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Halo: Reach Beta Thread

Team Slayer Pro on Powerhouse, two teams face off for a grueling match. Magni and Wilshire have to deal with two blokes in Party Chat, oh well.

Game starts, Magni rushes the Rockets, and valiantly secures them
facing no opposition.

Teammates are taking fire at the Dirt Path, Rockets out, Magni comes in for the defensive kill.

16li71l.jpg


What, what's that behind Magni? Oh no, it's a Sprinting Spartan, who of course, has no way to tell Magni he's about to overtake him. Party Chat, no radar..

2it0gad.jpg


Magni is holding a Rocket Launcher, and is about to fire on that mean Red Guy over there. Seriously, why would you continue running to get right in front of him?

t8m9he.jpg


Notice as the rocket ignites, he isn't, on my screen at least, in front of my Rocket Launcher. Hence my "WTF what the hell is this betrayal and death for? fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.jpg" moment.

2eaue53.jpg


Ba...
Notice how I'm the only one to blow up initially..

wb5bp4.jpg


...BOOOOM!
That's more like it!

13ylys2.jpg


Well.. the Red guy is dead at least..

2h6uihw.jpg


But so is my teammate..

12219tx.jpg


And so am I.

So, sorry Mr Idiot-in-chat-who-sprints-in-front-of-Rocket-wielding-teammates, but you are not a Real Man of Genius.

t7e3yq.jpg
 
I NEED SCISSORS said:
I am not a fan of this at all.

For a start, I really do not like Bungie's continual tinkering of the controls. I was so used to the original Halo, then had to force myself to adapt to the changes made in Halo 3 + ODST. For example, the function of X being swapped with RB. Now however, they have switched back which once again forces me to adapt. In addition to that, melee has now been moved to the newly vacant RB button. It is annoying.

Other than that, it plays enough like Halo. I am not digging the introduction of a sprint button though - it feels too much like the Call of Duty franchise is seeping into the Halo franchise. More instances of other franchises seeping into Halo are the classes - they are such a hollow attempt at a class system and simply adds crap to the game. Most annoying is the guard class which people abuse in CTF flag recapturing. As for weapons, it's basically Halo 3 again with the addition of more single shot weapons (which absolutely blow since it takes too many shots to kill someone with a full shield).

I thought Bungie had promised that Halo: Reach was going back to the roots of Halo - instead, they seem to have added more crap and meddled with more things that didn't needed meddling with. This ain't my daddy's Halo - it's the Halo equivalent of Modern Warfare 2.
Click to expand...
Select Recon as your controls if you want a more classic button layout, and according to you MW was the first game to ever feature sprint :P yeah, no.
 
randomlyrossy said:
For all of 20 minutes before you readjust. With all the new stuff the controls had to be changed, keeping them the same just so people wouldn't be confused for a tiny portion of their playtime would be stupid.

I am thoroughly enjoying seeing people whine about things that can and probably will be changed, most seem to forget this is a beta for a game that's still a good ways out.
Click to expand...

It is still annoying and does reduce your skill if you've been used to the same control scheme for three years. I am not simply going to dismiss it just because it's something that time will heal. What exactly was so important that needed such a vast change? Why not just keep melee on B and keep action/reload on RB instead of needlessly shifting it all around?

And I am thoroughly enjoying the Halo Defence Force white-knighting going on in this thread whenever someone suggests a flaw. "But it's a beta!" Yeah, well, they said the same thing about Halo 3's visuals and it barely improved in the final product.
 
EazyB said:
Yup, yup, and yup. The gunplay in 3 feels better. Really hope they consider tightening it up. I don't feel like the reticule bloom makes combat more fun.

Some quick gameplay complaints:
  • Grenades too strong and radius to large for how slow spartans move. I want plentiful but balanced grenades. A grenade toss should be a risk/reward move where it's a risk because you can't fire while tossing it and you have to be deadly accurate to get a hit but the reward is you'll inflict massive damage on the player.
  • Melee recharges much too fast, while I like that the AR + melee combo is nerfed I still don't like it's implementation in Reach. Probably would like it more if the double melee wasn't more effective then shotting to melee or melee to shooting.
  • Jump needs to be higher. It's one thing that made Halo, Halo. I honestly don't ever think about jumping unless I'm going over geometry now. Stuff like the jetpack (which I don't ever use) get players off the ground from time to time but it feels more like CoD or Gears where everyone is ice-skating on layered planes of the arena rather than Halo 2/3's organic vertical movement. It's one thing I really like about playing as the elites, the movement feels much better.


