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[EazyB]

Wow, Bungie really hates the Sniper! I personally dont see why they feel the need to nerf it so much. Its very rare that a person on the other team can dominate you with it and even then its not all that difficult to kill him if you get close enough. If a person is so good they can snipe well and keep themselves alive they deserve the quick kills in my opinion.

Videos like the one posted earlier today where the guy dominated with the sniper on valhalla would be impossible with Reach , even if your really good, the time limitations would make those chances impossible.

Nerf weapons that are hard to use but extremely rewarding once mastered, buff weapons like the AR so that even the poor kids born without thumbs can get a kill.

CoD syndrome.

It wouldn't be impossible, you'd just have to think twice about reloading after taking one shot which almost everyone does in Halo 3 right now.

They already said they were bumping up the time it takes between shots. That cvg article says "reload time" but if you've learned anything from reading the press coverage of Reach you should know they don't have a fucking clue what they're talking about. "...the Needler Rifle, combines elements of the old Covenant Carbine and the homing pink mist of the Needler..."

Seriously, unless they get hands on with the game, I'd much rather Bungie just give us the info directly. 99% of the press does a shit job at it.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Hi everyone.

 

[EazyB]

The only thing we know about the AR is that the firing sound is better. Also, it makes sparks. You've jumped on the conclusions mat to further describe what you see in Halo, rather than what is actually known.

I jumped to conclusions in order to make a joke about Halo becoming so accessible kids without thumbs can play it.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I jumped to conclusions in order to make a joke about Halo becoming so accessible kids without thumbs can play it.

You forgot to make your sarcasm delectable to me, Eazy. Ghaleon-proofing your posts can be difficult, but I appreciate the effort so I don't look so dumb in the future.

 

[NOKYARD]

Astounding - apparently my total is

21 Days 5 Hours 39 Minutes 52 Seconds

According to this app, you've played Halo 3 for 62 minutes more than I have. :lol (Well, if we're going to be ACCURATE, 61 minutes and 57 seconds.)

I wonder how much time 20,000+ 'games' of Forge amounts to?

I'm not about to compile the Linux version to find out. And… do i really want to know?

 

[user_nat]

This stat compiler is taking forever on my work internet.

I stopped it with 3800 games to go, 16d playtime so far. So it should end up over double that.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

We have no idea how much the sniper is being "nerfed". That's CVG's interpretation of the comment that the sniper rifle has a slightly longer span between shots. They could be bumping the time between shots from .7 seconds to .9 seconds for all we know. Seems like the normal kind of balancing any sequel goes through when the weapons are tweaked.

Fair point, but didnt they already confirm that it was going to more than a second between shots fired? If not im totally wrong :lol

I remember reading that either in the first magazine article released or in a weekly update, maybe I just misread.

While it may not be true, what EazyB said about CoD syndrome made me lol

 

[kylej]

48 days, 2 hours, 46 minutes, 47 seconds total Halo 3 playing time.

Good lord.

 

[Sai-kun]

How do you figure out your total playtime with that app a few pages ago?

 

[kylej]

How do you figure out your total playtime with that app a few pages ago?

Once all your games are tallied

Click the "Summary" tab on the bottom then the "Total Stats" tab below that.

On the right hand side it will say Total Stats for... with a button to tally All Games In List. Click that button.

 

[Sai-kun]

145 days. :lol :lol holy shit.

 

[BladedExpert]

56 days 43 mins 10 secs

sheeeeeiit

145 days. :lol :lol holy shit.

I think you need to un-check "Get All Player Sums"

 

[les papillons sexuels]

all we know is that the delay on the sniper is increasing, but they might also increase the damage for it too.

We also don't know how well it plays into the new health mechanics, and with word that the health bar takes longer to recharge, it might be more costly overall to take a shot from a sniper rifle, even without getting killed by it. Especially with the overall increase in firepower from weapons.

just my 2 cents.

 

[Louis Wu]

56 days 43 mins 10 secs

sheeeeeiit

That's two whole months of your life.

Wow.

 

[BladedExpert]

56 days 43 mins 10 secs

sheeeeeiit

That's two whole months of your life.

Wow.

Are you trying to make me cry?? :lol

 

[Sai-kun]

56 days 43 mins 10 secs

sheeeeeiit



I think you need to un-check "Get All Player Sums"

I don't think it was checked, but now it's 14 days. That seems low though. :lol

 

[Merguson]

Are you trying to make me cry?? :lol

Don't worry. People have gotten half that amount in MW2 already.

Spoiler

Do you feel better now?

