Problems, concerns and queries.

Games Other Halo
1

Hey, I’m an avid Halo player. I’ve been around since '08 and began playing competitively since July this year. I’ve done all there is to do on Halo; I’ve been a casual, a forger, a stat padder, a GB kid, a montage kid, a clan kid, and now I’m Europe’s newest Semi-Professional Halo player. So I know what Im on about.

I can’t wait for Halo 4, after all it’s Halo. However, there just seems too many questionable things in this game. Especially considering it’s the game that is meant to revive the Halo franchise. So here’s a list of all the things I just can’t stand or simply don’t understand:

CTF - This has always been my favourite gametype. It combines hardcore slaying and insane teamwork to properly dominate a decent opponent. It seemed perfect… So for some reason 343 decided to mess it all up. You now automatically pick up the flag and can’t even drop it. So lets say you have rockets and you just accidentally walk over the flag, you’ve basically just given them rockets and made your team go 1 down. You also have a waypoint over your head when carrying it which is just stupid. All this will do is make nobody want to go near the flag. And for sweaty matches it’ll just stop all of those intense standoffs where both teams have each others flags and you need to hunt down the enemy flag carrier to cap theirs. Basically, the gametype is dead but I’m sure 343 will patch these awful settings.

Killcams - It lessens the need for teamwork by the fact that in Reach when you were dead you could help out your teammates by providing an extra line of sight from their 3rd person. It also makes it blatantly obvious where your killer is, thus eliminating the need to actually hunt him down or even track shots e.t.c.

Instant Respawn - Not a fan of this at all. I know it’s only in Slayer but it’ll make it neigh on impossible to do team setups. For example, on Sanc if you get the opponent 4 down whilst you’re sitting in Ring 2 then you and your team have a 5 second window (which is a long time) to get on their hut and get them in a spawn trap. Now, however, you have no window at all and you’ll just have to wait in Ring 2 or go out and get team shotted by guys who should still be respawning. They say this will speed up gameplay, but all it will achieve is undermining tactics.

Staying in scope - In all Halo games you were a good Sniper if you could pull off shots whilst under pressure or being put out of scope. Now you can stay in scope whilst being shot. This is just gonna lower the skill gap even more. Think about it, players who can already pull off shots under pressure and out of scope are gonna become invincible with a Sniper in their hand. Especially for competitive players like me who usually only play with and against the best of the best, it’ll just be ridiculous. All this feature has done is rid of yet another skill only top players had.

Nade indicators - C’mon, seriously 343!? If you didn’t want nades to be like Reach nukes then just nerf them a bit, don’t make them useless by telling the player exactly where they are. The skill of timing nades perfectly so your opponent can’t avoid them or won’t see them has also just been eradicated.

Perks - Probably the main reason I got into Halo was because it was 100% fair. Everyone spawned with the same stuff and if you got killed its because you are either doing something wrong or the opponent is doing something right. The only factor that may ruin that is connection, but that’s unavoidable. But now we have perks to take the place of connection. Don’t see the point in them at all, the only thing they do is make the game more unbalanced.

No ranking system - The lack of skill matching in Reach MM is what makes me stick with customs all day. MM is either too easy or you get effed over because of terrible teammates. Wasn’t a problem with H3 so I was hoping they’d go back with that system; clearly not. It’ll just make you have to rely on playing with and against friends to have fun seeing as MM will be unbearably boring. Even if the game is fun in itself it’ll just eventually become tedious after playing the same terrible players day in and day out.

HUD cluster - The HUD on H4 seems so packed. I dunno what it is but it just is. On previous titles it always seemed so clear and you only really noticed it if you were looking out for things on the HUD. Now you only notice the rest of the game if you look out for that. A pretty minor issue, but an annoying one nevertheless?

Maps - The only map that looks like it will work in a balanced and competitive way is Solace. Nuff said.

So that’s my take on the already apparent downfalls of the game, I’m sure there will be more. Before you go on to say “You haven’t played it yet, you don’t know any of this!!!”, well I have. I’ve played it quite a bit and these are the main concerns I still have.

Nevertheless, I still can’t wait and Im sure I’ll enjoy it, but probably not for long and as much as I could have.

Thanks for reading,
Guerrilla

2

Discuss

3

Interesting.

Have you tried out Halo 3? I heard it has none of the things you were concerned about, it also provides a 1-50 system for you competitives.

