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[op_ivy]

http://rhoxbox.com/articles/00007.html

tons of great details that were mostly glossed over in other e3 hands ons, if mentioned at all. good read

 

[Ghost]

On-line Hosting - We've all been in an Xbox LIVE game when the host drops. It sucks. Bungie agrees and has implemented a hierarchal hosting scheme that shifts the host to the next fastest connection when the original drops. Expect this trick to be in every on-line title next year.

Nice

Also confirmation Health is gone for good, just shields now.

 

[Solid]

GOTY

 

[The Promised One]

Great read, thanks. There's a few things in there that sound it bit scary though (no health?). Also, it has yet to be mentioned anywhere if the sprint is in or not.

 

[SyNapSe]

Great read, thanks. There's a few things in there that sound it bit scary though (no health?). Also, it has yet to be mentioned anywhere if the sprint is in or not.

The health thing is a little scary, but oddly enough they say one-on-one bouts last longer now? I guess the shields are much stronger?

Also, I don't under the sniper rifle. I guess we'll have to see how long the recoil is.. they basically make it sound like headshot or your not going to kill them.. which is a bit lame.

 

[AstroLad]

No Health=Rock.

 

[aerofx]

Damn I want that setup.. ahaha!

 

[neptunes]

these guys are going to be in a Mountain Dew/Halo 2 ad?

so you'll see a cross promo like this in egm.

 

[miyuru]

Also, I don't under the sniper rifle. I guess we'll have to see how long the recoil is.. they basically make it sound like headshot or your not going to kill them.. which is a bit lame.

It won't be unfair, if you've played any other FPS with similar recoil. It just means by the time your aim settles again after taking a shot, the enemy would have had say maybe a second to move without him being in your sight, so you'll have to aim again.

 

[siamesedreamer]

Nice

Also confirmation Health is gone for good, just shields now.

What? Explain.

 

[Ghost]

What? Explain.

No more health bar, no more health packs just (stronger) regenerating shields.

 

[The Faceless Master]

this is great, people that actually play halo seriously commenting...

 

[The Shadow]

No more health bar, no more health packs just (stronger) regenerating shields.

Really? That actually sounds pretty cool. I'm sure it was inspired by Halo's popularity but better than the traditional Health + Armor (Shield) pickups.

On-line Hosting - We've all been in an Xbox LIVE game when the host drops. It sucks. Bungie agrees and has implemented a hierarchal hosting scheme that shifts the host to the next fastest connection when the original drops. Expect this trick to be in every on-line title next year.

[Mr. Burns] Excellent! [/Mr. Burns]

 

[FightyF]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I always used to play with no shields, only health when playing with friends. Over time my friends came to accept it and adopted it themselves.

This kinda sucks...I hope there is an option (even if it isn't the default)!

 

[neptunes]

what about dedicated servers....

the max amount of people without serious lag?

 

[The Shadow]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I always used to play with no shields, only health when playing with friends. Over time my friends came to accept it and adopted it themselves.

This kinda sucks...I hope there is an option (even if it isn't the default)!

For the PC version, I'm sure there'll be options if not modded games.

 

[epmode]

what about dedicated servers....

the max amount of people without serious lag?

i doubt they'll have more than 16 players with or without dedicated servers. there was talk that the game isn't being designed for any more players because it gets too chaotic when they're included.

 

[GhaleonEB]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I always used to play with no shields, only health when playing with friends. Over time my friends came to accept it and adopted it themselves.

This kinda sucks...I hope there is an option (even if it isn't the default)!

This is not the final setup. Bungie has said several times that the decision on health is not final; in one of Frankie's last Bungie Updates, he said there had been a 'seperation between church and state' with respect to shields and health, but did not elaborte (as usual). In the leaked Beta shots, a shield and health meter were clearly visable, though as I said that may be in flux.

I personally hope they keep the health in the game. It does not make a huge difference in mulitplayer (usually) but it really changed how I played single player. The risks I'm willing to take with full health are very different than the risks I'll take when I'm on that last bar.

The details these guys mentioned were cool, though. It was good to read a write-up from fans who noticed the nuanced changes Bungie is implimenting. Of course, they had time to notice that, given that they played for three hours. Lucky bastards.

 

[op_ivy]

I personally hope they keep the health in the game. It does not make a huge difference in mulitplayer (usually) but it really changed how I played single player. The risks I'm willing to take with full health are very different than the risks I'll take when I'm on that last bar.

yeah, and i think thats exactly why they are considering removing the health. wouldnt it be better if you could always go balls out and not worry if your health is low? i'm actually hoping that that is the case. its certainly looking like health is gone.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

This is not the final setup. Bungie has said several times that the decision on health is not final; in one of Frankie's last Bungie Updates, he said there had been a 'seperation between church and state' with respect to shields and health, but did not elaborte (as usual). In the leaked Beta shots, a shield and health meter were clearly visable, though as I said that may be in flux.

