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Halo Reach Reveal Thread - Matchmaking/Multiplayer Details Revealed

S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Merguson said:
Total speculation, but considering the changes the armor abilities are bringing to the core gameplay of Halo, I have to wonder if that is the reason why Bungie chose to work on multiplayer maps first. You could get an idea of what layout works and doesn't work with the new armor abilities. After some experimentation, you have a bunch of maps that can be used for several purposes AND work well with the armor abilities. You can put the multiplayer maps in the campaign as set pieces as well as use the experience to shape the rest of the campaign so that armor abilities can play a key role in the campaign overall.
Click to expand...

It's quite interesting to speculate as to why Bungie changed their utilisation of multiplayer maps in the first place.

To be fair, I don't think Bungie has given an official explanation at all, they have just said that they took the multiplayer spaces, designed separately, and at some point in the development process they put them into the Campaign.

This could have been done for any number of reasons. Bungie did mention that Reach has a much bigger scale than the previous Halo games and that the levels themselves are a lot more freeform in terms of how they let the player approach completing objectives.

Your explanation makes a lot of sense and if it's true then Armour Abilities will be a lot more interesting than I first thought. Campaign and Multiplayer will definitely be much more strongly tied than previous Halo titles. I just don't see how all the dots we have connect at the moment, most likely because the bigger picture is still hidden away and there's more to it than we know at this point.

Merguson said:
As previously mentioned in this thread and the rest of the internet, you could also use the multiplayer maps for Firefight and it would work well considering it's been designed around armor abilities.

Actually, are we 100% certain that Firefight is returning? I know they said Halo 3 features would return but does ODST count? It is an 'campaign' expansion of Halo 3 but still.
Click to expand...
We are not 100% about Firefight's return, not even close to any sort of official confirmation. It's been asked a lot but Bungie are holding back on any form of confirmation or denial. The best response we got so far was "We're not known for leaving features behind." Which is obviously hinting at the return of such a successful feature but it's as far from an official "Yes!" as you can get. =\

If multiplayer spaces are used for Firefight, then Reach will be a much more unique beast than a lot of people would have given it credit for over the past few months. Having the same levels work across Campaign, traditional Multiplayer and Firefight would be such a bold statement of their confidence in those spaces. They would have to work well with Armour Abilities, they would have to flow well with Reach's gameplay dynamics and they'd have to be entertaining enough for the players to want to return to the same areas again and again across three separate game modes.

I'm pretty certain it will return, Bungie are just taking the slow reveal of features route. I can understand the lack of talking about such a feature in this stage of the development and marketing cycle, the Beta is just around the corner and Firefight would be a "distraction" at this point.

We have no clue about what changes Bungie would make to Firefight or even if the feature would be ready for public eyes yet. I'm betting for an E3 reveal and we're unlikely to know before then.

InvincibleAgent said:
Maybe jetpacking on vehicles would allow you to hover across a ravine, but I can't imagine gaining elevation :lol
Click to expand...

jetgoose.jpg
 
N

Natakuu

Banned
Ah, how I wish I knew where my copy of Halo 2 had ran off to...I have the case, and it appears to be covered in some sort of sticky substance but the disc is nowhere to be found:lol
 
S

squidhands

Member
Dani said:
Fans always want remakes and want to play their old favourites in the newest title and I think you've convinced me to earmark a follow-up down the line. =)
Click to expand...
Indeed, fans always want remakes. Bungie is painfully aware of this from all the lip service they got about Lockout and Midship, which currently leads me to believe that Armor Abilities are something that can be toggled off in the gametype options.

Loadouts: ON [OFF] (this assumes Loadouts consist only of which AA to choose)

The biggest problem I'm having right now is deciding which gametype I'm going to jump in first when the beta rolls in. Too many choices...
you can never have too many, except for wives
 
H

Hydranockz

Member
It would be rather amusing to be driving a mongoose when someone sees you approaching so they jump, but you activate your jetpack lifting the mongoose just enough to collide with them. A bunny hop of sorts :p
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
squidhands said:
Indeed, fans always want remakes. Bungie is painfully aware of this from all the lip service they got about Lockout and Midship, which currently leads me to believe that Armor Abilities are something that can be toggled off in the gametype options.

Loadouts: ON [OFF] (this assumes Loadouts consist only of which AA to choose)
Click to expand...

If you look at the gameplay options available for the player to edit for custom gametypes, you'll find that they are quite extensive and cover every available gametype. You can modify everything from starting weapons to flag return times, gravity settings whilst holding the bomb and the visibility and speed of players and much more.

It should be expected that not only will Reach retain this level of control, but it should broaden the options available and expand them to include the newer gameplay aspects. We should be able to choose whether or not players spawn with jetpacks, how much health generators have in Invasion mode and have the ability to configure the scoring options in Headhunter.

