Support NeoGAF

[JHall]

How is it possible that nobody told 343 they were idiots for even conceiving of the Boltshot.

There are a lot of questionable items and decisions that went into Halo 4.

AA's should have stayed with Reach, as well as loadouts. Halo as always been about starting players with an even battlefield. A utility weapon that is useful at all ranges but not dominate and an AR secondary. Like Halo CE, each weapon had a role and fit into that role perfectly. Reach and Halo 4 strayed from that concept to "keep up" with the new age games.

 

[NobleGundam]

I played Infinity and Reclaimer solo legendary last night for the first time.

What the hell are you guys complaining about?

Maybe things will be different on levels like Forerunner or Midnight but I was hardly having any problems. Never really ran out of ammo, enemies weren't health sponges. Hell, early on in Infinity before you get any precision weapons I used a Suppressor to take out a Knight's shields and it worked fine! Am I missing something? I did my first run on Heroic/Normal and this is only my second venture into campaign and I have to say it seems like the easiest one so far.

Thank you. Enough Said.
One thing I DO rely on is PP against Vehicles that's it.
Everything else is fine or great in terms of gameplay and enemy A.I.

 

[Fracas]

How's the Crimson DLC playlist doing now? In terms of population.

 

[Crazyorloco]

Is there really a patch to remove the map packs?

Yes, but I think the patch has more to it since it is 30mb. It can't just be to remove the map packs.

 

[squidhands]

I played Infinity and Reclaimer solo legendary last night for the first time.

What the hell are you guys complaining about?

Maybe things will be different on levels like Forerunner or Midnight but I was hardly having any problems. Never really ran out of ammo, enemies weren't health sponges. Hell, early on in Infinity before you get any precision weapons I used a Suppressor to take out a Knight's shields and it worked fine! Am I missing something? I did my first run on Heroic/Normal and this is only my second venture into campaign and I have to say it seems like the easiest one so far.

Infinity was WAY easier on Legendary than on Heroic for some reason. Maybe it was just that I already knew to some extent on how to fight Prometheans, but I think a lot of it was the fact that Covenant weapons were available are far deadlier on Knights than their own weaponry, which goes against a lot of past Halo gameplay history. When you get to the levels where there are only Promethean weapons, it becomes a bit more difficult and tedious. Also, having multiple Knights arm-pooping out Pulse Grenades on Midnight = not so much fun.

Never had an issue with running out of ammo on Legendary, not sure who made that up.

 

[Garrett 2U]

Yeah its 1.02.01

Yesterday I received an Xbox Live message telling me that a free XBLA game I downloaded received an update AND included patch notes. (Happy Wars)
I thought "Wow! This is new! Maybe it'll become standard!"
How foolish.

It is not a cool gun, it's a borderline offensive gun that should be patched out of matchmaking.

Plz explain, Railgun is my favorite.

 

[Overdoziz]

I played Infinity and Reclaimer solo legendary last night for the first time.

What the hell are you guys complaining about?

Maybe things will be different on levels like Forerunner or Midnight but I was hardly having any problems. Never really ran out of ammo, enemies weren't health sponges. Hell, early on in Infinity before you get any precision weapons I used a Suppressor to take out a Knight's shields and it worked fine! Am I missing something? I did my first run on Heroic/Normal and this is only my second venture into campaign and I have to say it seems like the easiest one so far.

I don't think the Halo 4 campaign is hard at all, it's just not fun.

 

[Poker Face]

I would use D3DOverrider if you are going to VSync older Direct X games.
You can actually find a gaming side thread that was recently made which contains a decent explanation of it, although it is rather simple.

Playing in windowed mode can help the jerkiness with Halo 2 Vista specifically.

The charge cable, I think, IIRC, does not work as an adapter for PC gameplay with the 360 gamepad.

I will look into these things, thank you. I did have an actual cable that worked (it was for wireless controllers, I don't remember the name) it's just been so long since I've tried that I think I misplaced it :/

 

[789shadow]

Plz explain, Railgun is my favorite.

No, the Boltshot. Railgun is just fine.

 

[slashmysoul]

I played Infinity and Reclaimer solo legendary last night for the first time.

What the hell are you guys complaining about?

Maybe things will be different on levels like Forerunner or Midnight but I was hardly having any problems. Never really ran out of ammo, enemies weren't health sponges. Hell, early on in Infinity before you get any precision weapons I used a Suppressor to take out a Knight's shields and it worked fine! Am I missing something? I did my first run on Heroic/Normal and this is only my second venture into campaign and I have to say it seems like the easiest one so far.

