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Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?

heckfu

Banned
As a more casual competitive player, the weapon drop announcement should make things better for me. I always ask myself "is it 8:45 or 9:45 that rockets respawn?" I either show up 45 seconds early and just sit there or show up too late. It's just not something I want to think about as a more casual player.

I'm expecting some really exciting firefights over rockets now that every player knows that they are spawning.

See Ghal, firefight IS returning!
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
I'm still not sold on forerunner vision.

The way Frankie described it in the podcast made it seem like it was designed for players that aren't as good as the top level players, so they put this ability in.

Well if it's made for players that aren't good, then what do they think is gonna happen when someone who is good gets a hold of it?

The sonar sweep does make it better and not as overpowered than if you were able to see someone the second you press the button, but I still don't like the fact that someone will be able to see me through a wall like this.

I'll wait til I actually see it in action though before making any more judgments, but that's just the way I see it so far.

I think the key is matchmaking. You should always play with people around you skill level.
 
Yep, I'm still not really getting the weapon drops.
Also, will the power weapons at the start of the match always spawn at the same spot and will these weapons be the same too? I wouldn't like it when one time, rockets spawn at a certain spot and in the next game, there is a sniper at that location at the beginning of the match.

And what happens to the non-power weapons like the needler or the plasma pistol. Can you choose weapons like those in your loadout, will they spawn like in the previous Halo games or will they also get their own weapon drops.

I know I can't get answers to all of those questions right now but I'd like to get some clarification on these subjects some time.

I liked or expected pretty much all the other things I heard. Spartan Ops sounds really cool and I liked all the talk about the weapon sounds.
The only time I facepalmed was when somebody said you really have to grind to get certain stuff. Did not like to hear that.
 

MrDaravon

Member
A lot of stuff in that podcast sounds neat and/or reassuring. Still reallllly wish that they were doing some sort of open, or at least semi-open beta for this though. Obviously if the production timeline doesn't allow it is what it is, but especially after Reach a lot of people are going to be unhappy going in almost blind launch day, and even more so if there are issues or perceived issues. Hopefully we get some good video leaks or something :p
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Holy shit this is amazing news
Seriously. That totally changes the way sprint works -- for the better.
I have to say Spartan Ops does sound damn interesting.
I'm so hyped for it.
That, AL being cut and the Forerunner vision having audio cues is all welcome news.
Yup. The audio cue bit made me feel a lot better. Plus apparently it works like sonar, sweeping your surroundings for enemies, so you won't be detected immediately. It really does sound like a crutch for noobs, which is fine, cause they'll probably lose in most 1v1 fights anyways.
H3 base speed with sprint is fine with me.
Agreed.

Overall I'm feeling a lot better about all the changes.
 
This is not a summary of the info, rather my take on things.

-BR sounds more like the H3 BR than the H2 BR. The BR has recoil and each shot hits higher than the previous. Disapointing but it could be worse...it could have bloom.

-DMR sounds like it's namesake, a weapon for longer range marksmen. That sounds good to me. Ehhh...DMR=New Carbine??

-Instant Respawns sound exactly like COD literally even the button you press to respawn is the same. They want people to get back in the action quicker. They say that this is designed for slayer...that kind of breaks the main gametype. Gives more randoms a chance to keep getting into the game and die. Deaths are no longer a punishment.

-The random drops seem like the won't screw anything up too bad. That said it seems rather pointless. Why "fix" a system that has worked really well for the past 11 years? Even Reach didn't feel the need to change this.

-The whole MP is built around sprint. That's a shame for the people and playlists (MLG?) that will not use sprint.

-All AAs except Armor Lock coming back. The majority of fans did not want these in the game at all. Why are they coming back???

-Forerunner Vision. One of the great things about Halo is that you could crouch right next to someone without them knowing....that is gone if they have forerunner vision.

Keep in mind these are the negatives I took from the podcast...there were somethings I was happy to hear....kind of.

I really want to like this game...but nothing I am hearing is really getting me excited.


