This is why it’s great to have the utility alongside niche weapons.
If you have a Utility weapon by definition every other weapon has to become niche and that lowers the amount of combat encounter diversity which i find makes playing long sessions feel more samey and tedious.
I am sure some people like to use only the best weapon in the game at all times. You find that in COD where some people only use what is the most OP weapon at that time.
I like variety and am constantly switching weapons and play styles. For Halo to have a Utility Weapon means people like me are always heavily discouraged from having that variety as the Utility Weapon is usually more OP than any given OP weapon in any other FPS game as it has to do more than just be OP, it has to be so good it can always be very useful no matter the circumstance.
Halo multiplayer was never about “variety”, it was about map and item control. Both of which are made far less important when the starting weapon isn’t strong enough to prevent snowballing. Which is exactly what you get when you remove the utility weapon.
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No thats what you got when the devs refused to give you a decent starting weapon in lieu of a Utility weapon.
Snowballing doesn’t occur often in Infinite with AR starts. Thats because for the first time we have a decent AR. Its not a Utility Weapon because outside of mid range (above the SK’s range and below the BR and Commando’s) its never the best weapon for the situation.
Infinite’s AR has a similar number of optimal use cases as the rest of the sandbox and snowballing doesn’t happen like all the Utility Weapon fans predicted it would.
If you play ranked or watch pros play, unless they are going for clips with a certain weapon, they almost always just use a BR because its just so dang useful and good in any situation. It hampers the variety and map movement you would otherwise get.
That’s a problem with the rest of the sandbox, not the BR. How about not filling the sandbox with useless garbage? And the idea that BR starts reduce map movement is laughable, because it does the exact opposite. Spawning with a BR means you have the ability to effectively fight back from any range, which PROMOTES map movement. But what happens when one player gets a ranged weapon in AR start gametypes? You get pinged from range with no means of fighting back, that’s when map movement comes to a crawl.
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Snowballing is what you got in previous games because the only other alternatives were trash weapons that were either useless i.e. the AR as in every single situation there was a better option so it had 0 optimal use cases or it was a super niche SMG that really needed to be dual wielded to be any decent.
There is a 3rd option that until Infinite the devs refused to give us and that was just a decent weapon. Not OP, not trash, just decent.
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Except outside of the sniper you should be able to move from cover to cover using your shields to tank.
Also having a basically infinite range super easy to use hitscan weapon means it is harder to move around the map because at any point everyone on the map can beam you.
So we have 2 problems, the utility weapon cuts against many of Halo’s core design features like i listed and explained above and ranged weapons are too easy to use in Halo.
Please explain how you are supposed to make an entire sandbox that is useful that is also centered around an easy to use purposefully OP weapon?
The only real option is 1 weapon like a plasma pistol and then outside of that there really aren’t many other weapons that makes sense to have in this theoretical sandbox. Even a sniper is basically useless as it heavily overlaps with a BR and the BR can easily descope and kill the sniper user unless the sniper sees the BR user without the BR user seeing the sniper.
Pro Utility Weapon fans claim the problem is with the rest of the sandbox just being useless. How about this: it is litterally impossible to make a diverse and useful sandbox with a Utility Weapon that is eating up all the usefulness thats even possible in a sandbox.
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Simple projectile bullets, lead shots mechanic, low bullet magnetism is a good idea
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If you honestly think a weapon with a minimum time to kill of 1.55 seconds is “op” then I’m not engaging with you further on this topic. Completely meaningless waste of time.
Hmm, that’s not true based on my experience and observation. I’m by no means a “pro” (they’d whup me, no question) but in general it seems as player skill goes up map pickups see more usage. I’d hazard a guess this is because higher skilled players possess greater proficiency with the sandbox. They know when to rely on other weapons and have the means to use them optimally.
Sure, the BR probably sees more play. That’s more because it’s a starter weapon. To some extent it’s also due to it’s versatility. Things like on-demand teamshot considerations.
