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Halo |OT12| Last One Out, Get the Lights

Omni

Member
Something I noticed while playing campaign earlier.

How in the world did we ever go from this
MarinesCompare.jpg

to this

I'm okay with the unicorn helmets and armour that looks completely ridiculous and impractical, but the Marines in this game are just terrible. I can't even imagine what was going through the designer's mind when he thought changing them like they are was an improvement. Okay, not terrible as such... I just really don't like it. Maybe it's the colours which make it look a lot worse than it is... I don't know.

Regardless, it needs to be taken back to the drawing board for Halo 5 - Maybe take it as an opportunity to draw inspiration from Reach/CEA. Not expecting a copy paste, but the complete redesign in 4 was really unneeded. I can understand pretty much every other visual change in the game, but I just don't get this one. It's a massive step back - no matter which way you look at it.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
you wont be down at the start of the game if JIP is removed from a playlist.

The problem in Halo 4 with uneven starting teams is not a result of JIP, at leat the fault lies not on its own.

The problem is that after a game the next match starts too fast and you still can press B for quit in the map voting and nobody will fill it up then.
 

Karl2177

Member
JiP only for games that you've been in. Quit and rematch and you'll be placed in the match you just quit. Otherwise wait your time. Again something I've been saying for a while.
 

Omni

Member
About to play do some legendary missions today. Any tips I should be aware of?

Level design is such that if there isn't an objective in the area, you can usually just barge through if you can't be bothered killing everyone. (A great example of this would be the second level. First encounter is a bottleneck into the caves, but you can just barge through without losing all of your shields if you're quick)
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
JiP only for games that you've been in. Quit and rematch and you'll be placed in the match you just quit. Otherwise wait your time. Again something I've been saying for a while.

I don't like that idea at all. Not only does JIP for everyone speed up matchmaking, but if those people really are done for the night/day those spots wouldn't be filled. I like JIP how it is.
 

Omni

Member
I just want a single button which turns JiP on or off. If you want to join a game, you can use it. If not, turn it off and it'll try to join you in a lobby that hasn't started.
 
What does that have to do with JiP though?

They go hand in hand. JiP allows the MM systems to start games more frequently with less than optimum player counts. This relies on JiP to fill the game with players.

Previous Halo games would not start a game 4v3, Halo 4 will, directly as a consequence/advantage (depending on how you look at it) of Join in Progress.
 

IHaveIce

Banned
They go hand in hand. JiP allows the MM systems to start games more frequently with less than optimum player counts. This relies on JiP to fill the game with players.

Previous Halo games would not start a game 4v3, Halo 4 will, directly as a consequence/advantage (depending on how you look at it) of Join in Progress.

Again look at my post. This mostly happens due to this.
 
They go hand in hand. JiP allows the MM systems to start games more frequently with less than optimum player counts. This relies on JiP to fill the game with players.

Previous Halo games would not start a game 4v3, Halo 4 will, directly as a consequence/advantage (depending on how you look at it) of Join in Progress.

So why would you want to turn it off for Objective of all modes?
 

willow ve

Member
I don't like that idea at all. Not only does JIP for everyone speed up matchmaking, but if those people really are done for the night/day those spots wouldn't be filled. I like JIP how it is.

Do you have any empirical data to back that up? From my anecdotal experiences in Big Team Battle the wait times are on par or slower than Reach and 3. Last night I waited 9 full minutes between one game ending and being put in a second match. At another point in the evening I was NEVER matched for almost 15 minutes until I backed out of the lobby and re-entered the Big Team hopper.

----

I only remained in the hopper/lobby for that long because I was deal shopping on my laptop and wasn't overly concerned with getting into a game right away.

JIP should never be in a FFA mode ever

Also why is it so slow to join? Why does it feel the need to show me all the player cards first? Often takes 10-20 seconds to get to the loading screen after it finds an open match, whereas CoD takes 1-2 seconds

This might be due to the game constantly reevaluating who should be host for a match? So each join runs through the algorithm for who should be host?
 

