What is all this hate about personal loadouts and ordnance drops? I love them. I don’t think any weapons should spawn on the map. That way, you have to earn your good weapons. I’ve always hated the weapon camping in previous Halos. 130 max is sad though, and instant respawn was a bad idea, among some other things. This is a great game, so smooth.
I was in the same boat thinking the same thing when playing Halo 3 and reach. But now that it is in the game I dislike it. To many games the opposing team gets multiple power weapons which breaks up the game. Now there is most likely a way to do this with out unbalancing the game. Maybe instead of based off points its based off kills. I actually get mad when I get a ordinance drop from getting assists.
343i is new to this and hopefully over time the balancing of matches will be fixed.
Just because you like it doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to play that.
I personally hate infinity slayer. I played a game the other day, where by the first two minutes in, the enemy team was camping their base (solace) and with 2 shotguns and 3 railguns. It was literally impossible to do anything. We won by one kill because I happened to get an oversheild and rat them out. Had I gotten a needler (which was entirely possible) we’d have lost.
I don’t like games being won by chance.
In no other Halo game would they have been able to have that many powerweapons at the same time in a 4v4 playlist, and it wasn’t fun to play for me.
The game needs equal amounts of Social and Competitive playlist. Right now we have 1 competitive to everything else social, which isn’t fair to those of us who don’t like Loadouts or Ordinance drops.
Loadouts aren’t horrible, but being able to spawn with Boltshot, Plasma Nades, Plasma Pistol, Jetpack, WALLHACKS (PV), and invisibility IS horrible for a game like Halo, at least in terms of balance.
Just to let you know op camping weapon spawns in previous games was a horrible idea. It would allow the enemy team free reign of the map and giving them access to everything but the one spot your team is camping. Or if it is 1 person camping it leaves your team a man down.
With ordnance its all about a game of chance now. Who gets the best drop, map control has been ruined by it.
Loadouts are just a terrible idea in general. Allowing people to spawn with what ever they want leads too shall we say not varied and unejoyable gameplay. Cause we all know how fun campers with dmr’s and camo is. Or guys with plasma pistols and plasma grenades are for vehicles.
I like them but they could use some overhauls. Hopefully in the next halo they’ll be either better implemented, changed or removed. Whatever turns out for the best.
I enjoy the introduction of Ordinance. I remember back in the day the advantage of having an energy sword, and the helplessness knowing that I was -Yoinked!- because someone else controlled it.
Now…
Get a couple of kills, call in the equalizer, and have a chance.
That is just my opinion, and I respect those that do not like it 
Just because you’re givin the tools to win isn’t a gurantee that you’ll win. You have to be good and use stratagy. Someone has to loose the game. There’s not much balance in camping power weapons and then one person chucks a nade and the other person beats you down and you just get betrayed and it’s just a bunch of idiots and too much time hunting down what you need. I would never want to go back to that, ever.
> Just because you’re givin the tools to win isn’t a gurantee that you’ll win. You have to be good and use stratagy. Someone has to loose the game. There’s not much balance in camping power weapons and then one person chucks a nade and the other person beats you down and you just get betrayed and it’s just a bunch of idiots and too much time hunting down what you need. I would never want to go back to that, ever.
OP, here’s an example.
Two completely equal teams are playing a match. The score is almost even, there’s 5 kills left in the game.
Each team is on their side of the map at the moment, and both are anticipating a drop within the next 20 seconds. After 15 seconds, an ordinance drops on Team A’s side. Team A now has a rocket launcher and Team B has nothing.
Team A rushes Team B, killing 3 players with the rocket and losing one team mate.
Team A now has two kills left, and Team B has 4.
Team A goes on to win the game because they got the luck OD.
Scenario 2: Same thing, two equal teams.
This time, one person on each team has Personal Ordinance. One guy has an ICannon, and the other has a needler.
Who wins? The team with the ICannon. A needler is significantly easier to avoid than an Icannon.
Another?:
Team A is holding out on their base in CTF, they are in the lead.
Team A are set up in strategical locations to hold down the map. Team B has Promethean Vision, locates the enemy team, and proceeds to Team Shot them into oblivion because they had PV and Team A didn’t.
Another: Team A is holding their base in CTF.
