First: So far, Ordinance Drops are confirmed to be in Infinity Slayer, and have not been announced for other gametypes. Just so you know. Read more about them here to get up to speed…Please do that before reading and responding here.
Okay guys, hear me out. I believe the Ordinance Drop system is good for Halo, and in fact will benefit the skilled player most. You may be thinking “BS op, random weapons are bad, how can that be true?” My logic stems from this: A pro player, if he’s skilled enough, can kill you no matter what weapon you or he might currently be holding. That pro player will be rewarded with Personal Ordinance as a reward for skilled play.
The second half is the change from Power Weapon on Timer to Semi-Random Ordinance Drops, which I think is a positive change. I look at it this way: Knowing weapon spawn locations and timers doesn’t make anyone a pro player, it doesn’t require much skill, just an awareness of time. It only takes about as much skill as knowing how to make toast without blackening the bread, and even a caveman can do it.
This new system means there will be no more power-weapon -Yoink!- (just isn’t a nicer word for this behavior) by the (unskilled) player who simply hangs back and waits on a power weapon timer. This kind of player isn’t relying on skill, in fact he is using power weapons as a k/d crutch, and that should be discouraged.
I think this is probably the best improvement to Halo 4 Multiplayer I’ve seen yet, and it will separate the skilled from the unskilled, the men from the boys. I applaud 343 for the genius.
at one point I remember thinking how weird it was that halo (among other games) was copying cod like features but didn’t copy the care packages of cod.
customizable loadouts and perks weren’t really all that important gameplay wise (IMO) but the care packages were a serious factor in how each game played.
I personally thought care packages were one of the best things about cod, it rewarded skilled players with well rewards and if you sucked at the game you wouldn’t get anything.
to me in halo a lot of the time theres a huge emphasis on power weapons, even though this is a good thing because it does draw people into the middle of the maps, its also bad because you see a lot of cheap tactics arise from it.
I’ve seen games were at least 1 player on the enemy team would just sit around the rockets/sniper/etc just waiting for the weapon to spawn. to me this is a pathetic tactic that kind of makes the game more (power) weapon based instead of skill based.
even though ordinance in halo 4 probably won’t work perfectly, I still think it’ll work better than what was done previously.
besides even if it doesn’t work well for halo you’ll have the classic playlist to get into so its not like you HAVE to play with ordinance.
Right because Quake and H1 were skilless games based on timing/-Yoink!- power weapons rather than creating multiple strategic positions on the map that promote map control and resource management.
The competitive shooter community has been wrong all along. Care-packages and Ordinance drops are completely predictable, promote teamwork, and do not in any way promote K/d -Yoink!- and selfish play.
Ordinance drops+Care packages> Arena-style Power Item system for competitive play.
> My logic stems from this: A pro player, if he’s skilled enough, can kill you no matter what weapon you or he might currently be holding. That pro player will be rewarded with Personal Ordinance as a reward for skilled play.
>
> The second half is the change from Power Weapon on Timer to Semi-Random Ordinance Drops, which I think is a positive change. I look at it this way: Knowing weapon spawn locations and timers doesn’t make anyone a pro player, it doesn’t require much skill, just an awareness of time. It only takes about as much skill as knowing how to make toast without blackening the bread, and even a caveman can do it.
>
> This new system means there will be <mark>no more power-weapon -Yoink!-</mark> (just isn’t a nicer word for this behavior) by the (unskilled) player who simply hangs back and waits on a power weapon timer. This kind of player isn’t relying on skill, in fact he is using power weapons as a k/d crutch, and that should be discouraged.
>
> I think this is probably the best improvement to Halo 4 Multiplayer I’ve seen yet.
Very good point, i never looked at it this way. Now i think i will enjoy Infinity Slayer more than any other game type.
Halo’s version of “killstreaks” is WAY different than CoD. In CoD you call your killstreak and most of them pretty much just GIVES you kills. With Halo 4 you can call your ordnance but YOU have to go get kills yourself.
> Halo’s version of “killstreaks” is WAY different than CoD. In CoD you call your killstreak and most of them pretty much just GIVES you kills. With Halo 4 you can call your ordnance but YOU have to go get kills yourself.
though the ordinance isn’t EXACTLY the same I have to admit the basic idea behind it is somewhat similiar.
