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[Tha Robbertster]

I was hoping for Spartan Ops to be encounters we hadn't seen before or at least stuff we haven't done much. A chance for the developers to try something new. Right now, I don't think we have played anything we've played in a previous Halo game.

Something like a proper stealth mission like people already suggested. Or something like the AC-130 sequence in CoD. I'd hope the designers for SpOps are creative enough to think of something new and exciting. Hell, look at the books for inspiration. There are some awesome battles described in those.

 

[Rev3rb]

heh. Just for kicks really. I think Ghaleon has a point here. Without the long range weapons, encounters would take place at closer ranges allowing for more grenade/melee action and less across-the-map pinging.

The range + power combination of the DMR is the only issue. The current BR alone would allow for great medium range encounters in large maps. The recoil and shorter range scope prevent it from producing the amount of pinging the DMR can put out. Kinda wish the DMR didn't come back... :/

 

[Tashi]

Have still not gotten to touch it even though I have the beta. With finals, thanksgiving break, work, and a g/f it's hard to find time for anything game related. Writing a final paper for a class tonight though, and hoping to hop on and play a few games just to experience the new UI and units.

I play Zerg, but want to switch to either Terran or Toss for HOTS. The unranked ladders are my favorite change so now I can learn either race without sacrificing my win/loss and league as Zerg.

Yea that's pretty cool how they have unranked. I would definitely like to go in and try different builds and perfect them there. Perfecting builds against the AI sucks.

I'm tired of sucking at SC2, I wanna be good at the game. It's so stressful though. I can only play like 4 or 5 ladder matches straight at the most. It really gets to me. I care about winning too much :/

 

[Plywood]

SCIENCE IS GOING TO KILL US ALL.

Freaking eggheads.

 

[thezerofire]

is there anyone who hasn't played the last two episodes (3 and 4) of Spartan Ops yet that would like to?

 

[DeadNames]

The range + power combination of the DMR is the only issue. The current BR alone would allow for great medium range encounters in large maps. The recoil and shorter range scope prevent it from producing the amount of pinging the DMR can put out. Kinda wish the DMR didn't come back... :/

Kind of wish? The DMR can die a slow, painful death.

 

[zlatko]

Yea that's pretty cool how they have unranked. I would definitely like to go in and try different builds and perfect them there. Perfecting builds against the AI sucks.

I'm tired of sucks at SC2, I wanna be good at the game. It's so stressful though. I can only play like 4 or 5 ladder matches straight at the most. It really gets to me. I care about winning too much :/

I know that feel all too well. All I did was lose as a Terran and Protoss. It was my first RTS too, so all these concepts were foreign. Plenty still are and need refining, but after a few months of grinding I made it from Bronze to Diamond. All it took was switching to Zerg for me. Their macro makes WAY more sense to me than Terran, and you don't need "builds" per say, but more so reactions and good scouting.

I still got stressed when I was playing, and eventually it got to me so that I quit until HOTS. If anything when HOTS is out we can learn together since I'll be more or less at scratch as Toss or Terran. Luckily SC2 GAF is as helpful as HaloGAF, and I was able to learn a lot in a quick amount of time thanks to people like Panda and GAF nights back when they were popular.

 

[NullPointer]

The range + power combination of the DMR is the only issue. The current BR alone would allow for great medium range encounters in large maps. The recoil and shorter range scope prevent it from producing the amount of pinging the DMR can put out. Kinda wish the DMR didn't come back... :/

I honestly wouldn't complain if there was a DMR nerf. It does seem to be the winning weapon in most circumstances, or at least people believe it is. As I use a mix of DMR/BR/Light Rifle and AR I wouldn't mind personally. Maybe just the reduced rate of fire some have asked for.

 

[kylej]

Let's not forget killing off the competitive community's interest with no ranks. No ranks for them and there's no reason. You can win a million games but if you don't know what your competition is really like then what does the win really mean? The only reason people pad there K/D now is because W/L doesn't mean shit these days and there's nothing to shows that it matters. Especially with JIP and then the ranks will only be confined to Waypoint.

This is not a AAA game, it's a game in a AAA franchise. The only department that truly stands out are the graphics even though the game sure doesn't have a locked framerate.