Kujo

Member
JIP should never be in a FFA mode ever

Also why is it so slow to join? Why does it feel the need to show me all the player cards first? Often takes 10-20 seconds to get to the loading screen after it finds an open match, whereas CoD takes 1-2 seconds
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
They go hand in hand. JiP allows the MM systems to start games more frequently with less than optimum player counts. This relies on JiP to fill the game with players.

Previous Halo games would not start a game 4v3, Halo 4 will, directly as a consequence/advantage (depending on how you look at it) of Join in Progress.

Do you know this for sure? Are you sure it's not one of the large number of bugs in the game?
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Do you have any empirical data to back that up? From my anecdotal experiences in Big Team Battle the wait times are on par or slower than Reach and 3. Last night I waited 9 full minutes between one game ending and being put in a second match. At another point in the evening I was NEVER matched for almost 15 minutes until I backed out of the lobby and re-entered the Big Team hopper.

----

I only remained in the hopper/lobby for that long because I was deal shopping on my laptop and wasn't overly concerned with getting into a game right away.



This might be due to the game constantly reevaluating who should be host for a match? So each join runs through the algorithm for who should be host?

I'm guessing you were in a full party. People who say stuff like this should mention their party size because going in solo is quick as hell finding a match.

As for "empirical" data, no, however, common sense should tell you more possible matches to join/start results in lower search times

Also searching with a full party in COD is painful as hell. Always has been, so not sure wtf you're talking about.
 

willow ve

Member
I'm guessing you were in a full party. People who say stuff like this should mention their party size because going in solo is quick as hell finding a match.

As for "empirical" data, no, however, common sense should tell you more possible matches to join/start results in lower search times

Also searching with a full party in COD is painful as hell. Always has been, so not sure wtf you're talking about.

I have played a total of 2 games in a party (in Team Snipers with randoms who wanted to party up after a donging). All of my matchmaking is going in solo. So my search times are in no way related to party size....

If anything, from my experience, join in progress hasn't sped up the matchmaking experience in relation to other Halo games. It just gives you the option to quit whenever you want (or need to) without any negative feedback.

-----

In COD, playing solo, you get thrown into a match almost instantaneously (possibly skewed by a much larger player base). In Halo 4 there are times when it takes minutes or more of searching, then even after a match is found it can take another full minute (or more) before you actually get into the match. Maybe someone with more understanding of the networking differences can explain this.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Might wanna check your NAT settings if its taking that long solo. Where are you from? I've heard a lot of game's matchmaking can be hit/miss in some countries.
 

Kujo

Member
On another note, has anyone played Reach lately? Whats with the population numbers? They all seem way too high right now, have they changed it to number of people over last 24 hours or something?
 

willow ve

Member
Might wanna check your NAT settings if its taking that long solo. Where are you from? I've heard a lot of game's matchmaking can be hit/miss in some countries.

Middle of the USA. Playing in prime time (7-10pm). Over 50,000 players were currently in the BTB hopper. Internet was holding around 20MB down and 7MB up at the time. Nothing else was using the internet connection in the house. Open NAT.

And this happens fairly routinely to me. Searching alone in BTB takes a few minutes (or sometimes much more) between matches.

I'm willing to agree that the issue might be on my end somewhere - but it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with my personal setup/connection.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Middle of the USA. Playing in prime time (7-10pm). Over 50,000 players were currently in the BTB hopper. Internet was holding around 20MB down and 7MB up at the time. Nothing else was using the internet connection in the house. Open NAT.

And this happens fairly routinely to me. Searching alone in BTB takes a few minutes (or sometimes much more) between matches.

I'm willing to agree that the issue might be on my end somewhere - but it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with my personal setup/connection.

I'm from near STL and I have comparable Internet speed and no where near the issue you're having. I don't think I've waited longer tha a minute or two going in solo.