I feel more fucked with the Pro weapon start than the combo of magnum and AAs. Starting with only the DMR leaves weapons like the sword, hammer, and shotgun to run rampant. I feel extraordinarily vulnerable with the Pro spawns (similar to 3's AR spawns) but aint afraid of nothing when I got the pistol in my claws.
Click to expand...
This.
 
I think another reason for me not liking pro slayer is because you lose half the cool features the game gives you which are armour abilities, granted I only use sprint mostly but it really does become a camp the grav lift mode on sword base. Jet packs as a choice might help that though.

If I had to say what I felt would improve pro mode it would have to be giving players a pistol at spawn along with the DMR/nerfle (or a plasma pistol) and make jetpack one of the choices, keep armour lock and cloaking out if it's too much for the mix, though I love seeing them in action in regular slayer matches.

Melee recharges much too fast, while I like that the AR + melee combo is nerfed I still don't like it's implementation in Reach. Probably would like it more if the double melee wasn't more effective then shotting to melee or melee to shooting.
Click to expand...
I agree it's pointless to shoot first when it's faster and better to charge forward and melee the shield off your opponent, first person who loses their shield will most likely die by a follow up melee, quite tricky.

I still think a melee on full shield should only remove 60%, make us use that gun.
 
Alucrid said:
Team Swat is sooooooooo delicious. Slayer Pro is as well.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't know if it's the DMR or the netcode or both, but I am really enjoying SWAT in Reach - never got on with it in 3 even with a good team.
 
I'm enjoying what I've played thus far. The mid-ranged weapons have enough recoil that when combined with sprint player position becomes a lot more important when it comes to slaying a team whereas before if someone made a bad move and got into your line of sight they would pretty much be way too slow to bail out of that position most times. Now you can land 3 shots with a DMR, but you'll have to focus for a brief moment to land that fourth one and the opponent has some opportunity to sprint out.

Base weapons aren't too bad anymore due to the sprint ability. AR isn't that great but being able to move around quickly with the pistol does a good job of eliminating the sense of hopelessness that AR spawn had in H3.

I kind of wish we could get Bad Companys spotting system in this game...nothing that lasts for all that long maybe literally only for the amount of time that you actually take damage but with such rapidly moving opponents it can be difficult to get an idea of opponents positions for the sake of team shooting.

I'd also like to mention how amazing the difference in skill level is between a CRT and an HDTV. I started out on a CRT and I didn't have any question in my mind that I could land any shot that I wanted and be a huge aid to my team. Later in the night I wanted to watch HD netflix so switched to my HDTV and it was like night and day...the slight amount of delay just can't stand up to the best players out there on good setups.
 
Eye Drop said:
I don't really understand the Slayer Pro hate. It's a nice controlled variant of equality, imo.
Click to expand...
the regular slayer in reach is quite well balanced too, it also lets us play with everything reach has to offer apart from DMR spawn with sprint only, I do like the no radar in pro games but I want to play reach with what is has to offer, not some "pro" mode which imo is far from pro.

I bet you the main reason people vote for it in arena is because the word PRO is in it, hell the same people in those pro modes complain that the PISTOL CAN'T KILL ANYTHING because they don't aim for the head :lol give them their own playlist.
 
Diablohead said:
the regular slayer in reach is quite well balanced too, it also lets us play with everything reach has to offer apart from DMR spawn with sprint only, I do like the no radar in pro games but I want to play reach with what is has to offer, not some "pro" mode which imo is far from pro.
Click to expand...

Alright, I understand what you mean. It's not a very suitable game for the taste of heaven that is the Beta. I can agree with that now.

I certainly want to see it as an option in the full game, though. For when we all pick our favourite playlists and live in those.
 
Dark FaZe said:
I'm enjoying what I've played thus far. The mid-ranged weapons have enough recoil that when combined with sprint player position becomes a lot more important when it comes to slaying a team whereas before if someone made a bad move and got into your line of sight they would pretty much be way too slow to bail out of that position most times. Now you can land 3 shots with a DMR, but you'll have to focus for a brief moment to land that fourth one and the opponent has some opportunity to sprint out.

