- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
I understand your worries, because I was worried about it too. Only for a short while, however. Have you really only seen people using the pistol? I was a great Halo 1 and 2 player (when I played. I haven't played for about 1 year now), and I think that as far as balance, Halo 1 was better.
Wait, wait, wait! Don't flame yet! It's only my opinion! I'm not flaming yours! I'm just stating mine! One thing I did notice is that most people that played Halo 1 ONLY played (or mostly played) Blood Gulch. This was a major pistol/ sniper level, so if they did play this map all the time, I can understand people saying that they saw people using the pistol all the time.
I, along with a lot of other people, played the rest of the maps. I didn't only use the pistol, even though I was good with it (mostly 3 shot kills), but I also used the other weapons as well. I loved using the plasma rifle because of its ability to stall the other player. The AR was good at killing a player quickly if in close combat, (rockets as well, lol), and the sniper was great for long range. The pistol was just the "All around 'good' weapon."
You must also remember that since it was a well rounded weapon, everyone started with an equal chance to kill someone. SMG start limited a persons ability, especially when someone picked up a better weapon. There was no way to defend yourself from being spawn killed, no way to get better weapons (if the other team already had them. If they were noobs, you could take the weapons, but if they were equal to your skill, they'd -blam!- you), and a lot of the time, luck of spawn contributed. (Who spawned closer to the sword, rockets, sniper?)
My opinion is that in Halo 1, the pistol was used to balance the game out. In the hands of a good player, a person could kill in 3 shots. Blam blam blam. But that's the same for every gun, right? You have to be good to get that 3 shot kill. That's just saying that they're more skilled with that weapon. A person can be skilled at using the AR, Sniper, PR, etc.
The pistol, in my opinion, was averagely good at all ranges and battles (close, mid, and long range), whereas other guns had advantages at other ranges (rockets, AR and PR, sniper, etc)
That's my opinion.