 

[user_nat]

Some of these stats are actually pretty interesting (or will be when I finish).

It's interesting to see what month I played the most games in, which is so far January 2008 with 611. Which also happens to have the worst K/D I ever had in a month, 1.08.

 

[Hydranockz]

Cheers for the tips regarding the LAN and the infection maps. My main concern is being in a room for 12 hours with the super casual players...

*notices on guy looking at a fusion coil on Headlong when defending the bomb site*
Me: "I wouldn't shoot that, it will blow up."
*Shield depleting noise*
Me: "..... uuuuugh".

 

[BladedExpert]

I don't think it was checked, but now it's 14 days. That seems low though. :lol

With it checked mine was almost a year. I play a lot, but that would be ridiculous!

Don't worry. People have gotten half that amount in MW2 already.

Spoiler

Do you feel better now?

Not much :lol

 

[Lazslo]

sheeeeeiit

That's two whole months of your life.

Wow.

Haha I actually laughed out loud when I read that. That kinda sucks knowing that, there's no way I want to know that.

 

[Tashi]

I'm scared to look at this game time tracker. It's taking forever to compile! lolol

 

[Sanic]

Potentially noob question, but i'll ask it anyway.

When Halo 3 came out I mainly played lone Wolves and ranked up to 39 I believe, and then just sorta stopped playing. I'm now, 2.5 years later, interested in jumping back in and seeing if I can rank up any further. Any tips? Anything I should be aware of? I know its kind of a broad question. I'm just sort of jumping back into halo again after being away so long. I haven't played a ranked match in probably two years, and have no clue how the new ranking system works, but i'll spare you guys from explaining that one and go look it up myself .

 

[big ander]

Potentially noob question, but i'll ask it anyway.

When Halo 3 came out I mainly played lone Wolves and ranked up to 39 I believe, and then just sorta stopped playing. I'm now, 2.5 years later, interested in jumping back in and seeing if I can rank up any further. Any tips? Anything I should be aware of? I know its kind of a broad question. I'm just sort of jumping back into halo again after being away so long. I haven't played a ranked match in probably two years, and have no clue how the new ranking system works, but i'll spare you guys from explaining that one and go look it up myself .

Ranking for skill and overall EXP works the same, but now each individual playlist has it's own exp-based rank. For example: I'm a commander grade 3

Spoiler

lol beek I know

overall, but my ~180 exp in social slayer makes me a Major Grade 3 in that playlist. I'm still a Commander grade 3 overall, though.
As for lone wolves tips...I haven't played LW in FOREVER. I mostly hate FFA. But I guess my advice would be to find a good spot to hang back a bit while picking off kills with a BR, but still remain close enough to at least one power weapon. Also, don't chase kills.

 

[Sanic]

Cool, thanks.

I just wasn't sure if anything dramatic had changed in tactics or what not, i'm trying to find some more info now. And i'm sure it would be a good idea to hop in the unranked FFA hopper first for some practice as well.

 

[Iknos]

ForgeHub featured maps are usually quite good, though I could be a little biased being staff.

Will check out those featured maps. That's what I needed. Don't have time to check out if maps are any good I just want to grab some good ones from the get go. Very helpful thanks.

Look no further!

This is great too. The crew I play Halo 3 with aren't into infection but I've had some great custom online games with it and it might have to do with having the right maps.

a website comparing Killzone 2's head polycount to Reach's polycount...

Yeah its a great idea to compare a corridor shooters head poly's to a large environment shooter's head poly lol

KZ2 is somewhat large in parts. Not a completely corridor shooter as some say. Some KZ2 multiplayer maps are larger than Halo 3's biggest maps.

They should compare the Mongoose in Halo 3 to the Mongoose equivalent in KZ2 if you catch my drift. While KZ2 is larger it doesn't have the ground and air vehicle mayhem thrown into the mix.

 

[Mayyhem]

20d 3h 41m 36s

Dude....

 

[Dirtbag]

If the new AR is as good as it looks (and sounds), that wouldn't bother me a bit. Could lose the Mauler as well.

With no dual wielding, there is no reason to keep an SMG, Mauler, Spiker over the AR/Shotgun.
And with the DMR/Pistol replacing the BR
I don't see any reason you shouldn't assume the Needle Rifle won't be replacing the Carbine outright either.

DMR/Pistol/Needle Rifle is enough variety IMO.

