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[bobs...onGaf]

Honestly, while people that read Halo forums might know the division percentiles and even be able to figure their overall percentile, Reach doesn't do a good job of explaining them to the average end user.

I believe The Arena would be more popular if you started at 1 and played to 50 every season. It's a convention to which Halo players are accustomed, and it's easy for anyone to understand.

It depends on how those 1-50 ranks are assigned. If the current Arena system of playing x many games to get an assigned ranking exists people would still find that the system isnt transparent enough.

The percentiles arent the main problem with the Arena.

 

[The Librarian]

"Will Halo 4 take the Call Of Duty throne?"

Smh Gametrailers.

Beli343 bro

 

[TheOddOne]

What do they talk about? Is it just about what the title says? Anything worth my time?

Nope, they all talk about how they would like Halo 4 to be.

 

[StalkerUKCG]

HaloGAF europe, anyone got any nintendo points they want to give me?

 

[Zeouterlimits]

HEXAGONS

Flipyap is crying

Spoiler

and completely correct in doing so.

 

[Hypertrooper]

HEXAGONS

Don't care. I'm not Flipyap.

 

[Gabotron ES]

So we were talking about BTB crazy unscripted moments a while ago, I can't link it but you guys should check Rooster Teeth's 72 Fails of the weak, 1:24 mark.

Holy crap.

 

[Karl2177]

I'd rather them just create great stock maps than take up time working on a map maker. If Forge is any indication, most people don't know how to make quality maps.

I'd argue. There's some great stuff between Halo 3 and Reach Forge maps. It's just that some of the stuff that gets put into MM really isn't up to par(especially the BTB ones right now).

 

[wwm0nkey]

So we were talking about BTB crazy unscripted moments a while ago, I can't link it but you huys should check Rooster Teeth's Fails of the weak, 1:24 mark.

Holy crap.

Unscripted moments in BF3 > Unscripted BTB moments

 

[heckfu]

HEXAGONS

Hey man, let's get wild since we're dreaming...add two more sides to that circle!

OCTAGONS

 

[Devolution]

I'm missing the hexagons joke. ;_;.

 

[Trey]

This place goes on about how Reach catered to the casuals and bloom is random and the skill gap is small and Firefight/Campaign is laggy but bots are okay?

Okay. Drop in-drop out before bots, and bots never.

 

[Devolution]

This place goes on about how Reach catered to the casuals and bloom is random and the skill gap is small but bots are okay?

Okay. Drop in-drop out before bots, and bots never.

If you're going to have people mass quitting bots as replacements would be a solution. The best? Probably not. But it's better than say going through this:

 

[Hypertrooper]

I'm missing the hexagons joke. ;_;.

There is no joke. People just dislike Hexagons.

If you're going to have people mass quitting bots as replacements would be a solution. The best? Probably not. But it's better than say going through this:

OMG! You still play with Tunavi? Look at that newb. -2.

 

[The Librarian]

I'm missing the hexagons joke. ;_;.

It's not a joke. Kind of. More of a criticism. Hexagons are a lazy way to make something alien/different. They've been done to death, and are really cliche now.

 

[Devolution]

It's not a joke. Kind of. More of a criticism. Hexagons are a lazy way to make something alien/different. They've been done to death, and are really cliche now.

I don't pay enough attention to that kind of shit honestly. I'll come up with something cooler then, I did the hexagons as keeping some elements from the 4 one that was displayed.

 

[Stripper13]

Rendered a couple more videos for your entertainment.

This is what it is like, playing on a pretty sweet Australian broadband connection, at least a couple of times a night. At least for me. Open NAT type, network test says I'm fine, I get pingtest results in between 10-20ms.


And this is what it's like for a friend who plays on a sweet Australian broadband connection, that he has to share wirelessly with multiple people, and with a fluctuating NAT Type.

Well worth watching both.

I might also add that the second link, Lag Lift, is the hardest I have laughed in Halo for a long fucking time.

Frankie watch these - something needs to be done. I don't know if it has to be dedicated servers, or a new matchmaking/P2P set-up... but playing in Australia ranges from 'cumbersome search times and an acceptable connection' to 'absolutely pointless trying to play another game'. I have tried several different search restriction set-up's etc, and the only thing I find that works (and by works, I mean, make approximately 75% of the games pretty sweet) - is to go into Team Slayer for the population, with a party of 3-4, with good connection turned on. In essence, I have to organise a few people, play in a relatively stale playlist, suffer through 1-3 minute search times, and then pray that the lag isn't unbearable - because there's nothing worse than one player who seems to eat every DMR shot and walk it off like you were shooting a water pistol at them.

