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[Duji]

In classic Halo that encounter is determined by a series of events before hand, not just at the menu. There was a rush to the sword or a fight for it. There was a rush for the camo or a fight for it. If you were an informed player, you knew the general vicinity of a sword user or a camo user, and you either avoided it or went for a risky maneuver. If you weren't informed, then the result is an unsuspecting camo sword death, but you had the opportunity off spawn to notice that camo and sword were not at their spawn. And in death you knew the positioning of the player.

With Reach and 4, that is negated. You can now spawn with a mini-shotgun in your back pocket. You can spawn with camo in your back pocket. And an opposing player doesn't know that until it is too late.

Let's take the high ground argument from both the position of the high ground rocketeer and the victim. In classic Halo, the rocketeer knew that the player below was a probable kill. In Halo 3, there was the chance that the victim had a bubble shield and there was no way for the rocketeer to know that unless they knew that the bubble shield wasn't at its spawn. And even then, it might be in the back pocket of one of the other players. In Halo Reach, the victim might have spawned with AL, and there's no way for the attacker to know. They might have spawned with Jetpack, enabling them to avoid it altogether and get at an offensive position on the attacker. In 4(although less effective) that player may have spawned with Hardlight. The latter of the examples, that attacker has no idea what the enemy has spawned with.

Now from the victim's perspective. This situation is similar to the sword camo situation. The player should know that the rocket is gone and a general position of the enemy that has it. If not, then that is on the player.

Short term memory can only hold around seven items, give or take a few based on level of concentration. When 8 abilities are thrown at the player before the game even starts, it forces more concentration on the abilities and their counters, moreso than the game variables themselves. Now Jaime refers to the short term memory in terms of cooldown design and how long the brain retains that information, it can be applied to most levels of game design. One of the main reasons why I'm opposed to the Ability design is that it is throwing more variables at me than I need. There's not a great chance that I'm going to be facing a Hologram player, but if I am I need to know what counters it. Multiply that times eight just for armor abilities (not including perks) and there's already an information overload. To top it off, the abilities aren't balanced.

I want to use Luke's quote about Halo: "Two men enter, the better man leaves. The lesser man is respawning and that's Halo." Now two men are entering, the one with the ability counter leaves. The other one is respawning and that's new Halo.

This post nails it. Hire Karl.

 

[pakkit]

I finally earned the Stability perk by getting to Rogue-10..

But now I'm too used to flinch. :'(

 

[ElRenoRaven]

Jess does a great job at finding her own style of writing, the issue is that a lot of the bulletins come from PR. The whole tourney thing reads like a press release every week, and those kind of segments make up the whole of the bulletin a lot. With Bungie, Urk always did his big solid chunk of writing and then put any advertisements or marketing for events at the very end, it made his updates seem more personal.

If I had a suggestion for 343 it would be to give Jess all the information, have her write (in her own words) the bulletin, then keep any extra stuff at the end. I'll admit, seeing a giant Ford truck in the top of the Bulletin is not something I enjoyed, even though I like the concept of the tournament.

The key in engaging with your community is to develop a style and rapport with them, joke around a bit, but ultimately give them what they need to hear but do so in a way that makes them feel like you are a good buddy. Going from buddy speak to PR speak and back again makes the articles feel robotic and disjointed. Jessica is an amazing person and great writer, I just think the bulletins need to be arranged better.

100% agree.

She seems way too restricted. I wasn't at all trying to blame her for any of it. I'm just so used to reading updates or headlines that sound like they were written by humans. It's too disjointed and inconsistent because it doesn't all come from one voice.

Yup. I agree with both of you 100 percent. I really feel for her because as mentioned she's just awesome and sadly it really seems like she's shackled a lot doing these. In fact it seems like the studio in general has been shackled a lot. The lack of communication before and after game ship just screams that they have. I think the biggest problem 343 has is the tight control that Microsoft has over their communication and possibly the game itself. Other things can be fixed. That however I don't see improving sadly.

Also I'll say and I honestly mean it, congrats 343. Halo 4 remaining number 2 obviously shows that we are the minority. The masses apparently are enjoying the game enough to keep it at number 2 on the charts. So at the end of the day even if we don't like what they have created, they have to be doing something right.

