From a post over on NeoGAF the user Louis Wu had this to say after playing Halo 4 multiplayer.
> Ordinance drops are pretty cool. When you earn one (I don’t know what I did to earn them), you get a little thingy in your UI that pops up - three choices, mapped to three buttons on your D-Pad. Pick your drop, and it’ll appear in the default location for that power weapon soon after. … Everyone gets notified that they’re about to drop - but the dropper obviously knows a little sooner. So you can either get there first, and snag 'em… or get there and set up a trap.
and he clarified with this
> Clarification: I have NO CLUE what generated the Ordnance popup in my HUD. I ASSUMED it was something I ‘earned’ (through kills/points/something else)… but I did NOT clarify this with anyone at 343. For all I know, it could be totally random, and assigned to a random player each time it comes up (no earning involved). I simply don’t know.
This makes the weapon drops sound pretty much exactly like drops in other shooter games. Now this method of having a player choose where to drop a weapon might not be final, or might be misunderstood, but it sounds even farther outside the Halo experience than I originally feared.
Thoughts?
If this is truly how the mulitplayer weapon drops are handled, as stated above from Louis Wu, then I simply don’t support this design decision (no matter how it fits into the new mythos surrounding the Infinity ship).
Why did we not hear this before? I’m sure it was said that ordinance drops are on timers and drop in a random location (not actually random but one of a few places), not when you earn one and wherever the weapon you want drops.
How is that fine? Halo has always, yes always, been an arena shooter. Weapons appear on the map, on timers, and are available to both teams equally (on most of the maps this is even symmetrical).
Now they’re allowing players to earn a weapon drop? Then, after they have earned a drop, they get to choose where it happens? This is not balance, Halo, or anything else that remotely fits into the Halo multiplayer tradition.
I’m open minded that this might, in fact, be an interesting twist. However, as it has currently be described, it seems to be pretty far out in left field for the series. ESPECIALLY if it is a reward for specific actions.
IE : Player A is doing great = give him a sniper!
OR : Player B is doing terrible = give him rockets!
The knowledge issue is the only problem I see, picking which weapons spawns isn’t that big a deal imo as the teams still have to fight over them.
The only problem I can foresee, at least if what is described can be linked to MM as these were custom games, is if there is no set delay for the game to force a choice at random. If it is not timed to a set timer with the choice it makes it seem a bit off edge on the equal front.
> Hmm, seems like it’s not random after all, or has any characteristic of being random, either in weapon type or spawn location.
>
> It sounds like it isn’t much different from a standard spawn system. The powerweapons just won’t be on fixed spawn timers.
> The mode Claude is refering to actually had ordnance on a timer (like weapon respawns work now) which is absolutely one of the ways it works. Personal ordnance will be on specific playlists and modes. Not a universal feature.
So there is hope that Team Slayer will have normal weapon drops where FFA or other specialty playlists could have this “personal ordinance” …
Still wish they would just answer questions here on their own forum.
> > Frankie says something about that
>
> here is Frankie’s quote
>
>
> > The mode Claude is refering to actually had ordnance on a timer (like weapon respawns work now) which is absolutely one of the ways it works. Personal ordnance will be on specific playlists and modes. Not a universal feature.
>
> So there is hope that Team Slayer will have normal weapon drops where FFA or other specialty playlists could have this “personal ordinance” …
>
> Still wish they would just answer questions here on their own forum.
I don’t really care what forum they post on, just give like 4 minutes of uncut gameplay with commentary. That would be great.
> Now they’re allowing players to earn a weapon drop? Then, after they have earned a drop, they get to choose where it happens?
Where the heck are you getting this information?
You don’t get to choose where it happens - it happens where that power weapon normally spawns. (And ‘earning’ is just one of many ways ordnance (apparently) works - my guess is, in vanilla matchmaking, it will NOT be earned, but timed.)
> > Hmm, seems like it’s not random after all, or has any characteristic of being random, either in weapon type or spawn location.
> >
> > It sounds like it isn’t much different from a standard spawn system. The powerweapons just won’t be on fixed spawn timers.
>
> AKA changes for changes sake
Actually, it’s not. It sounds like it is part of a new variety of game mode. So, it’s more like “innovation for varieties sake.”
