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> > > > The latest victim of the BR start, Strongholds, has suffered greatly. It’s a solid game type and new take on King of the Hill, but having everyone start with BR’s detracts from the game play. Enemy teams don’t even need to actually go in and clear out the team that is holding the Stronghold. All they have to do is hang back, spam grenades in and pop off shots with the BRs and clear out the zone. There is no strategy, no challenge, no fairness. It’s just grenade, headshot, rinse, repeat.
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> > > Bold. That’s where your problem is, you’re camping in a hole and expecting players to charge in where your team can AR them seven ways from Sunday.
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> > As opposed to the other team sitting outside said hole where they can safely BR the other team seven ways from sunday? The BR detracts from the risk element of the game, rewarding the sneaky style of play where one simply acts like a vulture picking off anyone they can see from across the map, making such style THE ONLY way to win. It also takes away from the teamwork and coordination aspect of the game. You don’t need to devise a way on the fly to get those other guys out. No, it’s just team BR them from a distance while chucking in grenades, headshot whoever pops out with low shields, rinse, repeat. It basically degrades Halo down to a game of cheap shots and cheaper tricks.
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> You are familiar with the concept of a utility weapon? A base weapon that’s decent at everything but expert at none? The AR is not a utility weapon on virtue that it’s regulated to mainly the CQC niche. The AR is king for CQC, the BR is barely scratches my midrange as both the AR and DMR contest that range in H5, and the DMR is king for long range. The BR is the only suitable “all-comers” utility weapon that best compliments the game.
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> Now regarding your complaint about lack of movement and strategy… That is something that AR, BR and DMR starts all fall victim to. This is not so much an issue with the weapons, but rather an issue with how maps are set up. The three fundamental focal points to control in an Arena Shooter are Weapon Control, Position Control, and Spawn Control (although the latter two converge slightly). A well designed map should offer counter positions to help break up any overly campy spot on a map, encouraging players to move to get these niche sight lines. On a well designed map, players will also position themselves to deny spawn points to the opposing players, dictating what paths are most viable to them. Lastly, a well designed map will have multiple power ups and power weapons placed in unfavorable locations, forcing players to move from important locations to maintain control of the game.
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> Given the various concealed flanking routes on the 4 Arena Maps available, the maps are fairly laid out so that you don’t have to rely on a BR or DMR to control the game. There are CQC areas better suited for the AR, some small open areas where any of the weapons could vie for control, and some fields where the BR and DMR are best suited.
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> What we have here in your situation is a self favoring bias towards a particular playstyle that you want the game to be based around, when really your just not playing smart. The game isn’t about camping, it’s about staying on the move and controlling the map through positioning, spawns and weapons. Learn to flank and approach your enemies properly and you won’t be having such major issues with the BR being “oh so over powered”. You spawn with a AR primary and BR secondary, don’t be afraid to use them both man. Take your range shots with the BR, find a safe way to get in close and swap over to that AR for the kill.
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> I dunno… Maybe its just me. I enjoy this playstyle I’m advocating here. It’s worked for me for around 12+ years now with this franchise. And beside the point, the aiming mechanics are the best we’ve had since CE! This is the lowest aim assist we’ve had since for precision weapons.
Are you even playing the same game? The AR is obsolete because of the BR. As for playing smart, people can barely play at all! Thanks to BR starts, you can barely move anywhere on the map or do anything without getting shot or killed outright because people are just fugging cross mapping with the BR. One clown can sit in one spot and spawn camp because he’s basically got a three shot sniper rifle to start out with. The BR throws balance out the window. It just becomes a game of camp 'n snipe. The BR dominates in ALL ranges of combat, long, medium and close. Why even have the AR, DMR, pistol or anything?
I’ve been in those CQC fights. They are DOMINATED by the BR. Why? Close quarters means less room to move and makes headshotting and grenade spamming easy as pie. The AR whittles down shields and health with rapid fire damage. The BR, three pops to the head and you’re finished. At mid and long range, it’s the same thing. It does WAY MORE than barely scratch. It’s pin point accurate. The DMR is -Yoink- at long range. I’ve beaten out DMR users are long range with the BR easily. Why? BR has better spread and rate of fire.
The conceal and flanking routes are useless. Radar kills that. The enemy sees you coming a mile away and is already chucking grenades down that route you are taking. Then it’s one or two BR bursts to the head and you’re dead. Forget trying to fall back at that point, they’ll just mow you down with BR fire and that’s that. This is assuming you even GET to take two steps without getting BR’d. The BR allows for TOO MUCH spawn control to the point where the first team to get it dominates for the rest of the match. The other team might as well just quit out and look for another one to play.
People don’t swap out to the AR when they get in close, they stick with the BR and finish off with headshots. The strategy you mentioned is crap. It doesn’t work, no one uses it. They stick with the BR through the whole match. Why? It’s effective at ALL ranges. Why even bother getting in close to use the AR when you can just pop then down with headshots at long range with the BR? Answer: It’s easier.
On the topic of map design, the maps, thus far, do nothing but encourage and facilitate the BR heavy play style with plenty of ways to trap with grenades and herd them into straightaways to line them up for headshots.
Bottom line, the BR isn’t a bad weapon, but it’s too powerful to start with. It’s good in small doses, scattered about the map, perhaps two or three. AR/Pistol start makes players utilize different strategies, weapons.