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[Shake Appeal]

Powerhouse is too easy to defend.

Agree with this. It needs a window or something. Going up the stairs from below is nightmarish. It's difficult to bounce grenades in effectively. If they have guys with Armour Lock and hammer/rockets in there (and rockets spawn about five feet from where they do), your options are pretty slim.

 

[dslgunstar]

Rhetorical question coming up.

Which is more skillful: lining up a fixed reticle on a target and pulling the trigger, knowing that your bullet will always hit that spot, unless you are at range, in which case your bullets may diverge and "spread" in an unanticipated and arbitrary fashion...

...or not only lining up a reticle as before, but adapting to and anticipating the changing size of the reticle, a size you control by pacing your shots appropriately to the (shifting) range between you and your opponent, knowing that your bullet will always, always land within the reticle as it is revealed to you?

The latter has removed the random element! It has put you in charge of every aspect of your weapon's accuracy, only with more variables to consider and assess ahead of every trigger pull. You, the player, are being asked to do more. More skillful players will do it better!

THANK YOU.

I'm glad someone else is willing to entertain the notion that 'skill' at a videogame can go beyond muscle memory and include higher-level brain activity like anticipation, adaptation and strategic decision making.

*applauds*

 

[soldat7]

Love the beta! However...

1) Quitters suck. I hope something can be done about this in the final release.
2) Veto sucks (even worse now.) Objective games will always be vetoed in favor of Slayer (ugh)
3) Real-time text needs adjusting. I see medals and kills pop up all the time and I'm not sure if they're from me or from my teammates.

I love the feel of Reach. The final game is going to be amazing.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

THANK YOU.

I'm glad someone else is willing to entertain the notion that 'skill' at a videogame can go beyond muscle memory and include higher-level brain activity like anticipation, adaptation and strategic decision making.
*applauds*

These were all in Halo 3, but related to the gameplay. Its a lot more fun to anticipate and out think a enemy than it is to anticipate reticule bloom. The people who play competativly want to have fun aswell you know. :lol

 

[Diablohead]

Agree with this. It needs a window or something. Going up the stairs from below is nightmarish. It's difficult to bounce grenades in effectively. If they have guys with Armour Lock and hammer/rockets in there (and rockets spawn about five feet from where they do), your options are pretty slim.

I always attack with the nade launcher since no one else grabs it, and it's still hard to attack if they turtle. Really does needs a window of some kind in that corner near the flag.

 

[NJ Shlice]

THIS, make the default 'none of the above'

Disagree. There are actually people that don't care what they play and just let Bungie pick their destiny. If no one votes then it would pick a new map/gametype and that would just take longer.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Rhetorical question coming up.

Which is more skillful: lining up a fixed reticle on a target and pulling the trigger, knowing that your bullet will always hit that spot, unless you are at range, in which case your bullets may diverge and "spread" in an unanticipated and arbitrary fashion...

...or not only lining up a reticle as before, but adapting to and anticipating the changing size of the reticle, a size you control by pacing your shots appropriately to the (shifting) range between you and your opponent, knowing that your bullet will always, always land within the reticle as it is revealed to you?

The latter has removed the random element! It has put you in charge of every aspect of your weapon's accuracy, only with more variables to consider and assess ahead of every trigger pull. You, the player, are being asked to do more. More skillful players will do it better!

Best summation of the impact of the bloom I've seen so far. Especially at high level play - Arena, MLG - learning the right rhythm of the weapons at different distances will be the differentiator. It's one of my favorite changes so far, even if I haven't really begun to learn it.

Disagree. There are actually people that don't care what they play and just let Bungie pick their destiny. If no one votes then it would pick a new map/gametype and that would just take longer.

Aye. And that's the difference between a veto and a vote. The matchmaking system is, as always, picking a gametype and map. Only difference is, you can now vote for a different option instead.

My only gripe about the entire matchmaking feature suite in the Beta is that the votes should be hidden.

