I am confused as to how I can one-tap someone from the front with the Mangler and get an insta-kill… … unless the enemy were suffering desync and on my screen I saw them facing towards me while on their screen they turned around for some reason…
Damage is confusing in Infinite sometimes.
Like splash damage is inconsistent and sometimes your Skewers don’t actually work or your Rockets disappear before blowing up on impact.
Because there isn’t a delay between the shot and the melee. You will still die in basically the same amount of frames, they just have to shoot you as right as they melee you. Like how the sniper works.
That’s half of why its so strong. The other half is being able to 2 shot someone to break shields, then swap to the BR (or sidekick in casual) and get a headshot before you could possibly kill them, even without missing a shot.
Good players are of course better with this, but its still too strong for its position as a sidearm, where the plasma pistol, sidekick, and disruptor are all much weaker.
Actually, while you are here. Can you settle a little bit of a question of mine?
Do you think the M90 Shotgun from Reach should come into Halo Infinite as a top-tier spawn to help counter the Energy Sword?
The Bulldog is a great shotgun and all, but it is mid-tier and cannot really counter a swordplayer when both of them are in the optimal ranges like with the shotguns in the previous games.
EDIT -
The Bulldog would still be in the game of course, but as a mid-tier pickup.
It has 7+14 and has a higher fire-rate and range.
But the M90 of course has more damage per shot with less range.
It could, if they ever really spawned on the same map. Right now the only times you will ever find them together is BTB, and fiesta. The problem isn’t with the bulldog being weak (Its actually very, very strong) its that the sword has a large lunge distance, and the availability of slide making you move much faster than someone backing up.
Pair those with the fact that you can’t melee trade with the sword (Which you could in other games, outside of vanilla reach) the sword just becomes too strong.
In ranked, the sword only spawns with half of the ammo it does in casual.
So while yeah, a 1 shot kill shotgun COULD be used to counter a sword, its range would have to be really small (similar to other halos) to where it would just be a weaker gun overall than the bulldog or even heatwave. If you didn’t have that severe dropoff then the gun would probably be more oppressive than the sword is now.
I am advocating that on maps that offer The Sword, the M90 should be an option for you to obtain and counter the enemy.
Halo has always been not only about control of power-weapons and such, but also the balance of it all.
Someone got in the Scorpion? Someone grab the SPNKR or the Spartan Laser to take it out.
Someone got the Beam Rifle? Best to get the Sniper Rifle so your team isn’t at a disadvantage for long-range kills.
But with the Sword in hand in Infinite, combined with things like the Thruster, the Grapple-Shot, and the far-lunge exploit; it is almost unmatched in close-quarters scenarios and is a hassle to deal with at long range when you have mid-tier ranged weapons.
Even if you have the hammer, the sword is ready at almost an instant while the hammer has to take a second longer to be ready to swing again. So if you clashed, the sword is ready for a second strike while you are vulnerable as your weapon is waiting to be primed once more.
In previous Halos, if you saw someone running around with the sword in small, tight quarter maps; your immediate thought was to go for the Shotgun and blast the guy when he attempted to lunge at you.
Currently the only reliable counter to a sword-lunge is the Rocket Launcher, which thanks to the strange way that Infinite is treating splash damage; can still have a chance to spare the sword-fighter but kill yourself (speaking from experience as this has happened twice so far where a sword boy ate a rocket and lived whil I died by my own hands.)
The two most direct counters to the sword are the repulsor and the disruptor, with the grapple also sort of working.
The repulsor obviously can boop them away.
The disruptor if you get the melee off will kill them after you die, so it trades out.
And the grapple you might have the chance to quickly back up to re-engage.
The sword IS too strong, but you don’t have to introduce weapons to counter it directly if there are already options, because those weapons fill the same niche and could be problems themselves.
Recharge is the only 4v4 map with the sword. You know the exact time when someone grabs the sword, and can play appropriately. Try to catch them out as they leave the spawn, or if you can’t, grab grapple/repulsor/disruptor to make things hard on them.
But is it really introducing weapons if the weapons sandbox of every previous game with the sword already featured it as the direct counter tool?
Like yeah, a sniper counters the Sword because of range application.
But in close-quarters what counters it?
You mention the disruptor, but the way you describe the encounter has it so each team gets a kill; so the game is still your team winning slightly, your team losing, or your teams are still tied.
You will be surprised how many times that the entire teams are gunning for that weapon in social matches.
Especially in Attrition when the Sword or Hammer are on the ledge spawn, the most initial chaos happens at that area of the map.
The Repulsor is an obvious counter that I like.
As for the Grapple tho… thanks to a lot more people using the long-lunge exploit either on purpose or by accident; they often still get you with a lunge-slash.
A lot of counters in halo aren’t direct. Like the sniper, or rockets you mentioned. They aren’t there to beat a sword, or intended to do so. They just can. That’s how the disruptor works in this case.
If someone has the sword, and you are able to trade with them with a stick/spike grenade or a disruptor dot kill? That’s great. That means they no longer have that power weapon and they have to fight for it back. Even if they DO get it back, it means that the sword has one fewer charge for a free kill.
You gotta remember though, the sword spawns on the opposite side of the map as grapple. In fiesta? Sure, sword + grapple is super broken. In normal 4v4 you can 100% prevent them from getting it.
But when it comes down to it, the sword is still what makes someone the MVP in most matches that I have played.
My K/D easily jumps up 10 more kills when I get the sword on Recharge. And I have noticed that the only thing that has reliably been there to stop my rampage in any Halo game before is the Shotgun. Sure a well placed grenade occasionally got me in Halo 3 or Halo 5, but otherwise if I had the sword I was a nightmare for the enemy team, unless I saw that 12-Gauge looking my way.
What I am asking for is something to make the swordplayer actually afraid a little. Because with how Halo Infinite and Halo 5 treat mobility on foot, being reckless with the Sword is hardly ever punished. At least in Halo 5 you had the Shotgun and Scattershot and their variants to put you in your place and keep you from being king of the close-quarters sections of the arena.