The Librarian
Banned
You dropped the Dax on that one, Monkeyman.
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Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?
- Thread starter GhaleonEB
- Start date
You dropped the Dax on that one, Monkeyman.
I think it'd be easy to say Chelsea with Di Matteo making that squad his bitch, but Liverpool have been something special this FA Cup season. Despite Andy Carroll being alive, I'd say my money is on Liverpool.
In other news, just got an email that Rex Velvet is following me on twitter. Score.
So I decided to play a little Reach this morning and loaded it up only to find that there's barely anyone playing in some of the core playlists. 5,871 players are playing in Living Dead playlist right now and only 4,071 in Team Slayer, 468 in Super Slayer, 285 in Team Objective and 100 players in Squad DLC. More people are playing Living Dead than those other playlists combined! What the hell is that?
There are too many playlists, IMO. I'm of the mind that game types such as Infection should be in the Action Sack hopper exclusively so more people are discouraged from ignoring playlists with core game types. And I can barely get matches with the DLC maps, too. Whenever the maps come up in a non-DLC exclusive playlists everyone votes for something like Swordbase or Hemorrhage... for the millionth goddamn time. I feel like the I spent $20 on the map packs for no fucking good reason. I miss the Halo 2 and Halo 3 days of getting DLC maps in Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, etc. It just doesn't happen in Reach. Probably because the DLC maps are optional. It's ridiculous.
If that's the case then I hope all DLC maps are mandatory in Halo 4. You know, so I can play on the maps I spent $10 on.
[Note: Since tweeting about this approx. 15 minutes ago the only playlist to drop in population was Team Objective. :lol]
/rant
There are too many playlists, IMO. I'm of the mind that game types such as Infection should be in the Action Sack hopper exclusively so more people are discouraged from ignoring playlists with core game types. And I can barely get matches with the DLC maps, too. Whenever the maps come up in a non-DLC exclusive playlists everyone votes for something like Swordbase or Hemorrhage... for the millionth goddamn time. I feel like the I spent $20 on the map packs for no fucking good reason. I miss the Halo 2 and Halo 3 days of getting DLC maps in Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, etc. It just doesn't happen in Reach. Probably because the DLC maps are optional. It's ridiculous.
If that's the case then I hope all DLC maps are mandatory in Halo 4. You know, so I can play on the maps I spent $10 on.
[Note: Since tweeting about this approx. 15 minutes ago the only playlist to drop in population was Team Objective. :lol]
/rant
Zeouterlimits
Member
That Living Dead number is depressing.
Is ultimately a reflection of how things were in Halo 3 (ie similar but slightly different, less in MLG etc)?
Depressing all the same. Would love to hear what 343I plan to do about this in Halo 4.
That would be a good positive story 343I could do - "Our Matchmaking Solutions in Halo 4 to problems in Previous Halo Games'.
Is ultimately a reflection of how things were in Halo 3 (ie similar but slightly different, less in MLG etc)?
Depressing all the same. Would love to hear what 343I plan to do about this in Halo 4.
That would be a good positive story 343I could do - "Our Matchmaking Solutions in Halo 4 to problems in Previous Halo Games'.
Custom Browser.
If Living Dead had been a permanent playlist in Halo 3 it would have probably destroyed the other playlists in population. It had an absurd amount of people in it every time it came around.
Because well.. it's Slayer, with no need to learn weapon placements or map control. You just spawn and go. Ever since they deleted Safe Havens, even the slightest hint of objectives is gone from it.
And you know, leaving the exploitable vanilla maps in even after being supplied fixed up made-for-infection maps.
I'm going to borrow a wrestling term here: Microsoft did a shit job of putting Defiant and Noble over. They made it very clear that Anniversary maps were the one map pack you should get. They don't even encourage Anniversary disc owners to buy the DLC because the Anniversary disc won't even load Defiant or Noble. This is literally telling players "you've got Anniversary now, you're good". Bungie had better support for Defiant than 343 did for their own maps.
And you know, MS never fucking budging from 10$ ever. All of Reach's DLC is now more expensive than it is to buy Reach itself. The maps themselves were solid, but I still feel like it's execution was a trainwreck compared to the glory days of Halo 2 and the glory-ish days of Halo 3's Mythic Disc.
HiredN00bs
Member
This is a complex problem, one that is not so simply solved. In your post you complain about populations, yet requiring people to purchase all content to play online is going to hurt the population.
