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[FyreWulff]

You mean like how Call of Duty will just boot you out of a game if you don't have the DLC because it rotated into it?

I have no problem getting DLC maps to play on in Reach. And this is without going into Premium Battle or Premium Slayer. Of course, the only way to get the best possible userbase is to release the maps for free or as a disc down the road - the majority of the Halo 3 userbase was playing with the Mythic disc only a couple months after it came out.

Defiant still barely shows up though (although I do see Unearthed regularly in Firefight when I go in by myself). It rains Noble maps in multiplayer. Wu can attest to how many times we played Anchor 9 and Tempest in Bungie Day.

Reach IMO has the best method of DLC implementation and is the friendliest. Gears 2 is right behind it with the Social side of matchmaking that requires all DLC so nobody gets booted on a map rotation, but is less friendly. CoD has the worst since it'll just rotate into a DLC map and boot you out without bothering to check who has it first, and charges you 15$ per map pack. Which is a bit much just for me to add Zombies maps to play. My FL always consistently stops playing the newest CoD title once the first DLC drops.

Halo 2 had the worst implementation, where it had to require the DLC for DLC to even show up, so if you bought the DLC before it went free, there was only a single playlist to play it in (Team Preview). Of course it didn't matter once it all went free, but it was still annoying.

Halo 3 improved it where DLC didn't have to be required to have it show up, but the lack of a DLC parameter in the search algorithm meant you had to get both a full game of DLC owners and then have the RNG choose a DLC map. They tried 3 different methods before just outright requiring DLC for 99% of matchmaking at one point, which made the "DLC can show up optionally" technology moot, but it was their best way of getting purchases of the DLC on the maps they just bought.

Then when everyone got on the Mythic disc, 99% of matchmaking became DLC-optional and DLC frequency was still high since the majority of matchmaking had all the DLC via the disc.


Reach added the DLC parameter to the searching algorithm and had multiple voting options, so people will still "see" DLC show up but still vote for a non-DLC map if they so choose.


My guess is that if a Reach: Mythic never happens, you're going to see a high frequency of Noble and the Remake Pack in MM, but less Defiant (I'm guessing most Defiant owners are mainly Firefight players?)

tl;dr My main concern is that with Halo games coming out seemingly more frequently, the DLC offering for each is going to start shrinking as MS tries to save money and get people to buy the next title faster. Nobody was amused by Halo 3's DLC plans being screwed with, and it looks like Reach is going to have less DLC maps added post-ship than Halo 3, and much less new maps.

 

[Steelyuhas]

You mean like how Call of Duty will just boot you out of a game if you don't have the DLC because it rotated into it?

I have no problem getting DLC maps to play on in Reach. And this is without going into Premium Battle or Premium Slayer. Of course, the only way to get the best possible userbase is to release the maps for free or as a disc down the road - the majority of the Halo 3 userbase was playing with the Mythic disc only a couple months after it came out.

Defiant still barely shows up though (although I do see Unearthed regularly in Firefight when I go in by myself). It rains Noble maps in multiplayer. Wu can attest to how many times we played Anchor 9 and Tempest in Bungie Day.

Reach IMO has the best method of DLC implementation and is the friendliest. Gears 2 is right behind it with the Social side of matchmaking that requires all DLC so nobody gets booted on a map rotation, but is less friendly. CoD has the worst since it'll just rotate into a DLC map and boot you out without bothering to check who has it first, and charges you 15$ per map pack. Which is a bit much just for me to add Zombies maps to play. My FL always consistently stops playing the newest CoD title once the first DLC drops.

No no no. COD has a search filter in matchmaking that only matches you up with people that have the same DLC as you. So DLC is never required, but people that have it will always get to play it. It's the best DLC implementation by far IMO. No one gets kicked out of lobbies, they can't come up if you don't have the DLC. Also the $15 map packs are a better price per map than the Halo packs. So what you will about COD (as I often do), but they have nailed DLC.

As for my personally experience with Reach DLC, I do not see DLC outside of DLC playlists. Almost ever. As for as I am concerned, the apparent 'DLC filter' does not exist. I had much better luck getter DLC maps in non-DLC required playlists in Halo 3, and that had no search filter at all for DLC.

People are not going to see a high frequency of Noble or CEA maps in Reach ever because the DLC algorithm does not work.

Haha also yeah I realize that I kind of skewed off the point of your original post. All they need to do with adjust the DLC release schedules, which may be a good thing cause they were pretty whack in both 3 and Reach.

