What would you like to see in SWAT in Halo 4?

Games Other Halo
1

Are we talking about expectations for halo 4 yet? Because I would love to have a discussion on the following items for Halo 4 SWAT:

Nades - I miss them. I think H3 SWAT was better because it had them. Think about how lame and campy SWAT on Sword Base was in Reach. Now think about how easy it would be to kill those campers if there were nades on the map. Why not? Faster gameplay never hurt anybody.

Gametypes – There might not be a lot of people that agree with me on this one, but I like having objective type games in SWAT. Flag was a ton of fun in H3, and oddball… well ok I didn’t like oddball as much but flag! Yeah Capture the Flag was good times. I think bringing back objective would spice things up a bit, and if people don’t want to play it, well there’s always the map voting system. I also think SWAT Magnums is a great change of pace. Just not ShWATguns. I hated that gametype :[

Ranking System - A hotly debated topic in the past, and not just for SWAT, but I know a lot of people are tired of lopsided games in Reach. I made the mistake once of searching solo into the MLG playlist and got romped by a group of players that were WAY better than me. And don’t give me that line about the “hidden ranking system.” Even IF it exists, it’s clearly useless for pairing up equally skilled teams. Especially in SWAT, where a good player can kill you before you can react, the skill gap becomes even more noticeable. While the Halo 3 ranking system wasn’t perfect by any means, it was still better for matchmaking than what we have in Reach.

Maps - SWAT to me was always supposed to be the faster paced gametype. Was Boardwalk too big for SWAT? Was Sword Base too complex? Looking ahead to H4, should the massive/convoluted maps be included? Or should we go back to the good ol days of Midship, Ascension, and Warlock? In H4 Haven looks awesome for SWAT, but Adrift appears at first glance to fall into the “too slow” category.

Armor ablities - I liked in Reach that the only option was sprint. It was very in line with the minimalistic SWAT feel. But perhaps if Evade makes a comeback in h4, we could test it out in SWAT? I think it would complement the nades in speeding up gameplay, and while it might not always be the best choice from a “competitive” standpoint, it would be a ton of fun to mess around with. Of course… if the move speed and jump height is back to halo 3 levels, sprint might not even be necessary!

The BR – looks awesome and I just want to say I’m excited :] lol

What do you think of my ideas? Is there anything I missed? SWAT is my favorite playlist in every halo game, so if talking about our ideas here can influence the playlist in H4 for the better I think we should have a good discussion.

2

Do you think the BR would actually be the best weapon for Swat with the DMR and Carbine being around with hitscan? They are much more precise weapons that seem to suit Swat better.

3

I think SWAT in Halo 4 should be similar to Reach and the primary weapon should be the DMR but then again, we’ll probably get to choose since we have our loadout weapons.

4

I agree i liked Objective… Reach maps were maybe not too big but they had too much camping… Sword base was like rat’s nest if everyone would camp their flag in rats nest if you know what i’m trying to say. I think SWAT should just be Jumping and headshotting so evade if it is back… meeh :D. Halo 4 needs a ranking system… especially if you search 4’s. And i felt in reach that nobody moved during games. Pinnacle they camped, Sword base they camped, Uncaged they camped. I don’t remember that being such a big case in Halo 3. And back to the maps. Reach really didin’t have any maps with really close combat like Warlock, Guardian etc… Or it did in countdown and Zealot but just didin’t feel like it :stuck_out_tongue:

P.S Subbed since Hutch’s Engineering Win (:

5

Reach maps were just terrible because they were far to complicated and corridor based, with crap lying around area. Too many little rooms and bits of wall and objects and everything, just terribly designed maps. Halo maps in the past have been much more open with clearer lines of sight across the maps.

6

I used to take SWAT seriously in reach, but eventually it got boring, as it was way too hard to find a good game with people who were skilled. the matchmaking system, as you said, is terrible at finding good, even matchups, even with the large population in SWAT, so I would love to see a legit ranking system. To me, that seems like the most important change. Not sure how I feel about the new evade being in SWAT, but we could test it out. I think that one thing 343 could do that wasn’t done in reach would be to use some of the mlg map variants and forge maps. They tend to be a lot more balanced. For example, if reach SWAT had the pit, element and warlock, instead of the cage and sword base, the game would be way faster and more fun

7

Now that SWAT has been around for a couple of games, 343 should know what did work and what didn’t work. In my opinion, Halo 3 SWAT was one of the best gametypes because it wasn’t so complex as it is now. The maps were small and weapons didn’t have bloom. It was essentially just aim for the head and throw grenades when needed. In Halo Reach SWAT, everything was changed. The speed got slowed, the gravity was increased, nades were taken out, maps got bigger, and teams became less balanced. Reach SWAT was about a minute faster than a regular slayer match instead of 2 to 3 minutes like in Halo 3. SWAT needs to stay simple and I think that a ranking system is needed. There is no reason why low level players should be in the same game as high levels. Most of the time the player quits and causes another player on their team to quit. 2 VS 4 isn’t haw SWAT was intended. As long as SWAT is simple like in Halo 3, it will be even more successful than it was before.