On a side note - getting host in Australia is an amazing experience.

 

[Hypertrooper]

It's not a joke. Kind of. More of a criticism. Hexagons are a lazy way to make something alien/different. They've been done to death, and are really cliche now.

lol. When I see a hexagons, I always think about science and not alien/different.

 

[TheOddOne]

OMG! You still play with Tunavi? Look at that newb. -2.

Shots fired.

 

[Trey]

If you're going to have people mass quitting bots as replacements would be a solution. The best? Probably not. But it's better than say going through this:

Take the Firefight experience and try to apply it to competitive Halo multiplayer. Or rather the human AI in the campaign. Massive amounts of resources would have to be adapted toward the end of making bots feasible for the fun-only zone of Social Slayer, whereas an easier solution of drop-in makes much more sense for a variety of reasons.

And then there's the prospect of having to play with AI on your team. Either they would be too overpowered or a liability, and that;s in slayer alone. Consider the more complicated situations present in objective gametypes.

 

[Devolution]

Take the Firefight experience and try to apply it to competitive Halo multiplayer. Or rather the human AI in the campaign. Massive amounts of resources would have to be adapted toward the end of making bots feasible for the fun-only zone of Social Slayer, whereas an easier solution of drop-in makes much more sense for a variety of reasons.

Drop-in would be a solution too. The problem I see with drop-in is that people see a team losing and bounce right back out.

 

[Domino Theory]

Bots aren't necessary if it's being implemented to mitigate quitting.

The two best options for quitting are:

1) when people quit so that half the team is left (2v4, 4v8, 2v5, 3v6), a message should pop up on that team saying "Hey, we noticed half your team's gone! Push X to end the game now? Don't worry, your rank won't be penalized in any way."

2) have the game automatically go into 30 second sudden death (Reach was actually supposed to have this, but got cut for some reason) when the above scenario happens.

 

[Devolution]

Bots aren't necessary if it's being implemented to mitigate quitting.

The two best options for quitting are:

1) when people quit so that half the team is left (2v4, 4v8, 2v5, 3v6), a message should pop up on that team saying "Hey, we noticed half your team's gone! Push X to end the game now? Don't worry, your rank won't be penalized in any way."

2) have the game automatically go into 30 second sudden death (Reach was actually supposed to have this, but got cut for some reason) when the above scenario happens.

Also getting rid of that 4th round if one team has already won would help as well. It's just a demoralizing round of spawn camping usually.

 

[Trey]

Drop-in would be a solution too. The problem I see with drop-in is that people seeing a team losing and bounce right back out.

Maybe, maybe not. Better than bots. Playing down players is a better alternative to bots.

 

[HiredN00bs]

It's Halo 4. It should have parallelograms, trapezoids, squares...rhombi!

 

[Fracas]

Bots aren't necessary if it's being implemented to mitigate quitting.

The two best options for quitting are:

1) when people quit so that half the team is left (2v4, 4v8, 2v5, 3v6), a message should pop up on that team saying "Hey, we noticed half your team's gone! Push X to end the game now? Don't worry, your rank won't be penalized in any way."

2) have the game automatically go into 30 second sudden death (Reach was actually supposed to have this, but got cut for some reason) when the above scenario happens.

I like the second idea. Although both ideas would be frustrating to the team that didn't lose players

 

[The Librarian]

I don't pay enough attention to that kind of shit honestly. I'll come up with something cooler then, I did the hexagons as keeping some elements from the 4 one that was displayed.

Neither do I most of the time, but when someone *cough* Flipyap *cough* pointed out to me how many times they're used, I can't ignore it now. They're everywhere.

 

[Trey]

Bots aren't necessary if it's being implemented to mitigate quitting.

The two best options for quitting are:

1) when people quit so that half the team is left (2v4, 4v8, 2v5, 3v6), a message should pop up on that team saying "Hey, we noticed half your team's gone! Push X to end the game now? Don't worry, your rank won't be penalized in any way."

2) have the game automatically go into 30 second sudden death (Reach was actually supposed to have this, but got cut for some reason) when the above scenario happens.

