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Halo |OT8| A Salt on the Control Room

H

Hydranockz

Member
Blissful said:
How am I always negative? I just want to hear answers from 343 or some solid reason as to why competitive ranks no longer work for Halo. If you feel I am being negative all the time then you are just too easily butthurt. Grow a pair, my friend
Click to expand...

1-50 doesn't work and they've already stated their reasons why.

That isn't to suggest we won't get any ranking system in halo 4. We know we are.
 
B

Blissful

Neo Member
Havok said:
Using Arena as a reason to dismiss division-based rankings is silly. Arena was placed at the bottom of a giant stack of playlists, changed ranking methods halfway through from performance-based to W/L-based (but kept the Arena Rating numbers for whatever reason), received almost zero support or promotion, and was never explained to the public properly outside of that one BWU.

The way it places people is fine, though it takes a bit too long to get the player the feedback that they want. I certainly prefer that method, where it places you at the right skill level once it has enough data, to the crummy grind up to 20/40 in Halo 2/3 where you just play awful people until you hit somewhat challenging opponents. The actual data that the division system gives you once you're ranked is far more meaningful than a number whose relativity isn't exposed. 10% Onyx is great data, I know someone who is in that division is legitimately great at the game. I hit 49 in H3 TS playing with a team of almost all Norwegian host, and I'm in the US. I am pretty good at Halo. I have no illusions that I am anywhere close to the best of the best in Halo, especially not when I'm 4000 miles from the host, which is what a 50 would ostensibly represent.
Click to expand...

Yeah but Arena encouged iron boosting, and it happens everytime near the end of the season. This causes a flaw in the system because winning against an iron booster wouldnt mean jack, and losing against one would be similar to losing 5 games in a row. Again, I am not about flaunting my rank in everyones face because of how good I am in the game. I just want to be able to match up with and against good players on a regular basis. If the invisible rank is the answer and has specific playlists that consider matching players based on this invisible rank, then I am all for it.

Hydranockz said:
1-50 doesn't work and they've already stated their reasons why.

That isn't to suggest we won't get any ranking system in halo 4. We know we are.
Click to expand...

Cheaters, boosting, account selling. All can be stopped if 343 is willing to do something about it, and they pretty much can. I have reported several accounts (for cheating) to Bs Angel and she has taken care of the sitution within a day.
 
N

ncsuDuncan

Member
Finally got a chance to edit HaloGAF Radio episode 8. Rendering/uploading now.

Let's just hope lybertyboy's laptop doesn't find a way to remotely crash my computer. :p
 
M

m23

Member
Finished Halo 2 once again today. Please have Arbiter make some sort of appearance in Halo 4, such a great character. Thursday War may give us some hints I guess.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
FUBAR McDangles said:
What about her track record? I'm a pretty decent Traviss fan, judging from my Republic Commando and Gears of War collection, and I am just fine with her writing. I could see her possibly killing some characters off, but to me it seemed like bringing in Blue team into Glasslands was simply a way to complete that story. I can't see her utilizing them much in the rest of the series, simply because now she has her own group of people.
Click to expand...

Bolded, very true. And a shame. She practically ignores other, existing characters to play with her favorites, who are borderline mary sues at times.

As for the track record... consider her writing. Very one sided. She hates the Jedi, she hates Halsey. She writes jedi who hate their order, she writes Halsey hating herself. And she never gives proper counter viewpoint. EDIT and from what i hear, her Gears of War books suffer from similar issues.
Her writing has a lot of issues in this.
Okay, maybe i was hyperbolic but it wouldn't be impossible for her (depending how much freedom she has to write the Kilo Five trilogy) to kill of characters to make Halsey suicide or something (which won't happen though) crazy. And if she happened to use the Blue team for that purpose...

I did like the RC series but the more and more i read it, the more Traviss quirks started to annoy me.
 
U

User 73706

Banned
Suggestion for the HUD OVERHEAD TEXT +10

Menu > Start > Options > Screen Settings > Notifications

Select and modify on-screen notifications throughout your Spartan's HUD across all games.

Infinity: This notification will appear in the middle of the screen.
Classic: This notification will appear in the bottom-left of the screen, above your radar.
Off: You will not be notified about these bonuses in games, but they will still be visible in your stats.

ALL <Infinity / Classic / Off >
KILLS: (lists Rocket Kill, Boltshot Kill, etc.)
MULTIKILLS: (double kill, etc)
SPREES: (includes things like Sword Sprees, Spawn Sprees)
MISCELLANEOUS: (Assists, Distractions, etc)
OBJECTIVES: (Oddball Kills, Hail to the King, etc etc)
...and so on and so forth. At the very least, this would be cool to modify in Custom Game options considering you can already change points for pretty much all of these.
 