Obviously, the ideal is to have the maps be free, but there has to be some perceived benefit so the publisher can justify such an action. It's not like you can just offset the loss of revenue in making the maps free thru advertising like on a smartphone game, because the 360's interface isn't really set up to link to the advertisers in-game.
I like DLC-required playlists. I have no problem finding matches in Squad DLC, even though its population is poor, even at peak times. I played a shitload of Team Mythic in Halo 3, also. Having exclusive playlists along with the standard ones (which also have DLC-matching algorithms) seems like an acceptable solution to a complex problem.
I have an idea. They could increase the number of shipping maps instead of holding half of them them back for post launch DLC, thus reducing the demand for more maps post launch. If we have twenty maps to play on at launch instead of ten, more maps potentially stay fresh longer. Given that we know DLC maps for Reach were planned and went into production long before the game was even released, you might even be able to argue that they've already been payed for if you bought the retail game anyway - assuming it was merely a matter of deciding whether or not to put them on the physical disc - but I know realistically a company has full right to decide when and how any given product is put up for sale.
bobs...onGaf
Member
I wish they went back to the model of making DLC free after so many months. Free DLC is a great way to bring the population back sporadically. I get the feeling though that population is a lower priority than income.
Blue Ninja
Member
Halo 4's will have a dedicated Living Dead mode, much like CoD, with montly DLC specially created for it and featuring the voice talents of Sarah Jessica Parker, Eric Bana, Carice Van Houten to name a few. Montly DLC will cost 800 MSP, but gamers who bought the season pass get them for 200 MSP.
None of Reach's DLC maps were held back. Not even the map that Boneyard replaced came back as DLC.
There's time to work on each map and ultimately, disc space to consider. Although I guess cutting Firefight would probably open up some disc real estate.
DLC that unlocks new achievements generally has to stay paid according to MS requirements. They're still charging full price for Mythic 2 as a separate download. I wish they would at least consider lowering DLC to the price of Legendary, 160points.
Of course, Halo 3 Mythic was also a great idea. The Anniversary disc? I don't even know what the point of it was. Reach's playlist and DLC adoption situation would have been a lot better off if Halo: Anniversary just came with a code for Anniversary, and ended at that.
I know it would hurt the population but it's worth it, in my opinion. Hell, I'm sure more people probably buy the DLC maps packs when the maps are mandatory. I'm sure 343i has access to said data to refute or support that hypothesis though.
But that doesn't solve the problem. How can I get a game of FFA going in a 6-on-6 playlist? Or a game of 4-on-4 on a new map that's designed for smaller teams versus bigger teams? It's still a problem. A problem I didn't have in the previous Halo games I mentioned in my post.
HigherLevel
Member
Simple solution. Release ODST 2 after Halo 4 with a H4 Mythic disc. I still have that disc framed I <3 it so much(I don't really have it framed).
Or if it included the full Reach MP suite. But apparently, Microsoft doesn't have enough confidence in Reach's campaign and that they handicapped the MP in Anniversary instead. (Though I will point out that Anniversary came sooner post-Reach than ODST did post-Halo 3. That was certainly a factor.)
The Librarian
Banned
Yes, I suck at Photoshop.
It's good enough lol
ElzarTheBam
Member
I'm hoping with Halo 4 we can have a glorious return to form of the in game screen shot thread.
The Halo 3 one is stunning.
The Halo 3 one is stunning.
TheOddOne liked this post.
BackdoorBeauty
Member
I got burned buying DLC for Reach. I spent money for something that never shows up in regular matchmaking.. going to a custom playlist with 50 people is not my idea of a decent player pool to match with.
The Librarian
Banned
I loved the arguing over pixels in the first thread. I made a Reach screenshot thread, but I guess the visuals of Reach weren't impressive enough to keep the thread going, or the novelty of taking screenshots had worn off after Halo 3.
Aggrotek
Member
http://dogbomber.blogspot.com/
Guy did a bunch of concept art for a post apocalyptic Zelda game. This was his interpretation of Ganon.
MrGreencastle
Member
Dude, you're making me want one now.
Aggrotek
Member
What's so different about it? Just the weight?
The MLG one?
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
We just put up our latest BTF entry and reposted here. What do you guys think?
Beyond the Frontline is a regular feature where the staff here get up on the soapbox and put forward an idea or question relating to Halo. Each BTF is a talking point designed to start a dialogue and unlike our regular word blasts and articles, the entries are short and sweet.
