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Halo |OT12| Last One Out, Get the Lights

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
I want to put this on my DMR. Make it happen 343!

468025d75cb0538213b71e363062a11d
 
Orson Scott Card is a moron but it should be an interesting movie.
The actor playing Harrison Ford's aide is apparently named Han Soto. I teehee'd

Plus, it's pretty obviously massive in terms of physical area. Number of playlists with large player counts that would take advantage of that space that also have objective modes in them: zero. One, if you count Dominion, but that's only barely an objective mode at this point since almost everybody just holes up in a base waiting for a dozen rocket launchers to spawn.
I'd like to see some Big Team Objective modes pop up, like CTF and maybe Extraction depending on how it ends up playing. KOTH needs to be tweaked to require more points to gain the hill for larger spaces, so that will probably never happen. The more I play Dominion, the more I realize that Personal Ordnance is the work of the devil. It's bad enough that you can get pinged from every direction by the DMR the moment you step outside the base, or splattered, or Wraith blasted, but the one-hit kills of the Binary Rifle and Incineration Cannon from far away is just too much for me to enjoy. I'd rather stay inside and earn some Base Offense/Defense medals. :-\
 
Can't get enough of slayer pro, however, I can get enough of slayer pro on haven.
Does this game even have maps apart from Haven, Exile and Ragnarok?
Fuck voting, democracy doesn't work with retards. Give me back Halo 2's non choice system!
 

u4iX

Member
I liked how they touted there being numerous button layouts as well.

I think there's less than Halo Reach had.

In before the almighty GAF lords correct thee.
 
Can't get enough of slayer pro, however, I can get enough of slayer pro on haven.
Does this game even have maps apart from Haven, Exile and Ragnarok?
Fuck voting, democracy doesn't work with retards. Give me back Halo 2's non choice system!

Welcome to America... oh wait.. you are talking about Halo...
 

Havok

Member
I'd like to see some Big Team Objective modes pop up, like CTF and maybe Extraction depending on how it ends up playing. KOTH needs to be tweaked to require more points to gain the hill for larger spaces, so that will probably never happen. The more I play Dominion, the more I realize that Personal Ordnance is the work of the devil. It's bad enough that you can get pinged from every direction by the DMR the moment you step outside the base, or splattered, or Wraith blasted, but the one-hit kills of the Binary Rifle and Incineration Cannon from far away is just too much for me to enjoy. I'd rather stay inside and earn some Base Offense/Defense medals. :-\
Sure. I'd like to see big team objective too, but not really the gametypes we have currently. Waypoint CTF seems like it would be a complete disaster with 16 people. Hell, I think it's already a bit of a disaster with 10. I'm looking forward to seeing how Extraction plays, so maybe that could work. King I just don't see working with that player count, regardless of the tweaks. Classic-style Flag and Bomb were really the bread and butter of Big Team in its heyday. The current Slayer-heavy model is just awful.

And I'd trade Dominion for 3 Plots in a heartbeat.
 

senador

Banned

What the hell is that 3rd one? That's not Halo 4 art.
So these (besides the 3rd one) are in the Halo 4 concept art book. These were done by someone at Certain Affinity, as well as several others in this section of the book with other multiplayer art.

Did Certain Affinity actually do the maps? Or did they just come up with the original art for some of the maps? I know Sparth did some, but not all. The Halo 4 development process sounds like an interesting one.
 
Sure. I'd like to see big team objective too, but not really the gametypes we have currently. Waypoint CTF seems like it would be a complete disaster with 16 people. Hell, I think it's already a bit of a disaster with 10. I'm looking forward to seeing how Extraction plays, so maybe that could work. King I just don't see working with that player count, regardless of the tweaks. Classic-style Flag and Bomb were really the bread and butter of Big Team in its heyday. The current Slayer-heavy model is just awful.

And I'd trade Dominion for 3 Plots in a heartbeat.
Wow, that term nails the mode on so many levels, lol.

nice interview on HaloGAF Radio, btw. The regulars as well.
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
Aaaaaand IGN sniped the other shatter vid link. Guess it wasn't supposed to be posted yet.
Yeah I thought they'd put out the map commentary video first before the gameplay just like they've done for the other map.

