Halo 5 has issues, bros. This is to be expected, its the beta. These are things I feel are hurting Halo 5 right now.
1.) The most important thing to me right now is the AR’s lack of usefulness. Coupled with its short range, it barely holds up against a properly used BR up close, and still has a run for its money against a improper BR as well. I can’t even count the number of times I unloaded on someone who had a BR only for him to turn around, drop three shots and then die leaving me more or less naked. With no shields left to cover my scrawny -Yoink-, all I can do is run. This shouldn’t happen at close range. Not with a AR and most certainly not against a BR. If the AR wants to work against a BR, DMR or Sniper, it must get reeeeal close in order to peg that rifle with all the shots it can BUT NOT TOO CLOSE. If the AR gets TOO close, it will get melee’d and then take a bullet to its sorry brain without ever actually making a dent. In this instance, anything with the ability to deliver a head shot is godlike at close range. I need to clear out a tight area and have no grenades? AR? SMG? Pssh, gimme a magnum (or anything else capable of delivering a head shot). I’ll just go punch a sorry -Yoink- and pop him once. Assuming he didn’t do the same to me, I should walk out of there with at least half shields, something I couldn’t imagine doing with the current AR. As it is, the AR has achieved the not-so-honorary role of SIDEARM. People have no issue packing a BR at all ranges because I packs a punch and is just better at everything, even point blank engagements, which is backwards considering its a long range rifle. (Many people would complain, but I see no reason the AR is incapable of delivering headshots, automatic or semiautomatic be -Yoink!-. if nothing else, give us headshots within a certain range. This game is too fast to force us to hold down the trigger for a long time.)
2.) A bunch of Spartan abilities are useless. Dont get me wrong, they have potential. I can see it, but as they are now, I steer clear of anything that isn’t thruster pack, smart link or clamber.
A.) Slide is fancy, but the lack of cover and fact that I must be sprinting at top speed before I can do it just forces players to NEVER touch that crouch button during sprint. If there were more things that a crouching spartan could hide behind, this would see much more play.
B.) I play fighting games a ton. One thing that can turn the tides of a fight is the start up and recovery animations of a missed heavy attack. It leaves you defenseless against any form of counter attack that you might take as you launch the attack or recover to a neutral stance. Thats the issue currently plaguing both the Shoulder Charge and Ground and Pound. Both of these moves take too long to start up. Shoulder charge requires you to “charge” up and accelerate before use, and ground and pound has that long aiming period. In both of these, a shooter could take out the user before they even start the actual attack. If they attack and miss? They are now right next to a enemy who could very well be behind them and kill them with a single punch, this normally wouldn’t be an issue, but the time it takes to recover is SO LONG. Seriously, this game is a super fast version of Halo. In the time I spent starting up and recovering, my opponent could easily have enough time to kill even the most skilled pro. (It also doesn’t help that the Shoulder Charge doesn’t at least kill on contact. You actually set yourself up to die, because all your opponent has to do is melee you at the same time then shoot once while you are still recovering)
3.) Grenades are too stronk. In past halos, I could look down and drop a nade right on my feet, let it blow and I still have no damage to my person. The game was balanced with this idea in mind. I was never intended to break anything more than the shields. Nowadays, the go to strat is to lop grenades every chance you get. They now do enough damage to clear your shields and chunk off half your health. A second just love tapping you will kill you on the spot, if if it doesn’t, then the on coming attack will. A possible solution would be to make grenades pick up only. Giving everyone a nade or two on spawn means there are 8 to 16 of these mini nukes flying around at all times. Forcing them to pick the damn things up would slow down the popping.
4.) Hit markers. I can’t stand this, actually. This, coupled with the grenades, means you don’t even have to see your target get hit to know that you are now clear to raid. the nades to a excessive amount of damage, so if I get hit by them, the last thing I want is my opponent getting a go ahead on a free kill. Just remove em.
5.) Shields don’t even lift. They are so tiny! Give them a damn sandwich already. I get you are after a faster game, but you can do this without making us timid mouses rather than seemingly terrifying invincible spartans.
6.) Lastly, give us the option to fully customize our controls. This should have been implemented as far back as Halo 3, but I can’t stand being forced to any particular preset.
Give love to us close range fighters! We wanna be useful while playing the way we want!