• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Halo |OT3| Remember Reach?

so, did we every figure out what type of weapon this may be:

BlHs7.jpg


Cause it looks awesome.
 
Yup, even with identical spread to the Halo 3 BR - and it sounds like there will be less - the hitscan version will be more precise. Enough to limit its effective range, especially compared to the DMR. I am really liking their differentiation, on paper; I just hope the DMR has a 2x scope as a 3x would push its range out too far.

I understand your concern regarding the DMR's scope, especially for BTB purposes, but I am less worried. If everyone has faster default move speed, sprint, faster shield recharge, useful armor abilities (that could help a player vs. long-range DMR fire) and if the large maps are designed properly, I think 3x could work.

That's a lot of ifs, I know, and the easier solution might be to just drop the DMR's scope down to 2x, but I like the idea of having a mini-sniper in the game.
 

kylej

Banned
What do I do if I want a utility weapon that doesn't have built-in randomness? Hit the bricks?

I'm sorry that would hurt the role of the AR which for some reason is considered the alpha weapon in Halo devs minds... despite the fact weapons requiring accuracy - BR in H3, Pistol in ODST, DMR in Reach - were the most popular weapons, respectively. And that's with a higher amount of default SMG/AR starts in those games.

Untitled.jpg


I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the AR wasn't fluffed up to be even easier to use (not having to be aiming at people to hit them in Reach says hi) compared to other weapons.

I genuinely don't understand it. I dunno if we have any impressions of the AR yet, so I can only pray that 343 gets it and doesn't crank the power up on that thing while simultaenously gimping other weapons in the name of "balance".
 

Holiday

Banned
If you are not landing shots with the BR due to spread, that is the gun telling you that you're out of range. Get closer, or use a longer range precision weapon. Pushing engagement distances out too far is detrimental to the game, and it's a very good sign that 343 is intentionally pulling them in, after Reach.
What about, instead of limiting weapons based on range, which Halo devs always screw up and butcher mightily through random mechanics, they just make the weapons harder to use? Remove spread, remove bloom, lower aim assist drastically, and step back. Kills outside the intended range become rare, but occur based on skill rather than dice rolling.
 

Ramirez

Member
The AR would be fine if they'd make it fun to use. Make headshots matter when shields are gone, make burst firing actually useful, etc.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
I guess it wouldn't be so bad if the AR wasn't fluffed up to be even easier to use (not having to be aiming at people to hit them in Reach says hi) compared to other weapons.

I genuinely don't understand it. I dunno if we have any impressions of the AR yet, so I can only pray that 343 gets it and doesn't crank the power up on that thing while simultaenously gimping other weapons in the name of "balance".
Never forget.
The AR would be fine if they'd make it fun to use. Make headshots matter when shields are gone, make burst firing actually useful, etc.
ODST SMG basically.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Never forget.

ODST SMG basically.

i still cant grasp why good halo players are upset about the inclusion of a noob-friendly weapon like reach's AR. seriously, who cares if shitty players can find limited success without much aiming or skill involved? a good player with a dmr, or even a pistol, will absolutely wreck a bad player using the AR.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
What about, instead of limiting weapons based on range, which Halo devs always screw up and butcher mightily through random mechanics, they just make the weapons harder to use? Remove spread, remove bloom, lower aim assist drastically, and step back. Kills outside the intended range become rare, but occur based on skill rather than dice rolling.

We don't agree on the premise; the only time I've ever felt I was rolling the dice with a weapon's precision was with bloom in Reach. That won't be an issue if it's not implemented in Halo 4. And limiting weapons by range is a critical way to balance them against one another, epecially in a game like Halo 4 where we're going to have so much overlap within the same category (DMR, BR, carbine, magnum).
ODST SMG basically.

Yup. Great weapon, would love to see the new AR work similarly.
 