Well, it depends on how you define “utility weapon”. That word does not mean “always the best”. It means “useful”.
A “utility weapon” should mean useful in many situations. Niche weapons should be better in their niche when used optimally. Yet, the utility weapon can still compete and even out-compete the niche weapon if the player wielding it out-maneuvers or outguns the opponent. At the very least it can have a chance to win the engagement.
This is a good example of my meaning above. The niche or “special” weapon only loses it’s value when it cannot be used optimally. With this comment here you’re saying this should be the expected result. A player picks up a S7, ends up engaged with a BR and is unable to use the S7 properly. Forgive me but it comes off as disingenuous.
The rest of the sandbox isn’t useless though. Generally the stronger niche weapons should be out-competing the BR in their niche. If they do not it’s because the player using them missed too many shots. It’s often mathematically impossible to lose such an engagement otherwise, all else being equal (aka, the BR has a weaker TTK, relatively speaking).
None of this is to say the sandbox is “good”, by the way. In my opinion it features far too many bloomy, spam cannons. There isn’t enough emphasis on “precision” gunplay. It has too many gimmicky weapons. Overall it has not impressed me in Infinite. Despite the number of claims the gameplay/sandbox is generally good.
Granted, I’d also argue the aim mechanics are lackluster. The AA implementation is lackluster. The maps are generally kind of meh. The way ease of use is balanced across the weapons leaves a lot to be desired. The inconsistency introduced by connectivity/desync related problems is at an absolutely unacceptable level. Most of these problem areas are fundamental mechanics. If their quality isn’t up to par the rest is going to follow suit.
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You do realize the only actual inconsistency is on re-scope, right? The BR is still OP if you’re not on the losing end of long range fight.
Your bullets all hit the same mark unless you fire AS you’re scoping in. Lucid demonstrated this in front of his live audience.
The BR isn’t an issue currently aside from this RNG re-scope/scope spray that occurs.
It only applies if you’re rushing to get first shot advantage on someone from afar, your first burst out of the barrel is most likely going to be 1/3 damage dealt because of the spray occuring. Or if you’re a shot down in a long range fight trying to re-scope after being hit and de-scoped. Every time you re-scope if you’re firing as you re-scope your shot is going to be 1/3 damage because 2/3 bullets are missing the mark.
It’s consistent in this, but this in itself is an inconsistency. If that makes sense 
The BR is only bad if you’re being reckless, or losing fightings from a distance.
Take your time and learn to back down from a fight and you’ll avoid this “punishment” while using the BR.
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So my problem is a utility weapon is just too useful. It leaves way less room for usefulness for all the other weapons in the game. In past games especially as the Utility Weapon could even outkill close range weapons at close range.
In all of my experiences if the sniper doesn’t land a headshot on the first shot and gives me a chance to return fire 90% of the time its one of 3 outcomes. The first is the sniper gets beamed to death by my BR and can’t return fire properly due to being deacoped. Second they take cover and hope i leave or die to someone else. They may try to repeak but then it just goes in a loop here. Third and the least recurring outcome is they get lucky and land a body shot while hipfiring the sniper and then finish me with a BR.
That third outcome only happens when the sniper is being used outside of its ideal use case at closer ranges and just turns the sniper into a BR support weapon. This is what i see a lot of pros do and damagers the sniper’s ability to stand on its own. Granted thats because it is being put on maps that are smaller than the ideal space needed to properly use a sniper.
Anyways that was by no means disingenuous. I find the sniper to be one of the least concerning weapons to come up against if I have the Utility Weapon for whatever Halo game i am playing.
Infinite isn’t past games. In Infinite the BR seems closer to a “useful in most situations” role, in my opinion.
Again, it’s a far cry from perfect. Most of that is because the BR plays by different rules. Most weapons have some type of mechanical limitation. Bloom because… RNG is a perfect fit for competitive environments to 343. Ease of use/range limitations. Compare this to a BR where the limiting factor is largely the TTK.
