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[Hydranockz]

A conversation I had at PAX has rejuvenated my interest in writing a full-on article about Firefight. Not sure if I could finish it before Halo 4 ships, though. :\

Record your impressions as you say them out loud. I want hours of audio! Then, send them to me. I'll ask Dani nicely to let me edit each of your existing articles on FUD. I'll format every single character on your articles to a url. Most of them will be blank. Others will contain a link to a snippet of your thoughts.

We can call them audio logs. BAM!

 

[xxjuicesxx]

Introducing the ragequit medal. Kill someone and they quit less than 30 secs later, earn your ragequit medal. Most coveted medal ever.

Spoiler

if you have some critique go ahead and say something =p

PERFECT!

 

[User 73706]

With the exception of Forge, I think that Firefight needs to draw its areas from Campaign levels (maybe not ones from just the Halo 4 campaign...? :O), but give us unique areas "inspired" by actual settings like how they did in the original trilogy for Multiplayer.

 

[Woorloog]

PERFECT!

I agree. Implement this.

 

[GhaleonEB]

You shipped your campaign review a few weeks ago. We just have to believe. Other question we will get a new firefight map and I hope this time we will get new Firefight achievements: What do you want?

Something actually challenging. Some possibilities:

Keep at least one Generator alive for an entire Set in Firefight Matchmaking.

Earn an Invincible on Legendary in Firefight Matchmaking.

Earn a Killionaire without using the Target Locator in Firefight Matchmaking.

(For the new map): Kill 100 enemies with the Warthog without dying in Firefight Matchmaking.

PERFECT!

Yes. Yes.

 

[vhfive]

PERFECT!

I can hear the announcer now
"RAGE QUIT"
and have the medal pop up

so good

 

[Tashi]

That's true Ghaleon but what about the DLC maps? Also, I was half joking, I know that Firefight is here to stay and I don't expect that to change. However, if I had it my way, I would get more MP maps. Specifically, small, 4v4 maps.

 

[Blue Ninja]

It seems that i'm suffering from Halo burnout, again. It was fun playing with you guys for a few days, then i didn't play Halo for almost a week, edit: then i did try to Forge something but my ideas didn't seem to work and gave up, and now i can't even touch it anymore.
I wonder if i've played so much Halo for a few years i burn out very easily. Or is it Reach?
The whole year i've been playing Reach only a week or two at times and then stopping.
I think i played Halo 3 in longer periods.
This burnout includes not giving a shit about the TU and new maps. Or maybe those are the cause? Either i don't see them being enough or because they'd make the current game so much better?
Rather frustrating, don't have much to do otherwise...

*sigh*

PS sorry if this feels like ranting, sometimes i find easier to deal with stuff by speaking (or writing) about it. Maybe.

I think it's Reach. I dunno, I felt burnt out on it rather quickly, too. I recently replayed Halo 3 for a bit, and had so much fun, it's insane. Hail to the Chief.

 

[GhaleonEB]

That's true Ghaleon but what about the DLC maps? Also, I was half joking, I know that Firefight is here to stay and I don't expect that to change. However, if I had it my way, I would get more MP maps. Specifically, small, 4v4 maps.

I think DLC should be proportional to player interest. We are getting 2 Firefight maps and 11 Multiplayer maps for Reach's DLC. That roughly fits in line with how populated the respective playlists are. Of course, it also reflects the rough shape the MP side of things were in Reach.

I'd be happy with new Firefight maps carved out of Campaign spaces bolted onto otherwise MP-focused DLC. Errera's was Crater, and there are a lot of great spaces in the Reach campaign that could be plucked and turned into maps with relative ease.

Also, worth mentioning that we only have one truly unique Firefight map with Unearthed; I04 is taken from the Halo CEA Campaign.

This is only semi-related, but I believe that the single biggest reason Firefight is not more popular is the netcode. A laggy MP game is quite playable. A laggy Firefight game feels miserable to move, aim and jump. In a four player game, most of the time three players are pretty unhappy. You have to want to play Firefight despite the netcode, and a lot of people understandably don't put up with it.

 

[Tashi]

When you put it that way, it makes me feel greedy lol

:/

 

[Steelyuhas]

That's true Ghaleon but what about the DLC maps? Also, I was half joking, I know that Firefight is here to stay and I don't expect that to change. However, if I had it my way, I would get more MP maps. Specifically, small, 4v4 maps.

Instead of three maps per pack that we got for Halo 3 and Reach, how about DLC packs being 4 MP maps and 1 FF map for Halo 4?

