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The Halo 3 Beta Thread

So, havin a bridge that if turned off would result in your doom doesn't sound gimmicky? All it would take is one unlucky respawn or someone just suiciding to the switch to turn it off and ****ing you over.
 
Add me to the Light Bridge supporters camp. Sounds like it could be insanely fun if done right, and with Bungie adding things like the Shield doors and mancannons, and generally making the maps more interactive, it might be possible that they already have something like that in the game.
 
Ramirez said:
So, havin a bridge that if turned off would result in your doom doesn't sound gimmicky? All it would take is one unlucky respawn or someone just suiciding to the switch to turn it off and ****ing you over.

The way I see it is taking the holo-bridge route is the equivelant of taking the express train route in Terminal. You run a risk trying to take a faster route (not that this applies to Terminal). It would involve tactics like getting a sniper to make sure nobody from the other team gets near the switch.
 
Ramirez said:
So, havin a bridge that if turned off would result in your doom doesn't sound gimmicky? All it would take is one unlucky respawn or someone just suiciding to the switch to turn it off and ****ing you over.

perhaps they could make it so that deactivating the bridge requires two or more switches at different points on the map to be pressed around the same time. That way, it would encourage teamwork and strategy.
 
I think it would be better to have the light bridge stay active for a few minutes, much like the gates of the bases on Containment. That way, the offensive side would have to properly time and coordinate their vehicle assaults on the enemy base.

Allow folks to freely turn the thing on and off, and you'd have people messing around with it all day.
 
This doesn't really have anything to do with the beta but I thought I'd post it. I went to EBGames today to preorder Bioshock and the guy said they had over 400 preorders already for Halo 3 alone. My store is not in the busiest of areas so its safe to say Halo 3 is going to be massive.
 
I like the idea of light bridges, but I dunno about having a switch on both sides.

I think the best thing to do would be have just one switch on the defense side of the bridge, and when pressed it'd only activate for a very short time period (like 30 seconds or so) - just enough time for the offense team to press the button and cross with the flag. The defense team would be able to press the button again to deactivate it, so if the flag carrier is crossing the bridge they could stop him that way.

So it'd require actual strategy. You'd have to press the switch and cross quickly - and the defensive team still can shut it off on you while you're halfway across so you'd need someone on your team to defend the switch and prevent it from being disabled.
 
Sean said:
I like the idea of light bridges, but I dunno about having a switch on both sides.

I think the best thing to do would be have just one switch on the defense side of the bridge, and when pressed it'd only activate for a very short time period (like 30 seconds or so) - just enough time for the offense team to press the button and cross with the flag. The defense team would be able to press the button again to deactivate it, so if the flag carrier is crossing the bridge they could stop him that way.

So it'd require actual strategy. You'd have to press the switch and cross quickly - and the defensive team still can shut it off on you while you're halfway across so you'd need someone on your team to defend the switch and prevent it from being disabled.

IMO, this is probably the best idea so far regarding the light bridge.
 
I just read through that AdjutantReflex ARG thing going. I like it, I like it. I followed ilovebees all the way through. Even drove half an hour in the middle of a thunderstorm and down pouring rain with a friend to make ourselves look like jackasses going into a Loew's Theatre and saying "The Operator left a message for us." The first guy I asked looked at me like I was retarded and said "He did?":lol The manager knew what we were talking about and gave us our discs with the audio logs. Going to follow this round of ARG as well.
 
FrankieAfro.JPG

The picture was in another thread
 
NJ x Falkor said:
Spawning on some of the maps showed some unhappy patterns, but in that case, we were sort of expecting the unexpected — dialing in spawning in is half personal preference, half black magic.
Many bad experiences with unfair spawns. :(
JT: Frank and Joe beat me and Luke at Double Team yesterday. Badly. I admire their skill greatly [Ed. note - paraphrased (Editor's editor's note: Frankie is erecting palaces of lies for you, dear reader)].
lol
 
Each of the three maps we played had one "gimmick" on each. On Snowbound, it was the shield doors, Valhalla the man cannons and the gate switch on High Ground. I don't think falling to your "doom" from a de-activated light bridge would be a good gameplay idea, but perhaps falling to "a place where it's harder to get the flag back and you're likely to get owned". If the light bridge represents a shortcut, as opposed to the only route out, then it creates a level of risk and strategy - securing the bridge and switch for the duration of the crossing would result in a faster score. Getting dropped halfway accross - not so much.
 
and the Warthog was somewhat harder to kill,

only "somewhat"? More like damn near impossible.

Not many surprises, just affirmation of some things we were hoping (like Territories being fun)

Was that supposed to be a joke? Territories gets instantly vetoed in nearly every single game. That is the one mode that everyone seems to hate.

and things we sort of already knew (like VIP being kind of campy on Valhalla).

Glad they admitted that.
 
Sean said:
only "somewhat"? More like damn near impossible.



Was that supposed to be a joke? Territories gets instantly vetoed in nearly every single game. That is the one mode that everyone seems to hate.



Glad they admitted that.
Ya, Territories is NOT fun. It is fun in Halo 2.

