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Halo 4 |OT| Spartans Never Die

nbraun80

Member
Yeah, it really is that bad. I loved Halo because it was balanced. Everyone had the same opportunity for success at the start of each match. That is now permanently gone. Reach started to steer us from that path. 343 promised to fix the issues. They made everything much, much worse by ripping every new feature from the franchise I hate the most. I'm just glad I'm into Halo for the story, and used to be into it for the music.

there's still balance in the game, just because it's not AR vs. AR at the start everytime doesn't mean there's no balance. Not everyone had the same opportunity for success in any halo, there were still many factors playing a part.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
there's still balance in the game, just because it's not AR vs. AR at the start everytime doesn't mean there's no balance. Not everyone had the same opportunity for success in any halo, there were still many factors playing a part.

Really, by design you say? Please tell me how.
 

nbraun80

Member
Really, by design you say? Please tell me how.

do you really believe everyone had the same chance to be the MVP of a match at the start of a game? There's so many variables that experienced players can use against others like map knowledge, power weapon locations, invis location, power weapon respawn times, br locations, skill with precision weapons, etc.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
do you really believe everyone had the same chance to be the MVP of a match at the start of a game? There's so many variables that experienced players can use against others like map knowledge, power weapon locations, invis location, power weapon respawn times, br locations, skill with precision weapons, etc.

Yes. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Every single moment of every match was determined by the skill of the player because the elements of the game itself were the same for all players. Those variables are now choices made in a menu that can't be predicted or reacted to. That is not balance.
 

nbraun80

Member
Really, by design you say? Please tell me how.

Yes. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Every single moment of every match was determined by the skill of the player because the elements of the game itself were the same for all players. Those variables are now choices made in a menu that can't be predicted or reacted to. That is not balance.
Not true at all. Skill will still prevail like any other game, map knowledge, proper weapon use, accuracy, grenade use, etc all play a factor. The 'perkz' are truly not that game altering and won't let a bunch of noobies own vets.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Not true at all. Skill will still prevail like any other game, map knowledge, proper weapon use, accuracy, grenade use, etc all play a factor. The 'perkz' are truly not that game altering and won't let a bunch of noobies own vets.

I'm not worried about noobies or vets. I like playing the game in a competitive manner. Halo is the only game I enjoyed playing in such a way thanks to its carefully crafted balance. Theoretically, if you pit two teams of equally skilled players against each other and allowed for loadouts and ordinance one will likely completely stomp the other because of unknowable, unpredictable random elements when the outcome should truly be as close as 1-3 kills. It makes it impossible for me to take this game seriously at all. The other issues like instant respawn and despawning weapons ruin the flow of the game but that's another issue entirely.
 
Not true at all. Skill will still prevail like any other game, map knowledge, proper weapon use, accuracy, grenade use, etc all play a factor. The 'perkz' are truly not that game altering and won't let a bunch of noobies own vets.
This is almost never the concern when it comes to game balance. The problem comes when you pit vets against vets, and the tide turns over something that was ultimately out of your control. That's not competitive, that's not balanced. That's not even fun.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
This is almost never the concern when it comes to game balance. The problem comes when you pit vets against vets, and the tide turns over something that was ultimately out of your control. That's not competitive, that's not balanced. That's not even fun.

Exactly. Halo has lost its competitive heart. There's no heartpounding excitement as you fight the clock for the last kill. There's no anger or bitterness over a defeat from a godlike team. There's no nervous moment where you wonder if that red blip on your radar has snagged the rockets at nine minutes in.

