Support NeoGAF

[Domino Theory]

I'm not sure why, but I've been reading through the old Halo 3 thread, it was so much better than our Reach threads have been. Half of the people in there are banned now though, lol. I came across the time I helped Metroid get his Brigadier rank, a feat that shaved years off my life I'm sure.

So much hope in this post:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11247258&postcount=52783

Then shot down a few posts later:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11248004&postcount=52794

Then when he finally did get it, Thermight chimes in with "I know I'll get there some day!" A guy who hoped to achieve Brig status is now 35% Onyx, oh Reach.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11263556&postcount=52920

I ruined all of EazyB's plans, in hindsight, I shouldn't have helped.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11263899&postcount=52926

<3 Halo 3 OT.

"Oh Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow"

Good times.

 

[Hey You]

I'd be very impressed by 343 if they actually update Halo 3 one last time. Halo 3 is in dire need of playlist consolidation.

And run Team Melee as a DEXP one last time so I can hit Playlist General in it.

Yeah, didn't Bungie mention they were going to reformat the Halo 3 playlists just before Reach launched?

I wonder what happened with that. Maybe it changed when Shishka left and now "they lost the keys to H3's MM".

 

[Hypertrooper]

Please don't abandon Firefight updates. The playlists could use some love. Suggestions, I has them.

343i should add user-made Firefight gametypes. If not, I still ask me, why Bungie added the customization of Firefight. I don't really know if any person used it once except at the first two months after the launch.

As awesome as BS Angel is (and she's very, very awesome), I wouldn't let her near the playlist master control suite.

Besides, her role is similar to Urk's role at Bungie. Urk doesn't touch the playlists so there's no reason to assume BS angel will be so in future.

And yeah, she needs an account here for sure.

I heard that she likes cookies and chocolate. Maybe if we post a whole page with only chocolate and cookie pics, we can lure her to us.

 

[lybertyboy]

Dan Ayoub said over twitter, that they had finished the recording of a new Sparkast. I don't know if lybertyboy said a specific time frame at twitter.

This will be the July Sparkast (we're monthly now ya'll!) and the current plan is to release it mid-month though plans are always subject to change, natural disasters, etc.

Also, I'm hoping to make this a two segment episode and the second segment hasn't even recorded yet.

 

[feel]

It's reinforced with troll-skin. True story.

Welcome to gaf. I'm definitely not a fan of your work in the Reach playlists.

 

[FyreWulff]

Yeah, didn't Bungie mention they were going to reformat the Halo 3 playlists just before Reach launched?

I wonder what happened with that. Maybe it changed when Shishka left and now "they lost the keys to H3's MM".

Actually, all they said was that DEXP was going to go out in a "big party" right before Reach came out. I guess the plan changed after Shishka went on vacation and they just re-ran most of the DEXPs one more time. I kept a list of all of them here:

http://www.fyrewulff.com/fdc/node/9

Literally the one DEXP I wanted to see come back one more time that did not was Team Melee, and it was the only one besides Rockets FFA (ugh) that didn't come back.

If they ran Social Living Dead one more time, I'd totally go back and get my Playlist General in that one:

 

[Ramirez]

Welcome to gaf. I'm definitely not a fan of your work in the Reach playlists.

lol!

 

[Hypertrooper]

Also, I'm hoping to make this a two segment episode and the second segment hasn't even recorded yet.

Second segment about you know, Glasslands? Or do we have to wait till Comic-Con to get new information about the book? But Ill be happy, if you release every month/second month a new Sparkast.

 

[Hitmonchan107]

Because after witnessing the choices made at 343 playdates... I'm worried.

Angel and I are having a 1v1 Headhunter match at PAX. :lol

 

[Devolution]

Construct is, and was garbage. Narrows had horrifying spawn problems and was only good for flag, and even that, it was average compared to any other Halo 4v4 symmetric map. It's good compared to Isolation or default Foundry, sure.

While some of the circular maps lack direction, Narrows was too focused. It made it far too easy to just throw nades on spawns, even from the opposite end of the map. Can't count how many times I would just throw random plasmas in the direction of the opposition to have them stick.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Angel and I are having a 1v1 Headhunter match at PAX. :lol

You, Duncan and I have to train for the Tournament. *lol* We have to be kind of good.

 

[jerpie]

Welcome to gaf. I'm definitely not a fan of your work in the Reach playlists.

I sincerely appreciate your honesty.

 

[Kuroyume]

This will be the July Sparkast (we're monthly now ya'll!) and the current plan is to release it mid-month though plans are always subject to change, natural disasters, etc.

Also, I'm hoping to make this a two segment episode and the second segment hasn't even recorded yet.

