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Halo |OT13|

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Me too...

It looked so promising...

Who the fuck thought ordnance was a good idea?!? And AAs!! And perks! And loadouts! And all this shit!

They are good ideas but they just dropped the ball a bit in making a playlist or two that does NOT have those things. There are many types of Halo players but I think they didn't go far enough for the hardcore settings & maps.
 
Nope. Still not buying it. Population decrease was inevitable with the huge popularity increase in CoD (and other shooters). If Halo 3 launched today I'd bet you'd see something similar. To the same degree? Maybe not, but you can't just say "less people now 100% positively means that 343 lost everyone that likes Halo and there were no other outside influences."

Let's be realistic in our arguments at least.

You are lost if you think this was the outcome they wanted. You think they put this huge team together to be number 2? You know what makes people play online? Originality. When is the last time you saw a premiere franchise try to reclaim their crown by directly copying the game in front of them?

Know why Mario sells a bazillion copies? Get it now?

Again, People are playing Blops2 more (a lot more) than Halo 4. CoD who basically puts out the same game year after year. And 343i copies their game. Thats what they did with Halo.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
You are lost if you think this was the outcome they wanted. You think they put this huge team together to be number 2? You know what makes people play online? Originality. When is the last time you saw a premiere franchise try to reclaim their crown by directly copying the game in front of them?

Know why Mario sells a bazillion copies? Get it now?

Again, People are playing Blops2 more (a lot more) than Halo 4. CoD who basically puts out the same game year after year. And 343i copies their game. Thats what they did with Halo.

You miss my argument. My argument is you CANNOT say the game lost ALL of the Halo fans, or even 90%, because that is completely untrue. Also, it cannot be measured.
 

Havok

Member
I think it was just the reveal strategy. Illustrating that the "core" was still Halo. Strafe, BR, jumps, etc. It worked, going by how often that .gif was posted. Then they introduced the stuff they layered atop it.
That's certainly part of it, and then the way they were mostly unwilling to detail how any of these systems were going to work in any official capacity didn't help. We saw the core gameplay in March with those Haven clips that always got gif'd, then in the May GameInformer we first heard about random weapon spawns and Promethean Vision, at which point everybody said "oh those are bad ideas guys you shouldn't do that!" That caused Frank and David, the efforts of whom I'm very appreciative of even if it's not going to sound that way, to come in and try and put out fires by saying "oh it's not random, you can't see across entire maps" and those kinds of things (the latter of which is blatantly false in the shipping product). To this day we have not had the inner workings of the Global Ordnance system exposed outside of this shitty image, which might as well just throw up its arms and and say "it's magic!" for all the use it is. We weren't given any indication that this was the only system that was going to exist, either, or that the options to do it the old way just flat out wouldn't exist or would be totally broken. My favorite example is that in May we were given the details on what the Limited Edition had. Included was a bullet point: "Early access to six specializations!" to which everybody said "Wait, what's a specialization?" 343 clammed up and then finally in August we had the Specialization system revealed to us. Three months to explain a single bullet point that should never have existed without the explanation.

It's a messaging problem and a lack of meaningful dialogue between parties. Not that I think we're entitled to any sort of inside information or anything, but basic explanation of systems would be nice. I've said it before, but Blizzard puts out really excellent blog posts from their designers that directly address questions about how their systems work. I would hope that if 343 is serious about really keeping the hardcore informed, they'd do the same.
 

willow ve

Member
Ugh, mp achievements? Gross.

Wait until you see the one that requires you to kill 20 enemies with the Mantis stomp... when all enemies can spawn with plasma pistols.

--

I've played over 275 games of matchmaking. Most of those in BTB or Dominion. I can count on one finger the amount of times I have seen a Mantis stomp actually kill someone. There is simply no way you're getting this without A) boosting or B) playing against the most terrible Halo players of all time with guests or finding the random AFK players on a map.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I'm okay with free maps. maps should always be free eventually. However, MS needs to make it up to Season pass holders, i would be pissssseddddd

I'd forgive them if they just let pass holders get access to the next (or even all the maps) a week early or something.
 

RdN

Member
Halo 4. It's what happens when a B grade dev gets a triple A budget...

Not sure if posted.

Does anyone understand the concept of testing these days?

Happened to me.

I was hiding in those rocks, then the Mantis passed and I thought "Now is my chance to board it and get the achievement".

You can't imagine my frustration when I tried to move and was stuck inside the rock. Thankfully I had granades and ended my own life.
 

Computron

Member
Wait until you see the one that requires you to kill 20 enemies with the Mantis stomp... when all enemies can spawn with plasma pistols.

