Halo 4 UNSC weapons are looking kick...butt. I hope the SAW is a primary weapon but i highly doubt that. The other weapons look sick and i have been hearing rumors that the shottie will be a primary but i highly doubt that. i would like it if it remained a power weapon. Spazer looks as sexy as always Railgun will probably be my goto weapon in infinity slayer... If i can ever get a streak long enough to get me there. Rockets look like the halo reach rockets only, faster i would say. There is a lot less time for the target to rocket jump out of the killing blow. Sniper... OH how i suck with you , how ever it will still be sweet to pwn the noobs with. Machine gun turret looks absolutly fantastic. some of my best games have been with the machine gun turret in my hand. CTF on asylum, just hide behind the little ramp that leads down to the ground so that 3rd peron can see over the edge, and when the people come up the middle to take the flag. pop out and turn those suckers in to swiss spartan. AR looks a lot like the Reach AR. seems to unload the clip at the same speed and the damage looks about the same. BR never played halo 3 much but when i did... i used the carbine so we will see about this "Battle Riffle" DMR is my homey brother, i grew up with this thing, i have the perfect load out with this. DMR--Magnum--Frag--Promethean Vision--AA eficiency-- Awareness, Promethina vision is used to see around corners and Awareness for when im scoped in i can see people behind me. Magnum has gotten super nerfed 343 said it will now feel like a secondary rather than i primary Frag nades are now super bouncy which is good i hated reach were you would throw it and it do this midgit bounce and just stop... 508028279478928 feet from where you wanted it.... This is just what i think about the unsc weapons
"To be fair" seems like a strange phrase to start off a statement that you express uncertainty about. I haven't spent any time looking at new videos/info that weren't posted on FH (because I spend enough time on FH), so I'm not sure if you're saying that the reference bankshot capability of the railgun is a rumor or just something that was confirmed by 343i that you haven't actually seen yet. I don't see bankshots for such a low rate of fire weapon being practical; it seems no different than trying to pull off a sniper bankshot, albeit with a greater variety of angles available. Who knows if they would implement aim assist for lined-up bankshots (effectively giving away the proper angle). The slower grenade has a large (compared to a thin railgun line of fire) EMP kill radius, and a much larger (significant) damage radius. I was thinking that if there was to be a linear bankshot gun, it should have a continuous laser, like a focus rifle, perhaps with bankshot aim assist while the trigger was pulled. Perhaps it would be more damaging while banked than not, and even more damaging when banked twice. The effect of the railgun on vehicles could be compared to the concussion rifle/brute shot moreso than the grenade launcher, but anyway I think that creating an effective indirect fire weapon, with a visible moving projectile, and a unique mode of fire (even if the other mode is exactly like frag grenades) is what makes th GL fun and unique. Another straight-instant-shooter, like the DMR, sniper, or laser, isn't appealing to me. The weapon comparison that includes every characteristic of the railgun so far, as far as I can tell, is the likening of the railgun to a semi-laser, with a shift away from vehicles and towards infantry. Ummm.......... HOW exactly does the SAW look functionally different? If it's more powerful than the SMG and becomes a coveted power weapon, it's still functionally the same with the exception of creating a new contested point. The detachable turret seems to me like the closest thing that there should be to a "kill 'em all" berserk automatic weapon in halo. Maybe they increase the movement speed to 90% or 80%, seeing as how the lack of AA (and grenade) usage already limits the player's offensive and evasive maneuverability. To be honest, I bet that only experimenting novices will try the turret armor mod for detachable turrets (who knows about vehicle turrets) Did they yet say how the storm rifle wasn't just a covenant AR, perhaps effective against shields because they thought that the plasma rifle's slow projectiles weren't useful enough?
The weapons seem alright. Can't wait to try that Sticky detonator and the new SR. And the rail gun too. Personally, here's what I might have added also: New and old SMG- Halo needs it back personably. Assault Carbine- A even shorter range rifle. Maybe a AR cousin? (MA5K) from Ghosts of Onyx Grenade launcher Also, I think personably you should have two SRs, the one we have, the Anti-materiel, just make it less powerful against infantry and a one shot Bolt Action. But make it less powerful against vehicles.
Balanced sandbox = everything being exactly as powerful as each other is a very simplistic view on sandbox balance. So the only aspect of functionality is auto or semi auto? Sorry but I think that's way off. Functionality, or "place within the sandbox" as a more appropriate term, is not simply defined by auto, semi auto or explosive. Range, power, clip size and consistency etc. are also huge factors. The SAW is much more powerful, looks to have a longer range and has less recoil than an SMG. You're saying that a side arm and a full blown power weapon are functionally the same simply because they're both full auto, which to me seems senseless if we're talking about new weapons taking over from old ones. They have very different roles, foremost being that one is a power weapon and one isn't, so I really don't see how the SAW could be considered a replacement for the SMG.