Win. Get XP. Lose. Get XP. Meh. It's all the same now.
 

nbraun80

Member
I'm not worried about noobies or vets. I like playing the game in a competitive manner. Halo is the only game I enjoyed playing in such a way thanks to its carefully crafted balance. Theoretically, if you pit two teams of equally skilled players against each other and allowed for loadouts and ordinance one will likely completely stomp the other because of unknowable, unpredictable random elements when the outcome should truly be as close as 1-3 kills. It makes it impossible for me to take this game seriously at all. The other issues like instant respawn and despawning weapons ruin the flow of the game but that's another issue entirely.
I doubt with teams of 'equal' skill, thatqirh load outs and ordinances that it would make it a lop-sided victory. With a good team you should be able to overcome a guy with a power weapon. Even if all of this still bothers you there are playlists without drops.
 

rakka

Member
Not true at all. Skill will still prevail like any other game, map knowledge, proper weapon use, accuracy, grenade use, etc all play a factor. The 'perkz' are truly not that game altering and won't let a bunch of noobies own vets.
sure skill still plays apart but not nearly as much as it did in previous games. you're delusional if you think otherwise.

the infinity playlists are a clusterfuck of power weapons, random ordnance, fuck your awarded for doing jack shit. assist! distraction!!
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
I doubt with teams of 'equal' skill, thatqirh load outs and ordinances that it would make it a lop-sided victory. With a good team you should be able to overcome a guy with a power weapon. Even if all of this still bothers you there are playlists without drops.

You're completely missing the point of why power weapons exist. They provide an advantage. I hate to do this but here's a scenario. One player from each team gets the points needed for ordinance. One team gets a sticky launcher, the other team an incineration cannon or whatever it's called. There's an obvious, unbalanced advantage there. The team with the better weapon will put it to use and create a loop of more frequent ordinance because a random number generator output in their favor one or more times.

Halo's multiplayer held a special place in my life for a very specific reason: the result of every game came directly from the input of the player (disregarding lag / netcode issues). There was no intermediate of random generation or unseeable menu tweaks. If you won, it's because you played better. Nothing more. This is now lost and I fear for the future of the franchise. Long-time fans are upset and bored with the game because of this.
 

nbraun80

Member
sure skill still plays apart but not nearly as much as it did in previous games. you're delusional if you think otherwise.
Whatever call me what you want, there's still plenty of skill needed and involved to do good.
You're completely missing the point of why power weapons exist. They provide an advantage. I hate to do this but here's a scenario. One player from each team gets the points needed for ordinance. One team gets a sticky launcher, the other team an incineration cannon or whatever it's called. There's an obvious, unbalanced advantage there. The team with the better weapon will put it to use and create a loop of more frequent ordinance because a random number generator output in their favor one or more times.
with good communication that cannon can easily be dealt with and the advantage can swing gour way. Heck you could take out that cannon with just the detonator if your good.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Whatever call me what you want, there's still plenty of skill needed and involved to do good.

with good communication that cannon can easily be dealt with and the advantage can swing gour way. Heck you could take out that cannon with just the detonator if your good.

It doesn't matter what you think you can do. If the opportunity is not the same, the game is not balanced. One team is forced into a more difficult situation. The outcome is impacted by something other than the player's input.
 

nbraun80

Member
It doesn't matter what you think you can do. If the opportunity is not the same, the game is not balanced. One team is forced into a more difficult situation. The outcome is impacted by something other than the player's input.
Ah so skill doesn't matter now. You didn't get the 'better' weapon so you're screwed. Like I also said there are other playlists.
 

Karl2177

Member
Ah so skill doesn't matter now. You didn't get the 'better' weapon so you're screwed. Like I also said there are other playlists.
Exactly. Skill doesn't matter. It's not the variable in question, because we are assuming the skill levels between the two teams are equal.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Ah so skill doesn't matter now. You didn't get the 'better' weapon so you're screwed. Like I also said there are other playlists.

Skill can trump luck but balance facilitates fair play and fun competition.

As Karl said, we are assuming that both teams are of equal skill. If the skill is the same then the team with the more powerful weapon has the advantage. It's the entire philosophy behind the design of the game's sandbox. It's why more than one weapon exists.

You have demonstrated that you don't understand what balance means so I'm just going to stop.
 

nbraun80

Member
Skill can trump luck but balance facilitates fair play and fun competition. You have demonstrated that you don't understand what balance means so I'm just going to stop.

you're totally right, im unintelligent and you can continue presenting your opinion as fact. Just because I don't share the same opinion doesn't make me stupid.
 