In your defense, if you’re trying to say a “utility weapon” should not be designed to out-compete everything then it’s a fair point.
I said it’s disingenuous because the argument is based on the assumption conditions will be ideal for the BR but sub-optimal for the S7. It’s not really a fair comparison.
That’s exactly the reason I don’t play Slayer anymore after they added BR loadout into it - everyone is basically just camping like a little b**ch (which they are) at the edge of the maps, avoiding direct contact at all cost, and there’s really not much you can do about it because the maps are designed exactly with BR in mind, it’s all just open areas and long hallways, you’re dead waaaaay before you’re able to get anywhere near someone, Bazaar for example is a parody of a competitive gameplay with two teams literally standing in front of each other trying whoever headshots each other first, it’s just pathetic.
AR on the other hand is exactly what forces people to run and gun around the map, which then helps getting all the equipment on the map which then adds variety.
That’s the fault of the maps, not the BR. Literally the worst maps we’ve ever gotten, these maps rival reach in how absolutely terrible they are. The BR worked perfectly fine in H2, where it was far more consistent in being able to damage enemies at range. And with button combos it had a far faster minimum ttk, and still wasn’t an issue in terms of hurting map movement. Make maps that aren’t trash and the BR being “oppressive” becomes a non-issue.
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Why is it always the fault of everything else but the BR? And no Blood Gulch is an awesome map that the BR hurts.
Granted my solution is to not allow most long range precision weapons on maps like Blood Gulch to allow vehicle combat to be the center but still.
Any time there is a map that isn’t mainly a series of short corridors the BR over dominates and prevents movement.
At some point people need to realize that having a weapon that is so OP hurts the gameplay. Halo needs to nerf ranged weapons in general as they are just too easy to use especially on targets as big and slow as spartans.
I’ve made threads about how precision ranged utility weapons are hurting Halo but some fans actively enjoy that they only have to rely on one weapon and can ignore most of Halo’s mechanics and argue against it.
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Bruh you just hate precision starts it’s clearly obvious. Precision weapons are how vehicles don’t ge op in btb.
And you know what! I’m one of those fans! I’m One of MANY. Those who want only close range weapons and other bull need to stop… you probably think halo would be better without Descope
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You keep bringing up how precision weapons and the utility hurt halo and acting as if they’re facts. The fact is the guy who designed the utility was the multiplayer designer for ce the first halo! A utility is better for halo and always has been. The solution is to have niches even if they’re minor. AR for close range+ melee beats the BR a lot of times in h3, but it’s not guaranteed success(hell it’s a strat in infinite) the BR has a long ttk it being easy right now is perfectly fine. It doesn’t have that much range.
We have given quality examples of how we could have a utility and it not be “op” as you claim.
- Slower projectiles(but you’re worried of it feeling weird. Projectiles in apex legends are fast but slow enough that there’s a huge skill gap to aim with guns at range and decently at medium.
- No bullet magnetism or very little. Bullet magnetism is one key reason halo precision/utility is so freaking easy and hurts vehicle play.
- Bullet drop. This would be one of the best mechanics to ensure no cross mapping or at the least is very difficult to achieve.
- Knowing you, you’d spout some bs “tHaT fEel wEiRd fOr hAlO”
Just accept the basic fact us utility/precision start lovers will NEVER agree with you. You list everything we despise and want to take away what makes us love halo! Halos gameplay can’t be found ANYWHERE else. Hell your opinions are Null n voided when your idiotic solution is give our starting weapon bloom, so it’s only good at it’s intended range.
Also before you spout the rhetoric of the 3 shot magnum being last second, it doesn’t matter. Halo was loved because of the utility especially by competitive players
As a controller console player, I felt the impact of the BR nerf. I’m also a right stick heavy aimer. I feel half of the issue is tying aim assist to left stick only instead of balancing the aim assist to both sticks.
Everyone felt the impact, your impact is only signifanct if you’re on the og Xbox one