Halo 4's Oppressor [TL;DR Available]

Games Other Halo
1

I’ve thought about this a good amount of time.
And I think I know what’s hurting Halo 4 more than anything else.
Personalized Loadouts.

Let’s say I’m using an AR and my opponent has a DMR.
When he kills me, I’ll get angry and say something like,
“WOW! He only killed me ‘cuz he had a freakin’ DMR!”.

Or another situation.
I’m in a Warthog and I’m using the Tactical Package, Wheelman.
An enemy players hits me with an EMP, and throws a sticky 'nade towards me.
But before it makes contact, I’m able to drive away and escape.
Then my gunner takes him out immediately after.
That player will rage saying something like,
“That figures that noob has Wheelman! 'Cuz he sucks too bad at driving to go without it.”.

My point is, having personal gives players a reason to hate one another.
Hence why CoD has the worst community ever.
And I see Halo going down that same path right now.

There’s no doubt Reach had heavily flawed Multiplayer.
But there’s a difference between the two.
Reach still held that sense of community.

Without Personal Loadouts in Halo 4, here’s a list of a few big complaints:
[/li]- Down-graded Forge

  • Limited and Down-graded Theatre
  • Limited and Down-graded Custom Games
  • No UNSC aerial vehicle
    Now, with Personal Loadouts, that list is much, much longer.

Without Personal Loadouts, balance wouldn’t be much of an issue, if at all.
For example, in Halo 3, no one complained about the Plasma Rifle being terrible compared to the AR.
Or how crappy the Magnum was.
Or the stand-alone Spiker.
Or anything like that, and if so, it was uncommon.
In case you haven’t noticed, weapon balance consumes probably about 60% of Waypoint’s Halo 4 Forum Topics.

Imagine playing Halo 4 without the Personal Loadouts.

  • PP Spamming in BTB.
  • Plasma 'Nade Mortardom. (sticks you immediately before death)
  • Cross-Map DMR Sniping.
  • Active Camo Sniping.
  • Jetpack Spamming.
    *I’m certain there’s plenty more.
    All of that, either gone or uncommon.

There’s no arguing that loadouts, though fun, ruin the community.
Without them, the game is immediately improved, along with it’s community.
But now that they’re in, they’re here to stay.
I’m just hoping that in Halo 5, we’ll get very well-designed, preset loadouts for many playlists; not just 4v4, but BTB as well.
Kinda’ like in Reach, except that those loadouts weren’t very well-designed.

TL;DR The thing that’s hurting Halo 4 most is Personal Loadouts.
All it does is give players a reason to hate one another.
Nobody complained about the imbalance of weapons in Halo 3. (Sentinal Beam vs. BR)
But now that Personal Loadouts are in Halo, they’re here to stay.
Hopefully, in Halo 5, there will be well-designed, preset loadouts.

2

I can agree to an extent.

But the negative effect on the community would be nullified, even if not necessarily removed, if the loadouts actually had balanced options.

Loadouts are not an issue I have with Halo 4 however, despite my many other issues with the game. I would prefer even starts, but the concept of loadouts isn’t that bad.

3

Sadly, I don’t think that the loadouts are getting any different, at least in terms of what you suggested (and I agree with). If anything, they’re likely to get progressively worse.

Since a good chunk of the competitive community doesn’t fancy Halo 4 too much, there will be less of those players that will buy Halo 5.

This will mean that there will be even less reason for 343 to make Halo 5 even slightly geared towards the competitive community.

Worst case scenario for me is if they added weapon attachments or aiming down the sight. I’d straight up quit at that point.

4

It’s childish to hate someone over something such as loadout selection. The game is rated M for mature, but if people want to act like kindergartners over a gun or something that’s their problem. No skin off of my nose.

Everyone has access to the same rewards at one point or another, so I don’t see why people would -Yoink- and moan about getting killed over a different weapon or denied by a specialization package.

5

I’m glad someone actually had a well thought out post about this instead of the usual “Loadouts suck. Get rid of them.” posts. I agree for the most part. I think loadouts are making things worse, but I don’t think that’s the entire reason the Halo community is getting worse. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. That’s just one of them.

6

> It’s childish to hate someone over something such as loadout selection. The game is rated M for mature, but if people want to act like kindergartners over a gun or something that’s their problem. No skin off of my nose.
>
> Everyone has access to the same rewards at one point or another, so I don’t see why people would -Yoink!- and moan about getting killed over a different weapon or denied by a specialization package.

So that means, that because it’s the best weapon, everyone should use DMR all the time?
And never explore other options?
Believe it or not, this is a competitive game, people get angry in a competitive setting.
It’s perfectly natural, there’s nothing wrong with it.

No offense, but your viewpoint is so ignorant.

7

I think a similar argument can be made with PO.

“He just got lucky with that binary rifle!”

Creates a lot of envy.

8

I like Custom Loadouts in Halo 4. I get to use my favorite guns and grenades with my favorite AA with my favorite Armor Mods.

