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The Halo 3 Beta Thread

GhaleonEB said:
I really hate Slayer games, even Team Slayer. Like, I'd almost rather not play Halo 3 than play Slayer. I just don't see any point to pure deathmatch - there's never any satisfaction without a secondary goal. That said I'll be spending some time in there this week to hopefully get my skillz up. I've identified three areas I can practice to improve so hopefully I'm not the hilarious walking corpse I am now.

i like team games period, whether slayer or skirmish. i like playing lsayer because of its focus on kills and not getting killed. your stats in a team slayer game can really show off your skill, and its fun to see where i rank in regards to my teammates and the opposition. skirmish is fun because its goal is entirely different from slayer. it makes no difference how many kills/deaths you get, just that you further your teams chance for victory in whichever game type you're playing. skirmish can be more frustrating of the two because you really have to work as a team and communicate to be successful, something i, and a lot of other people, arent really great at. last night we had a pretty good "dreamteam" of great gaf players, but most of our skirmish matches ended in stalemates, simple because we couldnt function to our fullest as one cohesive team

EDIT: i hate to be negative nancy, but i hate when people post in the thread and ask everyone else to add them. go to ghaleons second post of the thread, pick out some gamertags, and add us instead. you do the extra legwork. i cant be the only one that cant be bothered :P
 
Tieno said:
It's weird how different my sp playing style is from my mp playing style.

Halo SP I'm like Sam Fischer: I sneak (especially around sleeping grunts), hide, duck behind cover, recharge my shields, walk back miles for some bullets or to change a weapon. Not so much in MP.

Same. It's because assassin kills are hard to get in teams when there could always be three guys about to pounce on you when you sneak up to their fourth guy.

Also, where exactly is the rocket launcher? I'd suggest you show me later, but odds are you'd be running around shooting at it and I'd be going wtf is he doing.

edit: I prefer team based games, but I don't mind team slayer as long as the other team isn't too dominating. One-on-many slayer though...I just get obliterated.
 
Y2Kev said:
Also, where exactly is the rocket launcher? I'd suggest you show me later, but odds are you'd be running around shooting at it and I'd be going wtf is he doing.

From the beach side, it's on the right, as you head up to the crumbled section of the center bridge. There is a half wall. The rocks are right in front. As mentioned earlier, if you head to the bubble shield, turn right and you'll see it lying there.

I'll show you tonight if you're on.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I really hate Slayer games, even Team Slayer. Like, I'd almost rather not play Halo 3 than play Slayer. I just don't see any point to pure deathmatch - there's never any satisfaction without a secondary goal. That said I'll be spending some time in there this week to hopefully get my skillz up. I've identified three areas I can practice to improve so hopefully I'm not the hilarious walking corpse I am now.


I'm pretty much the opposite. I love slayer and it's what I play 98% of the time.
 
op_ivy said:
EDIT: i hate to be negative nancy, but i hate when people post in the thread and ask everyone else to add them. go to ghaleons second post of the thread, pick out some gamertags, and add us instead. you do the extra legwork. i cant be the only one that cant be bothered :P

I'm an introvert.

Plus if I add you...I'll never know if you really wanted to be friends with me. It would be awkward.

BTW, I'm already on your friends list. Can you put in a good word for me here? I'm not one of those guys that logs on...then logs off...then logs on...then logs off...then logs on...etc.
 
op_ivy said:
..anyone else hate rumble pit? totally doesnt fit my playing style...

I hate it too... unless its a bunch of folks at a LAN party I've never been into the free-for-all matches. It's not that I dont like the play style I just don't get much enjoyment out of it playing with just myself. I like playing with folks I know and thus why I'm so pumped about tomorrow. Finally get a chance to run with some of the guys I know in RL or have made friends with over XBOX Live. Halo is all about the team work and playing as a group. :)
 
Y2Kev said:
Same. It's because assassin kills are hard to get in teams when there could always be three guys about to pounce on you when you sneak up to their fourth guy.

Also, where exactly is the rocket launcher? I'd suggest you show me later, but odds are you'd be running around shooting at it and I'd be going wtf is he doing.

edit: I prefer team based games, but I don't mind team slayer as long as the other team isn't too dominating. One-on-many slayer though...I just get obliterated.

on the previosu page, someone posted a shoy of high ground from the air. in the lower left corner there is a rock wall and thats where the rocket launcher is found. when playing, its actually on the "far side" (heading up towards the wall) of that stone wall, next to the drop canister. personally, i dont much like the RL in halo 3. unless i score a direct hit, i never seem to get kills with it. the splash damage has been turned down
 
How many hours are left?

