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[Stoney Mason]

*sigh* I had 100% positive feedback going into Halo 3, it lasted from launch up until sometime last week. What is it about Halo that attracts so many damn scumbags? I get "Trash Talking" feedback when I don't use the mic, and I get "Quit Early" feedback when I stay to the end... even when my team is outnumbered 8-3.

I just don't get it.

What does it matter? The feedback system is completely broken and useless anyway. Nearly everybody always has 5 stars and I know this because I'm one of the few people who actually bothers to give bad feedback. Invariably the guy chanting nigger, fag, pussy, etc has 5 stars when I avoid him. They really need to have a harsher system where negative feedback either has a point or is visibly demonstrated better than that 5 point star system.

 

[StUnNeR H2K]

All I know is I played with four guys, all within two or three levels of each other. We destroyed teams like 50-25 and things like that. It took us 10 wins to level up. Four wins later, we lose one game, we level down. Took us another six wins to all go back up. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

I know with team slayer their is the whole possiblity of using someone else to help level you up, but what ever happen to working as a team? I may not be the best shot, the best sniper, or the best player, but if my team wins over and over and over and over that does mean I dont suck bad enough to cause them to lose. Just cause someone has zero kills means jack squat. If for some reason I have 0 kills and 0 deaths, but had 10 assists that means I did something.

It is aggrivating when you just destroy people over and over and over never level up then play one game where you either just didn't plaly your best or finally played a team better than you to lose one game a level down. If I recall I played 21 games one night... destroyed 90% of the teams we played, had a few close games, and only lost one. In that entire period we leveled up once, and fell right back down when we lost the one game.

If the leveling system or ranking system is meant to put you against = opponents its not working. When we win a 90% of the games we play and never level up how are we supposed to play tougher teams?

 

[JdFoX187]

I know with team slayer their is the whole possiblity of using someone else to help level you up, but what ever happen to working as a team? I may not be the best shot, the best sniper, or the best player, but if my team wins over and over and over and over that does mean I dont suck bad enough to cause them to lose. Just cause someone has zero kills means jack squat. If for some reason I have 0 kills and 0 deaths, but had 10 assists that means I did something.

It is aggrivating when you just destroy people over and over and over never level up then play one game where you either just didn't plaly your best or finally played a team better than you to lose one game a level down. If I recall I played 21 games one night... destroyed 90% of the teams we played, had a few close games, and only lost one. In that entire period we leveled up once, and fell right back down when we lost the one game.

If the leveling system or ranking system is meant to put you against = opponents its not working. When we win a 90% of the games we play and never level up how are we supposed to play tougher teams?

That's what I'm saying. It' so easy to level up in Lone Wolves and Double Team. I win or place second in a Lone Wolves match, I level up. We win a Double Team match and I level up. I was playing Double Team with Striker last night. He was a 35 and I was 15 when we started. We played five games, won all of them. I leveled up to a 19 and he leveled up to a 40.

I couldn't figure out how I didn't level up again considering I was doing better than he was in the matches. But besides that, why is it so easy to level up in Double Team and Lone Wolves and near impossible in Team Slayer and Team Objective?

 

[GDJustin]

Although I've observed (and even complained about) some rank-up/rank-down shenanigans in the past, OVERALL I still have to defend the system pretty strongly.

The fact is your numerical rank really IS a pretty solid indicator of your Halo 3 skill. Yeah sometimes you might de-level when it was undeserved, but try and look at the big picture.

My highest rank is a 32, and I think that that's remarkably accurate. That number indicates that I'm a "serious" Halo player - I'm definitely towards the top of the curve. But, it also says I won't be too much of a threat to other serious Halo players. I don't have the skill to break into the "real" top tier.

That's what my 32 rank shows. And know what's funny? That's EXACTLY how I'd describe myself, as well. Better than the unwashed XBL masses, but not in the top tier.

 

[NJ Shlice]

Visit the Quarantine Overload Thread

 

[BuzzJive]

Living Dead was a great idea, but I really hope they bring back some infection matches in to a playlist. I'd like to see a Lone Slayer and a Lone Other list. I like the social playlist that has swords and rockets and whatnot, but it would be nice to have a ranked list with that stuff too.

I was able to play with a buddy for a few matches, but as soon as we hit different skill levels, it got stuck in the searching mode. It could have been unrelated, but that's when we had to split up and go our own way.

Getting the 2 for 1 laser against some charging zombies was nice, but I could never get enough humans cornered to get the steppin razors one. Shotgun was just a little too powerful.

