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Halo: Reach Beta Thread

The Lamonster said:
hahahahahahahaha the beta is only 16 days???


what the fuck! hahahahahaha come on bungle defense force, defend 16 days
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The "bungie defence force" as you call it, wants more than 16 days, fyi. :lol
 
Cerrius said:
I think the biggest loser with the new melee system is the AR.

Even though the Reach AR has more range than it's Halo 3 counterpart, the Halo 3 AR is by FAR more useful and effective because of it's power in close range combined with melee.

Reach CQC is a race to who can get the first melee off. It's so... yuck. I really really hope they change the melee system for the final release.
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It's a better system than Halo 3's "Who got the best connection win" IMO..
 
Striker said:


Get on later!
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I might be on late tonight...
 
snack said:
Is it possible to play Arena with friends?
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Damn good question. It is theoretically possible, but everytime I tried to join a party or have people join me, I got a message flashing that said the Arena playlist wasn't available.

I would very much like to play Arena with my usual Halo teammates, cause having a team that actually supports each other makes achieving those high scores sooooooo much easier.
 
dslgunstar said:
Damn good question. It is theoretically possible, but everytime I tried to join a party or have people join me, I got a message flashing that said the Arena playlist wasn't available.

I would very much like to play Arena with my usual Halo teammates, cause having a team that actually supports each other makes achieving those high scores sooooooo much easier.
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Well there were all kinds of problems yesterday, though it was possible to play with friends. The problem (other than waiting on the game) came whenever the game was over in that you were all disbanded and couldn't just stay in queue with said friends.
 
Kibbles said:
Fuck the grenades. Seriously, what the hell. I haven't played with a single person who doesn't think they are overpowered.
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Seriously. Sometimes I die so unfairly after I own someone in close quarters with a magnum or something.
 
The Wise Old Man said:
Does anyone remember how long the Halo 3 beta ran? It felt a helluva lot longer than the meager 16 days we're allowed to play Reach.
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Anything less than a 6 month beta will break my heart.

Edit: All this "Grenades are OP" talk is a little nuts. Anybody got a film showing grenades being too powerful? Beyond the pale? etc. etc.? I'd love to know what people are thinking is just too much.
 
Foxy Fox 39 said:
:lol
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Negative initial reaction to the feel of the game and other issues the first two days - which yup I was too hard on, mah knee snapped way too hard - coupled with profuse praise for much of the rest of the game since. Ghal am cry. :(

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21098382&postcount=13970

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21069278&postcount=11118

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21067007&postcount=11004

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21038736&postcount=8616

Dunno. That shot stung. Some initial crabbiness aside, I've tried to put a lot of thought into my critiques, pro and con. :\
 
backflip10019 said:
Question: Can guests on the same console play in Arena or is it like a "ranked" playlist in Halo 3?
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It's completely comparable to Ranked. You'll need a gold acct, no guests allowed.
 
NullPointer said:
Edit: All this "Grenades are OP" talk is a little nuts. Anybody got a film showing grenades being too powerful? Beyond the pale? etc. etc.? I'd love to know what people are thinking is just too much.
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Their range is far too big for their strength. They kill you if you have full shields and around half health. That's proof enough for me.

Also, didn't Bungie say that idle grenades laying on the ground will explode if they come into contact with an explosion? I think I recall them saying that they left this out of the beta on purpose but in the full game, they will explode on the ground like in H2.

Kapura said:
It's completely comparable to Ranked. You'll need a gold acct, no guests allowed.
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Gotcha, thanks.
 
Just discovered headhunter today. That's probably the best of all the playlists to me. So fun.

Is there any kind of chart that shows all the armor stuff you can buy?
 
backflip10019 said:
Their range is far too big for their strength. They kill you if you have full shields and around half health. That's proof enough for me.

Also, didn't Bungie say that idle grenades laying on the ground will explode if they come into contact with an explosion? I think I recall them saying that they left this out of the beta on purpose but in the full game, they will explode on the ground like in H2.
.
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Chaining grenades won't be in MP, but you'll be able to shoot individual grenades on the ground to blow them up. IIRC, that didn't make the cut for Beta, but it's in the final build.
Willeth said:
Someone render this film for me! Holy shit.

Granted, it's a combination of luck and players not knowing how the mode works yet. But still.
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It's cooking.
 
Scarecrow said:
Just discovered headhunter today. That's probably the best of all the playlists to me. So fun.

Is there any kind of chart that shows all the armor stuff you can buy?
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Other than what's in game?
 