Also one thing that really irked me was the fact that they said that they remember Armor Lock being exploited a lot in the internal Alpha....did Bungie not take any note of that? Hopefully 343 is at least listening to their testers.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Just finished the podcast. It was a good one. Definitely a lot of interesting tidbits in there. Especially about the DMR vs BR and their differences. Really curious about the bullet spread on the BR. I also want to know how slow the firing rate on the DMR is now. Can't wait to get my hands on the game and pick it apart. Going to listen again tonight.
 
It was good to get extra information. One thing that really struck me as I was listening to the podcast was that - after playing so much of Anniversary's Classic playlists, with the overpowered 3-shot pistol - I'm a pretty big fan of having a single god weapon, provided everyone spawns with it. Hearing that the BR/DMR/AR are so balanced for different ranges is kind of the exact opposite of Halo 1's multi.
 

Korosenai

Member
I think the key is matchmaking. You should always play with people around you skill level.

That's a good point. I just hope they bring back a true skill system like in halo 3 or halo 2 for ranked playlists. If Halo 4 is anything like Halo Reach's matchmaking....... we're all doomed.
 

zlatko

Banned
Here's the problem with forerunner vision as an armor ability.

You have that, jet pack, cloak, and hologram confirmed for H4 right? Out of all those which one do you think people are going to gravitate to? Yeah F.Vision.

Now that everyone has sprint(yay, I have wanted this in Halo forever), I feel F.Vision is all we'll see, because it offers the best ability for all situations on each map, where something like a jet pack, in Reach anyway, is a bit more situational based on map.
 
It was good to get extra information. One thing that really struck me as I was listening to the podcast was that - after playing so much of Anniversary's Classic playlists, with the overpowered 3-shot pistol - I'm a pretty big fan of having a single god weapon, provided everyone spawns with it. Hearing that the BR/DMR/AR are so balanced for different ranges is kind of the exact opposite of Halo 1's multi.

And Halo 2 and 3 BR starts.
 

daedalius

Member
This is not a summary of the info, rather my take on things.

-BR sounds more like the H3 BR than the H2 BR. The BR has recoil and each shot hits higher than the previous. Disapointing but it could be worse...it could have bloom.

-DMR sounds like it's namesake, a weapon for longer range marksmen. That sounds good to me. Ehhh...DMR=New Carbine??

-Instant Respawns sound exactly like COD literally even the button you press to respawn is the same. They want people to get back in the action quicker. They say that this is designed for slayer...that kind of breaks the main gametype. Gives more randoms a chance to keep getting into the game and die. Deaths are no longer a punishment.

-The random drops seem like the won't screw anything up too bad. That said it seems rather pointless. Why "fix" a system that has worked really well for the past 11 years? Even Reach didn't feel the need to change this.

-The whole MP is built around sprint. That's a shame for the people and playlists (MLG?) that will not use sprint.

-All AAs except Armor Lock coming back. The majority of fans did not want these in the game at all. Why are they coming back???

-Forerunner Vision. One of the great things about Halo is that you could crouch right next to someone without them knowing....that is gone if they have forerunner vision.

Keep in mind these are the negatives I took from the podcast...there were somethings I was happy to hear....kind of.

I really want to like this game...but nothing I am hearing is really getting me excited.

Kinda sounds like you want Halo 2 back, which is fine.

Seems like you will be able easily make that happen in customs.

Also, words like 'majority' when you don't have data is pointless.


LOL for real?

Mid-range weapon, it has to be balanced against the DMR somehow. I imagine that the DMR and BR will work well, especially if you manage to have both at the same time.
 
Any mention of the ranking system? 1-50 or Arena style? Playlist specific?

The only thing they mentioned for ranking was that you'll get exp for doing certain things in matchmaking. When you level up, you get a certain amount of spartan points which you can spend on AA's, weapons etc.

No mentioning of a ranked system.
 
