Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:11 am
(I know the thread is technically more about reticule bloom in general, but I like to focus. So I'm talking about I what I know about the differences between the BR and DMR)
I see where you're coming from Jonesy, but either I'm looking at it differently or just have different feelings about it. To me the weapon feels in most ways like the BR did in Halo 3. I didn't play at the levels you did, but I wasn't a slouch either. I'm working with a few pieces of information:
1. The DMR kills roughly as fast as the BR did in Halo 3, it requires more pulls of the trigger but fewer bullets.
2. Due to its lack of burst fire, it is better than the BR at longer ranges.
3. Due to its lack of burst fire, its projectile hits 1/3 of the surface area. This makes the weapon less forgiving, and makes it seem less effective at shorter ranges when its spread causes a miss. However, the same was true of the BR when the spread cost you a bullet (12 bullets/4 bursts were required, but often the spread would send one bullet astray and you'd have to use a 5th burst. This is why MLG upped damage to 110%, to account for bullet spread [and lag for online play]). What ends up happening is the same against an opponent of similar skill, but it feels more extreme because of the increased reliability at closer ranges (That reliability works both ways)
4. The reticule bloom is not a mechanic of the weapon, but an indicator of what the weapon is doing. There was recoil and increased randomness with consecutive shots in Halo 3, but there was no visual indication to tell the player what had changed. You know the second two shots in the 3 shot burst from the BR were less accurate than the first, but the reticule never bloomed mid-burst. If the BR were in Reach, the reticule would bloom a lot during a burst and resettle quickly at the end of a burst. If the DMR were adapted for burst fire, it would behave the same way, but kill faster, and you would ALWAYS spend 1 more bullet than the minimum required.
5. DMR projectile speed is better than BR projectile speed was, or at least it feels this way to me. This means that you have to lead your shots less and creates an overall smaller amount of error.
I also loved the BR, but very often I tend to trust Bungie's judgement on things. My main issue with their judgement is that the majority of player input they receive is the type of input I disagree with, so they do what they can to satisfy the fans with whom I disagree. I also thought Halo 2 was weak compared to other games (Demonstrating that I'm not a yes-man).
I also think when a lot of people are saying "spread" they mean "burst". All weapons with a high enough rate of fire to create recoil have spread. Burst is a firing mode. The BR and DMR both have spread, and they're based on the same information.
Most of what creates differences in the BR/DMR is burst, not spread or bloom (Because they both have spread, and bloom is just showing you the spread). Their bullets work the same way (Although as I said I think DMR bullets are faster), they just fire them differently. I think most of your complaints come from that difference. Burst-fire was an innovation designed to be more forgiving to the shooter while benefiting from their training (accuracy). It was created when full-auto weapons had too much recoil and ammo expenditure to be practical, and because when its life or death a soldier's aim was deemed too unreliable for semi-auto. It seems like it is being phased out in RL weapons technology because now they are making full-auto-capable weapons that control recoil much better and the soldier can burst without needing a burst-fire mode. Training methods and targeting systems are also getting much better, eliminating the need for the forgiveness of a burst-fire mode*.
*Bungie has never attempted to create a perfect Halo analog to modern infantry weapons. They draw inspiration from RL to be sure, but they created the Battle Rifle years after a 3-shot burst was decreasing in necessity, and the DMR is more like what it's called (Designated Marksman Rifle means that there would be one or two of them issued to a squad) than what is standard-issue per modern RL soldier. I think this is because Halo has never had an "aim" mechanic that forces the player to focus enough to control a full-auto weapon in bursts. Halo's just never been that type of game.
^ Credits to Mics R4 Chumps