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Halo |OT15| Beta-tested, GAF approved

X's weren't removed for any perk. The perk you're talking about works nothing like a death x.

At pax, Kevin mentioned how insanely hard it was for them to add the x's in. Probably the reason they weren't in the game initially and why they're so bugged now.

That is the dumbest logic I've ever heard.

"This was hard to do, so releasing a botched update is understandable."

All this says is that the update either wasn't ready for release or that this is actually how they meant to implement it.

The fact that it's tied to the body and not the location of death tells me that this is wrong from the get-go. If that's the only way to implement it in Halo 4, then just don't do it.

I don't trust his understanding of the engine. Or of what players want. Or anything, really at this point.
 

TCKaos

Member
If they already have this functionality on the motion tracker doesn't that mean that they already have the data they need to implement the red X? Other than height, I guess, and that wouldn't be hard to find.

Nowise get in here and science at us.
 

Nebula

Member
I got my controller back from my friends as I was going past his on the way home and I decided to stop there for a few hours. He was enjoying some Carmeggedon 2 on the PC so I took up the chance to play the Community Forge FFA playlist. I enjoyed it quite a bit, although a few maps felt incredibly AR friendly, but this isn't a bad thing (yet) as it's a change from the usual DMR fest.

I noticed that the Beam Rifle was significantly harder to no scope with, missing all 10 of my shots. Given I was away from Halo for a week, I'm thinking I was just playing poorly with the Beam Rifle.

I did very well considering my absence from Halo 4.

First game back stats
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4

Then I proceeded to lag out of game 5 while being tied for first. Fun fun fun!

EDIT: Well the TU is out. Will we get info about the changes it made today? The Beam Rifle may have had aim assist reduction.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I can't help but wonder what exactly this entails, as the game was built on top of Reach... You'd think they'd have the proper code hanging around in a dev build somewhere before they dummied it out in the later versions.

That is the dumbest logic I've ever heard.

"This was hard to do, so releasing a botched update is understandable."

All this says is that the update either wasn't ready for release or that this is actually how they meant to implement it.

The fact that it's tied to the body and not the location of death tells me that this is wrong from the get-go. If that's the only way to implement it in Halo 4, then just don't do it.

I don't trust his understanding of the engine. Or of what players want. Or anything, really at this point.

Honestly, I think a lot of Halo 4's shortcomings come from inexperience with the engine. 343 is an example of an All Star Team, you have the individual talent, but that experience of working together isn't there, yet.

Bungie had 10 years working with Halo and that engine. Sure the engines been torn a part and put back together, but everyone was familiar with it. They knew how to use it.

So during the dev process it came down to, sure we can try and spend these time and resources trying to get X's to work, or we can try and squash game breaking bugs or focus on more important items.

The fact that the X is tied to the body is probably their easiest way of implementing it into the game. The fact that you'd rather not have the X then a slightly broken X is just weird.









Also, one thing I'm wondering, is what the future of Halo 4 holds. With the release of Castle, all the season pass promised maps will be out. There's still no word on SpOps season 2, or any other DLC. Is Halo 4 really going to have just one year of full support and then all hands on deck for Halo 5?
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
I just had the craziest sequence of events happen to me. Some guy spawns in front of me on Simplex, I assassinate him but it counts as a melee. He ninja's me and connects but he goes into the full animation. A teammate of mine saves me with a show stopped. I tea bag the guy that ninja'd me. So crazy lol
 

NOKYARD

Member
Steak and BJ day!
Porkchops and a hug. sigh

5qriO.gif
I remember that race. Poor Sébastien Buemi attempting to steer at 300 km/h with no front tyres.

I guess i should go see if the Grifball TU fixes were implemented.
 
X's weren't removed for any perk. The perk you're talking about works nothing like a death x.

At pax, Kevin mentioned how insanely hard it was for them to add the x's in. Probably the reason they weren't in the game initially and why they're so bugged now.
So they just removed them for no reason?

They shouldn't remove Specializations, just the gameplay-changing items. The only unlockables should be purely cosmetic. Give people 25 Specializations, with 5 in 5 different tiers - Easy, Normal, Heroic, Legendary, and Mythic. You can list in any specialization any time but you can only do one at a time - they take 1, 5, 10, 15, and 25 levels to unlock, respectively. Each Specialization unlocks you a new armor set and new emblems; the 8 from Halo 4 are divvied up into the listings. They use a letter format, meaning they're displayed as "SPEC-H [Rogue]" in the specialization tab. There's also an elusive SPEC-Z that functions as Recon did in halo 3.
If it's cosmetic only, it's not a specialization. Halo 3 and Reach had different armor permutations that worked just fine without calling it something arbitrary. Specializations as the are now add little to the overall enjoyment of the game, and if anything damage a lot of the core gameplay that would have made Halo 4 shine. Flinch and the Stability mod are prime examples of this.