100% agreed. Way too easy Actually, that'd be what I'm complaining about lol

 

[CyReN]

How's the Crimson DLC playlist doing now? In terms of population.

1,621 (out of 44,795) are in Crimson DLC.

 

[Dirtbag]

1,621 (out of 44,795) are in Crimson DLC.

That seems low for a mappack release already.
More people are playing flood?!

 

[HigherLevel]

1,621 (out of 44,795) are in Crimson DLC.

There is seriously only 44,795 right now? Reach had more players at this time of day a few weeks before 4 released. It's kind of sad honestly. I don't mean that in a way where I'm trying to hate on Halo 4, I'm just saying the state of Halo at the moment isn't good.

 

[Louis Wu]

The bold is interesting. I emptied the LR crate in the last section before the checkpoint, and later accidentally backed into the backside of the crate, fully reloading my LR. I was able to do it for the rest of my run despite being sent back to the checkpoint multiple times, too. Weird.

To the last part, I stupidly emptied my Incineration Cannon on the other Knights and Crawlers before I got to the final checkpoint. I thought there was another crate of them later on, but I was wrong. :-(

Huh - maybe it's a timing thing. Or maybe the last one is different from the first one. I know I've run out.
As for the ICs... I didn't notice on my first few runs, but there's actually a lift from the third platform back to the second (I don't think a similar lift exists to get from 2 to 1). If you run out of IC ammo, just jump back to the second platform and reload.

 

[CyReN]

There is seriously only 44,795 right now? Reach had more players at this time of day a few weeks before 4 released. It's kind of sad honestly. I don't mean that in a way where I'm trying to hate on Halo 4, I'm just saying the state of Halo at the moment isn't good.

When you abandon a working formula, and implement something new and it doesn't attract a new crowd, this is what you end up with.

 

[malfcn]

I am making predictions.

War Games - 1600
Specialization - 80
Specializations 400

 

[Fracas]

Wow, only 45k?

Although that can be attributed to many things; finals for college students are probably still going on, it's a workday, etc. Still, I'm a bit surprised.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

I don't think the Halo 4 campaign is hard at all, it's just not fun.

Exactly. I can't name many places in the Campaign where I had cleared the area and felt accomplished. It's funny because many of the Knight setups on the final level are somewhat similar to the Brute battle in the barracks in Halo 3. But just look at how much better the Brute fight is from the start.
- clear distribution and distinction of different Brute classes
- while not a wide open space, the weaponry and equipment allow for interesting approaches to the fight
- you can clearly see your goal, with a big fat Brute Chieften awaiting you
- you can obscure sight lines, and power weapons placed in certain positions allow for (if you choose to use it) a battle plan to attain it

Everything about that battle is awesome. In Halo 4, a similar battle quickly turns into a cluster f because you have all these Knights who look so damn similar, possess different weaponry and abilities, and yet they all just blend together. You can't really keep tabs on them all that well. And for all you know, that Knight you think is only holding a Light Rifle behind the pillar actually pops out with his incineration cannon and blows you to bits. Or you rush with a scattershot and suddenly a Knight does a force push (I had never seen this until the last level) and forces you off the ledge. The encounters just don't allow flexibility or unique opportunities to arrise in combat.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

It's the middle of the day on a weekday...

 

[CyReN]

Wow, only 45k?

Although that can be attributed to many things; finals for college students are probably still going on, it's a workday, etc. Still, I'm a bit surprised.

It's the middle of the day on a weekday...

Black Ops 2 has 180k on Xbox, Nuketwon (DLC) playlist has 22k alone.

 

[Captain Blood]

It has been clear since 343 first showed Halo 4 MP that they were taking the CoD route, which is a serious departure from the Halo formula that many people around here loved. I know there was talk of a "classic" playlist back then to calm people down but even that is more or less an after thought of 343's plan for the Halo franchise. We had slayer pro which was the closest we got to a "classic" mode but now even that is gone.

Is anyone still updating that Halo 4 peak players chart? I am kind of curious if there is any chance 343 reevaluates the direction they are taking Halo or if the 9.8 IGNs of the world have only reaffirmed their belief in the direction Halo is heading.

