I have a feeling they gonna fuck up something on that date. It's inevitable.
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Halo |OT13|
- Thread starter kylej
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I have a feeling they gonna fuck up something on that date. It's inevitable.
They'll probably just scan for the LE download or map pass on your HDD and if the user doesn't have them it'll just lock the content.
squidhands
Member
A free trial for the maps? Haha, the hits just keep on coming. Just suck it up, guys; you fucked up and the maps should remain free. Holiday spirit and all that. I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities to pull money from us rubes fans.
Poker Face
Member
Screenshots?
I don't think it's 343. Frankie admitted they messed up on gaf and seemed pretty apologetic. Higher ups are probably making the calls and telling what to say as an official statement.
I think they're approaching this whole situation in the wrong way. They should have just compensated LE/Pass buyers in some way (not sure if theres a way to compensate people who bought early)
Now they're gonna have a shitstorm to deal with once people lose the maps they just had. Ugh this is all so sloppy, gotta feel bad for 343.
Now they're gonna have a shitstorm to deal with once people lose the maps they just had. Ugh this is all so sloppy, gotta feel bad for 343.
Oh yes of course, I remember Frankie's post here, I was talking about Microsoft. Yes Jess was probably told what to say, but it seems pretty weird, knowing Frankie's post and now seeing them pretend that it was intentionally
Yeah. The sad thing is, like most other people, that I'm not buying those maps, so the count pop will be low once they are gone. but no one knows if they will be gone yet
So if they disable the maps from matchmaking (for those that paid 0MS points) what happens to the achievements already earned? I'm assuming you keep the achievements. If so I would then have zero incentive to purchase Crimson as the framerate issues really are frustrating. It was refreshing, however brief, to have something other than Exile and Ragnarok for a few days, but overall the map pack won't be missed if it's disabled.
They should have simply been honest with their consumers. A simple "Hey, we messed up with the DLC switch. Some people got it for 0MS Points and that's on us. For those that missed out the map pack is still 800 MS Points and the season pass is still 2000 MS Points. We apologize for any confusion this technical gaffe has caused. Fortunately we caught and rectified the issue as soon as we could so not many accounts are affected."
That's what they should have done.
They should have simply been honest with their consumers. A simple "Hey, we messed up with the DLC switch. Some people got it for 0MS Points and that's on us. For those that missed out the map pack is still 800 MS Points and the season pass is still 2000 MS Points. We apologize for any confusion this technical gaffe has caused. Fortunately we caught and rectified the issue as soon as we could so not many accounts are affected."
That's what they should have done.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Sad thing is the maps are better than I expected. Aesthetically I only really like Harvest, but the layouts are solid. If CA can change up the format and give us some crazy aesthetics the rest of the maps could be great.
Do you have it on 360 or PC?
Also a good point, after testing many people can just say "nope not gonna buy them", but probably some of these players would have bought them blind without the trial.
When I think back, if we had a trial phase for Reach's DLC I probably wouldn't have bought anything.
360. Game is really fun and handles custom content extremely well.
I can't help but wonder how the framerate stutter would be helped if they had toned down the visuall craziness of the Crimson pack. Do we really need giant pieces of ships, etc., falling down in the sky outside Wreckage? How much of my 7 year old hardware is being spent on rendering that effect in real time for all players?
It's absolutely terrible this happened in the first place, and there's no defending what they did, accident or not.
However, now we have to see what we're left with.
Some angry users that lost $10 or $5 due to an error and piss poor communication but also a large population that now has the maps.
Me and Steely were playing in BTB last night and every game we had DLC in the voting options (and yet Ragnarock was still voted, lol) I'm not sure if they made their DLC search algorithms amazing, or if it really is a large population that now has the maps.
Either way, it would suck to lose that. They don't want to restrict access to playlists with a paywall like they did in Halo 3. They HOPEFULLY learned the lesson from Reach DLC where it will almost never show up in matchmaking so we essentially wasted money on maps we would almost never play.... and a singular DLC playlist is kind of obnoxious as well since you're buying maps to play in ONE playlist.