Trasher said:
Wtf, can't find anyone to play with today. Where'd you all go? :(
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I went out and bought Super Street Fighter IV, that's where I went :lol I'll be playing the beta for sure but I'm really looking forward to Invasion.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Negative initial reaction to the feel of the game and other issues the first two days - which yup I was too hard on, mah knee snapped way too hard - coupled with profuse praise for much of the rest of the game since. Ghal am cry. :(
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S'okay. Just had a nice chat with Sage. You will be happy come Friday. (Unless Sketch scoops me first!)
 
TommyT said:
Are you asking if the armor that you can 'buy' in the beta is all the armor that you can 'buy' in the release version or... what exactly?
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For some reason, I was thinking leveling up more would reveal more stuff to buy in the beta, such as super expensive helmets (Noble Team), etc.
 
So I played about 15 games yesterday, and I have to say - I haven't been a big fan of Halo online/multi at all - up until Reach. I loved CE when it came out, never got into Halo 2 online, played Halo 3 quite a bit - but again, didn't get into online (felt very slow and sterile) and ended up getting addicted to MW2. So when Reach beta was coming up - I was one of the doubters - almost certain that the game would be Halo with some COD elements mixed in.

Things got even worse when I started reading impressions about the beta before the ODST release - I dreaded the idea of overpowered grenades (grenade spam was bad enough in the preceding Halo games) and the CE pistol-rape return. This however, was all hyperbole.

The grenades feel nearly perfect I think. The damage, radius and throwing arc are all spot on for me - I just feel that make it a 1-frag spawn, or don't let enemies drop any (or remove them from spawning on maps altogether). As I find that it is not an issue for a player to instinctively toss a grenade when they see an enemy in a confined area - it is an issue however, that 2-3 enemies will toss 2-4 grenades each at your general location with zero concern that they will have zero grenades left - because let's face it, they just need to find the nearest dead body or hallway/corner to pick up 2 more.

The armor abilities are magnificent. I honestly thought sprint would be the biggest waste of time given it's near uselessness in COD - but I couldn't have been more wrong. All my friends are playing with Jetpacks, Armor lock and Active Camo (I've used each of these, love Active Camo/Armor Lock) - but I stick with Sprint. It has saved my ass more times than I can count in 15 games, and given me far too many kills than I would have otherwise have got. Sprint is such a huge factor in escaping grenade blasts, overhead Jetpackers, getting cover from cross-map snipers/DMR/Pistols.

The two maps so far are really good. I honestly don't see the complaints being valid at all. Powerhouse is a stronger map when facing decent enemies (I have played a few teams that camp in the bathroom with Hammer/Oddball/Grenade Launcher etc) that can turn the game into a no-skill grenade toss match, or even worse, a team of campers who sat perfectly still with Hammers/Grenade Launcher/DMR etc at the bottom of the map (lowest point towards the cliffs), and who would spam everything they had once a couple of us showed up... we still won, but not very fun running to the same spot over and over to get kills in the same way.

Swordbase I feel, is amazing. I enjoy Headhunter on it, not a massive fan of CTF/Oddball however as the base is quite complex, leaving the Jetpack as the only genuinely efficient AA. That being said, it's large enough for cross-map DMR/Pistol/Nerfle, while having enough enclosed areas to make grenades, swords and shotguns a serious threat. I love it, great mix of elements... and some of the sprint jumps you can make are fantastic - make you feel like a badass.

As for the weapons, wow. I was doubting the DMR due to only using the BR in Halo 3 as everyone else used it (I didn't think it was an amazing weapon, just knew it was necessary in most mid/long range duels). However the DMR is great. The reticule really adds a depth to this game that Halo 3 did not have - I'm not spamming the trigger as fast as I can (and let's face it, outside of the AA's - it's not difficult to keep your crosshair on someone in Halo) - I'm timing my shots and waiting for that glimmer of shield - before I aim for the head.

Even better still is the Pistol. While not as strong as the DMR long range, nor as versatile close range as the AR - it is a perfect in between and a reliable backup that I rarely, if ever, swap out.

Finally, the graphics are fantastic. While not as strong as other shooters I have played - it really does look crisp and 'Halo'. Plenty of detail, large maps (seriously, even the small maps are huge by Shooter standards) and the weapons, explosions etc look glorious. Also, a large shoutout for the improvements in audio. The numbing silence during Active Camo, or the ear-ringing from a close-by grenade, and sounds of DMR fire from across the map all add an element that I feel previous Halo games have been missing.

Well done Bungie, you've made me a Halo fanboy once again.
 
I am really, really enjoying the game. Eventually I should take some time and share my thoughts... but there is time for that later. Oh, btw, I just want to say thanks to whoever rendered my Glitch clip in my file share the other day..Whoever it was. But seriously, thanks.

urk said:
S'okay. Just had a nice chat with Sage. You will be happy come Friday. (Unless Sketch scoops me first!)
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While I really don't have any huge complaints, I am looking forward to what this may mean. Plus, its always nice when there is feedback on feedback to read.
 
