Now I love duel welding its a feature I loved since it was brought in to the franchise back in Halo 2. Though understand the balancing issue when it comes to it I feel now with a load out system like in Halo 4 it can be done and work.
So this thread is to focus on ideas and ways to bring back dual welding and how to make it work with the rest of the weapon sandbox for future Halos to come!
The Problem!!!
Here is my thoughts… In Halo 2 Dual welding worked because there was no other fully auto mid to close range weapons besides the smg and plasma rifle which as all of us know are dual weldable. Now because of this it was our only option to use different combos of other weapons like this to go against the BR, so it worked and people used and loved them for the most part…
Now when Halo 3 came out thats when the problems came in to play. There where two things that ruined dual wielding weapons in Halo 3 and why they where un balanced. The first was the AR, now I love the AR and im not suggesting to get rid of it so don’t freak out! Here is the reason why. The AR is a mid to close range weapon that is just as strong as dual welding for the most part and you can melee and throw nades. So right there you think well why els would I need to dual wield then? Thats where the problem comes in for dual weld weapons them selves. So lets take a look at the downside of Dual wielding weapons.
Its pretty simple when you dual wield weapons you cant melee, throw nades and even switch weapons or melee without dropping one. Then your forced to waste time trying to pick it back up after and no one wants that. Also to, when your not dual wielding and just holding one smg its to weak by itself to really take out anyone compared to the rest of the sandbox. So right there why would anyone bother wanting to use them if they have a weapon like the AR that can do all those things Plus deliver the same damage. So how can we take all those negative things and make them work with out takeing one of them out or weakening the other?
My Solution!!!
First with Halo 4 load out system, (if 343 still uses it for future titles) you make weapons that are dual wieldable like the smg and plasma rifle and you make them as secondary weapons for your load outs for these weapons arnt consider strong enough to be a primary weapon. Now to start you can only use one but here is where things get interesting. Make a specialization to unlock for your support upgrade that would allow you when turned on to use and carry two dual wieldable weapons at the same time as a secondary such as smg and plasma rifle or two smgs. Would pretty much be the same as Firepower allowing you to use an AR as a secondary so it would be on par with that.
Now I would still have it function and keep the same feature of being able to pick up and dual wield other weapons you find on the map even without the support upgrade, thats just for the ability to use them off of spawn instead of having to go look for another one. Other things I would change is make it so when you switch between weapons, you still keep both your dual wield ones. So instead of dropping one, you just keep one on each leg, would look cool too. Another would be the ability to still keep both in your hands ready to use even after you melee someone, instead of drop one and have to pick it back up. This is what would keep the dual wield weapons on par with others such as the AR and would make them an even match. Now still keep it so you cant throw nades! That would be the downside of choosing to dual wield and would stop it from being overpowered against the AR.
Thats pretty much it… With the ability if you chose! you can start off spawn with two as a secondary, and the ability to keep both when you melee and switch to your primary weapon. I feel that these fix all the problems with dual wielding and can make it work in future titles.
So now whats your opinion or ideas? leave your comments below!!!
Note: to fix any confusion
dual wielding will still work the same as 2/3 if you don’t use the support upgrade. You’ll just spawn with one as a secondary and still be able to pick up other ones to dual wield that are placed on map or dropped from dead players.
The Support upgrade is just to spawn with two off the start instead of one. That way you don’t have to go look for one you just already have them ready to go at anytime.