I sure hope that ends up only applying to Halo 4.
 
The fact that the X is tied to the body is probably their easiest way of implementing it into the game. The fact that you'd rather not have the X then a slightly broken X is just weird.

Because I'd prefer the actual feature that we've had for 9 years instead of something else? My bad. Thanks 343/Kevin. This sounds much better.
 

Obscured

Member
Since it seems unlikely that AAs and Specializations will completely go away, but could possible change, how could they be improved? I can get behind AAs that only alter movement.

Thruster I find to be the most fun, but I end up using camo often because it is ridiculous. I could see Thruster, Jump pack (Same behavior as Thruster, but bumps you vertically instead of horizontal), Transport?(Hit the button once, drops an initial drop at your current location, hit it a second time within a certain distance or time frame, teleport back to your initial drop point).

I like the idea of Specializations only being armor and aesthetic, but I wonder how that would fly in future iterations because people hate things being taken away regardless of how much it was used or effectiveness or unfairness, unless something comparable takes its place or feels like it does. The ability to know drops are coming sooner (I'd like static drops, but I'd also like random drops in the same weapon tier in the static locations with consistent timers), Who the top killer is on the other team, Who killed you last. I'm trying to think of ones that provide a benefit, but just info you still have to act on effectively. Do I avoid who killed me last or go after them. Do I try to coordinate my team to go after whomever is destroying us, that kind of thing.

Even though I use camo a lot I'd like to see it completely removed, if something needs to be in like that maybe shadowed instead. Powerups like Speed Boost, Damage Boost, and Overshield could also be drops, but I'd like them to be visual add-ons instead of just magic glowing aura. You get Overshield and extra energy plates extend from your armor (legs, chest, gauntlets, some head pieces) and they are still translucent and glow-y so it is easy to tell that is what some on has. Damage boost, same idea but applied to your weapon, Speed boost, you leave little motion trails also you are moving really fast so it is kind of obvious already.
 

Nebula

Member
I'd hate to work at 343 and be reading HaloGAF right now.

I'm going on now to capture some Throwdown gameplay. Will be live so theatre can't cause any issues, if it even does.
 
The Legacy Specializations (SPEC-0) should be available upon completion of the older titles on Legendary (or unlocking all of their achievements or something) and are unlocked through Halo Waypoint. 100% Completion of Halo 3 unlocks Mark VI, ODST unlocks the ODST armor, Reach unlocks Mark V, Halo 4 unlocks Mark VI (if that's what we're calling what the Chief is wearing). 100% Halo Wars gives you a refund and a Spirit of Fire emblem.


Fun fact: I already had an idea for this, too. There would ideally be 5 major categories for armor.

CAMPAIGN
MULTIPLAYER
LEGACY
SPECIALIZATIONS
BONUS

Campaign would mostly give you new armor worn by squadmates in Halo 5 or give you variations of Promethean armor tailored to work with Spartans.

Multiplayer is commendations, leveling up, etc.

Legacy uses a mix of Waypoint (which is a good idea that I didn't even think about) and in-game Campaign completion to give you old armors; they could even pull a Tomb Raider and give you some of the original Mark 5 armor models and everything.

Bonus would be pre-order exclusives, DLC, etc. 25 sets of armor per category for a whopping total of 126 (if you count SPEC-Z).
 
Also, one thing I'm wondering, is what the future of Halo 4 holds. With the release of Castle, all the season pass promised maps will be out. There's still no word on SpOps season 2, or any other DLC. Is Halo 4 really going to have just one year of full support and then all hands on deck for Halo 5?

Given the rapid rate of population decline in the game and the fact that everyone's focus will soon be shifting towards the upcoming hardware refresh, I'm not sure that there's a ton of content to come after Castle. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, they decide to do.

Personally, I'd rather they focus on fixing their game rather than trying to make new content for it in the shape it's currently in.
 

willow ve

Member
All I can say is that the latest version of Simplex in Team Throwdown is the best map in the game. Can we get some more forge maps already?
 
What else was in the update other than the 'x' markers? Except for the backenf ability to modify weapons I don't remember what else was in the tu?

Anything else that affects us as players? Or is it all backend stuff?
 

TCKaos

Member
The fact that the X is tied to the body is probably their easiest way of implementing it into the game. The fact that you'd rather not have the X then a slightly broken X is just weird.

Return the X, Y and Z coordinates for the player when their health reaches zero. Add ever so slightly to the Z coordinate. Set a marker at this point belonging to the team of the player. Run constant checks to see if the player has respawned. The moment they respawn remove the marker.

If there aren't functions for this in their library I'd be shocked.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
They fucked up the X's ??? Lol oh damn.