Something's off.
 

dalVlatko

Member
Middle of the USA. Playing in prime time (7-10pm). Over 50,000 players were currently in the BTB hopper. Internet was holding around 20MB down and 7MB up at the time. Nothing else was using the internet connection in the house. Open NAT.

And this happens fairly routinely to me. Searching alone in BTB takes a few minutes (or sometimes much more) between matches.

I'm willing to agree that the issue might be on my end somewhere - but it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with my personal setup/connection.

Thats really weird because you would think that going in alone in BTB would be quickest way to find a match because it would likely have more games with open spots available.
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
Hey so, weren't melee's and explosives supposed to pass through the HLS?

I believe that was originally the case, but they changed it. You can get around them quicker than they can spin though for melee and they can't recharge their shield until after the shield has been dropped for a considerable amount of time.
 
Because people are quitting. Not because JiP exists.
In previous halo games though, a match wouldn't just start without a full lobby. The previous match would end, people would drop out, and then it would search to fill the lobby again before staring a new game. JiP just starts games no matter what. It started one on me last night 1v4 in KotH; after 2 minutes, I just quit. All you are describing is JiP attempting to fix a problem that it creates, starting uneven games. It should be used to replace quitters after the game starts will the full amount of players. It's baffling how this was released like this, who thought it was a good idea to purposely start games with incomplete lobbies?
 

willow ve

Member
In previous halo games though, a match wouldn't just start without a full lobby. The previous match would end, people would drop out, and then it would search to fill the lobby again before staring a new game. JiP just starts games no matter what. It started one on me last night 1v4 in KotH; after 2 minutes, I just quit. All you are describing is JiP attempting to fix a problem that it creates, starting uneven games. It should be used to replace quitters after the game starts will the full amount of players. It's baffling how this was released like this, who thought it was a good idea to purposely start games with incomplete lobbies?

Baffled +10
 

Tawpgun

Member
I believe that was originally the case, but they changed it. You can get around them quicker than they can spin though for melee and they can't recharge their shield until after the shield has been dropped for a considerable amount of time.

Of all the AA's to buff...
 
In previous halo games though, a match wouldn't just start without a full lobby. The previous match would end, people would drop out, and then it would search to fill the lobby again before staring a new game. JiP just starts games no matter what. It started one on me last night 1v4 in KotH; after 2 minutes, I just quit. All you are describing is JiP attempting to fix a problem that it creates, starting uneven games. It should be used to replace quitters after the game starts will the full amount of players. It's baffling how this was released like this, who thought it was a good idea to purposely start games with incomplete lobbies?

I wouldn't personally consider the way MM starts very soon after the previous match ends as bein JiP.

Join in Progress is just that, the way you can fill the spot left by a quitter. I think there are other systems in place that are annoying but I don't think they are related quite as much as people seem to want.

I said it earlier, but I think a cooldown period after the game is needed. I want to be able to look at the post-game stats and then decide to leave that particular lobby of players. A 30 second window to fill up the spots left by people who want to play something else. I don't think that's a JiP issue.
 

Tawpgun

Member
I wouldn't personally consider the way MM starts very soon after the previous match ends as bein JiP.

Join in Progress is just that, the way you can fill the spot left by a quitter. I think there are other systems in place that are annoying but I don't think they are related quite as much as people seem to want.

I said it earlier, but I think a cooldown period after the game is needed. I want to be able to look at the post-game stats and then decide to leave that particular lobby of players. A 30 second window to fill up the spots left by people who want to play something else. I don't think that's a JiP issue.

I think the main problem with JIP vs Quitters is the frequency of each. So far, it feels like I've joined into losing games more than I've dealt with quitters in Reach.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Something I noticed while playing campaign earlier.

How in the world did we ever go from this


to this


I'm okay with the unicorn helmets and armour that looks completely ridiculous and impractical, but the Marines in this game are just terrible. I can't even imagine what was going through the designer's mind when he thought changing them like they are was an improvement. Okay, not terrible as such... I just really don't like it. Maybe it's the colours which make it look a lot worse than it is... I don't know.