Uh... where was the health bar in those shots? The shields were on the left... but... health I dunno...

 

[shuri]

On-line Hosting - We've all been in an Xbox LIVE game when the host drops. It sucks. Bungie agrees and has implemented a hierarchal hosting scheme that shifts the host to the next fastest connection when the original drops. Expect this trick to be in every on-line title next year.

That is absolutely awesome, and i have no idea how it can actually work, but this is just awesome.

 

[The Faceless Master]

no health would be awesome for good players... as long as you could get cover and recharge your shield, you would be on even ground... forget about it with respawn time and a small amount of players... the people who sucked would suffer more though...

kind of like the sniper recoil... people who kill in 1 hit anyway don't suffer, but the average joe bodyshot does... awesome again...

 

[GhaleonEB]

Uh... where was the health bar in those shots? The shields were on the left... but... health I dunno...

I thought the health and shields were on the right bottom, one meter for each.

yeah, and i think thats exactly why they are considering removing the health. wouldnt it be better if you could always go balls out and not worry if your health is low? i'm actually hoping that that is the case. its certainly looking like health is gone.

I can see that argument, but in the game world it doesn't make sense. MC is wearing battle armor as well as the shield - so when the shield goes down and you shoot him in the toe with a single needle, he dies? It just doesn't make sense to me. He's got two layers of armor: the shield and the body suit (I can't spell the Greek name...MJ-something), so the two indicators made sense. If he had only a shield I'd expect him to run around naked.

And think of the Marines in the game - they will sustain some fire and not die, but they are in less armor than the MC. Most people are talking about multiplayer when thinking of the shield/armor debate, but for me I can't seperate it from the logic of the game universe.

 

[The Faceless Master]

most people are thinking they can recharge to 100% instead of 55% energy (shields + 1 bar of health)

 

[Drexon]

We saw the health meter in those leaked beta shots a couple of days back...

 

[Mr. Lemming]

I'm relatively sure the meters on the bottom right relate to the current score situation in the match. They are red and blue, are under the current match type and time, are filled reflecting the number to the right of them (which I believe is the current score). The numbers are always fairly close, and on the one screen in the player messages the current player has "taken the lead" with a double kill and the "score" is 6-5.

The meter on the left appears to have a little shield icon in it, and it always appears, unlike the radar. And it is half filled when someone is shooting at the player, though to gauge if it is falling from a screenshot is impossible.

I really don't see the bottom right being a health/shield meter.

Edit: Oh and the meter also has a little arrow pointing towards the color of the player to the left of it, and there are different icons in the box... though that is difficult to see from the blurry pics... I imagine these are either the clan icons or player labels.

 

[FightyF]

no health would be awesome for good players... as long as you could get cover and recharge your shield, you would be on even ground... forget about it with respawn time and a small amount of players... the people who sucked would suffer more though...

I looked at it in an opposite fashion. I thought shields were a cheap way of staying alive longer, rather than using cover and maneuvering skills to stay alive. Shields are like unlimited health really. It's what made the game easy to play, as long as you made sure you weren't getting ambushed by many guys at once.

That's why I turned it off in multiplayer, which then makes it like any other FPS game.

I really hope we are given the option...it's not like I'm not going to play the game, it's such something I got so accustomed to... *sniff*

 

[op_ivy]

another hands on from the mt. dew contest, this one with even more new gameplay details

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/bdaiber_mountaindew.html

At any time, you can click the right stick, and zoom in 2x. (It's a cool view through Master Chiefs visor) With any weapon. Problem is, unless the weapon has a scope, you have to zoom back out to fire.

The boxes were all green (friend indicators), and the symbols inside the little box matched the symbols used to customize characters. The arrow was green when the player was not in a conflict, yellow when the player was firing a gun, and red when the player took damage. The red X remained for a short bit to tell you where your teammate had fallen.

The cement barriers around the turrets melted away under fire, and most of the cement around high action areas blew apart from the constant grenades and rockets. I actually think that you might be able to sustain damage from the debris. One time, I guarding the flag when a rocket hit the pillar above my head. It did a little bit of damage at first, then a second later, I died and my body was under a few large chunks of rock that had fallen off the pillar.

I personally believe the rocket launcher was way over powered in Halo. This is almost an entirely different weapon. First off, the fatal blast radius feels to be about 50% smaller than Halo. If your looking to kill someone with a rocket, it needs to be a lot closer. Also, to make it harder to get that pinpoint accuracy with your rocket launcher, its rate of fire is dynamic. When you first fire the rocket, it moves really slowly. Then it picks up a fair amount of speed really fast.... If Bungie was trying to make the rocket launcher more anti-vehicle and less anti-infantry, they did a good job. All in all, I love the changes to the rockets.

another great read. he also talks in depth about vehicle damage, the CTF gametype, the map, and about all the weapons.

one more quote

The frags changed a bit. They bounce a lot more than they used too. Also, the fuse is triggered on first impact, while in the last game, I believe grenades had to explode on the ground. This game, grenades will explode in the air if it's timed right.

