Why Halo 3 Needs a Single-shot Battle Rifle
One can easily trace the multi-player balance and game play development of the Halo series by following the features of the mid-range weapon of each game. The mid-range weapon of the game seems to always serve as central to the game’s weapon balance, and a change to the mid-range weapon affects every other aspect of the game.
In Halo 1 (or CE, as the fanboys love to call it) it was the Pistol.
It is unclear which aspects of the Pistol were intentional and which parts were design oversight on the part of Bungie. It would appear that the Pistol was intended to give a spawning player a fair chance to defend himself while he got his bearing on the map, whether he spawned in the middle of a close range fracas or under a Sniper’s cross-hair.
The Pistol accomplished this, and proved to be a very skilled weapon, serving as the backbone of all intermediate to expert competitive play. In the end, it was labeled by the mainstream as “overpowered”, and justifiably so, for a couple reasons:
1) While the Sniper Rifle served as the game’s long range weapon, the Pistol served as the game’s midrange weapon (along with the Rocket Launcher), the other 5 of Halo’s weapons were all limited exclusively to extremely close range combat.
While no one expected much range performance from the Shotgun, not even the Plasma Rifle or Assault Rifle were accurate enough to pose much of a threat past 10 yards. This created a huge gap between the “close range weapons” and “the mid-range weapons” (as well as the Sniper Rifle) which allowed someone with a pistol to easily pick off someone armed with the majority of the other weapons in the game before they even got close enough to think about causing damage.
The close-range weapons got some use in the close-range sphere, but their spreads were so large that even at 5 yards a large potential of their damage was lost and the Pistol often proved to be at an even keel even at what most would consider “close range”. The only real way to guarantee an advantage over the pistol was to be at point-blank range.
It was possible to conquer with the close range 5 if used properly in the right situations, most people remember Halo 1 as a Pistol-dominated game. Even if Halo 1’s combat still managed to be highly skilled, it lacked a considerable degree of variety due to the limited ability of the majority of the weapons in the game.
2) The Pistol acted like a rifle, outperforming conventional standard military weapons like the Assault Rifle in range and power. All the marines armed with AR’s in campaign were of no help to you. New players expecting size to matter took weeks to realize that most of the weapons that looked powerful were only functional as sidearms.
While ultimately this complaint was graphically based, most agree that from an aesthetic, logical, and realistic standpoint, having a pistol serve such a powerful and versatile role in the game as it did was just plain stupid.
In Halo 2, the mid-range role was served by the Battle Rifle. This served the immediate purpose of solving problem #2 of the Halo 1 Pistol. The weapon now acted like a rifle AND looked like a rifle. However, the Battle Rifle had it’s own weaknesses.
The Battle Rifle fired in 3-shot bursts. With 10 headshots needed to kill (4 bursts) and a 36 round magazine (12 trigger pulls till reload) it was similar in function to the Pistol, for an automatic weapon. The burst presented problems:
1) Headshots became easy and luck-based.
The burst essentially tripled your chances of making a headshot each time you fired. You could score headshots by just sweeping the crosshair in the general direction of the target’s upper body; even if the cross-hair wasn’t exactly on target when you fired, one of the 3 shots would probably hit. In situations where an average Pistol user would have shot frantically for the head and missed 3-5 times, a BR user could fire once or twice and score the headshot with almost no effort.
2) Because the BR now had spraying power, the close range weapons became even more obsolete.
In Halo 1, if your opponent had the active camouflage, it was often a good idea to switch from the Pistol to the AR and spray towards the enemy since precision was extremely difficult against an invisible enemy. In Halo 2 when you have the BR, there is no need to switch to the SMG because the BR’s burst fire provides sufficient spray towards the enemy’s general location. Even if only 1 bullet of a burst strikes, it illuminates the attacker’s shields, giving away his location and allowing you to then drill him with headshots.
Likewise in Halo 1, it was often smart to trade your Pistol for an AR or Shotgun once you already had a power weapon like the Sniper Rifle or Rocket Launcher. These weapons were weak in-close and the AR or Shotgun was the perfect solution. Furthermore, if you ran out of ammo for the power weapon, but managed to heavily damage the target, it was easier to finish him off with some spray from the AR or Shotgun even at mid-range than to go for a precise headshot with Pistol or Sniper, or wait for Rockets to reload.
In Halo 2, this use for the SMG and Shotgun is eliminated, because the BR has it’s own spraying ability which is even more reliable, mid-range capable, and even extremely deadly at close range due to sweeping headshots. Meanwhile, the SMG has been nerfed to balance Dual Wielding and the Shotgun nerfed to balance the Sword. Thus, once you have the BR, all close range weapons other than the Sword instantly become obsolete.
3) The time it takes to actually fire the 3 shots of a burst in succession, despite being minimal, increases the overall time needed to kill compaired to a single shot with triple the power and an equal re-fire rate. While this disadvantage was more than compensated for by the ease in hitting targets with the weapon, it proliferated a phenomenon where in distance combat, players hit by the BR could easily take cover and recharge shields before taking enough damage to be killed.
In combat against a Sniper Rifle or even another Battle Rifle, someone using a BR could easily stop the enemy from retaliating by hitting with part of a burst and disabling their scope, but the enemy would duck for cover and recharge whenever necessary. Thus, rather than producing an intense fight where the victory is quickly decided by he who got the drop on the other and high shooting precision was rewarded with quick death of the enemy, long range combat with the BR became a drawn out affair where hitting the target is easy, but finishing the target was near impossible and more time was spent waiting for parties to emerge from cover than exchanging decisive gunfire.
In Halo 3, the player starts with a new and improved Assault Rifle which is accurate enough to pose a threat at mid-range, but still does not score headshots. In exchange for it’s increased accuracy, the AR’s magazine has been reduced from 60 to 32 rounds. This improvement to the AR addresses many chronic problems in the Halo series, such as the common close-range weapons having no capability in mid-range and getting slaughtered by the longer-range weapons outside of point-blank range. However, it still leaves a hole for a more accurate, headshot capable mid-range weapon to provide an advantage to players who take the time to traverse the map and scavenge for better weapons.
Now that there are two automatic weapons with 30-round magazines which can deal damage at mid-range, there is another strike against the BR’s burst fire. Rather than being two distinct, unique weapons, the BR is going to feel like just a more accurate, headshot-capable variant of the AR. The slight pause every 3 shots and the 4 extra rounds per magazine are not going to make for very major differences between the two weapons.