 

[brokenwatch]

But besides that, why is it so easy to level up in Double Team and Lone Wolves and near impossible in Team Slayer and Team Objective?

Have you read into how trueskill works? The degree in uncertainty of your skill (how many games you have played, so how well you did against players higher ranked than you at that skill) determines how quickly your level changes. Here is more information than you could ever want to know on it:

http://research.microsoft.com/mlp/apg/Details.aspx#How_to_Update_Skills

It probably doesn't have much to do with the individual playlist as much as how much you have played it, and how low or high your spread is.

 

[The Lamonster]

After posting this in the regular thread, I realized this probably belongs here as well:

Check out Halo 3's FIRST Tower of Power!

It's a mad dash to be the first team to reach the tower and defend it for as long as possible. Fans of Halo 2's Ascension-based Tower of Power should love this updated version, now with Mongeese for added shenanigans!

Tower of Power
Team Slayer
200 kills to win
No shields
Shotguns start
Maulers, SMGs on map
1 turret to rule them all
Lots of equipment and explosives

Please download the map and gametype and join me this evening to playtest my latest creation! I need lots of feedback as I want this to be the definitive Halo 3 Tower of Power experience.

P.S. The Target Practice map on my file share is also good fun (it's a modified version of somebody else's creation...but mine's better), and Leaps 'n Bounds is balls-out non-stop action.

 

[urk]

Queued for motherfucking download. And epic win.

 

[siamesedreamer]

Is there any talk of adding BTB to the ranked playlist?

 

[The Lamonster]

Is there any talk of adding BTB to the ranked playlist?

We have been talking about it, but sadly not Bungie.

 

[Striker]

Have you read into how trueskill works? The degree in uncertainty of your skill (how many games you have played, so how well you did against players higher ranked than you at that skill) determines how quickly your level changes. Here is more information than you could ever want to know on it:

http://research.microsoft.com/mlp/apg/Details.aspx#How_to_Update_Skills

It probably doesn't have much to do with the individual playlist as much as how much you have played it, and how low or high your spread is.

Well, we were playing players the same rank I was or lower. So when I was a 41 (entering the match) we were going against others who are 41 and lower. Each win I went up one rank. It's been that way throughout Double Team.

I thought about the whole "You're playing with a lower ranked guy, so you might not level as fast" thing, since I thought it applied to Slayer and Objectives. I was wrong since Fox was a 15 starting out and a 20 when we were finished (I went from 36 to 42).

Is there any talk of adding BTB to the ranked playlist?

Not yet. Needs to be ASAP.

 

[Incognito]

How the hell do you remove radar from local play?? All I can manage to do is remove radar for the person who's in first place which ruins the game, imo. I just want the radar OFF. Totally. FOR EVERYONE.

 

[brokenwatch]

Any rumors of team snipers? Seems like shotty snipers always gets vetoed now.

 

[TDG]

Any rumors of team snipers? Seems like shotty snipers always gets vetoed now.

Why would anyone want Team Snipers? SS is superior in every way.

 

[Striker]

Why would anyone want Team Snipers? SS is superior in every way.

They should introduce Team Snipers with a few different looks.

For example,

Shotty Snipers (Human Sniper Rifle + Shotgun)
Team Snipers (Human Sniper Rifle + Pistol)
Covenant Snipers (Beam Rifle + Plasma Rifle)

Some interesting ideas. I'd like Team Tactical to get cut and they bring in some new (BTB most important) playlists.

 

[Ramirez]

I played like 8 Social Slayers last night, and I think 7 of them were Shotty/Snipe. I fucking hate that mode with a passion.

 

[ToyMachine228]

Some interesting ideas. I'd like Team Tactical to get cut and they bring in some new (BTB most important) playlists.

I like Tactical. It offers a major change of pace. They just need to add some variety into the Tactical play list with things such as SWAT and Hardcore to please that crowd.

 

[JdFoX187]

Jesus christ...why does Social Skirmish have better gametypes than Team Objective? Who's brilliant idea was One-sided VIP? Even better, who's brilliant idea was it to snot only give no advantage to the VIP, but to show the offensive team where he's at?

 

[sixthsubset]

I like Tactical. It offers a major change of pace. They just need to add some variety into the Tactical play list with things such as SWAT and Hardcore to please that crowd.

i'm from that "hardcore" crowd, i guess, and i really don't feel that i need a team hardcore any time soon. i'd take it and play it, but mlg got their own "matchmaking" when they bought out gamebattles.com, and for a competitive player it's better than real matchmaking in alot of ways.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Just played my first game of Halo 3 MP online, in the training hopper. Slayer on Snowbound, four players. I hate Slayer, but I thought a couple games to get my skills up a bit and familiarize myself with the maps in the ginger, kitten-friendly training pants list would be good.