Making the maps more accesible is the best for the consumer. But at the end of the day, developers need to get paid. Now, I'm not sure if the cost of making multiplayer environments went up or something, but if they can make decent profits with the Halo 2 model of DLC of pay for early access, will become free in like 2-3 months (or less) then that is by far the best model to use.
However, now we have to see what we're left with.
Some angry users that lost $10 or $5 due to an error and piss poor communication but also a large population that now has the maps.
Me and Steely were playing in BTB last night and every game we had DLC in the voting options (and yet Ragnarock was still voted, lol) I'm not sure if they made their DLC search algorithms amazing, or if it really is a large population that now has the maps.
Either way, it would suck to lose that. They don't want to restrict access to playlists with a paywall like they did in Halo 3. They HOPEFULLY learned the lesson from Reach DLC where it will almost never show up in matchmaking so we essentially wasted money on maps we would almost never play.... and a singular DLC playlist is kind of obnoxious as well since you're buying maps to play in ONE playlist.
Making the maps more accesible is the best for the consumer. But at the end of the day, developers need to get paid. Now, I'm not sure if the cost of making multiplayer environments went up or something, but if they can make decent profits with the Halo 2 model of DLC of pay for early access, will become free in like 2-3 months (or less) then that is by far the best model to use.
I don't know what you expect from military themed shooter but that's ok. I take you played it on 360?
They're in a hole, most people would stop digging at that point and start getting out, but Microsoft instead decides it's better to keep digging.
Wanna add me on xbl? I'd love to check that map out. Personally I'm a bit confused about how the filesharing works so I have no idea how to find maps. I'm also not familiar with the editor at all either.
For new page and to add on something else,
Using the Halo 2 model they could ADD incentives to buying the map pack early before it becomes free.
Emblems, skins, armor, avatar stuff.
Exclusive super fun playlist
Make it double XP or jackpot or something
Contest where you submit an awesome moment that happened to you on the new maps.
Screenshot contest on the new maps
People bought Mt. Dew and Doritos for double XP. They'd buy a map pack for a Double XP playlist.
Yeap, 360. I've got the game on PC, but I'm not very good at it so I don't buy the DLC (haha)
Frostbite 2 is one of the most impressive gaming engines out there currently. It is capable of producing gorgeous environments... Even on console the maps are nice to look at. So it's disappointing that they've made the 4 new maps as bland as possible. Literally nothing exciting is happening within them.
They're fun to play on... But aesthetics play a big part in setting the mood of a map. I'm not going to get many games from them before I get bored I think.
Stripper13
Member
Got the chance to play around with the map pack tonight.
I'm pretty happy overall. The maps are beautiful despite being themed nearly identically - and the layouts seem well thought out and fun. I don't like the fact that they are all quite big - but there is enough cover to ensure that none of the maps play out like Complex, with DMR pinging cross map.
I have some concerns about the window area on Shatter (I think it's roughly where the 'A' Extraction Point first appears). Seems to be FAR easier to camp/defend it, than it is to actually get there and clear the area. It also has a fairly good view on the 'B' Extraction Point area. There is cover everywhere - but I found the different approaches I could find, were all pretty risky relative to the other areas of the map.
Extraction Gametype is okay. I like the idea of it, particularly the speed of the match and the incredibly blurred line between "Is this point close enough to extraction that I move on, or leave team mates to defend, or make a rush to convert the enemies point" etc. However it ultimately plays out a little too similar to Dominion without the base defense/resupply twist. It also suffers (as does Dominion, and Reach's Invasion) from momentum playing a massive factor. If the enemy teams manages to score the first two extraction points - it's close to game over against even a modest selection of randoms. They simply have to take and defend one point again and again, and have the match in the bag.
Simple enough concept, score more - win more... and I like that it creates mad rushes for a last second conversion to keep the match going for an upset win - but I imagine it's disheartening for the other team to fall behind on score and then have to capture the spare point AND strike hard against the enemies point. I suspect that it will cause even more players to simply jump in the Mantis and boost K/D spread - and simply ignore the objective when the match goes askew.
