Halo: Reach Forum
This topic has moved here: Subject: The way to balance the Spartan Laser.
  • Subject: The way to balance the Spartan Laser.
Subject: The way to balance the Spartan Laser.

Its a trap!!!

Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: Madara Umezawa
Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: Madara Umezawa
One laser on a map. Control the laser or forget your 2 man warthog show. All 4 players or 5 in scocial have to play well. Not just 2 guys in a armored vehicle

dont complain about the laser if your teamwork isnt as good as the other teams

so get map control and weapon control then n00b it with the vehicle cirling the map for easy kills.

That mai friend iz called strategy lolz


Winning the game should not be "whoever controls the 1 weapon in the center of the map".


clearly you miss the whole point. Winning the game is team work. Teamwork is all about team shooting, Set up strategy and organized rushes to power weapons.

That is just a smart tacticful way to win.

Tell me why 2 people who get into a warthog should be instantly rewarded when their teamates don't play this way?


Tell me why 1 player with the Spartan Laser should be rewarded with 10 double kills.


lmao that would only be rewarded if the 2 people get into the hog over and over and ignore the laser. Those people would be considered brain dead in my eyes

Look if the guy has a laser you might want to try killing him instead of playing stupid and keep getting in the hog. You can ignore basic fundamentals just because a vehicle is present and you get aroused by its very presence

So many players don't think about basic gameplay and get owned by people like me. That is why there is such a skill gap. People just dont simply think when they play.

If you fail at stopping laser guy because laser guy has good back up then their team is just outplaying you.

Deal with it. Practice get better. Use common sense. If you dont like teamwork then play lonewolves



[Edited on 11.09.2009 4:58 PM PST]

  • 11.09.2009 4:56 PM PDT
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I agree with lower battery charge, I want it to be more powerful now!

  • 11.09.2009 4:56 PM PDT
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Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: LinkLegend0
Yeah and its not like getting the laser makes you that good anyways, infact, because of the charge time the person with the laser often gets killed the fastest be it by a BR or sniper.


When do you ever see a player standing in the open for the full 3 second charge time. What happens 9 times out of 10 is the player will stand behind cover while charging the laser and pop out for a split second to shoot their target. This makes it impossible to kill them with a BR and very hard to snipe them in this amount of time.


Actually, if you have the laser you can stand out in the open all you want. Laser means that you not only control the laser, but you control the vehicles. That's what sucks about it. One guy gets the laser and then his team is free to roam in vehicles. Now your vehicles are destroyed and you have absolutely no anti-vehicle weapon, and the other team has all the vehicles. With your team bansheeing the spawns, warthoging around the base (p.s. I love verbing words), and laser/sniping from the middle, you can stand out in the open all you want and not worry about it.

Yes, the warthog is a killing machine, like one player said (particularly on Standoff). However, it's the laser that actually exacerbates that problem as opposed to solving it. The team with the laser get's an amped up warthog spree while the other team gets nothing. There is no balance to the laser, and it takes little skill to use.

EDIT: One thing that is better about H3 is that you do have more antivehicle options (stickies, power drainers, plasma pistols, missile pods, etc). But all of those are relatively worthless against all but the dumbest drivers, particularly banshee pilots. So yes, you do have some chance against vehicles, but it is very small without the laser, on a map where a laser exists.

[Edited on 11.09.2009 5:02 PM PST]

  • 11.09.2009 4:57 PM PDT
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~Maxzy~

Posted by: LinkLegend0
Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: LinkLegend0
Yeah and its not like getting the laser makes you that good anyways, infact, because of the charge time the person with the laser often gets killed the fastest be it by a BR or sniper.


When do you ever see a player standing in the open for the full 3 second charge time. What happens 9 times out of 10 is the player will stand behind cover while charging the laser and pop out for a split second to shoot their target. This makes it impossible to kill them with a BR and very hard to snipe them in this amount of time.

