[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Robbie Beast Firstly, to lighten the mood, feel free to watch this video, its a guaranteed laugh and is relevant to the issue at bar. [url]http://gameroom.mlgpro.com/view/awC5cUtgbOc.html[/url] [b]As a side note for all readers, i am not just a random Halo 3 player, I am very skilled and have placed well in both Live MLG tournaments and Online MLG Tournaments and have made almost 3000 dollars on Halo 3. I have a 50 in TS, TD, MLG, and LW. Just to verify that i am good at this game and im not just some kid who's frustrated because their aim sucks and they lose BR fights all the time. Now to the nitty gritty.[/b] The majority of the supporters for the tightening of a BR spread are those of competitive Halo players that feel the spread only hurts competition, and adds a random factor to the mix, I happen to be in this group. "And randomness is a poor substitute for tactics and skillful execution." Quoted by Halo 3's Multiplayer Lead Tyson Green Majority of the supporters for keeping the BR the way it is are those of the general/casual players that prefer if the BR stayed the same for fear that the BR would become all powerful and would ruin the game by making the rest of the weapons useless in a sense. Both sides have valid arguments but i would like to delve a little deeper into this, especially with the information released in Bungie's 6/20/08 update. With the latest update, Bungie further expressed that the BR functions as intended, and that the spread acts the way it does to serve out two reasons. One, realism, making the weapon act in a way that is more realistic as to how bullets travel, and two, to prevent creating a "universal" weapon.. or a weapon that everyone will prefer to use.. thus eliminating the use of other weapons ( spiker, needler, plasma rifle, etc... ). First id like to address the realism issue. I feel that this should not be brought into the decision of how the BR acts simply because there is no point in arguing about realism in a game that takes place in a completely unrealistic world, especially if that could impair ones ability to enjoy the game. The target of a game should not be to make us think its real.. but to allow the player to enjoy themselves, the two often contradict each other in certain cases. I for one was a Socom player while Halo 1 and Halo 2 were out and something very similar happened with this group of games as well. Socom 1 and 2 were thought of as amazing games, the bullets hit where your crosshairs aimed for the most part, and individual skill was huge, but even the most casual player could enjoy playing it by just picking up an f90 and spraying 60 bullets at a guy or grabbing a grenade launcher... but when Socom 3 came out they added a bullet spread to almost every weapon, trying to increase the realism and in the process almost completely ruined the franchise in a competitive sense (I took part in the gamebattles ladder for this game for multiple years and was considered Top 10 best Leaders/Gunners/Snipers towards the end so believe me when i say this). The only thing that was really fun and took skill to do anymore was quick sniping and jump sniping, which they eventually patched about 2 years after the games release due to the fact that jumping and sniping wasn't realistic. GTA 4 is another prime example, its filled with things that make the game realistic but it also makes sure to keep the player entertained. I mean, you cant go around running people over whenever you want in real life, and you cant just drive 5 blocks and suddenly the cops no longer chase you. You also would be dead if you got shot 6 times.. But come on lets face it, GTA would suck if that was the case. Secondly, "there is no designed one-weapon-to-rule-them-all in Halo 3 and that is a decision made by design to encourage all of the aspects of the sandbox to be used in gameplay. The bullet variation in the Battle Rifle’s three-round bursts is a design choice that further defines the weapon's role in the Halo 3 sandbox." i feel this idea is slightly flawed. If we take a look at a game like Rainbow Six Vegas, it has a massive amount of weapons a player can choose, but the universal weapon for almost all competitive players is the FAMAS, it is an extremely accurate weapon if used right, but that does not stop many of the casual players from using other weapons. In most matchmaking games i play in Halo 3 the majority of players will prefer vetoing for BR starts, and in AR start games most players will pick up a Carbine/BR if given the chance. I very rarely see a person dual wielding, let alone using the spiker/plasma rifle/smg simply for the fact that the AR serves as the best close range weapon in most cases... but this doesn't stop those select few that prefer to dual wield or use those weapons, and i don't see how making the BR spread tighten would reduce the amount of usage of these other weapons. It is said that the distance between a person affects the BR spread, well i often hit a person every time close up with the BR with every bullet registering and i still lose the fight because the AR/Melee combo just kills faster. Even if the BR spread were tightened i would still switch to my AR when a close up fight is going to emerge. And finally, i read the Math Class section in the latest update, and though some of it was hard to understand, it was easy for me to retain this statement "The Chief’s helmet is approximately 0.094 world units wide, [b]so if the shields pop, that bullet – aimed and fired accurately – under reasonable network conditions yields a kill.[/b]" I for one could show multiple examples of a player taking 1, 2, 3, even 4 extra well placed bursts to the head when they are down sheilds on a green bar host, and I'm sure many other players could as well, especially with the addition of the Team Swat playlist. All I'm saying Bungie is that although your intentions for the BR are good.. the reality is your causing frustration to a lot of people (Mostly those of the competitive community) and i feel a middle ground for all players could be reached. Im not saying make the BR a hitscan weapon or making it super uber godly and 4 shot people cross map, I'm just saying that the spread needs to be tightened so when in mid/close range BR fights the more consistent aim wins every time. So why not try it in your next update... i think the response towards a tightened spread would be unanimous but then again i cant speak for everyone.. I'm just voicing my opinion. Also, people stop saying that Halo 3 level means nothing, instead say, Halo 3 level doesn’t mean everything. Thanks for reading.[/quote] This is one of the few well thought-out and eloquently presented arguments for a tightened BR spread that I've seen. I'm glad that for once someone didn't assume that he spoke for EVERYONE. Honestly, I'm happy with the BR as is. Since it performs the same way for everyone, that realistic randomization of the bullet spread doesn't bother me too much. I will say that I've been extremely frustrated by missing headshots that I thought should have landed... but that seems to happen to everyone, so I could probably live with it. On the flipside of that coin, I don't think slightly tightening the BR spread would really hurt anything. Nothing drastic... just a little so that maybe 20-30% of those shots that, with the BR as it is now, would miss the head because of the randomization would, after the tightening, give a hit. It would still be randomized and fairly realistic in my opinion; the BR wouldn't become a God-weapon, and competitive players would have a more precise weapon--perhaps not as precise as they'd like, but beggars can't be choosers. I believe there's a middleground that could be reached. However, it's Bungie's call, and I don't really care that much one way or the other. So there's my 2 cents on the BR argument.