I find Halo 4 to play similarly to Halo 2. The BR is slightly slower in Halo 4. I also find the Halo 4 DMR to be better than Reach’s. Sprint isn’t really a deal breaker either way for me. Personally, I kinda hope that Halo Infinite ditches sprint in favor of higher BMS.
Halo never needed perks especially one that is a carbon copy of a call of duty perk just named differently. Resupply was something every player had from halo 1 through reach and never needed to be taken out and made into a perk.The weapons are not completely balanced either,the boltshot has ridiculous range,and the dmr is superior to the br in every way in halo 4
The weapons are more balanced than many other Halos. Of course, the DMR is superior at long range. The BR is for slightly closer engagements, the Carbine is for closer range than the BR, and the AR is for close-medium range. Every weapon has a place. The Boltshot isn’t any longer ranged than the Shotgun and requires to be charged up. This timing requires skill and allows payers to have a chance against a shotgun/sword. The only useless weapons in Halo 4 are the Suppressors and Storm Rifles. Look at Halo 3 though. Magnums, SMGs, Plasma Rifles, and Spikers are weak weapons that don’t stand a chance against a competent BR player. Halo 4 has the most variety due to the fact that not everyone is using the same weapons/strategy. I didn’t even run in to Boltshots a whole lot until playing Halo 4 on the MCC. Maybe it’s because I usually stick to BTB.
As an example of how I have a variety of play styles and weapons, I’ll name a few of my layouts.
Loudout 1: BR, Plasma Pistol, Jetpacks, Plasma Grenades, Dexterity, Wheelman
Loadout 2: DMR, AR, Camo, Frag Grenades, Firepower, Awareness
Loadout 3: Carbine, Boltshot, Hologram, Plasma Grenades, Stealth, Mobility.
I completely agree with you; H4 loadouts enhanced variety while keeping overall balance. However, some of them should be earned like in the old 360 Xbox, that's probably the reason why you see lots of people using a Bolshot since day one in MCC. Hopefully, with the rank and seasons additions, we will see improvements like that included in the game. Otherwise, it would be a lost opportunity. As far as Supressor and Storm Rifle power go, I've always preferred the Storm Rifle over the AR, it just feels more powerful and I'm keen on seeing actual bullets coming out of the weapon, instead of a hitscan fire that takes no skill aside from good registration purposes.
Personally, I think the common annoyance for Halo 4 against Reach, is due to the extreme gun effectiveness at range (partially because of the bloom/spread reduction), big crosshairs or high bullet magnetism that kills you even behind a wall (
this issue stuck to Halo 2:Anniversary, and shouldn't remain like that). Moreover, hit and grenade indicators damage gameplay in every title they're introduced in. Then, you see controversies such as the poor hit detection of the Light Rifle in contrast to the BR/DMR/Carbine when targets are sprinting. Aside from that, Halo 4 is a pretty well balanced and designed game, made for the whole tastes of players. In my opinion, it shouldn't have been removed from Ranked either (even if that section of matchmaking is nowadays unpopulated, unbalanced and inconsistent with playlists rotations and such), as until the big MCC update it worked perfectly and was played frequently. The settings aren't so hard to do: just turn off random weapon drops (also called ordinance), make loadouts like BTB (AR/BR/DMR/LR/Carbine) or Legendary BR starts and that's it. Maybe add the gamemode proposed in an above statement, with abilities on the map.
And about the BR vs DMR encounter that was referred in another comment, try to win with a DMR in an Adrift tunnel, the BR is in fact more powerful and has a higher fire rate, not to mention the bigger crosshair and the level of magnetism that isn't compensated with a bit of recoil, spread nor bloom. At least you have to be a bit accurate to use a DMR. To be honest, the
H4 X360 BR version was more balanced in every way, the MCC one doesn't feel the same, it may be the speed of the trigger. In MCC, it seems that the old balance was a bit decreased as that gun is like a master of all encounters as it did in the old games.