I'm not making a situation up on paper and seeing how it would play out, I'm telling you how it does play out in the actual game.


You think i'm making up this situation? It happens basically every time somebody want to use the laser.

And I think I know the reason as to why you are defending the laser so much. Out of your 58 thousand kills only a few hundred are by vehicles.

You obviously have not used vehicles enough to tell how overpowered the Spartan Laser.

  • 11.09.2009 4:58 PM PDT

Looking to hook up with some competent players! Please PM me if you want a decent team mate, looking to learn from good players and impart what I know to the team too. Im sick of going 'randy' and getting betrayed for the sniper etc.. and having to put up with BK team mates

I think the spartan laser is fine the way it is, there are plenty of strategies for removing its dominance. Sure its powerful but easilly subdued. I don't see any need for it to change

  • 11.09.2009 4:58 PM PDT

Were it so easy.

Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: LinkLegend0
Posted by: maxzy
Posted by: LinkLegend0
Yeah and its not like getting the laser makes you that good anyways, infact, because of the charge time the person with the laser often gets killed the fastest be it by a BR or sniper.


When do you ever see a player standing in the open for the full 3 second charge time. What happens 9 times out of 10 is the player will stand behind cover while charging the laser and pop out for a split second to shoot their target. This makes it impossible to kill them with a BR and very hard to snipe them in this amount of time.

I'm not making a situation up on paper and seeing how it would play out, I'm telling you how it does play out in the actual game.


You think i'm making up this situation? It happens basically every time somebody want to use the laser.

And I think I know the reason as to why you are defending the laser so much. Out of your 58 thousand kills only a few hundred are by vehicles.

You obviously have not used vehicles enough to tell how overpowered the Spartan Laser.

uhhh I have over a thousand vehicle kills...

  • 11.09.2009 5:15 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: LinkLegend0
I just old you something, that the warthog is much more of a killing machine than the laser on Valhalla, and you completely ignored that. Like everyone I argue with.


Lol, irony. Who's not replying to my arguments now?

  • 11.09.2009 5:15 PM PDT

Were it so easy.

Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: LinkLegend0
I just old you something, that the warthog is much more of a killing machine than the laser on Valhalla, and you completely ignored that. Like everyone I argue with.


Lol, irony. Who's not replying to my arguments now?

I did reply to your argument you idiot.

  • 11.09.2009 5:16 PM PDT

Here is my solution.

For those who can't read more that 500 words, basically, 2 shot spartan laser, a VISIBLE pre-fire laser, and a 150/180 second spawn time. Period.

The rockets should travel at a faster speed, have as much tracking ability as the needler does. But when not locked on to a vehicle, they veer off course after a distance.

[Edited on 11.09.2009 5:20 PM PST]

  • 11.09.2009 5:18 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

Posted by: LinkLegend0
Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: LinkLegend0
I just old you something, that the warthog is much more of a killing machine than the laser on Valhalla, and you completely ignored that. Like everyone I argue with.


Lol, irony. Who's not replying to my arguments now?

I did reply to your argument you idiot.


You never replied to my responses to your "argument"

  • 11.09.2009 5:22 PM PDT

Looking to hook up with some competent players! Please PM me if you want a decent team mate, looking to learn from good players and impart what I know to the team too. Im sick of going 'randy' and getting betrayed for the sniper etc.. and having to put up with BK team mates

You can't expect to dominate in a vehicle if you don't first take out the laser carrier? You just need to strategize, Ive been in plenty of matches where one team gets control of the laser situation and then in come the vehicles! Unleashing the vehicular carnage that only they can supply. The only change here for you OP is to change your strategy, if you keep getting taken out by the laser, gain control of it first then 'saddle' your hog up or what ever.

Vehicles traditionally dominate spartans on foot, why make the game so one sided? Introduce the laser and such and the spartans have a chance. If there was no laser each game would be dominated by vehicles but for a lucky stick or energy drain etc..

