Postmortem: Day 1 of New Changes

Games Other Halo
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I played quite a bit of 4v4 Slayer last night to evaluate the changed 343i instituted. Here are my thoughts and conclusions:

  1. Matching:

  • Took a bit longer than in the past.

  • Not a single game had lopsided CSRs (yay!)

  • Only one match score was lopsided - but this was likely due to a foreign host. All of the opposing team was in a party and the game was extremely laggy.

  • VERDICT: Matching updates are excellent. Kudos!

  1. Voting:

  • In one case, all of the map options were Infinity.

  • In 2 cases, all of the map options were Pro.

  • VERDICT: Poor. At least one option for each game should be Pro, and at least one option should be Infinity.

  1. Gameplay: Pro gameplay was disappointing. I don’t know if it plays differently at higher levels, but at low levels it’s painfully slow and filled with camping.

  • SLOW: Not a single one of the Pro 4v4 games ended due to points. All ended due to time expiring (including the Forge Island maps). Even Haven - which often ends before the 5-minutes-remaining mark - played out until time expired (winning team with 500 points).

  • CAMPING: In the game, the opposing team sat on one of the ramps, one guy covering the top and the other covering the bottom level, while the other two waited behind corners. The two on the ramp would shoot to attract attention, while the waiters would beat down people who went to investigate. And despite trying to wait for my teammates so we could cover each other while approaching, I was only ever able to find one of them at a time. The other two were off on independent ops, which usually involved getting killed from behind. This type of play was typical of the game I played - except on the wonderful Opus map, which is a map that makes camping difficult.

  • QUITTING: I played only 2 Pro games where fewer than 2 players quit from one of the teams after the game had started. This was annoying.

  • MAP USAGE: On a good note, lack of AAs was very, very nice - especially not having map-breaking jetpacks.

  • POD: Another good note was that I liked the play without POD - and only having map items - better than with POD. I have fun with the POD in Infinity, but it does get old sometimes, and having an alternate non-POD Slayer game is much appreciated in this regard.

  • BTB-Specific: BTB was more fun in Pro than 4v4 - and by a good margin. While there were still campers, there were enough people on the map that the gameplay was not nearly as slow as 4v4. Lack of the PP / Sticky combination is a definite plus for vehicle combat! However, play was quite chaotic (not in a good way) due to the lack of motion tracker. Exile in particular had some frustrating moments in that regard.

  • ODDS & ENDS: I am not a fan of the loadout restrictions for 4v4. For BTB, it’s a plus. For 4v4 (with the exception of frags instead of stickies), far less so. I love playing with automatics because I like playing close, but automatics are not in the loadouts. This was very, very disappointing . . . especially as I am finally starting to try to run through all the weapons commendations.

  • VERDICTS: 4v4 play was slow and campy, quits were frequent, and the loadout restrictions were not fun for a CQC player (and no, hiding and repetitive beatdowns / assassinations are not my idea of fun CQC). No AAs and no POD was a definite plus, though. BTB Pro was much better experience overall than 4v4 Pro (though I still miss my automatics).

My Recommendations for Pro

I would like to see an Infinity alternate in the Slayer playlists. It’s good for breaking things up and it’s quite refreshing to play Slayer games without AAs and POD - though I still want the ability to play with those items at times because they have their own merits. Just not all the time. However, I would make some recommendations to improve the overall experience:

  • Lack of motion tracker - contrary to some claims - seems to slow gameplay and promote camping, at least at the lower skill levels where I am. I recommend the return of motion tracker for all Slayer gametypes (except SWAT).

  • Loadout restrictions in BTB are fine - though play might be enhanced a tad by allowing players to use automatics. However, I recommend that loadout restrictions in BTB remain unchanged.

  • Loadout restrictions in 4v4 are (in my opinion) unnecessary and a drag. It forces people to play alternate gametypes that they might not enjoy in order to achieve commendations - or simply quit when Pro is selected. I recommend that the non-Infinity 4v4 game disable AAs but retain the rest of the personal loadouts.*

I have put up a poll with these choices to see where others stand. Feel free to comment as well - even if it is to tell me I have no idea what I’m talking about. :slight_smile:

*Note: Before you complain that I just want to play with boltshots as a crutch in CQC - and that’s why I want the loadouts - please be aware that I have a grand total of 5 - yes, only 5 - boltshot kills ever.