 

[Shake Appeal]

2) Veto sucks (even worse now.) Objective games will always be vetoed in favor of Slayer (ugh)

In my experience, people just don't vote, and that's why I end up playing a lot of games of Stockpile, since that always seems to be top.

People need to stop sleeping on Covy Slayer, that gametype is awesome.

 

[dslgunstar]

These were all in Halo 3.

Agreed.

And they've all returned in Reach.

The nuances are simply different this time, and the weapon selections are a bit more demanding.

The BR is no longer the go-to solution for almost every combat scenario. :lol

 

[CSampson]

I know it's a Beta, but fuck, they need penalties for people who quit. Revoke their Beta access or something for 10 minutes. Pussies.

 

[Sanjuro]

Are there any stranglers in this thread still looking for a code? I'm possibly setting up a Halo 3 game to obtain one. Go to the begging thread for information.

 

[Sai-kun]

These were all in Halo 3, but related to the gameplay. Its a lot more fun to anticipate and out think a enemy than it is to anticipate reticule bloom. The people who play competativly want to have fun aswell you know. :lol

Somehow I doubt this :lol

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

Sorry to everybody I was just playing Stockpile with on Swordbase. Something is up with my net the passed two days, was getting disconnects yesterday and am getting them again right now, seems to only be happening around 3pm to 6pm Easter.

 

[backflip10019]

Yep, and you're one of those guys who self-professedly likes to dong on BKs.

Only one of us is succeeding at our goals right now.

All I'm saying is that reticule bloom, in my opinion, makes the game worse. If there was no bloom, and the game was given true hitscan like in Halo 2, and everyone was given an equal chance, the game would play impeccably well.

Compared to the general masses that play Halo, I would say that I am a fairly skilled player. No, I'm no Tashi (though I play better than him sometimes), but I'm pretty good. I could hold my own against 50s in MLG in Halo 3. I played over 8000 matches of that game, and I feel like I am qualified to comment on what would have made it a better game for people like myself, who care about the competition in the game. Do I like to have fun? You betcha. How do I have fun? By playing well and winning. That's human nature right there.

Anyway, one of the major problems that I found in Halo 3 was bullet spread. And a lot of people agreed with me. Spread made the game less based on skill and instead made it based somewhat on luck. And reticule bloom does nothing to fix that in Reach. If anything, I feel like it's worse. At least in Halo 3, you could easily focus your reticule on someone and continue firing. That seems much more difficult in Reach due the bloom effect. And yes, I understand that this can be controlled by waiting to fire, but this opens up a whole other element of randomness and luck -- the enemy that I'm shooting has ample time to do something else.

All I'm saying is that is that reticule bloom really detracts from the game. Will skilled players eventually learn to control the bloom and wait for the perfect time to shoot and pull off 5 shots continuously? Yes. But would the game have been better if the playing field was leveled and the element of randomness was reduced by not having bloom? I think so.

What can I say? I'm a humanitarian. I like equality.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Disagree. There are actually people that don't care what they play and just let Bungie pick their destiny. If no one votes then it would pick a new map/gametype and that would just take longer.

That's a good point. I guess I had more faith in a proactive community seeing no selection had been made and thus choosing their own.

 

[Littleberu]

Why is everyone complaining about the reticule? I see nothing wrong with it!

 

[GhaleonEB]

I know it's a Beta, but fuck, they need penalties for people who quit. Revoke their Beta access or something for 10 minutes. Pussies.

Is there a cR penalty for quitting? I know there's a game completion bonus, but players really should be docked for quitting. The penalties could stack higher and higher for frequent quitters. I'd also like to see "down time" to prevent frequent quitters from hopping into a new game right away.

 

[Magni]

Somehow I doubt this :lol

not sure if serious..

 

[Neverender]

All I'm saying is that reticule bloom, in my opinion, makes the game worse. If there was no bloom, and the game was given true hitscan like in Halo 2, and everyone was given an equal chance, the game would play impeccably well.

