- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I just re looked it. I think they balanced it slightly because the Battle Rifle is not fully automatic, it fires in three round bursts and therefore you probably have a slightly lower number of bullets firing per second. According to the books the MA5B can push out 15 rounds a second. Usually a three round burst would push that to maybe 9 rounds a second. The general equation of first person shooters has always been that the amount of time it takes to reload is directly related to the rate of fire. From the para in Counterstrike, to the pistol. That obviousely goes very well except for special weapons. The Battle rifle will fire 40 x 9.62 bullets but will also have a higher muzzle velocity.
I also think that Bungie wanted Halo 2 to be more true to the Universe. The Spartans are elite soldiers. And as elite soldiers have always gone, Spray and Pray has never been widely accepted nor admired. Accuracy has always superceded it, although, in some occassions, it is not the best thing. Hence...different weapons.