 

[Striker]

Halo 2 had the worst implementation, where it had to require the DLC for DLC to even show up, so if you bought the DLC before it went free, there was only a single playlist to play it in (Team Preview). Of course it didn't matter once it all went free, but it was still annoying.

Containment and Warlock were free as sponsored maps. So the players can immediately download and then were easily accessible in MM.

Sanctuary and Turf were released the same time (four maps for $4.99), but made free two months later.

The big map pack consisting of Terminal, Relic, Elongation, Backwash, and Gemini were made free just under two months later. And these maps were $11.99 - so all in all, we got nine maps for $17. And were made free fairly quickly. Sorry, can't agree to say this was the worst situation we had. That's laughable. Halo 3's was probably the worst as it locked out players until later in 2009 when the Mythic disk was available, and by then I've all but given up on the game.

 

[FyreWulff]

Yeah I think we can both agree that the DLC schedule could be better.

3's got all fucked up by Don Mattrick's meddling.

Reach got DLC out initially just as fast as Halo 3 with Noble.. and then Defiant came.. and then nothing. Meanwhile, at this time in Halo 3's post launch support, we know of at least 3 more multiplayer maps coming down the pike.

And now we wait for almost 6 months for the next known DLC to come out, with no indication of any more coming out between now and then or afterwards, so it looks like:

3: 12 DLC maps post launch, 9 of which were new
Reach: 13 maps post launch, 6 of which are new, and only 5 of those new maps are usable in multiplayer. Only 2 post-launch Firefight DLC maps.


I was expecting at least more of an effort in regards to Firefight DLC, anyway. Especially if they're outsourcing all of Reach's DLC production to Certain Affinity.

 

[FyreWulff]

Containment and Warlock were free as sponsored maps. So the players can immediately download and then were easily accessible in MM.

Sanctuary and Turf were released the same time (four maps for $4.99), but made free two months later.

The big map pack consisting of Terminal, Relic, Elongation, Backwash, and Gemini were made free just under two months later. And these maps were $11.99 - so all in all, we got nine maps for $17. And were made free fairly quickly. Sorry, can't agree to say this was the worst situation we had. That's laughable. Halo 3's was probably the worst as it locked out players until later in 2009 when the Mythic disk was available, and by then I've all but given up on the game.

It wasn't a lot, but it also required people to have credit cards to buy the Halo 2 DLC. Now anyone can just buy a points card and get DLC or even buy the DLC card code outright and redeem it. 360 DLC is a LOT more accessible than OXBox paid DLC.

The best situation for the playerbase would be to always release a Halo 3: Mythic for a Halo title immediately when the final planned DLC comes out, and let it also install the maps to the HDD. MS wouldn't like that though.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

I loved the demo, and bought the game, and thought it was just okay after a few incredible hours. It didn't sustain itself through the run time, stopped being scary. The dark environments all started to blur together; new enemies were more powerful but otherwise identical version of old ones; new plasmids were stronger versions of old plasmids; no new encounter designs. The second half of the game felt like a grind to me, and then it ends with a 1) collect the armor mission, 2) an escort mission and 3) a pattern-base boss who goes through different elemental-based attack cycles. All the incredible inspiration from the first quarter of the game just evaporated.

All IMO, of couse. I'd give it a 7/10, for the opening sequence (perfect), the decent but clunky upgrade system (I have to find a machine to review my own stats/perks?), decent gunplay and poor enemy AI. I played through it twice, once on hard and then again on the hardest difficulty, then sent it away to my brother. Never really thought much about it since.

So when I see the (true) sequel getting so much praise, I get this sense of deja vu. Will approach with catious optimism.


Wait, what thread is this? :lol

My NAT changed somehow, it's no longer open. Funny thing is, that's in turn given me host in every Firefight game since. I'm trying to motivate myself to change it, but haven't found the will quite yet.

That also happened to me, but the problem is that all my reutor settings are still the same, I literally have all the correct ports open and theres nothing I can really change to get my NAT to open again, because technically it should already be open. Literally it worked fine for like a year and then overnight messed up.

Anyone got any ideas on what I can do?

Nope. It's set many many years earlier in an airborn floating city. It's only related to the first in name.

Im going to wait till I play it to jump to that conclusion, I hope that they are going to do something interesting with the story to tie it all up. I must say though that Bioshock isnt exactly on the top of my list, the first one wasnt as amazing as the hype had me believe, it wasnt bad, but it did start dragging on fairly quickly.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

EDIT: oops sorry for the double post.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

That also happened to me, but the problem is that all my reutor settings are still the same, I literally have all the correct ports open and theres nothing I can really change to get my NAT to open again, because technically it should already be open. Literally it worked fine for like a year and then overnight messed up.