OnPoint

Member
My frustrations with the little things combined with the game just working like shit lately have finally boiled over, and I need to come on here and vent.

I don't know what the hell is going on with this game, but something is up. Today I had ordinance drops without any ordinance drops in it. That was fun. I also enjoyed selecting a loadout only to get the default one instead.

The matchmaking is terrible, slow, and unreliable. It takes so damn long to get into a game -- I don't like BLOPS2 but holy shit is it quick. It feels like as the weeks have gone by this game has begun to play worse and worse, with people teleporting all over the place while I'm trying to shoot them. And why, why, why does the host drop over 50% of the games in Halo 4?

Is anyone else experiencing these types of things? I think I need to take a break from the game for a bit and just enjoy something else.
 
I haven't played this game yet, but I just heard the ending credits music, and now I am buying a god damn Xbox 360.

that was my favorite Halo track ever, and the fact that Davidge brought it back for Halo 4 = me buying Halo 4
 

Izayoi

Banned
Is anyone else experiencing these types of things? I think I need to take a break from the game for a bit and just enjoy something else.
A lot of it seems to be tied to latency. I spawn without the ability to sprint frequently in BTB, and occasionally I don't even get an armor ability. These seem like issues that can be patched, however, so hopefully we'll see a fix for some of them in the near future.
 

Kermit7

Neo Member
I finished it, added in the IWHBYD and GBP skulls to unlock that "Skullduggery" achievement, too. Best weapon against Prometheans quickly turned out to be Suppressor + Headshot. Even a Scattershot didn't do anything against them, which was really weird.

What he said. I was delighted to find that some old Halo rules apply--namely, use the enemies' weapons against the enemies. I was also on the verge of quitting, though, especially when I got to the ghost/banshee section. Another pro tip: there is no shame in skipping the battle to win the war.

You can ask any of the regulars on HBO. I suck, yet I made it through.

Found myself in a similar situation yesterday on plain old legendary. I was at the checkpoint on Infinity where Cortana is working on opening the door. Three knights, three watchers, a handful of crawlers, and I was armed with nothing but me and my hologram. Went back a long ways, found a dmr and ar, picked off watchers and crawlers, and sprinted to the nearest chaingun to make short work off the knights.

This is what I love (and have loved) about Halo--being forced to think my way out of tough situations. It's extremely satisfying.

Kermit
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
You're completely missing the point of why power weapons exist. They provide an advantage. I hate to do this but here's a scenario. One player from each team gets the points needed for ordinance. One team gets a sticky launcher, the other team an incineration cannon or whatever it's called. There's an obvious, unbalanced advantage there. The team with the better weapon will put it to use and create a loop of more frequent ordinance because a random number generator output in their favor one or more times.

Halo's multiplayer held a special place in my life for a very specific reason: the result of every game came directly from the input of the player (disregarding lag / netcode issues). There was no intermediate of random generation or unseeable menu tweaks. If you won, it's because you played better. Nothing more. This is now lost and I fear for the future of the franchise. Long-time fans are upset and bored with the game because of this.

I haven't been playing since before launch (long story), but I loved what I played of H4. I'm now finally able to get on and play, and came here to read some current impressions... and man, it sounds like we'd be great friends, lol. How you feel about Halo is exactly the sentiment I share when I discuss why I enjoyed Halo 2 so much online.

Halo has never been about a random UAV in the air or a perk or a care package. It's never been about unlocking a better weapon. It's never been about the oodles of other variables. Instead, each team was given the exact same batch of tools for their disposal, and at the beginning of each round everyone had to work together and rush for the same power weapons in the same locations from the same distance.

Put two great teams against each other, and you could almost always count on an intense several minutes of sudden death at the end. Capture the Flag often came down to careful hiding to pause the clock and immense teamwork to just ever so slightly out-play the opposing team.

I look forward to playing online; but from your impressions, it sounds like you liked the series for the same reason I did, and I'm sad to hear that's been changed.
 

