- Hylebos
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- Fabled Mythic Member
Okay, now that I've had more time to read you post...
Posted by: The EAKLE
BRs are a major flaw in Halo 3's design. It is a starting weapon that literally anyone can kill with from pretty far distances. Because of it's range and accuracy, it makes all dual wieldable weapons and ARs almost entirely useless. Because it out ranges power weapons like swords and shotguns, the only effective way to use them is camp. Thus, the BR promotes camping.
I'd disagree with this. I'm an avid user of the AR and the dual wieldables, and if you know what you are doing at close range, the BR user doesn't stand a chance. Its simply because the radius between you and your opponent is short, so your angular velocity as you strafe is much higher than far away, so it is harder to lead your shots so all of them hit you. This isn't a problem for the AR or the other dual wieldables as they are constantly firing bullets, but the battle rifle fires in bursts so it can't be as efficient as possible. As long as you can manuever and they don't get you with a grenade or melee headshot you, you have the advantage.
People claim that teh BR is a needed weapon. That is flat out wrong. Halo: Combat Evolved was a fantastic game and it had no BR. It is often said that flag games become annoying with ARs because you cant kill the carrier from a distance, but none of these claims were made in Halo Combat Evolved because we didnt know of an unbalanced starting weapon, besides the pistol. We did just fine with our ARs up until Halo 2.
Its not so much the fact that the BR is a needed weapon, but there needs to be medium ranged weapons. Other than the awkwardness of balancing a medium ranged scoped pistol, there is no reason why the pistol couldn't replace the BR in this game. The only time I would say one would need a BR is in many of the BTB maps where the environment is very open and very supportive of medium ranged combat, and spawning with a close range weapon when there aren't as many "close range areas" puts you at a large disadvantage. Most the people who say you need to have a BR for flag games just haven't thought of using a grenade and then burst firing their AR.
In Halo 2, the AR was removed for the SMG, and the Battle Rifle was added. Because the SMGs were dual wieldable and functioned different from an AR, it seemed to be an entire different weapon instead of a new Assault Rifle. With the AR out of the way the BR had a chance at being the new main weapon. It did a decent job because we could not see it's devastating onslaught of other weapons compared to the AR functioning well with them.
With Halo 2 came Halo's introduction to MLG. Without the Assault Rifle, the only main weapon to have was the BR, so it became MLG's main weapon. Halo 2 quickly became incredibly popular, and the BR came with it.
Now in Halo 3 MLG has a giant fanbase, and many believe the BR to be the "PRO" weapon over the Asault Rifle, when the truth is the AR never had a chance to shine. The AR returned from Halo CE, but with less ammo. The BR came back with a slight spread. The now weakened AR was slaughtered by the BR in almost every battle, leading people to believe that the AR was bad, instead of the truth that the BR is greatly overpowered. The BR is a favorite of many players because they live under the stereotype that it means they are "good" or "pro", when really it is an easy way to rack up kills.
This is more of a social problem than an actual game problem. If you read the reason why MLG uses the BR and not the AR, anyone that is good at close range combat can completely see through the lies, as you can flip the arguement around to support the AR instantly. The reason MLG uses the BR because its much easier to see the "skill" that it takes to use the BR than the "skill" that it takes to use the AR. Much easier to see narrow precise BR shots than to imagine a cone of spread with the AR and efficiency and whatnot. Both take skill to use, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't used the weapons to their top potential.
From looking at nearly anyone's service record you can see the BR as the Tool of Destruction. Why is this? Because if anyone comes up with a close range weapon they are killed before they get the chance to fight. Everyone get's kills with the Bettle Rifle because they can. Some great AR user can try to attack, but will get mowed down by a BR "noob" in almost any situation. The only way to counter the BR is to get close. But the BR is still powerful at that range. Three quick bursts then a melee put's the opposing player down. Even though the AR is meant for close range it often ends up "trading" with the BR. Because of this the only logical thing to do is get a more powerful weapon than the BR.
Again, see earlier arguement, if you know what you are doing, the BR is at a disadvantage at close range. There are several big reasons that the BR is the TOD of most people, even people who also use the AR.
1) If you like swat, its your major weapon, and thats a ton of ranked kills going to that weapon.
2) If you like BTB, most the fighting occurs over medium range, the BR is a medium ranged weapon, so you end up using it a lot more than you would use the AR.
3) The kills from the AR are almost evenly split between actual AR, Melee, and Grenade Kills. The BR on the other hand has most it's kills coming from headshots, so its a bit unbalanced with regards to kill tracking.
Your weapon choices are now Rocket, Sniper, Sword or Shotgun. People claim Rocket's are for noobs because anyone can kill with them and shotguns and swords are for noobs because of camping. The truth is that players turn to these weapons because the BR practically forces them to. Basically, if you are not good with a BR or sniper you are killed a lot or considered a noob.
There is no noob weapon, each weapon takes skill to use the weapon to their fullest abillity.
Obviously, the BR is the root of all Halo's evil. I have shown you already that it promotes camping and "noob" weapons, but that's not all. When players are not good at the game what do they do? They dont care about winning and jut play for fun. How can you play for fun if a starting weapon dominates everything else? Just screw around. Drive off cliffs, speed around on a mongoose, try to get kills with a pistol, you name it. Any time someone is not trying to play Halo the "right" way, they are a by product of the BR. Any time you see someone killed repeatedly and hae an awful K/D ratio, think to yourself "What weapon was used to kill them so many times?" The BR is likely the answer.
So, the BR has reduced Halo to Brs, snipers, and "noobs." Is that a Halo we want to play? I dont think so. But what can fix this terrible world the BR has made? The answer seems obvious. The AR. It is the perfect starting weapon. It get's the job done without being the main weapon of the game. By scrapping both the BR and the MA5C (Our current Assault Rifle), then bringing back the MA5B (CE's Assault Rifle) Halo would be restored to it's former glory.
But we need a new mid-long range weapon, right? I mean, the BR did have a purpose. . .
Wrong. The BR's range was one of the main reasons it destroyed our beloved game. Another mid-long range weapon would likey also ruin it. To fill the gap left in all the "pro" players' hearts, we do need a new mid range balanced weapon. A new and improved pistol will do just fine.
Take the Halo 3 pistol and slightly improve it. "But that pistol is bad!" Not true. The weapon is good if you know how to use it. Get in range, aim for the head, and fire while strafing away from the enemy's fire. Sounds a lot like a BR right? The only difference is that the pistol did not ruin Halo. The only issue with the pistol is that it's magazine does not hold enough ammo for multiple kills. By increasing the pistols clip size and adding a 1.5X scope, we wouls have a great new mid ranged weapon.
With our MA5Bs and new pistols set to starting weapons, Halo would return to the once great game it was meant to be.
Again, it sounds more like a social issue that you have than an actual gameplay issue. People are going to be jerks online, it doesn't matter what weapon they use.
I really think that the BR is coming back simply because dual wielding will be coming back as well, and its hard to balance a medium ranged pistol that could possibly also be dual wielded. Hopefully they nerf it a bit more, if it does less damage per shot, it still has the medium ranged advantage over close range weapons yet it is much less effective up close.
Just kinda random stream of consciousness answer, if you want clarification on anything I said, let me know.
[Edited on 07.15.2009 1:01 PM PDT]