- Uncle Kulikov
- |
- Fabled Legendary Member
Here’s what Luke had to say about the differences in treatment between the Spartans and Elites in Reach:
“Instead of piece-by-piece customization like the Spartans, Elite customization is a full model swap with models selected from the various Elite classes appearing throughout the Campaign. There are all kinds of reasons for this, not the least of which is our continued emphasis on the Spartan as your identity in Reach.”
Like the OP said, I miss the heavy hitting weapons of CE. The plasma pistol was a beast, and so was the plasma rifle.
In Halo, dual weapons are already nerfed when you dual, but this would take it further so that the single wielded version has more of a purpose.
And the special properties of each weapon are what can give these single wielded weapons a purpose.
Like in CE, the plasma rifle blasts stunned players every time they hit. That is an extremely powerful property. It would make dual wielding such a weapon on the verge of broken. But removing it, as seen in Halo 3, almost renders the weapon a piece of equipment since it can't easily score kills on its own.
So by keeping the hit stun when you are using one, you gain something other than being able to throw grenades by using only one of that weapon, and reinforcing the variety and modularity of dual wielding by still allowing it with some penalties.
As for the Plasma Pistol, it was something like 8 shots to kill in CE. Each bolt did major damage, and the charge shot could actually kill people. I want that weapon back. Keep the Halo 3 seeking level, boost it vs.vehicles based on size, and actually let the weapon deal real damage, and take less than 26 shots to kill someone in MP.
By eliminating the Plasma Pistol's Overcharge seeking ability entirely while dual wielding, it still allows the player to use the main benefit of the weapon, while making it more of a skill maneuver and harder to pull off. And since the weapon will deal more damage(than the H3 one), it will make normal trigger pulls more useful as well.
Pistol:
Whichever model of pistol is chosen (high damage, low fire rate/low damage, high fire rate), I want it to have a 2x scope. But when you pick up another weapon, disable that scope. This makes intuitive sense, since with 2 weapons you aren't aiming down the scope of one of them, and in terms of gameplay, imagine a scoped magnum paired with a plasma rifle for peak efficiency. So no scope while dual wielding.
Needler:
By removing the homing properties of the Needler while dual wielding, it preserves the weapon's main property (damage based on number of needlers, + critical mass detonation) while shifting it's role to a close range pairing (no seeking, the weapon is rather inaccurate). And this inaccuracy is countered by the sheer amount of needles that will be fired, balanced by their limited range.
Spikers/Maulers: Halo 3 exclusive weapons will need a theoretical property for this theory to work, since neither the Spiker nor the Mauler have these properties from CE. I suggest that the weapons just hit very very hard, dealing a high amount of damage per hit.
And I say per hit, because that is how they will be balanced. By having a relatively low time-to-target, the Spiker is weaker at longer range. And since the Mauler's spread defines how much damage a target takes, that weapon is delegated to melee range. By simply increasing the spread of each of these weapons, it further weakens them in the same manner as their single wielded versions, but in a different way.
The spiker will be even less effective at range, and the mauler will be much harder to score kills at more than arm's reach.
SMG:
The property that balances the SMG is muzzle climb. If you don't pay attention or burst fire, your reticule rises over time with the weapon. Simply increasing the rate of this climb will alter how players have to use the SMG effectively, with shorter bursts, closer range, or more focus on drawing a bead on your target.