In campaign, I’m not sure about the shotguns. But Hydra felt kinda weak there though (I played on Heroic).
In mp shotguns are fine. The Hydra, however, I think needs an upgrade. Imo, it should kill an enemy Spartan with 2 direct hits with the direct firing mode and 3 hits with the homing mode. Its current kill time in mp doesn’t really make it worthwhile to pick up in 4v4 modes as even the starting weapons can kill you faster. And in BTB it’s hardly useful against anything else than air vehicles because ground vehicles most of the time have enough cover close by to avoid most or any hits from it.
The shotgun is not fine it’s damage sucks and it’s ammo count sucks I hope the flood don’t return if this is the piece of crap we’re going to be stuck with
I actually edited my comment before you replied as it was badly organized/worded lol. I meant to say that it’s fine in mp but I’m not sure about campaign. But I do remember not getting very much advantage from the Hydra.
Hydra is fine as is imo. Maybe slightly bigger splash to make it more effective vs spartans.
Any other changes (like damage or fire rate) might make it too annoying for vehicles as it’s already pretty strong against them.
Bulldog is fine, but 7 shots per mag seems wrong. Should be 8.
I’m gonna disagree with you here on the hydra. I really like how the hydra fired and tracked in 5. It was a useful tool and often a go too in certain BTB maps. The upgraded variant was a beast, it’s rate of fire was almost too good. But it was useful that you could shoot around corners of you locked on and I feel like I lose my lock too easy in infinite when trying to do this. If they took the base 5 hydra you’d see more play.
They definitely both need a slight buff to make them enjoyable. They were nerfed to be this way, they were fun in the flight, but 343 stopped prioritizing fun.
The Bulldog is fine as is… Hmm. It needs to be distinct enough from a potential return of the M series, tactical shotguns, aka shell loading ones.
Bulldog is a semi auto, drum shotgun. So yes lower amount of pellets and dmg pr pellet, less spread, longer reload due to loading all shells at once.
The M series tactical shotguns should be the opposite. Higher spread, more dmg pr pellet and more pellets.
Shorter reload due to shell by shell loading.
THERE. Is it so hard to balance it 343, fellow fans? No I dont think so. Stop wishing death upon new and returning weapons becasue it touches your comfort zone and want YOUR weapon to be all.
Let us have content flights, separate test playlists for new and returning weapons so they can with balance yet retaining unique aspects be VIABLE in both Social, Ranked and Competive.
I feel alone in this opinion, but here we are.
Bulldog has a really consistent short to mid range performance and TTK (0.65s, two shot for Bulldog), Hydra only takes 3 missiles. Legit, just learn to lead your shots, it is an honestly devastating weapon.
Bulldog is fine.
But hydra is a mess. It misses a wasp, even when i shot 4 locked round.
Even the standard hydra of H5 was much better than this version of the hydra
I love the Bulldog myself. I feel more in tune with its gunfighty nature whereas in previous Halo games I never quite got the handling of the shotguns in them.
The Hydra is a rather decent option against vehicles but it could maybe use a little bit more to be more effective against Spartans than it currently is. Maybe 2 direct hits instead of 3 in its dumbfire mode to kill someone in multiplayer. Maybe an increase in its splash damage. Otherwise though, I think both weapons are fine.
In campaign I’d never use either by choice. The hydra is terrible against infantry and there are often so many explosive cores lying around to throw that do the job way better. I’d rather just have a rocket or a cindershot. The convergence bulldog is actually pretty slick, but it’s not something I’d take over a solid power weapon (I tend to stick with BR/upgraded rockets from the FOB).
In MP I find hydra suffers the exact same issues. Against infantry its trash, requiring body hits to have any effective outcome and in a range where that’d feasible the other guy will likely just melt you with his AR or sidekick. I do like it for its antivehicle application, but I feel it’s tracking needs a little bit of love. For the bulldog, I’ll take it if I come across it but I never find myself looking for it. I think the issue there is less about the bulldog being too weak but the AR/sidekick is just a really effective kit in the same range. That said and if I’m being completely fair, I do need to just get a bit better with the bulldog, as triple taps are hit and miss for me and I’ve never gotten a successful double tap kill.