Base weapons aren't too bad anymore due to the sprint ability. AR isn't that great but being able to move around quickly with the pistol does a good job of eliminating the sense of hopelessness that AR spawn had in H3.

I kind of wish we could get Bad Companys spotting system in this game...nothing that lasts for all that long maybe literally only for the amount of time that you actually take damage but with such rapidly moving opponents it can be difficult to get an idea of opponents positions for the sake of team shooting.

I'd also like to mention how amazing the difference in skill level is between a CRT and an HDTV. I started out on a CRT and I didn't have any question in my mind that I could land any shot that I wanted and be a huge aid to my team. Later in the night I wanted to watch HD netflix so switched to my HDTV and it was like night and day...the slight amount of delay just can't stand up to the best players out there on good setups.
Click to expand...
That's what mics and callouts are for
 
Diablohead said:
the regular slayer in reach is quite well balanced too, it also lets us play with everything reach has to offer apart from DMR spawn with sprint only, I do like the no radar in pro games but I want to play reach with what is has to offer, not some "pro" mode which imo is far from pro.

I bet you the main reason people vote for it in arena is because the word PRO is in it, hell the same people in those pro modes complain that the PISTOL CAN'T KILL ANYTHING because they don't aim for the head :lol give them their own playlist.
Click to expand...

You've never played the original Halo. I feel sorry for you. Please stop posting in this thread.
 
Well, since I think there might be a few of you who might care about this stuff, I'll post things I've found in the Reach Beta files. Spoiler tagged, of course. I'll also split it into Campaign and Multiplayer findings

Multiplayer/general:


Weapons:
Fuel Rod Gun/Cannon. There's textures for it, and probably a mesh file, but I have yet to look into any other info on it.
Missile Pod is back, there are textures and mesh file, cannot get any more info on it, though.

Vehicles:
Four variations of Warthogs:
1.Chaingun
2.Guass
3.Rocket
4.Troop

The rocket hog seems to shoot just like the missile pod in Halo 3. There is a video of it up on youtube, though I won't link to it. Simple google search can easily find it. Cannot say anything about tracking, speed, etc.

There's also things mentioning a "Falcon". There are weapon tags for it(chin gun), and some vehicle texture file names. Nothing I can see, sadly.

Characters(multiplayer still)
Elite armor names:

Elite Minor
Elite Officer
Elite Space
Elite Spec Ops
Elite Ultra

Campaign:

I have seen names of different Spartans, and textures for them. They're just small pieces(shoulders, arms, etc.) so I cannot really tell if they would be wearing a whole new armor set or not. Names are:

Anton
Fred
Kelly
Adrianna
Malcolm
Isaac
Rosenda
Nicole
Sam

and of course Jun, Kat, Carter, and Emile. Noble 6 is only referred to as "default", so no name obviously.


Other things(Campaign related)

There's AI tags for a Covenant "Revenant"(which the books say is a ship of some sort), as well as the original Shade(I think this might have been known already, but I can't remember)
There are also tags for actual characters and vehicle events, which include:

Brute
Buggers
Chieftain
Elite
Elite Minor
Elite Jetpack
Elite Spec Ops
Elite Officer
Elite Ultra
Egineer
Grunt
Hunter
Jackal
Jackal Sniper
Mule(no idea what this is)
Skirmisher
"Falcon" crew
"Falcon" flight
"Falcon" no sideguns crew and flight
 
How does the arena stuff work?

I played my 3 games and then it ''judged'' me and gave me a rating of 1657, where can I see how good this is?

I remember a Vidoc talking about divisions, where can you tell which division you're in? I also sometimes get a little glowing star next to my rating after a game only to have it disapear a game later, what is that for?
 
JoeFenix said:
How does the arena stuff work?

I played my 3 games and then it ''judged'' me and gave me a rating of 1657, where can I see how good this is?

