[quote][/quote][b]Introduction[/b][quote][/quote] [i]"The Spartan Laser was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the Creative Director, the Audio Director, the Executive Producer, and the Campaign Design Lead. Sage signed it; and Sage's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Splazer was as dead as a door-nail."[/i] [quote][b][u]Update[/b][/u] As of the 16th page the main support for my arguement has been pretty much shot up by various comminuty members so for now this is just a collection of thoughts and reasoning rather than evidence and arguements. I didn't think of sandbox balance on a map by map basis, and made a rather large assumption that both the Spartan Laser and the "Covenant Launcher" (see Part 1) would be on the same map every game. Various users pointed out that in fact, they could spawn on different maps as the vehicle / map balance required. As of now I can't come up with a way to counter this, so for now, my arguement is uncogent (for those of you who haven't taken a logic class, that means that the conclusion is unlikely given the premises). Feel free to keep dicussing however. The rest of the original post continues below: [/quote] Indeed, it is true, the Spartan Laser will likely not return for another dose of wacky shenanigans come Fall 2010 when Halo Reach is released. [quote][b]Clarification:[/b] This is my conclusion that I have come to based upon the reasoning presented in the rest of the thread. Bungie has not officially confirmed that the Laser is out, nor have they officially confirmed that the laser is in. In this thread I am attempting to make a prediction of what Reach will be like, and I forsee it without the [i]exact[/i] one hit kill laser based anti-vehicle weapon we knew in Halo 3. In the event that the Laser is in Reach, remember to flame me, not Bungie. [/quote] [b][u]At this moment I urge the reader, instead of angrily replying to my thread, to take the time to read my entire post[/u][/b], for I believe it to be well thought out and interesting, for not only am I the Harbinger of Doom for the Spartan Laser, but for the Covenant Beam Rifle as well, which must be murdered on this day to plunge a stake through the Spartan Laser's heart once and for all. At this moment, the reader might ask: [i]"Why? Why would Bungie remove these weapons from Reach? They worked fine in Halo 3, and if you couldn't adapt to these weapons to survive, that's your own problem."[/i] However, I seek to avoid that sort of discussion, at least in my original post. The point of this thread is not [i]"Should it be done?"[/i] but [i]"It is done, and here is why I believe this."[/i] I wish to show you why the Spartan Laser won't be in Reach based upon the evidence that we already know is in the game. Whether or not it was the right decision or whether there could have been some alternative that would have allowed the Spartan Laser to be in Reach is not the focus of this thread. I wish you luck, this is going to be lengthy. [quote][/quote][b]Part 1: The Covenant Launcher[/b][quote][/quote] The first sign of the death of the Spartan Laser appeared last Wednesday in the [url=http://www.bungie.net/projects/reach/vidaudio.aspx?c=58&i=24995]Halo Reach Multiplayer Trailer.[/url] About 47 seconds into the trailer you might have spotted [url=http://i868.photobucket.com/albums/ab249/Hylebosaiden/Bnet%20Image%20Resources/CovenantLauncher.jpg]This Weapon[/url] which will be referred to henceforth as [i]"The Covenant Launcher"[/i]. Clearly this weapon is a evolution of Fuel Rod Cannon, but it's appearance in the trailer was not the first time we've seen or [i][u]heard[/u][/i] of it. In the [url=http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_012910]Bungie Weekly Update: 01.29.10[/url], Urk was kind enough to provide readers with some source audio from some of the Halo: Reach weapons that Bungie had unveiled in the past couple of weeks. In addition to the weapons we already knew about, Urk gave us one extra sound file for the [url=http://www.bungie.net/images/games/reach/audio/Mystery.mp3][i]"Mysterious Newcomer".[/i][/url] Upon listening to the sound file, the reader may realize that the sound of the shots fired at the 5 second mark is identical to the sound of the shots fired 47 seconds into the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Trailer. The common consensus is that, indeed, the Mysterious Newcomer and the Covenant Launcher are one and the same. If you listen again to the sound file, from 0 seconds to 1 second you'll hear computer like sounds, followed by a whirring sound that increases in revolution from 1 second to 5 seconds when the shots are fired. Based upon this and the end resulting footage that we saw, I'm supposing that the weapon works as follows: You aim the Covenant Launcher at a vehicular target, and you press and hold R to acquire a lock on the target, which takes a second. Once you are locked onto your target, you continue holding the trigger for four seconds while the Covenant Launcher charges up, at the end of which, if your are still locked on to your target, the weapon fires three bursts of plasma shots. If your reticule is close enough to the target when the shot leaves the tube, it will begin to home, otherwise it will travel in a straight line (which explains why the 3rd shot did not home on the warthog in the trailer, the hog must have been moving fast enough to throw the reticule off so the final shot that was fired wasn't aimed close enough to the target to respond to the lock.) At this moment, the reader might be wondering: [i]"What the Hell does this have to do with the Spartan Laser?"[/i] Balance. An ideal sandbox is one where all the weapons have a clearly defined niche, so there are no worthless or redundant weapons. Answer me the following question based on the following scenario honestly: [quote]You are playing a game of Capture the Flag on Valhalla, and there is currently a warthog butchering your forces in the center of the map. Before you lies a table with two boxes labeled "A" and "B". [i]"What the hell did Shishka do to Valhalla this time?"[/i] you ask your friend. Your friend replies [i]"The bastard put an anti-vehicle weapon in each of those boxes that are capable of destroying the Warthog that is losing us our map control. The weapon in box A requires a 4 second charge time before firing three homing shots that may or may not be dodged by your opponent. The weapon in box B requires a 4 second charge time before instantly killing your opponent if you are aiming your reticule at the target. Hurry up and choose, that warthog is really killing us out here."[/i][/quote] I ask the reader: [i]"What weapon would you choose to ensure that your team succeeds?"[/i] [quote][i]"Why, the weapon in box B of course,"[/i] you reply, [i]"If I use that to attack the Warthog, he'll have four seconds to break the line of sight with me or he'll die. On the other hand, if I use weapon in box A, he'll have four seconds to break the line of sight with me [u]and[/u] additional time to get to cover as my homing shots travel towards him. Because the weapon in box A give more time for my opponent to survive, of course I will use the weapon in box B."[/i][/quote] And there you have it. If the Spartan Laser and the Covenant Launcher existed in the same game, the Covenant Launcher would become a useless weapon in comparison, like the Missile Pod, doomed only to be used as a first choice only when the Spartan Laser loses its charge. The presence of the Covenant Launcher alone is reason enough to believe that the Spartan Laser has been axed, but I know this Community. You are very resourceful, and will find any solution you can Allow me to further extinguish your hope. [Edited on 03.17.2010 9:55 AM PDT]