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[ncsuDuncan]

PAX East is a goddamn madhouse so I can only imagine what the West Coast one is like. I spent the day choosing to either wait in line for 2 hours to play a game, or wait in line for 2 hours to see nerds speak about games. Not for me.

Eh, to each his own I guess. The longest I waited was 2 hours for the Battlefield 3 live demo (which was cool, but not worth the time lost). Most of the other waits were much, much shorter:
- I spent about 5 minutes waiting to play SSFIV on the 3DS. The trick was to go to the Capcom booth, not Nintendo's.
- Pretty much walked up to Fallen Frontier and immediately started playing. (The one from Moonshot Games with a few ex-Bungie employees. It was great.)
- Also walked right up and started playing Crysis 2 on a 60" 3DTV. And HAWX 2 on a 3 monitor 3D setup with an awesome flightstick.
- Castle Crashers, Rock Band 2 pro guitar, The Gunslinger, Mortal Kombat, and Shift 2 (with an awesome motion seat) were all about 30 minute waits.

You just have to know which games to go for. You can play a ton of great indie games without waiting more than 5 minutes at each (I just walked up and started playing Fez, Slam Bolt Scrappers, Raskulls) or you can wait an hour or two for some AAA game that will have a demo soon anyways.

As for the panels, I did spend about 2 hours waiting for the Bioshock: Infinity one, but I think that was worth it. Average wait time for the others was about an hour. I think at Prime I'm going to be more selective about which panels I try for and spend more time on the show floor at HaloFest.

And on top of that there are all the things surrounding PAX that aren't on the show floor or in panels. I had a blast in the classic arcade and classic console rooms. Finally beat Scott Pilgrim XBLA with some randoms in the console freeplay rooms. (And then there's the tabletop/board game stuff and the music jam rooms and concerts. Sorry if you hate lines that much kylej but I found them to be more tolerable than lines anywhere else, since these are full of like-minded gaming nerds.)

Relevance to thread: On HBO I suggested we could try doing an impromptu Halo LAN in the console freeplay room, since (judging from PAX East) it stays open until 2am, MUCH later than HaloFest's 6pm. Wouldn't mind trying that with any HaloGAFers there too.

Heh. Trident is the only BTB Forge map I strongly dislike. Sniper's paradise. When you can snip the other team on their base from yours, there's a problem.

I've had games on both ends of the spectrum. Super fun ones where you can cavort around in the vehicles and super annoying ones where the enemy sniper just destroys you the entire game. Territories was fun (if a bit hectic) but Assault has been both glorious and infuriating (although fixing instant arm might help that a bit.)

 

[squidhands]

Heh. Trident is the only BTB Forge map I strongly dislike. Sniper's paradise. When you can snip the other team on their base from yours, there's a problem.

Edit: Glacier?! Gah!

Fortunately, I seemed to play the map with a bunch of people who didn't know the map very well. May be a different story once I play against a good sniper, but I did enjoy the layout. Really surprised a map that huge doesn't have framerate issues.

 

[A27_StarWolf]

Is it a bad thing that the more I play Halo Reach the more I like it?

 

[squidhands]

Is it a bad thing that the more I play Halo Reach the more I like it?

Depends on which

Spoiler

banned

member you talk to.

 

[HiredN00bs]

Is it a bad thing that the more I play Halo Reach the more I like it?

The changes you are experiencing right now are normal and healthy parts of growing up.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Is it a bad thing that the more I play Halo Reach the more I like it?

Nnnoooooo, becausssseee yyoouuuuu suuuuuckkkkkkk aaatttt Haaaaalllllooooooo

I... ammmm the ghooooost of Laaake Minnnnnetonnnkaaaaaa! BOO!

Spoiler

No, it's not a bad thing. The more I play (and the more playlist updates that come out) the more I'm able to find what I love (BTB CTF) and avoid what I hate (Armor Lock).

 

[Sai-kun]

I still can't believe they made you guys play Elite Slayer on Paradiso and set GAF as elites for Invasion Slayer on Hemorrhage. Bullshit.

I still think game 1 was bullshit. :| #stillbitter

 

[neclas]

I still can't believe they ... set GAF as elites for Invasion Slayer on Hemorrhage. Bullshit.

To be fair, they didn't playtest the game before releasing it.

Spoiler

Is it sad that even I can't tell if I'm kidding or not?