Kermit7

Neo Member
My old 360 controllers have rubberized thumbsticks. Whenever I see pictures of the limited edition H4 controllers, it looks like they are solid plastic. Are they?

This might be a good thing if I choose to use the FPS Freeks. Those damaged the rubberized thumbsticks. :(

Kermit
 
My old 360 controllers have rubberized thumbsticks. Whenever I see pictures of the limited edition H4 controllers, it looks like they are solid plastic. Are they?

This might be a good thing if I choose to use the FPS Freeks. Those damaged the rubberized thumbsticks. :(

Kermit

They are rubber, maybe a little tiny bit harder overall but they still grip.
 

JB1981

Member
Man you Halo diehards must have played with very communicative players because I have NEVER, ever in all my years playing Halo MP, played with people who communicated and valued teamwork
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
Really hope they tweak the netcode. I've had more laggy matches in 4 than I've had in all of Halo so far combined.
 

Dirtbag

Member
I love the pace of the combat for the most part, but yeah this is an entirely different style of halo.
It's definitely become something much more casual in nature then past iterations. Its very fun, but its not purely balanced and most of the tension is gone.

The game seems like a reaction to the nature of online play these days, no one communicates anymore because the assholes with mics won. This is the reality of successful online play now.

The pacing feels closer to Halo2 for me because it all moves so quickly and that is what exposes skill now, how fast you can react and make decisions. Gone are the days of moving frontlines and map control.
 

JB1981

Member
Really hope they tweak the netcode. I've had more laggy matches in 4 than I've had in all of Halo so far combined.

Strange to read this. The online experience has been beautiful for me. I just popped in Halo 3 and there is no comparison. Reach and Halo 4 have much better online code
 

Dreaver

Member
My frustrations with the little things combined with the game just working like shit lately have finally boiled over, and I need to come on here and vent.

I don't know what the hell is going on with this game, but something is up. Today I had ordinance drops without any ordinance drops in it. That was fun. I also enjoyed selecting a loadout only to get the default one instead.

The matchmaking is terrible, slow, and unreliable. It takes so damn long to get into a game -- I don't like BLOPS2 but holy shit is it quick. It feels like as the weeks have gone by this game has begun to play worse and worse, with people teleporting all over the place while I'm trying to shoot them. And why, why, why does the host drop over 50% of the games in Halo 4?

Is anyone else experiencing these types of things? I think I need to take a break from the game for a bit and just enjoy something else.

Yeah, LOADS of host drops, black screens, laggy games...

Matchmaking speed is normal as far as I am experiencing.
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
Matchmaking speed is decent, but I've had so many games so far where players suddenly start teleporting all over the map.
 

Grisby

Member
Hold the oddball for 2 minutes. Then the other team gets it and a black screen. Game takes forever to start back up and since the other team was hold ing it, I can only assume the time kept going because we come back to the game and lose.

:/
 
COD really makes Halo's matchmaking look like a joke. That game will put you in a match almost instantly, but Halo will search for what seems like minutes to find 7 other players, only to inexplicably restart the search at the last moment.

Drop Trueskill and get me into matches as soon as possible. Take a page out of COD's book. Also, add a countdown timer whenever there's a host change. How is it fair that certain players regain connection before others?
 

Korosenai

Member
COD really makes Halo's matchmaking look like a joke. That game will put you in a match almost instantly, but Halo will search for what seems like minutes to find 7 other players, only to inexplicably restart the search at the last moment.

Drop Trueskill and get me into matches as soon as possible. Take a page out of COD's book. Also, add a countdown timer whenever there's a host change. How is it fair of certain players regain connection before others?
Um, no. This is a bad idea.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
COD really makes Halo's matchmaking look like a joke. That game will put you in a match almost instantly, but Halo will search for what seems like minutes to find 7 other players, only to inexplicably restart the search at the last moment.

Drop Trueskill and get me into matches as soon as possible. Take a page out of COD's book. Also, add a countdown timer whenever there's a host change. How is it fair that certain players regain connection before others?
From my experience (SR46 or so now) the time in between matches is still minuscule. I'm in the post-game screen still and they're already voting for a map.