It would make sense that Reach carries on Halo's tradition of a deeply customisable multiplayer and that the gametypes available in matchmaking reflect it, like past Halo games.
 
B

Blueblur1

Member
What I'd like to see is new large maps that encompass smaller classic maps if they were to emulate what Perfect Dark Zero did with it's multiplayer maps. Imagine a huge Covenant map that consisted of several chambers or housed just one central chamber and that central chamber was actually Midship/Heretic. Then they lock the doors (like the ones present in Heretic) and make it so the map consisted only of Midship/Heretic. That would be awesome; it'd be the best of both worlds.
 
B

Blueblur1

Member
Dani said:
I choked on my drink, thanks. :lol
Click to expand...
It was largely trash but I liked the concept of creating large spaces and then closing it off a bit for smaller matches. I feel that Bungie could apply a similar concept to Reach seeing as how standard remakes wouldn't work too well with armor abilities. My example demonstrates how they can create new maps but also please the fans craving remakes. But for all we know they might just not bother with remakes at all. I expect at least one or two though; I don't think you can call Reach the ultimate Bungie-made Halo game without some classic Bungie-made Halo maps.
 
N

Neverender

Member
Dani said:
If you look at the gameplay options available for the player to edit for custom gametypes, you'll find that they are quite extensive and cover every available gametype. You can modify everything from starting weapons to flag return times, gravity settings whilst holding the bomb and the visibility and speed of players and much more.

It should be expected that not only will Reach retain this level of control, but it should broaden the options available and expand them to include the newer gameplay aspects. We should be able to choose whether or not players spawn with jetpacks, how much health generators have in Invasion mode and have the ability to configure the scoring options in Headhunter.

It would make sense that Reach carries on Halo's tradition of a deeply customisable multiplayer and that the gametypes available in matchmaking reflect it, like past Halo games.
Click to expand...

bungie should get you to write the updates when they're not releasing any new information...
 
S

squidhands

Member
I think Bungie would be better off if they laid off the remakes this time around. The community got both of the best maps from Halo2 to very mixed reviews. With all of the OMG information that's just come from a little multiplayer reveal, the epicness of the new Forge is looking more and more like a dream come true. If that's the case, let the community do the remakes and let Bungie concentrate on the new hawtness. I do like the idea of enclosing a smaller map inside a larger one. Makes me want to play Perfect Dark. :D

Dani said:
It would make sense that Reach carries on Halo's tradition of a deeply customisable multiplayer and that the gametypes available in matchmaking reflect it, like past Halo games.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Halo Classic, if you will.
 
P

Prine

Banned
Blueblur1 said:
It was largely trash but I liked the concept of creating large spaces and then closing it off a bit for smaller matches. I feel that Bungie could apply a similar concept to Reach seeing as how standard remakes wouldn't work too well with armor abilities. My example demonstrates how they can create new maps but also please the fans craving remakes. But for all we know they might just not bother with remakes at all. I expect at least one or two though; I don't think you can call Reach the ultimate Bungie-made Halo game without some classic Bungie-made Halo maps.
Click to expand...

i thought that was great too. PDZ was a fantastic multiplayer game.
 
M

Merguson

Banned
Blueblur1 said:
It was largely trash but I liked the concept of creating large spaces and then closing it off a bit for smaller matches. I feel that Bungie could apply a similar concept to Reach seeing as how standard remakes wouldn't work too well with armor abilities. My example demonstrates how they can create new maps but also please the fans craving remakes. But for all we know they might just not bother with remakes at all. I expect at least one or two though; I don't think you can call Reach the ultimate Bungie-made Halo game without some classic Bungie-made Halo maps.
Click to expand...

Using the Perfect Dark Zero system could work. You could have this map with this hub where a good portion of the fighting takes place. You then have this "outer" area where there are team bases and paths that makes good use of the armor abilities. The map names "Powerhouse" and "Sword Base" do suggest there will be some sort of a hub within the two maps but there isn't much to go on.

If MLG still wants smaller maps with no armor abilities, there could be an option to disable armor abilities and close off the area so the fighting is restricted to this hub where it feels like a map like Heretic or The Pit for example.

However it's likely they'll design maps based to work with armor abilities and no armor abilities without the need to close off sections of a map. Of course, we'll find out what they have in store for us on May 3rd.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Blueblur1 said:
It was largely trash but I liked the concept of creating large spaces and then closing it off a bit for smaller matches. I feel that Bungie could apply a similar concept to Reach seeing as how standard remakes wouldn't work too well with armor abilities.
Click to expand...