Meanwhile, there is a faction of nostalgic fans who were disappointed by Halo 2’s weak Magnum and are angrily campaigning on the internet for the original Halo 1 Pistol to make a return. Due to their abrasive nature and tendency to sling around the terms “pro gamerz” and “n00bz”, they rarely succeed in convincing anyone of the faults of the Halo 2 Battle Rifle and only make casual players glad that the “overpowered 3sk hand-cannon” was removed. This obscures the beneficial aspects of the Pistol that existed among the pigsty of balance issues and makes it even less likely that a solution to Halo’s problems will be reached.
Fortunately, there is a solution to all this…
I’ve been saying this for a long time and usually found myself alone in supporting the idea, but now even kids on the Bungie forums are starting to think of it on their own. A semi-automatic Battle Rifle would solve almost all of the issues with both Halo 1’s Pistol and Halo 2’s BR. However, there are specific ways this would have to be implemented to get things right:
1) A semi-automatic Battle Rifle would need to have a moderate re-fire rate to truly alleviate Halo 2’s problems with rapid-fire headshots.
Halo 2 also had the Covenant Carbine which supplied an alien alternative to the Battle Rifle…it technically did fire single shots instead of bursts, but the refire rate was so fast that the difference was relatively minor. Headshots were still very easy and could be accomplished by aiming in the enemy’s general direction and mashing the trigger as fast as possible. While the BR did have a considerable pause between every 3 shots and thus was somewhat stilted in it’s ability to deliver continues fire, the “semi-automatic” nature of the Carbine allowed for the delivery of a constant stream of rapid-fire headshot-capable particles ending only when the magazine went dry.
A semi-automatic refire rate of around 3 shots per second, which coincidentally happens to approximate the Halo 1 Pistol’s rate of fire, is considerably slower than the Carbine’s and would be the most appropriate for the Battle Rifle.
2) With a comparatively slow fire rate, a single-shot Battle Rifle could achieve a balanced kill in four shots to the head.
With a refire rate similar to the Carbine or H2 Magnum, only a 7 shot kill or 9 shot kill (respectively) would be balanced. This large volume of shots needed to kill contributed to the problem #3 of the Battle Rifle as well as those of the Carbine, while placing the importance of aiming well and carefully placing individual shots relatively low.
The Pistol killed in 3 shots to the head, but this has been labeled by the mainstream of Halo fans as “overpowered” ever since. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think the “3sk” was the root cause of Halo 1’s balance issues. As I have said, I think the root cause was the piss-poor mid-range capability of the other weapons… However, today no casual player will ever accept a proposal which entails a 3 shot kill mid-range weapon in Halo because of the history involved.
A four shot kill presents an even compromise. It’s far less than the Carbine’s 7sk and the H2 BR’s 10sk, but not as cripplingly powerfull as the “evil 3sk” fans remember from the Pistol. It is also similar in number to the “four burst kill” ascribed to the BR when you consider each 3 shots as a single trigger pull. With the time taken to fire 3 bullets for each shot removed, I think a single shot 4sk BR would still have substiantially less of the H2 BR’s problem #3 factor.
3) With the ability to kill in four shots, a 36 round magazine would not do.
If you look at most of the weapons in Halo 1, each weapon’s magazine capacity is equal to 4x the minimum amount needed to make a kill. The Sniper Rifle had a 4 round magazine, AR had a 60 round magazine, and the Pistol had a 12 round magazine.
In Halo 2 this was reduced even further. The SMG was a 30sk with a 60 round magazine, yielding only 2 kills to the mag. The Carbine’s 18 round magazine yielded about 2.5 kills, and with 4 bursts required to kill, the BR’s 36 round magazine allowed for`3 kills before reloading. In an extreme case, the Magnum had a 12 round magazine, but after the version 1.1 “auto-update” released on Xbox Live 6 months after Halo 2 shipped, it took 13 shots to the head to kill.
Therefore, depending on Halo 3’s overall balance, with 4 shots to kill, a 16 round magazine could be acceptable, but most likey a 12 round magazine would be best for a single-shot Battle Rifle. (Just please don’t make it 8 and stick us back in World War II).
That is the basis for my suggested implementation of the single-shot battle rifle; comparatively slow semi-auto fire (about 3 shots a second), 4 headshot kill, and 12-16 round magazine. However, I almost always run into contrary suggestions.
Here are common objections:
1) “Waah! but I want teh Pistol!111″
Many people are so dead-set on getting back that “CE Pistol” that they won’t even accept the advantages of a single-shot Battle Rifle that works in an almost identical manner as The Pistol. Bringing back the Pistol would be stupid, for reasons I’ve allready mentioned, but here goes the bottom line:
There is absolutely no advantage to implementing the weapon as a pistol if a rifle can be made to accomplish the exact same functionality just as easily. The pair of images above should make it painfully obvious that the rifle looks far more apropriate to the role it acts.
While the real balance issues caused by the Pistol had to do with it’s function in gameplay, the vast majority of casual players see the Pistol as overpowered simply on the grounds that it is a handgun. While the visual component of the weapon is not as important as its gameplay function, you’re immediately setting yourself up for an impossible uphill battle by demanding the weapon look like a Pistol.
If you actually want to bring the skill and balance of your precious “CE Pistol” back to Halo 3, stop being a sentimental dumbass and let go of the pistol model. In my experience, if you suggest a rifle with the same stats as the Pistol, as long as you leave the words “3sk” and “Pistol” out of the arguement, people who were kicking and screaming that they didn’t want the CE Pistol in Halo 3 will instantly accept a single-shot Battle Rifle even if it is ultimately just a pistol with a new “rifle” skin.
A single shot Battle Rifle accomplishes all that bringing back the CE Pistol would, without the huge objection from the non-pro player base. When keeping the pistol skin bears no advantage, why fight so stubornly over it?
2) “12 round magazines on rifles are unrealistic.”
Another common objection I get is that since modern assault rifles carry 30 rounds, 12 round magazines are too small to realistically be found on futuristic rifle. The truth is, realism is not important in a sci-fi multiplayer game, balance is. The balance of a 12 round magazine works out much better than a weak 36 round spam clicker.