 

[carpal]

Wow! Good shit! That flag contested bit was especially interesting.

 

[dark10x]

At any time, you can click the right stick, and zoom in 2x. (It's a cool view through Master Chiefs visor) With any weapon. Problem is, unless the weapon has a scope, you have to zoom back out to fire.

This is one thing I don't understand...

Setting the zoom to the right stick is a terrible design choice. The green thumb option is so vastly superior in every way...

'B' should be the zoom while right analog click should be the melee attack. It should be obviously as to why that is...

Melee attacks require precise aiming to be most effective. When circle strafing around opponents, pulling your thumb OFF of the aiming stick to hit 'B' just isn't efficient. It is much easier to click that stick in to attack. Zooming in usually isn't an action that requires such accuracy and works much better when set to the 'B' button...

 

[op_ivy]

This is one thing I don't understand...

Setting the zoom to the right stick is a terrible design choice. The green thumb option is so vastly superior in every way...

'B' should be the zoom while right analog click should be the melee attack. It should be obviously as to why that is...

Melee attacks require precise aiming to be most effective. When circle strafing around opponents, pulling your thumb OFF of the aiming stick to hit 'B' just isn't efficient. It is much easier to click that stick in to attack. Zooming in usually isn't an action that requires such accuracy and works much better when set to the 'B' button...

if its anything like the first, you'll be able to change it... but for me, right clicking for zoom is perfect

 

[dark10x]

if its anything like the first, you'll be able to change it... but for me, right clicking for zoom is perfect

Surely you can see the point, though. Melee becomes 10x more useful on the right stick. How often do you really need to zoom in during close combat?

 

[op_ivy]

Surely you can see the point, though. Melee becomes 10x more useful on the right stick. How often do you really need to zoom in during close combat?

i used the zoom constantly in halo 1...

melee was used, but usually only when it was planned out (ie sneaking up on someone), in which case moving my thumb off the stick to hit b wasnt a big deal. if your a melee machine, and love boxing with people, i could see that set up being better, but then you lose some of the functionality of the zoom. its a trade off

 

[akascream]

Master Chief has no health? I can live with that, but I hope enemies still have both shields and health. The dual weapon/dual health type mechanic was one of my favorite things about the original.

 

[dark10x]

i used the zoom constantly in halo 1...

melee was used, but usually only when it was planned out (ie sneaking up on someone), in which case moving my thumb off the stick to hit b wasnt a big deal. if your a melee machine, and love boxing with people, i could see that set up being better, but then you lose some of the functionality of the zoom. its a trade off

Well, the thing is, melee is an actual attack which requires accuracy...zooming in is simply a toggle while doesn't require accuracy until you are actually attacking. I also stayed away from the melee until I was shown the light. Right stick melee is one major addition to anyone's game. At this point, I don't even zoom in often. I shoot for the head while running. Pistol or sniper rifle, it doesn't matter, I rarely zoom in anymore...even though I used to.

I guess it just depends on your play style. I've become very aggressive and will jump into a multi-man fight with the intention of killing each of them.

You should consider giving it a shot sometime, just for shits. You might be suprised at how useful it can become. The melee is one of the best attacks in the entire game and being able to pull it off on a whim can be the difference between winning and dying.

My weakest point is the charge plasma pistol, though. I just suck with that weapon. In a map like Prisoner, where I can normally dominate, starting with those plasmas can REALLY foul up my game.

Master Chief has no health? I can live with that, but I hope enemies still have both shields and health. The dual weapon/dual health type mechanic was one of my favorite things about the original.

I believe that it only applies to multiplayer.

 

[akascream]

My weakest point is the charge plasma pistol, though. I just suck with that weapon. In a map like Prisoner, where I can normally dominate, starting with those plasmas can REALLY foul up my game.

This weapon has a great rate of fire. Try to find the sweet spot in the trigger and you can shoot it so damn fast. It's almost broken, really.

I believe that it only applies to multiplayer.

Oh, cool.

 

[op_ivy]

i use melee quite a bit actually, i just dont see the need to take it off of the b button. while i see your point that you can more easily track and pummel your opponent with it on the same stick, i'm not willing to give up the zoom for that...

when i say i use the zoom, i mean i'm constantly switching between zoomed and unzoomed scanning for enemies or for targets. my play style could not be adapted to the b button for "toggling" the zoom, it just wouldnt work. thankfully, i can and have adapted to melee attacking with the b, and while i'm sure its not quite as percise as it would be your way, it still works effective enough.