I do genuinely wonder if the majority of 343 would go back and rethink choices they made or if they are all really happy with the way it turned out. I get that they probably can't really say one way or the other.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Black Ops 2 has 180k on Xbox, Nuketwon (DLC) playlist has 22k alone.

Thought we were talking Halo? No crap Blops 2 has more people playing, it's CoD.

 

[IHaveIce]

Black Ops 2 has 180k on Xbox, Nuketwon (DLC) playlist has 22k alone.

CODs population is better spreadaround the world, while the main population of Halo comesfrom the US

 

[CyReN]

Thought we were talking Halo? No crap Blops 2 has more people playing, it's CoD.

So stop using the middle of the week excuse then if you don't want CoD brought up.

 

[Fracas]

Black Ops 2 has 180k on Xbox, Nuketwon (DLC) playlist has 22k alone.

Nuketown has a playlist again? Awww snap. BK Bonanaza!

 

[789shadow]

It has been clear since 343 first showed Halo 4 MP that they were taking the CoD route, which is a serious departure from the Halo formula that many people around here loved. I know there was talk of a "classic" playlist back then to calm people down but even that is more or less an after thought of 343's plan for the Halo franchise. We had slayer pro which was the closest we got to a "classic" mode but now even that is gone.

Is anyone still updating that Halo 4 peak players chart? I am kind of curious if there is any chance 343 reevaluates the direction they are taking Halo or if the 9.8 IGNs of the world have only reaffirmed their belief in the direction Halo is heading.

I do genuinely wonder if the majority of 343 would go back and rethink choices they made or if they are all really happy with the way it turned out. I get that they probably can't really say one way or the other.

If Microsoft looks at Halo 4 and is disappointed with it's sales and player numbers, their answer will probably be to make it EVEN MORE like COD, not less.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

So stop using the middle of the week excuse then if you don't want CoD brought up.

If you compare the two (like you seem to do at every turn) Blops 2 numbers are low compared to prime-time too. You can't take middle of the day numbers to prove a point. That's all I'm saying.

Take tonight's numbers, maybe DLC is still low, but middle of the day analysis won't do much good.

 

[Fracas]

If you compare the two (like you seem to do at every turn) Blops 2 numbers are low compared to prime-time too. You can't take middle of the day numbers to prove a point. That's all I'm saying.

I get what you're saying though.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

I get what you're saying though.

Yeah, use the peak numbers. Makes more sense.

I wasn't trying to say the DLC list is doing amazing, just that you can't base analysis on off-peak times.

 

[MaximumFlipFlop]

I get what you're saying though.

It's like a failing heart, it will flatline on Friday.

 

[Arnie]

If you compare the two (like you seem to do at every turn) Blops 2 numbers are low compared to prime-time too. You can't take middle of the day numbers to prove a point. That's all I'm saying.

Those Halo 4 numbers are lower than expected for a franchise of Halo's magnitude, you then responded with a comment about it being a work day. Are you insinuating that the people who're choosing to play Call of Duty are skipping either work, school, or other duties to do so? Or is the actual answer to this entire equation that people could be playing Halo 4, it's just they're not inclined to do so.

I'm a massive Halo fan, I'm sat at home doing little but reading and playing Football Manager, could I be playing Halo 4? Sure. Can I muster the energy to dip into this re-imagining of the core Halo experience? Nope.

 

[Fracas]

I'm going to hop on Reach in a moment and look at its population. The overall counter is broken, but the individual popuation count is correct, no?

 

[Reagan's BR]

But above all else, and what's most important, is good gameplay.

Good gameplay hasn't been a part of the Halo series in the past 3 or 4 years.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Those Halo 4 numbers are lower than expected for a franchise of Halo's magnitude, you then responded with a comment about it being a work day. Are you insinuating that the people who're choosing to play Call of Duty are skipping either work, school, or other duties to do so? Or is the actual answer to this entire equation that people could be playing Halo 4, it's just they're not inclined to do so.

I'm a massive Halo fan, I'm sat at home doing little but reading and playing Football Manager, could I be playing Halo 4? Sure. Can I muster the energy to dip into this re-imagining of the core Halo experience? Nope.

No, no, no. I'm saying populations of all games will be lower during the day. Thus using that number for analysis on how things are going can be deceitful.

 

[Fracas]

Whoa, Reach has a TU. 2 MB.

 

[Arnie]

No, no, no. I'm saying populations of all games will be lower during the day. Thus using that number for analysis on how things are going can be deceitful.

