I have found that halo 4 doesn’t really offer gamers equal footing ever in the multiplayer. I have a few things that suggest that at the start of a match some players are given a disadvantage due to many factors.
The maps are not balanced in terms of spawn points for the different teams. Take abandon for example, one team is instantly given the high ground on the map. Exile and one team is give the guass warthog (I know that the red team is closer to the tank but the guass takes the tank out very quickly). On other maps other advantages can be clearly seen as well.
Load outs also break the balance of the game because all though all players can get access to all things some players get access to extra perks and other weapons (applies right until all players reach SR130). This again makes some players have an unfair advantage over others.
Double XP…Well the fact that the promotion was not offered world wide was enough of to create an unfair advantage as some players will be given the ability’s and weapons faster than others…
The whole specialisations thing is a huge issue again with the game giving some players an uneven footing over others. I got LE so it doesnt effect me but players across half the world are unable to rank up past SR70 and in turn van not get access to the “perks” that come from that.
Random ordinance means that it is luck of the draw that depicts which weapon your gonna be given as you reach the ability to call one in. for example one player can be given a needler and the other a binary rifle, needless to say I know which of the weapons I would prefer.
All of this leads to halo no longer being a skill game but a game based largely on luck. I’m not saying that there is no skill to the game but when your ability to play a game with certain “perks” depends on where you live and the speed you level up also depends on where you live its hard to argue that the game is based around skill. That is before you look into the spawn locations of players depending on which team they were assigned makes in almost impossible to say the game takes skill.
I really enjoyed all the halo games (except reach) and I do enjoy halo 4. I just feel that the multiplayer has lost a lot of what made it fun due to these issues. What do you guys think?
Having all SAW’s on the map: Yeah that’s nice and all but it’s not gonna let me clear out Charlie of enemies so I can cap it. I wish there was a fixed rocket launcher location, but nope, complete randomness.
Oh boy I finally got a Rocket launcher and…their entire team has Binary Rifles. Well that’s just lovely.
I think you are overestimating the power of any of the perks available.
Yes, if 2 people of the exact same skill level meet with guns fully loaded and no grenades in a wide open area someone with Stability may have an advantage.
Of course if those people meet in a hallway full of bodies and dropped grenades, the guy with resupply may have an advantage.
There is no 1 “I win” perk or loadout, nor is this a 1v1 game. Most people I know don’t even use the majority of abilities that come later in the game. I think most of my loadouts could be done by level 20something. DMR is the big changer, and it comes level 2.
I would prefer that the only things you unlocked with levels were armor and other cosmetic changes, but that’s not what we have. I would prefer that all ordinance drops were on a cycle, so everyone got the same ones, on the same map, in the same order. I would prefer more small maps and that whoever designed Complex as a 4v4 be sack-tapped. My preferences are just that though, preferences, and I’m still having a lot of fun.
I agree with the spawns, but I disagree with everything else.
Some spawns kind of make some starting moves difficult, but others are easier, so just adapt to which side you spawn on.
The leveling and unlocking thing is nonsense. You’ll unlock all good weapons and perks within the first few levels. Within 10 hours of game time you can have all good things unlocked. Everything that comes after that is just very specialized.
Seriously, xp means nothing in this game. Some of the specializations look really cool, and the perks can be useful, but not necessarily better than the ones you allready have.
So the same goes for the specializations. Some might be useful, but so are the ones you allready have. If someone that is specialized beats someone that is not, it’s most likely because he has spent more time learning how to play the game,and not because of one little perk.
I mean so what if you face opponents who can take extra damage in vehicles while playing Big Team? Big deal if you you have teams that know exactly what ordinance is going to drop where and can have double the chance of getting the right personal ordinance for their current situation. Extra XP to level faster? Just use Double XP, oh wait… etc.
If there’s no advantage to having all the specs then why was there a daily XP cap?
> What’s up with the European XP cap?
>
> The European XP cap is intended to imbalance the integrity of the progression system. In other words, it’s in place to provide an early gate to hold back players while the rest of the world runs amok in their progression.
@ Peave99: Thank you for not being “another one of them threads”. You make reasonable points, so no one should be giving you a hard time. Just one thing I want to comment on, it’s about loadouts breaking the balance. I can see where you are coming from about some people reaching SR130 before others having much more access to everything, but… my argument is this:
Tactical Packages and Support Upgrades are the only things really effected by crossing over into other Specializations. Even though someone SR130 may have more variety/options. They are only able to change those 2 things in there loadout.
