Halo 3 could still be better

This talk of balancing a game from 2007 is completely redundant at this point and isn’t what the original topic was about. The BR is what it is in the sandbox and was fine then and now. People always complain about stuff like this: why don’t you complain for the CE shotgun and CE pistol to be patched as well?

The battle rifle was even more powerful in the OG, with the hit reg being better and four shots being consistent. I stress at high ping that every weapon in the MCC functions worse to this day, though.

The point of this thread was for me to say what is needed to bring Halo 3 at least up to par with the Xbox 360 version.

“Halo 3 could still be better” includes balance changes, in theory. However, the game is said and done and should be preserved how it is for the sake of historical accuracy, but your personal preference and success has no bearing on theoretical improvements to balance. And since I’ve played Halo 3 on Xbox 360 more than all but a relative few people I do know what the Battle Rifle is like in that game. It’s second nature. Hit detection is bad in MCC, and should be improve for the sake of gameplay in general, not just your favorite weapon.

This video isn’t just about the Sniper Rifle, this is about the theory of weapon balance in general and the Sniper Rifle serves as an example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YJ53skc-k4 (from 41:45 onward) The Battle Rifle standing a clear head above the majority of the weapon sandbox at all ranges stands as undefinable proof it is objectively unbalanced in Halo 3’s weapon sandbox. You don’t have to agree and you don’t have to like it, but that’s how things are. A properly balanced weapon sandbox is not related to your personal preferences. That’s really all I’m saying.

Now let those downvotes roll in, because I know this stings a lot of people.

I’d argue it stands more as undeniable proof that the BR in Halo 3 was never meant to be a starting weapon, and was instead intended to be a pick-up akin to SMG’s and Carbines.

Halo 3 was built around auto starts before 343 and competitive players pushed for the magnum to be replaced with the BR, naturally causing an imbalance since the weapons existing stats remained unaltered, and the weapon itself more abundant than others.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the original idea. Although not as rushed as Halo 2, Halo 3 did see a fair amount of time constraints. They did pretty darn good, in my opinion.

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I’ll say it because nobody else has the guts:
The Battle Rifle should have a reduced rate of fire. Not by much, but just enough to force it as a mid-long range weapon and keep it from making half the weapons in the game pointless.

Of course this will never happen because reasons and preserving the past. But deep inside, we all know it should happen anyway.

Edit: I knew this post would hurt feelings, but I should also add more supporting reasoning to my case because most people do not understand game balance (and this isn’t exclusive to Halo) because they don’t have experience in making games (I made a small personal use/unreleased balance mod for singleplayer use in Star Wars: Empire at War many years ago, so I’m a bit more experianced in this general topic than most people).l

There’s a GDC video of Jaime Griesemer talking about ballancing Halo 3’s Sniper Rifle titled “Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3”. From 48:30 until the end of the video that describes game ballance extremely well.[quote=“Canadianatlas, post:8, topic:562540, full:true”]
I’ll say it because nobody else has the guts:
The Battle Rifle should have a reduced rate of fire. Not by much, but just enough to force it as a mid-long range weapon and keep it from making half the weapons in the game pointless.

Of course this will never happen because reasons and preserving the past. But deep inside, we all know it should happen anyway.

Edit: I knew this post would hurt feelings, but I should also add more supporting reasoning to my case because most people do not understand game balance (and this isn’t exclusive to Halo) because they don’t have experience in making games (I made a small personal use/unreleased balance mod for singleplayer use in Star Wars: Empire at War many years ago, so I’m a bit more experianced in this general topic than most people).

There’s a GDC video of Jaime Griesemer talking about ballancing Halo 3’s Sniper Rifle titled “Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3”. From 48:30 until the end of the video that describes game ballance extremely well.

I strongly recommend watching the entire video from start to finish if you claim to be a fan of classic Halo games. Especially in a competitive sense. It helps you understand what made Halo, Halo from a gameplay perspective.

A tiny reduction in fire rate (even smaller than the .2 second adjustment in the Sniper Rifle RoF from 2 to 3) would keep the Battle Rife from overshadowing the close-midrange weapons in Halo 3’s weapon sandbox without damaging it’s midrange dominance.

Again: I know this won’t and shouldn’t happen because preservation of history is more important than further balancing in MCC at this point. I’m making a point that needs to be said.

End of comment]

You don’t have balls to say this change since your like 1 of 10 people who want this change. Since everyone else is fine with the current balance in H3.

If anything it’s better to buff the weapons that are weak like the magnum

If your gonna make balance changes to a game it needs to still be in its prime live service and H3 isn’t.

The competitive scene for halo 3 would hate the changes to the BR and Sniper. So that video you suggested for competitive fans of 1 - 3 is garbage.

Instead of commenting garbage changes. Try to comment changes that will benefit the halo community like having AR and BR starts for objectives modes for social for example.

Why can’t you just mod halo 3 for the changes you want ? You did that for empire of war ! But all you want instead garbage changes for yourself just because your selfish

1 Like

You gave me a heart attack with that improper quote, but I fully agree with your point.
Modding halo into your ideal version is the best way to have impact and get real feedback on the changes you argue for.

3 Likes

I keep fov at 78 for everything hehehehe

Honestly I would love to parity with all the original titles, not just H3.