: Honestly, there is no reason to use anything other than the BR or DMR, unless
: it's something obvious like the SAW or Rocket. I honestly don't know how
: they can balance anything while those exist in the toolbox. Sure, I could
: choose a carbine or light rifle or whatever, but essentially you have to
: roll 'rifle' or suffer the consequences.

: I enjoy using the rifles, but I wish for more variety. I love the needler. I
: loved dual-wielding needlers - not always, but at times. The Maulers,
: Brute Shots, etc. How can anyone ever viably roll AR or whatever? The
: entire game architecture would have to redone from the ground up. How can
: an SMG compete?

So, quick story. I played Halo 4, and then I stopped. For months. And then one night Nomis says "Put in Halo 4. Let's go die a lot in matchmaking." So I did. Somehow my loadouts were gone, and not giving much of a damn, I just dropped in the AR, the Pistol, rocked the thruster pack, and I'm pretty sure I had unlimited sprint and extra ammo or some such nonsense.

Anyway, so I have this loadout that, as far as I'm concerned, should pretty much be garbage. Especially in Infinity Slayer on big maps, which we were playing. Instead the opposite happened. We went on something like a 15 or 20 game winning streak, and after the first five games I was consistently placing in the top three players every single game. No rifle ever graced my hands. My tool of destruction every game was the AR.

Now, I'm not saying you're wrong. It's been my experience since Halo 3 you are basically pigeon holed into either using a friggin' BR/DMR, or spending a lot of time staring at your lifeless body. But I've had games (and that absolutely ridiculous never should have happened in a million years streak in Halo 4) that have proven that it's entirely possible to viably roll the AR.