Like I said, Zero Bloom is a great concept: Who doesn’t love having shots hit on-target each and every time regardless of rate of fire?
But ZB as currently implemented is broken. I could complain about the Needle Rifle’s magnetic headshots, or the ridiculously overpowered Pistol, or the fact that any dedicated anti-vehicle weapon is now outclassed by concentrated fire from only two or three DMRs, but these are just symptoms of a broader problem: ZB as currently implemented transforms default loadout guns (DMR, Needle Rifle, Pistol) from basic utility weapons into borderline-unbeatable power weapons.
In the ZB DMR games I’ve played in the TU Beta hopper, I’ve noticed that, with very few exceptions, most players no longer rush for traditional power weapons (RL, sword, shotgun, etc.), with the possible exception of the Sniper Rifle. And why would they? There’s simply no need anymore – in the vast majority of combat scenarios within a ZB game, a DMR, Needle Rifle, or Pistol is now a superior wielding choice compared to any other available weapon.
I personally think this is Not A Good Thing, and if left uncorrected this problem will strip most of the remaining depth and nuance from Halo: Reach’s multiplayer experience. Last I checked, in Halo: Reach there are almost 20 other guns outside of the DMR, Needle Rifle, and Pistol that players can use. In the default, pre-TU version of the game, almost every single one of these weapons (the Plasma Rifle aside!) could be used to devastating effect in the right hands. For instance, if you wanted to only use the Plasma Repeater and the Concussion Rifle in a game against good players, you could do that and, if you were skillful enough, still win. If you tore off a mounted gatling gun, you could adequately use it to defend the confined close-quarters area of a base and successfully repel enemy attacks. In most scenarios, these more exotic weapons already offered lower probabilities of success and survival than simply using default hitscan weapons and frag grenades, but they could still reward a player who had mastered them. With ZB, this sort of varied gameplay no longer seems to be possible; the bloomless DMR, Needle Rifle, and Pistol have superseded essentially all other handheld weapons.
I challenge 343i and anyone who disagrees with my argument to explain why the current state of affairs is desirable. Why go to the trouble of creating a wider diversity of weapons, or bother carefully placing them in strategic locations around maps when they are all made defunct by default loadout weapons? How is gameplay going to improve when the winning conditions are essentially constrained to using only three default guns and the other 18-20 guns are rendered almost useless?
Nerf the Pistol’s rate of fire; fix the Needle Rifle’s bullet magnetism; beef up vehicles (but not the Banshee, which really needs more cooldown on its aerial acrobatics) so they can withstand more sustained DMR fire; and for heaven’s sake, apply ZB to non-hitscan weapons as well – why do guns like the Plasma Repeater and Plasma Pistol still have such drastic inaccurate spreads when a player can now deliver an entire clip from a Pistol, DMR, or Needle Rifle to a pinpoint spot across a map as quickly as he or she can pull the trigger? This game is now broken. Fix it.
Am I the only one who thinks this? Because most of what I see from others is blind unquestioning praise of ZB, and I’m starting to think I’m taking crazy pills.