: 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.

I've been playing H4 lately. Maybe I'll take that sucker for a spin.

Sometimes, it's that the rifles don't have a disadvantage. Consider the following as a balance: when not zoomed, rifle's accuracy is significantly decreased, and damage automatically un-zooms rifles. At first blush, this sound ridiculously debilitating, but consider: what negatives are there for the DMR or BR?

Here's the thing that leads us down the slope: good players want to use weapons that compliment their skill, and thus migrate to rifles. These players kill the ever-living hell out of the rest of us, so we follow suit. And then, everyone is using rifles.

Is it possible to make it such that the skilled population would use ARs and the like?