Halo 4 has lessened the skill gap

Games Other Halo
1

I like Halo 4 and what it has to offer. I feel a lot of people on these forums still like this game, but all of the “little” problems with this game have just added up in to one big problem that I think the older fans are annoyed of, and that’s that this game is Noob-friendly.

  1. The DMR is very noob friendly. High rate of fire and range make it a very versatile gun to use.

  2. The Aim Assist is aweful on this game. The Beam Rifle, DMR, and Railgun are very bad in this area.

  3. The Boltshot - a one-shot kill weapon as a loadout weapon

  4. Personal Ordnance (along with Ordnance Priority and Requisition) - Allows spartans to get sniper rifles and rocket launchers after only a few kills.

  5. Random ordnance drops - gives spartans a lucky opportunity for an incineration cannon to drop just 10 ft in front of them.

  6. Ordnance drops on the HUD - No longer do spartans have to memorize the timers and locations of power weapons. Instead they wait for it to appear on their screen.

  7. Plasma pistols and plasma grenades as loadout weapons - No longer do spartans have to work as a team to take down a tough warthog. A spartan can take down a tank all by himself with these two weapons.

  8. Jetpack and Active Camo - These perks make running and exposing spartans easier than it used to. I am guilty of being a jetpack user.

  9. Instant Respawn - is aweful on FFA games. It’s ridiculous that I can get killed, respawn, and start shooting the same spartan that killed me before he can even regenerate his shield.

These are just some of the “little” things that have bothered me off the top of my head. Even if they corrected half of these things I feel like it would help this game out.

If you can think of something that you think has helped decrease the skill gap in this game feel free to comment below.

2

Noobs are people too.

3

Flinch - A lot of people say that flinch is more challenging then descoping, but unless your using the dmr, snipers will dominate

4

> Noobs are people too.

Yes but its clear 343 catering to them is not keeping the population alive, or even remotely stable.

5

Noobs definitely are people too, and I’m not saying that noobs shouldn’t play. What I’m trying to say is that it’s frustrating that anyone can pick up Halo 4 and immediately be good, because of all the noob-friendly additions to the game. It was the same experience I had with COD. I was new to the series, but all I had to do was pick the Type 95 and FMJ and I was a solid COD player. I eventually got bored with the game, and left anyways, while the die-hard COD fans were probably upset that those overpowered weapons were put there in the first place.

I don’t want the same thing to happen to Halo.

6

Don’t forget bullet magnetism!
(I guess that goes along with auto-aim to some extent.)
This is really bad with the DMR, you can still kill someone in 5-8 shots even when your reticle isn’t red.

7

> I like Halo 4 and what it has to offer. I feel a lot of people on these forums still like this game, but all of the “little” problems with this game have just added up in to one big problem that I think the older fans are annoyed of, and that’s that this game is Noob-friendly.
>
> 1. The DMR is very noob friendly. High rate of fire and range make it a very versatile gun to use.
>
> 2. The Aim Assist is aweful on this game. The Beam Rifle, DMR, and Railgun are very bad in this area.
>
> 3. The Boltshot - a one-shot kill weapon as a loadout weapon
>
> 4. Personal Ordnance (along with Ordnance Priority and Requisition) - Allows spartans to get sniper rifles and rocket launchers after only a few kills.
>
> 5. Random ordnance drops - gives spartans a lucky opportunity for an incineration cannon to drop just 10 ft in front of them.
>
> 6. Ordnance drops on the HUD - No longer do spartans have to memorize the timers and locations of power weapons. Instead they wait for it to appear on their screen.
>
> 7. Plasma pistols and plasma grenades as loadout weapons - No longer do spartans have to work as a team to take down a tough warthog. A spartan can take down a tank all by himself with these two weapons.
>
> 8. Jetpack and Active Camo - These perks make running and exposing spartans easier than it used to. I am guilty of being a jetpack user.
>
> 9. Instant Respawn - is aweful on FFA games. It’s ridiculous that I can get killed, respawn, and start shooting the same spartan that killed me before he can even regenerate his shield.
>
> These are just some of the “little” things that have bothered me off the top of my head. Even if they corrected half of these things I feel like it would help this game out.
>
> If you can think of something that you think has helped decrease the skill gap in this game feel free to comment below.

Facts:

I have played over 5000 Halo 4 MM games. I check the stats/carnage report after every single game. The majority of people, game after game, if one looks at their Service Record, have more deaths than kills across their Halo 4 MM career, that is, negative KD.

If the game, Halo 4, took less skill, as you claim, then why do the factual majority of players have negative KDs?

Well, it is a matter of perception!