Two of the three opponents had the same name, with a [1] after one of them - and they were cheating, moving as a two-man squad. Needless to say, it sucked. I took them both down with a double kill once, and did okay - but I stopped playing part way through the game and just waited it out. Not a good intro to the realm of Halo 3 players. I left one of them bad feedback on Live via the Guide, but the other one never showed up on my recent players list.

Also ran into the mêlée timing issue. I was worried after I read about it, because I play a pretty mêlée heavy game (I can't shoot straight, but I can whack ya real good). I fell victim to it twice - where I clearly whacked first and then died a moment later from a mêlée blow, flying into the horizon - and unfairly killed a guy with it as well, where I saw him swing first, but I smacked him away a second later. It really destroys the close quarters combat in the game.

I think this is going to be my last MP game for a good long while. Cheaters and crap mêlée on my first game. Not fun.

Off to online Campaign co-op I go.

 

[Stoney Mason]

Just played my first game of Halo 3 MP online, in the training hopper. Slayer on Snowbound, four players. I hate Slayer, but I thought a couple games to get my skills up a bit and familiarize myself with the maps in the ginger, kitten-friendly training pants list would be good.

Two of the three opponents had the same name, with a [1] after one of them - and they were cheating, moving as a two-man squad. Needless to say, it sucked. I took them both down with a double kill once, and did okay - but I stopped playing part way through the game and just waited it out. Not a good intro to the realm of Halo 3 players. I left one of them bad feedback on Live via the Guide, but the other one never showed up on my recent players list.

Also ran into the mêlée timing issue. I was worried after I read about it, because I play a pretty mêlée heavy game (I can't shoot straight, but I can whack ya real good). I fell victim to it twice - where I clearly whacked first and then died a moment later from a mêlée blow, flying into the horizon - and unfairly killed a guy with it as well, where I saw him swing first, but I smacked him away a second later. It really destroys the close quarters combat in the game.

I think this is going to be my last MP game for a good long while. Cheaters and crap mêlée on my first game. Not fun.

Off to online Campaign co-op I go.

The players teaming up thing could only happen in training or a social game. That was a highly unlikely occurrence and would nearly never happen in a team game and would even be highly unlikely in Lone Wolves once you get a real ranking.

 

[urk]

Bad experience type stuff.

Dude, look for me online. We'll get some custom stuff going. Never serious. Always fun. Tons of laughs.

 

[sixthsubset]

i made a forged map. i think it's pretty neat because i haven't seen anything like it floating around though somebody could of thought up the idea before i did and made it.

it's called "hiron." basically the concept was to block off the rooms on highground and add teleporters between them to make something akin to the map "chiron tl-34" in halo 1. the map takes place entirely in the bunker, the pipe room, the brute shot/needler room, and the tiny room far in the back, with teleporters from room to room.

here's a picture:

it's pretty fun and can get a little scary and make you nervous when you feel like someone must be behind you. unfortunately it comes with a few side effects. it doesn't work too well with anything explosive, as in nades, rockets, and lasers, since the barriers can be broken through with them. for the first 10 seconds, it may lag or the framerate might drop because of all the junk, but that ends pretty quick. there is also the possibility of someone escaping to the outside when they put effort into it, though i tried as hard as i could to make that impossible, with teleporters outside the barriers that put you in the water and kill you instantly.

if anyone's interested, it's in my fileshare. the first slot is the map, and the second is the custom gametype, which is necessary as it makes vehicles not drivable and indestructable. it has a shotgun for a starting weapon, so you might want to change that to anything. feel free to edit stuff if you like

http://www.bungie.net/stats/Halo3/FileShare.aspx?gamertag=my%20pet%20dinosaur

 

[urk]

Tower of Power is insanity. :lol

 

[Shogmaster]

God damnit this pisses me off. Can someone from Bungie take a look at on of my file share uploads called Zebrak team kil and ban that fucker? Team killing bitches like this suck the fun out the game.

Thank goodness for films.

 

[GDJustin]

Desperately trying to claw my way up to 35 in LW so that I can eventually get my Commander rank. I'm not in any hurry to rank-up and I'm not really that rank-centric, it's just that I KNOW I'll be playing Halo 3 for years to come, so the EXP won't be a problem. It's the numerical rankings that'll hold me back from being promoted. So if I could just hit my 35, then I'd be able to breath easier, knowing that when I finally hit 300 EXP, I'll get that second shiny star.