Merguson said:
Using the Perfect Dark Zero system could work. You could have this map with this hub where a good portion of the fighting takes place. You then have this "outer" area where there are team bases and paths that makes good use of the armor abilities. The map names "Powerhouse" and "Sword Base" do suggest there will be some sort of a hub within the two maps but there isn't much to go on.

If MLG still wants smaller maps with no armor abilities, there could be an option to disable armor abilities and close off the area so the fighting is restricted to this hub where it feels like a map like Heretic or The Pit for example.

However it's likely they'll design maps based to work with armor abilities and no armor abilities without the need to close off sections of a map. Of course, we'll find out what they have in store for us on May 3rd.
Click to expand...

I can't really comment on PDZ has the multiplayer had died off by the times I got my hands on it but the idea of having a large map that can be split off into smaller areas reminded me of something.

Sense of Scale - Postmortem said:
Some of the early discussions within the multiplayer team led to the decision to explore an objective-based sequential gameplay experience with attackers fighting their way up into the main bowl that is currently Sandtrap. There was an initial opening into area where attackers would fight up a sort of beachhead like a D-Day kind of assault. Once they made it through that, we had some pretty fun prototypes of massive guns aiming down on them.

That was a pretty huge space just by itself. Imagine a second Sandtrap right next to the one you know.
Click to expand...

That quote is taken from the Sandtrap retrospective and it seems that, once upon time, a multi-tiered approach was considered for one of Halo 3's iconic maps.

inline1.jpg


This ideas for Sandtrap is the idea of having a smaller area locked away from the player, but when the play makes it to the top, they gain access to the bowl and an area about the same size as the place they came from.

Whilst obviously the implementation of this approach is slightly different from how PDZ managed it, I think it would have been a novel idea if Sandtrap had continued along those lines. It's interesting to note, from my experience with the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta, it had multi-tiered levels, players would complete an objective or reach a specific amount of kills in one area and the next area would unlock and the defending or loosing team would spawn in the newer area and set up camp as the other team marched towards them. Again, it's not the exact same idea but a different approach to the same kind of design.

I'd love to see Bungie take on a multi-tiered level design, if only to see how differently they would approach the concept. Would they revisit the old Sandbox design or would they start from scratch with an original take? Bungie have taken older ideas from the cutting room floor (Forge, Firefight and Saved Films notably) and implemented when they felt they could and when you watch the march multiplayer trailer, it isn't too far-fetched to imagine something different.

Whilst I don't think it's likely that we'll see such levels, I'd be happy to be wrong.

Neverender said:
bungie should get you to write the updates when they're not releasing any new information...
Click to expand...

I write
badly strung together
words
with typos
. Urk writes Art.
 
F

feel

Member
Dax01 said:
Got the 400 points today for being such an avid Halo 2 player. :)
Click to expand...
Did you just get this for the first time today? I got mine (and the 3 free months plus the promise of a beta token) a couple of weeks back. if new people are getting invited, I gotta tell my friends to be on the lookout.
 
E

electricpirate

Member
Dani said:
That quote is taken from the Sandtrap retrospective and it seems that, once upon time, a multi-tiered approach was considered for one of Halo 3's iconic maps.

inline1.jpg


This ideas for Sandtrap is the idea of having a smaller area locked away from the player, but when the play makes it to the top, they gain access to the bowl and an area about the same size as the place they came from.

Whilst obviously the implementation of this approach is slightly different from how PDZ managed it, I think it would have been a novel idea if Sandtrap had continued along those lines. It's interesting to note, from my experience with the Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta, it had multi-tiered levels, players would complete an objective or reach a specific amount of kills in one area and the next area would unlock and the defending or loosing team would spawn in the newer area and set up camp as the other team marched towards them. Again, it's not the exact same idea but a different approach to the same kind of design.

I'd love to see Bungie take on a multi-tiered level design, if only to see how differently they would approach the concept. Would they revisit the old Sandbox design or would they start from scratch with an original take? Bungie have taken older ideas from the cutting room floor (Forge, Firefight and Saved Films notably) and implemented when they felt they could and when you watch the march multiplayer trailer, it isn't too far-fetched to imagine something different.

Whilst I don't think it's likely that we'll see such levels, I'd be happy to be wrong.



I write
badly strung together
words
with typos
. Urk writes Art.
Click to expand...

We've also seen what looks like force fields over doors for Reach, and Halo 3's DLC maps all had door blocking objects. I wouldn't be surprised if Bungie is doing something along these lines of big maps that get chunked up.

Hell, look at this shot, (Hotlinked from HBO/FUD sorry guys)
UrkLarge.jpg


is the same map as...

PowerhouseLarge.jpg


Presumably, you can see the central water pit area way off in the distance. This would make for a very big map, but all the shots of it in the MP trailer focusing on "The Arena" show it playing around that central water pit.
 
