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Halo |OT12| Last One Out, Get the Lights

Does somebody want to recommend 2 loadouts for me? Once I have all five slots open I have no idea what I'm going to use them for. Right now my plans are:

Slot 1 - Primary (Prom Vision Hard Counter)
Light Rifle OR Storm Rifle
Boltshot
Pulse
Hologram
Stealth
Dexterity or AA Efficiency

Slot 2 - Secondary (GAF loadout)
Battle Rifle
Boltshot
Frags
Thruster
Shielding
Dexterity

Slot 3 - BTB
DMR
Plasma Pistol
Plasmas
Hardlight Shield? Auto Turret?
Mobility
Dexterity?

Slot 4 - ???

Slot 5 - ???
 
You have people posting their Spartans in the gaming OT. Like, pages worth. That's the thought process.

And people still look mostly the same. If you were locked into certain purchases from the beginning (obviously more stuff would need to be available off the bat) so that there were a lot of differences, it would actually be interesting to see people. I can just mimic what people look like so in other words: meh.
 
You see the armor in the game. In reach you could still see the player's garb and all of the details necessary within the lobby. To make it the main focus is just inexcusable to me. As I said before, I'm quite tired of this need to exclude what should be the main priority in a UI or game to focus on inconsequential things. You can see armor permutations elsewhere.

So what is it you want to see on that screen exactly? You have a lobby full of your friends or invited players and also the voting screen on top of the player cards during matchmaking/searching. You can roll out a roster if you're already in a party etc. I'm at a loss to think up what you're wanting to look at while in these screens that isn't there?

Also can someone just plainly answer the "where are our groups" question?
 
Sorry, I just had to nitpick that Halo wasn't unique in this regard, just following the trends. :p Certainly would be unique for today's landscape though.

Console shooters* unless you count Unreal Championship which was so damn fun lol


But anyway, I think I was wrong about my fileshare being messed up.. Just added the film I was talking about. Take note of the decisions I made throughout that match and know that I was the voice giving strategies to my teammate as I'm normally the main "voice" of people I play with. Some smart decisions and a little coordination, even with players who aren't good at the game but listen to direction, go an incredibly long way.

My brain, fingers and actions work very fast and I can be sort of an unconventional player many times. I wouldn't mind doing some voice overs actually so any advice on a capture card would be really appreciated. I also don't care for my overall stats in Halo games (Service Record) as I love to sandbag in games that aren't hyper competitive, so don't judge meh on hard numbers ;]
 

Arnie

Member
Finished campaign.

The cinematics and set pieces were pretty spectacular, even if I found fighting the Prometheans to reach the Didact utterly dull. They just aren't fun to fight, or engaging. I'd much rather have fought the Covenant in that sequence. And again, it was fairly repetitive. Fight enemy, reach switch, rinse and repeat.

I loved the sequence where you flew through the Didact's ship though, that, alongside the Elephant sequence on Requiem was my highlight.

Chief looked so badass in the final few cinematics. Oh and the confrontation with the Didact was laughably bad. A QTE after all this time chasing him? So, so unoriginal and lazy from 343. I laughed when it said 'press LT to plant grenade'. Dear me.
 

Talents

Banned
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.

That's why TruSkill needs to be implemented. The good players can play against good players who all know the exact weapon spawn times, and the not-so good players can play with the not-so good players who are still learning lots of things about Halo/are casual players who don't play to win. If you don't want to get dominated, learn when the weapons respawn, it's not hard.
 
That's why TruSkill needs to be implemented. The good players can play against good players who all know the exact weapon spawn times, and the not-so good players can play with the not-so good players who are still learning lots of things about Halo/are casual players who don't play to win. If you don't want to get dominated, learn when the weapons respawn, it's not hard.



Lol my real life friends are really excited for when trueskill gets added to the game. I just broke their hearts by telling them its going to be the same playlists we have now, the same matchmaking we have now in terms of players it finds and rank is tracked through Waypoint lol.
 
