343i Working on Halo 4 Weapon Tweaks

[KillerGUNNY132]

In 343's bulletin last week, they said they have been looking into tweaking the weapons in Halo 4. Their reasoning was that it was basically a one gun game with the DMR. They didn't go into much detail last week, though. But this week, they gave a quick overview of what they're working on. NOTE: THESE ARE NOT FINAL, STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS.

DMR

They are leaving the DMR untouched.

Battle Rifle

They are looking to buff the BR from a 5 shot kill to a 4 shot kill and also reduce the rate of fire.

Light Rifle

They said all they've done is increase the range at which the reticle turns red. I'm not sure what that changes, maybe increased Aim Assist for longer ranges?

Covenant Carbine

They have buffed Carbine to now have a 7 shot kill instead of a 8 shot kill.

Assault Rifle, Storn Rifle, Suppressor

They said they have given these weapons a damage buff but also decreased the aim assist.

Beam Rifle

Looking into possibly nerfing the Beam Rifle's Aim Assist

Vehicles

Looking to buff Mantis and Warthog Chainguns.


So what are your thoughts on these possible changes? Would they help balance the game?

Link to the Bulletin, btw: http://blogs.halowaypoint.com/Headlines/post/2013/04/17/The-Halo-Bulletin-41713.aspx

[JamiDJ]

i wish they would leave my BR alone...

[Zeta Crossfire]

MUHAAHAHA My AR is now more fearsome then ever!

[Asseroya]

YES! NOW I WILL GO FROM UNBEATABLE TO INVINCIBLE WITH THIS CARBINE IMPROVEMENT! PS I love the Carbine rifle

[Yehsus]

Meh.

Just slow down the rate of fire for DMR and it would be fine.

[Jam Cliché]

4sk BR?

I just got hard...

EDIT: After reading the update, "Halo 4 Infinity Challenge War Games winner StrongSide"... I was not privy to this information before now. But, then again, I could have guessed who it'd be.

[VerbotenDonkey]

Good. Now maybe I'll actually find BR ammo on the battlefield.

[Silko]

Dmr will still rape face

[KillerGUNNY132]

Oh, I forgot to include a few things.

They are looking into nerfing the Beam Rifle's Aim Assist.

Also looking to buff the Mantis and Warthog Chaingun. (Post updated to reflect that)

[Asseroya]

They were also probably going to bump up the damage done by Warthog-turrets and the Mantis-chainguns and decreasing the aimassist on beam rifles.
(Sorry Gunny, didn´t notice that you posted that)

[KazuhLLL]

OMG my beautiful Battle Rifle may be returning. :bigpanda:

The only two things I'm dubious about is the AR buff (not needed) and the Beam Rifle nerf. I could agree to a slight nerf in aim assist, but if they nerf it too much it'll essentially become redundant like the snipers were in Halo 3.

[VerbotenDonkey]

Oh, I forgot to include a few things.

They are looking into nerfing the Beam Rifle's Aim Assist.

Also looking to buff the Mantis and Warthog Chaingun. (Post updated to reflect that)

Buff the Bufftis what now? (Although, yay Warthog buff) Beam Rifle I'm neutral on. I can't scope in without getting a seizure, but it does seem easy to get headshots with.

[ThatAwkardGuy]

Just reduce rate of fire of DMR. Also they shouldn't increase chain guns firepower just increase the damage required to blow up the warthog.

[fearfulpenguin]

MUHAAHAHA My AR is now more fearsome then ever!

*does mister burns excellent voice to this*

[McL00V]

I can already feel my rage building at increased AR damage

[KazuhLLL]

I can already feel my rage building at increased AR damage

Yeah. The Storm Rifle and Suppressor definitely need changes, but I've literally gone on Running Riots with the AR in this game.. Just because the people using it don't play smart doesn't mean they need to make the weapon OP.

[Silko]

Just because the people using it don't play smart doesn't mean they need to make the weapon OP.

[KillerGUNNY132]

I can already feel my rage building at increased AR damage

Si. AR is fine as is.

[SuRroundeD By 1]

I can agree with all of these changes, I could also agree that we could have fixed this by slowing the rate of the DMR, but at this point, we'll see what happens.

Personally, I don't think it's the aim assist that needs to be fixed on the beam rifle, it's the magnetism (unless they include auto-aim and magnetism under aim assist, then yeah). Whenever using the beam rifle in Halo 4, all I have to do is aim slightly (ever so slightly) above my enemies head, and I'll get the head shot, the thing wrecks.

[Jam Cliché]

I think the changes are fitting. As long as the AR isn't way overbuffed, fine. The fact is, it is supposed to beat precision weapons in close quarters. Also, I think the DMR is fine. It's fast, and that is what Halo needs. It's RoF could even be increased if the other RoF's were also balanced accordingly. I want faster gameplay. As for lowering the Beam Rifle's aim assist, I say do the same with other guns. They don't need to be so magnetic, and they can still be fast without it.

