Power Weapons in Personal Ordnance

Games Other Halo
1

Are you for or against Power Weapons being earned through Personal Ordnance?

For perspective, I’ll give you this post from NeoGAF:

Just got back from NYCC. I played 6 games of Infinity Slayer on Ragnarok. Here are my impressions. This might be a bit lengthy.

It took me a few matches to get a feel for the game before I felt somewhat comfortable. It didn’t help that I am used to playing with an Onza TE with the thumbstick resistance slightly turned up so I felt totally out of my element on a regular 360 controller with it’s loose thumbsticks. I managed to go positive every game but didn’t have any great games until my final one where I went on a frenzy with an overall 13-2.

Overall I came away with a fairly positive impression of the game with a few worries as well.

Ragnarok

Ragnarok is almost exactly the same in geometry as the original Halo 3. The only distinct differences I noticed were in the bases. The walls on the edge seemed higher and you can no longer climb up the front. The bases seemed a bit taller overall.

That said, the maps plays a lot different from Halo 3 with all the sandbox changes. It feels ALOT smaller due to universal sprint. The matches were 6v6 and it almost felt crowded at times. 8v8 will be a -Yoink- most likely.

The Guns

Rifles

The guns feel great in this game. The DMR, Light Rifle, and BR all feel distinct (I did not get to use the Carbine) and have their pros and cons. I ended up favoring the DMR on this map but I imagine the BR will be good on smaller maps.

The Light Rifle seemed very powerful when scoped in but I was having a bit of trouble hitting my shots as a result of not being totally comfortable with the controller, TV, and playing standing up so I abandoned it for the DMR. It has a smaller margin of error but seems like it could be pretty powerful in the right hands. It felt a tad less accurate than the DMR.

Snipers

The Sniper Rifle felt good to me. I have heard people say it is quite a bit harder to use than the Reach one but I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. It has less auto-aim for sure but the hitboxes when scoped in seemed fairly large and forgiving. I got a killing frenzy with it and the DMR on my last game.

The Beam rifle has a weird scope on it and I only got to use it briefly so I can’t really compare it much to the human sniper.

I did not get to use the Binary Rifle but I had it used against me in one match. Honestly I can see this being overpowered. I went through the right side cave on red side and a guy was by the pelican waiting for someone to come through. I died instantly. I do not like the idea of a sniper weapon that is 1 hit kill no matter where you hit. More on this later when I talk about ordinance drops.

Spartan Laser

Very similar to the Halo 3 laser from what I could tell. Easy to use on infantry. I only used it once. It came in a personal ordinance drop.

Rocket Launcher

Very powerful. The Rockets travel a lot faster than Reach.

Plasma Pistol

Tracking is minimal on this thing. When charged it runs out of ammo VERY quickly. You have to lead your shots to hit vehicles.

Needler

Extremely powerful within its range but has very limited ammo.

Armor Abilities

I only used Promethean vision and Thruster. I would have tried Jetpack but I use bumper jumper. Thruster seemed kinda useless on this map. I can see it being a lot more useful on smaller maps with more cover and closer encounters.

I found Promethean vision to be much more useful. It allowed me to see whether someone was up on the center hill or coming through a cave and throw a nade and train my reticule on them to get the jump on them. The draw back is that it does not last very long and it can be somewhat disorienting as far as knowing your positioning within the environment.

Vehicles

I did not drive any vehicles. It’s just not my thing I prefer to be on foot even in BTB. But I did fight against them so I’ll give my impressions on that.

Banshee
The Banshee seemed nerfed as a result of all the sanbox changes and it’s boost/tricks being slower. It died very quickly under fire from DMRs, sniper rifles, and the myriad power weapons on the map.

Mantis

At first I thought this thing might be OP. I can see it being very powerful with a competent driver and team to protect it but overall I did not get killed by it more than once or twice. It is pretty slow and his a high profile which makes it very vulnerable to team shot and easy to hit with the plasma pistol. I took on out very quickly that was right in my face by PPing it and throwing plasma grenades.

Ordinance System

This is the main thing that I didn’t really like about the game from my limited time with it. I did not like how you can get either really lucky and get an amazing weapon or get something that is not that useful. In ordinance drops I got: Spartan Laser, Sniper Rifle, Beam Rifle, Needler, Rocket Launcher and a Railgun. The needler was the least useful because, although it is very powerful from close to medium range, it has very limited ammo.