Anyone got any ideas on what I can do?

Might apply to Ghal too
Are you using a static ip or not? If not, do you have multiple devices on the network? Sounds like one of the other devices have been assigned the IP with the open ports.

Short-Term Solution: Turn off & on the router, and connect the devices to it in the correct order.
Long-Term Solution A: Implement a static ip.
Long-Term Solution B: In each device assign the local ip yourself. (I think)

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Might apply to Ghal too
Are you using a static ip or not? If not, do you have multiple devices on the network? Sounds like one of the other devices have been assigned the IP with the open ports.

Short-Term Solution: Turn off & on the router, and connect the devices to it in the correct order.
Long-Term Solution A: Implement a static ip.
Long-Term Solution B: In each device assign the local ip yourself. (I think)

Thanks, ill give that a go. I kind of avoided setting static ip's when I originally opened my NAT out of the fear that it might be a bad idea. Surely having Dynamic IP's is better? Is it more secure? Either way I just dont get why everything worked fine until suddenly one day it decided to screw up.

How do you deal with Smartphones in the whole IP thing? Say for example someone used my wifi using a Iphone before I turned my xbox on, would that mess things up?

 

[Hypertrooper]

Oh jägermeister I hate you so much...

Customs are today, right? If not, I'm going to be mad. And I'm already mad, because I overslept my meeting with Uematsu. God dammit. World is hating me.

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Nerd status obtained. Just Reached for somewhere around ten hours straight. Hit yesterdays challenges, the weekly, a jackpot, and today's challenges and didn't hit the credit limit even though I amounted like ~200K credits. Lost 3 of 51 games or so...two complete bullshit, that Wayont game the only team really better.

I was thinking it was Saturday last night and it was my last night except I can game all tonight, fuck yes.

Man I look like a raccoon. I need sleep.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Nerd status obtained. Just Reached for somewhere around ten hours straight. Hit yesterdays challenges, the weekly, a jackpot, and today's challenges and didn't hit the credit limit even though I amounted like ~200K credits. Lost 3 of 51 games or so...two complete bullshit, that Wayont game the only team really better.

I was thinking it was Saturday last night and it was my last night except I can game all tonight, fuck yes.

Man I look like a raccoon. I need sleep.

Sneak in a quick nap every time you armour lock.

The haunted helmet is officially awesome, I matched up with a inheritor who was changing the skull colour by flicking through the different visor colours. Im just jelous that I will probably never get the thing for myself. Fyrewulff is right, 2 years just isnt enough time for a mainstream multiplayer title. As much as I want to move on from Reach ASAP, I just dont see how games can be AAA quality after just 2 years production and if they are AAA quality I dont see how they can live up to theyre full potential with such a short lifespan.

 

[Merguson]

I played BioShock.

Didn't want to inject myself with some random liquid.

I spent an eternity in that room and died of starvation.

That was my experience with the game.

 

[Louis Wu]

Wu, is HBO going to continue to be a news portal for all things Halo? Or are you guys strictly Bungie?

I really hope you guys continue supporting the Halo franchise despite it being in 343's hands now. I'm betting you probably will be?

We'll continue covering Halo until the community tires of it. (We still have Myth and Oni communities, even though those are no longer owned by Bungie.)

 

[CyReN]

We'll continue covering Halo until the community tires of it. (We still have Myth and Oni communities, even though those are no longer owned by Bungie.)

Woooo!

or should I say

Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

/cornyjoke

--------------------------
So will Halo2/3/Reach stats stay on Bungie past August or will it go over to the new Halo site?

 

[neoism]

Oh that's legit, thanks.

And he was talking about the needler right Ram? Needler still rapes. Needs to be more on maps.

tashi just a heads up sometimes they are a little mean about stuff with a copyright... I have 3 wallpaper prints, from various video games, one I tried to do was a awesome Metriod, and Lost poster ,but they would make it, because of a stupid copyright. Funny too, becasue I got a Zelda and SotC, and a Metroid posters from them really well made. I've never made any shirts, but if they have Halo shit on them you my be out of luck. Also they is a trick, when you make shit, you can put it on their marketplace, but you can make it hidden and only you can see it, if you buy it you can get 10% off I think. good luck

 

[CyReN]

Forgot to add Halo 2 (mostly MLG settings) LAN going on Halo in East Lansing on Saturday, July 16th if anyone interested.