After hearing about Forerunner Vision, I don't even know why people would get upset. The more skilled player is still going to win the gunfight.
 

m23

Member
So listened to the podcast, had some good things and some answers left unanswered, which was gonna happen anyway. I'm happy to hear about increased movement speed and that sprint will be slowed when shot. I wasn't happy to hear that you unlock guns and have to buy them, maybe because I'm not used to it, hopefully it doesn't take too long to get the BR. Overall it was okay. The ending was sick, love that song.

They didn't speak about ranks or bleed through though, I wanted to know about those two things especially.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I can't listen yet (tonight, woo!), but a question:

Can unlock items for competitive in Spartan Ops
-Take your character from PvP games is meaningful going into Spartan Ops
-Building a character you feel attached to
-Planning, being strategic in Spartan Ops​
Does this mean the full suite of unlockables can be completed in Spartan Ops? One of the things I love about Reach's investment system is how it's universal across game modes; I'll likely play much more Spartan Ops than MP, so it would be great if there were a similar universal pool of Spartan Points (please re-name these) that could be filled through any game mode.
 

daedalius

Member
So listened to the podcast, had some good things and some answers left unanswered, which was gonna happen anyway. I'm happy to hear about increased movement speed and that sprint will be slowed when shot. I wasn't happy to hear that you unlock guns and have to buy them, maybe because I'm not used to it, hopefully it doesn't take too long to get the BR. Overall it was okay. The ending was sick, love that song.

They didn't speak about ranks or bleed through though, I wanted to know about those two things especially.

I'll be it won't take long at all.

Heck, maybe you get experience for this stuff just by playing through the campaign. Once you finish that you get your BR unlocks.

Not too worried about that tbh.

I can't listen yet (tonight, woo!), but a question:

Can unlock items for competitive in Spartan Ops
-Take your character from PvP games is meaningful going into Spartan Ops
-Building a character you feel attached to
-Planning, being strategic in Spartan Ops​
Does this mean the full suite of unlockables can be completed in Spartan Ops? One of the things I love about Reach's investment system is how it's universal across game modes; I'll likely play much more Spartan Ops than MP, so it would be great if there were a similar universal pool of Spartan Points (please re-name these) that could be filled through any game mode.

Its the same progression in competitive and spartan ops. You can get all of your unlocks and 'levels' from spartan ops it sounds like.
 

WJD

Member
Still not sold on the idea of random weapon drops. Just takes away one of my favourite aspects of Halo multiplayer which was knowing the maps inside out and using that to your advantage.

Also very apprehensive about the BR changes.

On the plus side Spartan Ops sounds great.
 

Striker

Member
Base movement faster than Reach, with Halo 3 being the benchmark?.. Thank the heavens!
Eh. No inertia and a higher jump is fine, but the overall base speed was slow. At least sprint is in there since the base is still going to be slow.

So the weapon spawns and Forerunner Vision are just there to make the skill-gap smaller? Good to know.
Fits in with simultaneous melee and vehicle stun.

-BR sounds more like the H3 BR than the H2 BR. The BR has recoil and each shot hits higher than the previous. Disapointing but it could be worse...it could have bloom.
Still listening, but they did say the BR had hitscan, so it can't be that bad. Wait and see.

Assault Carbine sounds like the new-aged SMG.
 

Arnie

Member
After listening I'm not even going to bother writing my thoughts up at this point, mostly out of respect for 343, because they took the time to create this, and lastly because I'm not even sure how I feel about a lot of the things I heard until I reflect on them.

One thing I will say as just an instant impression, and I don't mean this with any disrespect, this is my opinion based on 60 minutes of audio, but I just don't get the sense that the team really do understand Halo. I mean, the comment, "We changed as much stuff as we could before it really felt whacky", or something to that effect just frightens me.

Perhaps this is just a psychological thing because when I used to listen to Bungie I knew they were the ones who engineered the mechanics I loved, so I had faith in what they were telling me, but I just don't get that here.