If you need to power weapons and random OP ords in order to "get back in the game" because you're getting wrecked so hard by base weapons that's a failure on behalf of trueskill.

Sometimes it's not the fault of a trueskill match but a mismatching of party numberes or solo random play etc. You can't just always account for the best players always win and true skill will do the rest. That's oversimplifying the issues.

Population and party sizes available at the search time fluctuate wildly, this is more the reason players think trueskill isn't working correctly when in fact it's just simply there isn't an exact party/skill match across all 8-16 players at the time you/your party want a game.

I think the dynamic of global ordnance could be tailored back a bit in terms of randomness but overall I think it's doing good things to keep gameplay flowing, avoid default Halo spawn killing and providing for random solo power plays when you're on the disadvantaged team.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
I generally have a lot of respect for your game insight and comments but I disagree on radar. Probably one of the biggest reasons you like MLG and I like default Halo through the series.

I just wanted to comment that I think radar has too much range to it and should be cut back about 20-30% of its useful range.

However that said there is far more room for stealth with radar and to me it takes more skill than for example MLG with no radar. You have to use timing, positioning and cunning during a match rather than just having this auto-cloak of no radar.

I've already found I have pretty much the same ability to be stealthy with radar and can still do it mid battle with 1v1 or 1v2 as well.

Combine that with Camo to counter PV and I love radar still.

I agree that Radar has too much range. Feels like it has been increased too. I see guys on my radar and bust out a short range weapon but when I see them they're further away than I expected.

What is stealth with radar on? Is that just crouching around? I would agree that there are moments with radar on where it takes skill to manipulate the radar and get an upper hand on your opponent. It used to be easier to do with before elevation was added to the radar.

Why do timing, positioning and cunning go away once radar is removed? All of those things are present but the only difference is that without radar, you're not 100% sure where the enemy is if they're not in your line of sight. And that's exciting to me. Taking out radar increases the need for teamwork and communication which is something that is a large part of Halo to me. There are two sides of the coin as far as no radar is concerned for me. It's defensive and offensive. How you use your awareness and map knowledge to gain the upper hand on enemies and then how you use communication and teamwork to find where players are. And I'm not saying these things are exclusive to no radar, I'm just saying that it allows for more freedom as far as map movement is concerned.
 
And people still look mostly the same. If you were locked into certain purchases from the beginning (obviously more stuff would need to be available off the bat) so that there were a lot of differences, it would actually be interesting to see people. I can just mimic what people look like so in other words: meh.
Yeah, it's great to see everyone using the assassin pose at level 32. So unique and makes them stand out from the crowd of other assassin posers. It's why grinding for these little flourishes makes no sense to me, you either give people the options to actually let them customize, or you just get this homogeneity from the grind setup.
 
So what it is you want to see on that screen exactly? You have a lobby full of your friends or invited players and also the voting screen on top of the player cards during matchmaking/searching.

You can roll out a roster if you're already in a party etc.

I'm at a loss to think up what you're wanting to look at while in these screens that isn't there?

Also can someone just plainly answer the "where are our groups" question?

Something along the lines of Reach.

Group players by War Games/OPs/Campaign depending on what I'm in if they're going to stick with that push button roster.

For example if I'm in War Games, I want War Games people at the top. And I want the people with open slots at the top.

In terms of the lobby I'd rather see the game settings, especially in custom game setup. You have these huge symbols where people could see time limit, caps/time with ball limit, whether radar is on or off, etc.


HEY DEVO, DON'T FORGET TO MENTION THAT GAMERTAGS ARE DISPLAYED IN ALL-CAPS IN EVERY MENU. IT'S REALLY ANNOYING.

OK NSCUDUNCAN
 
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.

