NYCC
Show Floor
So after an obnoxious trip, I finally arrive at NYCC. Line for Halo 4 booth is MASSIVE. Ended up being like a 2 hour wait. While in line I run into Louis Wu and Bravo, was cool to see them in person. Wu is more of a giant in person. Bravo is awesome, was cool to see him interacting with his fans also, great guy. Bravo also asked if he could film my gameplay. Get footage on me donging on some scrubs? Absolutely. As I'm still standing in line some ginger jerk and his german friend shove me. Was nice to see Duncan and Hyper again. Met Domino and Tashi for the first time, cool dudes. They Hyper, Duncan and Domino managed to bribe the people behind me with Halo swag in order to cut in front of them in line. Hey, whatever works. Tashi just blended in with some people he knew.
Chatted with some 343 peeps at the booth, they were awesome guys. After a close to 2 hour wait I finally got my hands on Halo 4. Bravo set up his recording equipment and it was a one way trip on the blain train... Unfortunately it seemed the train was having issues. Personally, I blame being standing up and being forced to be so close to the TV. Made aiming feel off. Was dropping a neg bomb for sure. So in order to salvage my stats I hopped in the banshee.
HALO 4 BANSHEE
Weapons wise, same as reach. The bolts seem faster and more powerful. Banshee bomb is still super powerful but didn't seem AS powerful as the Halo Reach one. The biggest change BY FAR was the movement. It was just very clunky and slow. Turning especially. It has this HUGE turning radius now. I like this for balance purposes. However the loops felt really off. It loops the same way as in reach but slower, so it makes this huge loop instead of it being a flip like it was in Halo 2 and 3. Still super powerful but the decline in mobility makes it balanced.
After banshee whoring I got 1st or 2nd place.
I got back in line after the game, waiting for about an hour until we decided we should go eat. Line was just too long for a game, food, and then panel. Got some subway, slurped some slurpees, and made our way for the panel.
THE PANEL
We got there an hour early and there were already a SHIT TON of people in line. Was not expecting this. Felt really bad for 343 and the NYCC Crew because the line situation was a huge cluster fuck. Gotta give props to Allison Stroll for getting HaloGAF front row seats to the panel. She is super awesome. Got to see Frankie for like 5 seconds before we had to sit down. Best 5 seconds ever.
Not gonna go over the Panel since Dax live tweeted mostly everything. The SpOps CG cutscene was AMAZING and the new BTS thats gonna come out is awesome too.
After the panel we were just standing around and talking. Allison comes up with a box of Doritos and Mt. Dew.
Allison: Want some?
HaloGAF: Eh... not really
Allison: It's Double XP
HaloGAF: WE'LL TAKE 50
Next up, the megablocks event.
HALO 4 ALL NIGHT
First, props to Hypertrooper for getting me an invite. He's the man.
Basically it was an open bar, free food, Halo 4 night.
4 player regicide
4 on 4 Inf Slayer
4 on 4 CTF
Didn't get to play regicide.
INFINITY SLAYER
I like it. It's its own mode and its fast paced and fun. My only problem with it is you don't know how many points you need for a drop. Maybe that will go away with experience, but when I played I wasn't sure if a kill was going to get me a drop or if I needed more. Either way, it was fun. A nice casual dongfest mode. I could only manage to get 2 drops a game. I think I got 3 at one point. So don't expect to get more than 2 drops per game.
WEAPONS
BR: Halo 3 BR with hitscan. Seemed to have less spread though. I was able to cross map people. Felt super nice.
DMR: Awesome.
Light Rifle: This one takes some time getting used to. The dual firing modes can mess you up if you aren't thinking. There were times where I would be bursting, then scope in and get all messed up and vice versa. But overall a solid gun. Used it a lot.
Magnum: Has a bit a bloom. Not nearly as much as reach. Just keep it in check and you'll be fine. If you land your shots you can fight off a player with a rifle.
Boltshot: No idea how many shots to kill. But the charge shot is cool. Couple it with promethean vision and its lethal.
Sniper: Has a kick, I felt it was a bigger kick than the previous Halos. Not sure though. Its still the Halo sniper. I was blaining people all night with it.
