Bear in mind in this beta is in a much more beta like (ergo, 'loose') state than Halo 3 ever was and, unacceptably in my opinion, the HUD and reticule is still place-holder which makes it hard to see what's going on, definitely contributing to a lack of visual feedback as you mention. After 150+ games, Reach doesn't feel more random to me but it's painfully difficult to see the reticule at times. It's almost like the blind skull is on permanently making it hard to see whether I did in fact make that headshot or not. Having gone back to look once or twice, I can see that I did. It's a bit piss-poor that I have to though, to be honest. We are assured it will be "fixed for fall" though how they can go into a beta with a placeholder HUD without compromising the data I don't know.

Halo, more than almost any other game has to be consistent in the way it does things because there is a mountain of stats on b.net and anybody can save a film and stick it on YouTube to show the world how their game is busted.

There is nothing inconsistent about your video. The guy was at close enough range to mitigate the bloom effect of the pistol and then got lucky with a headshot. You could argue he was lucky to land all his shots in the first place though the guy on the bridge barely moved so he didn't exactly help himself either. Either way, replay that scenario ten times and the guy on the bridge wins nine of them, if not a lot more if he gets off four quick shots and times the fifth.

It's really no more lucky than a no-scope from a sniper in the same situation, in my opinion. Adding the bloom effect will on average benefit the more skilled players who time their shot. That the converse happens a smaller percentage of the time doesn't disprove that.

It's not that Bungie don't listen to their hardcore fans, they just don't listen to them exclusively or take every single of the rather amount of "advice" I imagine is thrown back at them. Much better for any tweaks to be based on the hard data they are currently reaping in spades.

Yeah, I actually think bloom makes the DMR more difficult to control than the Battle Rifle, and I think that's a good thing. I understand that when you're bloom hits its maximum spread that you're going to get "easier" twitch shots at close range, but the same is true in pretty much every modern military shooter. And while I realize that Halo shares its roots more directly with the "classics," the shield system and relative low damage of the weapons still make this feel very Halo. I also think that sprint (and armor abilities in general) makes up for the changes in movement. I never liked how "slow and floaty" Halo was, and despite the slower movement speed AA makes this game feel much faster to me. I like it a lot.

They are, but I think they need to. Hopefully they'll still be deadly but have a shorter radius or something.While the bloom makes it share more in common with military FPS than previous Halos, I really don't think we're in danger of it being any less unique. This is still a far different game than Call of Duty or Battlefield.

A sniper no-scope in the scenario of the video you linked to would have an element of luck. That is to say, if you found the best Halo no-scope sniper player in the world and asked them to pull of the shot three times in a row, they wouldn't be able to do it (or would be extremely lucky if they did!)

I get what you're saying in that technically the bloom reticle adds randomness to the shot (it would not be as simple as algorithm as dice roll, however) but that randomness is deliberately implemented within defined boundaries with the purpose of placing greater emphasis on engagement distance and timing of shots. It is not like players are pulling off those sort of fluke 5-shot kills more often than not, in my experience. Furthermore, I've seen plenty of complaints about Reach, but hardly any that it doesn't retain a 'Halo feel'.

In three years half the people complaining about this that and the other will be doing the same thing with regard to 343i's Halo game no doubt pointing to weapons that were perfectly fine in Reach that they have now 'ruined'.

More importantly, I have just got in after a few beers and am off to play some more Reach where I doubt I will notice reticle bloom at all given my current blurry vision.

Fixed.

I agree with Grift on roles (or lack there off... I see no role for the AR among skilled players). Likewise it does seem the pistol allows some huge spam. It is like a mini machine gun at close ranges!!Per Bungie there is no such thing...See my file share!! I have a 10 and 7 Hammer Spree ... I barely use the thing so I don't camp it, but oh... my... on one spree I killed one of my friends 3x! Hammer + Pistol = Killer Combo.I saw increase bloom and increase damage. The bloom is good--it makes it a skilled weapon with a specific role & range (isn't that what all those GDC things toot?) Just increase the damage. Decreasing bloom will just make it a more effective close range spam weapon.

In regards to 343...

I have played a lot of FPS over the years and one area I have isolated Halo 3 as special was weapon balance and roles. Sure, some weapons just sucked (pistol, lmg) but in general every weapon had a role where it excelled--and if you used the map right a weapon like the AR could be absolutely one of the top 2 weapons in a situation. Some power weapons could be used, with extreme skill, in other roles (e.g. no scoping the rifle at close range) but in general success was based on having the right weapons on the right place.

For all the reasons I have mentioned previously the 3 maps I have played Reach with I don't get this vibe at all. It isn't that weapons don't have better ranges or purposes but that there doesn't seem to be a clean transition, not to mention gaps of futility, and some weapons are just big question marks--as to say, why would I ever want to use this?

As it stands now, while I hope Reach is better than Halo 3, but I have often praised Bungie's Halo 3 balance. It really stands out in my mind. Reach not so much. Of course weapon design is a largely defined by map design and Sword Base and Boneyard are pretty poor maps IMO.

And back to the segway: in regards to 343's Halo... I would hope they stole Halo 3's design over doing something drastically dumb!!!!!!!!!

I would rather hear, "They just copies Halo 3/Reach" instead of, "Oh wow, what lame weapons!!"

I think that's the point. That said, I'd be interested to see stats on players deaths where the AR was involved (either getting the kill or as a precursor to a successful melee). I bet it's higher than a lot of people think. 20% of my deaths in Arena are from the AR alone (my day rating averages about 1600-1650). Pistol deaths are 6-7%, DMR 13-14%Bear in mind, Reach is definitely further behind in terms of tuning than even the Halo 3 beta, let alone the full game.

Whilst I don't agree to the extent of which RC_Master describes Halo 3's sandbox as "useless" (Dual maulers. Needlers, Brute Shots and Carbine/Beam rifle had their place) Halo 3 did evolve to a point where an awful lot of people would just grab a BR and use that in all situations because there were few practical limitations for doing so.

Reach is definitely different in this regard. It is useless to carry a DMR for close range encounters. Get jumped by a guy wielding an AR when you have the DMR and you're pretty unlikely to come out of that encounter well. With a pistol, you have to be good to get out of the same scenario. I think that picture is distorted right now by the double melee bug.

I think when all is said and done, Reach will have much more clearer defined roles at ship purely because there is a focus and willingness to talk about 'roles' outside of tech conferences like GDC. Whether that makes the game better or more balanced can't be answered for a long time. As the GDC talk states, balance is longevity

I thought it was up now? I won't get to play till tomorrow anyway :)

That's nonsense. The grav hammer kills everything, skilled and unskilled players alike. With sprint (or evade), its even more effective than the sword.Sure, if your concept of strategy is to run up on fools and kill them.