The last time one of my favourite franchises decided to change things up for the sake of it, adding fluid weapon spawns and stopping power on bullets I got Gears of War 2: perhaps the most monumental franchise fuck up in gaming history.

How do weapon drops work on indoor maps?
I didn't get that either. They transitioned from The Pit to talking about how weapons fly down from space. With The Pit as an example, none of the weapons on that map could fall from space, because it's an indoors environment.
 

zlatko

Banned
How do weapon drops work on indoor maps?

Holes in the ceiling. ;D

As for random weapon drops I totally expect this to happen:

Rocket spawn drops by you, you turn on cloak or F.vision, and camp near it so when someone comes in to grab it, you destroy them for wanting it. Free assassinations for life!
 

Proelite

Member
Hi Frankie.

Did the team ever test with secondary fires on weapons during the development process? If not, did any Halo besides the first Halo experiment with secondary fire?
 

lybertyboy

Thinks the Evil Empire is just misunderstood.
Still listening, but they did say the BR had hitscan, so it can't be that bad. Wait and see.

Yes it's hitscan and yes skilled players will be able to compensate for the recoil.

And the spread?

This is one of the reasons I hesitated using that particular word when I was talking about it. It's recoil, not spread, but naturally the recoil is going to alter where the bullets hit.
 
So there's what, one new AA, or are they mentioning more? Forerunner vision sounds meh not exciting. Damn, I overestimated how much they would change. I guess I'm in the minority there though, was hoping for some serious differences. Still hopeful though.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Holes in the ceiling. ;D

As for random weapon drops I totally expect this to happen:

Rocket spawn drops by you, you turn on cloak or F.vision, and camp near it so when someone comes in to grab it, you destroy them for wanting it. Free assassinations for life!

Presumably that's always going to happen, but if everyone knows when a weapon is dropping and you can't get too close without getting asploded I doubt you have many options to camp.

The biggest factor in camping power weapons has always been the map layout (aka, the ledge and one-way teleporter by Rockets in Ascension.)
 

Striker

Member
Yes it's hitscan and yes skilled players will be able to compensate for the recoil.
Yeah, I thought so. I think that's perfectly fine. Just want to see the clear differences, like the DMR being 2x scoped, or is it 3x? If so it might still derail larger maps if it is available in loadouts in playlists like BTB.

Differences between the Assault Carbine and the Assault Rifle, also.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Yeah, I thought so. I think that's perfectly fine. Just want to see the clear differences, like the DMR being 2x scoped, or is it 3x? If so it might still derail larger maps if it is available in loadouts in playlists like BTB.

Differences between the Assault Carbine and the Assault Rifle, also.

They mentioned in the podcast that the DMR beats the BR in long range so I'm guess/hoping the DMR is 3x. It could be just the spread that's losing the battle for the BR though.
 

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Every time we get new info it's like a damn AA meeting in here. Some people happy, some depressed, some have just lost faith. Roller coaster ride to launch, I presume.

Everything sounds great to me, and the few things I have worries about I will wait and actually see how they work before getting worked up.
 

Arnie

Member
One thing I'm slightly irked that they haven't clarified as of yet is the whole ethos behind Armour Abilities returning.

I remember when Halo 3 was revealed Bungie had a clear ethos with what they expected, and what they wanted to happen with Equipment, and how that would impact the sandbox. It was creative, and they broke it down from a design perspective.

Then with Reach, even though I didn't enjoy them, they again revealed the ethos, the design document if you will on what they interpreted Armour Abilities to be and why they were a good evolution to the idea of equipment.

With Halo 4 it just seems as if 343 are accepting and ignoring any explanation as to their interpretation of the mechanic, as if Bungie's design was nearly perfect and all that needed changing was balancing. Which to me sounds far too simplistic given the huge gameplay ramifications these have. They haven't given any reasoning or insight into their interpretation of Armour Abilities, and why, like they were originally an evolution of equipment, these are a smart evolution of their Reach brethren, which, I think we can almost unanimously conclude weren't great.
 
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