For those Halo veteran skilled players, AAs, ODs and map pick ups make the game, to them, seem easier than past Halos and, they put up threads like yours! But the reality is, Halo 4 MM is the hardest yet, despite the addition of more AAs and the introduction of ODs. Game in and game out, if one checks the carnage report, most players are lucky to even get one kill with their OD or map pick up weapon, such as the Rail Gun, Fuel Rod Canon and so on. Rather, it is the skilled Halo veteran players or new players to Halo who have skills, that pick up or call in a particular weapon, such as the Railgun and get 3 or 4 kills with it or the Fuel Rod Canon and get 10 or more kills with it. The fact is, the new toys actually make the skill gap higher still and the better skilled players dominant teh game. This is a huge part,IMO, why the Halo 4 MM population declined so rapidly; the game is hard!

Yet, through the constant negative threads on these forums, mostly by the Halo veteran skilled players, the game is becoming harder still. The weapon tweaking will make the kill times faster and the MM games faster overall. This bodes badly for the majority of the remaining players, hence, I predict a large drop off in player numbers post weapon tweak introduction 3rd June 2013.

No, this game takes skill and those who say otherwise, well, the facts are there for you to view, game after game or, go back and study the carnage reports of your past games and look at other player Service Records…start looking at your future game stats/carnage reports,look at the players who get only one or two kills with a weapon that you claim is easy to use, due to this or that excuse, ad then look at their Service Record. Then, look at the Service Records of the ones that actually perform well with the weapon.

We are fast approaching the point where the fact will be that the Halo veterans killed Halo 4 by insisting the game was too easy and lacked skill and the skill gap needed to be larger.

8

> > I like Halo 4 and what it has to offer. I feel a lot of people on these forums still like this game, but all of the “little” problems with this game have just added up in to one big problem that I think the older fans are annoyed of, and that’s that this game is Noob-friendly.
> >
> > 1. The DMR is very noob friendly. High rate of fire and range make it a very versatile gun to use.
> >
> > 2. The Aim Assist is aweful on this game. The Beam Rifle, DMR, and Railgun are very bad in this area.
> >
> > 3. The Boltshot - a one-shot kill weapon as a loadout weapon
> >
> > 4. Personal Ordnance (along with Ordnance Priority and Requisition) - Allows spartans to get sniper rifles and rocket launchers after only a few kills.
> >
> > 5. Random ordnance drops - gives spartans a lucky opportunity for an incineration cannon to drop just 10 ft in front of them.
> >
> > 6. Ordnance drops on the HUD - No longer do spartans have to memorize the timers and locations of power weapons. Instead they wait for it to appear on their screen.
> >
> > 7. Plasma pistols and plasma grenades as loadout weapons - No longer do spartans have to work as a team to take down a tough warthog. A spartan can take down a tank all by himself with these two weapons.
> >
> > 8. Jetpack and Active Camo - These perks make running and exposing spartans easier than it used to. I am guilty of being a jetpack user.
> >
> > 9. Instant Respawn - is aweful on FFA games. It’s ridiculous that I can get killed, respawn, and start shooting the same spartan that killed me before he can even regenerate his shield.
> >
> > These are just some of the “little” things that have bothered me off the top of my head. Even if they corrected half of these things I feel like it would help this game out.
> >
> > If you can think of something that you think has helped decrease the skill gap in this game feel free to comment below.
>
> Facts:
>
> I have played over 5000 Halo 4 MM games. I check the stats/carnage report after every single game. The majority of people, game after game, if one looks at their Service Record, have more deaths than kills across their Halo 4 MM career, that is, negative KD.
>
> If the game, Halo 4, took less skill, as you claim, then why do the factual majority of players have negative KDs?
>
> Well, it is a matter of perception!
>
> For those Halo veteran skilled players, AAs, ODs and map pick ups make the game, to them, seem easier than past Halos and, they put up threads like yours! But the reality is, Halo 4 MM is the hardest yet, despite the addition of more AAs and the introduction of ODs. Game in and game out, if one checks the carnage report, most players are lucky to even get one kill with their OD or map pick up weapon, such as the Rail Gun, Fuel Rod Canon and so on. Rather, it is the skilled Halo veteran players or new players to Halo who have skills, that pick up or call in a particular weapon, such as the Railgun and get 3 or 4 kills with it or the Fuel Rod Canon and get 10 or more kills with it. The fact is, the new toys actually make the skill gap higher still and the better skilled players dominant teh game. This is a huge part,IMO, why the Halo 4 MM population declined so rapidly; the game is hard!
>
> Yet, through the constant negative threads on these forums, mostly by the Halo veteran skilled players, the game is becoming harder still. The weapon tweaking will make the kill times faster and the MM games faster overall. This bodes badly for the majority of the remaining players, hence, I predict a large drop off in player numbers post weapon tweak introduction 3rd June 2013.
>
> No, this game takes skill and those who say otherwise, well, the facts are there for you to view, game after game or, go back and study the carnage reports of your past games and look at other player Service Records…start looking at your future game stats/carnage reports,look at the players who get only one or two kills with a weapon that you claim is easy to use, due to this or that excuse, ad then look at their Service Record. Then, look at the Service Records of the ones that actually perform well with the weapon.
>
> We are fast approaching the point where the fact will be that the Halo veterans killed Halo 4 by insisting the game was too easy and lacked skill and the skill gap needed to be larger.

