Why random weapon spawn times?

Games Other Halo
1

343 announced the idea of having random times for weapons to spawn. Why have random spawn times for power weapons?
The reasoning is that the good players will constantly time the weapons, and prevent the newer players from having a chance to take them. But this just creates randomness, possibly causing players to just camp the spawn areas so that they do get the weapons when they decide to spawn.

However, there is a solution that would fix both problems. Have waypoints pointing to where the power weapons will spawn, with a timer counting down when the weapons will spawn, and perhaps make the power weapons less powerful relative to the starting weapons. This way, newer players will have a chance to fight for the weapons without adding randomness which would prevent higher level play.

Are there any cons to my idea? If 343 is reading this, I urge them to consider this idea over randomness.

tl;dr: I am AGAINST random spawn times, re-read my post if you didn’t understand.

2

Eh, add some difficulty, some surprise, shake things up a bit. Seems like a good idea.

3

Er, weapon spawn times aren’t random, they have a 45 second spawn. Need proof? Go into forge on every map and check the rocket launcher, 45 seconds.
Now for 343i’s idea, it sounds unprofessional, (Halo standards) and lacks timed movement, and map control. My two-bits.

4

^I think you’re an idiot.

He meant for Halo 4, they said that they might be adding random weapon spawn times.

5

> 343 announced the idea of having random times for weapons to spawn. Why have random spawn times for power weapons?
> The reasoning is that the good players will constantly time the weapons, and prevent the newer players from having a chance to take them. But this just creates randomness, possibly causing players to just camp the spawn areas so that they do get the weapons when they decide to spawn.
>
> However, there is a solution that would fix both problems. Have waypoints pointing to where the power weapons will spawn, with a timer counting down when the weapons will spawn, and perhaps make the power weapons less powerful relative to the starting weapons. This way, newer players will have a chance to fight for the weapons without adding randomness which would prevent higher level play.
>
> Are there any cons to my idea? If 343 is reading this, I urge them to consider this idea over randomness.

“Random” weapon spawn time is a bad idea because:

Well first of all random being the key issue, when has random ever been a good part of competitive play? Does anyone think that random weapon spawn times will help inexperienced players to have a better chance? It might, but what about people who want to get good at the game? And by good I mean memorize the locations of weapons and when they will be available again so you can plan your next move, know exactly when you need to risk going for a power weapon.

The reward experienced players get is knowledge, knowing when to move, knowing what weapons to use in specific areas, knowing when power weapons will respawn so you can be the first player to get it and get an advantage over players that may be a better shot than you. My point is, if you take the time to figure out when power weapons will be available, you should get rewarded for being smart and thinking instead of just taking what is right in front of you when the time comes.

If power weapons have random respawn times, why will people have to think anymore? Why take away a tool that only experienced people can use? If you want to get good at a game, you have to practice! And if any random player can be lucky enough to be by a power weapon when it respawns, why play the game?

If you want to win, you have to earn it! If you want to get good at the game, you have to fight your way to the top! If you want the upper hand, you have to outsmart your opponent!

Halo has always been about control, if you can no longer control it, it isn’t Halo!

Everyone should be on a 100% level playing field. If you win or not is determined by skill, experience, and knowledge! Inexperienced players should have to learn how to play just like everyone else! How do you think we learned? By playing the game! Not by random weapon spawn times and Armor Abilitys that allow us to escape punishment for bad decisions!

Here is a Halo quote I like to use: “If you want breakfast, you have to catch it!” The same applies here! You want an advantage, you have to earn it!

6

Meh, it’s no big deal. They will still spawn at certain intervals and the better players will just approximate the spawn times. In MLG the custom power up spawns X seconds after it is picked up, not every two minutes like, 11:00, 9:00, and so on.

I don’t think it will hurt much but the option needs to be there for custom game types.