Also, Random drops mean that one team could get quite lucky and get a Binary Rifle while the other gets a regular sniper or something even less useful. It introduces a random element that I do not think I will like but we’ll have to see how much of a problem this is when the game releases. I can see this really affecting the outcome of matches just based on the pure luck of getting a good drop on your side of the map.

Overall the main thing I didn’t like is that the matches felt very chaotic due to their being too many power weapons in play at any given time. I never really knew what the other team had until I got killed by it.

All things considered. I cannot wait to get my hands on this game come Nov 6th and really dig into all the changes and get comfortable with it. The guns and movement feel sooo much better than Reach and that alone gets me very excited.

Though it is ultimately one player’s impression, there seems to be a growing trend among observant players that says that personal ordnance (and the ordnance system in general) is becoming an issue with how random power weapons seem to spawn in random areas. You don’t know what you’ll earn, and it may be something very powerful that ought to be on the map instead. Thus by earning this, you can continue to dominate.

What are your thoughts given what we know about the system?

2

Since it is only in one playlist as I understand, I don’t care.

What bothers me more is that ordinance drops in the rest of the game are more random than any other Halo’s weapon drops. The opposite of what should have happened.

3

I think ordnance in general should be restricted to Infinity only I dont see how a more randomized version of the Halo PW system brings any benefits to the game and on a competitve level it breaks the game.

4

power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.

this is because its unfair, completely unfair to give a person some dominance in the game simply because he hit a certain amount of points and got lucky, its an advantage that isn’t exactly earned through skill but merely performing basic enough actions to aquire enough points to get the drop, there is no balance to it, it doesn’t allow the other team any means of efficetively countering his team and countering there set up when they’re being given such power weapons out of luck and easily killing off the other team preventing them from actually earning there own personal ordinance drops so they can counter them.

power weapons should always, and i mean always be on the map in set locations at set times or in different locations on a predictable pattern.

5

> power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.

It’s tailored to the map, and on larger maps you can earn power weapons.

The only weapons that should be personal ordnance IMO:

Needler
Sticky Detonator
Scattershot
Concussion Rifle
SAW

Everything else is much too powerful. Players should have to work for a sniper. It seems that someone will be able to sit in the back of the map with an initial sniper and subsequently call in more snipers after they get a spree.

That ain’t cool.

6

It’s just as I feared. I’m more excited to get my hands on non-Infinity Slayer. Though I think Infinity Slayer will be fun for a more wild gametype.

7

> > power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.
>
> It’s tailored to the map, and on larger maps you can earn power weapons.
>
> The only weapons that should be personal ordnance IMO:
>
> Needler
> Sticky Detonator
> Scattershot
> Concussion Rifle
> SAW
>
> Everything else is much too powerful. Players should have to work for a sniper. It seems that someone will be able to sit in the back of the map with an initial sniper and subsequently call in more snipers after they get a spree.
>
> That ain’t cool.

decent list, not sure on the SAW though because it is quite powerfull, i think the PP should be ordinance drops only as well instead of spawning with it, maybe the same for the bolt shot but overall i agree.

i also edited my post to give an explanation as to why, and, lets not forget the specialization that lets you re-roll on your ordinance to possibly get a power weapon if one didn’t show up before, that is just going to make things even worse.

8

> > > power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.
> >
> > It’s tailored to the map, and on larger maps you can earn power weapons.
> >
> > The only weapons that should be personal ordnance IMO:
> >
> > Needler
> > Sticky Detonator
> > Scattershot
> > Concussion Rifle
> > SAW
> >
> > Everything else is much too powerful. Players should have to work for a sniper. It seems that someone will be able to sit in the back of the map with an initial sniper and subsequently call in more snipers after they get a spree.
> >
> > That ain’t cool.
>
> decent list, not sure on the SAW though because it is quite powerfull, i think the PP should be ordinance drops only as well instead of spawning with it, maybe the same for the bolt shot but overall i agree.
>
> i also edited my post to give an explanation as to why, and, lets not forget the specialization that lets you re-roll on your ordinance to possibly get a power weapon if one didn’t show up before, that is just going to make things even worse.

I agree. I [reluctantly] included the SAW in my list because it has around the same kill time as a Needler, with the exception of more ammo and no homing.