 

[Striker]

This ^

All of you guys raving about BTB got me to try it. The forge maps are really fun. (except for Utopie, map is garbage)

So now I have two playlists that are bearable. Classic and BTB.

Having only played Utopie once or twice since the update, I found its to be less of a hassle taking out Banshees and Snipers, which is basically destroying the root of the issues the map currently had. It's really improved a lot, but then again, how far in improvement can you really go into on a space that's built on a mountain? Island - psh!

Wayont, Trident, and Utopie I like/don't mind, and work well with objectives, which is my primary focus anyway. Renegade, however, or what I'd like to call, the map which got destroyed by the single placement of a Spartan Laser, needs some changes. The spawns on there are also questionable. How often do teams spawn away from the base? You see most members spawning on the base or right around the outer edge. Not a great setup for CTF unless you ran in with a teammate or two and killing them while getting out, and needing a quick getaway in a Warthog or Revenant.

Hopefully they can adopt ilovebtb's map in Boneyard built for 1-flag and 1-bomb. I'm not sure what they'll ever do for Spire. I could go into Forge and do it myself, but if any work I or any other Reach player does it'll 99.9% most always get ignored, and instead we'll get the half-assed version that is in there now. Asymmetric BTB is often my favorite if done right (see: Headlong, Terminal, Relic).

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Utopie is a huge improvement over Paradiso. Still not my favorite BTB map, but I actually find it tolerable now. The improved bridge gives Warthog drivers a much needed second path between bases. Teleporters are better. Neutral Banshee and no Scorpions is wonderful.

Hopefully they can adopt ilovebtb's map in Boneyard built for 1-flag and 1-bomb. I'm not sure what they'll ever do for Spire. I could go into Forge and do it myself, but if any work I or any other Reach player does it'll 99.9% most always get ignored, and instead we'll get the half-assed version that is in there now. Asymmetric BTB is often my favorite if done right (see: Headlong, Terminal, Relic).

I know I've been saying this for a while, but I'm giving myself a deadline: this weekend I will finish my attempt to fix Boneyard.

I've finally nailed down the changes I want to make to Sword Base (another update to my Glaive map coming soon), I just have to learn how to work on CTF spawn zones so I can move the blue base up two floors (any help/tips would be appreciated.)

I've already mapped out a rough fix for Boneyard as a BTB Slayer map, but it was on a friend's xbox. I'll tackle Boneyard 1-flag this weekend as well.

The theme for my "fixes" generally revolves around "Less reliance on jetpacks through more inherent movement options." (i.e. new geometry, mancannons, and the occasional teleporter)

 

[lazybones18]

Ugh, I'm gonna pass on completing the 1000 kills on Glacier

Shitty ass map

 

[The Librarian]

Utopie is a huge improvement over Paradiso. Still not my favorite BTB map, but I actually find it tolerable now.

Yup.

 

[AlmostMilk]

Ugh, I'm gonna pass on completing the 1000 kills on Glacier

Shitty ass map

Yea, that is a lot of kills for a map that hardly ever comes up. Half that is still too much.

 

[Striker]

I've already mapped out a rough fix for Boneyard as a BTB Slayer map, but it was on a friend's xbox. I'll tackle Boneyard 1-flag this weekend as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jG0NG48FpI

I think ilovebtb's set up is pretty well done. I suppose it's set up in a more competitive setting, though, rather than the herpa derp setup we currently have in Boneyard now with no bases and Spire's cluster of mass vehicle activity and heavy weapons.

Spire is the map that needs refined.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jG0NG48FpI

I think ilovebtb's set up is pretty well done. I suppose it's set up in a more competitive setting, though, rather than the herpderp setup we currently have in Boneyard now with no bases and Spire's cluster of mass vehicle activity and heavy weapons.

Spire is the map that needs refined.

Sure, ilovebtb's Boneyard setup is better than the default, but I still think I can do better. Just look at your options once you grab the flag: pretty much the only path you have is to walk right out the door and hike across the exposed middle of the map.

Any other path is just going to double the distance you have to travel and still leave you walking through exposed open terrain. It turns the match into the CTF mode I hate of "Grab the flag, move it two feet, die. Respawn, rinse, repeat." I much prefer the Zanzibar/Terminal/Headlong method where you grab the flag and instantly have at least 3 completely different paths you can take to capture it. It's up to the defenders to choose which path to guard ahead of time and adjust once the flag is actually being carried away.