I appreciate your input and I think you have a lot of good points. I think where I see differently than you is that the game is harder, because there’s so many ways you can get killed. You can get cross-mapped by someone with a DMR who generally isn’t that good. You can go around a corner and get boltshotted by a camper crouching with armor ability. I can get shot down with a rocket launcher, by a guy without a single kill but 5 assists from a guy with ordnance priority. When I check the tool of destruction, most people will have the DMR because it is so user friendly. With these new weapon updates, almost every weapon will be designed to kill you faster like you said.

9

This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not flame or attack other members.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

Wolf blade just said this is the hardest halo yet. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

-Yoinking!- idiot.

10

> Flinch - A lot of people say that flinch is more challenging then descoping, but unless your using the dmr, snipers will dominate

Ahh yes. I hate flinch. Wish they would go back to descoping.

11

>

It’s the hardest for me, because I’m stuck with only the Plasma Pistol commendation left, and I keep getting killed by DMR’s. :slight_smile:

12

> 8. Jetpack and Active Camo - These perks make running and exposing spartans easier than it used to. <mark>I am guilty of being a jetpack user</mark>.

Its okay, I am too. It just depends how you use it, shooting while using it is not okay, but using it for map travel is good.

13

> The fact is, the new toys actually make the skill gap higher still and the better skilled players dominant teh game. This is a huge part,IMO, why the Halo 4 MM population declined so rapidly; the game is hard!

Nope, LoL is the most played game to date, a very hard game to do well in, so is DotA 2 and that’s rising in population, a lot of people argue that DotA 2 is harder than LoL as well.

It has absolutley nothing to do with how easy or hard the game is. It’s the game content that’s the problem and how it’s been implemented.

Furthermore, it wouldn’t be a problem with a proper system in place that matched players of equal skill, but since the population is what it is, even matches are very very rare.

There’s no skill gap with ordnance drops as you can’t predict it, the problem is that it gets frustrating when the game decides to be unbalanced. It wasn’t fun when I played Longbow and I started getting killed by Inc Cannocs and Binary rifles. It wasn’t fun when I jumped into a warthog to be laserd a second later.

Then, it’s not fun getting those weapons without effort and start doing the same thing myself. It’s random, inconsistent and totally chaotic. In the events of equal teams, there’s no skill involved that actually would matter, all that matters is what drops a team will get, that’s what’s going to decide the outcome of the match, totally out of controll for both teams.

It however seems to be a very difficult concept to grasp for some people.

> We are fast approaching the point where the fact will be that the Halo veterans killed Halo 4 by insisting the game was too easy and lacked skill and the skill gap needed to be larger.

Really, Halo veterans have had so much input into Halo 4 that it “killed” it? Get real, both new players and old alike opt for weapon balance.

Games are only better if the skill gap is larger as it’s easier to differentiate players from each other.

“CoDification/Modernisation” killed Halo 4.

Halo 4 is not hard, far from it. It’s inconsistent, it’s bland and it’s too chaotic to be taken seriously. Population declined because of the gameplay, that it was too familiar with other game experiences, that it’s too random.

If you think because it’s “too hard”, you have no idea what a real hard game is even less what it means to be a real gamer

14

Honestly, the skill gap started to close in Halo 2 where rockets would curve to hit targets, and you didn’t even have to aim at someones head to hit it.

Edit : Just in case someone asks for proof : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocyYwLCDyCU

15

I finally have a post where people are actually discussing on it. I’m liking what everyone is saying. I wish they also divided up the playlists to where if people wanted to be serious they could go into a ranked playlist, or if people wanted to go in and just screw around they could go to a social playlist.

16

@Wolf
Halo 4 too hard? LOL sorry but then I most be a god, average of 2.0+ k/d on every playlist with exception of Team Throwdown obviously, without ever camping & using camo and playing 90% of the time without a team, even though I used the DMR too much the 1st months. If Halo 4 was actually hard and competitive my k/d would be around 1.4 at much.

