TrounceX said:
The skill gap in those games was only fine because of the game play mechanics that I mentioned. Of which, Reach has none.
I look forward to the day that a guest can 5 shot me by mashing the trigger and hardly even aiming.
Bloom mostly
increases the connection gap. As implemented in Reach it only marginally increases the skill gap. There is something to be said for dealing with it, knowing when and how to pace, and where to aim while bloomed at different stages.
However, on the wrong side of the connection, anyone can mash the trigger as fast as possible with little skill involved and 5 shot you all day.
In previous iterations of the game, there was a faster movement speed, so increased strafe and you could lead shots and have damage dealt due to a three shot stream of bullets each trigger pull.
The better skilled player could win out at a MUCH higher frequency on a bad or off connection... in Reach, this happens much less frequently.
Now there are those with connections who will experience this to a much lesser degree than others - no doubt, but play on a high download, low upload, high latency connection and bloom will drive you insane.
At the end of the day, it is a mechanic that implemented online is a bad idea for competitive play. Not only does it introduce random chance, but it all too often means that connection takes the day rather than skill.