Preventing an Uprising
Before fans around the world had their first chance to Fight the Covenant in their living rooms and dormitories or step foot on their first Halo ring, the world of Halo had already been kick-started and previewed in the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach, written by Eric Nylund. Acting a prequel to the video game and fleshing out Master Chief’s mysterious background, the novel served to set the dinner table that the feast of the franchise would be served upon. Not only did it start Halo’s expanded universe, it also established a trend of setting up fans with expectations of what was to come.
Nylund returned to Halo fiction a few years later with Halo: First Strike, detailing the events after the end of the Halo campaign and yet again setting up plot threads and expectations for the second Halo entry. The trend faltered before the release of the third Halo game. Instead of a single book acting like a link in the Halo chain, tying the games together, it was decided that a comic novel, Halo: Uprising would fulfil this role.
Uprising originally appeared on time and went about this task in a different medium. However the publishing window for the mini series was missed by later entries resulting in the final part of the comic being published almost two whole years after Halo 3 came out. Something went wrong. Nylund went off to write another book, Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, but this title was a standalone story independent of the video games. The book was published before the launch of Halo 3, so if the decision was made to use his third Halo book as another fictional bridge then the problems of Uprising could have been avoided completely.
With the launch of Halo: Reach, apart from the original Halo novel by Nylund, the was no attempt to bridge the game with any other Halo entry by using fiction. Instead The Fall of Reach was serialised as a multi-series comic novel – and again the final parts of which have only been published – years after the video game has come out.
With Halo 4 it seems as if a renewed commitment has been made to provide fictional bridges for the fans. So much so in fact, that we have been presented with an entirely new problem.
The fictional ties into Halo 4 are stronger than any previous game. There are two book trilogies, both with entirely different settings and characters, that tie directly into the game. The Forerunner Trilogy by Greg Bear and the Kilo-Five (or UNSC) Trilogy by Karen Traviss. As fan it’s difficult to complain when there is so much quality fiction holding our hands and guiding us forward.
There is one problem. It’s the same problem shared by Uprising and the Fall of Reach comic serialisation. Both trilogies will not have their concluding and final parts published until after the launch of Halo 4.
If both trilogies are supposed to act as intermediaries, then I have to question how they will fully perform that function if both series are not allowed to conclude before we get our hands on, and go through the events of, Halo 4. There is assumption that the ending of both trilogies are being held back to stop Halo 4 being spoiled for us in advance. That raises the question why it was decided to make these trilogies go further and deeper than past links in the Halo chain. It seems this time they are deliberately planning another “Uprising”.
If we look at The Fall of Reach, First Strike and Uprising we get self-contained stories that extended and continue the overall fiction whilst maintaining the important momentum of linking the video game entries in the franchise. It’s a real shame that with the sheer volume of fiction we’re getting now (and that’s not something I could ever complain about!) that we couldn’t get a self-contained and completed story that pushed us forward and set the table for the next feast on time.
RebornYeti
Member
Is that controller still $100? And what config are you using?
ElzarTheBam
Member
I reckon long term we (halogaf) could keep a thread like that active.
You should set up another one in time for release.
I don't really see the issue now. To me it seems pretty apparent that there are things that happen the the third books that relate directly into Halo 4 and will ruin an aspect of storytelling to it. And now since 343i controls all aspects of the Halo story, it will be easier to release story whenever it is right.
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
Something just doesn't sit with me when we have two trilogies of books tying into a game and having both trilogies unfinished when the game comes out. Feels like we're missing crucial parts of the story going in.
The Henery
Member
Is was adequate until 343 decided it was acceptable to have two different versions of Reach co-existing alongside one another. They encouraged the playerbase to acclimatise to their TU settings by changing almost all of the base playlists to TU then dongslapped the DLC owners in the face by making the new DLC playlist vanilla settings.
This. Big time.
I'm glad folks are focusing back in on the state of Reach; the playlist management has been atrocious for the most part. I've gone back to playing Team Snipers exclusively when playing alone because there're no decent TU playlists.
What a shame. I had high hopes (in terms of playlist management) for a new company at the helm of Halo. It's arguably been worse than Bungies. At least Ninja on Fire explained some of the decisions and responded directly. We don't even know who the manager is at 343.