Ok, now that I've spent some serious time with the Beta, some of my initial reactions have changed somewhat:

- DMR is still a cool gun. Far more consistent than the piece of shit BR, but I still think DMR should be a 4 shot gun. Needs to do more body damage.

- I like both maps so far, only problem is, each of the 2 maps isn't great for certain modes you're forced into. Powerhouse SUCKS for SWAT, and Swordbase is disgusting for CTF.

- Grenades DO need nerfing. There's way too much grenade spam happening

- Lag isn't being masked as well as it was in Halo 3. Now that I'm playing against more Americans, the lag is becoming a real issue. People are literally disappearing and re-appearing metres away. Rarely if ever happened that way in Halo 3 for me

- I like the melee-ing. Haven't noticed a difference to Halo 3, so not sure what people are complaining about

- Needle rifle is the new BR. Inconsistent piece of shit that you don't know how to use because you don't know the result. Fix it or get rid of the fucking thing.

- Grav lift in the middle of Swordbase is fucking useless.

- Focus rifle is a portable deathstar as I feared, but to be honest it actually doesn't bother me in this case. It seems like a nice balancing weapon.

- Also, never thought I'd say this, but go back to Veto system from Halo 3. New system means you rarely get to play what you want to play. At least in Halo 3 it was a lottery and you played what you liked more often than not. Now you never do.

- Headhunter does not come up anywhere NEAR enough in Grab Bag. Out of 34 games in Matchmaking, it came up to vote for ONCE.

That's all I can think of right now.


and here's my very first kill
154auzb.jpg
 
urk said:
S'okay. Just had a nice chat with Sage. You will be happy come Friday. (Unless Sketch scoops me first!)
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You're good people, you know that?

Mancannon...paging Mancannon to the NeoGAF Halo Reach thread....

I've been keeping a mental note of the specific things I want to mention in some kind of post-Beta wrap up post, and the "negatives" column keeps getting a little shorter, especially since you keep mentioning stuff that's been fixed already (Stockpile griefing, etc.). Yesterday I scratched the pistol off the list. DMR was the day before. Sword Base is still on it though. :p
 
Kibbles said:
Fuck the grenades. Seriously, what the hell. I haven't played with a single person who doesn't think they are overpowered.
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Wrong, they're perfect, but players should spawn with one instead of two.

I wonder how many people's perception of grenades is affected by the fact that the grenades SOUND powerful now :lol
 
Falagard said:
Wrong, they're perfect, but players should spawn with one instead of two.

I wonder how many people's perception of grenades is affected by the fact that the grenades SOUND powerful now :lol
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This. One grenade like it is in Slayer Pro is SO good.
 
Cerrius said:
I think the biggest loser with the new melee system is the AR.

Even though the Reach AR has more range than it's Halo 3 counterpart, the Halo 3 AR is by FAR more useful and effective because of it's power in close range combined with melee.

Reach CQC is a race to who can get the first melee off. It's so... yuck. I really really hope they change the melee system for the final release.
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I love hearing people talk about how ineffective the AR is, because if anything its just gonna make Bungie beef the weapon up for the final release. Obviously its not as good at mid-range as the pistol, but its better in close and a well-placed grenade can even the odds nicely at range.

I think its pretty damn awesome in current form, so I can only salivate at the thought of what I could do with an even stronger version. :D

And Im finally getting to grips with the new melee system! I still have -40 with it to make up, but Ive trained myself to wait until shields pop or to immediately go for a second one if Im forced to use it before they pop.
 
Falagard said:
Wrong, they're perfect, but players should spawn with one instead of two.

I wonder how many people's perception of grenades is affected by the fact that the grenades SOUND powerful now :lol
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Probably a great deal. Ditto with the AR - it sounds and feels like a beast, but it isn't.

It could also be because we can see health now, and we couldn't in Halo 3. So when I see a grenade strip not only my shields, but knock off half my health, I think they're crazy powerful. But in Halo 3 they also stripped shields - and we couldn't see how much health, because that was hidden. I'm waiting for Urk to mention in a BWU that the core grenade strength is identical to Halo 3's, and it's all perception.

That said, I think Sage mentioned in a podcast that the damage for the grenades does not trail off as steeply around the radius of the blast, so they do a bit more further away from the grenade that in Halo 3. But I suspect not as much as has been made out to be, including myself. I watched this vid from last night again, and I'm surviving (and dodging) grenades galore.

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=93854

That looks very comparable to Halo 3 grenades to me.
Letters said:
Watch it be just one of Ghaleon's smaller complaints that everyone else was indifferent to... :)
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Which one? Half of those are already scratched off my list.

Change is hard. :p
 
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