Halo 5 MP needs more weapons and less BR dominance

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

This is an issue the series has had for a while that has re-surfaced recently with the who loadout aspect of H2A. So fans complain that loadouts makes the multiplayer unbalanced for obvious reasons, however no one ever mentions how jarringly unbalanced the weapon set in this game is in general. We have a few capable weapons, and a whole lot of filler which is ridiculous for an “arena” shooter. Arena shooters thrive on power weapons and the variety in them, in fact that is how they work very well without character progression an unlocks, the fact that we have so many different weapon sets to choose from on the map (not loadouts)

Right now we have the basic UNSC weapons and their covenant and Prometheans counterparts, which are all fairly similar. On the top we have either the BR or the DRM as the go-to solution since everything else is going to loose in direct confrontation. And in here lies the problem which i Hope 343 solves with the next Halo, if weapons are there then they should be of equal prowess, save unique features they might have, otherwise Halo will continue to be seen form the outside as a barebones MP experience and a devolution of the Arena shooter the franchise has been trying to reach. To be honest this is an evolution that i would expect going from Halo 2 to Halo 3, which didn’t happen. Instead the franchise became stagnant and comfortable.

So what do you guys think? are you ok with Halo 5 carrying more of the same BR dominance and having weapons that don’t offer a solid practical solution in combat? Or you feel like the way things are shouldn’t be change in order to preserve the classic Halo feel?

2

This is almost the same as the thread I made. I think BR shouldn’t dominate all ranges like it does as of Halo 4. I’m ok with the damage output of full auto weapons, it’s just their poor accuracy makes them useless for anything not point-blank.

3

When people say things like “BR dominance” what they really mean is the auto weapons(sometimes including the pistol) failure. Precision weapons like the BR have played well with the rest of the sandbox, it is the AR and friends that have consistently failed to step up to the BR, or anything else for that matter.

Part of the problem that the OP alluded to is that almost all of them have followed the same archtype of close range bullet hose. There is very little to distinguish any of them from one another so their is rarely a reason to pick them up if you already have something like an AR or SMG off spawn.

That said its not as if a bullet hose can’t be useful, the CE AR works just fine for what it is, the problem is that people expect to be able to pick up any weapon they pick up to be as useful as a utility weapon like the BR or CC. Scoped Precision weapons are just inherently more versatile, and allow spawning players to confront a wider variety of threats. Bullet hoses just don’t have that ability to fight off anything that isn’t at close range.

I will give 343 credit for making the Halo 4 bullet hoses actually lethal again, and when used within their intended niche they will win against precision weapons.

We don’t just need ‘new’ weapons, simply adding weapons is part of the reason the sandbox can be so stale at times. We need functionally unique and diverse weapons and that requires effort on the part of the developers.

Simply adding a Covenant, Promethean, or UNSC “Version” of an existing weapon is an incredibly shallow method of increasing variety and it needs to stop. Not every weapon needs to have a super complicated mechanic or niche, it just needs to encourage a different playstyle.

One example I always comeback to is the Beam Rifle vs the Focus Rifle. The human sniper rifle is already in the game and at the end of the day the beam rifle fills the exact same gameplay niche the sniper does, the battery and rate of fire are honestly a very superficial difference. The Focus Rifle meanwhile, requires a different type of play to be successful, while still giving the Covenant a general long range power weapon. Some people will say the Focus Rifle is not ‘balanced’ with the Sniper Rifle, but that is a good thing. You shouldn’t try to use a weapon like a sniper rifle against an actual sniper.

As far as H2A specifically goes, this to me is just another reason why dual wielding should stay gone, none of those weapons can really shine when they have to be balanced with the ability to wield two of them in mind.