> > I don’t necessarily mind loadouts so long as AAs are left out of the mix. I don’t hate AAs or loadouts so long as you don’t mesh them together. Its like mixing peanut butter and ketchup.
>
> Why did you say that? You KNOW how these things go on Waypoint…In 5 minutes the one person in the world who loves Peanut Butter and Ketchup is gonna come on this forum and tell you how wrong you are…
>
> Happens EVERYTIME.
Well, Peanut Butter and mayonnaise actually goes very well on pulled pork.
> I have no problem with the concept of custom loadouts (not considering AA’s, that is). In fact, they sound more balanced than armor abilities turned out to be. If the sandbox is perfectly balanced, that is.
>
> However, there needs to be a place for players like me, competitive minded players, to play consistent gametypes in. A set of classic playlists would be nice…
>
> But just because we frown upon everything that gives imbalance at the start of a match doesn’t mean we dislike everything 343i is implementing. I’m particularly interested to see how telegraphed weapon drops will alter the flow of a game, for example.
>
> What I’m trying to suggest here is a semi-classic playlist, comparable to Reach’s Arena.
> It would have the best of two worlds: No AA’s on spawn, no ‘perks’, but includes sprint, telegraphed ‘random’ weapon drops, and maybe even spawning with the weapons you prefer.
>
> It would be balanced and thus competitive, but it would still be considered a part of the new direction Halo is taking.
And I’m perfectly agreeable to classic or more balanced playlists being set up for the high level players. At least when I’m not being driven into a rage by some of them.
> I don’t necessarily mind loadouts so long as AAs are left out of the mix. I don’t hate AAs or loadouts so long as you don’t mesh them together. Its like mixing peanut butter and ketchup.
> > I don’t like running into people in game and being at an advantage or disadvantage based on our classes. That’s just stupid.
>
> Yet running into them and being at an advantage/disadvantage because they decided to pick up say a Needler isn’t?
> > I don’t like running into people in game and being at an advantage or disadvantage based on our classes. That’s just stupid.
>
> Yet running into them and being at an advantage/disadvantage because they decided to pick up say a Needler isn’t?
No because it is possible to stop him from ever getting that needler.
Its more “choose this dominant class, or do bad”, if its anything like reach atleast.
Secondly, it probably only will affect higher end play, depending on how much they influence the game. So maybe just in social will be fine, as long as they are balanced and low impact.
I dont have a problem with them in social, but i never want to think “that guy won only because he used x” like i do in reach.
> > > > For high-end gaming like MLG, it’s likely the system will just be constricted or rendered inoperative.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for this post, Methew.
> > >
> > > If MLG decides to include H4.
> >
> > Time will tell…(Although I’m not bothered if it is or isn’t)
>
> To me, the decline of Halo in MLG is an eventual outcome that MLG is apparently choosing to embrace.
>
> Player tastes change, whether it’s in the most skillfull direction or not. And they are passing on the changes Halo is making to stay relevant. The logical outcome is that Halo in MLG is going to fade much like the twitch arena shooters franchises of old did. They remained pure are now they all but dead franchises.
Player’s tastes dont change, the franchise just changes its playerbase.
> > I don’t necessarily mind loadouts so long as AAs are left out of the mix. I don’t hate AAs or loadouts so long as you don’t mesh them together. Its like mixing peanut butter and ketchup.
>
> Why are they like peanut butter and ketchup?
> For just a moment I would like to talk another recently released title and it’s mechanics. It’s all relevant so bear with me.
>
> Mass Effect 3 launched with a Co-Operative MP feature. In it you get your choice of six different classes with a total of 84 points to spend out of a possible 105 across five different categories with six ranks each with branching ranks for the second half, each class has three abilities with a total of four different races, another set of classes are coming Tuesday, which swap those abilities for different ones. There are a total of 43 different weapons, three more coming this Tuesday, and each weapon can pick a two out of five attachments to add on to each weapon that alter it’s various stats.
>
> What this amounts to is a high degree of customization and creation on the players end. I myself have been drawn into it, spending countless hours in the game, not just crafting my ideal classes but theorizing about it. And not just while I’m at home at the game. I’m doing this during downtime while I’m at other places. Work, red lights, doctor’s office.