1) I can already imagine what the losing team players would go through to make others quit so they won't have to absorb the loss.

 

[Domino Theory]

Also, drop-in-drop-out and no party restrictions (unless specified by party in the lobby) for social matchmaking. Social matchmaking should be quick, easy, and fun in every way. Ranked needs to be the true 'competitive' environment.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Also, drop-in-drop-out and no party restrictions (unless specified by party in the lobby) for social matchmaking. Social matchmaking should be quick, easy, and fun in every way. Ranked needs to be the true 'competitive' environment.

This, a million times this!

Also social playlist should have higher score limits so people wont join in near the end as often. It will still happen but just a lower chance.

 

[Hypertrooper]

Neither do I most of the time, but when someone *cough* Flipyap *cough* pointed out to me how many times they're used, I can't ignore it now. They're everywhere.

Sapere aude – Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!

 

[GhaleonEB]

Bots aren't necessary if it's being implemented to mitigate quitting.

The two best options for quitting are:

1) when people quit so that half the team is left (2v4, 4v8, 2v5, 3v6), a message should pop up on that team saying "Hey, we noticed half your team's gone! Push X to end the game now? Don't worry, your rank won't be penalized in any way."

2) have the game automatically go into 30 second sudden death (Reach was actually supposed to have this, but got cut for some reason) when the above scenario happens.

I really like this, but I'd tip it so that the default would be to end the game in 30 seconds, unless a majority of players veto to keep playing. That way AFK players don't force the rest to keep going.

 

[Domino Theory]

I really like this a great deal, but I'd tip it so that the default would be to end the game in 30 seconds, unless a majority of players veto to keep playing. That way AFK players don't force the rest to keep going.

Yeah, you and Trey are right. The more I think about it, the more the second option would be better.

 

[Trey]

Also, drop-in-drop-out and no party restrictions (unless specified by party in the lobby) for social matchmaking. Social matchmaking should be quick, easy, and fun in every way. Ranked needs to be the true 'competitive' environment.

At that point there should be no social matchmaking, merely custom hoppers, and "competitive" Halo should be the only thing matchmade.

 

[Tha Robbertster]

I'd like bots in Halo 4, but only in customs or special matchmaking gametypes. I can see bots being very usefull to warm up before matchmaking or testing forged msps (if the bots could work on them)

Bots in matchmaking would be a solution for the quiters, but I'd like to see 343 try something different before using bots.

 

[The Librarian]

I really like the thirty-second idea. What's great about it is its uniform application. It can be applied across any gametype.

 

[Barrow Roll]

My approach to playlists in any Halo would be:

Ranked:
-Team Slayer
-Team objective (2-flag CTF, one flag, one bomb, KotH, Oddball, neutral bomb, Assault)
-SWAT
-Snipers
-MLG

Social:
-Team slayer (5v5)
-BTB (Slayer, 2-flag CTF, one flag, neutral bomb, assault, one bomb, territories)
-Multi Team (2v2v2v2 with slayer, oddball and KotH)
-Invasion
-DLC (6v6, same setup as BTB)
-Skirmish (8 player FFA with objective gametypes like KotH, Oddball, Juggernaut)

Cooperative:
-Campaign (4 player co-op)
-Firefight doubles
-Firefight classic (survive for as long as possible)
-Firefight arcade (fun, wacky gametypes for one set)

Weekend double exp:
-Infection
-Griffball
-Action Sack
-Rocket Race
-.....

So that would be 12 competitive multiplayer playlists at any given time.

This looks great. Unfortunately, Stockpile and Headhunter will have to be in there somewhere due to achievements being tied to them.

Couldn't sleep without tweaking the shader a bit. Two new options

I don't have a problem with the Halo 4 logo as it is, but this looks awesome.

 

[Ken]

What about Dota 2's quitting system?

If a player quits, they get 5 minutes to reconnect back to the game. If they don't, then the remaining players are free to leave without penalty. Obviously, Dota matches last a lot longer than Halo matches so the wait time would be changed accordingly.

I dislike the use of bots to alleviate the quitting problem; bots are either dumb as bricks or godlike.

The ability to connect back to a game you drop from could be good but it seems like it would be too easy for people to abuse. :/

How so?

