Noctis:Like I said, he's an "anti-unit leader". Making an Arbiter is like making a soft counter for everything except tanks and anti-infantry. The Arbiter will destroy all hogs, gremlins, Banshees, and Brutes, effectively eliminating rushes in team games. All the teammates have to do is to cover his weaknesses(by making anti-vehicle and tanks to counter anti-infantry, and units to kill bases). And having an army to support the Arbiter keeps him alive by making him even harder to target among the massed forces, so the relationship is mutual.
http://www.halowars.com/stats/StatsGame.aspx?Id=13670016-5442-5846-1822-000000000000
In this game, I didn't exactly go solo Arby(couldn't afford to). While he did kill a lot of hogs and Hawks, he was quickly brought to a mere sliver of his last remaining health in a lot of situations. His retardedly slow run speed almost got him killed as I tried to slowly run him out of the D-Bomb before the Hawks wiped him out.
Also, note that I've melee'd 3 rebel bases with him. At the very start, that only earned him 1 star. After that, I had to Rage hogs and Hawks and finally got that 2nd star when I melee'd a few base turrets down. Gaining veterancy with the Arbiter is somewhat like camping in one base saving up supplies for a Scarab. And though the Arbiter can tear apart Hawks and Hogs, he won't gain any veterancy off of them.
After the Arbiter dies(due to a glitch, Canister round, or getting caught with a D-Bomb), I'd bet you anything that the next 0 star Arbiter will die to anything in 5 seconds, and will NEVER gain veterancy.
If you want to prove me wrong, try using a 0 star Arbiter to rape in your games.
I see what you're saying...but I'll say what I have said a long time ago: "If a player picks a certain leader because it enhances their chances to win vs they like the way that leader plays or it fits their style, then that leader is not balanced". You should feel like your chances of winning are more less the same with any of the leaders in the game. The choice you make at the end boils down to "I like the way the arbiter plays", not "I need to have an arbiter in my team so that we can win easier".
That's how RTS developers balance their game usually. All choices need to be within a small margin of effectiveness. When a certain leader/unit shows up substantially more than others, something is wrong and steps are taken to figure out why and what to do :)
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