Compared to the general masses that play Halo, I would say that I am a fairly skilled player. No, I'm no Tashi (though I play better than him sometimes), but I'm pretty good. I could hold my own against 50s in MLG in Halo 3. I played over 8000 matches of that game, and I feel like I am qualified to comment on what would have made it a better game for people like myself, who care about the competition in the game. Do I like to have fun? You betcha. How do I have fun? By playing well and winning. That's human nature right there.

Anyway, one of the major problems that I found in Halo 3 was bullet spread. And a lot of people agreed with me. Spread made the game less based on skill and instead made it based somewhat on luck. And reticule bloom does nothing to fix that in Reach. If anything, I feel like it's worse. At least in Halo 3, you could easily focus your reticule on someone and continue firing. That seems much more difficult in Reach due the bloom effect. And yes, I understand that this can be controlled by waiting to fire, but this opens up a whole other element of randomness and luck -- the enemy that I'm shooting has ample time to do something else. All I'm saying is that is that reticule bloom really detracts from the game. Will skilled players eventually learn to control the bloom and wait for the perfect time to shoot and pull off 5 shots continuously? Yes. But would the game have been better if the playing field was leveled and the element of randomness was reduced by not having bloom? I think so.

What can I say? I'm a humanitarian. I like equality.

I'm not a fan of he reticule bloom as a gameay mechanic but I still don't see how it's random.

 

[Striker]

The more I play the less I can can be bothered 'trying' and the more im just jetpacking around. This isnt a good thing. The combat just feels so flat to me, the pistol and DMR just arent very fun to use and I havent had a Halo 3 style 'BR battle' yet.

Because the BR isn't the DMR, and the DMR isn't the BR. Stop treating them as such.

I also wish there were more DMR starts, and maybe even Sniper starts, the AR/ Pistol combo is just not much fun. I like to think the game feels more like Halo 2 in nature - but im not sure, its a pretty alien experiance.

You've got to be a joke character.

 

[dslgunstar]

Anyway, one of the major problems that I found in Halo 3 was bullet spread. And a lot of people agreed with me. Spread made the game less based on skill and instead made it based somewhat on luck. And reticule bloom does nothing to fix that in Reach. If anything, I feel like it's worse. At least in Halo 3, you could easily focus your reticule on someone and continue firing. That seems much more difficult in Reach due the bloom effect. And yes, I understand that this can be controlled by waiting to fire, but this opens up a whole other element of randomness and luck -- the enemy that I'm shooting has ample time to do something else.

All I'm saying is that is that reticule bloom really detracts from the game. Will skilled players eventually learn to control the bloom and wait for the perfect time to shoot and pull off 5 shots continuously? Yes. But would the game have been better if the playing field was leveled and the element of randomness was reduced by not having bloom? I think so.

What can I say? I'm a humanitarian. I like equality.

Reticule bloom eliminates bullet spread because it allows the player to determine their own. Dont want bullet spread, time your shots. Dont mind it, then fire away, but dont be surprised if not every one of those spammed shots hits. And for every missed spam shot, your reticule gets that much bigger.

I think the problem people seem to be having is that people arent dying as quickly in Reach. Taking time with your shots allows the fire-fight to go on longer, and possibly allow an enemy to get to cover. This seems to irritate players that are used to dropping players quickly in four shots, but its EXACTLY what Bungie said they were looking to do in Reach. They said from the get go that fire-fights would drag on longer and 'get messy'

 

[Willeth]

Oh, I never thought about that. Shorten all the round times based on players left. Thirty seconds to a minute less for each person that quit, no matter which side. Maybe a larger bonus time taken off if they're all from the same side. Either the game ends fast, or you win fast, either way, you can still have some fun with that.

What? No fucking way. This leads to teams having one guy quit out a minute before the end with a one-point lead to artificially end the game on a win for them.

Quit-outs should be (and probably are) tied to Arena standings in the full game. It needs to be worth staying in a game even if you're losing.

 

[backflip10019]

I'm not a fan of he reticule bloom as a gameay mechanic but I still don't see how it's random.