O

Overdoziz

Banned
Wahrer Machine said:
Suggestion for the HUD OVERHEAD TEXT +10

Menu > Start > Options > Screen Settings > Notifications

Select and modify on-screen notifications throughout your Spartan's HUD across all games.

Infinity: This notification will appear in the middle of the screen.
Classic: This notification will appear in the bottom-left of the screen, above your radar.
Off: You will not be notified about these bonuses in games, but they will still be visible in your stats.

ALL <Infinity / Classic / Off >
KILLS: (lists Rocket Kill, Boltshot Kill, etc.)
MULTIKILLS: (double kill, etc)
SPREES: (includes things like Sword Sprees, Spawn Sprees)
MISCELLANEOUS: (Assists, Distractions, etc)
OBJECTIVES: (Oddball Kills, Hail to the King, etc etc)
...and so on and so forth. At the very least, this would be cool to modify in Custom Game options considering you can already change points for pretty much all of these.
Click to expand...
Sorry, but that would compromise the vision of the HUD designers.
 
K

Kuroyume

Banned
Grenado Reach is such a bad game. I was playing Team Slayer and it's ARs, grenades, and Armor Lock. Are those the 3 pillars than Bungie brought up so often? So bad. So very bad.
 
F

FUBAR McDangles

Member
Woorloog said:
Bolded, very true. And a shame. She practically ignores other, existing characters to play with her favorites, who are borderline mary sues at times.

As for the track record... consider her writing. Very one sided. She hates the Jedi, she hates Halsey. She writes jedi who hate their order, she writes Halsey hating herself. And she never gives proper counter viewpoint. EDIT and from what i hear, her Gears of War books suffer from similar issues.
Her writing has a lot of issues in this.
Okay, maybe i was hyperbolic but it wouldn't be impossible for her (depending how much freedom she has to write the Kilo Five trilogy) to kill of characters to make Halsey suicide or something (which won't happen though) crazy. And if she happened to use the Blue team for that purpose...

I did like the RC series but the more and more i read it, the more Traviss quirks started to annoy me.
Click to expand...

I'm only two books into the Gears of War books, and she really doesn't go off in as much of that direction as in RC. She writes side characters that aren't her own, but she keeps them realistic to what they are in the games, which is nice.

I'm not so sure she wants to kill of Halsey like you think. Have her go insane, sure, but not kill her off. She's a series staple.

Once the forerunner trilogy is done, do you think they'll bring in more one-off writers like they did in the past to explore more events of the series? Like Contact Harvest, Cole Protocol, etc. having authors that only write those books then are done?
 
C

Caja 117

Member
Alienshogun said:
It should have been more persistent (given that you kept playing). The other issue is people would play their "required" matches then just quit playing Arena, that's not good for the population, and another big problem with it.
Click to expand...

thats true, the seasons I played arena I didn't played more than 50 games. Besides I also felt It wasn't worth my effort playing for something that was going to get lost after 3 seasons.
 
Pop

Pop

Member
Got the jackpot on my 2nd game in Arena. It's like the game knows I hate Arena so it gave it to me early. Thanks based Halo God.
 
N

ncsuDuncan

Member
halogaf-radio.jpg
Click to expand...

HaloGAF Radio - Episode 8: BravoMLG and Heckfu

Regular hosts Tashi0106, Domino Theory, and ncsuDuncan are joined by guests BravoMLG and Heckfu to discuss the latest Halo news. (110 minutes. Recorded 08/17/2012.)

0:00:40 – Segment 1 – We talk with Bravo about Halo’s competitive community.
0:41:09 – Segment 2 – The latest news on Halo 4&#8242;s specializations is discussed and Bravo answers some rapid-fire questions.
1:29:58 – Segment 3 – A quick roundup of Halo news with Heckfu, covering the Halo 4 soundtrack announcement and the Bulletin’s achievement reveal.

(Download MP3 at HaloGAF.com)
(Listen on YouTube)
(Subscribe in iTunes)
(Podcast RSS Feed)
 
H

Hypertrooper

Member
ncsuDuncan said:
HaloGAF Radio - Episode 8: BravoMLG and Heckfu

Regular hosts Tashi0106, Domino Theory, and ncsuDuncan are joined by guests BravoMLG and Heckfu to discuss the latest Halo news. (110 minutes. Recorded 08/17/2012.)

0:00:40 – Segment 1 – We talk with Bravo about Halo’s competitive community.
0:41:09 – Segment 2 – The latest news on Halo 4&#8242;s specializations is discussed and Bravo answers some rapid-fire questions.
1:29:58 – Segment 3 – A quick roundup of Halo news with Heckfu, covering the Halo 4 soundtrack announcement and the Bulletin’s achievement reveal.

