>>713744179 (OP)
I think a lot of people give the AR shit without considering its place in dynamic balance.
Its an acceptable weapon at close to medium range against jackals and grunts that you'll throw away quickly to replace with an energy weapon that is equally effective against them, but also with added utility against elites. This holds for most of the game until you hit The Flood, and suddenly the AR has a variety of advantageous characteristics:
It has a broad but manageable spread that can be pumped into enemies and close range, but then also painted over infection forms to take them out. It has almost perfectly controllable ammo economy, letting you pop individual flood at distance as well. Against carrier forms you can hold it down to drop them and continue to paint the swarm around them and so on.
In multiplayer it's a neutral weapon that's not good against shields or at long range, giving spawning players something to use while they hunt for better weapons on the field. Pistol starts just turn into head clicking, which isn't necessarily bad, but it reduces the incentive to go weapon hunting.
