: In ODST it wasn't discovered... you start with it off the bat. The game
: forces you to use it until you kill at least one enemy. Bungie also showed
: it off pretty well in the promos for what it could do so I disagree with
: you here.

I mean you have to discover how useful it is. It's just just instantly "oh, it's a rocket launcher, this thing is gonna wreck faces."

I honestly wonder how many people really used the M6Socom much in ODST. It was AMAZINGLY good for headshots, but it's actual damage (especially against shields) was terrible.

You can accidentally avoid the M6D spawn in Halo 1 - you get an assault rifle right after and to many players (i.e. me) that weapon instantly said 'this is the one you want to use.'

Not everyone follows pre-release stuff, at all. I got Halo CE by chance when it was included in with the Xbox. I brought ME3 last year without knowing anything about the game. And I got Gears of War: Judgement without knowing anything either. (I haven't really played either game so I don't know if I'll regret either decision, but whatever).

One of my friends didn't follow the pre-release stuff for Halo 4 and played the entire game without using Sprint. AT ALL.

: Remove the sound and the skin and as long as it scopes in and gets head shots
: players won't know the difference.

Untrue. 343i themselves said they changed the look and feel of

: The whole idea of the shots
: being more powerful when scoped in with that gun is an excellent idea!
: It makes the gun feel just a tad more alien (which is something Halo
: fucking desperately needs again) but that mechanic really only makes sense
: when you get knocked out of scope when shot.... d'oh!

That's probably true. But I still dislike the inconsistency of that mechanic overall - having used it.

: I remember now. Still, the maps it was on players didn't exactly gravitate
: towards it. Except me I guess.

The only reason I picked up the Carbine in Halo 3 was to have more mid-range ammo. The BR was far easier to use an more available. Like the Halo 4 rifles, trying to 'master' the Carbine would only net you a tiny fraction of a second advantage at best - it wasn't worth it.

: You know what kind of crazy ass gun I want in Halo 5? I want something like
: the undertow ability in Bioshock Infinite. I made a post about it a while
: back, it being a gun that could let you grab all kinds of stuff

: -Pull a grunt out of a speeding ghost!
: -Float groups of grunts in the air!
: -Rip off a jackals shield gauntlet! Give new meaning to "disarming"
: your enemies ;)
: -Pull a hunter's shield away from him but risk him reversing the laso and
: throwing YOU
: -Pull a scorpions turret off target at the expense of a bunch of energy!
: -Crazy custom mongoose grabber races!

Seems overpowered...