I truly believe the problem is in the not-knowing. With all the new HUD indicators, if they added the waypoints for power weapons several seconds before they spawn that would already alleviate some of the problems you've mentioned. I know what you're saying and as an OG Halo player I 100% agree with you. Despite what many people would swear by in Halo 1 and how those power weapons worked, that shit would not be crispy today.. Halo 1 Chill Out was all about Rockets and the hell with everything else. The Rockets were incredibly broken in that game, but say you get a waypoint to where the next Rockets will spawn then you're already helping out the "lesser-skilled" players who obviously may not think about those things during the middle of a game.

It was too easy in past Halo games to forget about things that can determine the outcome of a match, especially in the heat of the moment.


Question for Steelyuhas: I know you were a big advocate for the Storm Rifle before H4 came out, but I'm interested in what are your thoughts of it now? Still holds up to what you played and do you use it? The automatics in general are great, but I had a feeling this one was going to stick out to me..
 
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.

Ha.

Do you relearn the map layouts everytime you play and then erase your memory after every game? No, Go into theater and figure out when the weapons are respawning. It literally takes 20 minutes to get a decent understanding.

Randomness is no good at all...Why don't they just match up 4 players on each team show a coin being flipped and determine a winner and award Xp from that?
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.

So you hated it because people were donging on you?

You may have gotten "dominated", but it was completely fair. You could have pushed for power weapons/communicated with teammates. Now, earning a power weapon is as easy as pressing a button.
 
It's more like I expect to trade but don't. I dunno. Krow still plays quite well so I'm probably just not adjusting. Plenty of times I just default to BR/Mobility and run around just not caring as much.

It feels like the player investment system is pretty borked. Seem to get around 2/3k per game no matter if I go +30 or -15. I am just basically playing the game like I played Reach to grind out ranks and unlock stuff.

I am so detached from the gameplay its not even funny.
 

Arnie

Member
So I bought 2100 MS points on the cheap to grab the Season Pass, and the points have yet to arrive but I'm already regretting it. This isn't Halo to me, it feels like a miracle that I ended up pulling out of buying the LE at the last second. War Games is such a mess. The UI, the supporting systems, and then a large majority of the minute to minute gameplay. Even when you remove ordnance and the ridiculous loadout system and confine yourself to Slayer Pro, you're still playing on maps that aren't designed like traditional Halo maps, not fighting for map control, not bothered about power ups, on team shark playing for 600 points.

I'll write a long dissection on why this game repels me at some point in the future. The cumulative feelings from many passionate Halo fans says all that needs to be said for the time being.
 
So I look at the MM lobby while in MM.

Just a long row of cards. Just seems like more inconsistency.

You don't scroll through everything in this manner but when you come to player cards it's a bunch of searching for player that goes off screen. To be frank and mean: it looks like ass. In the previous games you were shown how many people would end up in game and whether that spot was filled.

In small ass letters at the top: Searching 2/6.

Erm okay that should be visualized in the main content section. Thanks.
 
Just won 3 CTF games in a row, didn't get the challenge, although everyone in my group with me did. Then, when we go into a new game to get a 4th win, and we match against laggy Mexicans that eat headshots. Awesome.
 
I agree that Radar has too much range. Feels like it has been increased too. I see guys on my radar and bust out a short range weapon but when I see them they're further away than I expected.

What is stealth with radar on? Is that just crouching around? I would agree that there are moments with radar on where it takes skill to manipulate the radar and get an upper hand on your opponent. It used to be easier to do with before elevation was added to the radar.

Why do timing, positioning and cunning go away once radar is removed? All of those things are present but the only difference is that without radar, you're not 100% sure where the enemy is if they're not in your line of sight. And that's exciting to me. Taking out radar increases the need for teamwork and communication which is something that is a large part of Halo to me. There are two sides of the coin as far as no radar is concerned for me. It's defensive and offensive. How you use your awareness and map knowledge to gain the upper hand on enemies and then how you use communication and teamwork to find where players are. And I'm not saying these things are exclusive to no radar, I'm just saying that it allows for more freedom as far as map movement is concerned.

