Maybe I’ve been playing Oddball the wrong way all these years 
, but why does it seem many players completely ignore the skull when it’s right in front of them and no enemies are around? Could someone enlighten me as to what tactics involve strafing/circling the skull without actually picking it up? …
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I think being a certified goofball baboon is the reason players are allergic to the ball.
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Chances are those players aren’t good with holding the skull, or they down right don’t want to, so instead are “defending” until a player who will pick it up comes along.
This partially stems from holding the ball doesn’t gain you much stat in Ranked, and holding the ball is also now more boring in general since you aren’t the “threat” you used to be in previous Halo games(the one hit kill with Skull is gone now).
You’ll also notice people tossing the skull ahead of them in certain situations, this is for a quick speed boost around that corner to save you while one shot or maybe to free up the hands for a quick ambush.
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Generally if players have any sort of mid-tier pickup weapon or higher, it’s better to let someone with spawn weapons hold the ball.
For example, if I have a bulldog then I almost never should be the one holding the ball, even if it doesn’t seem like any enemies are around. With the limited radar it’s pretty easy to crash a position faster than someone can drop the ball and still have a chance to defeat the attackers. So it’s way better for me to keep my gun out. This scenario is true for most wall weapons and true for all power weapons
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Pick it up and throw it to a teammate then.
You are being wayyyyy too nice. Majority just ignore it or are oblivious to it. Go into theater and I bet it will be like my games, everyone just has their starting br 90% of the time. The 5-15 guy needs to pick up the ball. The guy who usually dominates but is off right now - needs to pick up the ball. The guy who is 26-12 needs to pick up the ball long enough for his team to get back to him and the ball or his effort is all wasted with a loss.
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Probably have a ‘kill the ball carrier’ weekly challenge.
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This for me at least. If you have rockets etc then just leave and guard.
In higher level play that’s common so that team fights can be won so you can get longer uncontested hold times. If you are holding the ball, you can’t shoot, if you can’t shoot, you are more likely to lose your team fight. It’s not always in your best interest to run like a headless chicken to the ball all the time. There are lots of slays in oddball games
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Thanks for all the tips, advice, and info. I guess the removal of the one hit kill does make it more “dangerous” to be the one holding it. I get the tossing the ball ahead of you tactic, similar to doing it with the flag, but it’s just amusing sometimes to see players “fighting” to not pick up the ball. 
It’s been that way for as long as I can remember and I came in mid way through 3’s first year. I’m almost always the only person who will touch the ball because at least half my team wants to play Infinite Slayer (meaning they just want kills to pad their stats).
Right now it’s likely a case of Challenge Pox, people have challenges to complete and they’ll get the progress wherever they can.
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I would’ve thought increasing the “win stat” would take priority…
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One of the strats the pros were using in HCS was to run the timer out. The timer pauses if someone holds the ball.
It’s a viable strat to get the point lead, then just let the timer run its course. The game will completely end instead of going to another round if that happens, I think.
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Shows how little I know about the deeper tactics and strategies to the Halo games…
It’s pretty new to this game. The timer didn’t pause in previous games.
Similarly, Strongholds matches will just keep going until one team hits the score limit.
People don’t care about their win stat apparently, at least, not in Halo. In Overwatch win rate is a huge thing, but mostly for throwing blame around.
they’ve got the brains of a bronze rank that’s why
Probably because for some odd reason 343i changed it to 2 hits with the ball so getting the ball sometimes feel like a sitting duck and a lot of people these days are worried about their k/d. Either that or there avoiding it for a challenge since the game doesn’t seem to encourage teamwork.
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Yeah, it’s a bit annoying they scrapped the one hit skull kills 
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A wise man once said:
“Take it up with 343”
Since you need a positive K/D to rank up most of the players don’t play the objective even if you win that doesn’t affect your rank at all.