I know bloom isn’t in “Classic,” but that’s not enough. I haven’t even seen any options for “zero bloom” in the other playlists yet.
EDIT: I felt the need to further explain my point of view after reading initial responses to my original post:
It is true that bloom was intended to be a visual representation of bullet spread in Halo: Reach, but having a “visual representation of bullet spread” still averagely makes people’s aiming approximations less accurate because the circumference of the reticle becomes larger. This leads to over compensation in aim movement and often missing your target. Also, bloom in Reach expands at a more rapid rate than Halo CE and Halo 2’s bullet spread. This, of coarse, leads to even less accuracy.
By “visualizing bullet spread” with bloom, Reach is adding an unnecessary level of difficulty and constantly reminding players that there is a random element to their shots no matter how skilled they are. Yes, Halo games have always had bullet spread and should continue to. However, there is an positive element of “placebo effect” involved in keeping bullet spread “behind the scenes” to make players feel like their skill is ultimately the deciding factor of encounter outcomes. I don’t know about you, but mindset usually plays a big factor in my multiplayer performance.
All that said, I was okay with “feeling less accurate” in Reach’s campaign because you play as a Spartan III. They do not have the same “neural enhancements” or armor capabilities as Spartan II’s, so they are less accurate. Having bloom as a visual effect in Reach’s campaign helped me feel less powerful than Master Chief, which is what Bungie wanted.
My acceptance for bloom even extended into the multiplayer spectrum, as I am open to trying out “tweaks on the classic formula.” However, 343 made quite a point of letting us longtime fans know that there would be a myriad of options in both individual gametypes and whole playlists in the Anniversary Playlists to make Reach’s multiplayer “feel more classic” in an attempt to better match the multilayer gameplay with the rest of the CEA package and the original Halo: CE multiplayer experience. For me, part of that “classic Halo experience” is stationary reticules and reduced bullet spread. These are basic mechanics and HUD visualizations. To my knowledge, only one of the four non-Firefight playlist’s in the Anniversary Playlists offers any “Zero Bloom.” This is simply not enough.
Despite this thread’s title, I am not saying bloom should be removed entirely from the Anniversary Playlists. It is still a part of Reach’s multiplayer and I respect that. In hindsight I should have chosen a different thread title. What I am saying is that I should at least be able to vote for Zero Bloom matches often in the other playlists, because these maps and playlists are what we got instead of a fully retextured, XBL-enabled Halo CE multiplayer. I understand why 343 didn’t do that and agree with their reasoning (time, money, splintering Reach’s multiplayer population, “it wouldn’t be as fun as you remember it,” having to deal with net-code, etc.) I felt good about what they said the Anniversary Playlists would be like, but so far it feels mostly like a new map pack for Reach and we were promised a bit more than that.
As far as the “just adapt” responses go, I have “adapted.” I have played and enjoyed Halo: Reach for over a year, but Halo: CEA is not a celebration of Halo: Reach’s mechanics. Halo: CEA is intended to be a celebration of the original game and that should be reflected to a greater extent in the online multiplayer aspect of it. I’m not asking for much, just more Zero Bloom gametypes and (possibly) reduced bullet spread in the Anniversary Playlists.
For the record, I’m happy with Halo: CEA. I’m not angry and will continue to play the playlists if nothing changes. It’s just annoying to have so much bloom in the Anniversary Playlists and I know I’m not alone in thinking that.