I want a look at the scenery/skyboxes. My guess is all the concept art for the levels has been just for the scenery surrounding the map and not the actual map.
 
What the hell is that 3rd one? That's not Halo 4 art.
So these (besides the 3rd one) are in the Halo 4 concept art book. These were done by someone at Certain Affinity, as well as several others in this section of the book with other multiplayer art.

Did Certain Affinity actually do the maps? Or did they just come up with the original art for some of the maps? I know Sparth did some, but not all. The Halo 4 development process sounds like an interesting one.

I thought someone mentioned that Certain Affinity did create the multiplayer maps, but I'm not entirely sure.
 

Havok

Member
Wow, that term nails the mode on so many levels, lol.

nice interview on HaloGAF Radio, btw. The regulars as well.
Thanks! It was a lot of fun.
Did Certain Affinity actually do the maps? Or did they just come up with the original art for some of the maps? I know Sparth did some, but not all. The Halo 4 development process sounds like an interesting one.
Judging from this interview, they did some of the maps start to finish:
Max Hoberman said:
"We were full blown co-development for multiplayer in Halo 4. We did a whole bunch of multiplayer maps for the game, all of the Forge maps, the Forge feature maps, and a bunch of game modes including Dominion," he explained.
Which seems crazy to me, frankly. Then you have this quote from the same interview:
Phil Wattenbarger said:
"It was a big undertaking for us," VP of Product Development Phil Wattenbarger, "two out of the three map packs."
Does he mean for Reach (which would be accurate, as far as I know - Defiant and Anniversary), or for Halo 4?
Imma guess and say Certain Affinity did NOT do Exile and Haven. The best two maps in the game.

343, please do more maps yourself.
What exactly has Exile proven to be good at? It's a bad Slayer map, since it has a tank, a gauss hog, a banshee, and wildly imbalanced bases. That base design and height differential means that neither base can be properly utilized in a symmetrical objective game (why does blue team continue to get screwed over as this series progresses, when there are ZERO asymmetric gametypes in the game?!). I guess an argument could be made for Dominion, but the system can't pick spawns to save its life so even that isn't great.
 
Can we get Snipers and FFA back?

Please get rid of Regicide. Team Regicide is ok... but there is no excuse for Normal Regicide to still be in the game.
 
Know what sucks? Having the Ordnance waypoints glitched 99% of the time and having the Drops completely random in location and weapon.. So not only do I not know where these Drops are every 2-3 minutes, but I can't see them because the waypoints to them either don't show up at all or display something different.

It's more of a problem in BTB, but do people have those same problems in smaller playlists as well? Other people I play with have little to no problem seeing Ordnance waypoints in 4v4 games, so I'm hoping it's not just a problem with my box or some crap... So many little problems like this in such a big budget game ;\
 

Blueblur1

Member
So what's the consensus on the remixed and new modes in Halo 4? I find them to be alright but not as fun as classic Slayer, CTF and Territories. The fact that map control is non-existent and waypoints over flag carriers makes it feel like I'm playing a dumbed down version of Halo. Like its okay to be lazy or die a couple times because I might end up finding a crazy awesomeness ordnance drop or can see the flag carrier and can cut him off quickly because I know exactly where he's at.

It's fun but Halo 4 feels like its set to Firefight Arcade Mode all the time. At some point that stops being fun. Like Rockets only on Lockout or some other dumb game type kids like to play in customs.
 

orznge

Banned
Know what sucks? Having the Ordnance waypoints glitched 99% of the time and having the Drops completely random in location and weapon.. So not only do I not know where these Drops are every 2-3 minutes, but I can't see them because the waypoints to them either don't show up at all or display something different.

It's more of a problem in BTB, but do people have those same problems in smaller playlists as well? Other people I play with have little to no problem seeing Ordnance waypoints in 4v4 games, so I'm hoping it's not just a problem with my box or some crap... So many little problems like this in such a big budget game ;\

Something like this should be found in testing. Maybe the testers didn't know about Ordinance Drops.
 