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> 3. Gameplay: Pro gameplay was disappointing. I don’t know if it plays differently at higher levels, but at low levels it’s painfully slow and filled with camping.
>
> - SLOW: Not a single one of the Pro 4v4 games ended due to points. All ended due to time expiring (including the Forge Island maps). Even Haven - which often ends before the 5-minutes-remaining mark - played out until time expired (winning team with 500 points).
>
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This blows my mind, I played 10-20 games yesterday as a 50 and all the games end SO much faster than normal. Other players are so afraid without their motion tracker to SAVE them, they don’t move, I’d understand why some hate it then. A low level games can’t get to 600 and YOU CAN RUN AROUND THE ENTIRE GAME WITHOUT CATCHING PRE-NADES… wtf is wrong with you people.
>
> Sorry, but it’s simple, those that camp with no motion tracker don’t know how to play the game. You don’t need a mic to play, I got my 50 playing solo and half my games NO ONE HAD A MIC. Learn to move around the map, the entire point of no motion tracker is to PROMOTE movement not stop it. Motion tracker STOPs movement.
>
> Majority of the games with MT turned on at a higher level end because of time because once you get a lead you can just camp a side of the map.
>
> Sorry, but those that hate MT turned off, need to rough it out, it’ll make you a better player with it turned OFF!

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> wtf is wrong with you people.

From a player new to console FPSs (H4 is my first - but quite skilled on keyboard-driven FPSs) and who has a desire to improve, your judgement is unappreciated.

> Sorry, but it’s simple, those that camp with no motion tracker don’t know how to play the game. You don’t need a mic to play, I got my 50 playing solo and half my games NO ONE HAD A MIC. Learn to move around the map, the entire point of no motion tracker is to PROMOTE movement not stop it. Motion tracker STOPs movement.

> Sorry, but those that hate MT turned off, need to rough it out, it’ll make you a better player with it turned OFF!

And this is the disconnect between those who are highly skilled and those who are not.

Those who have not yet learned the skills of aiming and strafing (or at least are not highly skilled) must play in a different fashion if they do not want to get annihilated. The simplest way to compensate is to take advantage of the element of surprise. If your opponent cannot start shooting you until you have 2 or 3 shots into him, you stand a chance at winning the engagement. Otherwise, you have no chance.

With motion tracking, this is simple. Once you see someone on the tracker, then you can duck behind something and wait a few seconds for that person to come trotting by. The rest of the time, you are moving around the map. Without motion tracking, this is much harder. You have no pre-warning that someone is near. So you can either A) move around knowing that you will lose most engagements; or, B) hide the ENTIRE time.

Choice B would not occur to you because that is not how you play, nor is it how others at your level play. You are skilled enough not to need the element of surprise all the time, and you likely find playing like that to be incredibly boring besides. But at the lower levels, sometimes, choice B can seem like the only viable option.

This is why there is a difference between how some options play out in a social list versus a competitive one, and why there needs to be different game types. Players who play enough will eventually get the hang of aiming and be able to play differently - even if they spend their learning period hiding. They still must aim at some point. As they grow more comfortable with aiming, they will hide less. But until that point, removing things like motion tracking are a huge detriment to gameplay. It’s like starting a student on calculus before they get the hang of algebra. Sure - calculus takes more skill . . . but some basics must be learned first.

(Tangent: Along with being an argument for motion tracking, this is also an argument for a social / ranked playlist split).

In my case, I had a different account I first started playing on. I played hide-and-seek for a month before I was able to aim with any reasonable level of skill. If I did not have the option of hide-and-seek during that period, I might well have given up, as going 1/2/25 K/A/D every game is not how I liked to spend my time. I now do not hide. I do not use the boltshot. I do not use camo or PV. Although use of all those things would make my stats better, I am attempting to get better at the fundamental mechanics. Nevertheless, I - and those who are also at my skill level - are not good enough yet for no motion tracking in Slayer to be an enjoyable game type. While I personally am comfortable without it due to lots of SWAT, many of the people I get matched with are not. Regardless of what I do, their actions have a significant effect on the game I get to play.

No motion tracking already exists in other lists which cater toward the higher-skilled players. I am asking for it to be returned to a list that all agree is more socially oriented. Don’t take away the ability for those like me to learn (or simply play casually) when playlists with your desired settings already exist.

That is all.

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Pro is only slow because the infinity gimmicks were removed. Once weapon tuning raises kill speeds the game will flow a lot better. Pro simply highlights the slow kill times that halo 4 has currently.