I live in Ontario and I'm not to sure what time zone that's in... I'm also not sure when the Beta is open for those who got in.
 
JavaMava said:
How many hours are left?

I live in Ontario and I'm not to sure what time zone that's in... I'm also not sure when the Beta is open for those who got in.

its about 19 hours away
 
Dirtbag 504 said:
Good Excuses to Skip Work - Or How I played the Halo 3 beta all day.

Ok guys lets hear'em. I need a good one for tomorrow.
Usually simple is best... but you can be creative....

I'm spending my work day playing the beta against our west coast cohorts, so...um...that's my excuse?
 
JavaMava said:
How many hours are left?

I live in Ontario and I'm not to sure what time zone that's in... I'm also not sure when the Beta is open for those who got in.

Should be 8AM your time tomorrow... unless you are west of the Great Lakes in Ontario, then you are in CST, which would make it 7AM your time.
 
Baker said:
Are you serious? I just rented Crackdown yesterday so I could download the beta.

The Gamefly copy I got when it first came out had the beta download screen. I haven't put in this Family Video copy yet though.

Check in the downloads menu in the Crackdown menu if the Halo 3 beta is there.
 
KarishBHR said:
I asked earlier and did not see a response:


DOES ANYONE KNOW how the rule of three winners will get to get the beta tomorrow

Im assuming they will email out beta codes... Probably not until late tonight or early AM.
 
Dirtbag 504 said:
Good Excuses to Skip Work - Or How I played the Halo 3 beta all day.

Ok guys lets hear'em. I need a good one for tomorrow.
Usually simple is best... but you can be creative....

Just call from the bathroom and say the floodgates have opened and you have MASSIVE anal leakage. They'll want to hang up the phone as soon as they hear the bathroom echo, let alone the AL part.
 
AltogetherAndrews said:
Is there a way to get into games that don't have the rocket launcher? I hate that type of weapon.

No rocks on Snowbound, but you'll still have to deal with the "Lazer".
 
Tieno said:
You know where the bubble shield is? Well, a couple of feet to the right there's this rock with a wall where the rocket launcher is.
Well I don't have the beta yet, but I'll be sure to keep an eye open for it now that I know where it is, thanks.

On that note, does anyone know if I'll be able to turn Crackdown on at 7:55 and wait for the dl to become available? Or will I have to turn the game on shortly after 8:00 to have access to it?
 
Baker said:
Are you serious? I just rented Crackdown yesterday so I could download the beta.

The Gamefly copy I got when it first came out had the beta download screen. I haven't put in this Family Video copy yet though.
You guys do know that you have to launch the beta from Crackdown, right? You can't just downloaded it and launch it from the dash.
 
Rorschach said:
Just call from the bathroom and say the floodgates have opened and you have MASSIVE anal leakage. They'll want to hang up the phone as soon as they hear the bathroom echo, let alone the AL part.

FYI: The best way to get out of work for anything is to tell them you're shitting blood. It's the most uncomfortable thing to discuss, therefore they usually leave you to your business.

Which, hopefully, is Halo 3.
 
college_boy said:
If you launch with the bomb in hand and die mid launch does the bomb continue to progress or does it drop like a box of rocks?

Well, someone would either have to snipe me mid-air, or I'd have to drop it while flying - I'll try it when I get into Team Training later when I'm done eating...

Not a Jellyfish said:
what? but there must be. it looks like the only map that has 2 bases.

Yeah, but seeing as they capped the beta at 8 players max (so far atleast for us playing early), it makes sense, seeing as Valhalla is atleast four times bigger than High Grounds, and a snipe will make minced meat out of anyone trying to make a run for it with only 4 on 4...
 
GhaleonEB said:
I really hate Slayer games, even Team Slayer. Like, I'd almost rather not play Halo 3 than play Slayer. I just don't see any point to pure deathmatch - there's never any satisfaction without a secondary goal. That said I'll be spending some time in there this week to hopefully get my skillz up. I've identified three areas I can practice to improve so hopefully I'm not the hilarious walking corpse I am now.
Oh. You're one of THEM.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I really hate Slayer games, even Team Slayer. Like, I'd almost rather not play Halo 3 than play Slayer. I just don't see any point to pure deathmatch - there's never any satisfaction without a secondary goal. That said I'll be spending some time in there this week to hopefully get my skillz up. I've identified three areas I can practice to improve so hopefully I'm not the hilarious walking corpse I am now.
i like slayer gametypes, but i don't like total free for all slayer matches, where you can just lob a grenade into a room full of people and pick up a bunch of kills. i really just like games in huge maps where everybody has to work terrain to their advantage, and use a strategy to get kills. this is probably why i got sick of halo 2 online mp really quickly.
 
