I'm glad 343i has a deep understanding of the game and understand what the players want and what is needed for a competitive game.
I lol'd hard at this. Thank you for making my day. That sadly does sound a bit like 343, though.. Still looking, but to no avail.
I hate to be the first guy to post it and possibly derail the thread, but the DMR needs to be nerfed a slight bit. It just needs to be balanced out for killing time with other weapons. A slower firing rate would help, it fires pretty much as fast as a magnum and its easy as hell to 5 shot unscoped compared to a battle rifle or light rifle at the same range. I have no problem with the 3x range it makes it more long ranged and that adds variety to the sandbox of weapons, but DMR shouldn't have a clear advantage against every gun at all ranges, just long range as it is described.
Perhaps BR starts or a 4shot BR is in order? Also A+ on the thruster idea, if I haven't mentioned that already.
It seems you guys are going to hate me. I love Camo Sniping and I always bring the Ammo perk with me for those extra rounds. It does need nerfing as it's way too OP, but it's a little less useful when I run out of ammo for it. I hate the new scope mechanics. I prefered it when you were taken out of the scope for being shot at, not this annoying kickback business. It destroys the Team Snipers gametype as soon as you're shot once in the scope, you're ****ed and have to completely reset your aim, by which time you're dead. fixit 343.
Four shot might be too quick. And even though a lot of people love the DMR, I just wish it wasn't in the game.
4-shot or 5-shot is irrelevant. 4 Shots, but a one second delay between shots would be UP. It's still a 4-shot. I realize you probably mean to say a 4-shot with the current RoF would be OP, and it would, but if the RoF and shots to kill were changed, 4-shot wouldn't necessarily be OP or UP. The general idea that kill time needs to be decreased I agree with. Personally, I'd like a damage buff (11 rounds to kill instead of 13 or whatever it is) and a slight fire-rate nerf to put it juuuust above the DMR, leaving you 1 round to spare if you mess up a bit. Try and make it a CQB powerhouse again.
I believe it's 12 exactly (including the headshot). Not completely sure, though. Hence it's already 4sk if you make all 12 shots - 11 rounds would definitely be nice. Perhaps instead of nerfing the BR RoF, we could buff the other primaries. This line of thought could also increase the separation between a secondary and a primary in terms of strength. As for Mock, I couldn't agree less on the BR and I couldn't agree more on the boltshot. Especially with the damn reload glitch..
Idk if its classified as a glitch or nerf. But in reach if you held the analog to one side when hoping out of a vehicle(ghost/mongoose) where you could hope out either side, It helped amazingly to drive fast and be precise in your planning movements and you didn't accidentally splatter yourself all time. There is no way of doing this in Halo 4 that i know of and really annoys me because vehicles are weak enough this just limits what they can do even further.
You are not derailing this thread at all. I'd have to agree with you on nerfing the DMR. Not sure about the fire rate, but definitely the power. The problem is that people rely on it WAY too much. I saw a lot of this in Reach. As soon as the match starts, people would dump their AR. I'd say nerf the DMR a slight bit in terms of fire rate and fire power, and buff the AR a slight bit in terms of fire power, but not so much that it ends up on par with the SAW.
I can basically write this with my eyes closed by now, but here goes anyway: The issue with this constant obsession with "balancing" the DMR and AR (ie. making them exactly equal in power, which shows a strong misunderstanding of what balance actually means in game design) is that one is easier to use, so it should be weaker. The AR getting anymore powerful (and I mean anymore) would break it, it's already a serious buff from both Reach and Halo 3. I see no reason to nerf the DMR, either in terms of RoF or damage done, the kill time on it is good as is. By all means, buff the BR a bit to make a more viable alternative, but that does NOT need to be a serious buff, just a slight tweak. I'm actually pretty convinced of chrs' old argument now that the BR should be a 4 shot with a slightly decreased RoF, so it has a kill time roughly equal to that of the DMR, but holding its own advantages of being slightly more forgiving (burst, more aim magnetism and bullet magnetism), and disadvantages of being obviously worse at range. I know this always comes off as elitist, but it's true: the AR shouldn't be as powerful, nor as range effective, as the BR or DMR. Doing so would really damage the game as a whole.
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. The one thing I do feel about the DMR is that the extreme accuracy even at map-crossing range, combined with hitscan, is a little bit of a problem. I don't find it to be as "map-breaking" as people who complain about it on e.g. Ragnarok (I must be the only one who always felt like holding the middle hill on Valhalla was the best strategy, and that pinging people on either base from that hill using the BR was quite possible and not exactly hard to do). But there has to be a way other than Reach-style bloom to make that gun just a bit less deadly from miles away. To me Halo has always been most fun when it's oriented around the mid-range game, with some long and close quarters play sprinkled on top for flavor; the DMR in H4, or its ZB cousin in Reach, detract from that. As would making the AR any more powerful, by the way. I will say this for the new AR though: I like it better. The kill times are quicker which I ought to be opposed to as a precision weapon guy, but I like that the weapon feels useful, and I like the tighter focus in its shot spread. It seems like a little more of a skill weapon than before, and less likely to result in long, slow, stupid kill trades by two idiots charging each other while emptying an entire clip followed by a derp to the face. I really hated the AR in Reach; have used it less, but like it more, in H4.
I don't have a problem with the AR in its current form, I should say. Yes it's more powerful than the Reach or 3 ones, but then the kill times for precision weapons are down on both those games so it makes sense. I don't find being killed by an AR frustrating, nor do I think it's overly powerful. I do, however, think it's pretty much bang on the cusp (or rather the sweet spot). And yeah, I'd agree that it plays more skilfully than previous ARs. I actually also like the SAW in this regard. As a power weapon I think it does full auto very well without becoming a crutch for people who can't aim. Like you, I'm instinctively a precision weapon guy, but I'm genuinely happy about what they've done with the SAW. As for DMR nerf, my favourite answer to any question of range: damage drop off. Limits range without taking the accuracy route, and thus avoids inconsistency. It also adds opportunity for stuff like focusing on scoped use at range, since you can include a range indicator on the scope HUD to help judge how much damage you're doing. But it also offers opportunity for people who are good at getting an instinctive feel for a weapon's capabilities to benefit, since having a strong ability to estimate range, and thus estimate how much damage you're doing, is of distinct benefit. Not easy by any means, it's a tough balancing act, but it's gotta be worth a try if you ask me.
Damage drop-off. I love it. They should also reduce the flinch mechanic so that if you're pinging someone a mile away, they can easily fight back. If you are shooting someone from the main hill on Ragnarok who is in their base, I'd love to see it take about twice as many shots and have almost no perceivable flinch. Yet you can still hit shots with accuracy. I love this idea, truly I do. It seems like it should be a gradual curve (almost flat) to start, with a steep drop-off. That way the # of shots to kill is going to be about the same at most standard ranges; it's only when you get into near-sniping distance that it really starts taking much longer to finish kills.
Yeah, that'd be really important, actually. Hadn't thought of that. Yeah, exactly. It's gotta be something that impacts upon the mid to long range differential, rather than turning rifles in to shotguns at close range and dice rolls at mid range for anything other than seasoned vets.
Dude, I've been thinking the same thing, especially these past few days when our ideas keep aligning. If I had any clue how to code I'd have started on a basic arena shooter a while back. Also, damage drop off is very useful when it comes to things like Pistols. Want a fast RoF for a short range sidearm? No problem, just give it a quick damage drop off meaning it's effective in a real niche without making rifles redundant.