Scattershot: I just used it as a shotgun. Felt no different to me. Didn't try the bounce shots or seeing what distance is optimal.
Shotgun: Seemed more powerful.
SAW: Briefly used it. Exactly as it seems. Like an OP Ar. But its a power weapon. I think it only has 2 kills per clip.
Beam Rifle: Is a sniper.
Rail Gun: I like it. Great new weapon. Tashi chokes with it.
Concussion Rifle: Same old same old.
Incinerator Cannon: Not sure how this works as far as travel time/any drop it might have. I used it as a rocket. But it felt so powerful. Time between shots is long. Reload time is looooong.
Blain Beam: DIDN'T GET TO USE.
Pulse Grenades: Not sure how they work. Don't know why anyone would ever pick them over frags/plasma
Sticky Det: It's ok. Pro pipe was better.
Not being able to pick up grenades: Sure removes grenade spam. But I wish I didn't lose them so quickly. Not having grenades when you want them is a price I will pay for removing nade spam.
Nades: I liked em.
AMMO WAS SCARCE AS FUCK. That's what you get for not everyone having the same weapon.
Sword: Less lunge distance is all.
ARMOR ABILITIES
Promethean Vision: I thought it was a crutch for people with no radar awareness. But its not. It's SUPER useful.
Thrust pack: It didn't seem as powerful as I thought it was. Barely thrusted me at all. Tried thrusting off the mancannon and instead of propelling you further it STOPS your mancannon momentum and you only go the default thrust difference. I hope thats not the case in the final game. I thought it could have used a bit more distance.
Jetpack: NOTICEABLY not as OP as reach. Doesn't go as high up it seems and runs out of fuel fast. But still gives you a HUGE advantage on high verticality maps like solace. I was ruining people with the jetpack on Solace.
Hologram: Same old, but holograms appear red on your reticle and red on radar.
Didn't use the others. Hard Light shield screwed me over on some kills like I thought it would. Don't like that a regen is in the game, but its not too bad.
I'll include the armor mods in here.
Shielding + Dexterity is niiiiiice. I know I won some encounters because I had shielding/dexterity. Some of you won't like that fact at all.
THE MAPS
Haven: Can't tell if this or Solace is my favorite. But its just so clean and nice. Flows well and has some AMAZING Jumps. Tashi was talking to some 343 Multiplayer Dev about the jumps. 343 guy said he spent 4 months with the map, he knows all the jumps. Tashi proceeded to blow his mind.
Solace: Awesome for CTF. Vertical. Symmetrical.
Complex: Can handle 4 on 4, but it seems more like a 6 v 6/BTB kind of map.
Ragnarock: Valhalla with a mantis. Mantis is super powerful, but with any kind of team coordination, doesn't seem that bad. However I have this feeling that if you get a mantis on the hill along with your team... thats gonna be impossible to stop.
Adrift: Fun. Lots of narrow hallway battles.
CAPTURE THE FLAG
I am now COMPLETELY on board with you not being able to drop the flag. I hate how there's literally no option to turn it back to classic, but the committed carrier experience is awesome. It creates this huge dynamic on escorting the flag carrier. Have to try it out in a matchmaking environment but I loved it at NYCC. Flag carrier has the opportunity to go clutch too. I killed 2 people with the pistol when I took the flag, and had a flag joust against Dax near my base before finally capping it. It felt amazing. Don't underestimate the pistol.
THE AUTO PICK UP SUCKS HOWEVER. This is CTF's BIGGEST flaw. I distinctly remember getting killed twice because of it. I saw Hyper get killed because of it. I don't understand the logic. A committed carrier should voluntarily pick up the flag. You have to voluntarily pick up speed boost/OS/damage boost.
Other stuff
Strafing: I think I felt the inertia... but it still felt more fluid and responsive than reach.
Global Ordnance: Still not a fan. We'll see if I can get used to it. But I had no idea what was spawning when. Thankfully... I THINK it was symmetrically designed. So the initial sniper on Solace is on top. And then both snipers spawned to the sides.
Graphics: Not a fan of the ground of Ragnarok but good lord this game is pretty.
That's all I can think of now. It was an incredibly fun time and I feel so lucky to have experienced it. 343 really knows how to interact with their fans. If you have any questions you can ask.