It shouldn’t cost much these days, I warmly suggest you try it out, I can be you’ll love it…

…I sure as hell did, but I have enough common sense to know that Halo 3.5 isn’t going to happen anymore. Games keep evolving and moving on, Halo franchise makes no difference.

4

I can’t address all of your points in detail, but keep in mind that almost everything is subjective. The game can’t revolve around a single person’s preferences, so they’re doing the best that they can.

For instance, you think the HUD is too cluttered while others complain about not being able to see your secondary weapon.

Instant respawning might be an issue, but I recently played Halo 3 for some time and on Isolation you could very much turn around after an extermination and see all four enemy players trudging up the hill after you–three seconds doesn’t make much of a difference.

CTF can carry on as normal as long as people can adapt to a changing setting, instead of keeping the same exact thing for every game in the series (Sound like another game to you?).

Staying in scope is compensated for by severe aim deviation, so it will take a skilled sniper to try and quickly reaffirm their line of sight much like re-zooming has done in past games but without the small annoyance.

The ranking system (For about the millionth time) will be released in full on the day 1 TU, it comprises of a Reach-like progression system visible to other players (SR ranks) but a skill rank visible to only you, and an invisible trueskill matchmaking system to keep you paired with people your skill level.

As for maps: Solace, Haven, and Adrift are all small and symmetrical, but as for ‘seems’ and ‘looks’, I wouldn’t be so quick to assume. Play the game and then we’ll talk. And there’s never enough said; please do justify your opinions if you can.

In conclusion, if you don’t want to adapt and evolve to the changes in Halo 4, you can be one of the 1,500 stubborn people that will still be playing Halo 3 in indignant protest to advancement. But please, do try Halo 4 first.

5

Is that grenade thing true??? That there are markers over grenades when you throw them?? MOTHER OF GOD WHAT HAVE THEY DONE. THIS IS NOT COD. ITS HALO!!!1

6

I realised earlier that if 343 didn’t post any info about the game before it was lauched we wouldn’t have so much time to analize all the info and there for would have no reason to pick fault - except with the fact they were being increadible evil by not showing us anything. We’d all just get the game have a happy few weeks of playing, then start telling 343 what they did wrong. We wouldn’t spend so much time worrying about the facts we don’t like and would spend more time speculating over what crazy shenanigons the MC has gotten himself into this time.

While I can understand you might be worried about how a franchise you think is great could be hurt, try thinking of all the new possibilities the new game will offer.

7

I believe I red somewhere MLG has taken a huge interest in halo 4.
that should be good enough a reason for you?

8

You’ve prob voiced every single concern I can think about…

especially CTF (SOOOOO frustrating) Lets make passing ball take more team work but then destroy CTF. Really?

