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Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?
- Thread starter GhaleonEB
- Start date
NullPointer
Member
I both love and hate the daily/weekly challenges.
They do inspire me to try different things and give each session some extra metagoals that when accomplished leave you decently satisfied, but they can also shackle voting for maps and gametypes into whatever provides the most credits rather than keeping things interesting.
If the challenge of the day is X kills on Holdout Firefight, players will skip every other map until they get Holdout, or bounce out of the lobby, and even then they'll pick arcade every time for the quick and easy kills.
Its the main reason I stick to solo or doubles Firefight. Credits as an optional extra are great, but people seem to take that stuff way too seriously.
They do inspire me to try different things and give each session some extra metagoals that when accomplished leave you decently satisfied, but they can also shackle voting for maps and gametypes into whatever provides the most credits rather than keeping things interesting.
If the challenge of the day is X kills on Holdout Firefight, players will skip every other map until they get Holdout, or bounce out of the lobby, and even then they'll pick arcade every time for the quick and easy kills.
Its the main reason I stick to solo or doubles Firefight. Credits as an optional extra are great, but people seem to take that stuff way too seriously.
People still think game design works like this.
The Librarian
Banned
Waypoint is hard for me to navigate, or maybe I'm just used to Bnet. I try to use it but then I get discouraged and stop browsing.
The Real Napsta
Member
Doesn't even show arena rank does it?
You've gotta dig waaaaay into the service record to get that.
It's pretty easy to see why the challenge stuff is there, though. In the early ranks, challenges were fun and new and interesting. That all changes once you need millions of credits per rank, but it's not really there for us anymore at that point. They could conceivably put win/loss or k/d there, but I'd become immediately way more judgmental about randoms and nobody wants that.
I expect Spartan Ops will be less replayable than the firefight.
squidhands
Member
I'm the most excited about this out of everything so far. 343 really can't go anywhere but up with the co-op netcode, but I rarely have issues with Reach's as it is (lucky me). If they keep the support going for it past the first free season, I'll be in it for the long haul.
The biggest problem for Waypoint is that clicking on links rarely works right unless you're already signed in. Then it usually works, which is better than it was a couple of months ago. The site is still pretty bad in terms of load times and error messages, so your best bet is a screenshot of the game results from Waypoint. #imissbungiestats
Why is that? It will include Firefight-like elements.
The Librarian
Banned
It takes sooo long for everything to load; very clunky. Guess that's MS forcing 343i to use silverlight more than anything else though.
It basically shows no useful information at all.
Why did Bungie think I care about what challenges, daily or weekly, someone else has completed?
I'd much rather see games played, win/loss, k/d, arena ranking, etc.
Halo 3 had EXP and highest skill, somewhat useful numbers to see looking at someone quickly. In Reach you have to dig for any sort of useful information.
A big fat arena rank symbol next to their name would be preferable; then people might give a shit about it.
Yep, it's a damn shame.
Excuses. Making a game especially of this caliber requires a huge amount of time and resources. They likely decided early on to not have dedicated servers. Saying "no plans currently" is a "kind" way of squashing the idea rather than being upfront about it.
I fully expect people here to sing the praises of the netcode early on and as time goes on begin complaining about how they can't get a good connection for more than one game at a time. It's P2P in 2012, no amount of refinement can change that.
NullPointer
Member
Me too. Making it more objective and story driven might have that side effect. Am hoping to be surprised though.
The Real Napsta
Member
Buy a larger one?
So many assumptions... Reach is still the most stable netcode in an FPS. I can play with friends from around the world and have it be not only playable, but can do well on foreign hosts.
Dedi's are not a magic bullet. They don't solve all the problems people here think they do, and cause some p2p does not.
Give me money?
Basically I got steamrolled by a team of four consisting of: Hurk DESTROYS, Jay AIMS, Snakes Solstice and IPx6uii. We lost 50 - 13.
It does balance out with my previous game of CTF Sanc where I went +15 with 11 assists. Peaks and troughs.
And I concur with the consensus that Waypoint is far clunkier than BNET. Everything seems like a hassle, and I get the feeling the website's trying to push through all these fancy animations when all I want is my stats.
It does balance out with my previous game of CTF Sanc where I went +15 with 11 assists. Peaks and troughs.
And I concur with the consensus that Waypoint is far clunkier than BNET. Everything seems like a hassle, and I get the feeling the website's trying to push through all these fancy animations when all I want is my stats.
That's my only real worry. They've described it as a linear, story-based series of missions, with a focus on objectives. So, how does that translate to a matchmaking experience? Is it like co-op Campaign in Reach where we pick from one of the missions, and that's it, and that's all that will ever be? Just how customizable is Spartan Ops, relative to Reach's Firefight?
I assume it'll be sort of like ME 3's multiplayer
The missions are linked to the campaign and every match has several random objectives.
I don't know, firefight can get pretty damn boring after doing it enough.
I'd personally much prefer a story driven, objective based coop mode; especially if it is challenging and rewarding enough.
The quality of the general population's internet connection can change that. It's increasing all the time, especially with governmental standards looking to be implemented in the near future. Provider coverage is up as well.
Can't really fault you guys too much for thinking the development of Halo 4 is an approximation of that binary example. At least you're consistent.
Oh ok I've played with those guys. Americans. Around my skill level.
The Librarian
Banned
Will we be able to name our loadouts in Halo 4?
The only time I've ever wanted a custom game browser in a Halo game was in Reach, and that's only because I just want to play BOOM! Ball (because it's the best gametype ever and I don't like Reach's base gameplay).
The only time I've ever wanted a custom game browser in a Halo game was in Reach, and that's only because I just want to play BOOM! Ball (because it's the best gametype ever and I don't like Reach's base gameplay).