 

[malfcn]

I say it every single time...Gears
That game fucking bombed so fast. Again, hopefully Judgment doesn't troll it's fanbase the way 3 did.

 

[MIMIC]

The only reason I go into FFA Regicide is to work on getting AR kills for the UNSC Weapon Master Commendation. The playlist basically gives the best player a handicap by that person almost always being the King. I was doubling the kill counts of other players and still only winning by 5-15 points. I think it's a good candidate to be replaced by another playlist, personally.

I once got 30 kills and barely won. lol

I love Regicide, though. The handicap makes it just that more challenging.

 

[willow ve]

snip...

I want to use Luke's quote about Halo: "Two men enter, the better man leaves. The lesser man is respawning and that's Halo." Now two men are entering, the one with the ability counter leaves. The other one is respawning and that's new Halo.

Great post. That last segment nails it.

 

[enzo_gt]

I once got 30 kills and barely won. lol

I love Regicide, though. The handicap makes it just that more challenging.

Yeah I like the high pressure environment it offers. Forces you to play better throughout the game, and especially so near the end when you have to be cognizant everyone is after your head.

 

[JHall]

I say it every single time...Gears
That game fucking bombed so fast. Again, hopefully Judgment doesn't troll it's fanbase the way 3 did.

Gears 3 got so boring so fast.

I could play Gears 1 for days though, so good.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

I once got 30 kills and barely won. lol

I love Regicide, though. The handicap makes it just that more challenging.

It's definitely a challenge, which isn't a bad thing I guess. If you want honest scoring, though, FFA Regicide is not the place to go.

 

[Poker Face]

lol playing ctf against a full team with randys suckkkkkkkkks.

 

[NullPointer]

Great post. That last segment nails it.

Love that quote, but its the only part of the post that didn't fit.

AAs may be unbalanced but they don't decide encounters. Not to where you have to equip X to survive or have a chance.

 

[Tashi]

You guys got that original quote wrong. It's, "Two men enter...one man throws down a bubble shield and we wait around for a while."

 

[Latvian Hitman]

I once got 30 kills and barely won. lol

I love Regicide, though. The handicap makes it just that more challenging.

I have no real complaint about Regicide in and of itself. It's the fact that thus far it has been the only slayer variant of FFA that I have a problem with.

 

[JHall]

You guys got that original quote wrong. It's, "Two men enter...one man throws down a bubble shield and we wait around for a while."

Yep, that's Halo in a nutshell.

 

[willow ve]

I have no real complaint about Regicide in and of itself. It's the fact that thus far it has been the only slayer variant of FFA that I have a problem with.

Those commendations and armor/emblem unlocks aren't going to just magically be handed out...

 

[RebornYeti]

You guys got that original quote wrong. It's, "Two men enter...one man throws down a bubble shield and we wait around for a while."

RIP Bubble Shield

 

[bobs...onGaf]

So where do I go to find out about this Treyarch competitive Ferrari playlist and double exp?

I don't want to go directly on the Treyarch web page as I'm on mobile and I'm worried it will eat all my bandwidth!

Tashi? Cyren? Elzar? Anyone?

Elzar I still laugh about the fact that you only visit the CoD thread to troll me lol

 

[Tashi]

Yep, that's Halo in a nutshell.

But no, that statement by Luke is a nice, dramatic line for a video but Halo is obviously more complex than that. I think the more important and fitting line in that quote is the, "lesser man is on respawn". Keyword being respawn.

 

[squidhands]

Removing it to make it better is a terrible reason. You can leave it there until the new version is ready and just update the playlist then. Is taking it out necessary in order to make it better?

That wasn't the reason they removed it. It was so they could insert the Infinity Challenge playlist while keeping their playlists relatively low. They picked the playlist with the lowest number, and are supposedly going to

Spoiler

let Bravo

tweak it to make it more appealing to competitive players. When it will be back is anyone's guess. "Early 2013" is pretty nebulous.

Yep, that's Halo in a nutshell.

No, that's Halo in a bubbleshield.

 

[IHaveIce]

holy shit dat COD playerbase. Even modern warfare 2 is on there. damn impressive

 

[Demoncarnotaur]

I miss the bubble shield.