In Halo 4 I'm still adjusting to the radar scale, I too fire off before I enemy has appeared where I expected then to. Just part of the new Halo 4 I suppose but it is definitely too long range. I can't imagine with that mod to extend it further...UGH.

Sure similar skills and team communication traits play a part with or without radar but I just find the pacing of the game and player mentality is very different when no radar is the setting. Throughout the life of Halo 3, Reach and now in Halo 4 as well I find almost all of my friends still just want to play slayer, not my choice really.

I can always find friends to team up with for Slayer but always next to impossible to get 3-7 more Aussie mates together for pure objective, which is my staple playlist for 10+ years. So this leads me to prefer radar ON as I basically get all the information by myself without having to rely on random teammates or constantly watching every path etc.

I also find I outwit enemies far more often with radar as it's a skill I've honed through the series.

I can understand MLG wanting to force teams and players to have the awareness/communication skills without radar but I see no "dumbing down" of those same skills mentioned when radar is present. It just aids the random solo player (like me in objective) without forcing them to always find a regular team to play with and communicate all day long.

I also have two small children and with mic during late night I tend to wake them up, so I prefer to play quiet and radar aids my skills this way too.

In the previous games you were shown how many people would end up in game and whether that spot was filled.

It does show this still, the cards to the right are empty showing available slots then as players join their player card appears. It also chops off empty slots if it starts the game with say 4v4 vs. 5v5.

I do agree the UI could use some improvement in terms of friendliness but and some extra in depth data on the game you're about to start too.
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
Just won 3 CTF games in a row, didn't get the challenge, although everyone in my group with me did. Then, when we go into a new game to get a 4th win, and we match against laggy Mexicans that eat headshots. Awesome.

The Laggy Mexicans sounds like a sweet band name.
 

Korosenai

Member
Getting to sr-130 sounds rather easy. Going from a specialization 1-10 is like going from a 1-34. I actually like it being easy like that though (stupid inheritor).
 
So I bought 2100 MS points on the cheap to grab the Season Pass, and the points have yet to arrive but I'm already regretting it. This isn't Halo to me, it feels like a miracle that I ended up pulling out of buying the LE at the last second. War Games is such a mess. The UI, the supporting systems, and then a large majority of the minute to minute gameplay. Even when you remove ordnance and the ridiculous loadout system and confine yourself to Slayer Pro, you're still playing on maps that aren't designed like traditional Halo maps, not fighting for map control, not bothered about power ups, on team shark playing for 600 points.

I'll write a long dissection on why this game repels me at some point in the future. The cumulative feelings from many passionate Halo fans says all that needs to be said for the time being.

At least you can use those 2100ms points elsewhere! I have the damn map pack pass. :(


Also I wish they copied CoD properly and didn't spawn you into the game till you chose your loadout rather than just threw you in with your top one. Would be nice if it was consistent whether you would see floating cam or deathcam too.
 
At least you can use those 2100ms points elsewhere! I have the damn map pack pass. :(


Also I wish they copied CoD properly and didn't spawn you into the game till you chose your loadout rather than just threw you in with your top one. Would be nice if it was consistent whether you would see floating cam or deathcam too.

I wish you didn't have to unlock loadouts and you could set a preference for the top depending on the playlist.
 
Just won 3 CTF games in a row, didn't get the challenge, although everyone in my group with me did. Then, when we go into a new game to get a 4th win, and we match against laggy Mexicans that eat headshots. Awesome.

Maybe you reached the achievement cap and the game is telling you to take a break.
 
I wish you didn't have to unlock loadouts and you could set a preference for the top depending on the playlist.

Funnily enough when everyone had everything unlocked at the Eurogamer lans I played the game was a LOT more fun. The sandbox is fantastic when the variety is allowed to shine.

Right now though the only AA's that get used are promethean vision/ camo and I would wager the rest of the choices are also being stifled in a similar way.

I dont know if thats down to the unlock system/ the unbalanced perks/ weapons/ AA's or both, but the game is stifling its own sandbox.
 