 

[Gui_PT]

Guise, I'm about to rank up. Who will carry me?!

 

[The Librarian]

This is only semi-related, but I believe that the single biggest reason Firefight is not more popular is the netcode. A laggy MP game is quite playable. A laggy Firefight game feels miserable to move, aim and jump. In a four player game, most of the time three players are pretty unhappy. You have to want to play Firefight despite the netcode, and a lot of people understandably don't put up with it.

Probably. I've played Score Attack the most out of any other playlists. I stay out of the rest because of how laggy they are.

 

[Karl2177]

Introducing the ragequit medal. Kill someone and they quit less than 30 secs later, earn your ragequit medal. Most coveted medal ever.

Spoiler

if you have some critique go ahead and say something =p

I would make the medal look like this.

 

[feel]

I can hear the announcer now
"RAGE QUIT"
and have the medal pop up

so good

Steitzer: "oh.. he mad"

I want this medal!! :O





v I agree with this. FF is nice and all but maps of it shouldn't be gimping the dlc packs for people who only play versus, and FF players certainly want maps paxks with multiple FF maps and no versus.

 

[stephen08]

I think FF maps and MP maps should just be handled separately. Separate bundles, separate development projects, separate releases. Some people don't care about FF, and others don't care about MP.

 

[Hypertrooper]

I think DLC should be proportional to player interest. We are getting 2 Firefight maps and 11 Multiplayer maps for Reach's DLC. That roughly fits in line with how populated the respective playlists are. Of course, it also reflects the rough shape the MP side of things were in Reach.

I'd be happy with new Firefight maps carved out of Campaign spaces bolted onto otherwise MP-focused DLC. Errera's was Crater, and there are a lot of great spaces in the Reach campaign that could be plucked and turned into maps with relative ease.

Also, worth mentioning that we only have one truly unique Firefight map with Unearthed; I04 is taken from the Halo CEA Campaign.

This is only semi-related, but I believe that the single biggest reason Firefight is not more popular is the netcode. A laggy MP game is quite playable. A laggy Firefight game feels miserable to move, aim and jump. In a four player game, most of the time three players are pretty unhappy. You have to want to play Firefight despite the netcode, and a lot of people understandably don't put up with it.

tbh. I would blame the matchmaking.

Introducing the ragequit medal. Kill someone and they quit less than 30 secs later, earn your ragequit medal. Most coveted medal ever.

Spoiler

if you have some critique go ahead and say something =p

Perfect. Perfect. PERFECT! <3

 

[Devolution]

I would make the medal look like this.

It doesn't? Or you mean inclusion of the disc?

Also I smacked the hell out of my knee on a desk. Ugh.

 

[kittens]

Devo, that is AWESOME, hahaha.

 

[Steelyuhas]

I think DLC should be proportional to player interest. We are getting 2 Firefight maps and 11 Multiplayer maps for Reach's DLC. That roughly fits in line with how populated the respective playlists are. Of course, it also reflects the rough shape the MP side of things were in Reach.

I'd be happy with new Firefight maps carved out of Campaign spaces bolted onto otherwise MP-focused DLC. Errera's was Crater, and there are a lot of great spaces in the Reach campaign that could be plucked and turned into maps with relative ease.

Also, worth mentioning that we only have one truly unique Firefight map with Unearthed; I04 is taken from the Halo CEA Campaign.

This is only semi-related, but I believe that the single biggest reason Firefight is not more popular is the netcode. A laggy MP game is quite playable. A laggy Firefight game feels miserable to move, aim and jump. In a four player game, most of the time three players are pretty unhappy. You have to want to play Firefight despite the netcode, and a lot of people understandably don't put up with it.

That's definitely one of the main reasons that I don't play it more.

Improving the netcode significantly for Firefight should be the number one priority for Firefight in Halo 4.

 

[Hypertrooper]

btw. I haven't noticed but IGN has a own HaloIGN youtube account. I really hate their player and now I can watch the panels I missed via youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HaloIGN

 

[A27_StarWolf]

A conversation I had at PAX has rejuvenated my interest in writing a full-on article about Firefight. Not sure if I could finish it before Halo 4 ships, though. :\

Would you like some assistance? I would be willing to help.

 

[erpg]

I applaud those who have the patience to create Forge maps. I spent a good 3 or 4 hours in there today trying to get something done, and the entire time, I was at peak frustration. Guess my Tempest beach assault map is going on the shelf for a bit.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Would you like some assistance? I would be willing to help.

How should you help him with a (subjective) review?