I have some faint ideas for Spire, but my Boneyard fix is more developed at this point and I'd like to just go ahead and map it out.


EDIT:

Did you see the line for the portal live demo? Madness is what that was.

I didn't know it was a live Demo, and assumed judging by the line up that it was a real demo that you got to play... Well aren't I an asshole. After rushing to lineup first thing sunday morning I realized once we got into the room what was happening, I almost got up and walked out.

Yeah, thankfully I already knew that Battlefield 3 was a live demo. I was just expecting the line to move faster (the demo was LONG.) It was pretty awesome with the huge screen and booming sound, but as I said earlier, my time would probably have been better spent on smaller/indie games.

At least the Portal people got T-shirts! Only reason I didn't line up for Portal was because I didn't want to spoil any of the game at all.

 

[Devin Olsen]

Eh, to each his own I guess. The longest I waited was 2 hours for the Battlefield 3 live demo

Did you see the line for the portal live demo? Madness is what that was.

I didn't know it was a live Demo, and assumed judging by the line up that it was a real demo that you got to play... Well aren't I an asshole. After rushing to lineup first thing sunday morning I realized once we got into the room what was happening, I almost got up and walked out.

 

[A27_StarWolf]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jG0NG48FpI

I think ilovebtb's set up is pretty well done. I suppose it's set up in a more competitive setting, though, rather than the herpa derp setup we currently have in Boneyard now with no bases and Spire's cluster of mass vehicle activity and heavy weapons.

Spire is the map that needs refined.

Does this version of bone yard still have vehicles?

 

[vhfive]

Did you see the line for the portal live demo? Madness is what that was.

I didn't know it was a live Demo, and assumed judging by the line up that it was a real demo that you got to play... Well aren't I an asshole. After rushing to lineup first thing sunday morning I realized once we got into the room what was happening, I almost got up and walked out.

the longest line I was in was gears of war and that was only about 15 min

 

[xxjuicesxx]

I still think game 1 was bullshit. :| #stillbitter

The whole thing was bullshit. Give us half a day warning. I would have took time off to destroy them if I had a day or two that it was coming, unfortunately I couldn't just take off at a whim. I would have single-handedly changed the fate of Team 3 and got the win.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

The whole thing was bullshit. Give us half a day warning. I would have took time off to destroy them if I had a day or two that it was coming, unfortunately I couldn't just take off at a whim. I would have single-handedly changed the fate of Team 3 and got the win.

Let's not be too bitter. We need to complain quietly enough that Bungie will still do something like that with us again, but juuust loud enough that they'll give better warning.

I say we dominate this community tournament first and then throw down the gauntlet at The Creators.

 

[Kuroyume]

The thing I don't like about Utopie is that they put a soft kill thing at the top of the mountain? Why? Getting up there that was one of the most unique things about the map. Other than that I really like the changes. Btw, where are the snipers located?

 

[ncsuDuncan]

The thing I don't like about Utopie is that they put a soft kill thing at the top of the mountain? Why? Getting up there that was one of the most unique things about the map. Other than that I really like the changes. Btw, where are the snipers located?

Unique? Sure. Balanced? No.

The only two strategies for Paradiso were:
- Sit at the base and wait for a Scorpion or Banshee to spawn.
- Grab a DMR (or the only Sniper) and camp the top of the mountain, shooting down on the people waiting for vehicles.

From the few games I've played on Utopie, there has been much more fighting at the actual bases. The struggle for the Banshee is fun. There is actually fighting in the tunnel and caves.

Standing on top of the mountain was unique. And it was fun for that one person. But it ruined the rest of the map (in my opinion).

Not sure where the snipers spawn now, but the fact that there are actually two of them now is reassuring.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

RIP Sweet Prince.


Seriously, Lake might have had a cuntish posting style, but it was entertaining and he made very good Halo discussion. Im going to miss his posts.

 

[Crucio]

Ok that's just epic, how was this done? Is it from a trick video? Links, anybody?

About the 1000 kills on Glacier, I think someone's trying to annoy the haters of that map, just a bit. I'm gonna have fun with it.

 

[Sai-kun]

The whole thing was bullshit. Give us half a day warning. I would have took time off to destroy them if I had a day or two that it was coming, unfortunately I couldn't just take off at a whim. I would have single-handedly changed the fate of Team 3 and got the win.

