ATTN: BUNGIE
An Important Post
by
"Shake Appeal"
I feel like a significant issue is being missed or ignored among all the fuss and ballyhoo about reticle bloom, or Invasion balance, or which weapon needs what refinement. There's a particular problem that's been plaguing me -- and I'm sure plenty of other players -- since the very first day of the beta, and frankly it needs to be addressed or I'll be forced to stick with Halo 3 come the autumn. Never thought I'd say that, to be honest, but there it is. A month ago I was excited for this beta, and for the most part I've been able to maintain that excitement despite all the radical changes we've had to adjust to and debate, but this one single thing has ruined the beta for me and as it it stands is also in
serious danger of ruining the full retail version of Halo: Reach. It's just not getting any attention. Period. Haven't seen it raised in detail anywhere, so I'd like to get your thoughts on the matter, maybe round-table it, kick some ideas around, and see what we can do to save this game from disgrace and failure.
This issue seems only mildly troublesome at first, but when you consider the knock-on effect it can have in any gametypes -- seriously, this affects anything you will play in the beta and presumably the full game -- it becomes pretty staggering. You have to approach it with a competitive mentality to see just how broken this is. In that regard, I'm hardly surprised Bungie didn't catch it during their own internal testing. Thought Luke, at least, would notice, but hey. I don't know why they don't just hire a few of us to play it at a competitive level so everyone who doesn't suck doesn't have to bear the brunt of their incompetence. Me, I've put in over 300 games into the beta alone and racked up some considerable winstreaks, so I feel if anyone's got a right to talk down to Bungie on this and other points, it's me.
So without further ado, let's get right to the contentious bone of the issue.
In the interests of science and objectivity, I went into a regular game and took a few screenshots in
non-combat scenarios (i.e. in situations where combat was
non-occurrant) and only on occasions where there was zero lag or latency (i.e. I turned off all torrents running in the background). What you're going to see is completely unadulterated. I had planned to render a film but I ran out of minutes explaining why reticle bloom is fundamentally broken and random (fix your shit, Bungie, seriously, or I and others might buy your game but
won't play it as much as would have otherwise), and I'm also very busy right now and so don't have much time to dedicate to the issue.
Anyway, here is the first of the screenshots I mentioned above...
Don't see it? You likely haven't played the game much. I'll try to explain the issue without condescending too much.
Here it is from another angle:
For those of you that don't recognize the location, that's a step on Powerhouse, just in the water outside Lockers (near where the "noob tube" spawns).
Now... when someone comes out of Lockers, they can either drop down off this step (into the water), or take the downward ramp that heads towards where the rockets spawn. Before anyone jumps down my throat, I don't have an issue with
either of these approaches. So don't even reply if that's what you're going to type, seriously. That is
not the issue here. The ledge
works when you are coming from Lockers, we all know that... but as we'll see, it
only works then.
I took some screenshots of the step working as planned. First, a player who has dropped down (just walked right off it, lands as expected):
Second, someone taking the (much longer, but I'll get to that in a minute) ramp route:
So no complaints here, right?
Wrong.
The issue I'm talking about only arises when you are heading
towards Lockers. I'd explain it in detail, but it's probably best if I rely on objective screenshots to tell the whole story. Just imagine you're the blue player in this picture:
Pretty shitty, right? He can't get up there, and he's basically already dead at that moment. Not sure how this passed testing, it's so broken.
You might be thinking this is a pretty small thing, doesn't happen very often... or something along those lines... but in that case you fail to appreciate the severity of the problem. That step is
crucial. It's near the grenade launcher spawn, as I said, so a lot of players are going to be heading there to get that weapon. Also, on Oddball, a good tactic is to hide in the Lockers area (in the showers), so again you see a lot of traffic in this area. In King of the Hill, there are no less than
four Hills close to this area that will require you to often traverse this step. In a Stockpile game, the step
fundamentally favours the red team, because they are more likely to be hopping down from the high ground than coming up. This issue also affects Capture the Flag, where a blue player will often be heading toward this area from their (inferior) spawns in the Yard. Not only is it broken for every player, but it fundamentally unbalances these gametypes, and every other gametype. Even Headhunter. Which I don't play, because it's uncompetitive.
The fact is you will be trying to get up this step probably at least once or twice a game, and that boils down to five kills, two Stockpile flags, or as many as thirty seconds of Oddball or Hill time. That's killer, Bungie, at least at the level I play at. That wrecks games, right there.