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
It's not a necessity, whatsoever. It is however something that would make a lot of people happy, at least for the short term.
Dedi's are not a magic bullet, but they are an improvement. They could have both and you could still enjoy your transatlantic lag fest. Fact is, I get laggy games in Reach. Definitely not because of my connection so much as it is the people they pair me up with that are far and away from where I live. Now they could add a region ticker, but the fact is P2P is P2P and there will always be a difference no matter how well the netcode tries to cover it up.
You should probably keep your expectations in check on that front, too. That's not a statement on my desires or those of the community, just an extrapolation looking at the state of the 343 online setup as it compares to past games.
You'd wipe the floor with me then, and I consider myself a pretty competent player. One thing I dislike about Reach matchmaking is how it doesn't separate randoms from teams. These four were in a party, calling out, and I was just with three randoms. That probably contributed to our capitulation but I'm under no illusions that these guys were a tier above me.
My DMR is coming to life with this no-bloom update though. Lighting things up as if it's Halo 3. I just wish there was a 1-50 ranking system and I'd probably be pretty content with Reach up until 4.
Also, how frequently do you pull Beaver Creak in matchmaking? I've not seen it once in about ~50 games.
NullPointer
Member
Exactly my thoughts about it too.
Guess I haven't reached that "enough" state yet. Its just... pure. A good match has you in the zone right away and keeps you there with little downtime or drama. But maybe I'm weird as that is how I spend 95% of my time with Reach. But I'm more than open to expanding upon the formula.
squidhands
Member
I sure don't. There are more than a few sites where you can get together with lots of people to play custom games. I've never, ever, ever had a problem finding people to play customs with (unless it was to playtest a map, lol).
I think we should exchange friend requests, fellow firefight enthusiast.
HigherLevel
Member
I do not understand the tears over no dedis. Reach has great netcode and I very rarely play a game with any lag. And when I do, it's usually with some dude from Mexico or somewhere in Europe. It doesn't make that much of a difference really.
The things I really don't get that this thread complains about is dedis and 60fps. Neither thing has ever been even slightly hinted at, so the disappointment when it's not happening doesn't make sense.
The things I really don't get that this thread complains about is dedis and 60fps. Neither thing has ever been even slightly hinted at, so the disappointment when it's not happening doesn't make sense.
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
I would always expect to be fighting a team in MLG.
It's more of a "they get it why don't we" sort of thing. TBH I would love dedicated servers, but having played Gears 3 and Battlefield enough I know it's not a fix all. As long as the game plays well P2P or whatever, I'll be happy.
Shit, Reach often plays better and with less BS than Gears 3!
Well if it's good enough for you...
Try playing for a whole day with an european connection against decent US players. You'll take those words back
Edit: I'm not bitching because there won't be dedicated servers. My problem is that some people are saying the game is smooth because Americans obviously tend to have the advantage and don't know what it's like to play depending on the connection from someone on another continent.
Its nice to want things.
Honestly only thing that probably isnt going to be in Halo that I'm disappointed about is lack of a custom server browser. Would have taken that over Far Cry Forge, 60 FPS, and Dedi's.
I'm still amazed by what people create in Forge. Only issue I have with it is the looks.
We've had 30 FPS Halo forever and its never been a big deal. 60 FPS is nice, but unnecessary. I said it before, the only issue with 30 FPS is when it drops.
Dedi's would be my 2nd choice for addition into Halo. But the Reach netcode is fucking amazing already. Might have an occasional lag problem every now and then but like 95% of the time its awesome.
Honestly only thing that probably isnt going to be in Halo that I'm disappointed about is lack of a custom server browser. Would have taken that over Far Cry Forge, 60 FPS, and Dedi's.
I'm still amazed by what people create in Forge. Only issue I have with it is the looks.
We've had 30 FPS Halo forever and its never been a big deal. 60 FPS is nice, but unnecessary. I said it before, the only issue with 30 FPS is when it drops.
Dedi's would be my 2nd choice for addition into Halo. But the Reach netcode is fucking amazing already. Might have an occasional lag problem every now and then but like 95% of the time its awesome.
Yea I wouldn't be too discouraged about that match considering all the things working against you. American host, party of 4 against 4 randoms. Shitty circumstances.
Matchmaking restrictions can be made for the MLG playlist but it's seems so hard to get these requested features to 343 for them to implement. I know it's up to MLG and not 343 right now.
Uhh Beaver Creek comes up maybe 15% of the time for me. Really depends on who you're partied with and if you all have the maps. If you go in alone your chances seem to go down.
You'd be surprised. More often than not it's randoms versus randoms. Although even if I do come up against a team of four it's not necessarily a huge problem. It's just this team were particularly awesome. I'm talking telepathic communication and teamwork.
I imagine the astro listen in would've been like fucking morse code.
squidhands
Member
The only thing I understood out of that was 'Avengers'.
God bless you.
NullPointer
Member
Sent. I'm NullPointer256 on the Xbox in case anybody else is interested.
I am so ready for Spartan Ops, whatever the hell it is.
It do good but not The Dark Knight Rises good.
ElzarTheBam
Member
The Librarian
Banned
That's like a movie about America, right?
Zeouterlimits mentioned something about the complete lack of explanation from 343i after each controversial info drop, and I gotta agree completely. It's very frustrating seeing them announce failed features from the past one after another and not show the least bit of respect for the passionate fans by at least elaborating a bit more on why they think they will suddenly work this time, going even as far as mocking their reaction.
Ha wow, I really don't know what happened there, first post syndrome or something.
Alright seeing it this afternoon.