Capture the flag on Harvest(?) (may have been Wreckage) was alot of fun. Not a brilliant COTF map by any means - but certainly not bad. The map layout allows for a lot of spartan on spartan battles, while keeping vehicles relevant but not dominating.
All of the maps felt a little too large to be good Slayer maps - especially given the ability to spawn with active camo and a DMR. However I still had a lot of fun - and didn't find myself frustrated like I do with Complex.
On a side note - I managed to take down a Mantis (got the David vs Goliath achievement) and while hijacking, the Mantis driver used the stomp - which led me to receive the Pump the Thrusters(?) achievement at the same time. I also managed to score the Clay Pigeon achievement which gave me a good laugh *Edit - I scored the Clay Pigeon achievement properly - I laughed at how ridiculous it was*
I don't know if matchmaking has had many updates lately (did the 30mb title update have anything to do with it) - but my games have been a drastic improvement recently. Far from perfect, but it's Australian matches 80% of the time now. I still leave when matched against USA players, but that's becoming uncommon - and I'm finding matches against Japan to be surprisingly playable and fun (could be that an Australian is pulling host in that case). Also, my matches in the Crimson DLC playlist have been nearly flawless besides one match that seemed to suffer lag spikes at random intervals throughout the match.
I have one friend who is similar skill level to myself - and when we join slayer together as a party of two - it constantly matches against teams of 4, MLG try hards, or USA players. It's actually pretty painful playing with each other, which is disappointing - but it's still an improvement on what we were getting originally.
I'll ignore the DLC fuck-up, I'll assume it's a one off and that 343/MS know they screwed the pooch on that one - but we all know it was a pretty stupid move/mistake.
I'm pretty happy overall. The maps are beautiful despite being themed nearly identically - and the layouts seem well thought out and fun. I don't like the fact that they are all quite big - but there is enough cover to ensure that none of the maps play out like Complex, with DMR pinging cross map.
I have some concerns about the window area on Shatter (I think it's roughly where the 'A' Extraction Point first appears). Seems to be FAR easier to camp/defend it, than it is to actually get there and clear the area. It also has a fairly good view on the 'B' Extraction Point area. There is cover everywhere - but I found the different approaches I could find, were all pretty risky relative to the other areas of the map.
Extraction Gametype is okay. I like the idea of it, particularly the speed of the match and the incredibly blurred line between "Is this point close enough to extraction that I move on, or leave team mates to defend, or make a rush to convert the enemies point" etc. However it ultimately plays out a little too similar to Dominion without the base defense/resupply twist. It also suffers (as does Dominion, and Reach's Invasion) from momentum playing a massive factor. If the enemy teams manages to score the first two extraction points - it's close to game over against even a modest selection of randoms. They simply have to take and defend one point again and again, and have the match in the bag.
Simple enough concept, score more - win more... and I like that it creates mad rushes for a last second conversion to keep the match going for an upset win - but I imagine it's disheartening for the other team to fall behind on score and then have to capture the spare point AND strike hard against the enemies point. I suspect that it will cause even more players to simply jump in the Mantis and boost K/D spread - and simply ignore the objective when the match goes askew.
Capture the flag on Harvest(?) (may have been Wreckage) was alot of fun. Not a brilliant COTF map by any means - but certainly not bad. The map layout allows for a lot of spartan on spartan battles, while keeping vehicles relevant but not dominating.
All of the maps felt a little too large to be good Slayer maps - especially given the ability to spawn with active camo and a DMR. However I still had a lot of fun - and didn't find myself frustrated like I do with Complex.
On a side note - I managed to take down a Mantis (got the David vs Goliath achievement) and while hijacking, the Mantis driver used the stomp - which led me to receive the Pump the Thrusters(?) achievement at the same time. I also managed to score the Clay Pigeon achievement which gave me a good laugh *Edit - I scored the Clay Pigeon achievement properly - I laughed at how ridiculous it was*
I don't know if matchmaking has had many updates lately (did the 30mb title update have anything to do with it) - but my games have been a drastic improvement recently. Far from perfect, but it's Australian matches 80% of the time now. I still leave when matched against USA players, but that's becoming uncommon - and I'm finding matches against Japan to be surprisingly playable and fun (could be that an Australian is pulling host in that case). Also, my matches in the Crimson DLC playlist have been nearly flawless besides one match that seemed to suffer lag spikes at random intervals throughout the match.