If you already have the remaining Specializations unlocked/viewable: Choose wisely from levels 50-70. If you do not have the remaining Specializations unlocked yet, the Specializations Operator and Wetwork are 2 of the best in my opinion. At least most useful compared to others.
The extra XP for Pioneer? 1100 WITH double XP codes in Spartan Ops. So after 66 games of Double XP, I could get a free level 10 of some Spec. Granted, I couldn’t use Mobility, Resupply or anything else…but I’d be a full level above someone else. Wooo. It’s about 300 xp in Wargames. So after about 33 games, I could get a free level 1 of a spec. Trust me, Pioneer is not the one you want to point to as broken.
The European XP cap doesn’t exist. There is a worldwide LEVEL cap of 70 for:
A) People who didn’t buy LE
B) People who didn’t play between the 6th and 20th AND live in a specific set of countries AND are not above 18
C) People who met the criteria for a free code, but had the wrong/old information for email in their XBL info.
People in Africa, the US, Japan etc etc all have the same level 70 issue if they have no code. The information was out there months in advance for anyone who did their research. It was the tipping point for me, personally, as to why I went with the LE version.
The information that you would rank up so much faster than Reach and reach a level cap in under a month wasn’t out there. Even then, in Reach when they limited your rank at the start you kept earning experience that was added on when they eventually unlocked the higher ranks.
If you’re saying it’s okay to sell store specific multiplayer advantage pre-order DLC that you have to buy from, a store that virtually went bankrupt earlier in the year, wiping out any store credit or reward points you had with them and couldn’t fulfill the biggest game of the year up to that point, Mass Effect 3’s pre-orders, then we could be having another debate about immoral marketing practices.
You got the LE and had your early access. That’s fair enough. Now you face millions more with access, so that advantage you paid for has gone.
Equating that pre-order offer with a free-for-all of anyone aged 18 who signs in for 10 seconds while Halo is running is why those in Europe got the shaft.
Europeans with the LE get done over too if they have a brother/gf/wife who plays Halo too as only one account gets to progress.
> The information that you would rank up so much faster than Reach and reach a level cap in under a month wasn’t out there. Even then, in Reach when they limited your rank at the start you kept earning experience that was added on when they eventually unlocked the higher ranks.
>
> If you’re saying it’s okay to sell store specific multiplayer advantage pre-order DLC that you have to buy from, a store that virtually went bankrupt earlier in the year, wiping out any store credit or reward points you had with them and couldn’t fulfill the biggest game of the year up to that point, Mass Effect 3’s pre-orders, then we could be having another debate about immoral marketing practices.
>
> You got the LE and had your early access. That’s fair enough. Now you face millions more with access, so that advantage you paid for has gone.
>
> Equating that pre-order offer with a free-for-all of anyone aged 18 who signs in for 10 seconds while Halo is running is why those in Europe got the shaft.
>
> Europeans with the LE get done over too if they have a brother/gf/wife who plays Halo too as only one account gets to progress.
I don’t see having the Spec codes as an advantage, except that I can continue to 130. Everything I use on a regular basis was unlocked by level 20. Blame those pre-order places for insisting on exclusivity. They are the ones that prevent 343 from just handing out the codes.
GF’s and brothers don’t get the shaft. They paid for 1 copy and got 1 code. I don’t consider it shafting me if my wife can’t drive to work because we only bought 1 car and I am using it. You buy 1, you get 1. That’s how this stuff works.
Except on the 360 when you buy things that console gets tagged so anyone using it can use that DLC or play that arcade game.
Last year Call of Duty Elite did what you describe and was locked to one gamertag.
> We understand that ELITE Premium Members on Xbox Live who purchased the latest DLC Content Drop for Modern Warfare 3 are unable to access that content while signed into other profiles on the same console that originally downloaded the content. This is unintentional and we will work to get an update out as soon as possible that corrects this issue and allows you to continue to enjoy the new maps.
We agree though it’s the marketing gone rampant, not Cortana that is the source of this mess. We get invited by one part of marketing to see if we can play 140 hours of multiplayer by Xbox Rewards by the end of November, and then even just getting less than half that is enough to see you get up to the level 70 cap which is not lifted because other marketing people worked out their own deals for months of exclusivity with 1 retailer, while another retailer gets an avatar prop and others just get a skin.
Even with the majority of peoples loadout kits unlocked by SR20 I still believe that an Unfair advantage is give to other players. not to mention the other points I made in the original post