Put simply: you cannot navigate this step easily. It slows down map movement and stops teams controlling weapon locations or outwitting (or psyching out) their foes with clever map traversal. It's a significant roadblock to fun and competition.
Now, I did find a few solutions to the issue, which I'll address in turn. I've broken this section down for easier reading.
1. Go around.
Yeah, yeah, fine, I could go around, or even use the ramp, but this slows me down considerably. If I spend the extra few seconds going around every time, that adds up to at least a few assists or kills per game that I have spent running up a ramp when I could be swaying my dong. Also, it makes my movement around the map
far more predictable. All an enemy player will have to do is spam the ramp with grenades or pistol rounds to get an easy kill. Rocket radius and hammer lunge will get me instantly.
Just about any weapon can kill me if I take the ramp. This isn't balanced, and it's not a solution.
2. Jetpack Armour Ability.
No one uses a Jetpack.
3. Jump.
Okay, this is the most viable option under the circumstances, but there are a few drawbacks. The first is that Bungie have
significantly 'nerfed' the jump from Halo 3 to Halo: Reach, presumably catering to CoD players. This means that when you press the button as usual you nonetheless don't jump as high as previously, and so clearing obstacles such as this step becomes a chore and uncompetitive. I've tried jumping in this spot more than a few times, and while it works for the most part, there are occasions where you won't time the jump correctly and end up just slamming right into the step (and hence not getting up to Lockers). It's introduced a random element that goes beyond player skill. In a flat race against an inferior player, I should clear this step every time, but sometimes he will get lucky just by pressing jump at the right time, while I stay stuck on the texture and have to try again. This does nothing to increase the skill gap in the game and means jumping will probably be disabled in MLG,
if they even support this game in its current state.
I took a screenshot of one player fluking the jump. This happens in
almost every game.
As you can see, this player is carrying an AR.
Closing Remarks/Suggestions:
I think my suggestions for how to address this problem with the step can be broken down into two categories. These are: make the step lower, and make the step higher. I'll deal with making the step higher first.
1. Make the Step Higher.
You might think that if Bungie made the step higher, it would solve the problem. Players would look at it and immediately know that it was not okay to jump over this step, because of it is being so high. It would be
APPARENT, and we wouldn't have this grey area or random element to contend with. This would mean raising the texture, and perhaps the alignment of the entire Office building to match it. (It may be simpler to just remove the Office building, I don't know.)
The downside of this is that while it removes the random element and makes the mechanics
clear and transparent to everyone, at all skill levels, it doesn't solve the problem of balance. Blue players are still going to be at a disadvantage when moving around the map, especially in objective gametypes, and more people are going to be taking the ramp, encouraging pistol and grenade spam in that area, especially during combat scenarios and in 1v1 situations. If you get caught 2v1 on the ramp, you are done for, plain and simple. You could take a Jetpack, I guess, but then Armour Lock is disabled and grenade spam becomes an inevitability.
And that is why I think making the step higher is not feasible.
2. Make the Step Lower.
This is probably the simplest fix. If Bungie go back and drag the texture to a lower vertical position, then it can be traversed easily. A jump will always clear the step, and there will be no confusion. Even in a situation with high latency, I will land my jump. This removes the random element as with option 1, above, but doesn't sabotage map movement and psyching-out of enemy players as a consequence.
The only downside I can see at present is that everyone will be able to make the jump, and so the skill gap between me and a kid who has played far less games isn't as apparent, because his jump will be just the same as mine, and
we are affected by reticle bloom EQUALLY, meaning on occasion I will lose in a 1v1, especially if it is centred around this area on Powerhouse. That's ridiculous in what is supposed to be a skill-based game.
That said, while Bungie seem to be unwilling to address most of the random elements in their game, such as netcode or player skill, I feel they can make a significant step (pun intended!) forward by adjusting this one texture to everyone's satisfaction. Games will flow better and players will find the experience of getting to Lockers less frustrating.
Addendum (*2b). Remove the Grenade Launcher.
Taking out the grenade launcher will also reduce the random element in the game, because the chances of my getting hit by a grenade will decrease. It will also serve to reduce traffic to the Lockers area, which in conjunction with the changes suggested above will serve to make the game a more competitive experience, and that's coming from a guy who's played literally thousands of games of Halo 3.
Seriously, Bungie, this shit isn't rocket science. Just swallow your pride and do the right thing, or we'll see a lot more of this come September...