>
> I’m trying new things with characters. Just now I tried rolling my Human and Salarian Engineers ability heavy with their talent point applications. Didn’t pan out for me since their powers aren’t enough to outright kill and can’t explode like Biotics do with Adepts and Vanguards so I’m going to be rerolling them soon to be more evenly split in terms of damage between their abilities and their weapons. I’ve been juggling which weapon setup to use for my Quarian Infiltrator. She can’t strip shields like a Salarian Infiltrator would so it can instantly one shot most things, but with Sabotage she can perform a similar setup, stripping shields with her weapon and letting her Sabotage power take the kill on the weakend target. Sadly this doesn’t work on a specific class of enemies where Sabotage just makes the hostile friendly instead but a quick change of tactics make’s it worth while.
>
> Before I start rambling on and on about this, I hope you can see my point that the high degree of customization and creativity in the options I had has created an engaging experience that I readily want to revisit even though there is only one specific achievement for ME3’s MP and the gametype elements are rather limited. As a horde mode it’s only 10 waves with one 2 minute extraction wave, three enemy types and three difficulty settings. Though I would argue that the 20 minute average completion time makes it the perfect balance of length and satisfaction.
>
> What does this mean for H4?
>
> That customizable Loadouts can offer everything that I’ve experienced in ME3’s MP in H4. That same engaging and compelling experience and drive that is nearly addicting to perfect your characters and builds. I have fun while doing it. And clearly as CoD has shown, so do many other people.
>
> The only downside is that balance is diminished. But I would argue that this only effects high end play. After biting the Loadout bullet and playing other games with customizable Loadouts, such as SPESS MAHREEN!, I found it wasn’t as horrible as I initially thought it out to be. Instead I found it to be much like my typical Team Slayer matches. In my typical Team Slayer match, I don’t worry about Map Control, I don’t worry about Power Weapon spawn timers. For all intents and purposes, players might as well start off with different weapons since all players are likely to have different weapons 15 seconds after the game starts. Or they would if the only options weren’t DMR/Power Weapon. Different rant though… Everyone spawning with the exact same weapon might matter in high end play, but for most everyone else, it doesn’t seem to be doing anything productive. Just artificially holding back players.
>
> The other upswing is that by allowing players to pick their weapons at spawn, you theoretically could have more of the weapon sandbox being used. Right now, the Repeater doesn’t offer a compelling reason to go out of your way to pick it up. Partly it’s because the weapon is garbage but the other reason is because that most players are just focused on their primary objective: Find target, kill target. Letting players pick that weapon before they get into their single minded rut might give more weapon variety to the game this time around.
>
> Should Loadout choices be severely limited in playlists that cater to the high end player? Playlists like MLG, Classic, a potential Hardcore one, or replacement to Arena? Sure. But customizable Loadouts offers a lot of potential benefits to the game that many seemingly want to throw away for the sake of tradition.
Customizable classes will be a great addition to the Halo mix.
It’ll give players an extra feature to play with.
In CoD, people spend hours simply tweaking with their classes.
I’ve noticed many people complaining that everyone will simply choose the best mashup.
But I disagree.
It seems to me that balance is 343’s primary concern.
As long as they balance out the weapons, there shouldn’t be an issue.
For example, my perfect class might be the DMR with a Magnum.
Frag grenades and Hologram.
But to others, it may be AR and PP, with Stickies and Jetpack.
I just think that people need to consider every possibility before hating on it.
pick your prefered weapons (like in gears) this would be fine since I didnt really like the BR (dont even start) and prefered the DMR so i’ll finally be able to use what I want. this will also help people who aren’t particularlly skilled with certain weapons (not in the case of myself) or if the map doesnt suit the weapon (like the AR on Hemmorage)
and I dont know why your complaining about the speacializations their not going to like Cod’s perks (you know what I mean) their probably going to be like
an extra grenade slot
stronger shields (not like 2x shields something like 10%)
etc.
dont go saying it would ruin balance you will change or pick-up your prefered weapon anyway so its not going to be much different