One positive aspect of random ordnance, and maybe the only positive aspect, is that CA can't put 30 shottys, 15 snipers, and 8 rockets on every map.
 

Korosenai

Member
So what's the consensus on the remixed and new modes in Halo 4? I find them to be alright but not as fun as classic Slayer, CTF and Territories. The fact that map control is non-existent and waypoints over flag carriers makes it feel like I'm playing a dumbed down version of Halo. Like its okay to be lazy or die a couple times because I might end up finding a crazy awesomeness ordnance drop or can see the flag carrier and can cut him off quickly because I know exactly where he's at.

It's fun but Halo 4 feels like its set to Firefight Arcade Mode all the time. At some point that stops being fun. Like Rockets only on Lockout or some other dumb game type kids like to play in customs.

I like the new KOTH, where the hill won't move until it's 30 seconds are taken.
 

Enfinit

Member
Imma guess and say Certain Affinity did NOT do Exile and Haven. The best two maps in the game.

343, please do more maps yourself.

Exile? You mean the map that has a Scorpion, Banshee, Gauss Hog, two Chain Hogs, two Ghosts, and two Mongi? The map has so many damn vehicles on the map it's forces any player that's not in a vehicle to hide in side caves to prevent getting completely dominated. Not to mention the complete unfair advantage of the Scorpion and Banshee being closer to Red (or whatever side that is) team's base. All it needs to a Mantis to be a complete clusterfuck.

Don't get me wrong, the map looks beautiful, and it's fun to play. But goddamn.
 

Akai__

Member
Finally got my Samsung 830 SSD running. Now, I can capture clips better, without any frame losses. I can even capture uncompressed, which is amazing, but the files are very big. Might do that only for short clips.

Elzar, check your PM's.
 
Exile? You mean the map that has a Scorpion, Banshee, Gauss Hog, two Chain Hogs, two Ghosts, and two Mongi? The map has so many damn vehicles on the map it's forces any player that's not in a vehicle to hide in side caves to prevent getting completely dominated. Not to mention the complete unfair advantage of the Scorpion and Banshee being closer to Red (or whatever side that is) team's base. All it needs to a Mantis to be a complete clusterfuck.

Don't get me wrong, the map looks beautiful, and it's fun to play. But goddamn.

See this is what gets me. People bitch about players spawning with Plasma pistols and Plasmas saying vehicles get destroyed straight away. Now people are bitching about too many vehicles killing them?

Make a loadout with the plasma pistol, explosives, and plasma grenades. Enjoy your Vehicle destroyed medals.
 
Know what sucks? Having the Ordnance waypoints glitched 99% of the time and having the Drops completely random in location and weapon.. So not only do I not know where these Drops are every 2-3 minutes, but I can't see them because the waypoints to them either don't show up at all or display something different.

It's more of a problem in BTB, but do people have those same problems in smaller playlists as well? Other people I play with have little to no problem seeing Ordnance waypoints in 4v4 games, so I'm hoping it's not just a problem with my box or some crap... So many little problems like this in such a big budget game ;\
My second biggest gripe with the game, after the prevalence of host migrations.

There's not much worse calling down an Incinerator Cannon that lands nowhere near where you were pointing, moments before being gunned down and having your ordnance stolen by the other team because you were distracted and wasting time running around in circles playing 'find-the-ordnance-drop'.

And what is the deal with various ordnance showing a Spartan Laser icon on the HUD when they are anything but?
 

Havok

Member
So what's the consensus on the remixed and new modes in Halo 4? I find them to be alright but not as fun as classic Slayer, CTF and Territories. The fact that map control is non-existent and waypoints over flag carriers makes it feel like I'm playing a dumbed down version of Halo. Like its okay to be lazy or die a couple times because I might end up finding a crazy awesomeness ordnance drop or can see the flag carrier and can cut him off quickly because I know exactly where he's at.

It's fun but Halo 4 feels like its set to Firefight Arcade Mode all the time. At some point that stops being fun. Like Rockets only on Lockout or some other dumb game type kids like to play in customs.
King and Ball had smart changes made to them. They're better than they were before. Problem is, they're still King and Ball and can't carry a game by themselves. They're still secondary gametypes, only really good in brief stretches.

