What makes a good mutiplayer Halo game? A MUST READ!

Games Other Halo
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Introduction

Whenever I come browsing across the forums at Halo waypoint its usually because I either want to complain or make a suggestion for the next game, and I have noticed I am not the only person who does this.
So anyone out there who wants to help me impart wisdom to the forums comment and reply to this thread.

Competitve & Casual striking a balance

Lets go with the theory there are two types of Halo player the “Competitive” and the “Casual” now clearly there is a big difference in the two play styles and therefore opinions.

So the best way to cater both types of player is to split them into two hoppers just like Halo 3 did. So “Competitive” and “Social”. Simple hey, yes and just like that we have fixed the problem of how we cater both audiences.

Now lets go a step further. The competitive hopper contains maps and gametypes suited for competitive players and the social one contains maps and gametypes for casual gamers.

Yes but that then leaves ranking players. Now weather you like it or not there has to be a reward for the players who have spent time getting better at the game, This is where Halo 3’s trueskill comes in, Just like Halo 3 winning games in competitive playlists will gain you skill which then sums upto your highest skill.

This is then tied into Halo: Reach’s credit ranking system to prevent bad players or less devoted players gaining all the goodies that you get for dedication and perseverance.

Lets also why we are at it bump the trueskill margin upto “100” to give better skill based matching. Anyone who dislikes this idea go read Microsoft Research’s paper on trueskill it is actually designed to be worked with “1000 - 10,000” rating points, but 100 is sensible.

The Sandbox

At the end of the day Halo has and always should come down to one thing Consistency, Things need to be consistent. The bloom is an example of something that is not consistent, and you can often see a kill that you should have got snatched from you by a random bloom shot.

That’s not to say no bloom however, IF it were implemented like GOW3’s it would actually add a skill factor whilst keeping consistency.

Another thing is map design for competitive playlists must use drop spawning and have one or two power weapons on the map maximum, A reduced weapon set also helps as it make it even more consistent for really competitive players.

AA’s are fun and cool if they return but they’re not for competitive, Keep them in the social playlists.

Hitscan or no hitscan, You debate that. I have no opinion.

Increased movement speed, jump height and kill times is widely requested and makes for a more fast-paced action packed and entertaining game on both the competitive and social front.

Read this now:

At the end of the day it’s down to the developers at 343 we all know that, but we have a voice so let it be heard by replying to this post your are expressing one such voice. By not replying you are standing by and doing nothing to benefit the game you love and enjoy. So give us a break and reply.

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I agree with all of this. I would love to see bloom go away or be made more consistent but I also think that if it were brought back, they shouldn’t let it slow down the game as much. Maybe its just me but I felt that it made duels seem to drag on a bit longer than they should. I also like seperating the casual and competetive players. As long as the competetive playlists are actually suited for competetive play (balanced and consistent), I’m happy. Personally, I wouldn’t like going on competetive and see everyone running around carelessly with assault rifles, not having a clue what they are doing. Or in other words, Halo Reach.

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You want to make the game more like Halo and more fun for both types of players?

Give us an actual weapon sandbox again, like we’ve not had since Combat Evolved. Make the other weapons worth using on their own, not just “till I can get a rifle and/or power weapon”. Plasmas should stun, grenades should obliterate a full shield full health player if you are good enough to place it at their feet, an AR should be able to compete at midrange.

When deciding what weapon to use the reaction should be like what I get in Gears 3; “mang they’re all so much fun I can’t decide” not the current Halo paradigm of “not a headshot or power weapon? Why bother.”

Above all how good I am with the weapon should be more important than what that weapon is. Rock Paper Scissors should die in a fire

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It’s simple: Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo Wars, and ODST FF had amazing multiplayer. Extremely fun, now nostalgic. Countless great memories. Reach’s multiplayer: absolute failure; catered to the casuals.

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Two simple words:

Overpowered Balance

Think Halo 2 and especially Halo CE. Think nothing Halo 3 or Reach.

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Halo CE had the best multiplayer. Faster kills, stop making everything (BR) a power weapon and remove useless weapons.