So I've absorbed EGM and IGN's podcasts now. Some points of comparison:

IGN:
-Are generally unimpressed with the graphics, but don't care. Say the game is just too fun.
-Love Valhalla
-Think Snowbound is boring
-Want the SMG gone
-Love the mancannons, compared favorably to warp points
-Commented specifically on how they like the deployment system
-Love the laser
-Love the mongoose, Hilary has funny story where he hijacked the back of the vehicle and rode along on the enemies' mongoose :lol

EGM:
-Greg is impressed with the graphics, Shoe and Jen said it needed to be compared to H2 to truly appreciate.
-Love the weapon balance
-Like the BR
-Hate Valhalla
-Are unsure of VIP on certain maps
-Love Snowbound
-Love the lighting inside snowbound
-Love the new control scheme, find it precise and accurate in the heat of battle

So yeah, as you can see, it's mostly love. Everyone is going to love this beta. :D

I agree that Snowbound is a bit bland visually outside of the tunnels, and I'd also agree Valhalla needs more players for most gametypes.

I do agree that Valhalla is a considerably better map than BG/Coag mainly because there are now ways to sneak across the map without getting sniped to hell.
 
i hate rumble pit... why? because i'm godly at it.

Every time I try and play it... I win by usually 15-16 kills

So I end up getting terribly bored and just give up.
 
Probably unpopular opinion, but from what I've seen of the MP in HD, Halo 3 has the best graphics on the 360. I think most people just can't appreciate the way games look unless they have teh MEGAtextures like Gears of War. I actually played that game last night and I think the Halo 3 engine absolutely dogs it.
 
I just realized two things:

1) This thread is now larger than the Crackdown thread. 0_0

2) Today is the day Bungie.net gets a shitton of content about the beta - FAQs, guides, etc. Even having played it I'm looking forward to absorbing the new content. \0/

I'll update the gamertags this afternoon. Does anyone who posted on the first page want to quote my gamertag list and edit it in to their post there? I could then use my second post to add more tags, that way they're all on the first page. I kinda feel bad for the guys shafted to the second page.
 
JB1981 said:
Probably unpopular opinion, but from what I've seen of the MP in HD, Halo 3 has the best graphics on the 360. I think most people just can't appreciate the way games look unless they have teh MEGAtextures like Gears of War. I actually played that game last night and I think the Halo 3 engine absolutely dogs it.
I haven't played it yet, but from looking at the videos and the pictures, the character models are VERY detailed and the lighting is spectacular. I think people don't appreciate it because the character models were one of the things that really sold Gears. We haven't seen any faces yet.
 
Y2Kev said:
So I've absorbed EGM and IGN's podcasts now. Some points of comparison:

IGN:
-Are generally unimpressed with the graphics, but don't care. Say the game is just too fun.
-Love Valhalla
-Think Snowbound is boring
-Want the SMG gone
-Love the mancannons, compared favorably to warp points
-Commented specifically on how they like the deployment system
-Love the laser
-Love the mongoose, Hilary has funny story where he hijacked the back of the vehicle and rode along on the enemies' mongoose :lol

EGM:
-Greg is impressed with the graphics, Shoe and Jen said it needed to be compared to H2 to truly appreciate.
-Love the weapon balance
-Like the BR
-Hate Valhalla
-Are unsure of VIP on certain maps
-Love Snowbound
-Love the lighting inside snowbound
-Love the new control scheme, find it precise and accurate in the heat of battle

So yeah, as you can see, it's mostly love. Everyone is going to love this beta. :D

I agree that Snowbound is a bit bland visually outside of the tunnels, and I'd also agree Valhalla needs more players for most gametypes.

I do agree that Valhalla is a considerably better map than BG/Coag mainly because there are now ways to sneak across the map without getting sniped to hell.

Yeah, the graphics seem like the only really low point. Whatever, we haven't even seen SP.
 
JB1981 said:
Probably unpopular opinion, but from what I've seen of the MP in HD, Halo 3 has the best graphics on the 360. I think most people just can't appreciate the way games look unless they have teh MEGAtextures like Gears of War. I actually played that game last night and I think the Halo 3 engine absolutely dogs it.

