I wont pretend that everyone feels the same way as me about AL. But absence of proof doesn't prove the opposite. Unless we could do a poll over the whole of Reach's player base, we can't say if everyone likes or dislikes AL. I dislike AL and think it isn't balanced to the sandbox.
My problems with AL stem from two things, one being what most people here that complain about keep saying, it breaks the flow of gameplay. It makes a fast encounter into a slow waiting game. Sure you may still get the kill, but if thats the case, why should they have to wait, if its inevitable? The other issue is that it is broken. When you can pulse it like people have to block the sword or shotgun multiple times, that is just wrong. They are power weapons for a reason. The sword was given a sword block to make it less of a power weapon, so now AL also makes it even less of a power weapon. Why have the sword? The shotgun was made more accurate, it has less spread, so you have to be more accurate with it and cant just spam it. Outside of camping, if you get kills with the shotgun there needs to be some skill to do so.
Really lag makes AL really unbalanced. Since what I see on my screen isn't exactly what the host is seeing when taking in every xbox's report, so if I am shooting a guy, I get him down to one shot left, I shoot but the guy ALs, on my screen he hasn't yet but my shot is nullified and he gets to AL and survive. Add that to when they come out, and the fact that when someone comes out of AL they have extra shields on the verge of an overshield taking at least 2 extra DMR shots when a full AL is used. When they come out, you shoot, but because of lag, who knows how your shots are registering. Also I have had situations where guys have been able to strip my shields with an emp after only being in AL for a split second. I don't know how, but I attribute it to lag, that or cheating (but I highly doubt that). What about people being able to pulse really fast, the delay is supposed to be more than a few seconds? Sequential melees can be 1 second apart, how can someone block two melees in a row timed right?
Whenever I have used AL I feel over powered. I can go into a chaotic situation and come out unscathed. That isn't halo. Even with overshields, thats not possible. I don't think they should remove AL completely from the game, but it should be adjusted. Either:
1. Make it a one and done, you use it, and its gone, short or long, no multiple pulses per charge.
2. Make it not recharge shields and give you an extra few seconds of shield buffer after using it. Also make the time between using it longer.
At the very least, take it out of Arena, it doesn't belong there.
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