I'm not sure if this is how it really is in Dota, but I think when you disconnect from a game, you are unable to join any new games until the game you left is either over or you reconnect to it. I also think the 5 minute timer doesn't reset if you leave again. I'm not sure though since I play LoL more than Dota 2 though.

 

[Domino Theory]

At that point there should be no social matchmaking, merely custom hoppers, and "competitive" Halo should be the only thing matchmade.

No, just think of Halo 3's current set-up, but with social as drop-in-drop-out and no party restrictions.

For customs, there should be a beacon similar to the new Xbox Metro DB beacon so if someone launches Halo 4, a pop up should say "Barrow Roll is online and wants friends to join his custom game".

A Halo 4 message center similar to Forza 4's message center would be a great way of handling this, actually.

 

[bobs...onGaf]

The ability to connect back to a game you drop from could be good but it seems like it would be too easy for people to abuse. :/

 

[zap]

Rendered a couple more videos for your entertainment.

This is what it is like, playing on a pretty sweet Australian broadband connection, at least a couple of times a night. At least for me. Open NAT type, network test says I'm fine, I get pingtest results in between 10-20ms.


And this is what it's like for a friend who plays on a sweet Australian broadband connection, that he has to share wirelessly with multiple people, and with a fluctuating NAT Type.

Well worth watching both.

I might also add that the second link, Lag Lift, is the hardest I have laughed in Halo for a long fucking time.

Frankie watch these - something needs to be done. I don't know if it has to be dedicated servers, or a new matchmaking/P2P set-up... but playing in Australia ranges from 'cumbersome search times and an acceptable connection' to 'absolutely pointless trying to play another game'. I have tried several different search restriction set-up's etc, and the only thing I find that works (and by works, I mean, make approximately 75% of the games pretty sweet) - is to go into Team Slayer for the population, with a party of 3-4, with good connection turned on. In essence, I have to organise a few people, play in a relatively stale playlist, suffer through 1-3 minute search times, and then pray that the lag isn't unbearable - because there's nothing worse than one player who seems to eat every DMR shot and walk it off like you were shooting a water pistol at them.

On a side note - getting host in Australia is an amazing experience.

NZ gamer here

I think it's mainly that there just aren't enough of us to give us decent skill matchmaking (lol, Reach doesn't really do this, I know), as well as taking into account our location. I thought Bungie had said that they had worked out a system to match people based on distance to each other for Reach. I certainly notice the connection differences between Reach and 3, but I always assumed it was the better netcode.

Although it seems that for me, I don't notice the connection issues as frequently as you claim to. I dunno why that is, maybe I am just used to it happening that I don't notice it anymore.

 

[Havok]

-DLC (6v6, same setup as BTB)

I like the rest of this list, but if they properly managed DLC matching, this wouldn't need to exist. A "match me with other DLC owners!' button with DLC appropriate to the playlist's team size and gametype offering filling the first page of voting options is a potentially great alternative to the ideal solution of having DLC be free. 6v6 playlists just seem like forcing a square peg into a round hole to me because so few maps are designed around that player count. 4v4 maps end up being a little too hectic, and 8v8 maps a little too barren.

 

[CyReN]

Hoping for 2 things, a Patriots win and a Halo 4 commercial.

 

[Fracas]

Hoping for 2 things, a Patriots win and a Halo 4 commercial.

Wasn't the commercial a rumor awhile ago? That would be so great if one aired

 

[wwm0nkey]

Wasn't the commercial a rumor awhile ago? That would be so great if one aired

Frankie pretty much said its not going to happen.

 

[Trey]

Frankie pretty much said its not going to happen.

He said it in plain terms it wasn't going to happen.

 

[Plywood]

What I would have given for Chief to have been running through the field football in one hand and gamefuel in other and then an H4 logo flash.

 

[Barrow Roll]

What I would have given for Chief to have been running through the field football in one hand and gamefuel in other and then an H4 logo flash.

Then Cole Train comes in and tackles the shit outta him.

WOOOOOOOH.

 

[Hypertrooper]

What I would have given for Chief to have been running through the field football in one hand and gamefuel in other and then an H4 logo flash.

They asked me to do it but Microsoft only wanted to pay me with money. I refused.

 

[Garrett 2U]

The superbowl is not the proper place to advertise an xbox exclusive video game that isn't going to be released for 7-10 more months.

Now.. a Microsoft showcase event coming up at the end of February on the other hand...