Are you guys going to give us a Vidoc to introduce your team to Bungie fans once you get control of Reach?

 

[Hitmonchan107]

You, Duncan and I have to train for the Tournament. *lol* We have to be kind of good.

Oh man. I don't do well in competitive matches.

I tend to scream obscenities when I play Halo for fun. God help Halo Fest if I had to play for keeps.

 

[FyreWulff]

I sincerely appreciate your honesty.

By the way, Ghaleon and I have left some last minute feedback in the CC group.

 

[Thermite]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11248004&postcount=52794

Then when he finally did get it, Thermight chimes in with "I know I'll get there some day!" A guy who hoped to achieve Brig status is now 35% Onyx, oh Reach.

I was a 44 at that time, IIRC. I couldn't make the jump from 44 to 45 playing with randoms. Shit was way too streaky.

Spoiler

U jelly 'cause I improved, nub?

 

[FyreWulff]

-snip-

I was a 44 at that time, IIRC. I couldn't make the jump from 44 to 45 playing with randoms. Shit was way too streaky.

Spoiler

U jelly 'cause I improved, nub?

I couldn't make the jump past 40 in Team SWAT because of all the damned booters and standbyers.

That pretty much swore me off ranked play the day I got standby'd 3 games in a row.

This has yet to happen to me in Reach.

 

[lybertyboy]

Are you guys going to give us a Vidoc to introduce your team to Bungie fans once you get control of Reach?

You've already started to meet some of the fine folks that make up 343i.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Oh man. I don't do well in competitive matches.

I tend to scream obscenities when I play Halo for fun. God help Halo Fest if I had to play for keeps.

We will play for the fun. For the victory, GAF has the super team. EazyB, Ram and co.

 

[Tashi]

I used to be stuck at 43 in MLG.

 

[GhaleonEB]

343i should add user-made Firefight gametypes. If not, I still ask me, why Bungie added the customization of Firefight. I don't really know if any person used it once except at the first two months after the launch.

Aye. Some incredible things could be done with Score Attack, instead of the same enemy type progression in nearly every mode. Some hard game types, some long, some short, some wacky. There's a lot of unfulfilled potential there.

For the other playlists, there are many ways to tweak each of them. My big issue is that the enemies have been static since launch; there's tons of ways to mix them up and provide more interesting combinations, or at least new ones.

But Arcade is the same in all game types, and Doubles features identical game types as the other two playlists, rather than game types customized with two players in mind. I love the playlist, but I hope someone takes some time to cook up some improvements; as you said there tons of great ideas in the community, but even a light refresh pass would do wonders.

 

[Hey You]

I sincerely appreciate your honesty.

A little late on getting gaf, eh?

Bungie vs the World Details:

Since it's all about Steaktaculars, it's slayer only.

Slayer
Arena Zealot
Asylum
Countdown
Powerhouse
Reflection
Sword Base

Slayer DMRs
Anchor 9
Arena Zealot
Asylum
Boardwalk
Countdown
Powerhouse
Reflection
Sword Base
Tempest
Uncaged

Elite Slayer (low weighting)
Arena Zealot
Countdown
Powerhouse
Reflection

Yes, guests will be allowed in the Bungie Day playlist.

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=62270349

 

[Major Williams]

I sincerely appreciate your honesty.

I gotta say, I'm a fan though. Putting Team Snipes in the first month or so was GRAVY.

Make Challenges worth a bit more!

 

[Havok]

While some of the circular maps lack direction, Narrows was too focused. It made it far too easy to just throw nades on spawns, even from the opposite end of the map. Can't count how many times I would just throw random plasmas in the direction of the opposition to have them stick.

Agreed. Not even just grenades, I was killed on spawn in the mancannon room by a central sniper probably a third of the matches I played.

It was probably better with MLG settings, but AR starts were painful.

 

[Domino Theory]

A little late on getting gaf, eh?

Bungie vs the World Details

"Elite Slayer"

 

[Plywood]

It's reinforced with troll-skin. True story.

I was wondering if you could explain why it took a lengthy amount of time before that one spot in Sword Base got fixed for Living Dead. As I wonder why what seemed as a simple fix took a lengthy amount of time to be fixed.

Also would you kindly remove Select from Doubles.

 

[Plasmid]

Anywhere i can find really good halo 2 level remakes? I'm looking for beaver creek specifically. I wish Bungie would put a remake map on team slayer etc.

 

[Devolution]

Agreed. Not even just grenades, I was killed on spawn in the mancannon room by a central sniper probably a third of the matches I played.

It was probably better with MLG settings, but AR starts were painful.