I have one friend who is similar skill level to myself - and when we join slayer together as a party of two - it constantly matches against teams of 4, MLG try hards, or USA players. It's actually pretty painful playing with each other, which is disappointing - but it's still an improvement on what we were getting originally.
I'll ignore the DLC fuck-up, I'll assume it's a one off and that 343/MS know they screwed the pooch on that one - but we all know it was a pretty stupid move/mistake.
That would be great, but it won't happen, they've already got the money.
They would all hate you for leaving them in their boxes.
Go to the Silver maps and it puts the highest rated maps on there for Match making. So yes you get all you XP and everything.
Also go to Multiplayer and there is a section to download maps too
Stripper13
Member
Gross.
I loved Battlefield 3 - but the performance and image quality of that engine on consoles is poor at best. It's not unplayable, and I think some of the lighting etc. they manage (even in the NFS games) is impressive... but it's clearly designed for systems beyond what consoles can manage. I'll take Reach Forgeworld or the Halo 4 Crimson DLC all day, over what FB2 is producing on consoles.
Bregmann Roche
Member
It's sad that even with the release of a free map pack the peak population can't hit 120,000 (assuming Halo Charts is correct).
BlueScrote
Member
You and I would both prefer the maps to be free and have them monetize them someway else, but we both know MS won't let that happen.
This might actually be the best solution to a shitty situation-- give a free preview of the maps to everyone and then lock them after a period of time.
In the future, alternatives that I think would be better:
Make the maps available for a given price, with additional emblems/armor coming with the map pack. There is a locked playlist for those maps and they will show up in other playlists if everyone has those maps.
After X months, the maps become free, specific playlist disappears, the "Free" Maps do not have the new armor/emblems. If you have the "Free" maps then you can't host customs, forge, or create variants of those maps.
squidhands
Member
I imagine there will be far more people who don't buy out of spite once their free shit is taken away. Online, relatively anonymous bitterness is harsh, yo.
Here's my thoughts on how they should proceed:
- EVERYONE who currently has the maps should keep them as long as they want them.
- Cut off the ability to freely download the maps as immediately as possible.
- Continue on like no giant fuck up was made and it was all meticulously planned, as is apparently company policy.
I feel bad that Frankie had to apologize on behalf of Microsoft.
Yeah they don't have much freedom to be creative since the whole theme of the expansion is urban warfare. They did some cool stuff such as the earthquake on epiccenter and the big dome on other map.
The most important part is they are fun to play on.
The way I see it, the same people buy the maps, and thats people who continiously play and enjoy Halo 4. I never bought the Gears or CoD DLC because I didn't care enough.
By giving map pack BUYERS double XP for a limited time you would not only get the people who would buy the maps because they are fans (which is the majority of the buyers, or so it would seem to me) but you would also get all those people who are XP whores as well.
This is logical. Ergo it will not happen.
Instead they'll try to remove the DLC from the people who downloaded it for 0MS Points. And that will backfire and instead remove it from legitimate purchases, map pack owners, LE owners, etc. It's beyond ridiculous at this point to think they'll be able to handle this deadline any better than they have handled anything else.
Keyword: Capable.
Remember the close quarters maps? I think it was scrap metal or something... that map was amazing. The lighting, textures, tone.. everything looked great. Obviously the quality of the maps go down as they get bigger, but some of the smaller ones are good to look at.
But yah. The Crimson map pack in general looks better than some BF3 environments... Not sure if I'd take Forgeworld over it though; It was just as bad to look at (forge pieces really didn't do it justice... Neither did the oversaturated sky and the desaturated grass.
The finally showed up! Kept trying yesterday, but no dice.
BlueScrote
Member
It's the same line of thinking. Make the maps free, but offer some sort of other premium for paying for them. By making the maps free, you extend the life of the MP for the more casual players, and are given another chance to pull them into becoming more involved in the franchise.
