Right, so. Here’s my positives and negatives. (Negatives are things that I wish to be changed obviously)
Positives…
Graphics, game looks great even in its lowest settings, and the art style is much better than last titles. Although explosions (particularly plasma and fire) still look pretty bad in contrast to Halo Reaches.
BR is in a good place: Although it kills in one less body shot than it used to, this making it less punishing for missing the head it’s still good. It doesn’t need a buff, the AR needs a nerf (I will address this in the negatives)
Behemoth: One of the best maps you’ve made, aesthetically and gameplay wise. Quality map.
Shock rifle: Love the premise and creativity behind this one.
Grapple hook : Thought I’d hate it, but I actually think it’s a great armor ability pickup and is pretty good how it is with its limited range etc. It’s helped me out of a jam several times.
Negatives
NO FRIENDLY FIRE: Put it back please, and not just in ranked, in social aswell. Since BTB will be social I still want FF to be a thing. Nothing worse than people shelling their teammates with a tank to kill enemies on top of them with no penalty because they can’t betray teammates. Not only does FF at skill and risk calculation to the game, it helps fix issues like grenade and explosive spam. It also prevents issues like the current one in CTF. People bulldozing the flag carrier to the other end of the map in a those in about 10 seconds.
GRENADE SELECTION: Make it one press please
INCREASE THE TTK ACROSS THE BOARD: The old 2v1 possibility in Halo is now gone. Halo used to be a game where if a bad player got the jump on a good player the good player had a chance to turn around and delete the bad player through the BR/DMR dance. You can’t do that anymore to one player let alone multiple.
SCOPE GLINT: Remove the giant torch from players heads when they zoom in, it’s a stupid mechanic in any shooter but even worse in Halo. It just -Yoink!- bad players and promotes quick scoping. You already have the penalty of losing your motion sensor while scoped, we don’t need another.
AR: The AR should he a viable weapon I agree, but only up close, it needs it’s headshot multiplier removed and maybe an increase in spread so it isn’t mentally easy out to 50m. It has pushed the BR out of the sandbox on 4v4 arena maps unless they’re large maps like behemoth. Which isn’t a good thing, it’s the same problem but in reverse.
AI VOICE: Allow the option to turn down the frequency or even eliminate Spartan chatter and ai input.
MANTLE: Not every jump and map has to be built around the mantling mechanic, it’s not impressive or enabling to get to new areas if you design those areas around it?
“HOLD” TO SEE SCOREBOARD: Please make it hold to see not toggle
CARNAGE REPORT: The carnage report is really lackluster, they pretty much should have copy pasted reaches and them added some extra stats, not taken half away and added accuracy. It’s also much harder to compare each team.
PLASMA PISTOL EMP: Add it back please it’s not really a viable gun now.
REMOVE MEDALS FOR POINTLESS THINGS: They just seem pointless and take away from the satisfaction of getting actual decent medals. They didn’t just add new medals they changed pre-existing ones to make them easier. Why is getting a body shot with a sniper in any way impressive?Medals usually denoted something noteworthy, like a kill from the grave or something. Now you get one for everything. Kind of makes them redundant doesn’t it?I didn’t dislike all of them, as I said I like a few. But a lot just seem overboard.
POWER WEAPON/AA SPAWNS: While I don’t particularly like the fact that there’s a timer hanging over the power weapons to aid bad players, I can live with it. What I don’t like is that they all spawn at the same time basically. It used to be they spawned in relation to when they were picked up/dropped. Making it slightly less routine than it is currently. And up to the player to know when they could go and get it back.
VEHICLES: Great to them back even in 4v4, but the physics aren’t right. They’re extremely hard to flip and the hog is quite weak.
I made a post today stating how it’s almost impossible to flip over by accident and the skill of maneuvering the hog is gone. That’s been a staple of 343’s vehicles, I assume it’s so noobs can use it, they put in on rails like battlefield. I reckon Reach had it pretty good. You could shoot it over when it was in the air (I know it makes no sense realistically but it’s for gameplay purposes) and it was tough as nails.
The old trade off was covenant vehicles tended to sacrifice passengers and health, for mobility and driving ease (example ghost and revenant) but human vehicles were traditionally sturdier and could carry more players but were more difficult to keep on all 4 wheels.
343 seems to think making vehicles out of tissue paper is fun and balanced somehow. Also 343 really disappointed me in Halo 4 onwards with the lack of wreckage, it just disappears in 2 seconds, what’s the point of even having it.It was great in previous titles hiding behind a charred tank chassis for a minute or so and using it as cover before it despawned. Not end of the world stuff, but it sure would be nice to see it addressed.
Few things here but I think if they were addressed the game would be in a much better state and would still appeal to a wide audience.