17

I like personal ordnance because people can no longer get away with memorizing the maps.

18

Wolfblade I have to completely disagree with your post, especially when you claim K/D is lower than ever.

I rarely play Halo 4 anymore, but do have a significant amount of games played (roughly 550 games with 450 wins). During the time I did play Halo 4 I noticed a significantly high amount of POSITIVE kill death ratios rather than negative, and it wasn’t just that they were positive they were also VERY positive. I’m not sure if this is due to the fact that trueskill was playing it’s part or not.

–

If you haven’t noticed there are far too many K/D ratios near the 2.0 area, and to me personally that is a serious red flag. Now I don’t have any source of global kill death in comparison to previous titles, but it seems like the mediocre to average halo player can easily obtain a 1.2-1.5 kill death ratio in this game, however in previous titles a 1.15 -1.4 was very respectable – especially so if the person played high rank gameplay.

Now while there is some fluctuation in the ratio due to players playing BTB styled gametypes (usually creates a chance for higher kill/death) rather than gametypes catered to 8 players; the story remains the same, the kill death ratios I personally notice while playing are about 80% positive.

I also notice a large portion of these players in the higher 1"s and even 2.0’s that are really pretty average, sure they have a solid shot, know the maps, but overall are pretty predictable and have not mastered the mental game or even most of the teamwork skills Halo should provide. They haven’t done this because Halo 4 (IMO) does not teach these players mental prowess mainly due to the chaotic, random, and quirky game that it is… it really doesn’t even require it.

Things like instant respawn, flinch, boltshot, camo AA’s, sprint, grenade hitmarkers, perks, ordinance etc create this. With tools such as this a player can easily boost their kill death ratio by abusing them. Halo 4 to me is still somewhat reminiscent of halo just as Madden is always pretty much madden, but I see these gimmicks ruining gameplay as would Madden cards (not the crazy ones) would ruin gameplay if used universally. (not sure if anyone remembers Madden cards)

Sure jetpacks are pretty cool devices, calling a personal sniper from the mothership is neat, and having ability to enable the running endurance of a marathon winner is really useful; however these things complicate gameplay or -overcomplicate- it so much that it takes away from the core fundamentals halo requires.

It’s been apparent to me that it’s seriously hard to find a large amount of players in this game who can completely dominate. like you would in previous titles. In Halo 2 a level 5 was a boatload of difference from a 12, who was a lifetime away from a 20, who would be getting dominated by 25, who would being beat 50 -18 by a 30, who would be rage quitting out on a team of 38’s in hardcore.

I believe the skill gap has decreased in each Halo addition, Halo 4 being somewhere close to reach pre-TU.

tl;dr - I need to work on NOT having a post on this forum that requires paragraphs.

> I like personal ordnance because people can no longer get away with memorizing the maps.

But they can get away with playing overly passive to obtain an ordinance which in turn usually hurts their teammates and really only benefits them.

Memorizing maps is such a bad excuse not to be offensive, by game 25 -100 (depending upon your halo abilities) you should know where each weapon spawns that is actually useful on the maps you play.

19

> I like personal ordnance because people can no longer get away with memorizing the maps.

No offense, but that’s the craziest excuse I’ve ever heard of. I would rather get beat by someone who beat me to the power weapon, than someone who just sat back in his base all day with a DMR, picking up assists, and then calling in his own sniper rifle.

20

> > I like personal ordnance because people can no longer get away with memorizing the maps.
>
> No offense, but that’s the craziest excuse I’ve ever heard of. I would rather get beat by someone who beat me to the power weapon, than someone who just sat back in his base all day with a DMR, picking up assists, and then calling in his own sniper rifle.

Adding onto that, Ordnance waypoints are more than sufficient for removing the need for memorization. Personal Ordnance goes far beyond that, by removing the need to actually fight over power weapons and control their spawn areas.

I personally think Ordnance should be kept, but tweaked so that it doesn’t damage map control or combat over power weapons. This would require the complete removal of Personal Ordnance, along with major changes to how Random Ordnance works:

Currently, each Random Ordnance drop functions independently, getting its own randomized drop.

I think a better system would be to link drop points, so that only one of them gets a drop at a time. These drops would be announced well in advance, so that all players know what is about to drop and where it is about to drop. This allows players to fight over power weapons, while still adding variety. It essentially adds an optional-but-beneficial KOTH layer to Slayer gameplay.

If the drop points are announced early enough, then the fact that they might initially be nearer to one team than the other won’t matter. The further team will have plenty of time to attack and attempt to take the position.

So rather than three randomized power weapons spawning on the map without prior warning, you’d have one randomized power weapon spawning in one of three possible positions with prior warning.