When you shoot at a fast rate, the reticule expands and the bullets are less likely to hit the target that you're trying to shoot, even if the center of your reticule is directly on the target. Maybe "random" is a bad word. It's more of the fact that your bullets just don't go where you're aiming.

 

[FourDoor]

I forgot to add this earlier.

Pro Tip for 1 Flag CTF on PowerHouse:

Do not accidentally jump over the flag cap point on PowerHouse. :lol The flag cap point is small and if you don't know where it is, the HUD will play tricks on you.

 

[GhaleonEB]

All I'm saying is that reticule bloom, in my opinion, makes the game worse. If there was no bloom, and the game was given true hitscan like in Halo 2, and everyone was given an equal chance, the game would play impeccably well.

Compared to the general masses that play Halo, I would say that I am a fairly skilled player. No, I'm no Tashi (though I play better than him sometimes), but I'm pretty good. I could hold my own against 50s in MLG in Halo 3. I played over 8000 matches of that game, and I feel like I am qualified to comment on what would have made it a better game for people like myself, who care about the competition in the game. Do I like to have fun? You betcha. How do I have fun? By playing well and winning. That's human nature right there.

Anyway, one of the major problems that I found in Halo 3 was bullet spread. And a lot of people agreed with me. Spread made the game less based on skill and instead made it based somewhat on luck. And reticule bloom does nothing to fix that in Reach. If anything, I feel like it's worse. At least in Halo 3, you could easily focus your reticule on someone and continue firing. That seems much more difficult in Reach due the bloom effect. And yes, I understand that this can be controlled by waiting to fire, but this opens up a whole other element of randomness and luck -- the enemy that I'm shooting has ample time to do something else.

All I'm saying is that is that reticule bloom really detracts from the game. Will skilled players eventually learn to control the bloom and wait for the perfect time to shoot and pull off 5 shots continuously? Yes. But would the game have been better if the playing field was leveled and the element of randomness was reduced by not having bloom? I think so.

What can I say? I'm a humanitarian. I like equality.

I think the reticule bloom is what creates equality. With Halo 3, given the higher degree of spread on the weapons, there was a higher degree of randomness. If players are rapidly firing the precision weapons in Reach, it approximates the BR spread in Halo 3 that was mandatory for everyone. In Reach, everyone has control over their weapon spread. The more skilled players will use these weapons better than the less skilled ones. What Reach did was place an additional level of skill into the combat: rhythm, in addition to aiming. I think it's empowering. It takes nothing away from the combat.

But I'm probably not qualified to make such an assesment.

I forgot to add this earlier.

Pro Tip for 1 Flag CTF on PowerHouse:

Do not accidentally jump over the flag cap point on PowerHouse. :lol The flag cap point is small and if you don't know where it is, the HUD will play tricks on you.

God how I wanted to shoot you in the face last night for that. :lol

We took the flag further than we needed to! Should have gotten extra credit for that, dammit. :lol

 

[CSampson]

Is there a cR penalty for quitting? I know there's a game completion bonus, but players really should be docked for quitting. The penalties could stack higher and higher for frequent quitters. I'd also like to see "down time" to prevent frequent quitters from hopping into a new game right away.

There's a very small bonus to completing a game (like 40 cR)...Since it's a Beta though I don't think most people care about that. Doesn't feel like it will deter people from quitting in the full game anyways. I agree with you, a 5-7 minute downtime for quitters.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Because the BR isn't the DMR, and the DMR isn't the BR. Stop treating them as such.


You've got to be a joke character.

Im not treating them as such, but as someone who liked that nature of Halo 3 I miss it.

So wait im a joke character for wanting Sniper starts or DMR starts? You have got to be an idiot. Theres a whole playlist dedicated to the Sniper in Halo 3 and Halo 2 showing that its not exactly a unpopular starting option. As for DMR starts, if you cant see why that would be fun as an option then :lol

If anything I would love them as starting options just to get to play with them and try them out more, if you consider me a idiot for that I quite frankly couldnt care what your opinion is of me.

