Luck vs Skill mechanics

Games Halo Infinite
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I’ve seen a lot of people saying that the BR feels really, really good in Halo Infinite, but the rest of the weapons feel “off”.

The aiming issues on controller surely have an impact on this, but that would affect BR feel too right? Well, it’s more than that. Bloom mechanics have regressed.

Here are some videos to support this:
RNG Reticle Bloom is BACK!


All the weapons in Halo Infinite feel off… should we be worried?

Bloom randomness
https://youtu.be/TLVvktmD2iw?t=211

So the thought behind the BR feeling better in this game is that it has a predictable spread. Where you aim is where your bullets go. Comparing that to other precision weapons like the Sidekick and the Commando, these guns have randomly generated spread.

I’m sure the 343i response to this would be something like “pace your shots” or “controlling bloom adds a skill gap layer”. That’s great on paper and in theory, but in reality, you get players that spam the Sidekick trigger as fast as possible and hope for the kill. If you find yourself in a 1v1 Sidekick dual, the player who paces their shots to aim accurately will lose that battle more often than not. In an ideal state, placing accurately timed shots should win the battle damn near as close to 100% of the time as possible.

The most frustrating part about this is that this is the same conversation that was discussed ad nauseam back in 2010 with Halo Reach bloom mechanics. I cannot believe we’re having this conversation again. The random number generated bloom mechanics were designed to increase skill gap, but in practice just added a luck mechanic. Even more frustrating, this was the first thing 343i fixed in Reach when they took the Halo reins from Bungie! They addressed it as an issue, tested it in Reach with playlists, got player feedback, and made the Title Update. Now with Halo Infinite, we’re back at square 1… why?

If 343i is going to stand by this decision, I challenge them to come out and explain to us how these mechanics reward skilled players vs players who spam shots. I’m not seeing it in practice and I’d love some clarification on why they went backward on this.

On a positive note: 343i nailed the BR in this game.

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It doesn’t really help this guy’s case when he’s talking about reticule bloom and starts off by showing clips of gun recoil. I’m not going to bother with the rest of the video.

Bloom done well is good, bloom done poorly is bad. It’s not inherently a bad thing to include in a game provided it is implemented in an appropriate way.

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> 2533274801036271;2:
> Bloom done well is good, bloom done poorly is bad. It’s not inherently a bad thing to include in a game provided it is implemented in an appropriate way.

What do you define as “Bloom done well”? Do you think that 343i implemented bloom in Halo Infinite in a good way?

Is there an appropriate implementation of Bloom that eliminates luck and rewards pacing shots?

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The BR also has much more aim assist than the other weapons. On controller it’s an absolute chore to get a competitive killtime on the Sidekick. The Commando is a bit more reliable but only when you’re at the perfect range for it too close or far and you’ll be aiming a perfectly shaped Spartan silhouette of bullet holes in the wall behind the enemy. But the BR? That things easily the second-stickiest weapon in the game next to the AR. Which gives it that classic “ole reliable” feeling.

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> >
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> What do you define as “Bloom done well”? Do you think that 343i implemented bloom in Halo Infinite in a good way?
>
> Is there an appropriate implementation of Bloom that eliminates luck and rewards pacing shots?

Kind of yeah, because the Sidekick suffers massively from bloom at a distance and barely at close range.

This stops weapon being good at long range, without bloom you could nail people at long range. On controller RRR helps with that, but on keyboard and mouse it would tear you up.

So I think they’ve done it to make the precision weapons more balanced and forces them to be utilised at a certain range. It’s finally made it so the AR can outperform a precision weapon.

In Reach the bloom range was so large you couldn’t centre mass spam someone so it became completely random.

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> 2533274801036271;5:
> > 2533274864008327;3:
> > > 2533274801036271;2:
> > >
> >
> > What do you define as “Bloom done well”? Do you think that 343i implemented bloom in Halo Infinite in a good way?
> >
> > Is there an appropriate implementation of Bloom that eliminates luck and rewards pacing shots?
>
> Kind of yeah, because the Sidekick suffers massively from bloom at a distance and barely at close range.
>
> This stops people he gun being good at long range, without bloom you could nail people at long range. On controller RRR helps with that, but on keyboard and mouse it would tear you up.
>
> So I think they’ve done it to make the precision weapons more balanced and forces them to be utilised at a certain range. It’s finally made it so the AR can outperform a precision weapon.
>
> In Reach the bloom range was so large you couldn’t centre mass spam someone so it became completely random.

In my opinion, Bloom isn’t there to make you pace your shots at all in Infinite. It’s there to keep the Sidekick and Commando from playing outside their sandbox. Since M&K doesn’t rely on red reticle/aim assist to land hits consistently with these weapons Bloom is literally the only thing preventing them from absolutely laser beaming you across the map with them.

That’s why the Bloom is tight, so that when you’re actually using them at their intended range you can just let loose on the trigger and the shots will hit just fine.

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> > 2533274801036271;5:
> > > 2533274864008327;3:
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> > > >
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> In my opinion, Bloom isn’t there to make you pace your shots at all in Infinite. It’s there to keep the Sidekick and Commando from playing outside their sandbox. Since M&K doesn’t rely on red reticle/aim assist to land hits consistently with these weapons Bloom is literally the only thing preventing them from absolutely laser beaming you across the map with them.
>
> That’s why the Bloom is tight, so that when you’re actually using them at their intended range you can just let loose on the trigger and the shots will hit just fine.

Yeah that’s exactly why, and what I’d say is an example of bloom done well as it’s not there to slow you down or create random gameplay but to make the weapon sandbox work much better.