(Download MP3 at HaloGAF.com)
(Listen on YouTube)
(Subscribe in iTunes)
(Podcast RSS Feed)
Click to expand...
Yep. I am going to save that one for my flight to Seattle.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
FUBAR McDangles said:
I'm not so sure she wants to kill of Halsey like you think. Have her go insane, sure, but not kill her off. She's a series staple.

Once the forerunner trilogy is done, do you think they'll bring in more one-off writers like they did in the past to explore more events of the series? Like Contact Harvest, Cole Protocol, etc. having authors that only write those books then are done?
Click to expand...

I didn't say she wants to kill Halsey, i just used driving her to suicide as an example for what she could do (Halo 4 spoilers:
Halsey's still alive
).

As for GOW books, i understood she raves against weapons industry or some such, despite them being the reason the humanity has a chance in Gearsverse (i don't know much about it, just based on what i heard) and this being somewhat unsuitable for the tone of Gearsverse. Traviss loves using characters to spout her own opinions and doesn't bother representing the other side fairly.

And as for any future books, impossible to say yet. I hope 343i do have more books written and get someone who is impartial and good and doesn't write, eh, weirdly like Bear (though Bear's good otherwise).
 
L

Louis Wu

Member
Blissful said:
How am I always negative? I just want to hear answers from 343 or some solid reason as to why competitive ranks no longer work for Halo. If you feel I am being negative all the time then you are just too easily butthurt. Grow a pair, my friend
Click to expand...
I don't think you're going to get what you want. They've ANSWERED the question (you even acknowledged that you heard their answer) - you just don't like what they said.

::shrug::

Also, I'm pretty sure you're using 'butthurt' wrong...)
 
F

FUBAR McDangles

Member
Woorloog said:
I didn't say she wants to kill Halsey, i just used driving her to suicide as an example for what she could do (Halo 4 spoilers:
Halsey's still alive
).

As for GOW books, i understood she raves against weapons industry or some such, despite them being the reason the humanity has a chance in Gearsverse (i don't know much about it, just based on what i heard) and this being somewhat unsuitable for the tone of Gearsverse. Traviss loves using characters to spout her own opinions and doesn't bother representing the other side fairly.

And as for any future books, impossible to say yet. I hope 343i do have more books written and get someone who is impartial and good and doesn't write, eh, weirdly like Bear (though Bear's good otherwise).
Click to expand...

In the gears story, they had to use their equivilent of nukes to deny the enemy of utilizing resources. So yeah, in the books set before the games they have to procure the Hammer of Dawn(the nukes) and some people speak out against it, but it makes sense in the context of the story.

And as for the spoiler, where did you read that? I must have missed that but its good info.
 
Z

Zeouterlimits

Member
Shake Appeal said:
I haven't read these books, but Halsey really should hate herself.
Click to expand...
Oh of course. It's Parangosky's hate that's a chore to read. Have the public tear her to shreds, not someone who also does god awful things.


Woorloog said:
In Nylund's books, she is okay with what's she done, mostly. In Traviss books, she just suddenly started hating herself without good reason, other than Traviss hating Halsey.
Click to expand...
...
Traviss isn't the only one responsible for those books. They're overseen and approved by 343.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
FUBAR McDangles said:
In the gears story, they had to use their equivilent of nukes to deny the enemy of utilizing resources. So yeah, in the books set before the games they have to procure the Hammer of Dawn(the nukes) and some people speak out against it, but it makes sense in the context of the story.

And as for the spoiler, where did you read that? I must have missed that but its good info.
Click to expand...
Ok. Don't think i'll ever read the GOW books though, so i guess i'll never find out myself. But i'll assume it isn't as bad as it was made to sound.

The Magic Behind Halo 4 trailer. You can see Halo 4's script on some scenes...
Shake Appeal said:
I haven't read these books, but Halsey really should hate herself.
Click to expand...

In Nylund's books, she is okay with what's she done, mostly. In Traviss books, she just suddenly started hating herself without good reason, other than Traviss hating Halsey.
 
T

Tawpgun

Member
Woorloog said:
In Nylund's books, she is okay with what's she done, mostly. In Traviss books, she just suddenly started hating herself without good reason, other than Traviss hating Halsey.
Click to expand...

She wasn't ok with it. She doubted her actions if they were right and all.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
Tawpgun said:
She wasn't ok with it. She doubted her actions if they were right and all.
Click to expand...

Okay, but Traviss changed her radically, too much so, without any build up to that point really.

EDIT i admit i'm biased against Traviss but i try to stay objective when making judgements about the characters in Glasslands. Try to...
 
