i thought the plasma pistol was pretty good in halo 1, especially in campaign. you could fire it so fast. i dont think there was actually even a fire cap on it now that i think about it. in halo 2 it sucked for everything but charge shots, which homed like a bitch. in halo 3 it was such a piece of shit that if the charge didnt EMP vehicles i swear to god the gun wouldnt have even appeared in MP. now in reach theyve actually given it its balls back... or one of them at least. iv actually gotten a few kills with the primary fire. i know when i play as an elite in invasion, i drop my repeater before my plasma pistol. the firing cap is the only thing about it i dont like in reach, but it kind of needs to be there imo. no fire cap and its way overpowered.

im pretty sure a charge shot on a vehicle in halo 1 dropped the shields of everyone onboard too, making killing them with the pistol pretty easy.