I remember a Vidoc talking about divisions, where can you tell which division you're in? I also sometimes get a little glowing star next to my rating after a game only to have it disapear a game later, what is that for?
Click to expand...
Oozer made a nice post outlining the arena:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21097783&postcount=13904
 
KevinRo said:
You've never played the original Halo. I feel sorry for you. Please stop posting in this thread.
Click to expand...
You mean halo ce? I certainly have with it's broken pistol and plasma weapons which slow down and stun others when hit, how does that make my speech on pro any different? In fact while waiting for Reach I was playing halo ce for a few days, for the millionth time.

Let me guess you are one of those people who just abuse the BR in halo 2 and 3, right? because that weapon takes skill, right?
 
couple pages back:
Revengeance said:
Hooray! After starting at like .5, my k/d is gradually creeping up towards 1.0 (and beyond? no.. probably not).


Got this awesome bank shot sticky against big ander earlier, but this was the best part. It's almost nsfw.....

4577621540_ded1561c06_b.jpg
Click to expand...
:lol I knew that would get mentioned eventually. I didn't know it stuck me there though :lol
 
JoeFenix said:
Thanks, it still doesn't explain the star thing though. Really curious what that is!
Click to expand...
I think the star means that you just achieved that rating. That is, you just got another game that is in your top three for the day.
 
When I go to unlock new armor permutations, where does it say what the requirement for buying a specific armor permutation is? I know it says it when I try to buy it, but other than that I can't see where it says it.
 
Accidentus said:
Wow swordbase is terrible. I thought Bungie realized their mistake from the last Beta and how everyone hated Snowbound. Tight confined spaces are dumb and don't make for interesting gameplay.

Well except for Chiron, that level was awesome
Click to expand...

:lol

Accidentus said:
Well except for Chiron, that level was awesome
Click to expand...

:lol :lol


Accidentus said:
Chiron, that level was awesome
Click to expand...

:lol :lol :lol
 
I NEED SCISSORS said:
I am not a fan of this at all.

For a start, I really do not like Bungie's continual tinkering of the controls. I was so used to the original Halo, then had to force myself to adapt to the changes made in Halo 3 + ODST. For example, the function of X being swapped with RB. Now however, they have switched back which once again forces me to adapt. In addition to that, melee has now been moved to the newly vacant RB button. It is annoying.
.
Click to expand...

I've seen this come up from time to time

I mean, is it really that hard to go into the options menu and change your presets to something your familiar with?
 
Trickster said:
When I go to unlock new armor permutations, where does it say what the requirement for buying a specific armor permutation is? I know it says it when I try to buy it, but other than that I can't see where it says it.
Click to expand...
You need CP points that you get from playing matches. First helmet is like 1000 or something.
 
BTW anybody any idea what extra settings there will be for your "social settings". Right now you can only pick from your XBox Live Friends (D'oh). Clan support??? Facebook? (*puke*) :)
 
Meus Renaissance said:
Quick question guys. I've uploaded a video onto Fileshare but how do I play it on the Bungie website?
Click to expand...
View your fileshare on the website and find the clip, then when you click it you get a choice to "watch this clip using bungie pro" which takes you to a render window where you can pick if you want SD or HD
 
mescalineeyes said:
man, those oranges are making them apples look pretty stupid.

also, BC2's weapons feel horrible :P
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it apples n oranges. They are both multiplayer fps games.

Reach just feels almost the same as halo 3 with a couple tweaks. Which don't get me wrong is still fun but I was hoping for more.

I think the halo franchise is a slave to their base. Which sells a ton but doesn't make a fresh and exciting experience.

As for weapon feel that is a subjective thing. I personally like the weapons in both games

in the end I'm glad bungie has moved on and are leaving halo behind so they can spread their wings and make new interesting games
 
strem said:
I wouldn't call it apples n oranges. They are both multiplayer fps games.

Reach just feels almost the same as halo 3 with a couple tweaks. Which don't get me wrong is still fun but I was hoping for more.

I think the halo franchise is a slave to their base. Which sells a ton but doesn't make a fresh and exciting experience.

As for weapon feel that is a subjective thing. I personally like the weapons in both games

in the end I'm glad bungie has moved on and are leaving halo behind so they can spread their wings and make new interesting games
Click to expand...

Out of interest how much Halo 3 did you play? To someone who didnt play Halo 3 much the changes would not be as apparent. Sure the look is similar, but the gameplay has changed drastically.
 
Not knowing where my bullets are hitting, and not killing someone with a melee simply because they had a fraction of their shield left are big issues for me. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but I'm having are hard time dealing with it.
 