That was quite the annoyance as well. Good point.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Anywhere i can find really good halo 2 level remakes? I'm looking for beaver creek specifically. I wish Bungie would put a remake map on team slayer etc.

There is a playlist called Team Classic? You should give it a try.

 

[O D I N]

Of course we're going to continue to update Reach playlists. After Bungie ties the bow.

Will you save the wrapping paper? Or rip it off in a hurry?

 

[FyreWulff]

Anywhere i can find really good halo 2 level remakes? I'm looking for beaver creek specifically. I wish Bungie would put a remake map on team slayer etc.

There's one in the Classic playlist, or you can wait for the Anniversary DLC which contains a remake of Beaver Creek.

 

[thezerofire]

Countdown is basically Construct but done correctly

Spoiler

And now you'll notice how similiar they are FOREVER

Countdown is horrible because of Reach mechanics, because there are no "legs" on the two lift sides to go up sneakily, the giant rocket in the middle, and all the random protruding stuff on the doors. Not to mention the lack of weaponry

Agreed. Not even just grenades, I was killed on spawn in the mancannon room by a central sniper probably a third of the matches I played.

It was probably better with MLG settings, but AR starts were painful.

that's the downfall of AR starts in general, any map.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

Wait so jerpie really is Jeremiah? Cool beans.

Welcome to Reach GAF, jerpie.

I look forward to making you the scapegoat for every minor thing I dislike about the next Bungie game.

 

[J-Roderton]

So after really trying out the Arena this season I'm a little confused as to how it works exactly. It says I'm 50% bronze. What does the 50% mean? And if I'm bronze why have I been playing silvers all day?

 

[MrBig]

This will be the July Sparkast (we're monthly now ya'll!)

That's what Bungie said too

Anywhere i can find really good halo 2 level remakes? I'm looking for beaver creek specifically. I wish Bungie would put a remake map on team slayer etc.

There's one in Team Classic and there's an actual remake coming in the CEA pack.

 

[GhaleonEB]

So after really trying out the Arena this season I'm a little confused as to how it works exactly. It says I'm 50% bronze. What does the 50% mean? And if I'm bronze why have I been playing silvers all day?

I think Arena was a bit over-thought in its implementation, and generally does a poor job giving feedback to players. Among the odd decisions was the scaling of the player ranking to between 1,000 and 1,500, which is entirely arbitrary. I know the population splits were published on Optimatch once, but I'm not sure what the proportions are (25/25/25/15/10, I think). I see player ratings and Divisions and don't have any baseline for what they mean, in absolute or relative terms. I still think scaling player ratings to 1-50, rather than 1000 to 1500, and then setting Divisions every ten ranks would have been simpler and had more meaning for players. It would have leveraged the systems players were used to from the previous two titles into the Arena system. Seeing numbers within each division would have been useful also. (Not that I play Arena.)

 

[darthbob]

So after really trying out the Arena this season I'm a little confused as to how it works exactly. It says I'm 50% bronze. What does the 50% mean? And if I'm bronze why have I been playing silvers all day?

IIRC, that means you're in the 50th percentile.

 

[J-Roderton]

I think Arena was a bit over-thought in its implementation, and generally does a poor job giving feedback to players. Among the odd decisions was the scaling of the player ranking to between 1,000 and 1,500, which is entirely arbitrary. I know the population splits were published on Optimatch once, but I'm not sure what the proportions are (25/25/25/15/10, I think). I see player ratings and Divisions and don't have any baseline for what they mean, in absolute or relative terms. I still think scaling player ratings to 1-50, rather than 1000 to 1500, and then setting Divisions every ten ranks would have been simpler and had more meaning for players. It would have leveraged the systems players were used to from the previous two titles into the Arena system. Seeing numbers within each division would have been useful also. (Not that I play Arena.)

I agree with the idea of using 1-50. Really would have made things much simpler. I think I also heard that losing a game will only drop your rating 4% which isn't much at all. It really makes Arena seem more like a lone wolf type game where team wins don't matter as much. And don't assists count as much as kills do as far as your rating goes?

 

[Woorloog]

I think Arena was a bit over-thought in its implementation, and generally does a poor job giving feedback to players. Among the odd decisions was the scaling of the player ranking to between 1,000 and 1,500, which is entirely arbitrary. I know the population splits were published on Optimatch once, but I'm not sure what the proportions are (25/25/25/15/10, I think). I see player ratings and Divisions and don't have any baseline for what they mean, in absolute or relative terms. I still think scaling player ratings to 1-50, rather than 1000 to 1500, and then setting Divisions every ten ranks would have been simpler and had more meaning for players. It would have leveraged the systems players were used to from the previous two titles into the Arena system. Seeing numbers within each division would have been useful also. (Not that I play Arena.)