Show Floor
So after an obnoxious trip, I finally arrive at NYCC. Line for Halo 4 booth is MASSIVE. Ended up being like a 2 hour wait. While in line I run into Louis Wu and Bravo, was cool to see them in person. Wu is more of a giant in person. Bravo is awesome, was cool to see him interacting with his fans also, great guy. Bravo also asked if he could film my gameplay. Get footage on me donging on some scrubs? Absolutely. As I'm still standing in line some ginger jerk and his german friend shove me. Was nice to see Duncan and Hyper again. Met Domino and Tashi for the first time, cool dudes. They Hyper, Duncan and Domino managed to bribe the people behind me with Halo swag in order to cut in front of them in line. Hey, whatever works. Tashi just blended in with some people he knew.
Chatted with some 343 peeps at the booth, they were awesome guys. After a close to 2 hour wait I finally got my hands on Halo 4. Bravo set up his recording equipment and it was a one way trip on the blain train... Unfortunately it seemed the train was having issues. Personally, I blame being standing up and being forced to be so close to the TV. Made aiming feel off. Was dropping a neg bomb for sure. So in order to salvage my stats I hopped in the banshee.
HALO 4 BANSHEE
Weapons wise, same as reach. The bolts seem faster and more powerful. Banshee bomb is still super powerful but didn't seem AS powerful as the Halo Reach one. The biggest change BY FAR was the movement. It was just very clunky and slow. Turning especially. It has this HUGE turning radius now. I like this for balance purposes. However the loops felt really off. It loops the same way as in reach but slower, so it makes this huge loop instead of it being a flip like it was in Halo 2 and 3. Still super powerful but the decline in mobility makes it balanced.
After banshee whoring I got 1st or 2nd place.
I got back in line after the game, waiting for about an hour until we decided we should go eat. Line was just too long for a game, food, and then panel. Got some subway, slurped some slurpees, and made our way for the panel.
THE PANEL
We got there an hour early and there were already a SHIT TON of people in line. Was not expecting this. Felt really bad for 343 and the NYCC Crew because the line situation was a huge cluster fuck. Gotta give props to Allison Stroll for getting HaloGAF front row seats to the panel. She is super awesome. Got to see Frankie for like 5 seconds before we had to sit down. Best 5 seconds ever.
Not gonna go over the Panel since Dax live tweeted mostly everything. The SpOps CG cutscene was AMAZING and the new BTS thats gonna come out is awesome too.
After the panel we were just standing around and talking. Allison comes up with a box of Doritos and Mt. Dew.
Allison: Want some?
HaloGAF: Eh... not really
Allison: It's Double XP
HaloGAF: WE'LL TAKE 50
Next up, the megablocks event.
HALO 4 ALL NIGHT
First, props to Hypertrooper for getting me an invite. He's the man.
Basically it was an open bar, free food, Halo 4 night.
4 player regicide
4 on 4 Inf Slayer
4 on 4 CTF
Didn't get to play regicide.
INFINITY SLAYER
I like it. It's its own mode and its fast paced and fun. My only problem with it is you don't know how many points you need for a drop. Maybe that will go away with experience, but when I played I wasn't sure if a kill was going to get me a drop or if I needed more. Either way, it was fun. A nice casual dongfest mode. I could only manage to get 2 drops a game. I think I got 3 at one point. So don't expect to get more than 2 drops per game.
WEAPONS
BR: Halo 3 BR with hitscan. Seemed to have less spread though. I was able to cross map people. Felt super nice.
DMR: Awesome.
Light Rifle: This one takes some time getting used to. The dual firing modes can mess you up if you aren't thinking. There were times where I would be bursting, then scope in and get all messed up and vice versa. But overall a solid gun. Used it a lot.
Magnum: Has a bit a bloom. Not nearly as much as reach. Just keep it in check and you'll be fine. If you land your shots you can fight off a player with a rifle.
Boltshot: No idea how many shots to kill. But the charge shot is cool. Couple it with promethean vision and its lethal.
Sniper: Has a kick, I felt it was a bigger kick than the previous Halos. Not sure though. Its still the Halo sniper. I was blaining people all night with it.