1694 in Arena, not really sure what that means but seems pretty decent.

Also, not a fan of the melee system.
 
Dechaios said:
You need CP points that you get from playing matches. First helmet is like 1000 or something.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, I had just over 2000 CR points, went to buy a helmet permutation that cost 2000 points. When I tried to buy it, it said I didn't meet the requirement, and then said that to be able to buy the specfic permutation, I had to be a sergeant.

So what I'm wondering is, if you can see what military rank you have to be to buy specific armor permutations, without actually needing to try and buy the armor permutations first just to se when it unlocks.

It's a really really minor issue though :P
 
Deputy Moonman said:
Not knowing where my bullets are hitting, and not killing someone with a melee simply because they had a fraction of their shield left are big issues for me. I'm not saying it's good or bad, but I'm having are hard time dealing with it.
Click to expand...
When their shield hits 0 you should see an orange shield around them burst outwards, that is the time to strike!

I just had a death where 3 people of the rival team threw their nades at the same time, damn that explosion was enough to blow up planet Reach itself!
 
user_nat said:
1694 in Arena, not really sure what that means but seems pretty decent.

Also, not a fan of the melee system.
Click to expand...
That's pretty high, I not seen a 1700+ yet so feel honoured :P

I been playing better in the arena now and only reaching about 1620's or so, I guess assists and all that really do help with your rank more then actually killing and staying alive :(
 
Yeah, I'm not too keen on sword base. Getting flags down to your spawn spot is just as annoying as dropping off gas canisters in the mall level in Left 4 Dead 2. Not fun. The middle of the level is a mess.

That having been said, I absolutely LOVE the jetpacks. Vertical gameplay adds a whole new dimension to the game. Grenades suddenly feel much more integral if you're chucking them while midair.

I just loved all the small tweaks that Bungie made since Halo 3. My favorite: the small location description on your HUD that tells you where you are on the map. Very smart stuff.

Covie slayer is terrific. Lovin' the roll move.
 
MagniHarvald said:
Team Slayer Pro on Powerhouse, two teams face off for a grueling match. Magni and Wilshire have to deal with two blokes in Party Chat, oh well.

Game starts, Magni rushes the Rockets, and valiantly secures them
facing no opposition.

Teammates are taking fire at the Dirt Path, Rockets out, Magni comes in for the defensive kill.

http://i39.tinypic.com/16li71l.jpg[IMG]

What, what's that behind Magni? Oh no, it's a Sprinting Spartan, who of course, has no way to tell Magni he's about to overtake him. Party Chat, no radar..

[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2it0gad.jpg[IMG]

Magni is holding a Rocket Launcher, and is about to fire on that mean Red Guy over there. Seriously, why would you continue running to get right in front of him?

[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/t8m9he.jpg[IMG]

Notice as the rocket ignites, he isn't, on my screen at least, in front of my Rocket Launcher. Hence my "WTF what the hell is this betrayal and death for? fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.jpg" moment.

[IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2eaue53.jpg[IMG]

Ba... [spoiler]Notice how I'm the only one to blow up initially..[/spoiler]

[IMG]http://i39.tinypic.com/wb5bp4.jpg[IMG]

...BOOOOM! [spoiler]That's more like it![/spoiler]

[IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/13ylys2.jpg[IMG]

Well.. the Red guy is dead at least..
l

[IMG]http://i40.tinypic.com/2h6uihw.jpg[IMG]

But so is my teammate..

[IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/12219tx.jpg[IMG]

And so am I.

So, sorry Mr Idiot-in-chat-who-sprints-in-front-of-Rocket-wielding-teammates, but you are [B]not[/B] a Real Man of Genius.

[IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/t7e3yq.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]
You know what makes this even better? he was rushing in with a DMR :lol
Click to expand...
 
I am having a REALLY annoying problem. I get Xbox live disconnects 5 minutes into EVERY match. Has anyone had similar problems? any ideas on a fix?

I don't think its related to server overloads as the matchmaking is quick and painless.
 
Played again last night. I've almost abandoned the AR completely. The Pistol and DMR are so satisfying, I'm constantly having to decide which one to use, not for strategy, but for pleasure. This game is sooooo good.
 
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