Will we ever see Battle Rifles and Scout Rifles merged into one group?

I'am already doing that with my T5-AMC

You amy agree with me that theres a difference between a longe range carbine and a Scout Rifle.

Yas, and i like to see the difference. And I do most of my recon use as light assult. I would like to see how would this weapon class help me as scout recon.

The Scout and Battle Rifles fit that space between the long range automatics and the sniper rifles.

The situations where I would want to use a Warden or a Shadow are similar, though the Warden is a bit more flexible and forgiving in CQC due to the nature of its attachment options.

At long range against any LMG or carbine, I can comfortably trade with both guns. They are also capable of counter-sniping infiltrators as long as you keep on the move and do not present a still head, though you will want to close the distance to reliably land shots against infiltrators who are using smart cover. These are guns that reward landing headshots since they lack volume of fire. I find I often initiate with a headshot and then follow up with a body shot or two to confirm the kill.

You do not have the luxury of going full automatic in CQC with either gun so either pack a decent sidearm, or hope you land an early headshot or two to keep you ahead of the DPS race. The Battle Rifles can equip a laser sight which helps considerably when engaging in close quarters. The Scout rifles must rely on sheer damage.

Right now LA have no real option over long range while infiltrators got SMG for CQC. Honestly, I don't think giving battle rifle (a weapon with a high skill floor and ceiling) to LA can be nearly as stupid as giving SMG (spray and pray personified) to infiltrators.

Ho

How stupid?

I would just like to have access to the Vandal on other classes besides the Infiltrator.

Firing that gun is pure ***.

The last thing I want is heavies ADAD dancing with the Vandal. The solution should be this, give LAs and infiltrators access to battle rifles. Scouts should stay infiltrator only, as they're our only solid mid-range options besides the CQC bolt action.

God damn it! That's exactly what I had in mind.

That's like, my total opinion . Give the vandal to any class, infiltrators can keep all the rest. I'll buy it again twice the price if need be!

Giving SMG to infiltrators totally cut out any need this class could have had for weapons already existing. The cloak is a powerful tool, and giving it with one of the best ttk in the entire game is pure bullcrap. Why not giving them shotgun while we're at it? They're supposed to infiltrate, not complain that they can't beat a heavy 1v1 and that the heavy shield needs a nerf!

ADAD dancing can be done by all classes. Yet neither Scout nor Battle rifles are realy popular. Last year when they looked into the BR100 loadouts both weapon groups where only in 1-2% of all loadouts throughout all classes who can use them. After all they are Semi Automatic and the majority of the community lacks the skill to properly use them and most lack the patience to learn how to use them. Remember when the Baron came out and everyone cried about how it will become the most used Shotgun and that everyone will start Slugsniping again? Nothing happened.

I would even allow it for LA if this would mean that i can finally get a Vandal on my Engineer and have a decent Semi Automatic option. Im pretty sure the niche place of this guns will prevent any balance issues as most players will stay with tehre spray and pray weaonry.

After looking at some statts ive seen that the Blackhand, wich acts as a ranged option, is outperforming the Battle Rifles, as it only requires 2 Headshots instead of 3 for Battle Rifles. While it is a pistol and fires a bit slower its still easier to palce 2 accurate shots instead of 3.

Giving LA battle rifles...yea...that's a bad idea.

if you light assaults really want a battle rifle (i clearly dont see the point) then id say: give LA another jetpack that allows the user to jump slightly higher, and only with this jetpack you can have a battle rifle equiped.

you happy, me happy problem solved.

and heck yes give the engi and medic the vandal.

Logically its not for a simple reason. Like everyone else the LA has access to the Blackhand wich is basically a pistol version of the Vandal. The main difference are RoF/Ammo Pool/Mag Size. I dont see a increased number of LAs sniping with it and i dont think that Scout Rifles would find much users with the LAs.

Overall its mor eimportant for me to get the weapons for HA/Medic/Engi.

The Blackhand plays nothing like a battle rifle.

Don't give scout rifles to other classes, they are a infiltrator defining group of weapons.

Just watching Halo 1-4 "Movies" and remembered, that there was somewhere a scout rilfe thread in this forum.
Can't remember if it was this particular one, but doesn't matter. My idea fits in it as well.

Instead of a merge of the two weapon categories, i would propose to give infiltrator access to battle rifles.
In addition ( here comes the halo part) i would implement a new battle rifle, which would be orientated at the Light Rifle .

This gun has two firing modes. Quick auto attack if fired from the hip and semi-auto fire while scoped ( using 3 times more ammunition per shot). Instead of the automatic mode, i would propose burst mode ( NS variant).
The gun should take 4 burst volleys or 3 scoped shots to kill a target. Between each burst volley there would be a slight firing delay ( like the Jackhamer in burst mode). Base ammo pool 36. Very good hipfire accuracy.

Or if you are more into empire specific guns, i had following idea:

NC - would have slightly higher dmg output and lower dmg decrease over range, the burst would fire all 3 rounds at the same time instead of one after another, the reload would taker longer than with the other faction variants, maybe the firing delay is longer due to the bigger punch or the magazine would have one volley less volley.

VS - would take the middleground, burst fire would need up to 5 volleys for very long ranged targets but still only 3 scoped shots, typical for a VS weapon it should have no bullet drop, an attachement would be available via certs which would decrease the ammo pool to 3/4 but grants the gun a heat mechanic.

TR - 5 volleys to kill, 4 scoped shots to kill, though the dmg is lower there would be nearly no delay between burst volleys ( like repeater?), and the base ammo pool would be 5/4 of the other faction variants.


Problems that may occure:

- the first generation battle rifles would maybe need a tweak

- due to its kind of similarity to the Trap rifle for the TR, the trap would also need a tweak

- NC complaining again, that the gun would feel/be another shotgun

No it doesnt but if you want to fight on range i found it supperior due to the fact that it requires 2 headshot instead of 3 that are required by the Battle Rifle. If you are in a fight and are in position to pick your targets and are patient you can easily snipe players using the Blackhand, found it harder using a Battle Rifle.

They are no defining group. The Sniper Rifle category has Semi Auto weapons as well, besides the Bolt Actions everyone use. Scout Rifles are, like Battle Rifles, rarely used since most Infiltrators eitehr use Bolt Actions or SMGs. Even Semi Auto Sniper Rifles are rarely used.

Semi Automatic weapons are rarely used by anyone. Its unlikely that they will ever add a new one due to the fact that they simply wouldnt sell well. I also dont see much sense in your suggestions for new weapons. Players like me want Semi-Automatic weapon options to use, not more spray and pray weapons. Also requiring 3 headshots is simply bad as its unlikely that you can land them. Thats why i currently use the Blackhand on range as it only requires 2.