Scattershot: I just used it as a shotgun. Felt no different to me. Didn't try the bounce shots or seeing what distance is optimal.
Shotgun: Seemed more powerful.
SAW: Briefly used it. Exactly as it seems. Like an OP Ar. But its a power weapon. I think it only has 2 kills per clip.
Beam Rifle: Is a sniper.
Rail Gun: I like it. Great new weapon. Tashi chokes with it.
Concussion Rifle: Same old same old.
Incinerator Cannon: Not sure how this works as far as travel time/any drop it might have. I used it as a rocket. But it felt so powerful. Time between shots is long. Reload time is looooong.
Blain Beam: DIDN'T GET TO USE.
Pulse Grenades: Not sure how they work. Don't know why anyone would ever pick them over frags/plasma
Sticky Det: It's ok. Pro pipe was better.
Not being able to pick up grenades: Sure removes grenade spam. But I wish I didn't lose them so quickly. Not having grenades when you want them is a price I will pay for removing nade spam.
Nades: I liked em.
AMMO WAS SCARCE AS FUCK. That's what you get for not everyone having the same weapon.
Sword: Less lunge distance is all.
ARMOR ABILITIES
Promethean Vision: I thought it was a crutch for people with no radar awareness. But its not. It's SUPER useful.
Thrust pack: It didn't seem as powerful as I thought it was. Barely thrusted me at all. Tried thrusting off the mancannon and instead of propelling you further it STOPS your mancannon momentum and you only go the default thrust difference. I hope thats not the case in the final game. I thought it could have used a bit more distance.
Jetpack: NOTICEABLY not as OP as reach. Doesn't go as high up it seems and runs out of fuel fast. But still gives you a HUGE advantage on high verticality maps like solace. I was ruining people with the jetpack on Solace.
Hologram: Same old, but holograms appear red on your reticle and red on radar.
Didn't use the others. Hard Light shield screwed me over on some kills like I thought it would. Don't like that a regen is in the game, but its not too bad.
I'll include the armor mods in here.
Shielding + Dexterity is niiiiiice. I know I won some encounters because I had shielding/dexterity. Some of you won't like that fact at all.
THE MAPS
Haven: Can't tell if this or Solace is my favorite. But its just so clean and nice. Flows well and has some AMAZING Jumps. Tashi was talking to some 343 Multiplayer Dev about the jumps. 343 guy said he spent 4 months with the map, he knows all the jumps. Tashi proceeded to blow his mind.
Solace: Awesome for CTF. Vertical. Symmetrical.
Complex: Can handle 4 on 4, but it seems more like a 6 v 6/BTB kind of map.
Ragnarock: Valhalla with a mantis. Mantis is super powerful, but with any kind of team coordination, doesn't seem that bad. However I have this feeling that if you get a mantis on the hill along with your team... thats gonna be impossible to stop.
Adrift: Fun. Lots of narrow hallway battles.
CAPTURE THE FLAG
I am now COMPLETELY on board with you not being able to drop the flag. I hate how there's literally no option to turn it back to classic, but the committed carrier experience is awesome. It creates this huge dynamic on escorting the flag carrier. Have to try it out in a matchmaking environment but I loved it at NYCC. Flag carrier has the opportunity to go clutch too. I killed 2 people with the pistol when I took the flag, and had a flag joust against Dax near my base before finally capping it. It felt amazing. Don't underestimate the pistol.
THE AUTO PICK UP SUCKS HOWEVER. This is CTF's BIGGEST flaw. I distinctly remember getting killed twice because of it. I saw Hyper get killed because of it. I don't understand the logic. A committed carrier should voluntarily pick up the flag. You have to voluntarily pick up speed boost/OS/damage boost.
Other stuff
Strafing: I think I felt the inertia... but it still felt more fluid and responsive than reach.
Global Ordnance: Still not a fan. We'll see if I can get used to it. But I had no idea what was spawning when. Thankfully... I THINK it was symmetrically designed. So the initial sniper on Solace is on top. And then both snipers spawned to the sides.
Graphics: Not a fan of the ground of Ragnarok but good lord this game is pretty.
That's all I can think of now. It was an incredibly fun time and I feel so lucky to have experienced it. 343 really knows how to interact with their fans. If you have any questions you can ask.