Furthermore, if you want to get realistic, the 9.5mm or 12.7mm rifle cartidges likely to be used in a Halo 3 BR are much bigger than real life 7.62mm battle rifle bullets, which themselves only fit 20 rounds to a magazine. Given this fact, it’s pretty believable that larger bullets would only fit 12-16 rounds per mag.
As it is, even 7.62mm battle rifles have too much recoil to be fired effectively in full-auto, which would explain the semi-auto nature of a single-shot BR.
In a sci-fi game, you can make up whatever fantasy bullshit you want to support the specs that work for gameplay. The UNSC is using bigger bullets because they want a standard weapon which will punch through Covenant energy shields in fewer than 10-15 shots…something the AR and BR failed to do earlier in the war (aka Halo 1 & 2).
3) “OMG uncapped semi-auto wud b kewl!111″
Many times, kids want the BR to be a semi-automatic in the nature of the magnum, where there is no enforced pause in-between each shot, allowing you to blaze away on the trigger as fast as possible. If it fires that fast, there is really nothing single-shot about it, you will allways be mashing a hail of bullets out of that trigger, and you will need to in order to survive, becuase such a weapon could only be balanced with a 9-12sk damage rate. I have criticized the Carbine for this very reason, and we don’t need two of them…not to mention the issues which would arise as soon as little Johny n00b comes home with a turbo controller he picked up at EB Games.
4) “The Carbine is allready single-shot.”
I mentioned the gross rapid fire nature of the Covenant Carbine before, but many make the mistake of beleiving that the CC (as I like to call it) is more similar to the Halo 1 Pistol than it is to the Halo 2 Battle Rifle. This is simply not the case…aside from the aforementioned spray-and-pray factor, it doesn’t even get a solid 3 kills to the magazine (7sk, 18 rounds) and bears double the spread of the Battle RIfle.
Some have suggested simply modifying the CC to the specs I have proposed for the BR. This will not do for two reasons:
- This leaves the BR’s luck-based sweeping burst fire in the game.
I think it’s reasonable to have 1 skilled mid-range headshot weapon and 1 rapid-fire mid-range headshot weapon in the game for the sake of novelty. But, if this is going to be the case, I would rather go with the lesser of two evils in the rapid-fire semi-auto iteration rather than the burst-fire iteration.
Furthermore, the AR has to be considered, as it will now play a mid-range role, and more variation is to be gained between the automatic AR and the semi-auto Carbine than the AR and an automatic-burst BR.
- This makes the preferred mid-range weapon of the game a cheap Covenant clone.
The main mid-range weapon of the game needs to be capable of being commonly issued to players and marines in campaign, as well as to spawning spartans in multiplayer. It should be obvious why a UNSC weapon would be better suited to that role than a Covenant one.
The single-shot BR as I have proposed it is essentially a balanced, visually-appropriate iteration of the Halo 1 pistol. That is what the BR was meant to be in Halo 2, it just wasn’t pulled off as well as Bungie originally intended. In early E3 demos of Halo 2, the BR was single-shot to begin with. The Carbine was only created as a tool for balancing campaign, as the enemies had no weapon with comparable long-range abilities to the BR.
Why make the “new pistol” an alien weapon primarily carried by enemies in campaign, and not a standard human weapon?
Fixing the BR will not fix the whole game. The primary thing that continues to cause balance issues in the Halo series is the gimpy close range weapons. Whether they are used in single format or dual-wielded at half the individual power, they persist in being useless for anything other than spray-and-pray at 5 yards distance. This creates a huge gap between these weapons and the privileged few ‘mid’ and ‘long-ranged’ weapons in the game.
The AR is a step in the right direction, but Bungie needs to realize that even close range weapons need some base moderate capability at mid-range, otherwise they will never have a fighting chance or a major use outside of maps that are exclusively constructed of 5 meter long hallways. Disasters like the Halo 2 Shotgun’s Donut Spread and the SMG’s ring spread are exactly why just giving the player the ability to carry 2 guns will never raise their role in the game.
Fixing the BR simply ensures that even if Halo 3 does become a BR dominated game, as Halo 2 did once the MLG corrected Bungie’s SMG-spawn fiasco, then BR combat will atleast be as skilled as possible, and the other weapons will have as much of a chance to stand out as possible, rather than being muscled out by sweeping pin-point automatic burst headshots.
Rumors have propagated on the Bungie.net forums (as they tend to do) that Bungie has allready anounced that the BR will be semi-automatic in Halo 3. As far as I can see no mention of it was made in the recent EGM cover story or on Bungie’s news page, so we can all assume that as of now the H3 BR remains in burst mode.
The only change to the BR seen so far in Halo 3 is the extended barrel. Instead of the standard 20″ barrel seen in most modern combat rifles, the BR is now modeled with an extended barrel (probably about 26″) intended to visually emphasize the weapon’s long range performance. You can see it in the image at the top of this article.
However, the redundant nature of the 32-round automatic AR, and the 36-round burst-fire BR is pretty blatant. What’s more, Bungie has allready acknowledged the desire among fans for a mid-range weapon closer in function to the Pistol. In the original beta demos for Halo 2, the BR was single-shot to begin with. There is some possibility that they will change the BR as of yet, particularly if the idea becomes wisespread enough online.
It’s really nice to see something like this just because everyone bitches about Halo and Halo 2 and how they suck, but they don’t know why. It’s cool to see someone finally take a technical look at things. I think the guys over at Bungie need to check this post.
In all honesty, I think weapon balance is something that Bungie really needs to work out if they want the Halo franchise to continue to be the powerhoues that it has been in the past. For me, Halo 1 was truly epic. The single player was fun, even if you were retracing levels, and the multiplayer was absolutely amazing. My friends and I had tons of LAN parties for it. It didn’t take long for the game to become dominated by the pistol. When we’d play Deathmatches on Blood Gultch, your options were to 1.) find a place to set up camp with the pistol and try to take out whoever comes by and/or spawns near you or 2.) make a break for the sniper rifle and find an out of the way place you can sit. Despite this, it was still insanely fun, although I have to admit that part of that probably stems from the fact that at the time most of us were in the “zomg, Halo roXXorZ!” category of fanboyism.
The wait from Halo 1 to Halo 2 was agonizing. We all wanted to get our hands on the next Halo game so bad. We literally couldn’t wait for it. A friend of mine put in his pre-order for Halo 2 as soon as EB started taking them, meaning that his receipt for it was all but faded to being unreadable by the time the game was actually released.