Team B has split up and is coming in from all different angles, but are crouching to remain hidden. Team A uses promethean vision and see’s them.
Team A group nades Team B’s hallway and kills them.
It’s OK if you like that kind of gameplay. I personally don’t and would enjoy it if we got the same amount of playlists as you, which we don’t.
Hellraiser you make a good point about hunting down what you needed in older games.
HOWEVER!
Back in the old days of Halo one called in your party Sniper gold lift room you knew where the active sniper was and the fact it spawns with X amount of ammo, Now you can put perks on to steady aim, increase ammo capacity, reload speed and also call in a ordinance drop you never know what is in play. You might die by someone having the energy sword and on spawn get killed by the same dude with a incineration cannon because of the OD. And as well like I said earlier if an entire team gets boosts or power weapons the game quickly becomes lop sided.
What they should have done is kept away from the OD and go with the idea all weapons on the board have random spawn locations and times. Therefore no one learns the time frames nor there locations on a given board. And that also stops players from camping near rocket spawn or Sniper spawn and forces them to hunt down the tools that they like or want. I believe weapons do this already but to what degree I do not know.
you earn nothing from ordinance drops except random luck.
It makes matches random and unbalanced. Weapons on the map was way more skillful. You want rockets? Go fight and beat the enemy team that is trying to get them too.
The truth is that the majority of people who play Halo 4 are casual gamers, and the playlists will always represent the majority. I do agree that there should maybe be more playlists that cater to the more hardcore gamers on here (I am not one of them), but understand that as a game developer, wouldn’t it make more sense to have the majority of your playlists reflect what the majority of the community enjoys?
I got to admit, I wasn’t really into it at first, but now i’m totally for it. There’s a cetain amount of luck to every game, but im my experience the better player/team usually wins. Maybe I’m just being selfish, but I know I do allot better with my own loadouts and drops.
They’re unbalanced. Someone who fills their Ordinance meter through assists getting an Incinerator Cannon or power top-tier power weapon while someone actually getting consistent kills getting a Sticky Detonator or worse is a problem and completely unbalanced.
When you make luck a part of the game, it isn’t balanced anymore.
Just remember that from day one of Halo, balance has always been important to the game, and thus to the fans.
You may not value balance in games, and there is nothing wrong with that at all, don’t let elitist gamers make you feel bad for having more of a casual attitude towards games because there is no right or wrong in that respect, it is just your personal preference.
But the fact is, balance has always been a big part of Halo, it is one of the many things that has kept Halo unique from the other shooters out there.
It was one of the only AAA FPS games left in existence that gamers who do highly value balance could enjoy.
There are a million cod type games out there where balance is not an important part of the game, but there is only one Halo.
It is unfair for us balance freaks to have to lose the one game we Have that we can really enjoy, just so that all the casuals out there can gain yet another unbalanced game, even though they already have tonnes of them to choose from in the first place.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you didn’t like Halo for the way it already was, then you should have moved onto something that was more suited to you.
But let us fans who genuinely loved Halo for what was, keep it for ourselves, because we don’t really have much else.
Another thing is: ordnance does work in favor of the better team, so that team is more likely to get game changing drops. In a match that in previous games the underdog could have the ability to overtake the team in the lead via skillful assault, that is less the case because when the winning team gets ordnance the gap between the team increases to a point where the winning team is now the dominating team, and I don’t really find that fun from either the losing side or the winning side. I’d rather win cause I was the pro, and lose because the other team was the pro. No matter who gets the game changing drops, it either robs the winners, or punishes the losers, and I just think losing by itself should be enough, rather than getting stomped because of a dice roll.
> What is all this hate about personal loadouts and ordnance drops? I love them. I don’t think any weapons should spawn on the map. That way, you have to earn your good weapons. I’ve always hated the weapon camping in previous Halos. 130 max is sad though, and instant respawn was a bad idea, among some other things. This is a great game, so smooth.
The reason a lot of people hate Ordnance is simply the randomness, while it may be okay when it comes to powerups it’s not okay when you get powerweapons that are clearly superior, it’s simply not fair that one can get a Rocket while the other gets a hammer.
This could be fixed if they actually limited the weapons that you can get per Map, bringing more consistency.
