Lets talk weapons shall we lads?
We all know Halo five is has an issue with balancing things (looking at you warzone.)
But could we address the weapons first?
Everyone has their own preference when it comes to play style and weapons. (Halo four I had a BR and Jetpack, I loved it but I was still easy enough to kill.)
So it makes me question exactly why certain weapons are so much greater than others.
For example the standard spawn weapon for most Arena based games involves the pistol as a secondary - which is really unfair.
I use the pistol a fair amount, because I am used to it, but my friend and a few others simply do not like it and thus are practically punished because others can destroy them with its high rate of fire, its high damage and its unchallenged range.
The pistol (in my own opinion) needs a serious nerf. Either take away its range capabilities or lower its rate of fire and damage.
There has never been a case where a pistol has beaten a BR or a Sniper at long range, so I find it incredibly unfair for people who just cannot use this weapon to be punished, since others can and its a standard spawn. Now I get it, “but Swift, thats just stupid. Its not our fault they can’t use the weapons!” and you’d be right, but lets look at games like Battlefield shall we? Lets remove the hill lurking snipers for one minute and assess how it plays. Everyone can select from four different classes with a variety of different weapons to suit their play style. They don’t all get put with the same guns so one team has the advantage.
Its like the education system, its putting every unique individual into one test that is focused on a particular thing, like maths shall we say? Some people just cannot do it well, and they need help, but because grades are such an expected thing, anyone that falls behind stays behind.
Sorry… a little off topic, my point is we need to accommodate for different play styles. Previous Halo’s have done this in the past, Halo Reachs Magnum (pre-Halo CE-A) was well balanced, and yes DMR’s were a dominator, but with the cover in the maps you could cover the gaps easily.
So in my own opinion, I think the pistol needs to lose some of its advantages, because really skilled players can use it so easily while others can’t and it just isn’t fair.
Lets move onto Warzone guns.
You should know what is coming: BR and SMG. Holy mahogany are these dominating weapons! (Relax, I have a few compilations of me rocking with these weapons on youtube, so I assure you I am not biased.)
SMG destroys up close, there is no other load out weapon that can really compare (if we’re talking JUST shooting.)
Now of course this is to be expected, its an SMG. But it was never really that powerful on Halo 2 or 3, in fairness it was only really that effective if you duel wielded it.
This Halo 5 SMG however is deadly accurate, with moderate range, damage and rate of fire. If the damage was reduced, or perhaps its accuracy we’d see people using different weapons.
My major concern however is the BR. What has become of it?
It used to be a gun that was a proud weapon of skilled players, that could still be killed of course.
Now? It has a small auto assist feature, with the same OP range the pistol has, a rapid rate of fire, and a rapid burst rate with pretty intense damage.
At this point I’d say the AR is finally one of the slowest weapons!
I really think the BR needs to be toned down greatly, it should trump the pistol in range but not the DMR. Or shoot down a Banshee from across the map (looking at you, random guy! Grrr!)
But in all seriousness this is pretty much how I’d go about it.
Pistol - Reduced rate of fire and damage or Reduced damage and no zoom option and low range.
SMG - Reduced damage and accuracy
BR - Reduced burst rate, fire rate and range or reduced damage and range.
Also, power weapons?.. Move the plasma pistol, bolt shot, suppressor, carbine, light rifle and storm rifle over to the load outs too?
They were in Halo four, and to be fair they were pretty balanced!
I actually prefer Halo four to Halo five in terms of balance.
Infinity slayer > Warzone simply because the weapons were a lot more balanced, and even if we were being destroyed by the enemy team I could still call in weapons.
I hardly think it is fair that the winning team (winning 450 - 120 lets say) should actually be rewarded even further to win so they can make that gap even bigger.
That isn’t balanced, thats awarding the team who got the lucky shot on the bosses, but thats a topic for another day.
What would you nerf and why?
Or would you increase a weapon?
Arena isn’t bad. But the maps are meh, bleh eh and there are weapons that dominate specific maps y’know?