- fifthderelicte
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[EDIT] Please check out this thread for some other great viewpoints on the weapons balancing.
While I begin by using the BR as an example, this thread is not about the BR. Please read the whole thing before you post
With all these BR threads, I think everyone is missing the bigger issue. The issue isn't the BR. The issue has never been the BR. We haven't had the same type of functioning mid-range weapon yet in the Halo trilogy. The pistol, the H2 BR, and the H3 BR all function a bit differently. So when we see all kinds of threads talking about getting rid of or not getting rid of the BR, they're missing the point.
So what is the issue? The issue is finding a properly functioning, balanced, mid-range weapon. Halo has always had the power weapons and the CQ weapons, but the weapons that have largely controlled the pace of the game and the control of the maps are the mid-ranged weapons. So get this idea out of your head that we are talking about getting rid of the BR, taking skill out of the game, or making one weapon to rule them all. Whatever your bias is, put it to the side. Pretend we're building a game from scratch. Let's look at what type of functionality we're looking for here in terms of balancing issues. While I've put a lot of this in perspective of the BR, I only did so to approach the area that contains the most bias. However, I'd like to discuss weapon balancing in general.
Instead of boring you more with my wordiness, let me list some of the ideas I've come up with to produce better weapon balance in Halo:
1. It is true that Halo 3 already incorporates a differing melee damage system. However, the differences are so minute that nobody really selects weapons based on this. I propose that to allow weapons to fit more appropriately in their niches, different amounts of damage be added to weapons. For instance, shotguns/SMGs/etc would take two melees (1 for downed shields - normal now), while a BR would take 3 melees (2 for downed shields), and a sniper would take 4 melees to kill (3 for downed shields).
[EDIT] I was just thinking back to H2 and remembering that different weapons had different melee speeds. It was really the PP you noticed the difference with. If they made close range weapons have faster melees and longer range have slower melees, they could do the same damage but be balanced in that sense. H2 also required 3 hits for a kill, which I prefer to H3's system, as now it's one melee and headshot, which is kind of lame. I realize H2 did allow for one melee/headshot as well, but bumping down the melee power just a little to prevent this would be awesome.
As it stands, you can walk around with any weapon out and do about the same melee damage. But if different weapons did different amounts of melee damage, there would be a reason to pick up certain weapons over others, or actually switch from your BR in CQ scenarios.
2. Since people are insistent upon keeping the BR, keep it. But take away the headshot capability. As it stands, the BR is too random in its spread to come down to skill at any distance past about Gold 2 on Guardian to Snipe 2 on Guardian. Beyond that, the randomness kicks in. On top of that, the burst capability of the BR makes games like SWAT not quite as fun. I love playing a game of magnums, because if I get killed, it was because the other guy had good aim. But with the burst headshot capability of the BR as it stands, you just sweep your reticule in the general direction of the head, or aim at the chest and let it bounce up and you have a headshot. This takes little skill.
SO I propose that the BR be bumped up a little in power and have its headshot capability taken away. Now it takes six shots to the body to kill. This would suck against CQ weapons if inside their range, and it would also lose to the power weapons and carbine at longer ranges. BUT, it would be the perfect starting weapon. It gives you extended range to ping out snipers and those with carbines, but because it's not headshot capable, the luck factor isn't as big of a deal. We'd finally have a BR that has a niche instead of being the end all/be all of weapons.
3. Taking away the BR as the precision weapon obviously leaves a gap. While Bungie is free to make new weapons to fill these holes (and I wish they would), I'm not going there. So what I say is make the carbine a very accurate weapon and bump up the rate of fire and tone down the damage just a little (and increase clip size). Now you've got a weapon that takes 9-10 shots (assuming head shot) to kill. It's single fire, headshot capable, very accurate, and it actually takes some skill to get the final kill shot instead of relying on some random spread or a cheap burst to the head.
While some may disdain this idea because it's too reminiscent of the dominant pistol of H1 and BR of H2 - no worries. Due to the lack of burst, it takes skill. Due to the precision of the shot, it takes skill. And what I love is that due to the amount of shots it takes (9-10), it takes consistent aim as well as the ability to fire off those shots before the other guy can do it. It would be godly only in the hands of the amazing, but with only a 2x scope, it would still keep it from beating the sniper at extended ranges. Yes, it's precise, but anyone who has hunted knows that using a 2x scope at 500 yards vs. a 16x scope at 500 yards produces drastically different results, even on the same weapon. The limited scope would prevent it from being unbeatable.
4. Tighten the ARs spread considerably when pump firing. While this would make it more accurate so it could compete with the BR and possibly ping a carbine out of scope, it would take longer to kill and it would not be as good of a run and bash gun. As it stands, dual wieldable weapons have no home, largely in part to the AR. If the ARs range was extended but its stopping power decreased, it would have a different effective range, opening up the CQ to near-mid range. Now there would be room for other weapons to be useful between the range of the shotgun/sword and the AR/BR.
5. This is one thing I will approve of. I absolutely love the grenades here in H3. I like a smaller blast radius but a large amount of damage. I like to award precision placement. If you place it right, it deals a great amount of damage, but the blast radius isn't so large that it is too easy. They may be able to shrink the radius just a little (especially with plasmas), but I think it's great as it stands. However, what I will say about grenades, particularly for cluttery maps (Construct), they should take grenade spawns off of dead bodies off and just place more grenade spawns around the map. I don't think spamfests are what we want.
6. Powerful equipment such as regens and Bubbles should spawn fewer to a map and on longer spawn times. They should act more like power weapons than pieces of candy. Bungie should also bring back thoughtful equipment such as the radar jammer. Equipment should not be cheap tools that give you a guaranteed win, but rather thoughtful tools that can be decisive in skilled hands, but worthless or deleterious in the wrong hands.
7. (This idea due to several ideas posted by other members) Allow all weapons to have a headshot capability. Each weapon has recoil, some more than others. When pump firing a weapon, all bullets land within the reticule. However, on full auto, more and more bullets can land outside of the reticule. These bullets landing outside the reticule are not headshot capable. This allows for a larger skill gap, as good players can pump and shoot to their advantage. Furthermore, damage fall off ranges can be incorporated to control the range of weapons. Instead of just dropping off, like they do now, bullets would gradually reduce in damage over distances (until they're essentially negligable).
8. Take out or significantly reduce autoaim. This would greatly allow for a higher skill gap and would allow for weapons like the H1 pistol to be in the game, as it would take a lot of skill to use them.
9. Take out or significantly reduce melee lunge (other than from the sword and possibly the hammer). This would increase the amount of skill required to time melees. If you don't go for this, at least take out the melee compensation (you look 45 degrees to the side of your opponent, but your melee corrects for the hit)
Well, that's all I could come up with for now. I'd love to hear any other thoughts people have on how to work on Halo's balance and feel. We all know there are a lot of weapons unused and a lot of issues with the current weapons. I'd love to hear your critiques and thoughts. Thanks.
[Edited on 10.13.2009 3:38 PM PDT]