I think the reticule bloom is what creates equality. With Halo 3, given the higher degree of spread on the weapons, there was a higher degree of randomness. If players are rapidly firing the precision weapons in Reach, it approximates the BR spread in Halo 3 that was mandatory for everyone. In Reach, everyone has control over their weapon spread. The more skilled players will use these weapons better than the less skilled ones. What Reach did was place an additional level of skill into the combat: rhythm, in addition to aiming. I think it's empowering. It takes nothing away from the combat.

Br spread and reticule bloom are very different, there also seems to be a much higher degree of bloom than there was spread.

 

[Sai-kun]

Can anyone else not see screenshots on b.net?

 

[backflip10019]

I think the problem people seem to be having is that people arent dying as quickly in Reach. Taking time with your shots allows the fire-fight to go on longer, and possibly allow an enemy to get to cover. This seems to irritate players that are used to dropping players quickly in four shots, but its EXACTLY what Bungie said they were looking to do in Reach. They said from the get go that fire-fights would drag on longer and 'get messy'

Well, yeah, that's another problem I have. It seems like they almost doubled the amount of damage that a Spartan can take before he dies. The whole thing just doesn't feel quite balanced to me. I feel like Spartans should have a bit less health, melee damage should be increased a bit, and grenade damage should be greatly reduced. I guess my problem with reticule bloom seems to tie into that.

 

[Diablohead]

I know it's a Beta, but fuck, they need penalties for people who quit. Revoke their Beta access or something for 10 minutes. Pussies.

Yes now is the best time to test quitting penalties, a lock out of matchmaking for 10 minutes every time you quit or something!

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Lulz, OWV/Frankie is streaming the beta.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yes now is the best time to test quitting penalties, a lock out of matchmaking for 10 minutes every time you quit or something!

There's a very small bonus to completing a game (like 40 cR)...Since it's a Beta though I don't think most people care about that. Doesn't feel like it will deter people from quitting in the full game anyways. I agree with you, a 5-7 minute downtime for quitters.

Maybe force that player to sit out games until the game they quit has ended, thus defeating the purpose of quitting. That kind of data is already being pulled from matchmaking via the Active Roster, where you can see how much time is left in a game.

"The game you quit is still in session. You may enter Matchmaking when it has ended."

 

[LunaticPuma]

All of this talk about reticule bloom and BR vs. DMR just proves to me that Bungie has brought better balance to the sandbox.

A few more notes:
-Make final stats page text bigger/easier to read (it's formatted for 4:3 screen even on a 16:9 screen)
-Close down stats page when voting comes up (it's really easy to miss voting if you're checking out stats)
-Make Sword Base fun (somehow/someway, maybe move the flag spawn point?)

 

[squidhands]

Best summation of the impact of the bloom I've seen so far. Especially at high level play - Arena, MLG - learning the right rhythm of the weapons at different distances will be the differentiator. It's one of my favorite changes so far, even if I haven't really begun to learn it.

Aye. And that's the difference between a veto and a vote. The matchmaking system is, as always, picking a gametype and map. Only difference is, you can now vote for a different option instead.

My only gripe about the entire matchmaking feature suite in the Beta is that the votes should be hidden.

Not yet it shouldn't. I've encountered people who don't even know what it's about (why they have an early access code is frustrating) and we had to tell them that they could actually vote for what they wanted. After the beta, absolutely yes it should be hidden.

 

[Diablohead]

Well, yeah, that's another problem I have. It seems like they almost doubled the amount of damage that a Spartan can take before he dies. The whole thing just doesn't feel quite balanced to me. I feel like Spartans should have a bit less health, melee damage should be increased a bit, and grenade damage should be greatly reduced. I guess my problem with reticule bloom seems to tie into that.

MELEE is beast already, 1 hit depletes a full shield and another will kill, how would you make that stronger???

