From the podcast “…we dont want one god tier weapon. Its all about how you play and which loadout you pick, each weapon has its niche.” Words to that effect.
What do we think about that? I think thank god, were actually gonna get a sandbox this time.
Halo has and always will have a utility weapon. It’s an integral part of Halo’s balance.
Rest assured, the DMR and BR will fill the utility weapon role very nicely.
Sounds good.
Sandbox was a joke. That’s coming from a BR/DMR user. Though Its really going to be up to me in my skill range to determine my outcomes in the end
I am quite excited about it. 
And I like how you get to choose what weapon you start with. It’s ok because everyone else has the opportunity to get the weapon you have by picking it up off the spawn, and there’s balance as a result of that rock, paper, scissors effect. I like to think of it as a “checks and balances” system.
> From the podcast “…we dont want one god tier weapon. Its all about how you play and which loadout you pick, each weapon has its niche.” Words to that effect.
>
> What do we think about that? I think thank god, were actually gonna get a sandbox this time.
It really sounds like they have focused on the MP sandbox this time. I am really excited to see how it plays. They said pointedly that they were looking at what worked in H1 and H3 frequently when dealing with MP. And focused on making All the maps playable for many game types. That will help a lot to reduce repetition.
They pretty much clearly said one weapon will lose to the other and the opposing weapon’s role.
Now I can close quarters like I love to do with an AR. Like a champ.
> Halo has and always will have a utility weapon. It’s an integral part of Halo’s balance.
>
> Rest assured, the DMR and BR will fill the utility weapon role very nicely.
Thats fine. As long as neither of them make the rest of the sandbox pointless, like lots of people want.
If there is a utility weapon, it should be like Reaches utility weapon which was meant to be the magnum.
Sounds good to me. I don’t have a problem with having an actual sandbox that most if not all of it’s weapons are viable to casual-competitive play. Unlike the last 10 years.
Loadouts will give us our preferences sans the possible imbalances that it may or may not bring. I’ll literally stick to my guns and go with BR (tired of the DMR to be honest) in any case, may try the other weapons for the lulz/experimentation.
> Halo has and always will have a utility weapon. It’s an integral part of Halo’s balance.
>
> Rest assured, the DMR and BR will fill the utility weapon role very nicely.
Hopefully.
They always say that. Head shot weapons still dominate due to their ability to kill unshielded opponents instantly.
> They pretty much clearly said one weapon will lose to the other and the opposing weapon’s role.
>
>
> Now I can close quarters like I love to do with an AR. Like a champ.
Oh god the rage when the BR consistently loses to the AR inside 10 feet.
Get the buckets ready to collect the delicious tears =)
Utility weapon doesn’t imply a “one gun rules them all” mentality. A utility weapon is simply one that gives players a weapon that is at least viable at all ranges. The problem in Halo’s 2-Reach is that the utility weapon became incredibly easy to use, making it a dominant weapon. Hopefully with the addition of recoil and a “beefier” sandbox, the utility weapon will be a difficult and skillful weapon to use, while also providing more balance to the sandbox.
I’m a bit worried they haven’t talked about the plasma repeater yet; I like it several times more than the AR at close-ish range.
> Utility weapon doesn’t imply a “one gun rules them all” mentality. A utility weapon is simply one that gives players a weapon that is at least viable at all ranges. The problem in Halo’s 2-Reach is that the utility weapon became incredibly easy to use, making it a dominant weapon. Hopefully with the addition of recoil and a “beefier” sandbox, the utility weapon will be a difficult and skillful weapon to use, while also providing more balance to the sandbox.
Reach’s ZB DMR was the one that actually destroyed the sandbox. Other than that, the 85% bloom DMR and default DMR worked fine.
> They always say that. Head shot weapons still dominate due to their ability to kill unshielded opponents instantly.
If the DMR sucks at close quarters then I’m all for it
> > Utility weapon doesn’t imply a “one gun rules them all” mentality. A utility weapon is simply one that gives players a weapon that is at least viable at all ranges. The problem in Halo’s 2-Reach is that the utility weapon became incredibly easy to use, making it a dominant weapon. Hopefully with the addition of recoil and a “beefier” sandbox, the utility weapon will be a difficult and skillful weapon to use, while also providing more balance to the sandbox.
>
> Reach’s ZB DMR was the one that actually destroyed the sandbox. Other than that, the 85% bloom DMR and default DMR worked fine.
Meh, even before the TU, the sandbox was incredibly weak compared to the DMR.
Yes, this is what a lot of Halo players want. But guess what, it won’t happen. One weapon will be OP and stronger at each range then the majority of other weapons at their intended range. The second people discover this the second they’ll start to defend it with the cries of, “Only pros use it!” and such in a desperate attempt to keep their OP weapon. Which they will most likely get to keep since any kind of update costs $40,000 from their pockets that they’ll be reluctant to spend.
They said the same thing with Halo2, Halo3, and Reach. Every company says this about every new game. The only games that can keep that promise are PC exclusives because it’s much easier and cheaper to patch.
The ONLY way a console game can keep this promise is if they have in-game options to alter the damage, range, ammo, etc. overall attributes of each individuel weapon that they can also change on their servers.
A sandbox where each gun matters? Sounds epic. I’m just wondering if 343i can pull it off…
@Neo: Indeed. A comprehensive set of alterable-after-release stats for weapons would be immensely useful for correcting sandbox issues.
> Utility weapon doesn’t imply a “one gun rules them all” mentality. A utility weapon is simply one that gives players a weapon that is at least viable at all ranges. The problem in Halo’s 2-Reach is that the utility weapon became incredibly easy to use, making it a dominant weapon. Hopefully with the addition of recoil and a “beefier” sandbox, the utility weapon will be a difficult and skillful weapon to use, while also providing more balance to the sandbox.
“utility weapon” has long become a synonym for “one gun to rule them all” Thats what i meant by the title of this thread.
Thankfully it looks like theyre making big efforts to end that. I think we all just want a decent variety sandbox really, one way or another.
> > Utility weapon doesn’t imply a “one gun rules them all” mentality. A utility weapon is simply one that gives players a weapon that is at least viable at all ranges. The problem in Halo’s 2-Reach is that the utility weapon became incredibly easy to use, making it a dominant weapon. Hopefully with the addition of recoil and a “beefier” sandbox, the utility weapon will be a difficult and skillful weapon to use, while also providing more balance to the sandbox.
>
> “utility weapon” has long become a synonym for “one gun to rule them all” Thats what i meant by the title of this thread.
>
> Thankfully it looks like theyre making big efforts to end that. I think we all just want a decent variety sandbox really, one way or another.
Well, they said they looked to Halo 1 for weapon balance, so hopefully people will actually use the Plasma Rifle and company in this game.