What's causing y'all to have so much difficulty? It's never taken me more than 30s to get into any lobby, on average faster than any other Halo game. What's your NAT?
 

exYle

Member
COD really makes Halo's matchmaking look like a joke. That game will put you in a match almost instantly, but Halo will search for what seems like minutes to find 7 other players, only to inexplicably restart the search at the last moment.

Drop Trueskill and get me into matches as soon as possible. Take a page out of COD's book. Also, add a countdown timer whenever there's a host change. How is it fair that certain players regain connection before others?

COD's "matchmaking" is a joke. You even write in your post why it's so bad.
It's less apparent in COD because skill gap is offset by kill times and overall lack of skill required, but you throw out True skill in Halo and you frustrate the majority of the player base while a select upper echelon of players reap the benefits.
 

Darklord

Banned
COD really makes Halo's matchmaking look like a joke. That game will put you in a match almost instantly, but Halo will search for what seems like minutes to find 7 other players, only to inexplicably restart the search at the last moment.

Drop Trueskill and get me into matches as soon as possible. Take a page out of COD's book. Also, add a countdown timer whenever there's a host change. How is it fair that certain players regain connection before others?

Except for the part where CoD is boring as fuck these days. I'll wait an extra minute for Halo.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Order and priority of things that need to be fixed in MM:
- Join In Progress
- Autobalancing pre-match and during the loading screen (there should be absolutely NO reason why a game is started 6v1)
- Netcode
- Map and gun exploits
- Punishing quitters in lobby and in game
- Weapon/Loadout balance conducive to gimmicky play
 

Tokubetsu

Member
I hope for Halo 5 they don't even bother with player models. Just Mantis all day, everyday.

3 Things I love About Halo 4:
1. Mantis
2. Mantis
3. Mantis'
4. Sarah Palmer

Halo 4 Cons:
Not enough Mantis
Why isn't the Mantis on every map?
People who blow up my mantis
Not enough Mantis in singleplayer
 

OnPoint

Member
Order and priority of things that need to be fixed in MM:
- Join In Progress
- Autobalancing pre-match and during the loading screen (there should be absolutely NO reason why a game is started 6v1)
- Netcode
- Map and gun exploits
- Punishing quitters in lobby and in game
- Weapon/Loadout balance conducive to gimmicky play

I haven't been paying attention to exploits. What's out there?
 

Not a Jellyfish

but I am a sheep
I hope for Halo 5 they don't even bother with player models. Just Mantis all day, everyday.

3 Things I love About Halo 4:
1. Mantis
2. Mantis
3. Mantis'
4. Sarah Palmer

Halo 4 Cons:
Not enough Mantis
Why isn't the Mantis on every map?
People who blow up my mantis
Not enough Mantis in singleplayer

Fuck Sarah Palmer, hope she dies in SPOPS.
 

exYle

Member
I haven't been paying attention to exploits. What's out there?

Grenade sprint (grenades get thrown faster and much farther)
Grav-lift thruster pack avoidance (take an extra second going up a lift)
GAMEBREAKING: Boltshot reload glitch: immediately reload after firing a charged shot without any of the cool down
GAMEBREAKING: complex wall glitch, but that was fixed
 
I have a question. Hopefully it can be answered here. I tried to download some screenshots and Maps, but every time I get : No files found. Is there something I have to unlock in order to browse content or is there some restrictions on my game?
Is that file browsing only available for LE users? Do I need the Season Pass to use it?
 

Not a Jellyfish

but I am a sheep
Grenade sprint (grenades get thrown faster and much farther)
Grav-lift thruster pack avoidance (take an extra second going up a lift)
GAMEBREAKING: Boltshot reload glitch: immediately reload after firing a charged shot without any of the cool down
GAMEBREAKING: complex wall glitch, but that was fixed

There is more now, double shot and double melee are there but they do not look as effective as they once were in H2.
 
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