 

[Tashi]

tashi just a heads up sometimes they are a little mean about stuff with a copyright... I have 3 wallpaper prints, from various video games, one I tried to do was a awesome Metriod, and Lost poster ,but they would make it, because of a stupid copyright. Funny too, becasue I got a Zelda and SotC, and a Metroid posters from them really well made. I've never made any shirts, but if they have Halo shit on them you my be out of luck. Also they is a trick, when you make shit, you can put it on their marketplace, but you can make it hidden and only you can see it, if you buy it you can get 10% off I think. good luck

Oh nice. Thanks for the info. Honestly I wasn't about to put anything that said Halo or had any Halo logos. I wanted to make a shirt or 3 for MLG Raleigh. If anything they'll say Tashi and have my gamertag and maybe Campus Safety with the team logo. (Or whatever the team name ends up being) Nothing copyrighted though. Thanks for the heads up on the discount too, that's legit.

 

[CyReN]

Oh nice. Thanks for the info. Honestly I wasn't about to put anything that said Halo or had any Halo logos. I wanted to make a shirt or 3 for MLG Raleigh. If anything they'll say Tashi and have my gamertag and maybe Campus Safety with the team logo. (Or whatever the team name ends up being) Nothing copyrighted though. Thanks for the heads up on the discount too, that's legit.

So many people do that for events, you'll be fine.

First MLG btw?

 

[The Real Napsta]

Tashi, what site are you using to make team shirts?

 

[neoism]

I just watched New Beginnings again. Man, Bungie is so awesome. This line of thinking is how I feel about work and creating things. They really are 1 of a kind.

yep... damn Jones is such a BOSS.




<3 you Bungle...it was a fuck awesome 8 years. Funny too, because I was a biiig Microsoft hater too, and I didn't buy a xbox til January 03. only got H1... didn't know at the time that would be the only game I'd need for the system. lol Sooo good <3

No joke on Urk. I was saddened when Frankie left, and Luke helped fill the void. I didn't instantly like Urk's style, but now I love....get this....even more than Frankles (<3).

That banner has a new but familiar art style to it as well. Damn you Bungie and your hints.



I just watched New Beginnings again. Man, Bungie is so awesome. This line of thinking is how I feel about work and creating things. They really are 1 of a kind.

lol I think I remember in the H3 thread a few people Myself also, didn't like the fact that urk just rambled a little too much, but he is waay better at it now, didn't he get another position at B, he should have a writers position for Destiny really enjoyed reading his weeklies for awhile.
Still though...

Spoiler

Frankie>urk

 

[neoism]

Tashi, what site are you using to make team shirts?

Zazzle.com

 

[CyReN]

Zazzle.com

Another popular site for them is also kiaeneto.

 

[Hypertrooper]

I'll wear an HaloGAF t-shirt, if a t-shirt exists. We should do one.

 

[Blinding]

Oh nice. Thanks for the info. Honestly I wasn't about to put anything that said Halo or had any Halo logos. I wanted to make a shirt or 3 for MLG Raleigh. If anything they'll say Tashi and have my gamertag and maybe Campus Safety with the team logo. (Or whatever the team name ends up being) Nothing copyrighted though. Thanks for the heads up on the discount too, that's legit.

Oh sweet, I guess I might see you at Raleigh then. As for team jerseys, I'd say just get them from Kiaeneto, $150 for four that's the same material they use for the Pro jerseys is a steal, since they're that comfortable.

 

[Tawpgun]

Unless they want to actually do something innovative like make Halo 4 / 5 / 6 an FPS "platform" like Rock Band where we can export maps from Halo 4 and use it's DLC in 5 and 6.

That sounds amazing actually. No more crying for re-makes when we have all of them.

 

[Tunavi]

 

[Plywood]

What is that?

 

[Tunavi]

What is that?

Steak

 

[The Librarian]

Anyone hating on Bioshock 1 is straight trolling lol. At the very least, if you hate on Bioshock 1, you hate narrative in games, which is sad. In my opinion, the first Bioshock is the best single player experience of this generation, and by a country mile.

I think Portal 2 beats out BioShock 1, overall, as a single player experience. Not even a contest.

 

[Tashi]

Kianeto huh? Maybe I'll hit that up to show Walshy some love.

And yea this will be my first MLG event competing, I've only spectated at one before (Playoffs 06). Plant tickets from NY are about 150 so I'm definitely gonna go. It's a no brainer.

 

[Major Williams]

Tunavi, what is that? Looks like a piece of steak.

 

[Brolic Gaoler]

What is that?

Looks like biscotti to me.

 

[Devin Olsen]

Anyone feel like playing?

 

[Zeouterlimits]

And yea this will be my first MLG event competing, I've only spectated at one before (Playoffs 06). Plant tickets from NY are about 150 so I'm definitely gonna go. It's a no brainer.

