Once you get past the awesomeness of there not being any bloom, ZB gametypes are completely broken. 343 failed to realize the fact that bungie made the game to revolve around bloom. When you take bloom off without adjusting other settings you break the game.
The DMR has too much range on it. It is just too easy to shoot from across even the biggest of maps. The slow movement speeds don’t allow for evasion of bullets. The maps aren’t set up for zero bloom. There is not enough cover on many of the maps and the players at high points dominate the map. I never even see who is shooting me on ZB gametypes. 343 should honestly give up on this game and full force on to halo 4. This game is just not fixable with the little amount of work 343 can put towards it.
I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the ZB Slayer game I played yesterday. I don’t recall the last time I had so much fun while playing Halo and that’s saying something since prior to now I have loved bloom.
I honestly think ZB is perfect. Have not had any problems. Try MLG with its 120 speed you might like it better.
no bloom is fine, the issue mainly is bleed through.
You can’t dodge bullets. How is it fine? You never see the person that is killing you either. Maybe if they upped the movement speed it would be playable. I think the most important thing is the distance of the DMR. Its range is too damn far.
> ZB gametypes are completely broken. 343 failed to realize the fact that bungie made the game to revolve around bloom. When you take bloom off without adjusting other settings you break the game.
Is this a test?
343i stated that ZB is for single-weapon start/niche game-play only. 85% was the “tweaked” list.
Are you trying to incite factoid wars?
Requesting an increase to movement speed is one thing. This topic is another (can’t dodge hitscan bullets, you can with projectile).
My personal preference is 85% bloom. I played a lot of zb DMRs with no magnums in customs and it was great. I havent played a match of ZB with DMRs and ARs yet but I bet its the same as ZB with only DMRs.
The kill times are too fast for me in ZB though to truly like and play it.
I believe kill times should be around 2.5s (85% is 2.3 I think)
and in zb its like 1.5s.
(If someone can confirm those times with an online vid that’d be nice)
My main issue is the accuracy of the DMR.
It makes turning on a bk so much easier but at the same time it lessens the fights of skilled players to “who took the first shot”, which I guess could be considered maneuvering, but I turn on good kids in 85% squads all day long.
> You can’t dodge bullets. How is it fine? You never see the person that is killing you either. Maybe if they upped the movement speed it would be playable. I think the most important thing is the distance of the DMR. Its range is too damn far.
If you are “the one” you don’t have to dodge bullets.
> My personal preference is 85% bloom. I played a lot of zb DMRs with no magnums in customs and it was great. I havent played a match of ZB with DMRs and ARs yet but I bet its the same as ZB with only DMRs.
>
> The kill times are too fast for me in ZB though to truly like and play it.
>
> I believe kill times should be around 2.5s (85% is 2.3 I think)
> and in zb its like 1.5s.
>
> (If someone can confirm those times with an online vid that’d be nice)
>
> My main issue is the accuracy of the DMR.
> It makes turning on a bk so much easier but at the same time it lessens the fights of skilled players to “who took the first shot”, which I guess could be considered maneuvering, but I turn on good kids in 85% squads all day long.
lrn2sktrafe 
I think your assessment makes perfect sense. I’m sure Bungie designed the game as a “package,” so to speak, taking into account how different aspects interacted with one another.
Granted, Slayer isn’t necessarily my primary area of expertise, but I agree with the OP. Reach’s sandbox was balanced around a number of elements, bloom being one of them. That balance is extremely fragile (and poorly-done), and removing bloom smashes it to pieces.
Bloom was a stupid idea, but unfortunately, we have a stupid sandbox that requires it.
> I honestly think ZB is perfect. Have not had any problems. Try MLG with its 120 speed you might like it better.
This. Playing ZB makes the game feel more like Halo and less like Reach. Of course, MLG is the way to go, its pretty hardcore but you need a team for that or you’ll cooped on.
ZB broken? Perhaps, but I’ll take that over normal bloom any day 
Now if we can just get 120 movement and 125 jump height, that would peachy :D. Oh and remove AA
> My personal preference is 85% bloom. I played a lot of zb DMRs with no magnums in customs and it was great. I havent played a match of ZB with DMRs and ARs yet but I bet its the same as ZB with only DMRs.
>
> The kill times are too fast for me in ZB though to truly like and play it.
>
> I believe kill times should be around 2.5s (85% is 2.3 I think)
> and in zb its like 1.5s.
>
> (If someone can confirm those times with an online vid that’d be nice)
>
> My main issue is the accuracy of the DMR.
