Dear 343 -Thank you for your continued diligence in improving the Halo Infinite BTB gaming experience! It has continually improved since launch along with my enjoyment of the BTB Games.
However, there are still some weapons that deflate you & are the enemy to fun in the weapon spawns. For example, instead of the Mangler I was hoping for (yeah! Fun & useful weapon!), I find the Extreme Dookie Disruptor. It’s like a kid at Christmas opening up their gift with excited anticipation to be to find the box filled with Dookie. They think it is a sick joke, are deflated, and walk away with tears in their eyes hoping the next weapon spawn has a fun weapon.
Adding insult to injury, tactically important weapons needed to achieve the Objective are missing or severely limited (e.g. the Hydra on maps with increased aircraft and tanks. You can’t easily shoot aircraft down with a Ravager).
Moreover, at the beginning of a BTB game, your 12 teammates rush to the 9-10 close by weapon spawns. Of those 10, currently nearly half are filled with Dookie garbage weapons unhelpful to achieving the game objective and never used. Not only does it waste the players time to try to search for a better weapon, but it increases team animosity by making teammates fight over the good weapons. (E.g. the RACE to the good weapon spawns at the start of each BTB game).
Further delaying the game and diminishing the fun, players will campout next to their favorite weapon spawn to wait for their weapon. All the while, their team is hurting to win the objective without their teammate who is running to the 2nd weapon spawn location to find the Mangler because the base spawn has a Disruptor or Plasma Pistol. Fun diminished for everyone.
So, IMO, BTB games will improve dramatically by making the following BTB weapons and weapon spawn improvement:
#1 - Disruptor - Complete Dookie
Complete Dookie. Please remove from BTB if you’re not going to improve it. No value in in current form.
Trying to stop a vehicle - pointless, you’re dead before the disabling shock occurs. Kill an enemy - again, pointless, you’re dead. Player could just use their Sidekick that does more damage quicker, and has virtually unlimited ammo compared to 30 shots (because everyone on the field has a Sidekick.)
Especially insulting is the Mangler (yeah!) v. Disruptor/Plasma Pistol weapon spawns (Gold v. Dookie in a box). Just give us the Mangler! Replacing the Mangler spawn for the Disruptor / Plasma Pistol is a slap in the fun face! The Mangler is very fun weapon & has received tons of praise (even with the recent nerfing) . There need to be more fun weapons like the Mangler for the average BTB player, not less!
Disruptor Recommendations
a) Add shock grenade stopping feature quicker - 2nd or 3rd shot - for vehicles and people.
b) Add chain shock to nearby multiple enemies for each shot
b) Add the ability to destroy aircraft & vehicles by shocking it 2 or 3 times.
c) Increase the capacity to unlimited or near unlimited to make it comparable to the Sidekick
d) A Shock Grenadeish Rocket ability (e.g. Plasma Pistol) when you hold down the trigger for a while it builds up and then will destroy entire shield + chain shock enemy. The automatic firing feature is a waste on this weapon anyway as I can shoot faster manually anyway.
#2 - Plasma Pistol - Extreme Dookie
Extreme Dookie. . Please remove from BTB if you’re not going to improve it. No redemption in current form.
Like the Disruptor, the Plasma Pistol is rarely used because it is bad for BTB. As previously mentioned, spawning the Plasma Pistol in place of the Mangler is a Fun Destroyer. Please stop. Fix this weapon or remove it and give us the fun weapons that are useful. (and especially STOP taking the Mangler’s spot). The ability to take down enemy shields with a full bolt is the plasma pistol’s only plus.
Plasma Pistol Recommendations
a) Add tracking like the Plasma Rifle.
b) Add tracking to the Plasma Pistol full burst + ability to destroy aircraft & tanks with only a few full bursts.
c) Increase the ammo capacity
#3 - Ravager - Extreme Dookie
Extreme Dookie. Please remove from BTB if you’re not going to improve it.
Even with the recent buff, no one uses the Ravager & it takes up a valuable weapons spawn (see my previous - there are currently only 5-6 real usable weapons spawns at beginning of BTB games). Even worse, is when the Ravager spawns in place of the Hydra on maps that have increased aircraft and tanks (e.g. HighPower). Spawning the Ravager instead of the Hydra is not logical nor comparable. Moreover, giving one base a Hydra and the other a Ravager imbalances the teams.
Ravager Suggestions
a) Add tracking capability and straighter shooting for short-medium distance (E.g. make it a Hydra Ravager / Plasma Carbine Ravager)
b) Add ability to fire a tracking Ravager Bolt Rocket comparable to Hydra Tracking Missle (e.g. Hydra Ravager) by holding the trigger down until it builds up. Make the bolts damage comparable to the Hydra Tracking Missiles.
#4 - Plasma Carbine - Dookie
Dookie. Please remove from BTB if you’re not going to improve it.
Currently it is too slow & not comparable to the Hydra (Tracking), BR (Speed + scope magnifacation), Commando (Speed, Damage, Scope Magnification) nor MR40 (speed + virtually unlimited ammo)
Plasma Carbine Recommendations
a) Use the improved Plasma Carbine from the Campaign that has faster shots. This will make it comparable to the Commando & BR & MR40
b) increase the ammo capacity
c) Add a toggle scope of 1.4 to 1.7 or 1.7 to 2.0
Small Tweaks
The following are weapons that are great, but could use a small tweak to make them more fun and BTB even better!:
VK78 Commando
a) Please increase starting ammo by 1.5-2x . Often, 1 teammate will take the two nearby Commando spawns to double their capacity.
b) Please make the spawns equal at the bases (e.g both teams should have the same amount of Commando spawns instead of 1 team gets Commandos and the other BRs.
c) Please add a comparable # of BRs & Commandos to the spawns.
BTW - Thank you for listening to us and making the Commando useable by calming down the recoil for S02.
Heatwave + Bulldog instead of Heatwave v. Bulldog
a) Please make a comparable number of Heatwaves & Bulldogs available. I enjoy using both but tactically use them on different maps. (e.g. The heatwave does better in canyons and inside buildings, while the bulldog in the open spaces). On Fragmentation, for example, you could add another weapon spawn in the base armory for the Bulldog / /Heatwave as well as making one of the cave have a Bulldog & the other a Heatwave.
Weapons Rack Spawns
Like the Campaigns final level, with the weapons racks with 5x of each weapon, add a weapons rack at each base to allow each player to choose their favorite weapon. If half the team wants bulldogs, fine. This will add another tactical & strategic dimension. For example, if one team equips everyone with Bulldogs, the other team equips with BRs and mows them down from a distance.
This will increase the fun, minimize time spent looking for your favorite weapon (that is fair and balanced - e.g. not everyone gets a Power Weapon)
Scope Zoom Toggles
Please add the ability to toggle the zoom on scoped weapons
1.4 or 1.7 - MA40 AR
1.7 or 2x - Commando & Plasma Riffle
2x or 3x - Shock Rifle
If I’ve missed anything community BTB players, please add them to this post.
Thank you for listening 343. Keep up the great work!