The weapon I wonder the most about being the Brute shot vs. the Grenade Launcher.
I've grown to love the Brute Shot, and I'm wondering to what extent the Brutes will appear in Reach now that we've seen the character model. I guess they'll return to their Halo 2, plasma rifle, human shotgun setups. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Brutes used very sparingly, hopefully just to get some Brute Cheiftens in the campaign/firefight a few times.

I dont care what anyone has to say, fighting a brute pack with a Cheiften was the best Halo has had to offer yet. I hope they return

 

[JaggedSac]

10d 8h 3m 54s

I bow to you guys.

 

[Iknos]

Sniper is definitely the weapon that needs the most tweaking. Glad Bungie is working on that and not, you know, making spikers or plasma rifles worth picking up. Bungie needs to have local Halo nerds come into the studio and tell them what works and does not work. They seem to have difficulty finding map flaws and balance issues themselves.

I want your expert Halo opinions on the Plasma Sword. Isn't it a bit too cheap?

Playing 2 vs 2 splitscreen it's easy for a guy with the sword to dominate. The auto-target reach is quite long and the Sword's "lifespan" is pretty long. You can get over 10 kills with it.

Depends on the map...larger maps the sword is useless. Can't find it on some of the bigger maps in fact. Since it's 2 on 2 we stick to smaller maps like the Pit and Construct.

Or am I just a n00b that should adapt to it and get better...

 

[Merguson]

Playtime: 17d 5h 50m 41s

Spoiler

is relieved

70.1% Win Percentage.

 

[Kapura]

We have no idea how much the sniper is being "nerfed". That's CVG's interpretation of the comment that the sniper rifle has a slightly longer span between shots. They could be bumping the time between shots from .7 seconds to .9 seconds for all we know. Seems like the normal kind of balancing any sequel goes through when the weapons are tweaked.

Based on the sounds we were given earlier, the time between each sniper shot was roughly .8 s. Not a huge bump, but somewhat noticeable. Reload did seem long, though.

 

[EazyB]

Hadn't messed around with that H3 stat calculator for a really long while. I always get a kick out of this sorta stuff. Some stats:

31 days 13 hours played.
Total people played with: 27382

Spoiler

Guessing this is about half of what it'd be if I played with randoms.

27569 BR kills
3337 chops
16 plasma pistol

Maps with highest K/D:
Avalanche: 2.6
Sandtrap: 2.58
Valhalla: 2.54

Maps with lowest K/D:
Gaurdian: 1.44
Construct: 1.45
Foundry: 1.5

Some graphs:
Games each month Also known as getting weary of the same shit.
Win/lose % per month
K/D per month October was good to me.
Time of day I play
I guess March 08 was a bad month

 

[vhfive]

where's mah podcast

 

[GhaleonEB]

With no dual wielding, there is no reason to keep an SMG, Mauler, Spiker over the AR/Shotgun.
And with the DMR/Pistol replacing the BR
I don't see any reason you shouldn't assume the Needle Rifle won't be replacing the Carbine outright either.

DMR/Pistol/Needle Rifle is enough variety IMO.

The weapon I wonder the most about being the Brute shot vs. the Grenade Launcher.
I've grown to love the Brute Shot, and I'm wondering to what extent the Brutes will appear in Reach now that we've seen the character model. I guess they'll return to their Halo 2, plasma rifle, human shotgun setups. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Brutes used very sparingly, hopefully just to get some Brute Cheiftens in the campaign/firefight a few times.

I dont care what anyone has to say, fighting a brute pack with a Cheiften was the best Halo has had to offer yet. I hope they return

I'm hoping the Brute serve the purpose the Flood did in the Halo trilogy: get introduced mid-game as a way to introduce an entirely new primary enemy to combat (similar to how they were handled in Halo 2, actually). Brute pack encounters rocked, and so do the good Elite encounters in Halo 1. Hopefully Reach is the best of both worlds.

The Needle Rifle does seem like the new Carbine; I'm glad they're tinkering with the old weapon set so much.

Still tinkering with the stats tool. Most interesting thing I found was 71% of my games have been in BTB playlists.

32% | Big Team Social
21% | Social Big Team
10% | DLC Big Team
07% | Ranked Big Team

As for maps:

19.8% Valhalla 454
15.9% Sandtrap 364
13.1% Standoff 301
12.4% Avalanche 284
12.3% Rat's Nest 282
6.4% Last Resort 148
3.4% Sandbox 79
2.4% Foundry 54
2.1% The Pit 49
2.0% Ghost Town 47
1.4% Snowbound 33
1.4% Guardian 32
1.1% High Ground 26
1.1% Narrows 25
0.9% Construct 20
0.8% Assembly 19
0.8% Isolation 19
0.8% Blackout 19
0.7% Orbital 17
0.6% Epitaph 13
0.3% Cold Storage 7
0.1% Longshore 3
0.0% Citadel 1

 

[Blueblur1]

34d 8h 15m 1s

Is there a Halo 2 compiler out there? That would be much more interesting to tally.