Same as it ever was. Zero transparency, zero logical changes. Hey at least we got that one 343 guy to post a picture of a baby crying on his Twitter when people were upset about Halo 4 changes. And one time Shishka went in to Forgehub and screamed at them for trying to improve Halo 3 matchmaking. And Frankie occasionally makes goofy posts here. Well, I probably shouldn't complain anyway, I know my matchmaking expectations must be set to Batshit, so I apologize.
Where would you address it? BS Angel has to post 10 images of funny Spartan poses every day on Waypoint. There aren't enough resources for any additional posts on the Waypoint blog.
Speaking of Halo 4 threads, should Spartan Ops get its own thread? On one side, it would be great to have a dedicated thread that focuses on that mode, with it being a constant ongoing series it would get more noticed and updates will not be obscured by the main thread.
On the other hand, maybe there are just too many Halo threads. The biggest ones will be the main Halo 4 thread and our ongoing regular Halo thread. Thoughts?
On the other hand, maybe there are just too many Halo threads. The biggest ones will be the main Halo 4 thread and our ongoing regular Halo thread. Thoughts?
Tha Robbertster
Member
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. The second book in the Kilo 5 trilogy will tie in with the Halo 4 story while the third book will tell a story that happens during or after Halo 4's story.
Also, related to the new enemy in Halo 4:
(Glasslands spoilers)
At the end of Glasslands, the tempel that scientist was in on Sanghelios got attacked by something. Do people think this is going to be the new enemy for Halo 4? If so, I guess we can expect a reveal of Halo 4's main enemy before the book gets released (probably E30. It'd be pretty lame if the new enemy got revealed via a book most Halo fans don't even read.
Rand0m TAG
Member
Feel the same. Haven't been on reach since
I kind of agree, but it all depends on how they weave the story, doesn't it? It could be a horrible letdown, or we could still feel satisfied going into Halo 4, and still have threads to be resolved that will make the Kilo 5 and Forerunner trilogies still feel worthwhile.
This is the only Halo thread I follow, personally (though I subbed the 'GAF Radio one in case of more eps.) Even with all the craziness here I prefer one place to go.
The Librarian
Banned
Not sure if comparing Uprising to the two trilogies going on right now is proper. Uprising was a prequel, tying directly into the story of Halo 3. The two trilogies, as I understand it, are independent stories with elements that will surface in Halo 4.
The Henery
Member
I stumbled across this earlier
http://mykailamess.tumblr.com/post/16394795259/these-are-ableist-words
Apparantly, 'batshit' is an ableist word. Instantly thought of this thread and lol'd.
ncsuDuncan
Member
Tha Robbertster
Member
Brolic Gaoler
formerly Alienshogun
I doubt a playable prototype would end up being something they would show at E3. Especially if it JUST happened.
Honestly though, what else is he going to say?
"Well, the first playable version of our new IP is done, I'm less than impressed." As funny as that would be, it's not going to happen. Everything out of a devs mouth on social media is going to be pro "their product."
Slightly Live
Dirty tag dodger
Technically both trilogies are prequels to Halo 4, with Kilo-Five being a direct sequel to Ghosts of Onyx and Halo 3.
Kilo-Five is bridging the gap directly between Halo 3 and the fiction up to that point and Halo 4 and the Forerunner Trilogy is filling in the larger picture and fleshing out a larger narrative - and will somehow also be tied into Halo 4.
Right now we have no clue how the Forerunner books tie into Halo 4. We'll definitly understand more when Halo 4 comes out and the final Forerunner book comes out but that will be well after Halo 4 is out. Same goes with Kilo-Five.
The concluding parts of both books will be, I imagine, vitally important to understanding the context of how everything is tied together. I'm simply questioning if having both final parts of two whole trilogies come out after Halo 4 is a good thing considering how closely the entire fiction is tied together now.
Think of it this way. Say in five years time and fans are re-reading and replaying the books and the games. Should they read the two trilogies before playing Halo 4 or afterward? Or only read two thirds of each trilogy and then play Halo 4, then finally finish each trilogy?
I think the main reason why we aren't getting the final parts of each trilogy is because the ending must, in some fashion, spoil something from Halo 4 that they want to keep from us until we've played the game.
In terms of bridging content, I'd rather have that content tell a full and complete story in the gap it's suppose to be set in and have it complete before the next game.
The Forerunner books were suppose to be already out by now. Things change and evolve and schedules get pushed back. Uprising, as an example, was originally meant to out before Halo 3 and that didn't happen.