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All I want is a mix of CE and Halo 3 multiplayer. Bring back fast paced battles and equipment, revive those beautiful maps and introduce new ones that aren’t copy/paste from the campaign. I want Halo 4 to be a Halo 3 sequel and not a Halo Reach sequel!

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> Two simple words:
>
> Overpowered Balance
>
> Think Halo 2 and especially Halo CE. Think nothing Halo 3 or Reach.

…over powered balance?..think nothing of halo 3?..face palm

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> Halo CE had the best multiplayer. Faster kills, stop making everything (BR) a power weapon and remove useless weapons.

Preach it brother, testify!

You could rape anybody with any weapon in CE, provided you knew how to use that weapon. Hell the Plasma Rifle’s biggest asset wasn’t neccesarily the damage or accuracy, it was the stun. Nothing like hucking a plasma grenade at someobdy, deliberately missing, then using the rifle to strip their shield, prevent them from strafing and thus retaliating with their supposedly unstoppable pistol, and also holding them in the lethal no shield blast radius of the grenade.

It was awesome. You’d huck the sticky, the pistol -Yoink!- would laugh and gloat, then you light him up with the plasma rifle, and he dies because he’s a one dimensional threat who can only point and click. CE was full of shenanigans like this.

They going crying to the forums, and we get Halo 2, where if it ain’t point and click or a power weapon it’s useless. We finally move the pendulum infinitismally back towards having a real sandbox in Reach and all you hear is:

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

“grenades are too powerfull, bloom means I can’t just point and click”

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

and Halo becomes a boring one dimensional game again. Plinkplinkplinkplink. The most fun I had with Reach was in the beta where I would combine Sprint with Gravity Hammer. Oh the delicious tears! “waaaa I had a rifle I should always win waaa”

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I agree with everything in the first part, but as for the second, I’m not too sure about the 2 power weapons and drop spawning, AA’s shouldn’t return at all IMO, and hitscan needs to make a comeback.

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Double post.

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> All I want is a mix of CE and Halo 3 multiplayer. Bring back fast paced battles and equipment, revive those beautiful maps and introduce new ones that aren’t copy/paste from the campaign. I want Halo 4 to be a Halo 3 sequel and not a Halo Reach sequel!

this

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I completely agree with everythimg. And i prefer hitscan. The BR spread in Halo 3 sometimes got a little irritating.

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> > All I want is a mix of CE and Halo 3 multiplayer. Bring back fast paced battles and equipment, revive those beautiful maps and introduce new ones that aren’t copy/paste from the campaign. I want Halo 4 to be a Halo 3 sequel and not a Halo Reach sequel!
>
> this

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The problem is with putting people in titles is that you’re going to choose only one direction in development for them multiplayer no matter if you separate them in a matchmaking lobby.

Unless they make two sets of the weapons that are going to be in the game, one side is going to suffer. We’re still going to see weapons that people think are skilled like a burst weapon, or a one shot weapon that will be the dominant weapon unfortunately like every Halo game. Then you’re going to have a power weapons in between, and then the proclaimed unskilled one AKA the spray weapons.

Until they choose a direction to take, someone is going to find a reason to complain because he died in a way he doesn’t want to accept.

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Halo 2 ranking system poops on Halo 3’s.

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> Halo 2 ranking system poops on Halo 3’s.

It’s almost the same algorithm.

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What makes Halo a good multiplayer game? Ignore everything that Halo 3 and Reach had.

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I think AAs should be in Halo 4, but only in custom games. Have equipments in Match Making.
Have two types of playlists: Ranked for competetive play and Social for the glorious fun Halo brings.
And ranking(private, brigadier, general etc.) for each playlist. Im talking about Team Slayer, Team Objective, FFA, BTB etc. This was great in Halo 3.
And yes, The Rank should be 1-100 instead of 1-50. Getting messages about buying lvl 50 accounts got really annoying.
Who the hell wants to buy a lvl 50 account? It doesnt make any sense to have an account that is lvl 50 when you are really a lvl 26 player.