9

> > > > power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.
> > >
> > > It’s tailored to the map, and on larger maps you can earn power weapons.
> > >
> > > The only weapons that should be personal ordnance IMO:
> > >
> > > Needler
> > > Sticky Detonator
> > > Scattershot
> > > Concussion Rifle
> > > SAW
> > >
> > > Everything else is much too powerful. Players should have to work for a sniper. It seems that someone will be able to sit in the back of the map with an initial sniper and subsequently call in more snipers after they get a spree.
> > >
> > > That ain’t cool.
> >
> > decent list, not sure on the SAW though because it is quite powerfull, i think the PP should be ordinance drops only as well instead of spawning with it, maybe the same for the bolt shot but overall i agree.
> >
> > i also edited my post to give an explanation as to why, and, lets not forget the specialization that lets you re-roll on your ordinance to possibly get a power weapon if one didn’t show up before, that is just going to make things even worse.
>
> I agree. I [reluctantly] included the SAW in my list because it has around the same kill time as a Needler, with the exception of more ammo and no homing.

OMG, i didn’t mean to put saw i meant scatter shot, -Yoink!- it!

no scatter shot because it would promote corner camping and camping CQC areas for quite easy kills, i think its one hit kill if you’re close enough.

i understand the sticky detonator is 1 hit kill as well how ever it plays rather differently that allows it to work as personal ordinance.

all though the saw is powerfull it isn’t that powerfull and can be countered effectively, how it plays in the sandbox and how powerfull it is isn’t enough for it to be on map pick up so ordinance it is.

10

> > power weapons in personal ordinance? god no, personal ordinance should provide medium level weapons, weapons that are semi powerfull but not overly dominating like rockets, snipers ETC.
>
> It’s tailored to the map, and on larger maps you can earn power weapons.
>
> The only weapons that should be personal ordnance IMO:
>
> Needler
> Sticky Detonator
> Scattershot
> Concussion Rifle
> SAW
>
> Everything else is much too powerful. Players should have to work for a sniper. It seems that someone will be able to sit in the back of the map with an initial sniper and subsequently call in more snipers after they get a spree.
>
> That ain’t cool.

Never would of that of it that way…
At the very least snipers, rockets, shotguns, and sword should not be drops :confused:

11

Also, we used to know how many power weapons there were on the map. You knew there were 2 snipers usually (unless somebody hogged the ammo for 3 minutes), so if yours was dead then chances are they had one up, and you played accordingly.

But with players calling in snipers at any given time at any point on the map, how will we know? How will we plan out strategies when the enemy team could have 4 players with snipers anywhere on the map?

The system is by definition and theory ‘random’, and it seems like it will only punish players in the long run.

Honestly, this is my biggest concern at this point. This shouldn’t even have been touched, as I see no practical application for it.

It makes a lot more sense to me now to sit in a corner of the map and clean up kills to earn long-range ordnance. Why should I push for map control on Ragnarok when I can stay at my base and earn my own power weapons right there?

12

Are personal ordnance drops ONLY in infinity game types ??

And no power weapon’s should not be in personal ordnance drops

13

The personal ordnance system is just stupid and completely unnecessary. Normally I’d try to say that in a nicer and more constructive way, but there really isn’t anything constructive to say. It just flat out doesn’t make sense. Even letting people buy and select their Personal Ordnance Drops with Spartan Points would’ve worked out better.

Global ordnance drops really aren’t much better. I honestly don’t see any benefit from having them randomized.

14

> Are personal ordnance drops ONLY in infinity game types ??
>
>
>
> And no power weapon’s should not be in personal ordnance drops

From what we know, yes

15

Why didn’t he talk about the automatics?

16

I would like to ask, do you people want a new game with a new experience and at the same keep that halo feel or would you like a halo 3 with new weapons, armor and campaign? Cause it sound like you guy want the halo 3 option. I always here people say CoD the same thing every year and yet you want halo to do the same thing…geez

17

The way I see it is that you have to earn the kills to call in personal ordnance, and once you get the power weapon, you can either get a few kills with it, or you could accidentally give the other team your ordnance

ex: you get to pick your drop; a binary rifle, a SAW, and some pulse grenades, you pick the binary rifle and move to a position to snipe or something. While your on the move you get double teamed, and your team just lost a binary rifle

18

> It makes a lot more sense to me now to sit in a corner of the map and clean up kills to earn long-range ordnance. Why should I push for map control on Ragnarok when I can stay at my base and earn my own power weapons right there?

imagine having map control on ragnarok and earning long range power weapons… -___-

19

> Why didn’t he talk about the automatics?

Because they’re useless as utility weapons and always will be.

20

> Why didn’t he talk about the automatics?

Because nobody smart would use a niche close range weapon on that map.