POLL: Best way to balance DMR?

Games Other Halo
1

The fact that the DMR is far superior to the other loadout rifles is pretty much beyond debate.

So what would be the best way to balance it?

  • 6sk. It would still be the dominant weapon at long ranges but inferior at shorter ranges.

  • More bloom. This would reduce effectiveness at long ranges by forcing players to pace their shots more slowly.

  • Lower rate of fire. This would make it less effective at all ranges.

  • Less aim assist and/or bullet magnetism. Kill times would remain the same but more skill would be required.

  • Other. Please explain below.

2

That DMR needs valanced, no doubt.

3

> Less aim assist and/or bullet magnetism. Kill times would remain the same but more skill would be required.

I like the idea of more skill required.

4

The other precision weapons such as the BR (Battle Rifle), the Covenant Carbine, and the Light Rifle could use a damage buff to compete against the DMR.

5

I say the DMR needs a slower RoF.
It was made for longer precision (anti-DMR/-sniper), but it is just too good even in the close to mid range.

A 6sk just sounds silly.
To me, a 5sk BR and the shots to kill on the carbine are even sillier.

6

POLL: Best way to <mark>v</mark>alance DMR?

Dracula?

7

Buff the BR, Carbine, and the LR

BR:

  1. Eliminate Recoil
  2. Eliminate Flinch

LR:

  1. Keep it 5sk (out of scope), but make it 13 bullets to kill not 14

Carbine:

  1. Extend range of aim assist
  2. Make it 7sk
8

> Buff the BR, Carbine, and the LR
>
> BR:
> 1) Eliminate Recoil
> 2) Eliminate Flinch
>
> LR:
> 1) Keep it 5sk (out of scope), but make it 13 bullets to kill not 14
>
> Carbine:
> 1) Extend range of aim assist
> 2) Make it 7sk

What’s easier to fix and less likely to break the overall sandbox?

Nerfing one gun or buffing three?

That said: Reduce the aim assist on the DMR while out of scope. Hell, maybe even trade the BR’s recoil and flinch to the DMR.

9

I voted for a lower rate of fire, but lower aim assist/magnetism would also help. The ROF nerf should match it to the LR so that they compete with each other: the LR is a four-shot non hitscan weapon when scoped, while the DMR remains at five shots with hitscan.

10

> - 6sk. It would still be the dominant weapon at long ranges but inferior at shorter ranges.

So with this the goal is to slow down the kill time

> - More bloom. This would reduce effectiveness at long ranges by forcing players to pace their shots more slowly

This would slow the kill time at long range because players will have to pace their shots at long distances… but it will still be a spam machine that beats the BR at close range… not an effective strategy, bloom is not the answer

> - Lower rate of fire. This would make it less effective at all ranges.

This is the obvious answer. The real question is “how much slower does it need to be?” Currently it Kills about .025 seconds faster than BR. This needs to be changed so that it has the exact same Kill Time or slightly slower. About .015 seconds slower would do nicely, to compensate for the fact it has such far reaching range.

> - Less aim assist and/or bullet magnetism. Kill times would remain the same but more skill would be required.

This is the most misguided of them all. DMR has the lowest amount of Aim Assist. Practically 0 aim assist. That is what gives the BR its “clunky” feel. You can test this in custom games. Point a DMR at a cone. have an enemy player run between you and the cone… DMR hardly moves far from the cone. Same test with the BR. Your reticle, instead of staying on the intended target of the cone-OMG- it practically glues your reticle on the enemy that ran infront of you. That is what Aim Assist is.

This was done to give the BR an advantage over the DMR in close range. However, this only gives the BR an advantage 1v1

HOWEVER: this gives DMR a HUGEEEE advantage 2v2. If 2 DMR’s go against 2 BR at close range… because of aim assist, BR will LOSE against DMR.

This happens because when the to DMR users cross eachothers path, it confuses the BR’s Aim Assist. The BR (like in the cone test) it tries to lock on to the target that moves infront. So when the BR tries to lock on to the new target, it tends to miss a few shots.

Since the DMR has very little Aim Assist, it does not suffer this targeting confusion. The DMR, if the player has even average skill and steady hands… DMR will stay on the INTENDED target and win the 2v2 engagement. All because the BR had more Aim Assist

Conclusion? Reducing Aim Assist for DMR will actually HELP the DMR be more powerful at close range when working with a teammate. However, reducing it’s bullet magnetism will give you the desired result of “making the DMR take more skill to use.”

Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps.

11

> Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps.

Yes, very interesting point about the aim assist. Never realised that

12

Should be balanced by improving other weapons to their proper place.