 

[backflip10019]

I think the reticule bloom is what creates equality. With Halo 3, given the higher degree of spread on the weapons, there was a higher degree of randomness. If players are rapidly firing the precision weapons in Reach, it approximates the BR spread in Halo 3 that was mandatory for everyone. In Reach, everyone has control over their weapon spread. The more skilled players will use these weapons better than the less skilled ones. What Reach did was place an additional level of skill into the combat: rhythm, in addition to aiming. I think it's empowering. It takes nothing away from the combat.

But I'm probably not qualified to make such an assesment.

:lol You snarky sonofabitch.

Yeah, maybe it's just that I need to adjust to everything. The game feels completely different from the former Halo games, very different from pretty much any shooter I've played before.

 

[LunaticPuma]

Br spread and reticule bloom are very different, there also seems to be a much higher degree of bloom than there was spread.

That's because they unlocked the firing speed. I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about this. BR maintained a certain degree of accuracy because you could only fire so fast. Also, the DMR is not the BR. They're not the same. There is no BR successor. Stop looking for an omnipotent weapon (except for maybe the plasma launcher).

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Lulz, OWV/Frankie is streaming the beta.

Frankie rocking the Jetpack, eh?

 

[Proven]

What? No fucking way. This leads to teams having one guy quit out a minute before the end with a one-point lead to artificially end the game on a win for them.

Quit-outs should be (and probably are) tied to Arena standings in the full game. It needs to be worth staying in a game even if you're losing.

I never said close out that same round faster. Make it for subsequent rounds.
Edit: Or better yet, make it so that the time will only decrease if there's above a certain amount of time left to the round.

 

[GhaleonEB]

:lol You snarky sonofabitch.

Yeah, maybe it's just that I need to adjust to everything. The game feels completely different from the former Halo games, very different from pretty much any shooter I've played before.

Sorry. 90% of the time I actually edit my snark out, but I couldn't help it. :lol

I should point out that in my five hours of play yesterday, I landed a sum total of three headshots. So my critique is more conceptual than actual. I reserve the right to agree with you after this weekend and I've spent time really learning the precision weapons.

 

[FourDoor]

God how I wanted to shoot you in the face last night for that. :lol

We took the flag further than we needed to! Should have gotten extra credit for that, dammit. :lol

That will have to be my lowest point in my Halo Reach Career. I felt like such a nub after that. :lol

The funny thing is I had a teammate later that night do the same thing and we missed the flag cap as well. LOL

 

[backflip10019]

MELEE is beast already, 1 hit depletes a full shield and another will kill, how would you make that stronger???

Yeah, one hit depletes a shield, but it feels waaaaay too weak after already shooting someone. For example in H3, I could spam someone with an AR for a few seconds and then beat them down and they would die. In Reach, that doesn't happen nearly as often. Many times, I'll AR someone for a longer time than I would in H3 and then go to beat them down and they would just lose their shields. The melee only seems to be effective after completely dropping someone's shields.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

Aye. And that's the difference between a veto and a vote. The matchmaking system is, as always, picking a gametype and map. Only difference is, you can now vote for a different option instead.

My only gripe about the entire matchmaking feature suite in the Beta is that the votes should be hidden.

Since it's a vote, each map should start with zero. People who don't care don't care.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

That's because they unlocked the firing speed. I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about this. BR maintained a certain degree of accuracy because you could only fire so fast. Also, the DMR is not the BR. They're not the same. There is no BR successor. Stop looking for an omnipotent weapon (except for maybe the plasma launcher).

The DMR could be a omnipotent weapon, and I bet with time once players master the reticule bloom they will use it as effectivly as they could use the BR. This doesnt make it fun though. In my opinion that is.

 

[chess]

Lulz, OWV/Frankie is streaming the beta.

very painful to watch!

 

[Mr. B Natural]

I'm not a fan of he reticule bloom as a gameay mechanic but I still don't see how it's random.