I maintain that I wasn't playing seriously because I thought that was a friendly warmup game

 

[GhaleonEB]

About the 1000 kills on Glacier, I think someone's trying to annoy the haters of that map, just a bit. I'm gonna have fun with it.

I don't like the map, but I'm doing my best to make it fun. I did a 2X Score Attack and a Fiesta Attack (also in Score Attack) this morning, and spent most of the game trying to hold down weird parts of the map with salvaged weapons, rather than the base, while also not dying. Plasma Pistols FTW.

Staying way down at the far bottom and then realizing a Wraith was about to be (literally) dropped on my head, along with 12 Elites, was hilarious. A few grenades later I've taken them all down, but I just about jumped out of my skin.

 

[The Antitype]

Wayont, Renegade, and Trident are fucking great maps. I haven't had an unenjoyable match on any of them.

I don't mind Abridged or Utopie, but they're never my first choice.

All of them are better than Hemo though. *shudders*

 

[Hitmonchan107]

HaloGAF, which would you prefer: Set teams or a mix of set/rotating teams?

One person from each community would be in charge of organizing the members, so having rotating teams would be an extra burden on him/her.

But it would mean that more people could play.

Also, 4v4 or 8v8? If we do rotating teams, 4v4 would be the better option.

Just throwing that out there.

Let me know what you think.

 

[MrBig]

HaloGAF, which would you prefer: Set teams or a mix of set/rotating teams?

One person from each community would be in charge of organizing the members, so having rotating teams would be an extra burden on him/her.

But it would mean that more people could play.

Also, 4v4 or 8v8? If we do rotating teams, 4v4 would be the better option.

Just throwing that out there.

Let me know what you think.

Rotating 4v4 or 8v8 so that we can have the most amount of people involved as possible.

Not all sites have to rotate, just the ones like GAF that would have enough interest to fill multiple teams.

 

[Hitmonchan107]

Rotating 4v4 or 8v8 so that we can have the most amount of people involved as possible.

Not all sites have to rotate, just the ones like GAF that would have enough interest to fill multiple teams.

Are you guys completely against 8v8 gameplay? I thought it would be the best way to have the most people play, but I realize that more maps are suited for 4v4.

 

[Gui_PT]

I don't watch bad movies or should I say every movie I watch becomes good.

You shut your big fat mouth, that movie is awesome.

 

[FPS Fan]

Hey HaloGAF! I've been lurking for the past few months, but now that finals are over and I remembered that I now have posting status, I might as well introduce myself. I mostly play BTB and Multiteam, although I'm moving away from the latter towards the Slayer playlists. Things I hate about Reach are Armor Lock, Camo Snipers, the Banshee bomb, and Drop Shields in objective gametypes. Apart from that, I generally like a lot of what Reach did, and I'm open to just about any playlist.

 

[oddworld18]

Ok that's just epic, how was this done? Is it from a trick video? Links, anybody?

If I recall correctly, you just have to bait one of the banshees flying around the control room and aggro it right as the cutscene starts. it wasn't too hard, i pulled it off by accident on numerous occasions

 

[Trasher]

Ugh this is gonna be messy.

 

[Gui_PT]

Ugh this is gonna be messy.

No it's not, remember last time?

Oh

 

[ncsuDuncan]

HaloGAF, which would you prefer: Set teams or a mix of set/rotating teams?

I'd say have rotating teams. That way if someone can't make it for a match someone else is already on the roster to take his place.

Set teams just sounds like it would be easier for matches to fall apart when people's plans change and they have to drop out.

Hey HaloGAF! I've been lurking for the past few months, but now that finals are over and I remembered that I now have posting status, I might as well introduce myself. I mostly play BTB and Multiteam, although I'm moving away from the latter towards the Slayer playlists. Things I hate about Reach are Armor Lock, Camo Snipers, the Banshee bomb, and Drop Shields in objective gametypes. Apart from that, I generally like a lot of what Reach did, and I'm open to just about any playlist.

Welcome! You're in good company.

Just a quick empathy test:
You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise, FPS Fan. It's crawling toward you. You reach down and you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.

Why is that, FPS Fan? Why aren't you helping?
Finish this sentence: "Cleanse yourself in the waters of ______."

They're just questions, FPS Fan. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?

Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother Halo: Reach.

 

[Nutter]

Oh hey I know!!!