7

> > 343 announced the idea of having random times for weapons to spawn. Why have random spawn times for power weapons?
> > The reasoning is that the good players will constantly time the weapons, and prevent the newer players from having a chance to take them. But this just creates randomness, possibly causing players to just camp the spawn areas so that they do get the weapons when they decide to spawn.
> >
> > However, there is a solution that would fix both problems. Have waypoints pointing to where the power weapons will spawn, with a timer counting down when the weapons will spawn, and perhaps make the power weapons less powerful relative to the starting weapons. This way, newer players will have a chance to fight for the weapons without adding randomness which would prevent higher level play.
> >
> > Are there any cons to my idea? If 343 is reading this, I urge them to consider this idea over randomness.
>
> “Random” weapon spawn time is a bad idea because:
>
> Well first of all random being the key issue, when has random ever been a good part of competitive play? Does anyone think that random weapon spawn times will help inexperienced players to have a better chance? It might, but what about people who want to get good at the game? And by good I mean memorize the locations of weapons and when they will be available again so you can plan your next move, know exactly when you need to risk going for a power weapon.
>
> The reward experienced players get is knowledge, knowing when to move, knowing what weapons to use in specific areas, knowing when power weapons will respawn so you can be the first player to get it and get an advantage over players that may be a better shot than you. My point is, if you take the time to figure out when power weapons will be available, you should get rewarded for being smart and thinking instead of just taking what is right in front of you when the time comes.
>
> If power weapons have random respawn times, why will people have to think anymore? Why take away a tool that only experienced people can use? If you want to get good at a game, you have to practice! And if any random player can be lucky enough to be by a power weapon when it respawns, why play the game?
>
> If you want to win, you have to earn it! If you want to get good at the game, you have to fight your way to the top! If you want the upper hand, you have to outsmart your opponent!
>
> Halo has always been about control, if you can no longer control it, it isn’t Halo!
>
> Everyone should be on a 100% level playing field. If you win or not is determined by skill, experience, and knowledge! Inexperienced players should have to learn how to play just like everyone else! How do you think we learned? By playing the game! Not by random weapon spawn times and Armor Abilitys that allow us to escape punishment for bad decisions!
>
> Here is a Halo quote I like to use: “If you want breakfast, you have to catch it!” The same applies here! You want an advantage, you have to earn it!

Lol, I guess my wording wasn’t very clear, but I am AGAINST random weapon spawn times. My post was to suggest to 343 have the power weapons pointed to with a waypoint labeled with a timer that would countdown to the next weapon spawn. The weapons would still spawn on a constant non-random timer, but they would be labeled to help new players. The only reason 343 would implement random weapon spawn times is they feel new players don’t have the chance to grab power weapons, and I feel my solution with constant non-random timers pointed to with waypoints would be the ideal solution.

If you feel that labeling the weapons time until next spawn on your HUD is too nooby since you don’t need to actually memorize and use the gameclock, that’s fine. But I absolutely do not condone the idea of random spawn times.

8

> Er, weapon spawn times aren’t random, they have a 45 second spawn. Need proof? Go into forge on every map and check the rocket launcher, 45 seconds.
> Now for 343i’s idea, it sounds unprofessional, (Halo standards) and lacks timed movement, and map control. My two-bits.

I could have swore the weapons spawned every 3 minutes not 45 seconds.

9

> Meh, it’s no big deal. They will still spawn at certain intervals and the better players will just approximate the spawn times. In MLG the custom power up spawns X seconds after it is picked up, not every two minutes like, 11:00, 9:00, and so on.
>
> I don’t think it will hurt much but the option needs to be there for custom game types.

They will not spawn at certain intervals, for that is not random. If you get OV at 10:00, you have the time for it the rest of the game. If all the weapons were like that that’d be fine. This is a huge deal, having random weapon spawns, game breaking almost. However, keep in mind Halo 3 (Default playlists) were almost random like. You couldn’t time the power weapons exact (like MLG) and it wasn’t that big of a deal.

As for showing when power weapons are going to spawn on the HUD that’s ridiculous. Utter garbage idea

10

> 343 announced the idea of having random times for weapons to spawn. Why have random spawn times for power weapons?
> The reasoning is that the good players will constantly time the weapons, and prevent the newer players from having a chance to take them. But this just creates randomness, possibly causing players to just camp the spawn areas so that they do get the weapons when they decide to spawn.
>
> However, there is a solution that would fix both problems. Have waypoints pointing to where the power weapons will spawn, with a timer counting down when the weapons will spawn, and perhaps make the power weapons less powerful relative to the starting weapons. This way, newer players will have a chance to fight for the weapons without adding randomness which would prevent higher level play.
>
> Are there any cons to my idea? If 343 is reading this, I urge them to consider this idea over randomness.
>
> tl;dr: I am AGAINST random spawn times, re-read my post if you didn’t understand.

