In the interest of balance and competitive gameplay, the Hammer and Sword are extremely broken on Recharge.
Even with the reduced ammo, the Sword becomes too relevant and common, since it respawns so quickly. One match earlier had 3 active swords in play at the same time, in RANKED. That’s very oof
I’m not sure what would be a good alternative. Maybe nothing honestly, that side of the map is really only relevant to control in objective or grab the sword/hammer. So leaving the platform blank doesn’t really change much about the flow of the map besides refocusing the combat on the spots it would be normally anyway.
An alternative would be to put a tier two weapon rack there maybe. A ravager or hydra would make interesting weapons imo. Very strong but not nearly as overwhelming as the sword. A single mag bulldog or Heatwave wouldn’t be the worst thing you could do.
Either way, I’m strongly opposed to leaving the sword there. So far my friend and I are undefeated and its mostly because in social we spam control the hammer and in ranked we constantly pick up new swords.
So from my experience on the winning side, I think its imbalanced. Especially since one side has a much easier chance of getting it with good movement mechanics.
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The sword is an asinine weapon for 2v2… Why cant it just be like halo 1 and instead have camo and os in different areas of the map and a rocket launcher or sniper (maybe even both on certain maps). The battle for power items in CE is what made 2’s so strategic and helped force map movement.
Also I am so sick of getting Catalyst every other game. It’s the worst doubles map. It needs to be taken out, shrunken down, or have overgrown completely walled off, top bridge widened and doors removed, a third walkway/ ramp connecting OS bridge to the spike nades, and replacing spikes with frags.
If someone says that’s a horrible idea, then you’re not seeing much better it would be and how people would actually utilize the whole map instead of the perimeter and top mid.
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Thank goodness other people see this too, Catalyst is definitely weighted heavier or something. I think I’ve played it at least half the matches of doubles I’ve played so far.
And it of course shows off just how bad the sword situation can get
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should have never been added to any ranked playlist. kinda crazy sword is in the million dollar HCS program when it’s the complete opposite of a competitive weapon.
There’s no weapon drills for sword or hammer btw. It was likely tried out and ended up being too easy.
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It’s possible to get four swords at the same time in ranked Doubles. Like that Zelda game Four Swords Adventures. But that game was fun, and this isn’t fun at all. When my team has two swords and we’re using them wisely, surely the opposite team is frustrated. Also, regarding things like dynamos spawning every 30 seconds… what is stopping me from abusing dynamos? Why is the S7 in social, but not doubles? Why is Catalyst so big?
I remember hearing a certain 343 employee say that the GA (gentleman’s agreement) in the pro community is a byproduct of an internal issue at 343.
What if you just took out the sword and replaced it with the heatwave on every map? Would we be risking breaking the game? What if I told you it was already broken? What if having four heatwaves somehow seems more fun to anyone that can do ballistics in FPS games, than a 2-4 way sword battle does?
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I was really looking forward to ranked doubles, but a team having two swords is killing the mode for me. Zero parity once a team have both power weapons.
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This feels like a Forge gametype gone wrong with weapon spawns broken. There shouldn’t be more than 1 sword on the map. I think this is the first Halo game with multiple swords in competitive play. Why change that now?
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