Gears is very in-your-face graphically. I don't think there is a comparable analog in gaming for the third act. The mines and the rain and everything. I find a lot of revisionist history going on (not here), but in a lot of the media...kind of saying, "Yeah, Gears was amazing, but for these reasons...." when nobody really ever considered that previously.

Still, I think Halo 3 is very impressive and the art style appeals to me considerably more. Plus, we're talking about the MP here. SP is going to be better looking.
 
Y2Kev said:
Gears is very in-your-face graphically. I don't think there is a comparable analog in gaming for the third act. The mines and the rain and everything. I find a lot of revisionist history going on (not here), but in a lot of the media...kind of saying, "Yeah, Gears was amazing, but for these reasons...." when nobody really ever considered that previously.

Still, I think Halo 3 is very impressive and the art style appeals to me considerably more. Plus, we're talking about the MP here. SP is going to be better looking.

But gears was a very narrow/focused game to play. They could concentrate the games visual qualities into small areas.

But now with UT2k3, I don't know anymore.
 
Mojovonio said:
But gears was a very narrow/focused game to play. They could concentrate the games visual qualities into small areas.

But now with UT2k3, I don't know anymore.

Yeah, that's what people say now. I don't know if I totally even agree with it. I mean, the opening scene in Act 4 is huge. There are many reasons why Gears looks the way it does, but I don't think the excuse flies for the vast majority of people that will just quickly look at it and judge.

I'm of the opinion that H3 still is more visually appealing though.
 
Shake Appeal said:
Ghaleon, I'm curious: what are the 'three areas' you picked to improve in?
*Grenade usage - I tend to shoot first. Need to learn to soften people up first. I'm very accurate with'em.
*Weapon placements. It hit me that I'm still moving in loops through the maps but don't know where the power weapons are so I'm not as situationally aware.
*Movement. I usually walk in straight lines, and I see lots of people juking back and forth to dodge my shots, and even when they are just moving around. Make myself less of an easy target.
 
urk said:
Master Chief needs more acne.

IMO in the Single Player you should be able to unlock a black spartan outfit. And then the next scene you should be able to see a tear inside the helmet.

Cortana: TAKE ME HIGHER, MASTER CHIEF
 
Y2Kev said:
Yeah, that's what people say now. I don't know if I totally even agree with it. I mean, the opening scene in Act 4 is huge. There are many reasons why Gears looks the way it does, but I don't think the excuse flies for the vast majority of people that will just quickly look at it and judge.

I'm of the opinion that H3 still is more visually appealing though.
In multilplayer, Gears of War is extremely narrowly focused. It also has no vehicles, very low-level geometry, pre-baked lighting (no HDR), no verticality whatsoever.

The lighting in High Ground is the best I've seen so far on the 360. Coming in and out of the shade is just so natural looking. I love it.
 
JB1981 said:
In multilplayer, Gears of War is extremely narrowly focused. It also has no vehicles, very low-level geometry, pre-baked lighting (no HDR), no verticality whatsoever.

The lighting in High Ground is the best I've seen so far on the 360. Coming in and out of the shade is just so natural looking. I love it.

That's true. I am comparing MP to SP and it's a bad comparison. I don't play much gears multiplayer...it's freaking broken compared to the great simplicity and streamlined nature of H3.
 
Y2Kev said:
Still, I think Halo 3 is very impressive and the art style appeals to me considerably more. Plus, we're talking about the MP here. SP is going to be better looking.
Kind of a tanget, but I think a lot of people - especially some of the mainstream press articles - are confusing style with graphics. I've seen a lot of comments about how the game looks similar to Halo 2 - and it does, in style. I'd say the art style is nearly identical (which is a good thing, IMO - loved Halo 2's "look").

But it's a gargantuan leap in fidelity. Everywhere you look, there's beautiful stuff. Leaves falling from trees on High Ground. Absolutely perfect water on Valahalla, and that gorgous waterfall; look down and there tons of grass, flowers and even weeds. I only just recently noticed how detailed the mountains in the background are - and it's all real geometry. The number of objects that can move or break on High Ground is in the triple digits. Etc.

It's becoming a pet peve of mine when people say it looks like Halo 2 for that reason. It does, and it doesn't.
 
I think many people will be disappointed thinking the single player will look like the trailer shown. The excuse for the MP looking as it does it art style, vehicles etc..well what about SP, I have heard how the levels will be huge, tons of battles going on etc. so how will it be amazing looking?
 
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