> It makes turning on a bk so much easier but at the same time it lessens the fights of skilled players to “who took the first shot”, which I guess could be considered maneuvering, but I turn on good kids in 85% squads all day long.
it seems to me like you favor a slower calmer Halo! Halo2 and Halo3 were known as the ultimate run and gun hardcore take no prisoners wound the weak to bait the strong and slaughter everyone without mercy!..what happened to us? when did we want to stop and sit down for a bit take aim and shoot only one person then rest for a moment!
You strike me as the kind of guy who would want an Enzo Ferrari with only 100 horsepower, and a top speed of 60 mph instead of its normal 660 hp and 220mph top speed!
ZB, 125 speed, 120 jump, heavier gravity all day baby the faster people die the better, kill the weak and only the strong survive!!!
> > My personal preference is 85% bloom. I played a lot of zb DMRs with no magnums in customs and it was great. I havent played a match of ZB with DMRs and ARs yet but I bet its the same as ZB with only DMRs.
> >
> > The kill times are too fast for me in ZB though to truly like and play it.
> >
> > I believe kill times should be around 2.5s (85% is 2.3 I think)
> > and in zb its like 1.5s.
> >
> > (If someone can confirm those times with an online vid that’d be nice)
> >
> > My main issue is the accuracy of the DMR.
> > It makes turning on a bk so much easier but at the same time it lessens the fights of skilled players to “who took the first shot”, which I guess could be considered maneuvering, but I turn on good kids in 85% squads all day long.
>
> it seems to me like you favor a slower calmer Halo! Halo2 and Halo3 were known as the ultimate run and gun hardcore take no prisoners wound the weak to bait the strong and slaughter everyone without mercy!..what happened to us? when did we want to stop and sit down for a bit take aim and shoot only one person then rest for a moment!
>
> You strike me as the kind of guy who would want an Enzo Ferrari with only 100 horsepower, and a top speed of 60 mph instead of its normal 660 hp and 220mph top speed!
>
> ZB, 125 speed, 120 jump, heavier gravity all day baby the faster people die the better, kill the weak and only the strong survive!!!
word.
What you posted is almost literally, word for word, what I have been saying for months.
And while I was met (Pre Title Update and even the old forums were still around) with pages upon pages of hate and calling me a moron, it seems FINALLY everyone else is coming around.
I guess all I can say is… I told you so and welcome to the logical side of the “bloom vs. no bloom” argument! Now you can have actual discussion of weapon balance and gameplay mechanics instead of saying, “Bloom is random, bloom is bad, no bloom = perfect game”.
Welcoming you with open arms to rational discussion, friend!
It’s nice to be able to provide answers and support for your community but sometimes requests aren’t realistic. The playlists which use bloom have been working fine since last year. The ones without it now seem off.
Confused Tim is confused. I thought the went with 85% bloom and all zero bloom was really 85%. What was the decision? 85% made the best gameplay for me. However zero bloom makes more sense storywise, I mean seriously “spartan super strength” + “MJOLNIR” = no recoil… bloom being the visualized recoil… why would spartans suffer such nonesense on any weapon?
The only problem I have with 85% bloom/no bloom is now the DMR is a long-range weapon instead of mid-range. I like the H3 BR because it was 3 burst and at a long distance it wasn’t near as accurate as at mid-range because of bullet spread.
343 does need to give up on Reach. Put ALL your work into Halo 4… I can’t even believe they put time into making Atlas!!!
Halo 4 doesn’t come out for another year! If Reach continues on it’s path to self destruction like it has been since it’s release. Then my guess is that the Halo community will be a ghost town in the next 4 to 6 months.
> My personal preference is 85% bloom. I played a lot of zb DMRs with no magnums in customs and it was great. I havent played a match of ZB with DMRs and ARs yet but I bet its the same as ZB with only DMRs.
>
> The kill times are too fast for me in ZB though to truly like and play it.
>
> I believe kill times should be around 2.5s (85% is 2.3 I think)
> and in zb its like 1.5s.
>
> (If someone can confirm those times with an online vid that’d be nice)
>
> My main issue is the accuracy of the DMR.
> It makes turning on a bk so much easier but at the same time it lessens the fights of skilled players to “who took the first shot”, which I guess could be considered maneuvering, but I turn on good kids in 85% squads all day long.
When testing ZB I think got 1.9 but There was a post from a credible source saying it was 1.6 (which seems a little fast though); 100% on LAN was about 2.5 although is probably closer to 3 most of the time.
I have not tested 85%.
IMO 2.0-2.3 is the goldilocks time. I think 5SK ZB is just about perfect although maybe a 2/10th of a second slower would be best (which 85% seems to do pretty well).
On default movement, yes I think 85% bloom has a higher shooting skill gap due to the bloom being the primary form of missing shots, but on 120 speed 110 jump and 200 gravity ZB has FAR higher of skill gap, seems so to me at least.