Ramirez

Member
i still cant grasp why good halo players are upset about the inclusion of a noob-friendly weapon like reach's AR. seriously, who cares if shitty players can find limited success without much aiming or skill involved? a good player with a dmr, or even a pistol, will absolutely wreck a bad player using the AR.

Well, when you're forced to play it sometimes, that's when I have a problem with the weapon.
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Expertzone brothers?

Nah, GAF brothers :p

I wonder how the MLG Halo community feels about 343 going to MLG HQ to play Halo 4 since so many of them feel betrayed by MLG. Rightfully so or not, that's just how a lot of people are actig.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Well, when you're forced to play it sometimes, that's when I have a problem with the weapon.

AR starts? yeah, that i get (but the pistol is still pretty good - sadly, its VERY limited in clip size and spawning ammo count)
 
If thats the case, they could just warn users if they go to custom map buttons that it could effect gameplay experience and they recommend default, or something like that. I hope they do allow custom mapping, I probably will tweak the controls to help crouch jumping.

When they said it was because of affecting gameplay, it was in a "giving full control over button layouts would probably cause plenty of new BxR-like combos to show up, thus breaking the game for everyone and messing up the gameplay experience" sense, not in an "I forgot to map a button to shoot with" sense.

Also, I say we call the new Plasma Pistol the Junior Baconator in keeping with the beta Focus Rifle tradition.
 

feel

Member
Hahaha when I got the Reach beta code I turned that shit on in record time
Probably worse than the times gaffers do when Frankie says he's gonna play for a bit. Poor xbl comes to a crawl for a few minutes due to all the simultaneous sign-ins.

I wonder how the MLG Halo community feels about 343 going to MLG HQ to play Halo 4 since so many of them feel betrayed by MLG. Rightfully so or not, that's just how a lot of people are actig.
Competitive Halo community needs to break away from MLG asap
 

Holiday

Banned
We don't agree on the premise; the only time I've ever felt I was rolling the dice with a weapon's precision was with bloom in Reach. That won't be an issue if it's not implemented in Halo 4. And limiting weapons by range is a critical way to balance them against one another, epecially in a game like Halo 4 where we're going to have so much overlap within the same category (DMR, BR, carbine, magnum).
H3's BR, after a certain distance, felt like throwing handfuls of bullets at a guy rather than shooting a 'precision' weapon. At bottom, though, I don't like the redundancy between the BR and DMR. I say pick one and make it reliable and hard to use.
 

Ramirez

Member
AR starts? yeah, that i get (but the pistol is still pretty good - sadly, its VERY limited in clip size and spawning ammo count)

The pistol is probably the most inaccurate & random weapon in the entire game, not a fan of it either.

Is there any where competitive Halo can realistically go and survive? Are there actually other successful MLG type organizations?
 

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
Probably worse than the times gaffers do when Frankie says he's gonna play for a bit. Poor xbl comes to a crawl for a few minutes due to all the simultaneous sign-ins.


Competitive Halo community needs to break away from MLG asap

And then they all get off in 30 min when Frank's wife kicks him off the TV

:p <3
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Is there any where competitive Halo can realistically go and survive? Are there actually other successful MLG type organizations?

is MLG reach really less popular then some of the other games they feature?
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
Yes, the ODST SMG was very fun to use.
I've been wanting it to replace the AR ever since I first used it.
i still cant grasp why good halo players are upset about the inclusion of a noob-friendly weapon like reach's AR. seriously, who cares if shitty players can find limited success without much aiming or skill involved? a good player with a dmr, or even a pistol, will absolutely wreck a bad player using the AR.
There have been times where the AR has absolutely wrecked me outside of any reasonable distance.

One time I even got hit by a shotgun from Snipe Hut when I was at Ring 2 on Asylum.
 
The sheer fact that 343 is giving MLG a look at this point in development (7+ months prior to release) is a really good sign.

It cant hurt, but at the same time, appealing completely to them means you don't appeal to the more casuals gamers which are the people that help make COD number 1.
 