But for the life of me, I CANNOT get there. I started tonight at 32 and made it to 34 pretty rapidly, but then finished 2nd-4th like 8 games in a row. I def. shouldn't be matched against the people I'm being matched with... everyone is a notch or two above me - I'm more of a ~30. I've been able to claw my way upwards via oddball and kind of the hill matches, and trying to cheap my way to at least 3rd in slayer by camping with power weapons

Once I hit it, I'll be able to go back to playing normally, and I'l be relaxed in the knowledge that a shiny vertical promotion awaits me at 300 EXP. Yay!

 

[Okin]

Just played my first game of Halo 3 MP online, in the training hopper. Slayer on Snowbound, four players. I hate Slayer, but I thought a couple games to get my skills up a bit and familiarize myself with the maps in the ginger, kitten-friendly training pants list would be good.

Two of the three opponents had the same name, with a [1] after one of them - and they were cheating, moving as a two-man squad. Needless to say, it sucked. I took them both down with a double kill once, and did okay - but I stopped playing part way through the game and just waited it out. Not a good intro to the realm of Halo 3 players. I left one of them bad feedback on Live via the Guide, but the other one never showed up on my recent players list.

Also ran into the mêlée timing issue. I was worried after I read about it, because I play a pretty mêlée heavy game (I can't shoot straight, but I can whack ya real good). I fell victim to it twice - where I clearly whacked first and then died a moment later from a mêlée blow, flying into the horizon - and unfairly killed a guy with it as well, where I saw him swing first, but I smacked him away a second later. It really destroys the close quarters combat in the game.

I think this is going to be my last MP game for a good long while. Cheaters and crap mêlée on my first game. Not fun.

Off to online Campaign co-op I go.

How is playing as a team cheating?

And how can you possibly be such a huge halo fan and not touched MP until now?

 

[Ramirez]

[1] just means it's a guest no? That's not cheating...just two people in the same room working together...:lol

 

[Ramirez]

I just beat two guys at VIP in a social doubles by myself. :lol My partner that I'd been playin with for a few games mysteriously d/c at the beginning, so I thought oh yay 10 minutes of me getting raped, but I pulled it out!

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStatsHalo3.aspx?gameid=110052367&player=TJ Ramirez

I'll upload the video if anyone is interested, some pretty funny things happened through out the match.

 

[Sean]

Two of the three opponents had the same name, with a [1] after one of them - and they were cheating, moving as a two-man squad. Needless to say, it sucked. I took them both down with a double kill once, and did okay - but I stopped playing part way through the game and just waited it out. Not a good intro to the realm of Halo 3 players. I left one of them bad feedback on Live via the Guide, but the other one never showed up on my recent players list.

That's not cheating, they were playing together in the very same room via split-screen. The [1] after his name indicates it's a guest of that gamertag. That's also the reason the second name didn't show up in the recent players list, because it's the same gamertag....

 

[OverHeat]

Well I got my 50 tonight.

]
General FTW

 

[Blueblur1]

EDIT: Useless trolling removed.

Your TV looks great. Can anyone help me with TV settings? I'm always changing them and I can never get the game to look good.

 

[urk]

I don't know who all jumped in from GAF last night, but that was some insane, clusterfuck shit. There were a few spells where my stomach was starting to hurt from laffle overdose. I know Sailor, Lamonster, and Dirtbag showed up, but there were a dozen or so others I didn't recognize.

We busted out all the lame gametypes for epic win.

Your TV looks great. Can anyone help me with TV settings? I'm always changing them and I can never get the game to look good.

If you have one of the good editions of Halo 3, use the calibration tool on the disc. It's excellent for getting your black, contrast, and sharpness levels tuned. If you don't have it, rent The Incredibles and use the THX tool on that disc.

 

[Blueblur1]

I've used the disc and I must suck at it because I still see mad jaggies EVERYWHERE. Almost on every wall, gun model, etc. If I turn the sharpness down too much everything gets blurry and higher makes everything extra jagged.

 

[urk]

I've used the disc and I must suck at it because I still see mad jaggies EVERYWHERE. Almost on every wall, gun model, etc. If I turn the sharpness down too much everything gets blurry and higher makes everything extra jagged.

What set?

 

[Blueblur1]

Samsung LN-R268W

 

[Tieno]

My 1 year live subscription just ran out, no more Halo 3 multiplayer for a while

 

[urk]

Yeah, LCD. You want to set the sharpness to 0. I think that set also has non-defeatable edge enhancement, so you're kind fucked on that front, but set sharpness to zip and then play with the disc to get the contrast and black level right. You might have to mess with "Energy Savings" to do anything with the backlight. I'd set it to High. Change color temp to Warm1.

