Let's Look at the Assault Rifle

Games Other Halo
1

Hello,

I noticed a decent amount of discussion about the weapon sandbox lately. There was already a thread about secondaries, particularly the pistol and how that fit in, but I’ve also seen a lot of chat about the Assault Rifle, how well it works and what its role is, now that it has been placed with equal standing among precision utility weapons, namely the BR, DMR and Carbine.

So, I thought I’d take a more in-depth look at the AR, propose an AR rework and see what the community thinks. I’ve made little blurbs about it in other posts, but I was anxious to hear what everyone here thinks about the AR and its place in the sandbox.

Well, I guess you could say I’m a competitive player. To an extent. The AR is generally nowhere to be seen in a lot of the customs I enjoy. As we know, the AR is usually taken out of competitive play.

(Also, note that this is all opinion to facilitate discussion and an idea.)

Why is the AR a poor weapon?

There are a number of reasons behind this. Most of it revolves around the low skill gap of the Assault Rifle. That isn’t to say it doesn’t exist. There is a small gap, but because of high aim assist and bullet magnetism within optimum range, you really can’t strafe an AR and the spread, while magnetized, still leaves a lot to chance. Competitive play should have no chance elements.

The Assault Rifle also does poorly as a starting weapon, causing many players, such as myself, to groan when AR starts show up. The rifle cannot defend against any sort of long ranged attack in any way. in Reach, the pistol was your best bet past 20 meters. And it wasn’t good enough either. It was a CQB weapon too.

The rifle could be attempted to be used in burst fire at longer ranges, but because it had a kill time designed around the spray and close range, bursts did very little damage per second, leaving the other player plenty of time to kill you with many other weapons, such as the DMR or sometimes even Magnum.

A good part of the community also appreciates the ‘short kill time, really hard to hit every shot’ nature of weapons such as the BR and CE Magnum. Those weapons are generally competitive favorites, and make for interesting gameplay at all levels. The average kill is slower than the best possible, but it allows for skilled players to use their ability to its fullest extent. It encourages honing your skills with your weapon of choice.

For players who care less, it still feels satisfying when you land a lot of shots and down someone quickly. Even in my “BTB only” Halo 3 days when I was a lot more casual about the game, a 4 shot in a tough situation was really fun. Weapon diversity is also one of the biggest complaints against competitive play, and more weapons that work well in that arena would help bring the two currently very different ways to play closer together.

How can it be evened out, but retain its individuality in the sandbox?

So, if the AR is to be a starting weapon, it needs to be able to at least stand a chance at most ranges. All of the precision utilities listed in the intro can at least put up a fight at every range except perhaps extreme range, where only the sniper can function anyway. The AR should also have a short kill time, but players should not be able to land every shot without great aim. Bursting either has to be made completely pointless or the standard kill method, so that the weapon can be balanced around one or the other. I would prefer full auto to make it stand out from other starting weapons. The skill gap of the weapon should be increased in some ways as well, to justify its buff in effectiveness.

Based off of this train of thought, I came up with my ‘Ideal Assault Rifle’, hoping to make an AR that wouldn’t be scoffed at by competitive play, swapped for anything, or be an awful starting weapon.

The Idea

-Seriously decrease or completely remove spread/bloom on the Assault Rifle.
-Decrease Assault Rifle kill time (in line with precision kill times, preferably around 1.4-1.5 seconds), and make it a 10-shot kill on current mag size, or something like a 15-shot kill on a 45/50 mag size. Point is, shorter kill and mag size of about three kills.
-Reduce aim assist and bullet magnetism to even it out with precision weapons.
-Add in a scope ala ODST SMG, but with slight recoil when scoped.

The aim being an AR that isn’t as much of a pain to start with, has a bigger skill range and being no longer reduced to a popcorn gun (That’s what it sounded like to me in H3!).

So, thoughts on this or anything else AR related? I want to hear some feedback from you guys. Too much of a change? Too good/bad? Of course specific numbers can be easily tweaked, but I’m more curious about how the idea sounds.

Note that this is just theory and discussion, not a petition or anything. It’s also my first real ‘big’ thread, so if I’m missing something obvious or made a huge mistake, let me know and I’ll fix it up. I’ll also add in a community feedback section in the post if it seems warranted.

2

The AR is a close range weapon, like the Storm Rifle.

It should stay that way, leave long ranges for weapons made for long range.

Which is why it’ll be good in smaller maps, witfh some close-quaters areas.

I think the AR will fit its role as it is. Though it would be nice to see it used a little more in multiplayer.

3

From what I can see, the AR has already gotten a buff.

4

It should stay as it is now. Good for close range. It was useful in H3 but got outperformed by the pistol in Reach.

5

I went in-depth with this months ago.

I don’t think spread and bloom should be removed, for the simple fact that the weapon would become OP. Especially with a scope, there would be no reason to use a semi automatic weapon when you can have a full auto one that covers any range.

We already have so many weapons that can cover medium range. I agree that the AR should be able to reach out a bit farther than it has before, but it needs an identity as a close range weapon.

6

It should get a buff in strength and in clip size to make it competent. Make it so entering an AR’s range is a deadly game while at mid-range it feels like it did in Reach in how it can get you the kill but it’d waste precious ammo and time. Make the AR rip health down quickly and give it a large clip size so you can tear through multiple waves of enemies. AR should be more a defense weapon than an offense one in that you won’t want to hunt down enemies with the AR but catch them off guard with it once they step into its realm.

7

The secret problem with the AR in Halo 3 and Halo Reach? The insanely over-powered melee attack.

For most of the effective range of the AR, a player can run towards the other player and get into melee range before the AR has a chance to kill them.

May seem like a back asswards solution, but a key to making the AR more useful is to tone down the melee attacks.

8

I understand the AR would need to stay a CQB weapon, but if that’s your primary, when you could have a utility that can fight everywhere instead, the AR is obviously a worse choice unless you plan on rushing every encounter, which has a low success rate anyway.

The recoil could be enough to keep the AR from being a powerhouse outside of close range, but still at least be able to land a few shots. An AR start in Halo 3 or Reach for example, is a rush to precision weapons so that you can dominate your opponent at range without them being able to land a single bullet. And now these two weapons are in the same loadout slot.

If players start with it, they need a chance. That’s my approach, anyway. Make it a powerhouse in CQB (albeit difficult to reach full potential) and stand a chance outside of that range. That’s my goal. It could be a CQB Utility. That’s a unique role. As is, it is not utility with one range.

9

I agree with everything you’ve said apart from the scope.

10

Remove magnetism and allow it to be effective at medium range when burst fired and it would be fine.