8

@bwwaaaa
I don’t know how evade would be in SWAT? Seems a bit to hardcore. :stuck_out_tongue: I would love to try it out though. If anyone makes a gametype for SWAT with evade I would give it a shot.

Gametypes for SWAT do need a big remake for Halo 4. Anytime thaat they show up no one votes for them because they aren’t fun. SWAT Potato, dumb; SWAT Stockpile, decent; SWAT 3 plots, I never even played it. CTF was fun but I think that SWAT needs a new gametype. Something that is fresh and you can only find in Team SWAT.

9

I’ve never been the biggest fan of SWAT but I think the primary weapon should be the DMR.
Single shot weapons suit SWAT better in my opinion even though I hated Reach SWAT. Mainly because of the maps though.

As long as the maps don’t suck it should be fine.

10

Good to see you bwwaaaa, long-time fan since H3 :slight_smile: I really agree with all your points, but the main things for me are the maps, as vFeRocityyy says. The gun (DMR/BR/Carbine) wouldn’t make too much of a difference to me since they’re all hitscan, - and there should only really be sprint. Lets hope Halo 4 ships with some decent maps and SWAT could make an awesome come-back.

11

> Do you think the BR would actually be the best weapon for Swat with the DMR and Carbine being around with hitscan? They are much more precise weapons that seem to suit Swat better.

This is why there should be 2 different types of swat. BR Swat then Singles Swat.

12

Yes.

13

I pretty much agree with bwwaaaa on this one. Halo 4 swat needs to go back to how it was in halo 3, fast, w/ nades, and it needs good maps! I cannot stress that enough the maps make the game. More simple maps that encourage fast gameplay. And for the starting weapon I think it should just be whatever the person wants, either the BR, DMR, or carbine. Also there should be NO armor abilities. Not saying that the new ones in the game are bad but they just wouldn’t work in swat. Just having sprint would be fine. And, like other people have said, I think swat needs some more objective games and it’s own gametype that is exclusive to swat and works perfectly. All of the ideas I’ve been seeing so far though have been great. If 343 decides to listen to these people Halo 4 swat will be fantastic. :]

14

I agree with all of this but I feel like map selection is the most important thing. I also think that you should be able to choose between BR, DMR, Carbine, and Magnum as your weapon of choice (through loadouts, you could have a separate loadout selection for swat so you could make your own swat loadouts and your own mlg loadouts, etc.). I agree with grenades especially if they are the halo 3 grenades <3. I think that halo 3 swat is what needs to be replicated, but because of the new DMR and abilities, a FEW MINOR changes should be made. As for the ranking system… see below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpOyb5vRuSE

15

ALSO we need a ranking system in the halo 4 swat playlist (also just halo 4 overall) too many times have I played reach matches for swat that were completely one sided. Not fun. They need to fix it.

16

> Do you think the BR would actually be the best weapon for Swat with the DMR and Carbine being around with hitscan? They are much more precise weapons that seem to suit Swat better.

You know I never even thought of that. I think that if you’re the type of player that goes for quick snap shots the BR will help you, 3 chances to hit the target. But if you miss that first shot, every follow up shot will be slower compared to a DMR, which makes me think that in a prolonged engagement the DMR would win out.

I guess we’ll just have to test it.

17

> > Do you think the BR would actually be the best weapon for Swat with the DMR and Carbine being around with hitscan? They are much more precise weapons that seem to suit Swat better.
>
> You know I never even thought of that. I think that if you’re the type of player that goes for quick snap shots the BR will help you, 3 chances to hit the target. But if you miss that first shot, every follow up shot will be slower compared to a DMR, which makes me think that in a prolonged engagement the DMR would win out.
>
> I guess we’ll just have to test it.

I think M ii N i MaN x is questioning not whether the BR is better or not but whether it should be allowed/used in the playlist at all.

18

> > > Do you think the BR would actually be the best weapon for Swat with the DMR and Carbine being around with hitscan? They are much more precise weapons that seem to suit Swat better.
> >
> > You know I never even thought of that. I think that if you’re the type of player that goes for quick snap shots the BR will help you, 3 chances to hit the target. But if you miss that first shot, every follow up shot will be slower compared to a DMR, which makes me think that in a prolonged engagement the DMR would win out.
> >
> > I guess we’ll just have to test it.
>
> I think M ii N i MaN x is questioning not whether the BR is better or not but whether it should be allowed/used in the playlist at all.

Well why not? What’s the worst that can happen?

19

I think this whole debate on whether the BR or DMR will be better for SWAT is silly. The whole point of adding load outs to Halo 4 was to end this debate and let the user pick the starting weapon that they liked most. I think that players should be able to pick between the DMR, BR, and even Carbine if they want.

20

I hope SWAT magnums is rarely available, and more often a n objective mode is offered.