I don't understand why people try to say "it's so hard to make a Halo game from scratch". Bullshit, not with the background, experiences and resources 343 had and has. They had inherited 10 years worth of a franchise, 10 years of refinement and retooling that this franchise has had. They tore up those 10 years. They take the time out to make a "true" Flood and Grifball mode, but remove a legacy mode like Assault. What? You're going to say they can add it in, that it wasn't ready for primetime? Why not? It's only been available at launch in every other Halo. You can't tell me they didn't have enough resources for an already existing mode when they've added new modes.

But of course tell me how hard it was to make the game. Tell me this while simultaneously accepting the short campaign, the outsourced Forge, the inactive Fileshare, customization options removed, missing legacy modes and features, a dialed down Firefight, the weakest A.I. in the series and a slew of other technical issues.

The game should have had a beta, tons of things were discovered in the first week that make me and many others feel as though everyone purchased a $60 beta. It's nice that they're fixing these things by the way. So don't get me wrong like I'm ungrateful. But the fact is they're fixing it AFTER the fact. We're the fucking gameplay testers and that's some bullshit.

Is it not?

 

[Orochinagis]

woot, who the hell designed that helmet.

 

[zlatko]

I honestly wouldn't complain if there was a DMR nerf. It does seem to be the winning weapon in most circumstances, or at least people believe it is. As I use a mix of DMR/BR/Light Rifle and AR I wouldn't mind personally. Maybe just the reduced rate of fire some have asked for.

I only swap out DMR if I play regicide to use the AR, but I keep my secondary as a DMR thanks to two primary perk.

I like the light rifle a lot and would use it more if it was buffed or DMR wasn't such a beast.

 

[IHaveIce]

kylej are you streaming again today?

 

[Tashi]

I know that feel all too well. All I did was lose as a Terran and Protoss. It was my first RTS too, so all these concepts were foreign. Plenty still are and need refining, but after a few months of grinding I made it from Bronze to Diamond. All it took was switching to Zerg for me. Their macro makes WAY more sense to me than Terran, and you don't need "builds" per say, but more so reactions and good scouting.

I still got stressed when I was playing, and eventually it got to me so that I quit until HOTS. If anything when HOTS is out we can learn together since I'll be more or less at scratch as Toss or Terran. Luckily SC2 GAF is as helpful as HaloGAF, and I was able to learn a lot in a quick amount of time thanks to people like Panda and GAF nights back when they were popular.

I quit early summer because I was grinding, trying to get to Gold and got dicked by the ranking system. I was shitting on gold players, about to level up, match and lost to platinum player and it went all down hill from there lol. Diamond though huh? Props, that's sick. And yea, I'm Terran, still in Silver at the moment even though I'm probably Gold in terms of actual skill level.

I haven't really ever tried any other race, it just seems weird to me lol. But yea, SC2 GAF is great. I've played a ton of matches against Corran just as practice.

 

[thezerofire]

I think I'd be ok with completely removing the DMR from the game

along with flinch

 

[Shadders]

Really didn't enjoy Spartan Ops tonight. It's not just that the locations are the same, it's that the things we're doing in them are the same. :\

It's really not worth doing 50 missions if 30 of them are repeating stuff you've done previously in the same place you've previously done it.

Last week's mission with the Mantises was good because instead of killing things and pressing buttons, we were trying to prevent the Phantoms from coming in and landing. It's not a huge change, but felt fresh all the same.

Why not have a mission where Miller gives us a load of snipers and we have to try and do a mission with just Snipes? Or tell us we need to jack a couple of Wraiths and defend an outpost or whatever. We could have had a mission with Hornets/Falcons, but.. y'know..

I suppose a part of the problem is the infinite lives, because there is no punishment for death there'd be no reason to follow the instructions.. You could just keep respawning for infinite DMR ammo.

 

[jbpaz]

Does anyone have a custom games lobby up? I want to play some forge maps with people, but I have no friends

 

[Not a Jellyfish]

Well it still has not been fixed for me, after putting in the code and gaining all specializations to choose from, I chose Engineer.