Halo 2 was just too much of a change, though. We had one LAN party for it and that was it. No one really had any desire to really play it and really get good. Even with the pistol dominating the first title, you still knew that getting those headshots right on the faceplate was taking some margin of skill, where as the BR in Halo 2 negated that.
Now, with Halo 3 in the works, I just don’t have the same excitement for the series. Would I like to play the next Halo game? Most definitely. It’s not the life-encompassing event that it was between Halo 1 and Halo 2, though. Despite the fact that they’ve had great sales, I would go so far as to say that Bungie needs to revive the series. Plenty of fans were disappointed with Halo 2 and I’m not so sure if they’ll be willing to continue to support the series to avidly if they only get more disappointment with Halo 3. I know that there were a lot of complaints about Halo 2 in regards to the story, but pushing the aside, the game just wasn’t as much fun as Halo 1 was. What makes FPS titles fun? The weapons.
It’s amazing how quickly the enthusiasm for Halo 2 died among many Halo 1 fans. I didn’t have an Xbox when H2 first dropped, and I wasn’t as much of a fanboy as some of my friends, so I wasn’t eagerly awaiting it, but I had friends who got it the day it came out.
Some were immediately underwhelmed while others stuck with it for a while, but a year later almost everyone who had been eagerly awaiting H2 were playing Halo 1 again and wouldn’t touc Halo 2 unless you begged.
The funny thing for me is I’ve been saying a lot of things for years that Bungie is just now begining to admit. When me and my friends used to play H1 in 2002 I was constantly bitching about how crappy and innacurate the assault rifle was and my friends didn’t listen. Bungie didn’t get it either, and Halo 2 proceeded with the SMG in much the same way.
Now 4 years later Bungie has finally decided to extend the Assault Rifle’s range as I always said they should. When H3 comes out in 2007, Bungie will finally have implemented a feature I will have been suggesting for the past 5 years.
Um… Halo 2 is fine the way it is. The balance issues can and will be fixed for Halo 3, but as of now, Halo 2 is fine the way it is. The BR is the best all around weapon in the game. It’s good at close range because of the BXR and good at mid-far range. Look at all the pros that are good with the BR and look at all the MLG players… they don’t bitch about the BR and balancing issues because they can kill anyone with any weapon if they have a BR. The BR takes skill to use (not luck as you stated in your post) effectively and the only reason I can come up with for this post is that you can’t effectively use the gun when other people can. And saying that it takes luck to use the BR, further implies that you are a nOOb a Halo 2. If I could give you a thumbs down I would.
Actually, I hear plenty of MLG and other pros bitching about the BR. Usually it has to do with the massive amount of auto-aim, and the fact that due to the spread you cannot get 4sk’s at long range because some bullets will randomly miss (even if your crosshair is perfectly on target).
…not to mention the fact that, like the CE Pistol, the BR is such an all-purpose weapon that aside from the Sniper, Rocket, and Sword, you have no reason to pick up anything else once you have it. The MLG’s BR start games may be more balanced than Bungie’s vanilla SMG starts, but they lack just as much variety has Halo CE’s all-pistol matches, if not more.
Why add so many new weapons to the game when the BR(Pistol), Sniper, Rocket and Sword(Shotgun) are still going to be the only ones worth using?
You said that “you cannot get 4sk’s as long range because some bullets will randomly miss (even if your crosshair is perfectly on target).” well that is a flaw in your argument. If your talking to pros, they know more than anyone how to lead the moving target so that they can get a maximum of 6 shots in to kill someone. No pro puts his crosshairs on someone at a long distance exactly center.
The BR bullets don’t spread. I have fired a full clip across Midship and Lockout (the two most used MLG maps) and it hit the same spot on the wall every time, even unscoped. The auto-aim is present for any gun in the game, but it still takes practice and skill to keep the crosshairs on a strafing, moving, and jumping target to get the 4 shot kill.
The reason MLG makes it BR starts is because then you have a way to defend yourself against anything that is thrown at you, like with Halo CE’s pistol. MLG realized that with the SMG, a player can’t do anything to kill someone with a BR, Sniper, etc. Besides, all Halo CE MLG tournaments have the Pistol starts, which takes skill to use like the BR.
The power weapons are there to help the team make strategy according to who has what weapon, who is best with what weapons, and where they will use said weapons to control the map and beat the opposing team.
If everyone on the opposing team has a BR, than your constantly getting shot at, and you die fast. It’s very hard to win a 2v1 fight the two guys your fighting also has a BR.
Pros don’t bitch about the BR. In fact, if you were to ask them if they prefer BR or SMG starts, they will say BR because it’s the most balanced and best all-around weapon in the game. That’s the reason MLG does it that way.
Bungie was thinking of making the BR a three round burst unscoped, and single shot scoped, but they figured out that it would take far too long to get twelve shots in on a guy far away. They did the right thing keeping it three round burst all around.
BR doesn’t spread my ass.
The group on the left is the BR, the one on the right is the Carbine. The effect of spread in the BR is quite well known, beyond a certain range, even if the crosshair is exactly on a STATIONARY target (ie you can try it out by yourself with 2 controllers by yourself in split screen) the BR will not kill in 4 bursts consistently. The fact that you have to lead on moving targets is irrelevant; as the split screen experiment shows, even if you are leading perfectly, you will still not make the 4sk.
I am also well aware of why the MLG uses the settings they use, and I’m glad you brought it up. If the MLG doesn’t take issue’s with Halo 2’s balance, then why do they do through such lengths to change it? Bungie has admited themselves that the game has balance problems, which is why they’re doing what they’re doing with Halo 3.
You’re missing the point. Yes, it does take some skill to use the BR, in fact, it takes more skill than most of the weapons in Halo 2, but then in the steaming pile of crap that is H2’s arsenal, that’s not saying much.
Ask any pro and they will tell you that the CE Pistol took considerably more skill to use and is overall prefered to the BR. That is the point; the BR may be one of the best weapons in Halo 2, but it is still inferior to the CE Pistol. Implenting the BR in single shot the way I have suggested would simultanouesly solve all negative issues with both weapons and only serve to improve the game. If you argue with this point, then you are refuting yourself, because the CE Pistol is almost universally prefered to the H2 BR by the pros.