Lets take all the members of HaloGAF that have a member ID that is less than 10000 and put them on a Team (which are just a handful), as all you other guys are rather "new".

Spoiler

Reactions will be awesome!

 

[Slightly Live]

11+ Hour Halo Reach Defiant Marathon Completed.

Only five bad games in that time too. Hit the Credit Limit. Got the weekly. So good.

<3 Plasma Launcher

 

[Hey You]

Doubles Attack: Unearthed Edition will be available next Tuesday.

Since it's featuring Unearthed, the Defiant Map Pack will be required.

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=60251379#60258668

Does this mean its only Unearthered or Unearthred will show up the majority of the time I wonder.

 

[Plywood]

Are you guys completely against 8v8 gameplay? I thought it would be the best way to have the most people play, but I realize that more maps are suited for 4v4.

We should cut straight through the middle, not 4v4 not 8v8 but 6v6.

4 Teams.

Spread Team 2 across the board.

 

[Hypertrooper]

It still hurts.

And Hitmonchan, I really hope, you idea will come true.

 

[FPS Fan]

Welcome! You're in good company.

Just a quick empathy test:
You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise, FPS Fan. It's crawling toward you. You reach down and you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays there, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.

Why is that, FPS Fan? Why aren't you helping?
Finish this sentence: "Cleanse yourself in the waters of ______."

They're just questions, FPS Fan. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?

Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your mother Halo: Reach.

Haha, very nice. If I had to nail one thing down that I love about Reach, it'd be the community integration of maps and gametypes. It's gone a lot quicker than it took in Halo 3, and most of those maps were so late in its life that I never really got the chance to play them in matchmaking.

With Reach, though, most of the maps added to Team Slayer and BTB during the last playlist update are of good enough quality that I'd be gladly handing money over to Microsoft if they were Bungie/343 creations, especially because of the amount of BTB maps they added in. There wouldn't have been enough map packs to put in the amount that they did, although I'm still hoping for a big asymmetric map later on down the road.

 

[Booshka]

I vote for 6v6, still allows for bigger games and more people able to play, without having to deal with as much lag, 8v8 is usually the threshold where p2p shooters get pretty laggy.

 

[Hitmonchan107]

We should cut straight through the middle, not 4v4 not 8v8 but 6v6.

4 Teams.

Spread Team 2 across the board.

So I'm not the only one who loves 6v6? Awesome. I think 6v6 would be perfect.

Agree? Disagree?

It still hurts.

And Hitmonchan, I really hope, you idea will come true.

Thanks. I'm definitely trying! Fingers crossed. :^)

 

[Sai-kun]

Oh sweet, team picking. I remember this :lol

 

[ncsuDuncan]

I say we just make a list of everyone that is interested in playing. Then use a random number generator or something and split the list into completely random teams.

No one ranks people, no one ranks teams, and no one can claim favoritism or unfair treatment. If the selection is entirely random no one can complain.

And then if we lose we can blame the random number generator and continue on with our lives. This isn't MLG, it's just supposed to be fun.

Winning is fun.

For the people playing, yes. I do hope that HaloGAF wins this tournament. But at the cost of littering the thread with resentment and halogafcivilwar2010.gif?

I just like the idea of having someone/something outside HaloGAf to blame for picking the team roster.

 

[Plywood]

I say we just make a list of everyone that is interested in playing. Then use a random number generator or something and split the list into completely random teams.

No one ranks people, no one ranks teams, and no one can claim favoritism or unfair treatment. If the selection is entirely random no one can complain.

And then if we lose we can blame the random number generator and continue on with our lives. This isn't MLG, it's just supposed to be fun.

Winning is fun.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Thats stupid Duncan. We need to take all the best players and crush our foes and hear the lamentations of their womens.

And stuff.

 

[Hitmonchan107]

Winning is fun.

I get what he's saying, though.

I'm not planning on this being an ultra-competitive throwdown (especially since the prizes would be small, if any).

 

[Plywood]

I get what he's saying, though.

I'm not planning on this being an ultra-competitive throwdown (especially since the prizes would be small, if any).

That's cool and all but I don't think we should put the player placements into the hands of a random generator. I think each team should have at least 2 competent players that way the team at least has a chance of winning.

Spoiler

Also HaloGAF has to regain its honor for it has dishonored The GAF™ for losing to the Bungalows.