I myself have been fairly satisfied with my halo 4 experience. When I play, I am able to have fun with my friends and when I want to I can put my game face on and do generally good. That’s not to say that I haven’t run into some things that I haven’t found less than pleasing. What I want to try and do here is weigh positives against negatives, and maybe post some ideas for how I think things could be done better. I figure we’ll kick this off with a big one.
Weapon Balance
Overall weapon balance is probably the best out of any halo game, and I feel very comfortable in saying this. Every weapon plays well in its niche, and soundly bests weapons outside of their respective niche as far as the numbers are concerned. Exceptions do exist, but are related to either weapon strength (no-scopes in CQC) or individual play variance (spot on auto vs squirrelly ranged and vice versa). The latter is more noticeable than in the past due to the general buff that the automatic weapons have received. That’s not to say that there aren’t exceptions, such as the boltshot, but 343 addressed this specifically and had made the tools with which to continue to work with the weapon balance overall.
The balance within the ranged rifles is one of the things that can be brought into question. It seems to me (and from what I’ve seen here to a lot of other people) that there are two tiers within this particular niche, being the DMR and everything else. Though the actual differences may be relatively slight, the impact of these differences has resulted in the DMR being given an edge in effectiveness over the other rifles, so far as to dominate them in each of their ideal ranges. A rifle that is statistically at the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the carbine, which has a slower kill time with the highest margin of error due to its significantly quicker fire rate coupled with a lower damage per shot ratio. As I’ve said many times before, the carbine fired perfectly doesn’t hold a candle to a perfect DMR, something I know from lots of experience with it. From what I’ve experienced I think the BR may be in the same boat head to head, but I couldn’t say for sure. If so, it’s not quite to the same degree. The light rifle functions very well within the sandbox and its versatility is unquestionably useful. However, it is not quite as easy to use in its zoomed mode, which is a good trade off in my opinion. I don’t feel that it’s powerful zoom mode negatively effects the balance of the sandbox.
Loadouts
Initially I wasn’t too sure about how I would like this, but I can say that for the most part I am pleased with how it turned out. It’s nice to be able to tailor a class to how I like to play, but a downside I have noticed is that if nobody else likes the stuff I like to use, I get the -Yoink- end of the stick and have to hunt around for another weapon, which isn’t always around because of how quickly people’s stuff despawns, coupled with the lack of map spawn loadout tier weapons. Even with the ammo support upgrade i sometimes find myself in this situation. I’ll address my idea for a fix to that in the ordinance section. Other than that I really have no issue here. I feel that the armor mods were a generally smooth addition to halo, and custom options exist to tailor a more specific experience with or without them, making liking them or not really not that much of an issue in my opinion, though I can understand a desire for a more vanilla playlist option.
Mobility
Player mobility is something I honestly don’t feel is an issue for halo 4. Unlike Reach, you aren’t stuck either picking mobility with sprint or an armor ability at the cost of speed and potentially access to power weapons, because its default for everyone. Even without it you are able to move at a relatively good pace, though given the choice i would rather be able to sprint across large open areas. The armor abilities that do effect mobility in other ways do not do so in a way that drastically alters the situation. even though I do the the jet pack ever so much, I can’t knock anyone for using it in reality, and it no longer sends you rocketing up into the stratosphere if you feather it just right. Needler still chews it up too so it’s definitely not without drawbacks. Thruster pack is useful as well. I personally feel the multiplayer thruster pack should be the strength of the campaign thruster pack, but that’s just my opinion. The option to remove or add sprint to create a unique experience should be there as well. Also, one very subtle change that has actually been really useful to me is the audibility of a moving spartan this time around. I’ve often gotten the jump on someone looking for me because I could hear them stomping around, occasionally netting an assassination out of it. Comes in handy without radar.
Gametypes
This is one of the facets of the fame that I feel is lacking and should definitely be addressed. I myself find that I generally agree with a good chunk of the OP’s opinion in the big custom games option thread. I get the feeling that 343 is taking their time to try and ensure things go smoothly with major issues ( i.e. CSR, “weapon knobs” instead of just a T.U. for weapons) but the side effect is frustration on the part of the community with the big issues that haven’t been fully addressed yet and the finer details that come with it. To me, wether or not it should have been on disc in the first place no longer matters, its about getting the gears moving to get it out there functioning as soon as possible.
Personal/Map Ordinance
This one is a big issue for a lot of people, and while I can’t say I don’t like its current utilization, it could be done better. One issue I didn’t realize I had with it until the GDC, but in hindsight can make a connection to is the abundance of power weapons. Take the map meltdown for example. The gunplay on that map is actually good, and it flows well. I swear though it always seems like at least two people have the fricken incineration cannon, and someone has a binary rifle. This turns the hot spot in the bottom middle into a fricken death trap. I believe power weapons should not be available with the first ordinance drop. Instead, the initial ordinance you receive should supply you with the tools to reach that power weapon drop. Instead of power weapon/grenade/power up, the first loadout should be primary weapon/grenade/ammo drop(won’t work on power weapons). this would facilitate the player reaching that next ord drop to get the bigger toys. However, I also feel deaths should take away from the ordinance bar a little bit, to encourage people to survive. Not a lot, maybe 5 points against the 10 you earn for a kill. This should be customizable I think. Also, there needs to be more map ordinance, but not power weapons. Loadout weapons need to either be map ordinance drops or spawn on the map old school style. Like I said in the loadout section, it really bites when I’m rolling with a weapon nobody else uses, or even one some are using, but nobody nearby that has died and not being able to find ammo or a suitable replacement. Map spawn basic weapons need to be available for resupplying what you currently have. Couple this with the first ordinance drop you earn being of similar purpose and I think the playing experience will be more convenient for all players.