I’ve played Halo for 20 years now, and the PP has always been an integral part of the Halo sandbox.
It’s always been clear that the weapon is meant to function as a shield -Yoink!- and a support weapon to take down vehicles.
But now the gun is outclassed in every role it’s ever performed by a other weapons, and it doesn’t seem to be trying to create a new role for itself.
It’s lost its anti-vehicle role. It no longer EMP’s or drops the shields of vehicle occupants when used against vehicles.
It’s lost its noob combo role. If someone is aware you’re targeting them, it’s virtually impossible to hit them with an overcharge shot. Unless you’re at point blank range.
It’s outclassed at shield stripping by the disrupter and even the AR. You used to be able to quick fire 3-4 non-charged shots, swap weapons, and finish the kill very quickly. Peppering someone with the AR and then switching to finish a kill is not only as effective as the PP, it’s more consistent too. The disrupter drops shields faster than the PP and it keeps shields from coming back for longer than any other weapon due to its DPS feature.
What the heck is the point of the PP now? It’s far outclassed by the sidekick and disrupter, and has lost the support features it’s had throughout the whole series. It has no purpose right now, and I just don’t understand what 343’s trying to do with this weapon.
I’ve missed enemies who didn’t even see the charge shot coming. The homing function needs a huge boost. I’ve switched over to using the plasma cannon for the new “noob combo” with BR.
So the only purpose I’ve read that seems slightly useful is that the PP still strips the whole OS. But that means an entire weapons only useful function so far is to counter one equipment. This seems like 343 had just barely paid attention to the gun.
I can understand if someone thinks it may have been OP in some past titles, but it’s been nerfed through the ground now
Yeah there was no reason for this to happen. It feels like they hacked the plasma pistol into pieces to create arbitrary niches for both the Disruptor(EMP) and Pulse Carbine(basic shield stripping) rather than creating new ones.
Rather that creating a richer sandbox it just feels thin with 3 weapons doing the job of 1.
No EMP and the plasma pistol doesn’t even do especially good shield damage with normal fire either. The noob combo is its only redeeming trait and its not even that good all things considered.
I don’t think anyone thinks it was ever overpowered. I think it needs a damage boost and an energy/ammo consumption adjustment with increased plasma bolt speeds. Perhaps giving it a splash shield strip effect to affect a group of players close enough to eachother would also be nice. I also wouldn’t mind if it could do heavy damage to vehicles with a charge shot (not too powerful but maybe hydra level damage).
I think giving the plasma pistol its EMP effect back wouldn’t do much, because essentially getting that close to a vehicle would just be suicide.
A buff I thought about a while ago was that it should have an Alt fire mode that regens shields/repairs vehicles, something no other gun does and would just add a lot to the game I feel.
Yeah, it’s really hard to hit a shot with right now and it sucks. It even seemed better right after launch but lately I swear it doesn’t hardly track at all. It’s really frustrating.
In all honesty, I love how they gave TYPES of weapons a role.
Ballistics: Standard issue Jack-of-all-Trades.
Plasma: Highly effective at stripping Shields, weak against flesh.
Electric: Causes DOT, Crowd control and EMP’s vehicles. Low ammo, large ammo usage.
Frankly, there’s still just so much that needs to be balanced.
I think the PP only made a return for legacies sake. It definitely needs a new role, but logically speaking, the PP not having EMP just makes more sense. Of course a lightning based weapon would short circuit a car, plasma is just super heated gas after all.
It’s absolutely a terrible weapon now. It should just go back to how it was in Halo 5 and it would actually be useful and be used again. It needs his EMP charge back and it needs to track a heck of a lot better
This is mostly true, but fails when you’re evaluating the plasma pistol. Like I said in my original post, peppering people with the AR to lower their shield before swapping weapons for a kill is way more reliable than using the Plasma Pistol in the same circumstance.
One of my favorite MP tactics for so many titles was to use the plasma pistol quick fire to rapidly reduce my opponents shield before a headshot. It almost works better than overcharging in a lot of cases. But everytime I try this in Infinite it seems the PP quick fire bolts barely do more shield damage than the sidekick
The new energy / electric base weapons have actually ruined 95% of the entire Halo Sandbox weapons when you compare them to each other.
The new weapons tear through shields, EMP’s vehicles, slow players down, like really, the new weapons / banished energy / electric weapons unbalance the game.
There are hardly any UNSC Weapons, hardly any new covenant weapons but a over abundance of Banished weapons.
I get the banished are a “ NEW “ enemy type, but there sand box just kills multiplayer and I don’t mean dominate, I mean, the weapons are really boring and do more of Area effect damage vs takes skill to use them.
Hop into a vehicle and the disruptor stops you dead in your tracks, if not 95% of the field would have the weapon to EMP you. Vehicles are just pointless and every match Ive been in, no one bothers using them.
I hope once the full game launches, 343 brings back or reveals weapons that they’ve been holding back on and just forcing players to get the feel for how the banished weapons are, at this point, Id rather go back to Halo 5 or the MCC.
Infinite doesnt seem that fun or require any skill to play, I mean, it is a free to play multiplayer, so that alone tells players with a brain, the game doesnt require skill, that and with all the hackers in every match you load up in, the multiplayer just isn’t worth the time. Factor in the pay to look cool… AHEM I mean, pay to customize your character…
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