Regardless, it needs to be taken back to the drawing board for Halo 5 - Maybe take it as an opportunity to draw inspiration from Reach/CEA. Not expecting a copy paste, but the complete redesign in 4 was really unneeded. I can understand pretty much every other visual change in the game, but I just don't get this one. It's a massive step back - no matter which way you look at it.

Yeppers. I feel like they changed a lot they shouldn't have, and didn't go far enough in designing the stuff that there was no basis for and thus they could do whatever they wanted with. The sort of Mercenaries/Brothers in Arms Marines were by no means the worst character design in that game, but overall the environments were far nicer than the characters.
 
I think the main problem with JIP vs Quitters is the frequency of each. So far, it feels like I've joined into losing games more than I've dealt with quitters in Reach.

I'd agree. I think not even trying to discourage quitting is a mistake. I shouldn't be able to leave the voting screen but I kind of have to if I didn't want to play another game because MM put me straight into it. It's a silly situation.

I love what JiP does but I just don't like what not penalising quitters and the really quick post game screen do to the game.
 
I wouldn't personally consider the way MM starts very soon after the previous match ends as bein JiP.

Join in Progress is just that, the way you can fill the spot left by a quitter. I think there are other systems in place that are annoying but I don't think they are related quite as much as people seem to want.

I said it earlier, but I think a cooldown period after the game is needed. I want to be able to look at the post-game stats and then decide to leave that particular lobby of players. A 30 second window to fill up the spots left by people who want to play something else. I don't think that's a JiP issue.
Well right, they're using JiP as an excuse to start uneven matches since they will eventually be filled. They need to be filling these lobbies before the game starts so everyone starts with even teams, barring people that quit out at the voting screen. JiP needs to be used in the event of quitters; it should be a last resort to save a game, not as insurance to start a crappy match.
 

willow ve

Member
But it's waypoint :(

Can anyone tell me why they chose to put an animated background on all the Waypoint stats pages? It is beyond distracting to have the entire background of the page you're trying to view suddenly flicker and distort.

Gah - There is so much good in this game; it just needs that final push to make it something with 3 year playability.
 
Do you have any empirical data to back that up? From my anecdotal experiences in Big Team Battle the wait times are on par or slower than Reach and 3.

This has been my experience as well. I'd say that wait times in H4 have been considerably worse than 3 or Reach for my group. Yes, this is with a full or near-full team, but that was usually the case with 3 and Reach as well, so it's still an apples to apples comparison.

Well right, they're using JiP as an excuse to start uneven matches since they will eventually be filled. They need to be filling these lobbies before the game starts so everyone starts with even teams, barring people that quit out at the voting screen. JiP needs to be used in the event of quitters; it should be a last resort to save a game, not as insurance to start a crappy match.

The bolded part has not often been true for me. There have been lots of times that we had 4 people on our team in one of the objective playlists, been thrown into a game against a full team of 5, and never had our 5th spot filled. That aside- I agree with what you're saying here.
 
Really love that Spartan Ops is continuing the story after Halo 4 didn't think it would be a lot but so far judging from the past 2 episodes I was completely wrong.

Since we have 10 episodes I am expecting a Didact reappearance.

I would glady pay for a DLC campaign or a retail game like ODST, instead of reused campaign areas and maybe using the incoming dlc map packs.
 
Well right, they're using JiP as an excuse to start uneven matches since they will eventually be filled. They need to be filling these lobbies before the game starts so everyone starts with even teams, barring people that quit out at the voting screen. JiP needs to be used in the event of quitters; it should be a last resort to save a game, not as insurance to start a crappy match.

Can't really disagree here ;)
 

malfcn

Member
Each specialization is about 338,400 XP, or about 1-34. So even with DXP, it should be a little bit more until a SR130 is in the wild.
 
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