Halo 5s Arena weapon sandbox is one of the worst in the series, and is far more unbalanced than most people think. People assume because the majority of weapons are good, that it is balanced, and to be fair, when the game first came out, I thought that. Now I have had time to think and come to this realization. The imbalances are more subtle than the past, so let me explain.
Halo 5’s Tier One weapons have replaced more interesting low tier pick ups like mauler, Brute shot, grenade launcher or the Halo 3 needler and shotgun. All automatic Tier ones in Halo 5 are better than a Halo 3 shotgun, by being so powerful and so utilitarian.
Compare the H3 Pit to Torque (both are 3 Lane map designs)
The pit has 2 shotguns, 2 Snipers, Rockets, Sword, 2 Brute Shots, 2 Needlers, 2 Maulers, 2 SMGs, 2 Plasma Rifles, 2 BRs, Plasma Pistol, Overshield, Active Camo and I may have missed some. In Halo 3 all those weapons are worth picking up as a counterpart to your BR.
Torgue as nowhere near that level of weapon diversity. Most “low” tier pick ups in Halo 5 are just better versions of your starting weapons. In Halo 3 they offered distinctive, individual roles and weren’t just upgrades. They key power weapons weren’t easy to use PoS, and neither really were the low tier pick ups. Is there edundancy in Halo 3? Absolutely. But there is still more diversity than redundancy. The weapons absolutely worth picking up are different from your BR.
In Halo 5, almost all power weapons and pick ups are easy to master, and are about easy kills, all the low tier pick ups are upgrades, not niche counterparts. It’s like Halo 3 AR starts. Most of the weapons on the map superior to what to what you spawn with. Is it as dramatic? Yes and No. Theoretically, the game is more pick up based. In practice all the pick ups are easy as -Yoink- to use.
EDITED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF FURTHER:
Many in the current Halo community are assuming cause everything is usable, the sandbox is balanced. But that isn’t the only factor in a balanced sandbox, they don’t know any better, thats not their fault.
Halo 2-3 The sandbox aren’t perfect, (Halo 1 just about is) But when you spawn in you know your opponents have a BR, and you have a BR. You to are on equal footing when you respawn. Both you and your opponents utility weapons are equal. That is a good thing. It makes for predictable, competitive gameplay. The sandbox around that should provide niche roles that are better than the utility weapon in specific roles (like Halo CE)
Using all the functional clones of the AR and Pistol in the Halo 4 sandbox as the low tier pick ups in Halo 5 Arena was a bad decision, because these weapons fufill the same role as what you spawn in with, but are better in many ways, as previously stated. Now when you respawn, you will be at a larger disadvantage than in previous Halos. the enemy has weapons that are in the same role as your weapons, but are better.It removes the equal footing when you respawn in.
Everything SHOULD be viable. But they should not be all round upgrades of the weapons you respawn with, like Halo 5.
Furthermore, the actual power weapons are all exceptionally powerful, rather than having a diverse range of power. So we need to put less on a map, and further remove sandbox diversity