There are many good reasons to implement the BR in the way I have suggested, while the only reason of any remote substance is simply that it would contradict the way the BR was allready established to work in Halo 2. In Halo 1, the AR had crap accuracy and a 60 round magazine; in Halo 3 they have implemented the AR with good accuracy and a 32 round magazine… They can reconfigure the BR just as well.
I know of the burst/semi implementation of the BR in the E3 demos, I mentioned it in the article. It has no bearing on my argument as it is NOT the way I have proposed implementing it, and there are obvious reasons why wouldn’t work. I’m starting to wonder if you even read the article, or just saw that I was criticizing your favorite game and immediately made an uneducated response.
By the way, FYI, the BR actually takes 10 individual bullets to kill, not 12.
I said that pros prefer the BR over SMG starts… not BR over CE’s Pistol.
The main point I was trying to get across (I know i probably didn’t make it clear enough, and if thats the case then I apologize for that) was about one thing you said in your article that really bugged me. It was when you said that the BR takes no skill and is a luck based weapon to use. I find that completely wrong on your part because it really does take practice, precise aiming, and skill to effectively use the BR.
Your arguments were valid, and your research was well done and very well put across. But I still disagree with a few things you said, especially the no skill part.
Wow, it looks like I’ve been missing out all of the fun. I know that Julian just said this in his last post, but I’m going to reiterate because you don’t seem to understand. RELATIVE TO HALO 2, the Battle Rifle takes skill to use, yes. However, that’s not saying much relative to competitive FPS titles as a whole. Sure, it takes more skill and more practice to be able to kill people with the Battle Rifle than it does with the Sword, for example, but compare the relative skill needed to successfully use the Battle Rifle in Halo 2 to the relative skill needed to successfully use the AWP in Counter-Strike, for example. The argument that learning to use the Battle Rifle in Halo 2 takes just as much skill as learning to use the AWP in Counter-Strike or the Rail Gun in Quake is just… ridiculous. It’s a moot point anyway… the spread and inconsistant hit-ratio of the Battle Rifle in unmoving targets makes the whole idea of practicing with the it funny… because even when you should hit your targets, you still don’t sometimes and all the practice in the world isn’t going to change that in Halo 2.
I really don’t see why we have to put other games into this argument. We are talking about Halo 2 here. Halo CE set the bar for Console FPS games across the bored when it was released. CS and Quake (I’m going to assume you are talking about the PC versions) are exactly what I said. PC games. So you can’t compare PC FPS with an Xbox FPS. They are too different.
Yes it takes less skill to use the Battle Rifle than the AWP, but then again if you give a PC Pro Gamer an Xbox controller and told him to play Halo 2, he wouldn’t be able to, and the same thing is true the other way around. It’s like telling a football player so play rugby. They are similar, but different enough that he wouldn’t be able to do too well against people who have been playing it for a lot longer time. Each game has its level of expertise that must be mastered. I’m a huge fan of CS, so I’m not being a fanboy. I’m simply saying that comparing a PC and Xbox game does not make for a valid argument. Even if you want to compare the Xbox version of Halo CE to the PC version, a Pro Xbox Halo CE player won’t do well on with a Mouse and Keyboard.
Actually Julian, what you said about taking 10 individual bullets is wrong. If you were to shoot 3 bursts into an enemy and then did a quick RX (shoots one bullet and reloads) one more time, it wouldn’t kill the enemy. It takes all 12 bullets to kill one person. The last burst’s first two shots takes down the shield completely and the last bullet contacts the head and kills. You might want to redo that research.
Well, there are ways to compair…Countertstrike is available for Xbox, Halo is available for PC, and Quake 4 is available for 360. However, I’m going to leave it simply at the Pistol in Halo vs the BR in Halo 2…there is much less luck factor with the Pistol.
I will check again on the bullets required to kill…I’m pretty sure I have fired 3 bursts into a target, then finished him with 1 RX last time I did a split screen test.
I did the 12 shots test more than once to make sure that it was consistent and not random and it was the same every time.
One thing that I do to make sure I win BR fights is after i know I got shot 3 times, I jump and crouch continuously in the air, that way they have to re-aim on my head and I get a chance to either Double shot for the finish or just do one or two more normal shots. There are a lot of ways to make sure that you don’t get killed with the BR. That is one of the luck factors IMO.
If you go up against someone who is good, and does the said jump technique, or double shots, than it is going to be hard to kill him. But yes the Halo CE pistol does take more skill and practice to perfect than the BR, but they are both hard to master.
I totally and completely agree with your analysis. But don’t forget, like I often do, how old you are. I’m also over 20 years old and I too need to play a videogame that rewards my technical ablities. Halo CE’s pistol was perfect in that regard. Despite its overly powerful damage, it ensured that the most talented and technically profficient players won. Thats why a single shot BR that is more accurate over long distances (and with less auto aim) would do a great job of fixing most of the problems associated with H2.
Unfortunately, I doubt that we’ll get our wish. Bungie was well aware of the fact that an online game predicated on rewarding those with superior technical abilities won’t sit well with their desired demographic. They would rather to the casual/younger game bc they simply cannot market a game with a type of gameplay suited for the 18-24 “sophisticated/Halo:CE experienced” demographic. They’d rather take the demographic of all 12-18 yr olds + the less sophisticated half of the 18-24 yr olds bc its a larger, more profitable audience. Whether or not you can blame them for their apparant sellout is another issue.
In any case, you can see their preference for Pray/Spray in other parts of H2’s gameplay as well:
1)Level Design: Multiplayer levels were far more complex in H2 than in Halo:CE. I don’t think complex levels necessarily equates to better gameplay. A skilled player in H1 would be capable of watching his flanks at all times, making it impossible for the “n00b ambush” to happen. This is rendered impossible in H2 bc of the complexity of the levels, and, even if you know the level like the back of ur hand, its impossible to watch ur flanks at all times because of how complex it is. This is a complicated and subtle point that I doubt will sit well with most people: that the simpler the geometry of a board, the better the gameplay. I could write a 20 page paper on why that’s true. (I know…I need a life) The key thing to remember here is that FPS games, in my opinion, should be more about the feeling of immersiveness than realism.
2) Radar: This is the most undervalued part of FPS games that are played competatively. Radar that has decent range signifigantly decreases the chance of a “n00b ambush” bc a skilled player will be well aware of their presense before they go for their bonehead Pray/Spray charge. In H2 the radar is too weak to prevent a charge attack from a flank.
