Halo 4 balance issues, and my solutions on how to fix them.

[SpaceWolf4]

I’ve seen weapons nerfed in Halo before, and it’s not pretty. The Focus Rifle in Reach and the Trip Mine in Halo 3 are prime examples of why we should fear the word “nerf” when it comes to Halo’s weapons and gadgets. But obviously weapons can’t go for the rest of the game’s lifespan unbalanced, so something has to be done about them (just not the nerfs that I’ve seen). So far, I’ve encountered 3 things that need balancing out a bit in Halo 4. Now, I’ve been gaming for years and have been playing Halo since Halo CE back in 2001, and I am confident that my solutions will not nerf these weapons up to the point of uselessness.

 

1. Boltshot.

I’ve recently had the displeasure of facing someone that has used nothing but this weapon throughout the entire match. I don’t even think the Scattershot or Shotgun would have been able to kill me at the range that he killed me from. Now, the standard shots on the Boltshot are headshot capable, so that gave me an idea…

 

Solution:

343i should lower the damage slightly on the Boltshot’s charged shots so it just takes down shields rather than instantly kills people. People would still be able to kill enemies with the Boltshot, because as I’ve said, the standard shots are headshot capable, so you’d just charge up your Boltshot, fire it at someone to take down their shields, then aim for the head. This not only maintains the Boltshot’s effectiveness (as well as requiring a bit more skill to use), but also gives players on the receiving end of its deadly fury a small reaction gap by perhaps a second or so. Now, you might be thinking a second isn’t a long time, but trust me when I say it goes a long way in Halo.

 

2. DMR.

Yes, it is overpowered. But no where near what people have been claiming it to be. It’s only slightly overpowered, and that’s only because it’s dominating in ranges that it’s not supposed to be dominating in. It’s supposed to be a long range weapon, beaten in range by nothing else but the Sniper Rifle (and its counterparts). In shorter ranges, the Battle Rifle (and Covenant Carbine) is supposed to win against the DMR, but the DMR appears to be winning most of the time unless shots are missed. So how do we fix this?

 

Solution:

This one is rather simple, actually. The DMR is only dominating because of its firing rate. It can fire as fast as the user can pull the trigger, and that I think is where the problem lies. Lowering the rate of fire ever so slightly gives the Battle Rifle a fighting chance in shorter ranges, while the DMR still keeps its effectiveness in longer ranges. Once again, the lowering of firing rate on the DMR will only give BR users just under a second or so of extra time in combat, but as I’ve said before, that time goes a long way in Halo.

 

3. Active Camouflage.

Ah, the camper’s true love, this one. Basically, the camo is more effective when you’re not moving around so much. This is where I think the problem lies. It promotes camping and overshadows a lot of other Armour Abilities because of this. So, how do we fix it? We need only look to the past…

 

Solution:

…Because we already have the ideal Active Camouflage in Halo 2! Remember the Arbiter levels? Remember the Active Camouflage you could use in them? That’s our balanced Active Camo right there. A short burst of semi-invisibility, lasted around 15 seconds or so and you could move around as fast as you wanted without revealing yourself. The cool-down period was about 20 seconds, although I think it varied depending on what difficulty you were playing on. But let’s say around 20 seconds, because that seems pretty balanced to me. Oh, and if you fired your weapon or performed a melee attack, the Active Camo would deactivate and you’d have to wait for the cool-down period to end before you could use it again. Ah, but you’ll probably think that you won’t have enough time to kill someone within 15 seconds. Well, it was more than enough time to use it effectively on Halo 2, even on Legendary. As I’ve said before, that ti- ah, screw it. You already know what I’m going to say.

 

So those are my solutions. Again, I’m just using my experience as both a gamer and a long time Halo fan to come up with these ideas. I don’t really know what you guys and gals think of them, but hopefully you’ll find them reasonably effective at balancing out Halo 4. Thanks for reading!

[Antics]

I am glad you didn't just come at us with a problem, you provided solutions aswell.

 

I like the boltshot as is, but i don't use it. So changing it as you stated would actually give me more time. Everytime i get killed for it at close range i only blame myself for putting myself in that position.

 

I would absolutely hate a decrease in fire rate on the DMR but world rather that as a nerf to adding bloom.

 

Haven't had an issue with camo eh leave it as is.

[HinDae]

I cant agree that the Boltshot is OP, it requires timing and a little bravery to use the Boltshot as a shotgun, since it wont fire the chargeshot until fully charged, and you gotta be pretty close to use it, and if you miss, your completely exposed.

 

DMR needs nerfing, but only slightly, an ROF nerf so that its slower than BR and being removed from SWAT would make it acceptable.

 

While im here, I feel that the Forerunner rifles are far to weak.

 

Supressor should apply more knockback effect, the replacement for being knocked out of zoom, this would make it viable as a gun that makes use of its name, making up for its weak damage and fairly crappy range.

 

Lightrifle just needs buffing, everything outguns it, I get the first scoped shot on a DMR user and he still kills me, and the BR just kills faster outright, as it stands there is NO reason to take this thing over even an AR.

[W01FE]

weird, everything ive seen suggests the light rifle has a faster TTK then the DMR when scoped but slightly slower ttk then BR when unscoped.

[HinDae]

weird, everything ive seen suggests the light rifle has a faster TTK then the DMR when scoped but slightly slower ttk then BR when unscoped.

 

Its weakness lies in its accuracy, its pretty pinpoint, thus with the flinching it tends to miss alot if your in a firefight.

I've seen evidence its on par with BR unscoped, and faster than the DMR scoped, and yet its balanced because of its unlock level and its seeming lack of bullet magnetism.

[SpaceWolf4]

From my experience with the weapon, I personally think the Light Rifle is fine. It's a 4 shot kill in scope, which makes it the most powerful utility weapon in the game (again as long as you're scoped in with it). I don't have much kills with it, but I've simply put that down to me not being skilled enough with it and I will get more kills with it as I get better at aiming with the weapon.

 

As for the comment on removing the DMR from SWAT... Personally, I don't think that's necessary. Plus, I tend to have more fun using the DMR in SWAT than I do with the BR (although it's the other way around for standard gametypes). The DMR also seems fairly balanced in SWAT gametypes. I tend to find myself getting killed by the BR more than anything else when playing SWAT. Not like discussing what should and should not be in SWAT matters, though. The playlist is going to be removed next week.