I actually had the same idea and tweeted it @DavidEllis (or however you spell his name)

11

> > Meh, it’s no big deal. They will still spawn at certain intervals and the better players will just approximate the spawn times. In MLG the custom power up spawns X seconds after it is picked up, not every two minutes like, 11:00, 9:00, and so on.
> >
> > I don’t think it will hurt much but the option needs to be there for custom game types.
>
> They will not spawn at certain intervals, for that is not random. If you get OV at 10:00, you have the time for it the rest of the game. If all the weapons were like that that’d be fine. This is a huge deal, having random weapon spawns, game breaking almost. However, keep in mind Halo 3 (Default playlists) were almost random like. You couldn’t time the power weapons exact (like MLG) and it wasn’t that big of a deal.
>
> As for showing when power weapons are going to spawn on the HUD that’s ridiculous. Utter garbage idea

What’s wrong with it? Do you value the memorization skill that much? The whole point of power weapons is to give teams something to push for to give them an edge, to promote map movement and prevent teams from camping. I’m not suggesting MLG adopt this, but surely posted weapon times would be preferable to the almost random weapon times currently in social playlists.

Newbie players who play social would see the weapon timers, then when they move on to ranked they would notice the timers are no longer there, and realize they would have to time them themselves.
It would be the perfect solution to 343’s perceived problem.

12

If they do, MLG will laugh at 343, and so will I.

13

> > 343 announced the idea of having random times for weapons to spawn. Why have random spawn times for power weapons?
> > The reasoning is that the good players will constantly time the weapons, and prevent the newer players from having a chance to take them. But this just creates randomness, possibly causing players to just camp the spawn areas so that they do get the weapons when they decide to spawn.
> >
> > However, there is a solution that would fix both problems. Have waypoints pointing to where the power weapons will spawn, with a timer counting down when the weapons will spawn, and perhaps make the power weapons less powerful relative to the starting weapons. This way, newer players will have a chance to fight for the weapons without adding randomness which would prevent higher level play.
> >
> > Are there any cons to my idea? If 343 is reading this, I urge them to consider this idea over randomness.
>
> “Random” weapon spawn time is a bad idea because:
>
> Well first of all random being the key issue, when has random ever been a good part of competitive play? Does anyone think that random weapon spawn times will help inexperienced players to have a better chance? It might, but what about people who want to get good at the game? And by good I mean memorize the locations of weapons and when they will be available again so you can plan your next move, know exactly when you need to risk going for a power weapon.
>
> The reward experienced players get is knowledge, knowing when to move, knowing what weapons to use in specific areas, knowing when power weapons will respawn so you can be the first player to get it and get an advantage over players that may be a better shot than you. My point is, if you take the time to figure out when power weapons will be available, you should get rewarded for being smart and thinking instead of just taking what is right in front of you when the time comes.
>
> If power weapons have random respawn times, why will people have to think anymore? Why take away a tool that only experienced people can use? If you want to get good at a game, you have to practice! And if any random player can be lucky enough to be by a power weapon when it respawns, why play the game?
>
> If you want to win, you have to earn it! If you want to get good at the game, you have to fight your way to the top! If you want the upper hand, you have to outsmart your opponent!
>
> Halo has always been about control, if you can no longer control it, it isn’t Halo!
>
> Everyone should be on a 100% level playing field. If you win or not is determined by skill, experience, and knowledge! Inexperienced players should have to learn how to play just like everyone else! How do you think we learned? By playing the game! Not by random weapon spawn times and Armor Abilitys that allow us to escape punishment for bad decisions!
>
> Here is a Halo quote I like to use: “If you want breakfast, you have to catch it!” The same applies here! You want an advantage, you have to earn it!

Agreed.

14

lol you guys actually think there is going to be random weapon timers where is this all coming from? im pretty sure this was proven to be false.

15

Ruins map control completely, players would have to leave control positions to see if PW’s are up.

Worst idea for MM since armour lock.

16

Making the weapon spawn times random is just an effort for padding the game for unskilled players. Every Halo has gotten easier beginning in Halo 2 and I guess the game designers now feel that to make things even easier for terrible players, they will make it so the good players won’t control power weapons.

Cheap gimmick if you ask me.

17

Because 343 want to encourage camping and decrease the skill gap.

If Halo 4 has a ranking system, this ridiculous idea won’t be necessary. Think about it. In a game with low ranked players, nobody will know the weapon spawn times therefore giving everyone an equal advantage (it’s a fair assumption that 95% of low ranked players don’t know weapon spawn times). In games with high ranked player, everyone will know the weapon spawn times and therefore will all have an equal advantage (Once again, the majority of “good” players know weapon spawn times).

Once again 343, if it ain’t broke, then it don’t need fixing.

18

Wasn’t there a post from Frankie on NeoGaf that debunked this myth a while ago?

19

this would honestly put me off far more than sprint…

why fix something that isnt broken… honestly…

stop rewarding casuals and devaluing skill. keep halo alive.

20

In theory it will stop those people who just chill by the sniper spawn all day long because they will have no idea when the gun will eventually spawn. It could also give someone else to chance to find it for a change.