  • 11.09.2009 5:24 PM PDT
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Posted by: LinkLegend0
Posted by: Son of Valhalla
Posted by: LinkLegend0
Posted by: wrestlemaniac54
actually that would be pretty cool if it drained your shields

Wow, your stupid too.

*Bangs head on wall*

YOU'RE.

Didn't know the grammar police was in town.

They are when you insult someone for agreeing with someone else's opinion.

[Edited on 11.09.2009 5:41 PM PST]

  • 11.09.2009 5:26 PM PDT

Were it so easy.

Posted by: privet caboose
Posted by: LinkLegend0

Thats completely irrelevant, I just old you something, that the warthog is much more of a killing machine than the laser on Valhalla, and you completely ignored that. Like everyone I argue with.


No. It's not completely irrelevant. I'm not ignoring your comment for the hell of it. I ignored it because it's not true. Anybody knows that any competent player can overpower a warthog with a laser.

You also came up with the dumbest idea for the laser ever so you don't have much credibility.

Need credibility? Maybe you should check out some of my previous posts. Most notably my 95 page topic. Plus, "dumbest idea ever" is an opinion anyway. But that's what forums are all about anyway, expressing ideas and opinions.

Also, how do you know if I have hardly played Halo 2?

I clicked your profile.

Halo 2 games played. -5.

Dammnit I didn't see this because the other guy was replying to me.

Well since all you said was statements about my posy and not really something I could respond to I can only reply to the last one. I've played Halo 2, just not on live much and on my account.

  • 11.09.2009 5:27 PM PDT

Posted by: TaterTot623
How bout' no equipment and no Spartan Lazer. And JUST a tracking rocket because me and my friends LOVED that, and we hated the Lazer, its Overkill!


This. Laser sucks, rockets worked fine in Halo 2 and Halo 1.

  • 11.09.2009 5:33 PM PDT

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the clichéd lines.

Regarding some posts..

Whoever controls the middle of Valhalla wins. This is a FACT. You talk about the sniper, but nobody just stands there at the top of the hill picking their nose. They either stay lower on the hill so they're out of site, or do a bunch of evasive maneuvers on the top (like side stepping and jumping).

Also, nobody stands there picking their nose when they're charging the laser.

The gauss warthog is not on any normal maps.

Even WITHOUT the laser there are plenty of ways to kill vehicles. The exceptions being the banshee and hornet. You can use the missile pod against them but the pilot usually just flies behind cover.

I think what we need to do it think of the spartan laser as more of an anti-air device. Maybe it's damage should be toned down against ground vehicles so that 1 shot damages the car and the people's shields but doesn't kill them. But against infantry and air vehicles it kills them in 1 hit.

[Edited on 11.09.2009 5:36 PM PST]

  • 11.09.2009 5:35 PM PDT
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Posted by: Disparil
You can't expect to dominate in a vehicle if you don't first take out the laser carrier? You just need to strategize, Ive been in plenty of matches where one team gets control of the laser situation and then in come the vehicles! Unleashing the vehicular carnage that only they can supply. The only change here for you OP is to change your strategy, if you keep getting taken out by the laser, gain control of it first then 'saddle' your hog up or what ever.

Vehicles traditionally dominate spartans on foot, why make the game so one sided? Introduce the laser and such and the spartans have a chance. If there was no laser each game would be dominated by vehicles but for a lucky stick or energy drain etc..


I love strategy and I'm all about compensating. However, the laser creates one sided gameplay. I don't mind losing to a team who has an incredible sniper who consistently takes our team out, noscoping and pulling off crazy stuff. But to lose because some twit got the laser first sucks. Pulling off the starting strategy will win a team a game on Valhalla because of the laser because it is too powerful for requiring too little skill (unlike the sniper or other weapons).