And instant spawn. I need my teabags

9

> Hey, I’m an avid Halo player. I’ve been around since '08 and began playing competitively since July this year. I’ve done all there is to do on Halo; I’ve been a casual, a forger, a stat padder, a GB kid, a montage kid, a clan kid, and now I’m Europe’s newest Semi-Professional Halo player. So I know what Im on about.
>
> I can’t wait for Halo 4, after all it’s Halo. However, there just seems too many questionable things in this game. Especially considering it’s the game that is meant to revive the Halo franchise. So here’s a list of all the things I just can’t stand or simply don’t understand:
>
> CTF - This has always been my favourite gametype. It combines hardcore slaying and insane teamwork to properly dominate a decent opponent. It seemed perfect… So for some reason 343 decided to mess it all up. You now automatically pick up the flag and can’t even drop it. So lets say you have rockets and you just accidentally walk over the flag, you’ve basically just given them rockets and made your team go 1 down. You also have a waypoint over your head when carrying it which is just stupid. All this will do is make nobody want to go near the flag. And for sweaty matches it’ll just stop all of those intense standoffs where both teams have each others flags and you need to hunt down the enemy flag carrier to cap theirs. Basically, the gametype is dead but I’m sure 343 will patch these awful settings.
>
> Killcams - It lessens the need for teamwork by the fact that in Reach when you were dead you could help out your teammates by providing an extra line of sight from their 3rd person. It also makes it blatantly obvious where your killer is, thus eliminating the need to actually hunt him down or even track shots e.t.c.
>
> Instant Respawn - Not a fan of this at all. I know it’s only in Slayer but it’ll make it neigh on impossible to do team setups. For example, on Sanc if you get the opponent 4 down whilst you’re sitting in Ring 2 then you and your team have a 5 second window (which is a long time) to get on their hut and get them in a spawn trap. Now, however, you have no window at all and you’ll just have to wait in Ring 2 or go out and get team shotted by guys who should still be respawning. They say this will speed up gameplay, but all it will achieve is undermining tactics.
>
> Staying in scope - In all Halo games you were a good Sniper if you could pull off shots whilst under pressure or being put out of scope. Now you can stay in scope whilst being shot. This is just gonna lower the skill gap even more. Think about it, players who can already pull off shots under pressure and out of scope are gonna become invincible with a Sniper in their hand. Especially for competitive players like me who usually only play with and against the best of the best, it’ll just be ridiculous. All this feature has done is rid of yet another skill only top players had.
>
> Nade indicators - C’mon, seriously 343!? If you didn’t want nades to be like Reach nukes then just nerf them a bit, don’t make them useless by telling the player exactly where they are. The skill of timing nades perfectly so your opponent can’t avoid them or won’t see them has also just been eradicated.
>
> Perks - Probably the main reason I got into Halo was because it was 100% fair. Everyone spawned with the same stuff and if you got killed its because you are either doing something wrong or the opponent is doing something right. The only factor that may ruin that is connection, but that’s unavoidable. But now we have perks to take the place of connection. Don’t see the point in them at all, the only thing they do is make the game more unbalanced.
>
> No ranking system - The lack of skill matching in Reach MM is what makes me stick with customs all day. MM is either too easy or you get effed over because of terrible teammates. Wasn’t a problem with H3 so I was hoping they’d go back with that system; clearly not. It’ll just make you have to rely on playing with and against friends to have fun seeing as MM will be unbearably boring. Even if the game is fun in itself it’ll just eventually become tedious after playing the same terrible players day in and day out.
>
> HUD cluster - The HUD on H4 seems so packed. I dunno what it is but it just is. On previous titles it always seemed so clear and you only really noticed it if you were looking out for things on the HUD. Now you only notice the rest of the game if you look out for that. A pretty minor issue, but an annoying one nevertheless?
>
> Maps - The only map that looks like it will work in a balanced and competitive way is Solace. Nuff said.
>
>
>
> So that’s my take on the already apparent downfalls of the game, I’m sure there will be more. Before you go on to say “You haven’t played it yet, you don’t know any of this!!!”, well I have. I’ve played it quite a bit and these are the main concerns I still have.
>
> Nevertheless, I still can’t wait and Im sure I’ll enjoy it, but probably not for long and as much as I could have.
>
> Thanks for reading,
> Guerrilla

Now that you mention that you can’t spawn trap anymore with insta-spawns, I REALLY like insta-spawns. Spawn trapping was a full teams way of feeling good about themselves facing randoms. It’s ridiculous. You should not be able to force a team to spawn in a few locations so they die almost instantly upon spawning. You should have to beat them fairly, not your cheap stuff.