[silversleek]

Personally, I don't think it's the aim assist that needs to be fixed on the beam rifle, it's the magnetism (unless they include auto-aim and magnetism under aim assist, then yeah).

magnetism is included under aim assist.

I like the majority of these, they are completely right that it is a one gun game right now. some people use the other guns, but they aren't nearly as effective.



Si. AR is fine as is.

no, it's not. I don't use that and i can see that.


Light Rifle

They said all they've done is increase the range at which the reticle turns red. I'm not sure what that changes, maybe increased Aim Assist for longer ranges?
basically that, yup. much more useful than it sounds.


Battle Rifle

They are looking to buff the BR from a 5 shot kill to a 4 shot kill and also reduce the rate of fire.


I don't know how this will affect the BR. I've never really liked the BR, or have been good with it, but it was significantly worse than the dmr. Depending on how they adjust the rate of fire, this will either make it super overpowered, or very well balanced.


Light Rifle

They said all they've done is increase the range at which the reticle turns red. I'm not sure what that changes, maybe increased Aim Assist for longer ranges?


Considering this is supposed to be a long range weapon, this is much needed. it beats the dmr scoped, but as is it's pretty useless unscoped. I still think they should just leave the range, but make the 3 shot spread tighter. It would be very effective. This change is still great for it though.


Covenant Carbine

They have buffed Carbine to now have a 7 shot kill instead of a 8 shot kill.


Actually somewhat decent as a weapon now. 8 shots was just a tad too much.


Assault Rifle, Storn Rifle, Suppressor

They said they have given these weapons a damage buff but also decreased the aim assist.


I think i might actually use these now, since i have no problem with aiming. unless they take the aim assist off completely, which i might need to turn my sensitivity down for.


Beam Rifle

Looking into possibly nerfing the Beam Rifle's Aim Assist


Good. These things are hardcore death machines.


Vehicles

Looking to buff Mantis and Warthog Chainguns.

Good. Warthogs are basically useless, i can dmr out the gunner before he can mow me down. it's pathetic really. Mantis's are good, but not the "power vehicle" i thought they'd be. I'd assume they would be as powerful as a tank, but they're a mix of the rocket and chain hogs. both of which are terrible. Their only saving grace is their shields, and even that goes quick against a teamshot. I'll be glad to see vehicles that can actually dominate the map and require a change in strategy, rather than vehicles just, EVERYWHERE and able to be taken out by one guy on foot.

[KazuhLLL]

I don't know how this will affect the BR. I've never really liked the BR, or have been good with it, but it was significantly worse than the dmr. Depending on how they adjust the rate of fire, this will either make it super overpowered, or very well balanced.


I'm expecting the rate of fire change to be negligible. The big thing that will decide if the BR becomes overpowered isn't the RoF, it's the damage. We know of course that it's going to be a 4sk weapon, but what does that really mean? Since the BR has a 3-bullet burst fire, the performance of the gun will vary wildly depending on whether it takes 10, 11 or 12 individual bullets to kill. I'm personally rooting for it to take all 12, because it'll add a bit of an increase to the skill gap (which is nonexistant in H4) and it will make using it at long distance far less effective because it's random spread would make it quite difficult to land all 12 bullets on target outside of the BR's intended medium range.

Unfortunately the way they've treated H4 thus far makes me suspect that they will make it kill on the 11th bullet, to make it easier for less-precision saavy users to actually 4-shot people. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.



I can agree with all of these changes, I could also agree that we could have fixed this by slowing the rate of the DMR, but at this point, we'll see what happens.
343's thing this whole time has been to promote "fast paced" gameplay. They'd rather go through the work and make six other weapons kill faster than to just fix the one by making it slower. :P

[silversleek]

I'm expecting the rate of fire change to be negligible. The big thing that will decide if the BR becomes overpowered isn't the RoF, it's the damage. We know of course that it's going to be a 4sk weapon, but what does that really mean? Since the BR has a 3-bullet burst fire, the performance of the gun will vary wildly depending on whether it takes 10, 11 or 12 individual bullets to kill. I'm personally rooting for it to take all 12, because it'll add a bit of an increase to the skill gap (which is nonexistant in H4) and it will make using it at long distance far less effective because it's random spread would make it quite difficult to land all 12 bullets on target outside of the BR's intended medium range.

Unfortunately the way they've treated H4 thus far makes me suspect that they will make it kill on the 11th bullet, to make it easier for less-precision saavy users to actually 4-shot people. But I guess we'll have to wait and see. :P
I also hope it's the 12th bullet.

[Guzzie]

BR is fine as is. The only changes I see fitting are nerfing the DMR a bit. Whenever I use it, I feel like I have a power weapon. Also, buff the carbine a bit. It feels like I'm shooting confetti whenever I use it.

[W3z4b1]

The carbine was the first weapon I maxed out, I think it would have been a lot faster with a 7 shot kill. It's my favorite weapon but I'm not going to use it much until I've maxed out a lot of the other starting weapons.

Happy they made warthogs do more damage, but I think they should just take more damage. All other adjustments are good too.