Shake Appeal said:
It really doesn't take that long to kill anyone with regular weapons provided you're working in the right range and conditions for the weapon you're using, which most new players simply don't realize.
Also, lengthy 1v1 encounters (within reason) increase skill, as they mitigate against players getting caught out, require continued success with aiming, maneuvering, and thinking, and provide players with more time and opportunites to get creative. The best player in the world at CoD (as an example) dies in an instant no matter who it is that fires on him first (and the weapon being used by both is often irrelevant). That is not true of the best player in the world at Halo.
I guess I'm sort of looking at things from a Halo:CE perspective, where the pistol could 3-shot someone and had a very quick rate of fire. But that 3-shot also took a lot of skill. It wasn't something that people could just pick up a controller and do. I think this ability to kill fast made the game far more interesting, intense, and
rewarding while at the same time it was not CoD where you instantly die either (strafing and accuracy could counter being 2nd to fire a gun).It basically empowered the individual to kick tail and do it well if that player knew what he was doing.
And while I can see the skill that is involved in a longer encounter, the encounter almost always gets interrupted or affected by other players before a player dies. And for me it just gets old. This is what goes through my mind a lot of the time when playing halo 3: "omg seriously? i'm still shooting this guy wtf and he should have died a while ago. oh look people have shown up to the party because I'm still shooting this guy."
This is maybe not the exact thoughts that go through my head, but the feeling is definitely there. I'm super excited about the pistol in reach, but I fear the melee system is going to annoy me more often than not. i just see people opting not to even go in for melee kills at all in most situations, with the exception of attempted assassinations.