- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Great update, very thought provoking. But i was put into a state of awe when i heard someone against balancing the pistol out. I thought to myself, man this guy just doesn't understand the fundamentals of gameplay balance. Let me illustrate just how badly imbalanced the pistol was in Halo:Combat Evolved.
1. Controlled all mid-field ranged fights with impunity
2. The only maps that allow the sniper rifle to dominate the pistol at a further range are sidewinder, blood gultch and boarding action.
3. The only maps that allow close range guns to dominate the pistol their respective ranges are chiron, and chill out and longest.
4. If you play any gametype without shields the pistol is pretty much the staple primary weapon of choise.
5. Close range and long range weapons can both slaughter a pistol user when used at their proficient range. However some people may have noticed, the crazy little fact the at long distances the sniper rifle is extremely effective, even against the pistol, however when you pick up a sniper rifle you dont really end up with very much ammo do you? 12 shots, 3 reloads and you're out. The pistols ammunition is abundant. at closer range plasma weapons can dominate the pistol but as we've noticed same with the sniper rifle plasma weapons batteries dry out fast, and need to be discarded after only a short ammount of kills. In games where you start with a pistol you're already at an advantage, in game where you need to pick them up there's still an abundance of ammunition to go along with it.
So in short based on that information, you can either take one of two positions, Accept that the pistol is in halo:Combat evolved to stay, get very good with the pistol and abuse it's mid-range control to your benefit, thus eliminating the need for more than 50% of the weapons. Or you can take the other approach and accept the fact that it's imbalanced refuse to play gametypes with the pistol, and experience the fun and strategic approach to the game showing that deciding which two weapons to pick up for a fire fight does infact ultimately decide your success in the game.
Should Halo2 be about exploiting primarily the control of one weapon? Or should it be a endlessly deep game where skill in knowing the strength and weaknesses of all weapons plays a key role in your success. Where someone can kill just as effectively with the shotgun as they can with the smg, where someone can say, i'm soo good this round i'm just gonna kill with the needler, or the plasma sword. There lies and extreme depth to a game where weapon balance is perfected. These games allow for each person to play the game how they see fit and still be successful.