DeadNames

Banned
Echh... I hope 343 scraps global ordnance :(

I would prefer if they just kept personal ordnance and just switched back to the original ways. Or just use my "slot" system.
 

WJD

Member
This is one of those things I'm totally confident 343 will fix.

No, I'm not being sarcastic!

Yeah, they've seemed pretty on the ball with glitch fixes and stuff like that so far, so I'm confident the smaller, easily fixable things will be sorted soon enough.

I have slightly less confidence in them completely removing Complex from everything ever, though.
 

meppi

Member
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.

While it certainly won't be a popular post to the Halo faithful who bitch about everything that has been changed, I have to say, I agree fully with what you say.
Haven't played a lot of Halo MP in the past and to be honest, I've been having a lot more fun in that regard with Halo 4 then I ever had with any of the past games.

It certainly has had a major shakeup, but I love the changes so far.
There are a couple of things that feel a little off like the Saw for instance, which I feel would do much better with an increase of the reload time.
Overall, I'm very glad 343 decided to finally crack some eggs and change things up to make a rather basic MP a bit more exciting.

Then again, I would love for them to put in a classic mode to appease all the old fans who can't get used to the new rules. But perhaps that would be seen as counterproductive with trying to move the franchise forward. :-/
 

Arnie

Member
Then again, I would love for them to put in a classic mode to appease all the old fans who can't get used to the new rules.

Even with a 'classic mode', the Halo fans wouldn't feel appeased. The game's very core is tainted by the changes, maps aren't designed to be controlled or fought over like prior games, for example. Scoring is fucked. The UI is abysmal. These are substantial changes that wouldn't disappear in a classic playlist. I also think the idea of segregating those who want to play Halo, in a game called 'Halo', is just a bit too sadistic.

So Devo are you going to make a huge document and send it to 343?
I am, at some point.

Just a bit of fan mail.
 

heckfu

Banned
I don't get why people are so upset about the random power weapon spawns. I agree they should add an option to keep the power weapon spawns statis in MLG or tourney matches, but online matchmaking can be ruined by people who play like every single match has a prize money on it. I seriously hated when the opposition was dominating the weapon cycles and it really ruined the fun for me, let a lone newcomes to Halo who will probably never touch Halo ever again.

From all the lists I've read that moaned about the unfairness, like PV (which is pretty much harmless), this is the actual thing that makes the matches unfair. And people want thát back? Give me a break.
I can't begin to describe why this post literally made me a hair angry. It would be easy for me to do my usual and customary smartass response, end it with the word adapt, and move on but I feel I should write out in full (from my cell phone at work, so I apologize if there are typos in advance) on why this attitude has us in the shape we are in.

Ill preface quickly: I love Halo and I love the folks who created it. This game is fun and I have fun with my friends playing it.

But you know what I really love? Competition. I love going out on the soccer field and running around until I want to vomit and hustle my ass off to win. I loved doing this the most when there was something on the line but I still did it when playing for fun because I hold myself to a higher standard than you obviously do because you said yourself "I hate when people are playing like there is a prize on the line." I'm not ok with complacency.

That's where my biggest struggle in this game: when I'm not in control or know my boundaries I feel lazy and complacent. I brought up soccer for a reason, it has a very structured layout and positions and rules. Soccer wouldn't be the worlds most popular sport if the majority of the time you were waiting around for a random element in the game to swing the momentum in your favor, right? I mean of course I am, I'm not an idiot.

Ill admit I'm mostly a casual in Halo due to skill but I still tried my best in Reach with this crowd and learned weapon spawns, player spawns, and learned how to control maps because that's how you won games. I'm sorry you got destroyed from the sound of it, I truly am, but the direction of this game (remember above, I still think it's fun) is a different direction than where it started and drew in the largest majority of this forum and they aren't ok with it. Then you start spitting bullshit about PV not being a problem (I looked it up, it IS a problem) and the real problem is players being too competitive.

As a tribute to your terrible post, ill end mine the same way: give me a break.
 
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