And with the nerfed Boltshot, and the coming DMR nerf (hopefully! IMO), Custom Loadouts will be balanced. There won’t be the one utility weapon. There are all kinds of players in Halo: close range, mid range, long range, and a mixture. Custom Loadouts allow this, and I’m happy for that, and happy that Custom Loadouts in Halo 4 are balanced (again, once the gameplay sandbox TU comes out).

And it doesn’t create randomness as people say. People with close range guns will be at close range. People with mid range guns will be at mid range. People with long range guns will be at long range. Whatever range your at, expect that kind of ranged gun. Isn’t that random or complicated, and if anything, makes it more predictable. As for AA’s, except for Jetpack (gave it a second chance, and while better than Reach’s, still doesn’t work) and Active Camo (should be like OS, DB, and SB), the rest of the AA’s just spice up the gameplay (and I don’t understand the hate for Promethean Vision, it doesn’t help at all, it’s just point of view Motion Sensor if anything).

9

> > It’s childish to hate someone over something such as loadout selection. The game is rated M for mature, but if people want to act like kindergartners over a gun or something that’s their problem. No skin off of my nose.
> >
> > Everyone has access to the same rewards at one point or another, so I don’t see why people would -Yoink!- and moan about getting killed over a different weapon or denied by a specialization package.
>
> So that means, that because it’s the best weapon, everyone should use DMR all the time?
> And never explore other options?
> Believe it or not, this is a competitive game, people get angry in a competitive setting.
> It’s perfectly natural, there’s nothing wrong with it.
>
> No offense, but your viewpoint is so ignorant.

No offense taken xD

I realize that Halo is a competitive game (I often let my temper fly while I play) but what I’m trying to say is that loadouts are for personal choice. If I get killed by, say, a guy using a Suppressor constantly, it’s going to make me pretty annoyed, but I have no right to throw hate on the guy. It was my choice not to use the Suppressor, so I take the consequences of choosing a different gun.

Does that make a bit more sense? I feel like that was jumble.

10

I agree with your message, but you’ve got some heavily flawed support. For one, the weapons in Halo 3 WERE very imbalanced. The BR was way too versatile against CQC.

Also, Reach’s loadouts were very well designed with specific attention to which weapons go with which abilities. Invasion is my favorite playlist because it’s how Reach is meant to be played, with progressive loadouts.

Halo 4 has a wonderful weapon balance without the DMR, it’s just a pity Ordnance and personalized loadouts ruin it.

11

> I agree with your message, but you’ve got some heavily flawed support. For one, the weapons in Halo 3 WERE very imbalanced. The BR was way too versatile against CQC.
>
> Also, Reach’s loadouts were very well designed with specific attention to which weapons go with which abilities. Invasion is my favorite playlist because it’s how Reach is meant to be played, with progressive loadouts.
>
> Halo 4 has a wonderful weapon balance without the DMR, it’s just a pity Ordnance and personalized loadouts ruin it.

  1. I know Halo 3’s weapons were imbalanced.
    But nobody complained about it.

  2. Let’s just agree to disagree.

  3. DMR’s the main problem, but there’s more than that.

12

> I think a similar argument can be made with PO.
>
> “He just got lucky with that binary rifle!”
>
> Creates a lot of envy.

Well, that’s randomly given out, any player would accept a Binary Rifle.
It’s not the same, with PL, players often choose the most OP setup for easy kills.
Which I hate so much. To me, Halo’s about skill, not winning.
Winning just shows it off.

13

Loadouts are fine IMO. But I do agree with your points.

I personally think Tactical packages and support upgrades should not be in Halo but players are allowed their own opinion.

14

> > I think a similar argument can be made with PO.
> >
> > “He just got lucky with that binary rifle!”
> >
> > Creates a lot of envy.
>
> Well, that’s randomly given out, any player would accept a Binary Rifle.
> It’s not the same, with PL, players often choose the most OP setup for easy kills.
> Which I hate so much. To me, Halo’s about skill, not winning.
> Winning just shows it off.

Those with skill shall always win, unless the servers decide to put you in a different country or with the worst of the worst, because…you know…Microsoft’s trueskill system works. Right?

15

I agree. Customizable personal loadouts are a part of what is ruining Halo 4. For each item added it becomes harder to balance the sandbox. When it’s as much as we currently have in H4 there are just some perks, AA’s and others that are far more useful than others. That is not balance, but a system where player choice is taken out of the equation because if one wants to be competitive in game they have choose what everyone else is using. I.e the DMR, Boltshot etc.

Also, if Reach taught anything it is that certain AA’s with certain weapons are hideously OP. Jetpack and anything, Camo and snipers, shotguns and the DMR. This wasn’t adressed for H4, but made even more unbalanced with the addition of perks. Now the jetpack can have AA eff paired with it. Camo can have stealth paired with it rendering the player invisible to PV. This doesn’t even take into consideration how some AA’s and perks break maps either.