CyReN

Member
Nah, GAF brothers :p

I wonder how the MLG Halo community feels about 343 going to MLG HQ to play Halo 4 since so many of them feel betrayed by MLG. Rightfully so or not, that's just how a lot of people are actig.

Here's our thread on it. Overall no one in the Halo competitive community should be mad at Frankie visiting MLG, this is incredibly good news from everyone I talked to. Props to Frankie/343i for doing this.

ps: I worded this the best way I could without brown nosing.
 
is MLG reach really less popular then some of the other games they feature?
It is almost certain that there is not going to be Halo at the next event. They've all but abandoned it.


It must be, why else would they nix it? I know it's not very fun to watch, but I've never cared about any of it personally.
I thought this most recent event, and 3 and before were fun to watch, but Reach until now has been terrible.
 

Holiday

Banned
...which was the entire point. It's like saying you can't hit someone at long range with the AR. Of course not - you're out of range.
But that range was extremely short, and left an enormous gap in the ability to kill on larger maps/longer sight lines without a sniper. Shooting from laser to base on Valhalla, or even more egregiously, lift to lift on Narrows or P3 to car 3 on Heretic, was a total crapshoot. You shouldn't need a sniper rifle to reliably kill a guy cross-map on a Lockout remake. It's problematic even beyond the ridiculous division of the sandbox into ranges, as Halo devs are never able to achieve that balance in a fashion that is functional. A utility weapon that has a high skill gap and a high learning curve solves these unnecessary problems, as it is effective at all ranges when used properly.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
It must be, why else would they nix it? I know it's not very fun to watch, but I've never cared about any of it personally.

i really enjoy watching it, but i dont have anything to compare it to as i never watched halo tournament play prior to reach. i just have a heard time believing games like CoD and now the fighters, draw more attention
 
is MLG reach really less popular then some of the other games they feature?

Honestly, i enjoyed watching Halo3 on MLG but in Reach, they were always on the same 2-3 maps it seems. Every time i tune in they're either on Zealot or the forge version of Asylum. Its like, it gets really boring when you know exactly what everyone is going to do and where they're going all the time. They never switch it up, even the weapons, its always the same...thats why theres less people watching IMO. Its exactly why i stopped.
 
is MLG reach really less popular then some of the other games they feature?

Yes. Not having a competitive (Ranked) playlist for MLG players made it so that there was no competitive interest in the playlist. You never know if you're playing a 50 or a 35, so there is no motivation to do well other than playing the game itself, which wasn't compelling enough to keep the interest of the population in the first place.

Halo 3 MLG was close enough to vanilla Team Slayer to make watching and playing the MLG playlist possible. At this point, they've had to remove so much stuff from MLG to make the game competitive, that it bears little resemblance to vanilla Reach.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
But that range was extremely short, and left an enormous gap in the ability to kill on larger maps/longer sight lines without a sniper.
And thank god for that. Were the DMR in Halo 3, you'd be on the hill on Valhalla headshotting players in their bases; Standoff shootouts would be from base-base, not along the central rock lines; Rat's Nest would have players tagging one another down the entire length of the roadway, corner to corner; Avalanche and Sandtrap would be unplayable as players traversing the open would be tagged from all directions - as they are in Reach's iteration of Hemhorrage. The center of any BTB map in Reach is a wasteland; Hemhorrage, Highlands, etc. In Halo 3 you had to close distance to engage, and players could use large sections of the map knowing they weren't going to be cross mapped from all angles. Extending the range of the BR would have demolished map design intent and player movement; just look at BTB in Reach.
 
It must be, why else would they nix it? I know it's not very fun to watch, but I've never cared about any of it personally.

I don't know what the numbers are, but I am quite certain that the Halo 3 audience was sufficient enough to sustain a business model. Reach forced MLG to look to Starcraft and fighting games instead.

I'm glad 343 is at least showing H4 to MLG. The very best situation for them would be a numbered rank MLG v1 playlist at launch.
 
Top Bottom