3) Depth of View: Halo:CE, as illustrated by the screenshots in the above article, gave the player a wider view of the action. The more we saw on the screen, the lesser the chances of a “n00b ambush”
Conclusion: The desire to ignore the 18-24 sophisticated demographic, in my opinion, is a major shortfall of most videogames on the market. The Pray/Spray approach to an FPS works well with the younger/less experienced game player, but the brilliant tactical movements associated with pistol saavy players of Halo:CE isn’t something that rests well with the majority.
And dont even get me started with campaign mode…
(populism … aka the collective stupidity of the masses)
This is a very in-depth look at a game’s design issues, with solutions in addition to the gripes. Nicely done.
Glad you guys liked the article too. I actually have a surprise on the way in the form of a mod that addresses these balance issues in Halo 2, and to a lesser extent, Halo 1. Like the Halo 2 CE mod, you have to softmod your Xbox to try it, but for those willing to go through the trouble, it should be worth it once everything is worked out.
Jesus. I’m a huge halo fan, but I have to agree with all your points and compliment you on your amazingly well thought out and well documented blog.
Yeah good Blog. But don’t forget about an important reason to keep the BR as a burst shot, that is that it’s fun! The reason: weapon variety. You mentioned the need for novelty (meaning variety I would supose) in weapons breifly but I don’t think the importance was really emphasized (perhaps because you would disagree). While balance is of course important It’s easy to get to caught up in gameplay balance (as I have to!) and forget about that how the guns “feel” and “act” “in an interesting way” is very important. You may have forgotten (I had) that you once thought this to when you first played Halo(1 or 2), you’d pick up this big rifle called a BR, and you’d say “Wow! I can shoot a “burst” shot! I’ve never shot a gun like that before!”, or atleast i did.. If it shot just like another carbine(only a little slower) it would be i think..less interesting. Of course the BR needs to be balanced but keep it a burst shot, that’s its trademark! just make it less powerful (or something else).
re: H3 BR
GnaM
Posted: 06/19/2007
I certainly agree that weapons should retain variety, in fact that’s one of the reasons why I dislike the burst shot. In the grand scheme of things, Halo is inundated with automatic bullet hose weapons of various ilks; the way I see it, making the BR burst-fire just makes into a mid-range bullet hose instead of a unique weapon.
Also, I understand what you mean when you say “wow, I’ve never shot a burst weapon before” as Halo 2 was really the first sci-fi/fantasy shooter to feature a burst weapon, but in tactical shooters (and in real life) burst fire modes are extremely common. In the grand scheme of things, while the burst firemode was a unique feature for Halo, it’s much more common than what you might think.
I guess my objection is more with the use of burst fire specifically on the BR than anything else. In my Halo 1 mod, I actually use burst fire with the AR the majority of the time (by releasing the trigger after 3 rounds) because it yields better accuracy, and I love the AR implementation in my mod.
I think the problem is Bungie just got their weapon roles reversed. The AR should be the weapon intended primarily for burst fire, while the BR stays single-shot and the SMG takes on unrestrained auto-fire. As it is in Halo 3, the AR is really performing more the role that the SMG should, except that Bungie doesn’t want you to be able to dual-wield from spawn so the SMG can’t be a starting weapon…otherwise the two weapons are pretty similar and redundant.
So, my point is it should have been like this:
——————-
the AR doesn’t necessarily have to be restricted to burst fire only, but it should have been implemented so that burst or rapid single-fire provides high accuracy, and extended fire reduces your accuracy too much to use beyond point-blank range.
The SMG would have no accuracy penalty for extended fire, but it’s accuracy would only be moderately good to begin with. When dual-wielding, the spread would double, discouraging you from dual-wielding by default.
Thus, the AR would be potentially much more accurate than the SMG when fired in single/short-burst fire, but less accurate when fired in extended bursts. The SMG would have pretty good accuracy considering you can just hold the trigger down and drag the reticle onto the opponent with no worries…but at mid/long range it wouldn’t guarantee an immediate hit the way the AR does…you’d basically just be relying on luck to land your shots.
Then the BR could just be a re-modeled Pistol essentially as I’ve always suggested, and you’d have a pretty good spread of variety among the human firearms.
————
As for the Carbine, I feel like that weapon just needs to a new gimmick. As a single shot weapon, I don’t think it’s very good because the rate of fire is so fast…it’s ok but the slower rate of fire of the pistol/single-shot BR is far preferable. If you reduced the rate of fire to spec, it would just sound weak since we’ve all be trained to hear the Carbine shot sounds in rapid succession (believe me, I tried it in my Halo 2 mod, and that’s what happened).
I think the best thing for the carbine would be to make it like a burst-fire version of the sentinel beam. In other words, it would look like a single-shot, but it would actually be a beam that projected through the air for a fraction of a second. That’s really something that hasn’t been done before…
I thoght about your idea and i think it would be probably the most LOGICAL way to balance weapons, and it even seems to offer a good bit of variety with a ‘bullet hose,’ a burst shot, a single shot, and even a novel beam idea, for the weapons. the problem for me is that your changes over all would slow down the speed at wich all the weapons shoot. this would be fine for a more realistic tactical shooter, but to me the style of Halo has always incorperated fast paced gameplay with mostly fast shooting guns. I guess you could call this a preference but I think it’s still a valid arguement. but it’s not just about what Halo’s always done because iv’e never thought the non-duel-weildable scoped HaloCE pistol ever fit the Halo universe very well, it just always looked like something a spy would have (a scoped pistol!). Except I do like your Carbine idea, only i would keep the carbine how it is and aply your changes to the sentenal beam instead (make it actualy worth getting!)
the weapon system in halo 3 is near perfect as it is. Br is fine with 3 round burst shot. Who ever wrote this probabbly sucks using the br and wants it reduced to one shot.
The burst fire makes the BR easier to use. If I sucked with the BR, why would I want to make it single shot, which would make it harder? Good thinking, you flaming troll n00b.
kudos for all the thought put into your post and i agree in most cases but i think the idea of a single shot BR is far fetched at best, not saying i would not welcome it though.
fyi
bungie have spent years balancing the weapons and maps and I am able to sleep at night knowing that they’ll do a good job in Halo 2 too.
