people will always be frustrated you guys didnt go with the CE multiplayer experience, and instead the reach one for the classic maps. the reason people are so frustrated at this is because most of the old halo veterans DO NOT LIKE HALO REACH MULTIPLAYER. this frustration can be easily remedied to some extent, by TITLE UPDATING halo reach so its not terrible anymore.
in order to fix halo reach, the following things need to be changed (or given options to change via custom game options):
1.) first and foremost, either remove the possibility of spamming to win DMR vs DMR battles (any range), or give us options to do so when we are making gametypes. it shouldnt matter if im standing 5 feet, or 30 feet from someone, if we both have DMRs, and we both shoot at each other, when i pace my shots and observe the mechanic of bloom, and the other guy COMPLETELY IGNORES said mechanic, he should lose 100% of the time. it makes more sense at close range for bloom to let you shoot faster, i’ll give you that, but from a gameplay standpoint, this only makes close range DMR battles COIN FLIP battles because its now a race to see which person can get the first 4 lucky hits with their fully spammed DMR shots.
2.) revert to halo 3 post-patch melee system, its infinitely more intuitive and straightforward.
Halo 3’s melee system worked as follows:
SHOOT -> MELEE -> KILL goes to the person who did more damage (by at least ~26 damage)
Halo Reach’s melee system works as follows, when someone is trying for the ever-so-popular sprint + double melee tactic:
1.) do i know what range in which shooting is viable to get ahead? if yes go to 2.), if no go to 4.)
2.) is the target far enough away that i can shoot and have it impact the battle in any way, shape, or form? if yes go to 3.) if no go to 4.)
3.) shoot -> melee (and dont miss a single bullet with your shooting, because you’ll probably go back into shooting being not viable again)
4.) dont shoot at all, wait till they are within melee distance, then melee when they do. -> jump backwards -> headshot them.
and thats assuming the player actually knows that at some ranges shooting simply isnt VIABLE AT ALL. when players dont know this fact, it becomes EVEN MORE PROBLEMATIC.
3.) Grenades - grenades are mini nukes. between the fast fuse time, incredibly slow player speed, super low jump height, and large grenade radius, grenades have become straight up 100% more effective than every single non-power weapon in the entire game. because of this ‘good’ players will now actively seek to pick up these mini nukes because they are THAT POWERFUL. change is needed, or at least custom game options to change radius and damage and fuse time.
4.) Armor lock - armor lock is blatantly overpowered, not even remotely close to being balanced. anyone who argues that it isnt probably plays big team battle all day long where it doesnt really matter, or they are somehow lucking out by constantly playing against bad players who are somehow too slow to press that one single button for invincibility when they need it. because of its SUPER long duration, the armor lockers teammates have AMPLE time to save him almost always (provided that they arent bad, and the armor locker is staying with his team). this problem is compounded exponentially when more and more people on the same team are using said armor ability. never in my entire halo career have i heard so much rage and hate for one mechanic, as i have for armor lock. this can be changed VERY easily (or give us custom game options to do so), with -4 seconds of its duration, and a 100% removal of the ‘frosting effect’.
5.) Jet pack - this fix is pretty simple, really. just dont put it in ANY of the NON-JOKE playlists, at all, ever. the concept of ‘map control’ has always been an important thing in halo 1, 2, and halo 3. in halo reach its completely thrown out the window when this AA can be picked. people try to argue that its ‘loud’ and makes them a ‘big target’, but thats only assuming they are terrible at using it and fly straight up all the time, never staying behind cover, etc. when a skilled player uses jet pack, they will use it as little as possible to get up 1 floor, or 2 floors, exposing themselves very little, to none at all in the process. its even more problematic that you can fly up what seems to be 89 feet above the map, rendering most of the cover and line of sight blockers useless (top down cover is almost non-existent on some maps).
6.) Player Traits - player speed and jump height is simply too slow. for the new ‘halo CE’ playlist(s) can we please have increased player speed and jump height? its definitely needed, and it can easily be done in custom game options.
7.) Sprint - as sprint currently is, if you get 1 shot down in a DMR battle, you can simply run away to a choke point, and, provided that you have a mini nuke or 2, you will get away unscathed. this is problematic, to say the very least. i propose you change it so whenever you are damaged, you will stop sprinting right then, and stay unable to sprint for another 2 seconds. with this change sprint will be used to get to places, but it will not be used to simply run away at the smallest loss of advantage in battles.
with these changes, i feel that the old halo vets, such as myself, wont feel so betrayed to not be able to play the game we have loved since its release, being stuck with the new halo game that seems to be specifically catered to people that arent that great at the game. we need change 343. if this change isnt coming, dont expect the anniversary halo to have much success. i dont like halo reach as it is, and im not going to like it any more playing on the good halo 1 maps. the maps in halo 1 were amazing, but that doesnt solve the problems that i have stated above. the last thing i want to see is myself playing on my favorite map, damnation, with the same terrible reach mechanics.
hopefully you guys will listen.