What you need to understand is that we're not just talking about the laser here. We've got a whole ecosystem affected by a weapon. When you put the laser in, not only does it take away vehicle usage by team A, but it enhances the vehicle usage of team B. So with the laser comes full vehicle dominance, enhancing your very point above. Spartans do get owned by vehicles without the laser. But with one laser on Valhalla, you are not only condemning team A's vehicle usage, you are condemning them on foot too - suppressed by both laser and vehicles.

My big problem is that the laser is too easy to use for how powerful it is. That in turn brings up the second problem, which is that it unbalances gameplay even more by allowing not only easy vehicular dominance, but because of vehicular dominance, easy infantry dominance as well. It's a nasty chain reaction with little you can do to stop it. Sure, I've come back many times on Valhalla against a team that had the laser first. But against a team that is equally as good, or even a little worse, it should never happen. It only happens against worse teams. The game shouldn't hinge so heavily on the first ten seconds of the game. I'm all for starting strategies, and they definitely should influence the outcome, but not so much.

  • 11.09.2009 5:45 PM PDT

You know who I am.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I hate not using vehicles because of how OP the laser is. You hop in for three seconds and WHAP! Dead. Pisses me off.

Agreed it balances out a hog, and a banshee, but being able to take out a tank, a chopper, a hog and a bansee, all in one clip, it's a tad annoying.

One per map, and all of the things you said.

  • 11.09.2009 5:51 PM PDT

I feel the laser is over powered.

Now I understand the anti laser strategies and tactics. I understand that you shouldn't rush out on sandtrap or vallhalla so you avoid the onslaught of missiles and lasers and all that. So don't accuse me of being some idiot that just wants to rip everyone to shreds with unchallenged vehicle superiority.

But I feel that a weapon that is dead on accurate and can kill anyone in one hit (INCLUDING TANKS) from across the map is over powered.

I also find that destroying vehicles without the laser is a more satisfying experience. If the other team is rolling in hogs and choppers on sandtrap, I prefer to grab a brute shot, stickies, and a bubble shield (maybe a rocket too). The resulting destruction is way more fun than just effortlessly wasting EVERYTHING away with the laser.

  • 11.09.2009 5:54 PM PDT

Posted by: maxzy
It's obvious that vehicle combat has been drastically decreased from what it was in Halo 2. This is because of the addition of many more anti-vehicle weapons in Halo 3.

In Halo 2 the only anti-vehicle was the homing rocket launcher. In Halo 3 that was replaced by the Spartan Laser, Missle Pod, Trip Mine and the Power Drainer.

To balance the Spartan Laser what I suggest is one of two things.

A) Reduce it's ammuntion to allow for only 3 shots.
Right now the Spartan Laser is overpowered. What was supposed to be a anti-vehilce weapon became a anti-everything weapon. 3 shots is enough to tone it down without making it underpowered.

B) Similar to the Plasma Pistol, when the Spartan Laser is being charged make it take up battery. Too many times a player will charge up a laser behind cover and step out for just enough time to fire the laser. This makes it almost immpossible to kill the player using Spartan Laser before they have time to kill their target.

In order to bring back vehilce combat in Halo: Reach the Spartan Laser must be toned down.

If you really think the trip mine is an adequate anti-vehicle weapon, then you need to get the fu­ck out.

Also, the way to balance the Spartan Laser is to give it a flickering beam to warn the enemy accompanied by a noise, letting the attacker fire only every five seconds, and givng it five shots. OH WAIT

  • 11.09.2009 5:59 PM PDT

Signatures are for squares.

I've got to say.

I've never ONCE heard a noise when being targeted by a laser.

And maybe 1/100 times do I see the small red laser.

  • 11.09.2009 6:02 PM PDT

Posted by: LethalReap
This thread is epic...

It seems to me like most people in this thread have a problem with a map rather than a weapon. All the complaints are similar in that they all sound like 'I didn't get the laser first so I can't win!'