Not all the weapons have to be equal – that would be boring – an also not appropriate for all situations. the BR is fine for mid range, as was the Halo 1 pistol – they were both crap for long range and short range. I think Halo 1 worked fine. I think Halo 2 worked fine. I think Halo 3 will work fine….. just relax dude and enjoy the game. It’s 99% about skill & 1% about weapon balance. If you’ve got the goods, you can overcome any perceived weapon balance. (eg. put a sticky on the guy with the sword on midship, shottie, plasma/BR combo etc etc)
dotRedcoat -
If Halo 1 worked fine, then why has Bungie publicly stated that the H1 Pistol was a mistake never to be repeated? And why does the mere mention of the Pistol or TSK cause huge flame wars and debates to break out on any Halo message board?
If Halo 2 worked fine, then why did Bungie openly admit that the SMG starts, spawn system, and dual-wielding use were problems in H2 to be remedied in Halo 3? …not to mention the fact that IGN, 1Up, other websites, and legions of fans harshly criticized Halo 2, labeling as inferior to Halo 1, or downright broken?
Every aspect being overhauled in Halo 3 indicates an area where Bungie knows they screwed up in the past, and where they’re acknowledging players’ criticisms of the game. That said, it doesn’t mean everything they’re doing in Halo 3 is perfectly on track.
x hove x -
Thanks, but single shot BR’s already exist in real life, so how is it far fetched?
I definately agree with the fact that the BR in the Halo 3 Beta felt more like a more acurate AR, however I feel that is where it needs to be. You still have to consider the fact that there more than likely is a brute “BR” or “CC” as you like to call it (a good call at that), so we have to wait and see to know for sure how it will fit in. The only difference I noticed with the new BR was that it had considerably less drag and was harder to sweep and hit people, which was the number one complaint. I believe that balance comes mainly from level design and less from downgrading weapons. This is especialy true considering the amount of weapons available in H3. Great post and I think it goes without saying that this will be the most updated game of all time (just under Starcraft to be realistic). Hope to see you all in Sept!
Thanks! I hope you’re correct in predicting that Bungie will update Halo 3 frequently. My experience with console FPS like Halo 2 and Killzone 1 has been that the developers mostly neglect the game after its released, mostly ignoring fan complaints over glaring problems and only releasing a few obligatory patches with only minor improvements, just to generate headlines for the game when the online community is starting to dwindle.
you spend too much time worrying about video games
I’m an immature dumbass!
Thanks for putting your thoughts down for us to read. Enjoyed the article.
I would welcome a single shot BR just to see what it would be like. However I also currently like the BR that was in the H3 beta and from Halo 2.
See you all online in late September
The BR from the Halo 3 Beta is fine as long as it doesn’t become the standard spawn weapon like in H2, or the pistol in H1. In the beta there were only a couple BRs per map that had to respawn. It was actually pretty well balanced between that and the AR, and I think most people were using only picked it up due to their experience in H2. I agree that Halo needs more medium-long range weapons, but the BR fits in the medium range okay. Maybe increase the spawn time on it a little.
I wouldn’t say no to a semi auto BR, but the mag capacity should be 16, allowing for an overkill with one mag.
I can see why so many people would want an overpowered *weapon* back, and I do say that because I remember how you could kill a tank with a pistol in Halo CE. I strongly disagree with many statements you made. The SMG is toned down in H2, but I seem to be the only one who noticed that it has an amazing punch range, hence my ability to kill three dual wielders at close-medium range with a single SMG no prob. A single shot BR would be too much like a carbine IMO. As well, shotgun can kill a player with no shields at close-medium range and experienced player can kill a sword carrier with ease. The problem with the CE shotgun was that it shot buckshot, yet could damage a player at medium ranges. And finally about the battle rifle, I find that it is easier to always get headshots with it, ensuring that if a third player shoots them, you get the kill early. Also, the battle rifles triple-shot is perfect for finishing off enemies your allies have damaged. After playing the BETA I was disappointed by how “different” the BR and CC [i admit good name] performed. Then again, I did do very badly due to the fact that I was using AR instead of SMG [too hard to find] and wasn’t used to the short punch range. I do admit that putting a CE magnum like BR would solve many complaints, but would change the gameplay too much. Also if you see some early halo 2 builds, the BR WAS single shot, but was changed.
The SMG has terrible range in Halo 2, if you hunt down some of the other Halo articles on this site, you’ll see that it literally shoots in a circle pattern which causes it to shoot around your opponent without actually hitting them beyond a certain range. My Halo 2 Mod article shows how it should be. Furthermore, everyone from casual players to the MLG to Bungie themselves have criticized the Halo 2 SMG’s poor range and weak damage, its problems shouldn’t need to be spelled out for you.
As I have told other like-minded people, there is an entire section of the article dedicated to people who argue that a single shot BR would be too much like the Carbine. Read it.
The battle rifle should not be easy to get headshots with, or easy to finish off weakened players; thats what the SMG/AR is for, and that’s why the Pistol in H1 was a more skilled weapon.
Lastly, the fact that the BR and CC perform differently in the beta is a good thing; they have vastly decreased auto-aim so it takes more skill to use them. The only complaints I heard were the combination of low damage and heavy conefire making them useless beyond a certain range, but its possible this may be fixed for the final.
The bottom line is, the AR should be the weapon for peppering targets with burst fire at mid range; the BR should be like a balanced version of the Halo 1 Pistol; for precision single-fire at mid range…all other possible configurations are redundant.
Ok now I see what you are saying. You think that the AR and BR should be complementary mid range weapons. Sorry, I didn’t pick that up in the article. But due to accuracy, I would expect that the BR would be used for Medium-long range, while the AR would be used at Close-medium range. This would mean that the SMG would be out gunned at Close-Medium range [especially when AR is the default weapon], and the sniper would be possible to kill in the extra-long ranges, which I find is nigh impossible with the BR now.
And one last argument, Since Bungie originally designed the BR as a single-shot semi-automatic weapon in the beginning, it makes me think that they were using it as a replacement for the pistol, hence the fact that the toned down the magnum for halo 2. So In my opinion, the BR WAS the successor to the pistol, but got changed due to some reason. This means that bungie probably isn’t going to make a H3 semi-auto BR.
here’s an old halo 2 preview that shows the single shot BR: http://tinyurl.com/35g8sq I’m analyzing the BR in it right now…
I didn’t read the section “4) “The Carbine is allready single-shot”, cause I’m stupid.