E

electricpirate

Member
Shake Appeal said:
1. Drive friends off cliff.
2. Bail out.
3. Engage jet pack.
4. ?????
5. Profit.
Click to expand...

I had something along these lines almost happen in Maption sack this weekend. Two guys on my team hop in the hog, so I hop in the seat to go along for the ride. They immediately start talking about ghost riding the hog into a killsphere while I'm in the hog. They must have thought they were in party chat or something, because I heard everything they said. They were so disapointed when I got out of the hog 2 seconds before they could send it to the killsphere. :lol :lol :lol
 
U

urk

butthole fishhooking yes
Thunk I cornfused you a bit, Dani. Those spaces aren't set in the same locale. You're looking at two distinct environments.
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
urk said:
Thunk I cornfused you a bit, Dani. Those spaces aren't set in the same locale. You're looking at two distinct environments.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I was wondering why the colour schemes, particularly the skyboxes, contrasted so much. I'm still not 100% clear. =\

Thanks for trying to help point me in the right direction, but I did take your "Settlement=Powerhouse" to conclude that they were the one in the same.

I hate to directly ask, but does that mean that they are two separate maps? That Powerhouse (as shown in one of the images above) and "Settlement" (the other space featured in the other image above) are two distinct levels/maps?

Sorry. I know the answers are coming, eventually. :lol
 
F

feel

Member
Anyone else wondering if the teabagging physics have been upgraded?

2d0gnpf.jpg


We need to have an update dedicated to this, gifs included.



VVV holy shit I'm dying here :lol :lol :lol
 
W

Wizman23

Banned
So I wonder what gaming website is going to drop this weeks Reach reveal and when. It has been confirmed that the cR system will be revealed correct? I just hope we get some awesome journalism like we did last week from shacknews.
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Merguson said:
If MLG still wants smaller maps with no armor abilities, there could be an option to disable armor abilities and close off the area so the fighting is restricted to this hub where it feels like a map like Heretic or The Pit for example.
Click to expand...

I hope these things can be done with Forge.
 
L

Louis Wu

Member
Wizman23 said:
So I wonder what gaming website is going to drop this weeks Reach reveal and when. It has been confirmed that the cR system will be revealed correct? I just hope we get some awesome journalism like we did last week from shacknews.
Click to expand...
Where the heck did this come from?
 
R

RebornYeti

Member
Louis Wu said:
Where the heck did this come from?
Click to expand...

Latest BWU, I believe.

EDIT: Yep

BWU said:
In its place, something we’ll talk more about next week. (Yup, it has to do with both the Rank and cR designations you spy in the recent batch of screenshots.)
Click to expand...

I hope they show off Invasion soon. I want... no.. need to know what it is!
 
S

Slightly Live

Dirty tag dodger
Louis Wu said:
Where the heck did this come from?
Click to expand...

I asked Brian a question. He answered.

sketch said:
The plan is to pretty much dive into a new feature 'bucket' every week for the next few weeks. A steady build towards May 3rd, detailing all the nuances introduced in the trailer and probably culminating in more multimedia goodness before we flip the switch and go live.

Next week the focus moves to a new aspect of Reach MP, one that may very well address the 'mystery ranking', and also bring an old friend back out into the public light.
Click to expand...
 
B

bobs...onGaf

Member
Im more interested in the 'old friend' what could they mean?

Fall damage?
Health system?
The Br?
Tartarus (no thanks :lol )?
Foehammer (please????)
 
M

Major Williams

Member
I seriously wonder what this cR system really equates to.

Probably applies to universal experience rewards (i.e. armor perks and weapon upgrades maybe), and I'm still curious how different these loadouts would be.

Given the militaristic nature of Reach, they probably got tons of shipments from the Misriah armory chock full of weapon goodness that we'll be able to tap into and 'purchase'. Makes me giddy with excitedment.
 
B

Blueblur1

Member
bobs99 ... said:
Im more interested in the 'old friend' what could they mean?

Fall damage?
Health system?
The Br?
Tartarus (no thanks :lol )?
Foehammer (please????)
Click to expand...
I figured he was hinting at a Luke Smith resurgence.
 
S

squidhands

Member
bobs99 ... said:
Im more interested in the 'old friend' what could they mean?

Fall damage?
Health system?
The Br?
Tartarus (no thanks :lol )?
Foehammer (please????)
Click to expand...

Johnson? Maybe he'll make a planetside booty call and end up in a skirmish that Noble 6 (quietly, and off the record) has to save him from.
 
S

Seep

Member
So what's the word on this game, is it going back to the days of Halo CE? because 2 3 and ODST are complete shite compared to the first one.
 
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