BR should be 4-shot, a slight RoF decrease may be necessary to balance it being 4-shot, and it should take all 12 bullets of the 4 bursts to kill. 11 to drop shields and final one in the head.

Carbine should either get a damage boost that lets it kill faster than the 4-shot BR (with 7 shots) OR get a damage boost that puts it to a 6-shot kill with equivalent kill time to the BR.

Kill time heirarchy for marksman rifles should look like this:

Scoped Lightrifle > Carbine/BR > BR/Carbine > DMR > Unscoped Lightrifle

No nerf to the DMR is necessary or sensible. What makes a long range rifle Long range is its accuracy and low recoil, not plain dominance. BR and Carbine need buffed, nerfs make the game worse because they make things that work stop working without improving the things that never worked in the first place.

BR and Carbine are effing horrible right now. BR bleeds 2 bullets per kill, has fewer kills per clip than DMR, Carbine has fewer kills per clip than even the BR, which I just said is horrible.

Basically 343 made all the guns worse in Halo 4 (better kill times don’t mean better guns when all guns got similar kill time buffs). They even took a bullet out of the DMR’s clip to keep it from getting 3 kills per clip. They need to fix the BR and the Carbine, no amount of nerfs to the DMR will make those guns good.

13

-remove bloom and bullet magnetism completely
-unscope when shot (every weapon needs this)
That’s it. 100% consistent, pinpoint accurate, and most importantly requires much more skill to achieve the minimum kill time.

14

> > Buff the BR, Carbine, and the LR
> >
> > BR:
> > 1) Eliminate Recoil
> > 2) Eliminate Flinch
> >
> > LR:
> > 1) Keep it 5sk (out of scope), but make it 13 bullets to kill not 14
> >
> > Carbine:
> > 1) Extend range of aim assist
> > 2) Make it 7sk
>
> What’s easier to fix and less likely to break the overall sandbox?
>
> Nerfing one gun or buffing three?
>
> That said: Reduce the aim assist on the DMR while out of scope. Hell, maybe even trade the BR’s recoil and flinch to the DMR.

The BR, LR, and the Carbine all are pretty weak for being rifles tbh.

I don’t care if the DMR is op or not I feel like those rifles need a buff anyway.

But we’re going to nerf the DMR, I’d say lower the rof.

15

Buffing the other rifles will just make everything else useless. The BR and lightrifle only seem underpowered because the DMR is miles ahead of them, in comparison with other weapons they seem pretty fair.

16

> The fact that the DMR is far superior to the other loadout rifles is pretty much beyond debate.
>
> So what would be the best way to balance it?
>
> - 6sk. It would still be the dominant weapon at long ranges but inferior at shorter ranges.
>
> - More bloom. This would reduce effectiveness at long ranges by forcing players to pace their shots more slowly.
>
> - Lower rate of fire. This would make it less effective at all ranges.
>
> - Less aim assist and/or bullet magnetism. Kill times would remain the same but more skill would be required.
>
> - Other. Please explain below.

Possibly a mix of all of those, it needs less aim assist for sure, but also it needs more bloom and a lower rate of fire.

17

> > > Buff the BR, Carbine, and the LR
> > >
> > > BR:
> > > 1) Eliminate Recoil
> > > 2) Eliminate Flinch
> > >
> > > LR:
> > > 1) Keep it 5sk (out of scope), but make it 13 bullets to kill not 14
> > >
> > > Carbine:
> > > 1) Extend range of aim assist
> > > 2) Make it 7sk
> >
> > What’s easier to fix and less likely to break the overall sandbox?
> >
> > Nerfing one gun or buffing three?
> >
> > That said: Reduce the aim assist on the DMR while out of scope. Hell, maybe even trade the BR’s recoil and flinch to the DMR.
>
> The BR, LR, and the Carbine all are pretty weak for being rifles tbh.
>
> I don’t care if the DMR is op or not I feel like those rifles need a buff anyway.
>
> But we’re going to nerf the DMR, I’d say lower the rof.

You guys also all miss the fact that if you buff all of the precision weapons besides the DMR, you are making the automatic weapons worthless and underpowered now. All the guns are balanced except the DMR.

18

Buffing the other rifles would be just silly. DMR is OP, so make other rifles just as OP? The fact that automatic weapons would be worthless doesn’t factor into this logic I assume?

19

Please do not mention bloom. It’s a failed mechanic that only produces random results.

20

Bullet magnetism I think is the killer, shots I don’t even feel I came close to veer off and pop heads

I like the carbine it’s pretty reliable but any buffs would be great.

If they put more bloom I’d hope it would only be when your not scoped, making it less reliable and more likely to take 6-8 shots spammed up close, but similar to the light rifle it would be far superior as a scoped weapon