I love how you changed ur article due to my evidence, touching.
Actually, no, the article has had that info since it was originally posted on 1up.com in November of last year.
I agree with the writer of this article. I’m pretty good with the BR but i have always wanted it as a Semi Automatic. im glad the AR is back even if the clip is nearly cut to half. The new M6G pistol has some considerable damage now but not like the original which i like the most. But as I said. I agree with the article. since I think of it in a real life situation, Yea 3 rounds down the range is good to hit someone in the torso. But being able to put 2 to 4 rounds into someone’s face is far more efficient than a 3 round burst. Think of the BR55 as the M16A1. where it had Semi AND Burst. I’ve spoken to soldiers lately, and they have said having a rifle on Semi than Burst or Full auto is the best choice you can make. Because Accuracy is far more important than wasting ammo.
halo 3 pwns as is no need to fix BR too muck exept for a little more power because BR sux in close range game and is easily pwnd by an assult rifle at about 7m. Sniper is arguably better at close range then the assult rifle. One shot plus a wack. Its not very balanced if the best long range weapon (sniper rifle) is better than the BR55 at close range, and at long range… the sniper shouldent be better at close range only at long range.
The Halo 3 BR is a joke. It has so much spread that at mid-range and long range, that it takes at least 7-12 bursts to kill, regardless of your aim, when it should only take 4 or 5 well-placed bursts at most, even over considerable distance. Combined with it’s burst fire, it’s basically just another bullet hose with only slightly better accuracy than the rest.
If you were to put Halo 3’s weapons on a 1-10 scale of rate of fire and accuracy, with the AR in the middle at “5″ and the Sniper Rifle at the end with “10″, then the BR should fall smack between those two at “7.5″ or “8″. In reality, it just barely surpasses the AR at a “6″.
I persoanly think that if they changed the BR back to halo 2 style and made the snipers swipe ability return then it would be better… halo 3 feels way to much like gears of war to me with the “automatic main” and the “you have to be 100% percice with shots no swipes.. and thoughs who say you can swipe… you cant..
First of all, at mid-range, it only takes 4 BR burst shots to take down an enemy. Head shots aren’t luck based, you must have piss poor aim. It fires fast enough to kill, and if for some reason you can’t pull the trigger fast enough because of your shitty skill, then throw a grenade, it’s what they are there for. Maybe instead of writing these long pointless articles, you should pick up your controller and play, who knows, maybe that will improve your skill, just a thought. Also, the BR is powerful at close range, all it takes is to be able to keep your aim at a certain level and just make sure you can aim right and left, not too difficult. Also, the burst can be helpful, lets say the game is S.W.A.T., the BR is the primary weapon, if the enemy is charging your position with more than one guy, you can kill up to three in one shot, it doesn’t take that much skill. Quit your bitching, live with what Bungie has given us as one of the greatest FPS’s, and just play.
Sorry, you’re wrong. At mid range, there is so much spread that 4 bursts will not kill. Due to the spread, scoring headshots is random. No amount of skill will gurantee your shots if the bullets are just splintering off target randomly.
Also, I didn’t say the BR was weak at close range; if anything I stated that it was too easy to use at close range for a mid range weapon.
What Bungie has given use is just a few mediocre FPS’s which aren’t worth “living with”. I won’t play them, and I haven’t bothered to for months.
Dude you’re a tool, the Brs accuracy kills the ARs, mid/long range a person who is good with br will win every time
That’s because the AR sucks. The BR is still implemented in a pathetically skill-mitigating manner, dumbed down for casual gamer n00bs who can’t handle a single shot weapon, and would cry if they were killed at mid-long range by anything other than a Sniper Rifle.
I’ve gotten a lot of kills at mid-range in 4 shots with a BR, and the funny thing is that about a fourth of those people that I dropped was wielding a sniper rifle. Also, many people die from a mid-range BR attack and guess what, they don’t complain and continue playing. Also, if you aren’t going to bother playing certain games, then don’t bitch about them. Instead of wasting your time, go play those games you like, probably something like Hello Kitty Island Adventure. It’s obvious that you are the kind of person who will complain about the games that you suck at in a futile attempt to still seem a good gamer, which you can’t be because you waste so much time complaining about games that are rather simple to play. Give up and quit bitchin’.
Great article. The current pistol in Halo 3 is a 5sk, and acts similar to the BR. The pistols can be dual weld, so it killti meis cut in half, just the poor part about them is they are not accurate mid range. The Sniper takes much more skill in Halo 3 which I really like, so there is no more bullshit swipe snipes and it actally takes skill to kill.
xyt0117 -
Maybe you’ve gotten 4 burst kills with the BR at mid range, if what you consider “mid range” is a measly 5-10 meters. The BR has so much spread that getting a perfect 4-burst kill is impossible past a short distance, and what’s worse is that your chances of doing so are improved when aiming at the chest, even though headshots are what allow the 4 burst kill. These point are not debatable, it’s a proven fact easily observable if you just go in-game and test it for yourself.
Furthermore, you failed to address the point that a single-shot BR would be much more skilled. The BR is really just a glorified bullet hose, and keeping it that way really doesn’t help the game at all.
Lastly, I’ll complain whenever the hell I want, particularly when a game is selling itself short with stupid features. If you can’t handle reading it without getting butt-hurt over the fact that someone criticized your favorite game, then don’t read it, dumbass.
xxxRagefistxxx –
Thanks. I think you’d actually like the implementation of the BR and Pistol in my Halo 2 mod, shown here:
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8725509&publicUserId=5704110
The BR is single shot, with a 4 shot kill and twice the accuracy of the Halo 1 Pistol, making for an extremely precise and skilled weapon. The Pistol is relegated to the role of a spawn/backup weapon, with the same rate of fire as the HCE Pistol, but accuracy comparable to the stock H2 BR or Carbine, 8 shots to kill, and no scope. It’s a life-saver when you’ve got nothing else, but weak enough that you’re still highly motivated to search out other weapons.
just like with your other modification project, I don’t think that a single shot BR would make it better. I think it’s a great balanced weapon, and anyone with any skill with ANY weapon can compete evenly with a skilled BR player.
I really enjoyed your insight. Thank you, and keep up the good work. This is only relevant for players who enjoyed the Halo CE pistol. If you jumped straight into halo 2 or halo 3 then it wouldn’t really anger anyone. But still great insight!