I feel the same way about CTF that I did when it was first unveiled: It's a mix of good ideas and horrible ideas that overall lead to a bit of a sour taste. Flagnum is fine, waypoint is awful. Autopickup would be fine...but then you're forced into carrying the thing until death. Overall not the great experience that CTF has been throughout the series.

Extraction seems neat. We'll see, I guess. I doubt it's going to replace Assault in my heart.

343 mentioned that they were trying to make it easier for new players to get into these modes. I don't know that they achieved that. I don't even think that the barrier to entry was what was keeping players away from objective, it was that the variants weren't cared for properly for a long time, even before Halo 4. Looking at the population of the objective playlists combined, they're sitting at about 9% of the total population. That's fairly consistent across time of day, too. If they were hoping to make objective popular again by reducing the level of nuance to them, that ain't what's happening.
See this is what gets me. People bitch about players spawning with Plasma pistols and Plasmas saying vehicles get destroyed straight away. Now people are bitching about too many vehicles killing them?

Make a loadout with the plasma pistol, explosives, and plasma grenades. Enjoy your Vehicle destroyed medals.
Overpowered loadout choices do not excuse the existence of overpowered vehicles in matchmaking, period. A vehicle that can get a multikill from across the map in one shot has no business being in matchmaking, period. The regular ol' Warthog has become a deathtrap because of their questionable design decisions with loadouts, so now people need to be in a four-wheeled death machine to stay alive for more than a few minutes, regardless of driving skill. Why should people have to make a loadout choice because 343 can't stop themselves from putting vehicles that have never, ever worked in traditional Halo multiplayer onto a relatively small map? Why should the ability to make previously rare commodities available on spawn facilitate the need for every match to turn into Heavies?

It's the same argument people made during laser debates: Halo 3 having an overpowered Warthog does not excuse a weapon that can one-shot anything from across the map by hitting them in the toe.

Napsta, we've done this debate before, so I'll keep it short: Them having the laser is a disproportionately large advantage based on the outcome of the opening rush. When they have the laser, they have control of vehicle flow via the laser and infantry flow because their vehicles can now run rampant and unchecked. It's a slippery slope that begins as soon as one team gets laser domination.
 
The laser is a power weapon to be controlled. It's fine. Don't like being lasered? Stay out of vehicles until your team has control of it.

I'm talking about h3/reach here. Obviously being able to call in lasers with personal ordnance is beyond stupid.
 

Blueblur1

Member
I'll agree on Oddball. I'm not too sure about the KotH change but its not drastic.

I definitely agree on the rest of your points though, Havok. I'm of the mind that going back to the old game types and properly modifying to accommodate player counts and map sizes would yield better results. That and combining them into a single playlist would help improve the Halo 4 objective experience. And IMO, the missing game types (Territories, Multiflag, Assault) provided much needed variety that I think is sorely missed. Hopefully they will return for Halo 5.

(Hopefully all the terrible decisions and problems with Halo 4 will inspire 343 to develop a much better Halo 5.)
 
So, I may have to cut 343 some slack. Holy shit at some of those menus. Bungie has spoiled me deeply.

343 mentioned that they were trying to make it easier for new players to get into these modes. I don't know that they achieved that. I don't even think that the barrier to entry was what was keeping players away from objective, it was that the variants weren't cared for properly for a long time, even before Halo 4. Looking at the population of the objective playlists combined, they're sitting at about 9% of the total population. That's fairly consistent across time of day, too. If they were hoping to make objective popular again by reducing the level of nuance to them, that ain't what's happening.
Yep, exactly. I believe the key to making Objective games work well is to tailor it to a specific map, not dumb it down across the board for the unwashed masses. Will it take more time? Of course. Is it worth it? I think so. I'm a firm believer that people play objective games because they already know how Halo works and want an experience that goes beyond shooting people in the face with the biggest weapon possible.

Blublur's comment that most of the Halo playlists have become Firefight Arcade is incredibly apt.
 
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