Saying that you don’t want weapons on the Map is also wrong, this is such a standard for Halo that I simply don’t get why 343 didn’t do it in the first place, but it doesn’t make the game worse, since you have loadouts that you can customize to your advantage.
The bad part is that positioning is the only thing you have to worry now, Weapon Control simply doesn’t matter anymore to the degree it did in previous Halos.
I agree that the max. Level should have been either higher, or taken longer to get.
> Just because you like it doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to play that.
>
> I personally hate infinity slayer. I played a game the other day, where by the first two minutes in, the enemy team was camping their base (solace) and with 2 shotguns and 3 railguns. It was literally impossible to do anything. We won by one kill because I happened to get an oversheild and rat them out. Had I gotten a needler (which was entirely possible) we’d have lost.
>
> I don’t like games being won by chance.
>
> In no other Halo game would they have been able to have that many powerweapons at the same time in a 4v4 playlist, and it wasn’t fun to play for me.
>
> The game needs equal amounts of Social and Competitive playlist. Right now we have 1 competitive to everything else social, which isn’t fair to those of us who don’t like Loadouts or Ordinance drops.
>
> Loadouts aren’t horrible, but being able to spawn with Boltshot, Plasma Nades, Plasma Pistol, Jetpack, WALLHACKS (PV), and invisibility IS horrible for a game like Halo, at least in terms of balance.
I wouldn’t say you have 1 competitive playlist. CTF, Team Objective and other game modes that don’t use the ordnance system I would consider competitive, like you said not all loadouts are horrible game breaking monstrosities.
Boltshot just needs it’s functionality changed and it’s fine. The problem with PP and Pnades is not them, but the vehicles. Jet pack is useless on various maps and PV doesn’t really help you since everyone else notices you when you use it. I will agree on Camo, it really doesn’t benefit anyone for any sort of team play.
Now to the OP:
Ordnances are cool, I think they could be done better. I don’t like the idea of being granted one via kills because I’m a supportive/objective player so I’m usually low on kills.
I absolutely love load outs. I believe right tool for the right job, but many people believe Halo should be balanced around same starts. I personally find it boring and a lazy form of game design/balance (not to mention impossible in almost any game played). It works, but it’s not exactly fun nor dynamic which is what I expect from industry leaders.
While 343i has given themselves a harder time with balancing by choosing load outs I feel like once they get it down it will be very good for the series.
Also for the umpteenth time. Luck=/= imbalanced. Stafcraft 2 aruably the most balanced game in the entire e-sports world has a dice roll for damage. Dota 2 another balanced game has a popular hero who uses luck with ALL Of his skills (see Chaos Knight), Magic the Gathering, Poker, TF2. Luck can be an important part of games as long as it is kept in check, and never out weighs skill. One of the things I love about the ordnance system is that it gives you a tool, not a kill. You’re still responsible for getting kills with what ever drops.
> What is all this hate about personal loadouts and ordnance drops? I love them. I don’t think any weapons should spawn on the map. That way, you have to earn your good weapons. I’ve always hated the weapon camping in previous Halos. 130 max is sad though, and instant respawn was a bad idea, among some other things. This is a great game, so smooth.
Actually ordnance promotes camping. You camp and stay back pick up a few kills and call in ordnance. It discourages map movement and then there’s also the randomness. A team can win just because they got lucky and got a better ordnance. The way it used to be worked the best and encouraged map movement.
> What is all this hate about personal loadouts and ordnance drops? I love them. I don’t think any weapons should spawn on the map. That way, you have to earn your good weapons. I’ve always hated the weapon camping in previous Halos. 130 max is sad though, and instant respawn was a bad idea, among some other things. This is a great game, so smooth.
One problem with loadouts however is that you can spawn with a plasma pistol and plasma grenades. Can’t take the banshee on Ragnarok without the whole team taking me down with the plasma pistol. Plasma grenades? Annoying. The other day I died from 3 plasma grenades. Two failed ones and death from the third one.
Completely disagree with OP.
Halo MP is not the same as it was because of Loadouts and PO.
Play Ragnarok, a good match is 2 teams DMR pegging each other across the map, getting PO’s at their feet, using sniper and CAMO. Hardly any map movement at all, it’s pathetic IMO.