I (and most of the long time halo players) have been giving 343 some serious crap over their decisions with this game. I can hardly stand any of the other playlists besides objective ones. Back in 3 and Reach, I was a SWAT/Sniper pro, that’s all I ever did, and all I had ever hoped to do, because it was just so much fun. Now, Slayer based gametypes in 4 suffer from poor map balancing/sizes, NO map control or motivation to control a point of the map, and the fact that EVERYBODY can have a power weapon at their fingertips, ANYWHERE.
But in my eyes, the Dominion playlist is by far the playlist that stays true to Halo 2 and 3, even though its concept is fairly new. Here’s why:
Players have to travel to certain points in order to keep the game going and win. There is no more camping in your base, potshotting passersby with the DMR, and then collecting some ordnance to repeat the cycle with, which plagues the Big Team playlist.
There is an actual, very clear, and very ‘worth it’ reward for holding these points. It can be said that 343i innovated the Domination game mode from Call of Duty, but they do much more than that. One of the main reasons Halo 3 slayer was so much more challenging and fun than Halo 4’s is that there was a reason to hold a spot. Perhaps the rocket launcher or the energy sword spawned there. Perhaps it was just a great vantage point in the map. Now, there is really no motivation to do so, since getting kicked out of the spot is counteracted by ordnance weapons spawning right in front of you, whenever you want. In Dominion, however, holding the bases not only gives you constant feeds of power weapons and vehicles, but also general defense (shields and turrets) and plenty of opportunities for extra points (rebuilding turrets, recapturing bases).
As an extension to the last point, there is a playstyle for everybody in this mode. Once you’ve got your point and your weapons, you can do pretty much whatever you want. Either way, you can gets plenty of kills, and generally, both teams are very balanced against each other. If you have a rocket launcher or a splaser and you don’t want to sit in your base waiting for people to come to you, you can do just the opposite and go for the offensive and try to score some more bases for more weapons and points. If you want, you can stay in with a shotgun and do your thing. Or you can take your Wraith and drive around the map. The thing about this that makes it very balanced is that both teams generally have their own base to start with that has all the commodities I’ve discussed. The major incentive is to capture point B, which will win you the game. There’s constant fighting over this base, which really keeps the game interesting for me, and it makes me want to stay to the end.
Using this game mode, it’s actually possible to complete the UNSC Ordnance commendations.
This mode is a lot different from the other objective playlists in that you actually get rewarded for getting the objective.
Like Halo 3, there’s actually incentive to get close to your enemy. This is one of the few playlists where the BR can outdo the DMR in many situations. Since fighting over a base usually incorporates CQC, the BR is actually useful for once. Of course, if you want to sit atop a rock and 4 shot people with your laser beam bullet DMR, you can, but since most people are heading for and defending bases, this might not be the best incentive. I find this funny, considering all the Dominion maps are on large maps.
Which leads me to my next point. Since the Crimson Map Pack is pretty much all large maps, Dominion will be a great playlist to play when it comes out.
Don’t get me wrong. I still am pretty disappointed with the rest of the playlists and the game in general. But today’s daily challenge really turned me onto Dominion, which I will certainly be playing from now on. It’s a lot of fun, and I know holding positions can be boring, but considering all the ways you can play this game mode, you guys should try it out.
While I disagree with people hating on Halo 4 I will most definitly agree that Dominion is a fantastic addition to the Playlist selection.
There are good and clear objectives that don’t swap around.
There are most definitely solid rewards for holding positions as well as capturing others. Not to mention there’s also rewards for people who play with the team in mind - hanging back inside bases to guard them and really giving up the chance for a lot of kills.
There’s most definitely an incentive for team work, in terms of fighting your way into a base and capturing it, as well as holding it… though I wish more people would realise that.
Dominion is my favorite gametype in Halo 4! And Halo 4 is the best Halo game ever in my opinion!!
I even made a Battlefront style gametype and customized maps to go with it, and the originals, and I was inspired by the person who was asking for map ideas for his gametype that was also Battlefront style, and I just wish I could tell him if I can remember who it was…
> While I disagree with people hating on Halo 4 I will most definitly agree that Dominion is a fantastic addition to the Playlist selection.
>
> There are good and clear objectives that don’t swap around.
>
> There are most definitely solid rewards for holding positions as well as capturing others. Not to mention there’s also rewards for people who play with the team in mind - hanging back inside bases to guard them and really giving up the chance for a lot of kills.
>
> There’s most definitely an incentive for team work, in terms of fighting your way into a base and capturing it, as well as holding it… though I wish more people would realise that.