But I miss the Chopper a lot more. I still can't believe that it didn't make a return in one form or another.

FUD Blu-Ray is gorgeous, and I'm pretty blown away by the amount of extras. I'd absolutely recommend it.

I have to pick that up.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

holy shit dat COD playerbase. Even modern warfare 2 is on there. damn impressive

Eh part of that is just because they pump out a new CoD game every single year. Blops was put out in 2010 (around the same time as Reach, but in November - 2 months after Reach), while Modern Warfare 3 came out in 2011. If Halo had one more iteration between Reach and Halo 4, you can bet it would also be on that list. Also, if Halo hadn't gone all weird with AA's and bloom, they'd probably all be relatively high as well.

 

[JHall]

But no, that statement by Luke is a nice, dramatic line for a video but Halo is obviously more complex than that. I think the more important and fitting line in that quote is the, "lesser man is on respawn". Keyword being respawn.

I know, I was being a smartass.

No, that's Halo in a bubbleshield.

:lol

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

4 CoD games in the top 10. This still blows my mind.

What will be the next thing to do that? CoD got huge with 4 this gen, will we see another series do the same thing next gen?

 

[Poker Face]

4 CoD games in the top 10. This still blows my mind.

What will be the next thing to do that? CoD got huge with 4 this gen, will we see another series do the same thing next gen?

destiny

 

[Overdoziz]

Missing the bubbleshield is like missing armor lock.

 

[orznge]

4 CoD games in the top 10. This still blows my mind.

What will be the next thing to do that? CoD got huge with 4 this gen, will we see another series do the same thing next gen?

Halo will once Halo 7 has been released. Once there are four Halo games that borrow heavily from the CoD series there will be four Halo games on the top 20.

 

[NullPointer]

Love that they're making weekly updates to matchmaking, but at this point I'd rather Spartan Ops was monthly. If that schedule could provide us with meatier gameplay anyhow.

I've never understood why people (read: executives/marketers) seek to make on-demand content seem like a TV show. Its almost 2013, and that's an old ass model.

 

[GhaleonEB]

OMG Halo 4 bomba!

Skyrim jumped 7 places after Dragonborn hit. Awesome. Love that a single player RPG is still getting played this long after release.

Um, Halo.

 

[Korosenai]

I missed two bans today? I always miss the good stuff.

Assuming you're fairly young, I believe you'll discover that the language you use and the manner in which you express your ideas is important to adult conversation.

Adults can criticize games and films and books. They don't typically do so by calling the designers/directors/writers fatty fat heads with stupid poop faces.

I said damn

 

[RebornYeti]

Missing the bubbleshield is like missing armor lock.

Not even. At least you had access to the inside of a bubble shield.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Two men enter the man who got the random binary drop leaves the other guy is already respawned, and one shots the better man, this is Halo 4.

 

[MIMIC]

Yeah I like the high pressure environment it offers. Forces you to play better throughout the game, and especially so near the end when you have to be cognizant everyone is after your head.

I've played 30+ games and twice I was killed when the King had 295 pts. I mashed out instant spawn, spotted the king (while he was getting ganged up on), killed him, and the announcer goes:

REGICIDE! You're the King! Victory!

Sooooooooooo satisfying ^_^ Near the end, it's so fast-paced and nerve-racking....especially when the top 3 are so close in points. I love it

It's definitely a challenge, which isn't a bad thing I guess. If you want honest scoring, though, FFA Regicide is not the place to go.

Yeah, at first I didn't like Regicide because I didn't understand the scoring. I got the most kills a bunch of times only to find that it was based on a point system. But now that I get it, I like it.

 

[orznge]

Two men enter the man who got the random binary drop leaves the other guy is already respawned, and one shots the better man, this is Halo 4.

lol

 

[NullPointer]

Every time I see that chart of Xbox Live activity I think that MS and Activision execs have some backroom bet to see who can stay #1, and they're the real e-peens being measured.

In this conspiracy theory that exists in my head, the bet has something to do with MS getting more favorable terms if they can get Halo 4 back at #1 for even a week after BLOPS2 released.

We're all just pawns in the meta-war, man.

Two men enter the man who got the random binary drop leaves the other guy is already respawned, and one shots the better man, this is Halo 4.