 

[Striker]

The connection is an issue, not going to deny that. But I feel without things like Commendations and cR, I'm curious to how many would play Firefight on a daily basis. It's a farm system right now to get cR which is the reward system for Reach - if only a small amount of cR were handed out I would prefer it that way.

4v4 and 8v8 MP is and forever will be the foremost game modes for Halo. Punch out a dozen or so MP maps that aren't built in Forge or hilariously constructed like Isolation and I think most would be satisfied. As for DLC, I would prefer no FF maps were ever to be in DLC - I wouldn't want to pay an additional amount for a map which fits a mode I wouldn't play often.

 

[Gabotron ES]

Firefight maps are taken from Campaign. Very little design/art resources are pulled to create them. In fact, I'd love to play Firefight on Multiplayer maps. Many of them would work better than some of the shipping Firefight maps.

This.

 

[Karl2177]

It doesn't? Or you mean inclusion of the disc?

Also I smacked the hell out of my knee on a desk. Ugh.

Yeah. Didn't he only bend the disc?

 

[Louis Wu]

Introducing the ragequit medal. Kill someone and they quit less than 30 secs later, earn your ragequit medal. Most coveted medal ever.

lol - I got this yesterday.

Team Slayer, Kingdom. Game starts, I rush rockets. I beat bubbagump007x to the middle, pick up rocks, jump, shoot, he dies. I run back to cover.

I head around a corner, see bubbagump007x spawn a little ways away (clearly, someone ELSE killed him pretty quickly after I did). I shoot rocket number 2. He dies. 5 seconds later:

bubbagump007x quit

 

[Hypertrooper]

This.

I would prefer to see some unique spaces.

 

[Devolution]

Yeah. Didn't he only bend the disc?

No idea, he just showed a pic of the bent disc. Still tossing an xbox out of a window is more funny to me.

 

[Tha Robbertster]

Yeah. Didn't he only bend the disc?

I actually thought that looked kinda fake, like it was made of paper or cardboard.

 

[Devin Olsen]

Introducing the ragequit medal. Kill someone and they quit less than 30 secs later, earn your ragequit medal. Most coveted medal ever.

Spoiler

if you have some critique go ahead and say something =p

I need this printed onto a t-shirt, with HaloGAF written below it. lol

 

[Gui_PT]

Ghaleon, there's something wrong with your Rank. It shows you being a Nova while I'm still a Mythic.

You should have that checked.

 

[cory021]

I applaud those who have the patience to create Forge maps. I spent a good 3 or 4 hours in there today trying to get something done, and the entire time, I was at peak frustration. Guess my Tempest beach assault map is going on the shelf for a bit.

Back in Halo 3 I loved forging maps, but I just never seem to enjoy forging on Reach.

One of the reasons is that it's hard to get something to look the way you want it, since almost all the objects share a similar aesthetic.

Look at a picture of the original Citadel in H3:

And a forge remake:

It doesn't matter how good you are at forging, it's very hard to make something look how you want it to. It seems that when bungie designed the forge pieces, they weren't necessarily making them for a forger to come in and make a massive forge map the way they want it; instead it's used for small structures like the buildings on Paradiso or Hemorrhage, or a skeletal-like structure like The Cage.

It's hard to make any sort of 'personality' with the maps.

 

[TheOddOne]

Forge needs to go further, as far as changing the lighting on sections of the level.

 

[The Henery]

drop in drop out firefight with never ending games.

ai marines reinforced every wave/round or so.

covenant dropships come sporadically

vehicles come in from areas.

add dynamic map objects that change the way the fighting is done.

vehicles dropping off ordinance/reinforce vehicles more randomly.

basically you want to make it feel like a war and the last level where you just survive as long as you can.

Congratulations. You just made Firefight into something interesting instead of a mode that is like a mix of campaign and multiplayer with a predictable script.

Ragequit medal

I demand this happen!

 

[Slightly Live]

Playing Resistance 3 today....I forgot what it's like to play a FPS with health-packs and no auto-regen health!

Less than a year later, one of the most prominent gaming journalists forgets Halo: Reach even existed.

 

[squidhands]

Siege mode where the Coveys surround you, cut off your supplies and wait for winter and disease to finish you off.

Winter Contingency, where you give The Covenant blankets filled with disease and wait for them to die off. Can't wait to see that Covie Buffalo!

 

[Hypertrooper]

Less than a year later, one of the most prominent gaming journalists forget Halo: Reach even existed.

I guess he counts shield as auto regn

 

[Slightly Live]

I guess he counts shield as auto regn

The dude plays enough games to know the difference.

