Is it just me or does ODST weapon balance suck hard?

[Knavenformed]

So I've been trying to get the audio logs for ODST but I just can't get myself to play past Tayari Plaza, the part where you meet some other troopers and there's snipers, grunts, brutes and a plasma cannon set up.

In Halo 3 the Carbine feels really good to use, yet in ODST with the barely useful shield and Brutes having shielding for some stupid reason it just isn't that fun.

Sure the Plasma Pistol works but it's so annoying to constantly have to use it to pop Brutes when all other weaponry feels so bad against them, and even with having a HP bar and a shield ODST feels like cover shooting on Heroic, I could do the 'cheevo on Normal but still I want to know if it's just me?

[Psychedelic Adventurer]

It's a silenced pistol..

Mockery aside, the game's theme and design motivation is to make you 'feel' weaker than a Spartan. Your loadout isn't as strong as MC's, so you'll have to find better stuff along the way.

If you miss the Carbine so bad, pick one up.

[Knavenformed]

Originally posted by Psychedelic Adventurer:

It's a silenced pistol..

If you miss the Carbine so bad, pick one up.

Ironically the pistol is one of the best weapons since it's the most effective at clearing trash and pairs accurately with the Plasma Pistol for the Brutes.

Also for the second sentence you might want to read the post again. (Any post before you comment for that matter)

And to add to that a weapon should not feel weaker if the person carrying it of lesser strength.
And to add to that even it makes no sense to have the Brutes be buffed with personal shielding when H2 didn't have them during the assault on Mombasa and it's what makes them unique from the elites.

H3 got the Brutes just right where they were different and all weapons worked, in ODST with the shielding they work more like CE Elites which is just dumb.

[Psychedelic Adventurer]

Originally posted by Knavenformed:

Ironically the pistol is one of the best weapons since it's the most effective at clearing trash and pairs accurately with the Plasma Pistol for the Brutes.

It's a precision weapon, this is the same throughout all the Halo games. 1 headshot to an exposed head = 1 kill. The reason Bungie designed the pistol to be completely useless outside of precision shots is to make it a tool of a professional, and to make it weaker (and by extension you) in comparison to H3's weaponary; as was well as changing the mechanics around Brute shielding. This is basic game design.

I read your post, and I wouldn't change anything about what I said. Your problem is imaginary and/or irrelevant.

Play, or don't.

[Exodus]

I thought ODST was the easiest in the series, the enemy placements were very predictable and not very challenging. I was expecting it to be harder considering i'm a normal human, in contrast I found h3 to be very difficult to me.

I guess it just depends on player style and awareness, peoples individual strategies might work better on certain games.

[Knamika]

Honestly it sounds like a you problem, I really enjoyed using the carbine doing solo/legen run. It could easily pop shields and kill a brute before they could pop my shields

[Knavenformed]

Originally posted by Exodus:

I thought ODST was the easiest in the series,

Balanced doesn't mean easy, and easy doesn't mean fun for me.

[Knavenformed]

Originally posted by Knamika:

Honestly it sounds like a you problem, I really enjoyed using the carbine doing solo/legen run. It could easily pop shields and kill a brute before they could pop my shields

For me it feel extremely off compared to Halo 3

[Knavenformed]

Originally posted by Psychedelic Adventurer:

I read your post

Then why do you now have another rant that completely dodges my main topic?
No ♥♥♥♥ it's a precision weapon did I say there was something wrong about that mechanic?
My problem is with ODST just generally feeling unbalanced compared to 3 in an unenjoyable way.

[Salty]

playing solo legendary with no issue, game is pretty easy

[Sabatoc]

Wellp, as somebody who plays ODST with the skulls Tilt and Cowbell active, I'm having a more fun time with ODST than the other installments due to how the resistances and weaknesses of enemies are amplified, while in the perspective of a Marine.

This means, some weapons will be downright useless to some enemies. Say the SMG and Pistol against a shielded brute.

Why is this good? Because it keeps me in constant adaptation to the circumstance, to use the weapons available to me that will counter my enemy's defenses instead of steamrolling everything with the same weapon until it runs out of ammo. I actually have to think about my approach.

Even sniper rifle feels like a dull knife against a shielded brute, which makes plasma pistols suddenly valuable tools instead of just becoming battlefield props.

Plasma weapons feel weak against organic targets, which makes ballistic weapons and precision weapons desirable.

The game becomes more enjoyable this way for me, so even if weapon balancing feels off for some, I'm pretty happy with it.


Just my opinion though.

[Kuuoma]

Bullet damage against shields in ODST is 25% of normal damage against shields. Grab an energy weapon for better results

[xmat123x]

You can cheese all Halo games using a precision weapon + plasma pistol and Halo 3 ODST is no exception. Unshielded brutes, grunts, drones and jackals are 1 pistol shot to the head on any difficulty, the Rookie is essentially a covenant genocide on legs.

[Pouderpuff]

Yeah, ODST on legendary is nothing compared to Halo 2 on legendary. I ran the whole game with the silenced pistol and the plasma pistol. Picking up power weapons when I could. But i breezed by it without a hitch.

[HELIX]

Yes, its just you.

[Knavenformed]

Originally posted by Kuuoma:

Bullet damage against shields in ODST is 25% of normal damage against shields. Grab an energy weapon for better results

If you read the post I have to ask isn't the Carbine an energy weapon.
But the experience for me comes down to shield health overall.