And they were hard to implement? Yeah fuck that excuse, then don't remove it.
Nobody said damn they are annoying pls take them out, no but you know what was annoying and was brought back? Armor abilities on spawn :/
 
What else was in the update other than the 'x' markers? Except for the backenf ability to modify weapons I don't remember what else was in the tu?

Anything else that affects us as players? Or is it all backend stuff?
Camo was changed to show the player when they fired, bullet magnetism was reduced on the Gauss 'hog. That's all I know of besides the x.

Oh, and they added the ability to change stuff more easily for them. That's a good one.
 

Nebula

Member
Video up in 20. I play pretty crap and lose. Oh well. X's seem to be bugged and sometimes don't display.

Camo was changed to show the player when they fired, bullet magnetism was reduced on the Gauss 'hog. That's all I know of besides the x.

Not sure if it was me being bad, but the Beam Rifle seemed a lot harder to no scope with.
 
hmmm the X seemed ok when I was playing at PAX, but then again i was so close to the tv i could barley tell what was going on.

well on the bright side bungie's gdc talk is tonight.
 

HTupolev

Member
Return the X, Y and Z coordinates for the player when their health reaches zero. Add ever so slightly to the Z coordinate. Set a marker at this point belonging to the team of the player. Run constant checks to see if the player has respawned. The moment they respawn remove the marker.

If there aren't functions for this in their library I'd be shocked.
That's a terrible idea in a game with instant respawns. If you actually create an X object, you'll want to destroy it according to passing of game time, not player respawn.

But what you've laid out is probably something between what Bungie did and what Halo 4 does. Chances are previous games did have a system for handling X objects. But Halo 4 presumably just displays an X at the location of a player's body whenever the player registers some sort of <dead status>. Though that doesn't explain why the X's fade so fast even when respawns don't occur. I dunno, it's a mess.
 
The only way to save us is with an accidental spin-off. Mainline Halo games will continue this cycle of disappointment as it always has.

Come to terms with this to make the pain manageable.
 
The only way to save us is with an accidental spin-off. Mainline Halo games will continue this cycle of disappointment as it always has.

yup i've said this before.

Have the campaign take place sometime around CE and H2 so you can use the gameplay mechanics AND the great environments. Get rid of armor abilities, get rid of ordnance, get rid perks, get rid of sprint, and get get rid of loadouts.

Have Bravo work with pros to make sure base settings and starting weapons (no SMG starts) are good, and look to CE and H2 for map design ideas. Make sure minimum kill times are quick, but make sure the weapons actually have a skill gap (CE pistol vs CEA Reach pistol). Add new modes LIKE dominion (less fucking power weapons PLEASE) and extraction. But the base gameplay is HALO not Call of Duty, not Battlefield, not "generic 2013 FPS" it's Halo.

Give people options in custom games OPTIONS so they can fine tune things themselves. Want a plasma pistol thats OP as fuck? Here's the tools to do so. Want a 4 shot BR? Use these in game tools.

Just make a good HALO game, and give us options.

please
 
yup i've said this before.

Have the campaign take place sometime around CE and H2 so you can use the gameplay mechanics AND the great environments. Get rid of armor abilities, get rid of ordnance, get rid perks, get rid of sprint, and get get rid of loadouts.

Have Bravo work with pros to make sure base settings and starting weapons (no SMG starts) are good, and look to CE and H2 for map design ideas. Make sure minimum kill times are quick, but make sure the weapons actually have a skill gap (CE pistol vs CEA Reach pistol). Add new modes LIKE dominion (less fucking power weapons PLEASE) and extraction. But the base gameplay is HALO not Call of Duty, not Battlefield, not "generic 2013 FPS" it's Halo.

Give people options in custom games OPTIONS so they can fine tune things themselves. Want a plasma pistol thats OP as fuck? Here's the tools to do so. Want a 4 shot BR? Use these in game tools.

Just make a good HALO game, and give us options.

please

Also 60fps and dedi's. People arent playing inferior games anymore. They want smooth. Look at BlopsII!

official announcement in the bulletin.

Lemme see that SWAG you got from PAX. I'll determine your mandatory SLRP length.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Played a quick game of SWAT on Haven. Yup, the Xs feel inadequate, to say the least. They're only there for a second, and being colored that light blue, they're sometimes hard to see on Haven. And since there's no indicators for offscreen teammates, these are only useful if you're looking the right direction within that one second window.

I wish we could just have Halo Reach's Xs and teammate status indicators. Those were pretty much perfect. These Halo 4 Xs are a small improment, and that's nice, but they fall very short of the standard established by the past games.
 

Tawpgun

Member
Lemme see that SWAG you got from PAX. I'll determine your mandatory SLRP length.

Got these master chief buttons, turned down the poster though, already have enough Halo posters.

A silentium/thursday war poster

And bravo, bs angel, kevin franklin, and tom potter signed my shirt.

next thing I know im hired
 
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