--

I've played over 275 games of matchmaking. Most of those in BTB or Dominion. I can count on one finger the amount of times I have seen a Mantis stomp actually kill someone. There is simply no way you're getting this without A) boosting or B) playing against the most terrible Halo players of all time with guests or finding the random AFK players on a map.

LOL, I already got 2 or 3 dumbasses that way in the last half hour.

Play those maps as early as you can guys, these things don't tend to last, not to mention the playlist integration (or lack thereof as the case will most likely be) for these maps down the line.
 
Also, it cannot be measured.

Not true, up to a point...

XBL could easily data mine for who has owned a previous Halo game and stopping played Halo 4 or did not buy Halo 4 after purchasing a prior Halo game. That data would be a pretty large sample set really, sure there are no XBL players and internationals without Internet/XBL access etc but overall the statistic would exist as such. Would we ever see such data? No way, MS/XBL are a closed system with spy like secrecy about things like this.

I think if enough people get behind this we can force them to change. MAYBE!?

Just show them how many players would pay for a new "platinum" instead of "gold" XBL subscription to get dedicated servers...I'd happily setup my own server or dedicated xbox in a BF3 style community server environment. I'd also happily pay for a premium service of between $100-$300 per year for servers in my area, Melbourne Australia.
 

GrizzNKev

Banned
Why is it I go 28 and 3, 23 of which were consecutive, and instead of feeling like I earned it with skill, I feel like I cheated my way to it?
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
You tried League Play yet? It's really nice.

Yup, I mentioned it a few weeks ago. It's what arena should have been. More people need to play it, including myself but I've been a bit wrapped up at the moment.

Why is it I go 28 and 3, 23 of which were consecutive, and instead of feeling like I earned it with skill, I feel like I cheated my way to it?

Because you play like a bitch.
 

Computron

Member
So anything positive tonight? I feel like 90% of the people in here are about to jump off a bridge.

After playing the map pack for about 45 minutes, I moved file between storage devices and now halo 4 wont read the DLC.
This is in spite of the dashboard and marketplace tab both showing it and reading it as having downloaded fine.


So, on a positive note, Halo 4 apparently has a new system in place, designed to prevent me from playing it's terrible new maps.



:p



JK, I am re downloading the maps as we speak.
I actually like all 3 of them from a graphical standpoint,
there are quite a few interesting elements in that department as I mentioned earlier.
I haven't played them enough to judge gameplay yet.
 

Omni

Member
After playing a few games on each of the maps... I have to say that I kinda like them. I usually stick to CTF and BTB playlists anyway. Harvest is soo boring to look at though - Doesn't seem like Halo at all.

The other two are great however. I could pick out little details that irritate me, but as a whole it's a solid map pack.

Plus 343i should make a few other playlists mixed mode. It's so nice to have variety
 

dalVlatko

Member
Wait until you see the one that requires you to kill 20 enemies with the Mantis stomp... when all enemies can spawn with plasma pistols.

--

I've played over 275 games of matchmaking. Most of those in BTB or Dominion. I can count on one finger the amount of times I have seen a Mantis stomp actually kill someone. There is simply no way you're getting this without A) boosting or B) playing against the most terrible Halo players of all time with guests or finding the random AFK players on a map.

My first game on Shatter my teammates blew me up because I took the second mantis lol
 
Re-watching that first BTS still fills me with awe, as if the game it made me hope for still hasn't been released, as if that tragic Game Informer leak wasn't true.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
I wonder what 343 is going to do for damage control for LE users. Free Armour? MSP? Something?

175322_o.gif
 
How do you guys think they'll recompense people who spent 2000 MS Points on the Map Pass? They basically spent 2000 points on something that costs everyone else 1600.
 

senador

Banned
So uh, I like the maps so far. I'd prefer small, but these are much better than I anticipated.

I like Harvest and Wreckage best, but Shatter has been fun too.

I got 2 cheevos but I didn't do the things required. Weird.

Also, I'm getting DLX outside Crimson. Wow, did they really get that working or did everyone just get it for free?
 
After playing a few games on each of the maps... I have to say that I kinda like them. I usually stick to CTF and BTB playlists anyway. Harvest is soo boring to look at though - Doesn't seem like Halo at all.

The background is such a tease. It's a gorgeous open space with blue skies and green fields, but then you turn around and see ten shades of brown.
 

Computron

Member
So uh, I like the maps so far. I'd prefer small, but these are much better than I anticipated.

I like Harvest and Wreckage best, but Shatter has been fun too.

They are all pretty small BTB maps, so they could be fun for 5v5s or 6v6s as well. Maybe some could work in 4v4s...


I really like the Standoff map from Halo 3 because it works with BTB and decently with normal smaller scale slayer.
I would love to see a map similar to that in layout, and especially with similar lighting. (Some of the cleanest and best, IMO)
 
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