 

[Retro]

Can we get an Invasion map with CE:A based on the "Halo" stage of CE, when you come upon your first Forerunner structure, the marines are hiding out in it and Covenant dropships start coming in from everywhere?

Also, I know they get a lot of hate, but how interesting would some Invasion maps where you fight the Flood be? Seems fitting for CE:A.

 

[MrBig]

Less than a year later, one of the most prominent gaming journalists forgets Halo: Reach even existed.

Health in Reach barely matters.

 

[wwm0nkey]

That guy that removed bloom a year ago apparently also adding in shield bleed through AND nerfed grenades to where they dont pierce shields.

Video

The video has been up for awhile but I never bothered looking at his account lol

 

[Slightly Live]

Can we get an Invasion map with CE:A based on the "Halo" stage of CE, when you come upon your first Forerunner structure, the marines are hiding out in it and Covenant dropships start coming in from everywhere?

Also, I know they get a lot of hate, but how interesting would some Invasion maps where you fight the Flood be? Seems fitting for CE:A.

Never going to happen.

 

[Gui_PT]

Omg, everyone left the base on the last 30 seconds of the match and we lost. =(((

 

[GhaleonEB]

Suggestion: place some spawn points in - or even near - the base on Hemorrhage. Please.

Losing a Neutral Assault game a man down because our entire team spawns in the middle of the map is most unpleasant.

 

[Woorloog]

The connection is an issue, not going to deny that. But I feel without things like Commendations and cR, I'm curious to how many would play Firefight on a daily basis. It's a farm system right now to get cR which is the reward system for Reach - if only a small amount of cR were handed out I would prefer it that way.

If Reach didn't have credits, i wouldn't bother with its Firefight at all. ODST Firefight is awesome, Reach's FF is shit. Funny how small changes can ruin an entire mode.
As it is, i mostly skip FF stuff challenges (unless they have good payout compared to time/boredom investment or there's FF weekly) in Reach even when i'm in mood to play Halo.

ODST Firefight... ODST... Halo spin-off...

Am i only one who'd like more Halo spin-offs? I liked Halo Wars a lot even if the game lacked Covenant campaign and the story had two or three big plot holes. I loved ODST, it's the closest thing to Halo CE campaign so far (IMO) with positive influence from Halos 2 and 3. Though i like ODST, i think i'm tired of Halo FPSes, especially since they've been mostly same for ten years.
Halo/Ghost Recon mix would be nice. Third person shooter, based on ODSTs (or Marines but ODSTs are special forces and would suit a Ghost Recon like game better). Or a space sim. Either as small craft cockpit simulator or bridge simulator. Who'd like to command a Halcyon cruiser or fly a Longsword?
RPGs would be very tricky i think, science fiction is difficult to turn into a good RPG. Skill-based action RPG is not a good idea. We seem to be hating bloom, now think Mass Effect 1 with Halo skin. True, we'd have a skill to reduce bloom but wouldn't it be very boring to spend first points to get rid of bloom rather than develop your character properly? Something like Deus Ex Human Revolution could work as well, probably with a Spartan(2) character.
And then of course have potential for Halo Racer or another Halo RTS/TBS (in space? Think Homeworld series or [Galactic] Civilization)

Forge needs to go further, as far as changing the lighting on sections of the level.

Forge needs to be replaced with proper map editor, since it seems that Halos no longer get proper good maps shipped with them. 343i/Certain Affinity haven't proved themselves yet, not in my eyes. Highlands has potential if it's tweaked and is played in BTB and CEA maps are merely remakes, with Reach(non classic) versions apparently having ridiculous power weapon amounts. Or where those placeholder layouts?

 

[Willeth]

God dammit, Exodus isn't checkpointing me favourably at all. I want to cheat this daily, dammit!

 

[Gui_PT]

Suggestion: place some spawn points in - or even near - the base on Hemorrhage. Please.

Losing a Neutral Assault game a man down because our entire team spawns in the middle of the map is most unpleasant.

So that's what happened. I saw them all driving in and thought "It's ok, my homies got my back" and you were all by out teleporter exit. Bad spawns.

 

[Kujo]

I'm not a big fan of firefight (or any horde-ish mode) as I much prefer human vs human, rather than human vs cpu. Campaign is vs cpu, but its a directed experience with a start and a finish. FF as it is now just feels like a waste of time to me, I'll play it for some challenges every so often, but it can just get so repetitive. Maybe if it gets more dynamic, unpredictable, and some good objectives to work towards I'd like it more. Also like some dynamic music that gets more layered as more enemies appear and such.