There are jaggies in the title due to some scaling up from the less than 720p resolution and your sets scaling to native for the LCD resolution. You can't do anything about that.

 

[TDG]

OH NOEZ.

Give it another chance, dude. Try BTB, loads of fun.

UNRELATED: I've been wondering how Snowbound would play if the Shotty spawned on top os the Ghost area, and something else spawned in the tunnel. I like Snowbound, but Shotty camping is sort of built-in because it's placed in the tunnel. It might be better if it were placed in the open, and you'd have to bring it into the tunnel.

 

[JB1981]

Just got off some Big Team Battle and the netcode is very hit or miss. Had some smooth games on Valhalla but every game on Last Resort and especially SANDTRAP were laggy messes. In fact, I can't think of a single smooth BTB game I've had on that map. The map has too many vehicles and just too much shit going on for p2p play. Really, just what was Bungie thinking when they designed that map for p2p play? Did they really believe that it was going to run well? It really is regrettable that this game doesn't have servers - BTB in particular is crying out for them. That gametype is so goddamn fun but its consistently betrayed by lag. Oh well. I guess it's back to 4x4 and doubles

 

[Blueblur1]

Yeah, LCD. You want to set the sharpness to 0. I think that set also has non-defeatable edge enhancement, so you're kind fucked on that front, but set sharpness to zip and then play with the disc to get the contrast and black level right. You might have to mess with "Energy Savings" to do anything with the backlight. I'd set it to High. Change color temp to Warm1.

There are jaggies in the title due to some scaling up from the less than 720p resolution and your sets scaling to native for the LCD resolution. You can't do anything about that.

The disc demoes the contrast changing by "raising" the contrast all the way so the Grunts disappear. Well, when I raise the contrast all the way the Grunts never disappear. They're always visible. I have the contrast set to 90 right now.

 

[sixthsubset]

Give it another chance, dude. Try BTB, loads of fun.

UNRELATED: I've been wondering how Snowbound would play if the Shotty spawned on top os the Ghost area, and something else spawned in the tunnel. I like Snowbound, but Shotty camping is sort of built-in because it's placed in the tunnel. It might be better if it were placed in the open, and you'd have to bring it into the tunnel.

i was thinking of replacing the shottie with a sword and spawning a rocket launcher outside on top of the bridge where the ghost spawns. that way i'm pretty sure camping underground with the sword would be much less effective and they'd have to come out to get rockets or else they'll be flushed out.

 

[besada]

Check your connection because I play BTB on Sandtrap all the time without a hint of lag.

 

[Dirtbag]

Tower of Power was awesome.

Some tweaks...

With no shields to begin with, why place shield regenerators on map?
Stick with the bubble shields and lifts, though even the bubble shields seemed semi-pointless due to the 'no-ranged weapons' nature of play.

Map chugged a bit when the party was a full 16 due to large amounts of cores, etc.
Perhaps setup a version of tower of power 'lite' with half the amount of extra cores, for games above 12 people.

 

[Nutter]

Sigh, I need a better explanation of the Leveling up system in this game..

Play TS, with a party. A friend who is the same level as me.. levels up to 49.. yet im stuck at 47..
(even though i'm finishing first most times and have the highest headshots..)

 

[JdFoX187]

Sigh, I need a better explanation of the Leveling up system in this game..

Play TS, with a party. A friend who is the same level as me.. levels up to 49.. yet im stuck at 47..
(even though i'm finishing first most times and have the highest headshots..)

When you figure this out, be sure to fill the rest of us in because no one has grasped it yet.

 

[Deleted member 21120]

When you figure this out, be sure to fill the rest of us in because no one has grasped it yet.

According to some Bungie employees, it has to do with how well you played based on your own previous games. Like, whether or not you got more headshots than usual or your accuracy was better, or something like that. It's never been fully explained, that I know of. Only passing comments here and there.

I've played with someone before and had a higher K/D ratio every game, and watched him level from 40 to 47, while I stood still at 42. It's very frustrating. And I've been stuck at a 45 in Lone Wolves for weeks, and I still win almost every game.

 

[brokenwatch]

Why would anyone want Team Snipers? SS is superior in every way.

I want a playlist for team snipers (or shotty snipers, or needler snipers, or ANYTHING where the starting weapon includes a sniper). So I can choose between playing snipers or slayer, just like halo 2.

 

[Ramirez]

I haven't lagged a single game of BTB, and my connection is pretty shit.