10

> > Hey, I’m an avid Halo player. I’ve been around since '08 and began playing competitively since July this year. I’ve done all there is to do on Halo; I’ve been a casual, a forger, a stat padder, a GB kid, a montage kid, a clan kid, and now I’m Europe’s newest Semi-Professional Halo player. So I know what Im on about.
> >
> > I can’t wait for Halo 4, after all it’s Halo. However, there just seems too many questionable things in this game. Especially considering it’s the game that is meant to revive the Halo franchise. So here’s a list of all the things I just can’t stand or simply don’t understand:
> >
> > CTF - This has always been my favourite gametype. It combines hardcore slaying and insane teamwork to properly dominate a decent opponent. It seemed perfect… So for some reason 343 decided to mess it all up. You now automatically pick up the flag and can’t even drop it. So lets say you have rockets and you just accidentally walk over the flag, you’ve basically just given them rockets and made your team go 1 down. You also have a waypoint over your head when carrying it which is just stupid. All this will do is make nobody want to go near the flag. And for sweaty matches it’ll just stop all of those intense standoffs where both teams have each others flags and you need to hunt down the enemy flag carrier to cap theirs. Basically, the gametype is dead but I’m sure 343 will patch these awful settings.
> >
> > Killcams - It lessens the need for teamwork by the fact that in Reach when you were dead you could help out your teammates by providing an extra line of sight from their 3rd person. It also makes it blatantly obvious where your killer is, thus eliminating the need to actually hunt him down or even track shots e.t.c.
> >
> > Instant Respawn - Not a fan of this at all. I know it’s only in Slayer but it’ll make it neigh on impossible to do team setups. For example, on Sanc if you get the opponent 4 down whilst you’re sitting in Ring 2 then you and your team have a 5 second window (which is a long time) to get on their hut and get them in a spawn trap. Now, however, you have no window at all and you’ll just have to wait in Ring 2 or go out and get team shotted by guys who should still be respawning. They say this will speed up gameplay, but all it will achieve is undermining tactics.
> >
> > Staying in scope - In all Halo games you were a good Sniper if you could pull off shots whilst under pressure or being put out of scope. Now you can stay in scope whilst being shot. This is just gonna lower the skill gap even more. Think about it, players who can already pull off shots under pressure and out of scope are gonna become invincible with a Sniper in their hand. Especially for competitive players like me who usually only play with and against the best of the best, it’ll just be ridiculous. All this feature has done is rid of yet another skill only top players had.
> >
> > Nade indicators - C’mon, seriously 343!? If you didn’t want nades to be like Reach nukes then just nerf them a bit, don’t make them useless by telling the player exactly where they are. The skill of timing nades perfectly so your opponent can’t avoid them or won’t see them has also just been eradicated.
> >
> > Perks - Probably the main reason I got into Halo was because it was 100% fair. Everyone spawned with the same stuff and if you got killed its because you are either doing something wrong or the opponent is doing something right. The only factor that may ruin that is connection, but that’s unavoidable. But now we have perks to take the place of connection. Don’t see the point in them at all, the only thing they do is make the game more unbalanced.
> >
> > No ranking system - The lack of skill matching in Reach MM is what makes me stick with customs all day. MM is either too easy or you get effed over because of terrible teammates. Wasn’t a problem with H3 so I was hoping they’d go back with that system; clearly not. It’ll just make you have to rely on playing with and against friends to have fun seeing as MM will be unbearably boring. Even if the game is fun in itself it’ll just eventually become tedious after playing the same terrible players day in and day out.
> >
> > HUD cluster - The HUD on H4 seems so packed. I dunno what it is but it just is. On previous titles it always seemed so clear and you only really noticed it if you were looking out for things on the HUD. Now you only notice the rest of the game if you look out for that. A pretty minor issue, but an annoying one nevertheless?
> >
> > Maps - The only map that looks like it will work in a balanced and competitive way is Solace. Nuff said.
> >
> >
> >
> > So that’s my take on the already apparent downfalls of the game, I’m sure there will be more. Before you go on to say “You haven’t played it yet, you don’t know any of this!!!”, well I have. I’ve played it quite a bit and these are the main concerns I still have.
> >
> > Nevertheless, I still can’t wait and Im sure I’ll enjoy it, but probably not for long and as much as I could have.
> >
> > Thanks for reading,
> > Guerrilla
>
> Now that you mention that you can’t spawn trap anymore with insta-spawns, I REALLY like insta-spawns. Spawn trapping was a full teams way of feeling good about themselves facing randoms. It’s ridiculous. You should not be able to force a team to spawn in a few locations so they die almost instantly upon spawning. You should have to beat them fairly, not your cheap stuff.

Sounds like you want a fair skill based matchmaking system!

11

> Interesting.
>
>
> Have you tried out Halo 3? I heard it has none of the things you were concerned about, it also provides a 1-50 system for you competitives.
>
> It shouldn’t cost much these days, I warmly suggest you try it out, I can be you’ll love it…

Agree!!!

12

most of the changes 343i are making to halo 4 dont make much sense, hopefully itll work out in the end.

13

Well, I’ll address CTF: I kinda like the changes. Putting Warthogs and stuff on the flag to block it won’t work anymore, a good thing IMO. Not being able to drop the flag emberses you in the game so you’re dedicated. You have to be serious about the flag if you want to get it. Also, try being more catious about where you’re going so you don’t accidentally pick up the flag. I can see where your concerns are coming from, but I think you should give it a chance. It may take a while to adjust, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get used to it in the end.

14

> Is that grenade thing true??? That there are markers over grenades when you throw them?? MOTHER OF GOD WHAT HAVE THEY DONE. THIS IS NOT COD. ITS HALO!!!1

There are markers if it’s off the screen. Like if it’s under your feet you’ll see a marker on the bottom of the screen pointing down.