T

TheOddOne

Member
FUBAR McDangles said:
Pure Halo 4 speculation, but:
with some of the Spartan III's going into the Spartan IV program, I could easily see some of the III's be named in Halo 4. Maybe not blatantly, but throughout the campaign running into a Spartan IV named Tom or Lucy or any of the other survivors could show up. Maybe even Jun will come back in some type of background radio transmission.
Click to expand...
Seeing as everything fiction released so far will have a connection to the game, it would not suprise me that they would show up.
 
T

The P of Poland

Member
Woorloog said:
I didn't say she wants to kill Halsey, i just used driving her to suicide as an example for what she could do (Halo 4 spoilers:
Halsey's still alive
).

As for GOW books, i understood she raves against weapons industry or some such, despite them being the reason the humanity has a chance in Gearsverse (i don't know much about it, just based on what i heard) and this being somewhat unsuitable for the tone of Gearsverse. Traviss loves using characters to spout her own opinions and doesn't bother representing the other side fairly.

And as for any future books, impossible to say yet. I hope 343i do have more books written and get someone who is impartial and good and doesn't write, eh, weirdly like Bear (though Bear's good otherwise).
Click to expand...
The difference between Traviss writing Gears and her writing Halo is that to the best of my knowledge there is no other writer that has handled Gears fiction. In Halo, there is plenty of established canon and she throws it out the window in favor of her own biases. She is just a horrible writer.
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
The P of Poland said:
The difference between Traviss writing Gears and her writing Halo is that to the best of my knowledge there is no other writer that has handled Gears fiction. In Halo, there is plenty of established canon and she throws it out the window in favor of her own biases. She is just a horrible writer.
Click to expand...

You do realize "does things I do not like" does not equal "horrible writer", correct ?
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
The P of Poland said:
The difference between Traviss writing Gears and her writing Halo is that to the best of my knowledge there is no other writer that has handled Gears fiction. In Halo, there is plenty of established canon and she throws it out the window in favor of her own biases. She is just a horrible writer.
Click to expand...

Ah, true that.
Also in Star Wars, though there she didn't throw canon out of the window, just used it selectively... and maintained that stupid 3 million clone troopers number.


EDIT i find it kinda ironic i absolutely detest Halsey but yet here i'm defending her and not liking Traviss despite her writing something i should theoretically like.
 
B

Blissful

Neo Member
Louis Wu said:
I don't think you're going to get what you want. They've ANSWERED the question (you even acknowledged that you heard their answer) - you just don't like what they said.

::shrug::

Also, I'm pretty sure you're using 'butthurt' wrong...)
Click to expand...

It wasn't really clear to be honest. If it was, I wouldn't be complaining because 1 voice cannot change the ultimate decission made by the developers.

I guess I just have to be patient and wait till they release the playlist info or ranking system info in the coming months.

O , and who says they even answered my question. I have tweeted, msged, posted the question about a competitive ranking system repeatedly. It is just simply ignored by Frankie and Ellis.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
The P of Poland said:
Granted. What DOES equal horrible writer is, as I said, failing to read any previous Halo books or playing the games and then proceeding to trample all over established canon.
Click to expand...

Arguably every piece of Halo fiction does this, at least on some level. Books, animation, game...
Traviss is just the worst so far. Not counting Halo: Reach and the Fall of Reach...
 
F

Fuchsdh

Member
The P of Poland said:
Granted. What DOES equal horrible writer is, as I said, failing to read any previous Halo books or playing the games and then proceeding to trample all over established canon.
Click to expand...
The craft of writing and creating an engaging story had nothing to do with sticking to established elements of a fictional universe.
 
T

The P of Poland

Member
Woorloog said:
Arguably every piece of Halo fiction does this, at least on some level. Books, animation, game...
Traviss is just the worst so far. Not counting Halo: Reach and the Fall of Reach...
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that. First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx, Contact Harvest, The Cole Protocol were all very consistent with each other.

Edit: There are many things that go into writing a story. I will be the first to say that Glasslands is an engaging story. It is, however, an engaging story with characters who aren't believable within its own context and even less believable when taken in context of the wider universe. Traviss, and those at 343 responsible for overseeing her, did an atrocious job of making an unbiased, fair, believable story.
 
W

Woorloog

Banned
EDIT /\ /\ my usualy hyberbole once again. Also a joke. Though i'll note that the first contact with the Elites and Brutes have been retconned a couple of times, Halo 3 retconned Truth's personality... sufficient to say there is a lot of retconning in Halo. I always wonder if Star Wars or Halo wins retcon contest.

Fuchsdh said:
The craft of writing and creating an engaging story had nothing to do with sticking to established elements of a fictional universe.
Click to expand...

Very true, but it would be nice to keep withing the established boundaries unless necessary to expand them or change them.
Frankly, it felt that Traviss did change things just for sake of doing so. Of course we need somewhat larger context for some things before we can say for sure, such as some Brutes serving the Elites.
 
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