Probably a bad example since it's F2P, but whenever an update to Tribes Ascend comes out I'll fire it out for at least a week to check out the new content and tweaks.
I wasn't going to buy them cause i wanted 4v4 maps, not btb maps. Harvest is good though
Deputy Moonman
Member
omg spartans everywhere!!
The Lamonster
Member
Posting for the new page. I am proud of my fake patch notes. I think they are reasonable and realistic.
I know most of you would prefer more, like "lol get rid of ordinance" and "lol remove AAs and sprint" but I'm just curious if anybody has a problem with the stuff I did list. I think Halo 4 would be a much better game if the above changes were made. If I was a more annoying person I'd PM this post to one of the 343 dudes on Gaf.
you just did the patch list for them. Someone from 343 take it please.ANYONE!!
Enter The 36 Chambers
Member
Stability perk is god like. Cant believe i did Stalker first.
It's hard at first, but when you unlock new characters and get used to their move set and how to play with them it's fairly easy.
Google's feel good marketing campaign is really well done. And the Felix Baumgartner jump is still breathtaking.
Deputy Moonman
Member
I'll keep it short and simple. Just a few changes and I think a lot more people would be happy:
- Change Global/Personal Ordnance to Static drops
- Respawn Timers in Most Playlists
- Red X on dead players
- Remove Invis, PV, and Jetpacks.
Bam! This is what I think most traditional halo fans want, but there are a lot of current and new players that I think really like the CoD stuff.
And if I could add one more change, I'd wipe the Mantis, Banshee, and Gauss Hog from BTB. Wet dreams!
I just don't notice a big difference with or without it. Like if you've been playing halo for a few years, and you're halfway decent at aiming, you might as well ditch it. For people who like to be boring and sit back and camp with the DMR and sniper for entire BTB matches, maybe. But I dislike those people sincerely!
Rickenslacker
Banned
I'm 10 hours into Dota 2 and I don't know how people lose their shit for this stuff. I'll stick with it 'cause I want to figure it out before it just clicks and I love it, or I get it and dismiss it as not for me.
MaximumFlipFlop
Banned
This is a really solid baseline. Totally agree with the vehicles as well.
The Lamonster
Member
This is what I wanted to avoid - these sweeping changes would completely change what Halo 4 is. I realize that's what most of you guys actually want, but it is completely unrealistic. I would suggest just playing Halo 3 if you feel this way
My list simply improves/fixes the game 343 attempted to create.
Deputy Moonman
Member
True, but your list is huge and it's unlikely 343 is going to take the time and energy to do all of them. My list is relatively small and would be fairly easy to do outside of adding Red X's to the game. They could do a TU playlist for the changes I listed. I realize 343 is never going to remove Infinity Slayer or Infinity BTB, but a TU/Classic/whatever you wanna call it updated playlist would probably be hugely successful.This is what I wanted to avoid - these sweeping changes would completely change what Halo 4 is. I realize that's what most of you guys actually want, but it is completely unrealistic. I would suggest just playing Halo 3 if you feel this way
My list simply improves/fixes the game 343 attempted to create.
Gucci Messiah
Banned
Still on the fence about buying this because of the 8GB storage requirement. I still have one of the old 2007 models that came with a 20GB hard drive. I can probably delete enough stuff to get up to 8GB's free but I was wondering if the game actually uses that much storage? I'm probably not saying this clear enough but I guess I would like to know if the game sets aside those 8GB's and doesn't let you access them or is that just a minimum number to ensure the game runs smoothly?
I'm not going to buy another hard drive as long as Microsoft continues to charge inflated prices. I really want to play Halo 4 but this storage requirement screws the people that have supported them from the start. If I can't play this on my original 20GB hard drive, then Microsoft isn't taking my money, I'll give it to Activision.
I'm not going to buy another hard drive as long as Microsoft continues to charge inflated prices. I really want to play Halo 4 but this storage requirement screws the people that have supported them from the start. If I can't play this on my original 20GB hard drive, then Microsoft isn't taking my money, I'll give it to Activision.
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