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I think the AR is a good
I think the AR is a good starting weapon because you can't dual wield it. This means there will be less dual wielding in the game. That's good enough for me.
The AR is also a better weapon than the SMG (stand alone) in almost every situation.
I think it's a big upgrade over the SMG, however, it's still isn't that great of a starting weapon. Most everyone I play with immediately goes hunting for a BR before they starting attacking someone.
The AR can't get much better without it becoming the BR. If it gets much weaker, it'll be a single wielding SMG. I don't like it, but hopefully it will do.
Beside, Bungie came though with some BR-start playlists.
@Mintz: Why is HALO 3 better than HALO 2?