:-O

Can't wait.

 

[Blinding]

And yea this will be my first MLG event competing, I've only spectated at one before (Playoffs 06). Plant tickets from NY are about 150 so I'm definitely gonna go. It's a no brainer.

Nice, we're driving down from Connecticut the Thursday before the event, we're also hitting up NJ Halo on the 23rd to get some sort of LAN experience in. Raleigh last year was massive, very happy they went back and can't wait to rip some faces in front of my friends from that area. :>

 

[KidA Seven]

I think Portal 2 beats out BioShock 1, overall, as a single player experience. Not even a contest.

Dax having another game besides Halo over Bioshock?


Is this real life?


Also, not sure if I will make it out to MLG Anaheim. I went to the last one in 09 and was pretty fun. Maybe unlimited DR Pepper will convince me.

 

[Hydranockz]

I'm honestly surprised that Tashi has never competed before. Best of luck bro!

I fully expect people to play with me and Zalinkrow later on tonight. We may join in on customs too.

 

[Devin Olsen]

Three choices
Slayer
Slayer Pro
slayer DMRs

Oh. One sec, I'm a bad MM kiddie, better pick slayer. Luv me some AR

 

[Tashi]

Nice, we're driving down from Connecticut the Thursday before the event, we're also hitting up NJ Halo on the 23rd to get some sort of LAN experience in. Raleigh last year was massive, very happy they went back and can't wait to rip some faces in front of my friends from that area. :>

Connecticut huh? I'm only 30 minutes from Danbury.

I'm running games with 2 guys at the moment, gonna see how that goes but once I have my full squad we should scrim. I definitely have to hop back on GB too.

 

[MrBig]

I'll wear an HaloGAF t-shirt, if a t-shirt exists. We should do one.

If you guys want to plan for one I can design it.

 

[Tawpgun]

Three choices
Slayer
Slayer Pro
slayer DMRs

Oh. One sec, I'm a bad MM kiddie, better pick slayer. Luv me some AR

I'll say that Slayer Pro is even worse than Slayer DMR's sometimes.

DMR's has silly loadouts... but Slayer Pro gives the option of picking the nerfle starts with Plasma Nades. I've seen games where people haven't fired a single shot of the nerfle, they just go for suicide sticks. Annoying as hell.

I'm adding a wish for the TU. Add a matchmaking search preference for DMR's/AR's. Switching to competetive/winning doesn't seem to make a difference.

Connecticut huh? I'm only 30 minutes from Danbury.

I'm running games with 2 guys at the moment, gonna see how that goes but once I have my full squad we should scrim. I definitely have to hop back on GB too.

Oh right, I remember you didn't live too far away.
I'm about 15 minutes south of Danbury, town called Wilton.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

If you guys want to plan for one I can design it.

I think this'd be a pretty cool idea to make happen.

 

[Hydranockz]

I think this'd be a pretty cool idea to make happen.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Blinding]

Connecticut huh? I'm only 30 minutes from Danbury.

I'm running games with 2 guys at the moment, gonna see how that goes but once I have my full squad we should scrim. I definitely have to hop back on GB too.

Yeah, Danbury is an hour and a half away from me, I'm near Central Manchester.

For sure, our forth for Raleigh isn't actually set in place, but yeah, we'll definitely scrim.

 

[Karl2177]

I think this'd be a pretty cool idea to make happen.

If it's on the same type of shirt Bungie prints on. Those are really goddamn comfy.

 

[Hitmonchan107]

Nope. It's set many many years earlier in an airborn floating city. It's only related to the first in name.

Spoiler

Did you watch the 15-minute long video? Something is fishy. The girl ripped open time to a busy urban street, and on the marquee was "Return of the Jedi."

Kind of a slow news day, which is perfect, because I have a midterm to study for.

Boo. Tunavi's back. :lol

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Three choices
Slayer
Slayer Pro
slayer DMRs

Oh. One sec, I'm a bad MM kiddie, better pick slayer. Luv me some AR

I just had basically the same thing happen in rumble pit just now lol, 3 people voted for dmr's once everyone else had noticed 4 votes went straight for ar's. sucks how often this happens.

 

[Tashi]

I'm honestly surprised that Tashi has never competed before. Best of luck bro!

I fully expect people to play with me and Zalinkrow later on tonight. We may join in on customs too.

Yup, I'm an online warrior

It's at the end of August so I have time to prepare. I'm hoping the guys I was supposed to team with for Dallas are going.

 

[Hydranockz]

Can someone post that junior form real quick?