 

[big ander]

where's mah podcast

February podcast wasn't meant to be. Urk promised 2 for March.

 

[Kapura]

February podcast wasn't meant to be. Urk promised 2 for March.

But he promised one for Feb. How srsly can we take his promises?

 

[WickedLaharl]

question for those that have seen halo legends. what the hell was the very end of origins part 2 all about?

 

[Domino Theory]

Can someone do mine? I don't want to deal with downloading random shit.

 

[RebornYeti]

But he promised one for Feb. How srsly can we take his promises?

Well, one of the guys was sick, so they had to postpone it. Gosh.

 

[Thermite]

My total time played: 28d 19h 39m 92s.

Total Kills
60,180

Total Deaths
43,491

Top 3 "kill methods"
28,299 BR kills
5,134 Melee kills
4,798 Sniper Rifle kills

 

[FilthyLies]

No OSX version of that stats compiler

Probably for the best though, I'd imagine that number would only serve to depress me.

 

[Kapura]

Just took my totals.
Playtime: 10d 16h 47m 49s
Avg life: 43s (lol terrible)
3 times more beatdowns than double kills
I am a BK

 

[Tashi]

Making a Mythic Map Pack 2 trailer for fun. Any Halo music recommendation? I figure it's going to be about 1:30 - 2:00 minutes long. I'm thinking of either using Lone Wolf from Reach or Neon Night from ODST. The songs can be longer or shorter, doesn't matter. I'm not exactly sure what kind of mood I want it to be. Those songs are pretty different. All Halo OST suggestions are welcome and actually if you've got a really awesome instrumental Non Halo song, I'll take those as well. I wish I could use the song from the ODST trailer again, that song is amazing.

edit: also, cool interview with Frank from IGN Australia

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1073289p1.html

 

[RebornYeti]

Stats for: RebornYeti

Games: 1123
Team Games: 997
Wins: 598
Ties: 26
Win %: 53.3
Playtime: 5d 23h 35m 14s
Avg. Life: 39 secs.
K/D Ratio: 1.28 (That's so weird cause that's my ratio in MW2 and BC2 demo. :lol )

Hmm.. I honestly thought I played more. Oh well.

 

[ToyMachine228]

A little late to jump on the boat here but I just read about the new thing Bungie's been teasing for Reach. Can't wait to find out what it is. I haven't been this excited for a game in quite some time.

 

[Sai-kun]

Making a Mythic Map Pack 2 trailer for fun. Any Halo music recommendation? I figure it's going to be about 1:30 - 2:00 minutes long. I'm thinking of either using Lone Wolf from Reach or Neon Night from ODST. The songs can be longer or shorter, doesn't matter. I'm not exactly sure what kind of mood I want it to be. Those songs are pretty different. All Halo OST suggestions are welcome and actually if you've got a really awesome instrumental Non Halo song, I'll take those as well. I wish I could use the song from the ODST trailer again, that song is amazing.

edit: also, cool interview with Frank from IGN Australia

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/107/1073289p1.html

Neon Night! The piano section! Best music ever.

 

[kylej]

I want your expert Halo opinions on the Plasma Sword. Isn't it a bit too cheap?

Playing 2 vs 2 splitscreen it's easy for a guy with the sword to dominate. The auto-target reach is quite long and the Sword's "lifespan" is pretty long. You can get over 10 kills with it.

Depends on the map...larger maps the sword is useless. Can't find it on some of the bigger maps in fact. Since it's 2 on 2 we stick to smaller maps like the Pit and Construct.

Or am I just a n00b that should adapt to it and get better...

Maybe in splitscreen it can dominate. Shotgun would probably dominate in the same circumstances. If you turn off radar 2v2 you would remove the sword's element of surprise. If someone's camping you can ping him with a BR or snipe and he won't have a chance.

Sword isn't inherently overpowered or underpowered like spikers or plasma rifles. It only has strength at one range and you can only be successful with it on a few maps with 4v4 or more people. Spikers and plasma rifles aren't effective at any range which makes them broken.

Halo 2 sword on the other hand...

 

[t4ng0]

Halo 2 Sword on Midship was a thing to be feared. OH GOD SWORD RED1!! as you see 3 X's pop up :lol