Completed it and upon selecting my second only the two base ones were visible, after several restarts it remains the same. Any suggestions?

 

[NullPointer]

I suppose a part of the problem is the infinite lives, because there is no punishment for death there'd be no reason to follow the instructions.. You could just keep respawning for infinite DMR ammo.

Don't need to die to ammo up. Almost every level has a few UNSC bottomless ammo crates. Gotta admit, I did have fun with unlimited railgun ammo on Episode 1 Chapter 2.

Sucks to hear that this week doesn't hold up to last week. No new environments or novel objectives?

 

[Poker Face]

mlg is streaming new mlg settings

http://www.own3d.tv/MLGHalo4

or if you prefer ninja/twitch

http://www.twitch.tv/ninja

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Really didn't enjoy Spartan Ops tonight. It's not just that the locations are the same, it's that the things we're doing in them are the same. :\

It's really not worth doing 50 missions if 30 of them are repeating stuff you've done previously in the same place you've previously done it.

Last week's mission with the Mantises was good because instead of killing things and pressing buttons, we were trying to prevent the Phantoms from coming in and landing. It's not a huge change, but felt fresh all the same.

Why not have a mission where Miller gives us a load of snipers and we have to try and do a mission with just Snipes? Or tell us we need to jack a couple of Wraiths and defend an outpost or whatever. We could have had a mission with Hornets/Falcons, but.. y'know..

I suppose a part of the problem is the infinite lives, because there is no punishment for death there'd be no reason to follow the instructions.. You could just keep respawning for infinite DMR ammo.

I am pretty disappointed by the fact that 343 got so hung up in the fact its 'episodic' that they forgot to really focus on the missions themselves.

5 missions a week for 10 weeks is impressive, sure... but I am more impressed by the 10 missions that came week 1 for Modern Warfare 2. The variety and production values made them more interesting. I think Spartan Ops has had some standout moments, but the amount of filler is offputting.

 

[Karl2177]

The problem is not that the DMR is in the game. It's the fact that it is a loadout weapon. It is like including the SAW in loadouts.

 

[zlatko]

I quit early summer because I was grinding, trying to get to Gold and got dicked by the ranking system. I was shitting on gold players, about to level up, match and lost to platinum player and it went all down hill from there lol. Diamond though huh? Props, that's sick. And yea, I'm Terran, still in Silver at the moment even though I'm probably Gold in terms of actual skill level.

I haven't really ever tried any other race, it just seems weird to me lol. But yea, SC2 GAF is great. I've played a ton of matches against Corran just as practice.

Yeah I'm probably low Platinum level now after being out of the game for so long and so many meta game changes.

When I first tried Zerg I was like "wow fuck this shit," and the same with Toss. Toss all I did was 4 gate people or cannon rush. Finally I said fuck it let's just lose a lot as a Zerg and see if there is any chance for me at this game since my Terran skills were a joke. It all finally clicked for me with them when I realized hey, I don't need to manage 300 buildings and get them on control groups. All I need is a control group for my hatcheries, and then another for my queens injecting. Easy peesy(to me). Most maps I can do the same opening with expanding on 13 supply, then adjust what units to make based off of what I scout.(Doesn't work in ZvZ, and that's 80% of the reason I quit SC2 when I did was that was all I got for match ups and that shit is rock paper scissors to the max.)

I'd say when HOTS drops try fucking around with the built in challenge/trials that Blizzard made to teach you things like multi task micro for all types of units on the map, or clearing out a shit ton of terran units/bases as a few infestors. Finishing all those challenges, watching Idra play, and asking Panda for how to play tips made things start to click. That may work for you too when it comes to Protoss or Zerg too. Terran I feel is the most mechanically demanding race to play. Their units are strong once they are out, but if your macro is dick shit like mine was, you'll never have enough on the field to keep going, and the longer a game is the worse things get.

Halo 4 related topic:

Who thinks based off SpoPs that the box they find on Requiem is

Spoiler

The Librarian or her casket with her inside it?

 

[Trey]

Kind of wish? The DMR can die a slow, painful death.

I like the light rifle a lot and would use it more if...the DMR wasn't such a beast.