Exactly, it works. It was invented a long time ago (counterstrike) to work around the inability to add real recoil to your gun. It works in theory, but it's not realistic and it's silly and obsolete as hell especially in 2010. It's unimmersive to the gunplay of your game. Your gun has recoil, yet it's not moving. There's no real feedback other than a circle on your screen. It's virtual recoil in a high budget game coming out in 2010. And why aren't more people asking 'why this solution?' rather than trying to wrap their head around the reason behind it existing and claiming it's "random". The reason is obvious. The solution is a cop out.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Yeah, one hit depletes a shield, but it feels waaaaay too weak after already shooting someone. For example in H3, I could spam someone with an AR for a few seconds and then beat them down and they would die. In Reach, that doesn't happen nearly as often. Many times, I'll AR someone for a longer time than I would in H3 and then go to beat them down and they would just lose their shields. The melee only seems to be effective after completely dropping someone's shields.

Yup, it's split by design now:

Mêlée with shield up: deplete shield, regardless of how much was left.

Mêlée with shield down, kill player, regardless of how much health they have left.

I'm not a fan. I'd rather there be a system where shields absorb more of the mêlée blow than health.

 

[Genesis Knight]

Yeah, one hit depletes a shield, but it feels waaaaay too weak after already shooting someone. For example in H3, I could spam someone with an AR for a few seconds and then beat them down and they would die. In Reach, that doesn't happen nearly as often. Many times, I'll AR someone for a longer time than I would in H3 and then go to beat them down and they would just lose their shields. The melee only seems to be effective after completely dropping someone's shields.

That's the whole point. Bungie's stated that melees have been changed so that they will only deplete shields, even if the opponent only has 1% of shielding left. The damage doesn't 'carry over' past the shield pop. The only way to kill a person with a melee other than from behind is to hit them when their shields are down.

 

[Proven]

Since it's a vote, each map should start with zero. People who don't care don't care.

Best of both worlds: Start with zero, but the top map highlighted to say it will be default if no votes come in.

 

[_Bro]

Likes:

Armor Stuff - Sprint, Armor Lock, Jetpack, Camo -- all good. There are definitely right ways and wrong ways to use them but they're pretty versatile. Balance idea: Reactivation of Armor Lock from Armor Lock should have a higher delay, like ~.2 seconds.
Weapons - the pistol has finally been balanced! It's a great sidearm to start with but you'll never pass up a chance to grab the DMR or Needler Rifle. Focus rifle could use some balancing but it's still a blast to use.
Maps - I know people have been complaining about Sword Base but that's simply because they're dumb. The map has you crossing back and forth between sides to reach the higher levels which are also accessible through man cannons. You can fling yourself into the flag return spot from the bottom floor; the map works.
What's the other map? Don't care about the name but it's a great combination of inside/outside and puts your "ARMOR STUFF" to the test in games of CTF due to the stronghold effect that the defending team will have.

The game really requires more thought than reaction compared to Halo 3, at least so far.

Dislikes:

Hud - Allow us to change the color of the Hud or at least eh reticule. The light blue doesn't stand out well against the majority of map colors I've seen. The expanding reticule for the DMR and the likes should be darker than the stiff one. The "guiding" reticule for plasma weapons should be a different color, ala Predator tracking.

Perhaps allow us to customize our Hud colors.

Place the Health Bar at the bottom of the screen, the reticule is below the middle of the screen and, I know looking is hard and all, but having to look all the way up to see how well I'm doing in battle to activate Armor Lock and such for TACTICS is hard and infuriating. Replace this, please!

Actually, move the grenades next to the weapon symbol so I don't have to glance across the screen. The symbol style you're using now is okay.

UI - Menus are awkward. Tap right to look at people and the screen then shifts to another screen is pretty annoying, perhaps require a button press to look at your Friends Network.

Sky Walls - Raise them, the jetpack being only a couple feet above the highest peer kind of ruins to point of being REALLY HIGH. Sniping people with Focus Beams like a hawk on salmon is what we want, not secret floors that we have to hold a button to "walk" on.