Yes, I wish more people were into it, or would at least try it. People should realize that if they just wanna go for kills, they can very easily do that, AND go very positive AND have fun weapons to do it with. I never liked the idea of objective gamemodes in ANY game, but this one’s really different for me.
me and my friends decided to give domioion a shot it looked really fun… so we played. had controlled 2 bases to 1 and were cloe to victory it seemed decent. Weapon supply came and we all were given dmr’s and shot guns um really? the map was vortex we were all mid when we all look out the door to to see there entire team has spawned with incenteration cannons We were blown away they took mid instantly and from there new supply came they took are last base didnt even give me oversheild they all got binary rifles and inceration cannons so we took it back and magicaly the supply thing hit 0 i was like oh we won apperently not the other team had 10 more points i was blown away by how 343 just gave the win to them like that i mean catering to bad kids for losing by spawning them all those weapons. Haven’t played it since!
> me and my friends decided to give domioion a shot it looked really fun… so we played. had controlled 2 bases to 1 and were cloe to victory it seemed decent. Weapon supply came and we all were given dmr’s and shot guns um really? the map was vortex we were all mid when we all look out the door to to see there entire team has spawned with incenteration cannons We were blown away they took mid instantly and from there new supply came they took are last base didnt even give me oversheild they all got binary rifles and inceration cannons so we took it back and magicaly the supply thing hit 0 i was like oh we won apperently not the other team had 10 more points i was blown away by how 343 just gave the win to them like that i mean catering to bad kids for losing by spawning them all those weapons. Haven’t played it since!
Not to offend you… but that’s just kind of ignorant. Believe me, I’ve had some garbage resupplies. As in, no power weapons whatsoever. The trick to playing video games is to not get angry the first time something doesn’t go your way.
> > me and my friends decided to give domioion a shot it looked really fun… so we played. had controlled 2 bases to 1 and were cloe to victory it seemed decent. Weapon supply came and we all were given dmr’s and shot guns um really? the map was vortex we were all mid when we all look out the door to to see there entire team has spawned with incenteration cannons We were blown away they took mid instantly and from there new supply came they took are last base didnt even give me oversheild they all got binary rifles and inceration cannons so we took it back and magicaly the supply thing hit 0 i was like oh we won apperently not the other team had 10 more points i was blown away by how 343 just gave the win to them like that i mean catering to bad kids for losing by spawning them all those weapons. Haven’t played it since!
>
> Not to offend you… but that’s just kind of ignorant. Believe me, I’ve had some garbage resupplies. As in, no power weapons whatsoever. The trick to playing video games is to not get angry the first time something doesn’t go your way.
To add onto this, don’t certain bases spawn certain weapons? I know they do vehicle-wise.
> me and my friends decided to give domioion a shot it looked really fun… so we played. had controlled 2 bases to 1 and were cloe to victory it seemed decent. Weapon supply came and we all were given dmr’s and shot guns um really? the map was vortex we were all mid when we all look out the door to to see there entire team has spawned with incenteration cannons We were blown away they took mid instantly and from there new supply came they took are last base didnt even give me oversheild they all got binary rifles and inceration cannons so we took it back and magicaly the supply thing hit 0 i was like oh we won apperently not the other team had 10 more points i was blown away by how 343 just gave the win to them like that i mean catering to bad kids for losing by spawning them all those weapons. Haven’t played it since!
I can’t stand Dominion for this reason. I understand they have 2 bases and all, but why the ridiculous amount of power weapons? A shotgun, railgun or a sniper doesn’t bother me. It’s the rockets and SAW the other team gets in bunches. I played a game on Meltdown. B is right smack down the middle under the bridge and the other team had 2 incineration cannons. I can understand 1, but why 2?
Someone else wrote theres no camping?
That’s all dominion is about. In exile, camo and have a SAW, Rocket or Shotgun and cloak in a corner at B. It’s a cool gametype, i figured domination with a twist, but the power weapon galore kind of kills it and i only play it when a challenge shows up for it, like today.
> I can’t stand Dominion for this reason. I understand they have 2 bases and all, but why the ridiculous amount of power weapons? A shotgun, railgun or a sniper doesn’t bother me. It’s the rockets and SAW the other team gets in bunches. I played a game on Meltdown. B is right smack down the middle under the bridge and the other team had 2 incineration cannons. I can understand 1, but why 2?
>
> Someone else wrote theres no camping?
>
> That’s all dominion is about. In exile, camo and have a SAW, Rocket or Shotgun and cloak in a corner at B. It’s a cool gametype, i figured domination with a twist, but the power weapon galore kind of kills it and i only play it when a challenge shows up for it, like today.
Well, you raise some points, but getting bad weapon spawns are usually just bad luck. Controlling more bases allows you more drops. When everyone’s weapons are fairly balanced, you have more fun. And if you don’t have good guns? I just lay low with my rifle and pick people off until a new drop comes.