I think I'd be ok with completely removing the DMR from the game

along with flinch

Ya'll heathens leave my DMR alone.

 

[IHaveIce]

mlg is streaming new mlg settings

http://www.own3d.tv/MLGHalo4

or if you prefer ninja/twitch

http://www.twitch.tv/ninja

let's see.


MLG Extraction .. :O

 

[bobs...onGaf]

Thinking more about Firefight. I honestly think that 3 missions a week would have been the sweet spot, there has been some really standout missions, the one on Complex today was like Firefight extreme and was pretty great - doing Sniper Alley again for what seemed like the 4th time was not so great. I hope they take lessons from this and learn Quality over Quantity. Valhalla with the hogs was really fun as well - so I think they know how to use the sandbox.

I really think a unique focus on each mission would help:

• A Mantis Mission
• A Stealth Sniping mission
• A Tank mission
• A Banshee mission
• A Hog Mission similar to the last level of Halo CE.
• A VR Mission on board the Infinity - maybe a timed obstacle trick jump course
• A Outer Space Mission.
• A Firefight mission on some of the multiplayer maps
• Generator Defence on the other multiplayer maps.
• Having to capture some objective, i.e. there is a strange ball which we need to extract.
• Survive a three way fight between Covies, Prometheans and Humans.

Im sure there are other one off specific scenarios that can be thought up - on Waypoint itself they have covered historic Halo moments, so im shocked they didnt dip into those to draw inspiration for one off missions.

Scrap the story, its basically external to what is happening in game anyway. Is it worth wrapping everything in the fiction if that story stifles the gameplay? CoD had it right by just having weird one off missions which where unique and fun.

 

[ElzarTheBam]

The problem is not that the DMR is in the game. It's the fact that it is a loadout weapon. It is like including the SAW in loadouts.

Ding.

Should have been a power weapon drop.

343 need to learn that SP stuff does not have to be in MP.

Let us play with the scorpion, mantis and other incredibly powerful vehicles in SP, but you do not need to put them in MP, please.

With all that said, I enjoy H4 a lot.

 

[Overdoziz]

I understand reusing campaign spaces for Spartan Ops, but I don't get why they reuse the same space three times within 4 weeks. You've got the entire campaign to rip parts out of, make us of it. The fact that you're already replaying levels in the second week of Spartan Ops is pretty sad.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Is there a bug with the monthly challenge, "To the Victor Go the Spoils?" Just got my last needed win and while I got the regular exp, there was no 17,343 exp as described in the challenge. In fact, it didn't say anything about completing the challenge in the post game stats at all. Neat...

 

[Shadders]

Don't need to die to ammo up. Almost every level has a few UNSC bottomless ammo crates. Gotta admit, I did have fun with unlimited railgun ammo on Episode 1 Chapter 2.

Sucks to hear that this week doesn't hold up to last week. No new environments or novel objectives?

I know, I was referencing my previous point where I suggested they could do a sniper mission where all the on-map weapons were snipers, but it wouldn't necessarily work because if players didn't want to use snipers they could just use their loadout weapon and kill themselves when they needed more ammo.

 

[IHaveIce]

Is there a bug with the monthly challenge, "To the Victor Go the Spoils?" Just got my last needed win and while I got the regular exp, there was no 17,343 exp as described in the challenge. In fact, it didn't say anything about completing the challenge in the post game stats at all. Neat...

Challenges aren't adressed in the post game stats or are they?

 

[MinkTANK]

Just throwing this out there, but I think this game would be greatly improved by less aim assist and bringing the DMR's range to that of the CE Pistol and the BR being taken down to a 4 shot (all 12 bullets needed for a kill).

That way the DMR can't take advantage of every possible sight-line, it'll still beat a BR user at mid range (unless the BR user is perfect), it'll certainly make strafing more effective and providing a BR user is perfect, it'll only just beat an AR user in close quarters.

Then if flinching were to disappear, nades were to be thrown quicker, the boltshot recieved a shorter range (and only one shotgun blast per mag), the DMR/Sniper's damage on vehicles was toned down and the game came out of beta.. We might have a decent game on our hands.