While this is true in many cases on Valhalla and even Standoff, how often can you remember getting owned by the laser on maps like High Ground or Last Resort? I haven't really played much of Sandtrap, but I remember pretty clearly how easy it was to avoid the laser.

So ask yourselves this: is your problem truly with the laser? Or is it with maps like Valhalla and Standoff that are centered around the laser? If it's the maps, then I completely agree with you.

  • 11.09.2009 6:10 PM PDT
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~Maxzy~

Posted by: FinalHazard006
Posted by: maxzy
It's obvious that vehicle combat has been drastically decreased from what it was in Halo 2. This is because of the addition of many more anti-vehicle weapons in Halo 3.

In Halo 2 the only anti-vehicle was the homing rocket launcher. In Halo 3 that was replaced by the Spartan Laser, Missle Pod, Trip Mine and the Power Drainer.

To balance the Spartan Laser what I suggest is one of two things.

A) Reduce it's ammuntion to allow for only 3 shots.
Right now the Spartan Laser is overpowered. What was supposed to be a anti-vehilce weapon became a anti-everything weapon. 3 shots is enough to tone it down without making it underpowered.

B) Similar to the Plasma Pistol, when the Spartan Laser is being charged make it take up battery. Too many times a player will charge up a laser behind cover and step out for just enough time to fire the laser. This makes it almost immpossible to kill the player using Spartan Laser before they have time to kill their target.

In order to bring back vehilce combat in Halo: Reach the Spartan Laser must be toned down.

If you really think the trip mine is an adequate anti-vehicle weapon, then you need to get the fu­ck out.

Also, the way to balance the Spartan Laser is to give it a flickering beam to warn the enemy accompanied by a noise, letting the attacker fire only every five seconds, and givng it five shots. OH WAIT


Have you ever tried to sue the trip mines on rat's nest or sandtrap? They are pretty useful if you know how to use them.

It is literally impossible to see the flickering beam or hear the noise in a normal game of Halo 3. If anything, the spartan laser should bring with it the locking on noise of the missle pod. That way it's acually possible to dodge a laser.

  • 11.09.2009 6:14 PM PDT
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~Maxzy~

Posted by: Jaymonster62592
It seems to me like most people in this thread have a problem with a map rather than a weapon. All the complaints are similar in that they all sound like 'I didn't get the laser first so I can't win!'

While this is true in many cases on Valhalla and even Standoff, how often can you remember getting owned by the laser on maps like High Ground or Last Resort? I haven't really played much of Sandtrap, but I remember pretty clearly how easy it was to avoid the laser.

So ask yourselves this: is your problem truly with the laser? Or is it with maps like Valhalla and Standoff that are centered around the laser? If it's the maps, then I completely agree with you.



The reason as to why the laser is balanced on High Ground and Last Resort besides the extra cover is because these maps are more focused on infantry.

Maps such as Sandtrap or Valhalla *reuqire* you to use the laser if you want any chance at winning.

A weapon that overpowered should not be in Halo: Reach

  • 11.09.2009 6:17 PM PDT
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Firin ma lazor

Yeah thats good I only see the laser when im on foot when im in vehicles is when I need to see it like the laser is already pretty accurate right? so vehicle big moving target here isan easy kill so if we can hear or se somthing likewith the missle pod that would help to balance.

  • 11.09.2009 6:19 PM PDT

Posted by: maxzy

B) Similar to the Plasma Pistol, when the Spartan Laser is being charged make it take up battery. Too many times a player will charge up a laser behind cover and step out for just enough time to fire the laser. This makes it almost immpossible to kill the player using Spartan Laser before they have time to kill their target.


I like this idea, this would drastically lower it's anti-personal capabilities, yet keep it powerful enough to stop Banshees and tanks.
3 shots....no, not unless the tank is weakened, because it would give you only enough to take out the tank and one other small vehicle (most of the time.)

  • 11.09.2009 6:19 PM PDT