 

[Jesiatha]

Surely you can see the point, though. Melee becomes 10x more useful on the right stick. How often do you really need to zoom in during close combat?

Having zoom on the right stick makes the pistol a much better weapon. As you said, it depends on play style - whether you want extra accuracy with the pistol from a distance, or extra accuracy with melees up close.

 

[dark10x]

This weapon has a great rate of fire. Try to find the sweet spot in the trigger and you can shoot it so damn fast. It's almost broken, really.

Really? I need to work on it some more...

That weapon cost me a tourney. I was absolutely destroying everyone and had the lowest number of deaths overall (by quite a wide margin). However, the guys running this knew very little about how Halo was set up and mistakenly switched the scheme to something else. The official rules stated the previous loadout (assault + pistol), but they didn't seem to know or care and just let it go. I made it to the very end, and in the last match, I got stuck with the plasma. I lost by 1 frag.

Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal...but I know I could have dominated if I had the pistol (which isn't even available in Prisoner).

What's even worse, they also started making us use standard profiles due to someone cheating somehow...and I lost Green thumb. So, my melee went to shit and I was stuck with a weapon I suck with. The match became a launcher battle, for the most part. I really need practice with the plasma.

Having zoom on the right stick makes the pistol a much better weapon. As you said, it depends on play style - whether you want extra accuracy with the pistol from a distance, or extra accuracy with melees up close.

I disagree. The pistol is my primary weapon, and I can accurately shoot to the pistols limit. I need not zoom in at all anymore. I'll admit, it varies a bit depending on the TV being used. On my HD set at home, it's a snap to see everyone from anywhere...but on a 13" with RF cables...it becomes a problem. Still, I can quickly zoom in and out with the 'B' button as it is because you don't NEED to aim during a zoom. It's just a quick toggle, unlike the melee which requires you to nail your hit. Timing is key with the melee...not the zoom (or at least not to the same degree).

 

[6.8]

You can shoot it faster than the AI shoots at you in Legendary if you get it well.

 

[DopeyFish]

the plasma pistol is an evil weapon. When playing even the single player game, i use just that weapon if i can because it just massacres everything in my path.

 

[op_ivy]

You can shoot it faster than the AI shoots at you in Legendary if you get it well.

really? even if i think i nail the timing, i cant even get as rapid as those sons of bitches fire. i too will have to mess around with the pistol

 

[border]

Sounds pretty cool so far...

 

[6.8]

really? even if i think i nail the timing, i cant even get as rapid as those sons of bitches fire. i too will have to mess around with the pistol

Yup. I might suck at this game in general, but I'm deity-material with the Plasma Pistol. Of course, hitting the trigger so fast gets tiresome quickly, so the rate naturally goes down, but still, I think it's achievable.

 

[Joe]

it's more than possible. one of my friends can shoot that thing so fast you cant help but laugh hysterically.

 

[seismologist]

Sounds like some nice improvements are being made. I'm really hoping for a PC version since I'm so used to playing Halo deathmatch on PC.

 

[Apharmd Battler]

Thanks for the posts...good stuff!!

 

[eso76]

Setting the zoom to the right stick is a terrible design choice. The green thumb option is so vastly superior in every way... [cut]

I agree all the way. Since melee attack must be used in close range you have to be able to aim and follow your opponent's movements while trying to hit him, so you can't take your finger off the stick: unless he's totally unaware of your presence he'll easily sidestep away from your hit range, if you can't correct your attack's direction on the fly.

When you need to zoom in, that's obviously because your opponent is quite far. This means he'll move slower on your screen, and you will have enough time to take your finger off the right stick, zoom, and catch up with him.

That said, i'm sure controls will be customizable.

 

[Fjord]

Only map I really like plasma pistol on is Battlecreek. A plasma punch is incredibly lethal in close quarters. Start off with a charged up shot which will remove their shield then a single melee attack will be just enough to drop them. If you do it right it all happens in the blink of an eye.

 

[TAJ]

>>>My weakest point is the charge plasma pistol, though. I just suck with that weapon. In a map like Prisoner, where I can normally dominate, starting with those plasmas can REALLY foul up my game.

This weapon has a great rate of fire. Try to find the sweet spot in the trigger and you can shoot it so damn fast. It's almost broken, really.<<<<

It was easily my favorite weapon in the first game, (shotgun is better against Flood, but they're so dumb it doesn't matter what weapon you use) and I never used the charged shot. It's a waste since I can deal damage faster with the regular shots. When I use it, it has over twice the rate of fire of the plasma rifle on full auto, and no ramp-up to full rate of fire. The battery also lasts a lot longer than on the rifle.