You forgot the host migration that happens as soon as the second man enters.

 

[Enfinit]

Tried playing GTA IV last night, 99% of the player population is in free roam. If you're trying to play anything else (like Cops n' Crooks), takes anywhere from 5-15 minutes to find even one player.

 

[The Lamonster]

Two men enter, one man is better prepared for various reasons and walks away. The lesser man is respawning and that's every single Halo game.

You can bitch about AAs, loadouts and ordinance but you simply have to use the tools available to your advantage and that's just like every other Halo.

 

[orznge]

Two men enter, one man is better prepared for various reasons and walks away. The lesser man is respawning and that's every single Halo game.

You can bitch about AAs, loadouts and ordinance but you simply have to use the tools available to your advantage and it's just like every other Halo.

Any game wherein a player can win and another player can lose is immune to critical analysis.

 

[DeadNames]

Two men enter the man who got the random binary drop leaves the other guy is already respawned, and one shots the better man, this is Halo 4.

Dammit juices, I got in trouble laughing in the library.

 

[orznge]

I've thought about it a bit, and actually, any game in which a player can use some kind of uh, "tools", to their advantage to win against another player is in fact much like Halo.

 

[NullPointer]

I'd love to see what would change if the ordnance, both personal and global weren't randomized and weighted. What if you always knew what your first ordnance would be, and your second? You could do the same with global ordnance, and provide a strict ordering, but semi-randomized positioning.

Something to re-balance things while still keeping both ordnance systems intact. Something that keeps the dynamism, but that never provides a dice roll advantage to one team over the other.

 

[Latvian Hitman]

Two men enter the man who got the random binary drop leaves the other guy is already respawned, and one shots the better man, this is Halo 4.

Two men enter?

I'm usually busy trying to keep myself in constant cover in order to survive getting cross-mapped by two or three DMR's with massive aim assist to be focusing on any 1v1 battles.

 

[JB1981]

Who is Bravo ?

 

[The Lamonster]

Two men enter?

I'm usually busy trying to keep myself in constant cover in order to survive getting cross-mapped by two or three DMR's with massive aim assist to be focusing on any 1v1 battles.

True. They need to bring back the 1v1 playlist, but I don't think there are enough small maps to support such a thing yet.

 

[NullPointer]

True. They need to bring back the 1v1 playlist, but I don't think there are enough small maps to support such a thing yet.

Didn't bsAngel say they were looking to incorporate community maps for smaller gametypes? Coulda sworn she mentioned 2v2 at least.

 

[willow ve]

Didn't bsAngel say they were looking to incorporate community maps for smaller gametypes? Coulda sworn she mentioned 2v2 at least.

She's out on holiday until 2013. And even then the bulletin won't tell us.

 

[The Lamonster]

Didn't bsAngel say they were looking to incorporate community maps for smaller gametypes? Coulda sworn she mentioned 2v2 at least.

Yep, on the latest bulletin she mentioned smaller maps and Team Doubles, but no mention of 1v1. I don't expect to ever see it from 343, but it'd be nice.

 

[CyReN]

Who is Bravo ?

Our savior.

 

[The Lamonster]

Who is Bravo ?

what is the matrix

 

[GhaleonEB]

I'd love to see what would change if the ordnance, both personal and global weren't randomized and weighted. What if you always knew what your first ordnance would be, and your second? You could do the same with global ordnance, and provide a strict ordering, but semi-randomized positioning.

Something to re-balance things while still keeping both ordnance systems intact. Something that keeps the dynamism, but that never provides a dice roll advantage to one team over the other.

It would be interesting to see how customized personal ordnance would work out. A sequental set of ordnance as you suggested, or even custom choices. Say, pick the three personal ordnance items at the start of the match, or as part of your load out screen. Then only those three would come down and you picked one as we do now. That way you were not confined to one weapon or ability that might not fit with the situation you're in. But it would keep the heavy mix of ordnance in the Infinity mode while adding a strategic element rather than dice rolls to the mix.

It would still be too much carnage and heavy ordnance for my preferences, but it would be an improvement and reduce the element of chance in the game.

Fixed weapon spawns would really go a long ways in other modes. That, some BTB objectives and flinch dying a painful death would probably get me back into the game.