This is just an opinion, but it's from me and I was a 50 in one playlist in H3 for one game, so it's basically fact.

 

[Vire]

Just throwing this out there, but I think this game would be greatly improved by less aim assist and bringing the DMR's range to that of the CE Pistol and the BR being taken down to a 4 shot (all 12 bullets needed for a kill).

That way the DMR can't take advantage of every possible sight-line, it'll still beat a BR user at mid range (unless the BR user is perfect), it'll certainly make strafing more effective and providing a BR user is perfect, it'll only just beat an AR user in close quarters.

Then if flinching were to disappear, nades were to be thrown quicker, the boltshot recieved a shorter range (and only one shotgun blast per mag), the DMR/Sniper's damage on vehicles was toned down and the game came out of beta.. We might have a decent game on our hands.

This is just an opinion, but it's from me and I was a 50 in one playlist in H3 for one game, so it's basically fact.

NO.

The game is already fast enough, kill times are faster than ever. I don't need this shit.

 

[Shadders]

I understand reusing campaign spaces for Spartan Ops, but I don't get why they reuse the same space three times within 4 weeks. You've got the entire campaign to rip parts out of, make us of it. The fact that you're already replaying levels in the second week of Spartan Ops is pretty sad.

When we saw that it was reusing levels in the second week I was thinking that there would be a progression, that it would be the same location, but now the UNSC would have built a base there, but in most cases all the UNSC did was place some boxes and crates.

And why is it we never see any of these "Eggheads" in the missions? Why not have us protect them, or escort them out? It would make the missions feel a lot less detached from the narrative.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Challenges aren't adressed in the post game stats or are they?

I still didn't get any bonus exp. What's the point of the challenge?

 

[IHaveIce]

I still didn't get any bonus exp. What's the point of the challenge?

Ok that is indeed very weird. It totally worked for me when I completed it.

 

[NullPointer]

I know, I was referencing my previous point where I suggested they could do a sniper mission where all the on-map weapons were snipers, but it wouldn't necessarily work because if players didn't want to use snipers they could just use their loadout weapon and kill themselves when they needed more ammo.

Ahh, yeah, makes sense. Can't see 343 doing missions where you don't use your custom loadouts, but they could always provide snipers and make the objectives difficult to tackle otherwise. The first sniper alley mission actually fits this pretty well - you can tackle it with whatever you want, but I've had fun doing it solo and focusing on the sniping.

And why is it we never see any of these "Eggheads" in the missions? Why not have us protect them, or escort them out? It would make the missions feel a lot less detached from the narrative.

+1 to this. It always feels like you should see something other than the occasional marine or spartan. And no pelican flyover or broading/exiting the ramp also provides that same disconnect.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Ok that is indeed very weird. It totally worked for me when I completed it.

I was trying to time double exp for it. Maybe it doesn't work while that's in effect? Still lame either way. Welp, dinner time.

 

[MinkTANK]

NO.

The game is already fast enough, kill times are faster than ever. I don't need this shit.

Ok, fine, just bump up the DMR fire rate, the 5 for a BR is just so slow right now, or at least, it feels that way.

You should try bumping up the damage.in customs though, if you play on honour rules/rifles only. It really works with BR 4 shot DMR 5. But it's not viable as a MM gametype due to everything else receiving a bump in damage.

 

[Trey]

Just throwing this out there, but I think this game would be greatly improved by less aim assist and bringing the DMR's range to that of the CE Pistol and the BR being taken down to a 4 shot (all 12 bullets needed for a kill).

That way the DMR can't take advantage of every possible sight-line, it'll still beat a BR user at mid range (unless the BR user is perfect), it'll certainly make strafing more effective and providing a BR user is perfect, it'll only just beat an AR user in close quarters.

Then if flinching were to disappear, nades were to be thrown quicker, the boltshot recieved a shorter range (and only one shotgun blast per mag), the DMR/Sniper's damage on vehicles was toned down and the game came out of beta.. We might have a decent game on our hands.

This is just an opinion, but it's from me and I was a 50 in one playlist in H3 for one game, so it's basically fact.

You might as well take the DMR out the game with these changes. You will increase mobility on maps like Complex and Ragnarok. Everything else would be largely unchanged.