I personally like the way halo is doing better than what cod has done but I guess thats just me.
> Right because Quake and H1 were skilless games based on timing/-Yoink!- power weapons rather than creating multiple strategic positions on the map that promote map control and resource management.
>
> The competitive shooter community has been wrong all along. Care-packages and Ordinance drops are completely predictable, promote teamwork, and do not in any way promote K/d -Yoink!- and selfish play.
>
> Ordinance drops+Care packages> Arena-style Power Item system for competitive play.
>
> You heard it here first folks.
Right, because the contents inside can’t be used to formulate strategies on the fly. Can’t use that new Overshield to back up your teammates who have got the enemy in a stalemate. Oh and you can’t use that Sniper to give your team a safer path through enemy territory.
> The second half is the change from Power Weapon on Timer to Semi-Random Ordinance Drops, which I think is a positive change. I look at it this way: Knowing weapon spawn locations and timers doesn’t make anyone a pro player, it doesn’t require much skill, just an awareness of time. It only takes about as much skill as knowing how to make toast without blackening the bread, and even a caveman can do it.
>
> This new system means there will be no more power-weapon -Yoink!- (just isn’t a nicer word for this behavior) by the (unskilled) player who simply hangs back and waits on a power weapon timer. This kind of player isn’t relying on skill, in fact he is using power weapons as a k/d crutch, and that should be discouraged.
It’s not the knowledge that is the skill, but the ability to use that knowledge. Knowing power weapon spawn times isn’t a skill in itself. Just like knowing how a map is designed or how a certain weapon functions. However, if you say that weapon knowledge doesn’t take skill, ignoring the usage part of the knowledge, you might as well say that shooting the weapons doesn’t take skill, again, ignoring the usage of those weapons and just assuming the knowledge.
But this isn’t how things are, is it. I can’t use a weapon just by knowing how it behaves. In a very same way, I benefit absolutely nothing from knowing a weapon spawn time (well, I do if I play against people who don’t know it) unless I can utilize that knowledge. If the games gives me power weapons that spawn consistently, I know that I have that much time between the weapon drops in which case I can very much schedule the pick-ups. If I always have two minutes between the spawn of a weapon, the better I am, the better I can use that two minutes between the weapon spawns and predict what my enemies will do for that time. If I know when a weapon spawns, I can secure that location before it spawns gaining an advantage. In other words, I can utilize the knowledge to create tactics and strategies.
Inconsistent ordnance drops don’t help skill. If the game drops a weapon at an arbitrary time, it’s quickly a matter of who is closer when it drops. To my knowledge, the power weapons don’t have a countdown before they drop, which means that unless the drop times and locations are both consistent, picking up power weapons becomes a matter of luck. That means the particular skill associated with the knowledge of weapon spawns is gone.
Of course, I would like to hear your defense for the inconsistent weapon drops. What makes them more skillful than consistently dropping weapons?
> > Right because Quake and H1 were skilless games based on timing/-Yoink!- power weapons rather than creating multiple strategic positions on the map that promote map control and resource management.
> >
> > The competitive shooter community has been wrong all along. Care-packages and Ordinance drops are completely predictable, promote teamwork, and do not in any way promote K/d -Yoink!- and selfish play.
> >
> > Ordinance drops+Care packages> Arena-style Power Item system for competitive play.
> >
> > You heard it here first folks.
>
> Right, because the contents inside can’t be used to formulate strategies on the fly. Can’t use that new Overshield to back up your teammates who have got the enemy in a stalemate. Oh and you can’t use that Sniper to give your team a safer path through enemy territory.
>
> Impossible.
You can say the same thing for kill-streaks. Right, because you cant use that Sentry Gun to set-up near you’re flag and mow all the incoming enemies down. You cant use that Unlimited Radar to better help your team spot the enemy team. You cant use that turret gun to give your team a safer path through enemy territory. That doesnt make it fair and balanced, dynamic yes, fair for both team no to where I can effectively counter and plan for the other teams strategy no.
Formulating strategies on the fly is done regardless if I can call in a mystery box that injects pure chaos into the game nobody can plan for. It doesnt have to be random and unpredictable to create dynamics in the game you just need strategical options which the power item system already provides plus game-play dimensions of map control and resource management BOTH teams are aware of and can strategize around.