I really like the way you think.
Would've loved 1-50 system... oh and it should've been visible in lobbies, not just player page.

 

[ncsuDuncan]

That's what Bungie said too.

True, but I think 343 has more available podcast material.

I think Bungie was more limited in what they could cover, especially when they couldn't talk about their next game yet. 343 covers more Halo stuff than just the games, and while Bungie did that from time to time it was still a gray area between them and Microsoft.

Now that it's all under one roof I imagine it will be easier to find something worth recording a podcast over. The interview with Greg Bear on one of the previous Sparkasts is a great example.

 

[xxxstylzxxx]

I was wondering if you could explain why it took a lengthy amount of time before that one spot in Sword Base got fixed for Living Dead. As I wonder why what seemed as a simple fix took a lengthy amount of time to be fixed.

Also would you kindly remove Select from Doubles.

I'd really like to know why Jetpack loadouts are still accessible on maps like Uncaged which features a number of exploitable areas that currently makes it one of the most broken experiences in all of Reach MM. Also, why do Active Camo loadouts still even exist at all? There's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be using traditional power ups at this point. And don't even get me started on why Rocket Hog Race is still being force fed to us in MT.

 

[thezerofire]

I'd really like to know why Jetpack loadouts are still accessible on maps like Uncaged which features a number of exploitable areas that currently makes it one of the most broken experiences in all of Reach MM. Also, why do Active Camo loadouts still even exist at all? There's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be using traditional power ups at this point. And don't even get me started on why Rocket Hog Race is still being force fed to us in MT.

the traditional powerup still sucks since you show up when you move

 

[bobs...onGaf]

I'd be very impressed by 343 if they actually update Halo 3 one last time. Halo 3 is in dire need of playlist consolidation.

And run Team Melee as a DEXP one last time so I can hit Playlist General in it.

!

Halo 3 certainly needs a bit of love, but I really dont know what they could do to it without upsetting people. I want a general cleanup rather than a broadstroked merge playlist X with playlist Y approach.

Best left alone maybe, but Halo 3 is a few updates away from greatness.

Welcome to gaf. I'm definitely not a fan of your work in the Reach playlists.

Jerpie is Ninja on Fire? If so why would you pick now of all time to join gaf!?? We needed you when you had control of the playlists dammit.

Spoiler

Let me guess, it took like 5 years for the mods to approve you?

 

[FyreWulff]

the traditional powerup still sucks since you show up when you move

Nope. That's only local to your first person view (I imagine it's hard-baked into the engine). You remain completely invisible to everyone else.

Save a film where you used it recently (from a recent MM game) and pop out to third person.

 

[A27_StarWolf]

Jerpie is who at Bungie?

 

[thezerofire]

!

Halo 3 certainly needs a bit of love, but I really dont know what they could do to it without upsetting people. I want a general cleanup rather than a broadstroked merge playlist X with playlist Y approach.

Best left alone maybe, but Halo 3 is a few updates away from greatness.

unranked MLG please

Nope. That's only local to your first person view (I imagine it's hard-baked into the engine). You remain completely invisible to everyone else.

Save a film where you used it recently (from a recent MM game) and pop out to third person.

for the power-up or for the armor ability too?

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Jerpie is who at Bungie?

Jeremiah, Playlist Manager for Reach at Bungie.

 

[FyreWulff]

!

Halo 3 certainly needs a bit of love, but I really dont know what they could do to it without upsetting people. I want a general cleanup rather than a broadstroked merge playlist X with playlist Y approach.

Best left alone maybe, but Halo 3 is a few updates away from greatness

Ranked
Lone Wolves (cannot be removed anyway)
Team Slayer
Team Marksman (SWAT + Snipes combined into one list, SWAT vetoes into Snipes, Snipes into SWAT)

Social
Social Slayer
Multi Team
Social Big Team

7 on the 7th
7 on 7th FFA on Mythic only, add Longshore to rotation. This replaces Rumble Pit as the Social FFA list.

Rotate these DEXPs every month that require all DLC
Social Living Dead
Mythic Brawl
Social Skirmish (add SWAT 2 Flag to rotation + Team Flag gametypes + Team Control gametypes)
Team Doubles

ship it

I can go into more detail about these decisions that I would make if you want.

 

[Steelyuhas]

the traditional powerup still sucks since you show up when you move

The Camo powerup has been fixed. It's pretty good now. The amount you see yourself is not representative of what other players see. You become more visible when you move to yourself because I guess players need help seeing themselves or they will freak out or something lol.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

How do people know this is Jeremiah? Twitter or something?