Still no love for the Assault Rifle.

Games Other Halo
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I made a point on this topic several months back, hoping that others agreed with my views on the redundancy of certain classes of weapons on Reach. Specifically, the Automatic weapons. These guns are pretty effective in game modes such as Rumple Pit or Invasion. But everywhere else, they are simply dominated by Precision weapons on every front, close, mid and long range.

Now, I know that Precision weapons should get the upper hand at long or medium range, but at close range, the Automatic weapons really should be triumphant. However, the DMR or Needle Rifle can easily kill an Assault Rifle-wielding Spartan with ease. The same goes for the Pistol, which further breaks the balance of Automatic weapons. This weapon is a 5 shot kill and has a relatively high rate of fire. What was supposed to be the backup of the main weapon has become the main weapon, with the Assault Rifle as the useless backup.

Now, with the Title Update, the problems are intensified massively, with lowered bloom allowing for more trigger-spamming, and allowing the DMR to complete kill off the Assault Rifle without batting an eyelid. The DMR, at medium and long range, needed either timed shots of pure luck spamming to kill a person. Now, the DMR or Needle (Needle Rifle especially) can just kill at any range with such immense lack of difficulty it’s unreal. I thought that when I saw the title saying ‘no bloom’ my first words (to a friend in my party) were ‘Get me an Assault Rifle!’ he then told me that only the superior weapons got the upgrade, and that the Assault Rifle was not even worth using. Why? The Assault Rifle definatly needed that! Why just eliminate a class of weapon all together? Other Halo games had a balance, a rock paper scissors type of gameplay. But now it’s simply Precision, Power, Precision, power. Personally, I would hate for the Title update to go on all game modes, as it does just destroy the near-perfect aesthetic of: Automatic at close beats Precision at close which beats Power at distance which beats Automatic at mid-range.

I simply wish for the Title update to apply for the Automatic weapons, so they don’t lose out on the carnage.

this thread also applies to the Plasma Repeater.

Thanks for reading!

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You now don’t have to drop shields to get a melee kill with an auto weapon though, thus buffing it drastically in CQC.

And every game since H2 the AR was useless, this is nothing new. If using an AR is so important to you, you may want to try out CoD to get your AR fix there. I am not trying to be a jerk, I am just saying that I don’t see an AR buff in the future plans of Halo. Even if they did buff the bullet damage, that would only make it easier to use and more annoying, negating the fact that a DMR user may have a lot more skill (the “Better person not always coming out on top” because the main gripe people have with Reach). Then if they buffed the bullet damage but reduced the bullet magnetism to compensate, it would make it so that those who lack skill would have nothing to get kills with, thus frustrating the lower-skilled section of the community. Yes it would give the AR more of a skill gap, and thus make it more useful, but it still would never be as utilitarian as the DMR.

Also, don’t confuse correlation with causation; better players prefer the DMR because it is a better utility weapon. People who suck with the AR are going to suck just as much if not worse with the DMR; yet a DMR user who comes out on top will still come on top using an AR, maybe not by as much due to the low skill gap of the AR currently, but it still rings true.

This isn’t like Akimbo FMG’s or the Striker of MW3 (If you haven’t played it; you don’t even have to aim you will win against practically any other weapon CQC)

I hate to say it but I honestly don’t see your dream ever coming true, especially with 343 leaning in the direction of increasing the skill gap. Like I said, if you really need an AR fix, play some CoD, otherwise you’re just going to have to suck it up and use the DMR. Sorry bud :(.

But I actually think you may find some enjoyment in precision weapons if you give them a chance; I know I do. Even in MLG settings at the “core” of Halo, lots of people have lots of fun. It’s just discovering the deep crevices in the knowledge of precision weapons that make you appreciate them.