Fair enough. I get that, but I still think the Halo 4 population is low enough, despite the time of day, to extrapolate that the game's seriously struggling.

 

[The Librarian]

Good gameplay hasn't been a part of the Halo series in the past 3 or 4 years.

Was I saying otherwise? You talked about how we haven't had a good story since Halo 2. That's sad and all, but the franchise can survive without good stories. It can't survive without good gameplay. Just trying to keep in mind gameplay is what's most important.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Fair enough. I get that, but I still think the Halo 4 population is low enough, despite the time of day, to extrapolate that the game's seriously struggling.

Yeah, I could see that. 105k or so on average isn't ideal for Halo. Plenty to find games at least, but hopefully 343 and MS are seeing that lower number and starting to analyze what needs to be done.

 

[IHaveIce]

Whoa, Reach has a TU. 2 MB.

Bloom increased for all playlists.


no I don't know, probably nothing notable, 2MB hmm

 

[Gazzawa]

Fair enough. I get that, but I still think the Halo 4 population is low enough, despite the time of day, to extrapolate that the game's seriously struggling.

Populations don't mean dick to a publisher. People already bought the game.

 

[Reagan's BR]

Was I saying otherwise? You talked about how we haven't had a good story since Halo 2. That's sad and all, but the franchise can survive without good stories. It can't survive without good gameplay. Just trying to keep in mind gameplay is what's most important.

I was just adding on to what you said. Good gameplay is important but so is the story. Why settle for one or the other when you can have both? Halo 4 had neither.

 

[Fracas]

Halo: Reach's population is currently 44,413. So on par with Halo 4 at the moment. Also Arena has 0 players. Waited ~3-4 mins, no match.

Wow.

Hasn't it been stuck at that for weeks now? Thought someone said the counter was broken.

The XBL charts Major Nelson does shows otherwise.

Overall counter is broken, individual counter seems to be correct. Different numbers than last time I checked (week and a half ago)

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Halo: Reach's population is currently 44,413. So on par with Halo 4 at the moment.

Wow.

Hasn't it been stuck at that for weeks now? Thought someone said the counter was broken.

The XBL charts Major Nelson does shows otherwise.

 

[Louis Wu]

Whoa, Reach has a TU. 2 MB.

Someone mentioned not being able to play with a buddy who'd had the maps removed, because versions no longer matched. This probably brings them into parity for folks with the season pass (or other versions of paid maps).

Edit: oops, Reach. My bad.

 

[Tawpgun]

Regarding the Prometheans abilities, what if they had something more akin to a shadowrun teleport. Meaning they wouldn't go into some invincible animation and reappear somewhere. They would quickly teleport as a means of evasion but only have a maximum radius of so and so. And they would leave a trail of which direction they ported too.

Someone mentioned not being able to play with a buddy who'd had the maps removed, because versions no longer matched. This probably brings them into parity for folks with the season pass (or other versions of paid maps).

Wait holy shit does this mean that we can't play customs with people who don't have the maps? Or regular matchmaking?

EDIT: Oh, Reach. Nvm. Who cares?

 

[Karl2177]

Halo: Reach's population is currently 44,413. So on par with Halo 4 at the moment.

Wow.

That counter has been broken since late October.

 

[rakka]

Halo: Reach's population is currently 44,413. So on par with Halo 4 at the moment. Also Arena has 0 players. Waited ~3-4 mins, no match.

That counter has been broken since late October.

overall population was stuck on 67,000 for the last few months though. if it says 44k then at least it's changed. maybe it's updating now ?

 

[Trey]

Regarding the Prometheans abilities, what if they had something more akin to a shadowrun teleport. Meaning they wouldn't go into some invincible animation and reappear somewhere. They would quickly teleport as a means of evasion but only have a maximum radius of so and so. And they would leave a trail of which direction they ported too.

So basically the thruster AA with invincibility frames?

 

[Fracas]

That counter has been broken since late October.

overall population was stuck on 67,000 for the last few months though. if it says 44k then at least it's changed

I edited my post, but I don't think anyone noticed.

Overall counter is still broken and in the 67k range, but individual playlist numbers are different and changed from last time I checked. They added up to 44k. There's no way to be certain, but it's interesting if true

edit: Also, walking around Reach MP maps now, and I really miss 3D skyboxes

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Who are those people on Reach? *Shudder*