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.