Also, if the DMR were a weapon that always lost at peak ability to the BR, it would be filling the same role as the AR.

How would you account for vehicles' power now that team shooting was nerfed?

 

[MrDaravon]

I was trying to time double exp for it. Maybe it doesn't work while that's in effect? Still lame either way. Welp, dinner time.

Double XP doesn't apply to Challenge rewards.

 

[Korosenai]

mlg is streaming new mlg settings

http://www.own3d.tv/MLGHalo4

or if you prefer ninja/twitch

http://www.twitch.tv/ninja

Are these available for download yet?

Edit: ooh I like what mlg did with PO. They put jetpack as the left option. Very cool.

 

[dalVlatko]

mlg is streaming new mlg settings

http://www.own3d.tv/MLGHalo4

or if you prefer ninja/twitch

http://www.twitch.tv/ninja

*Falls off of map*
"NOOOO!"
*respawns two feet away*
"Oh yeah instant respawn!"

lol

 

[OrangeOak]

Is there some official forum or some other place where I can ask what is going on with my game ?
Because it's just ridiculous that I can't play spartan ops ,can't lvl up in multiplayer and there are only few playlists available with something about 500 players total and it is like that for about 6 hours.
What is more puzzling is that I found only one person with the same problem.

 

[Shadders]

You might as well take the DMR out the game with these changes. You will increase mobility on maps like Complex and Ragnarok. Everything else would be largely unchanged.

Also, if the DMR were a weapon that always lost at peak ability to the BR, it would be filling the same role as the AR.

How would you account for vehicles' power now that team shooting was nerfed?

Didn't they have a system to monitor all this? What did they call it? Cortana Brain?

 

[MinkTANK]

You might as well take the DMR out the game with these changes. You will increase mobility on maps like Complex and Ragnarok. Everything else would be largely unchanged.

Also, if the DMR were a weapon that always lost at peak ability to the BR, it would be filling the same role as the AR.

How would you account for vehicles' power now that team shooting was nerfed?

Well, being able to spawn with PP and Stickies pretty much fix that. Vehicles were never really overpowered in previous games (as long as there were rockets/laser or even a shotgun in CE) on the map.

Team shooting a vehicle with your primary should be a last resort imo, as most would rightly shoot the gunner/driver of the vehicle.

This would be even better if you could snipe/shoot out the drivers of tanks and wraiths like in ye olden days. It doesn't seem to work in H4. From my limited experience anyway.

Edit: With the BR's recoil and toned down aim assist, it'd be easy for a DMR user to strafe out of the way of at least one bullet, which would most likely end in a kill, unless the DMR user missed, in which.case, his/her death would be justified.

There really needs to be more emphasis on strafe in games nowadays, it's one of the things I miss most about Halo. This example gives me nerd-chills thinkinh about it.

 

[Trey]

Didn't they have a system to monitor all this? What did they call it? Cortana Brain?

Cortana Web, and it was something of a matrix which balanced traits like kill times, ammo capacity, range, shit like that.

I don't know how much they adhered to that design philosophy.

 

[IHaveIce]

The mlg settings were interesting, set personal ordinance choices, no armor abilties and the radar only for teammates.

Like it.

I missed the gamertag for downloading, what was it?

 

[u4iX]

The mlg settings were interesting, set personal ordinance choices, no armor abilties and the radar only for teammates.

Like it.

I missed the gamertag for downloading, what was it?

They aren't MLG settings, these are settings created by the pro coach Diesel.

Gametypes can be found on his tag "DLESEL"

 

[MinkTANK]

The mlg settings were interesting, set personal ordinance choices, no armor abilties and the radar only for teammates.

Like it.

I missed the gamertag for downloading, what was it?

I would hazard a guess that it'd be the old "MLG Gametypes" GT, but I could be wrong.
Most likely, actually.

Edit: See ?

 

[IHaveIce]

They aren't MLG settings, these are settings created by the pro coach Diesel.

Gametypes can be found on his tag "DLESEL"

Ah yeah thanks, just called them this way lol. Really liked them though. Set weapon spawns <3


Now only instant respawn has to go