The warthog was WAY too powerful in the beta. I would totally prefer the warthogs to be like they were in Halo: one grenade can flip them up in the air and they are invincible. Obviously I really don't mind if they make them destructible. One of the best parts about Halo was that you could have a last second grenade that would flip the warthog and dump the flagbearer out (or the gunner ripping you to pieces).
 
thekad said:
I like the new Territories.

Me too. I actually looked forward to playing Territories on High Ground. Valhalla, not so much.

I hope the crashed Pelican gets a couple of layers of polish before the final game ships. It seemed like a placeholder to me. It didn't blend in well with the environment.
 
Great post mortem. Most of the issues I and others noticed were addressed - the Carbine, the Warthog, spawing, VIP on Valhalla, etc. Plenty of development time left to tweak everything (I think). And yes, the new Territories rocks.

JT: Frank and Joe beat me and Luke at Double Team yesterday. Badly. I admire their skill greatly [Ed. note - paraphrased (Editor's editor's note: Frankie is erecting palaces of lies for you, dear reader)].
:lol
 
pj325is said:
territories on high ground was my favorite objective game
I think it was mine as well. But then, I love all of the objective games. Territories and Assault are my favorites. I would have liked to play Assault on High Ground.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I don't think falling to your "doom" from a de-activated light bridge would be a good gameplay idea, but perhaps falling to "a place where it's harder to get the flag back and you're likely to get owned". If the light bridge represents a shortcut, as opposed to the only route out, then it creates

I agree that falling down bottomless, lava filled, or spiked lined pits as a penalty for losing control of a hypothetical light bridge is a little harsh but I also think that where the flag party would drop to should be just a "regular" route that would normally be taken more often than not. If the flag were to fall into a place where it is difficult to get the flag out pretty much your best option would be to let the flag reset and try to take control of the flag mount.

Now with this in mind you would still need to give some sort of corresponding risk for the 'reward' of potentially getting the flag back home quicker. You could make the bridge itself out in the open where using it is risky in of itself. Another option would be to give the defense some advantage when the bridge is available, such as opening a door that gives them faster access to the flag route.

A light bridge would be an awesome gimmick in multiplayer.
 
Mr. Lemming said:
I agree that falling down bottomless, lava filled, or spiked lined pits as a penalty for losing control of a hypothetical light bridge is a little harsh but I also think that where the flag party would drop to should be just a "regular" route that would normally be taken more often than not. If the flag were to fall into a place where it is difficult to get the flag out pretty much your best option would be to let the flag reset and try to take control of the flag mount.

Now with this in mind you would still need to give some sort of corresponding risk for the 'reward' of potentially getting the flag back home quicker. You could make the bridge itself out in the open where using it is risky in of itself. Another option would be to give the defense some advantage when the bridge is available, such as opening a door that gives them faster access to the flag route.

A light bridge would be an awesome gimmick in multiplayer.
Like I said, it would be a shortcut. You would be dropped into a route that is doable, but harder to defend - perhaps more exposed through less cover or simply a little longer. The risk is the longer, more exposed route back. The reward of the bridge is the shortest route back to the cap point.

We're in multiple levels of hypothetical here, just saying I think the light bridge idea could work if done right. Then again, I'm absolutely the last person on earth who should be making design suggestions. :lol
 
Mr. Lemming said:
I agree that falling down bottomless, lava filled, or spiked lined pits as a penalty for losing control of a hypothetical light bridge is a little harsh but I also think that where the flag party would drop to should be just a "regular" route that would normally be taken more often than not.
That was the original idea (and a good one at that). No clue why everyone started this falling to your death stuff.
 
GhaleonEB said:
Each of the three maps we played had one "gimmick" on each. On Snowbound, it was the shield doors, Valhalla the man cannons and the gate switch on High Ground. I don't think falling to your "doom" from a de-activated light bridge would be a good gameplay idea, but perhaps falling to "a place where it's harder to get the flag back and you're likely to get owned". If the light bridge represents a shortcut, as opposed to the only route out, then it creates a level of risk and strategy - securing the bridge and switch for the duration of the crossing would result in a faster score. Getting dropped halfway accross - not so much.

Okay, screw the lightbridge. I want a map with a chasm filled with a giant grav lift that can be turned on and off and mancannons to launch various vehicles into it. I haven't even seen the brute chopper in game but I already want it to fly.
 
Sean said:
only "somewhat"? More like damn near impossible.
It's not that hard. :P I hope Bungie doesn't make it any less durable than it was in the public beta, it's awesome that it's so tough now.

... I wonder what the Guass 'hog is like now.

Trasher said:
I would totally prefer the warthogs to be like they were in Halo: one grenade can flip them up in the air and they are invincible.
I think we have the option to make them indestructable now.

And am I the only one who's cool with Territories? :(

[EDIT] - I guess not. :lol
 
Regarding the light bridge, I was thinking something like this could work:
6czzebn.png

Don't take the scale literally, its just supposed to convey the general idea. I'm not sure where the switch could be located, there could be some neutral chamber on the sides or something, or it could just be like Sean said - on the defenders side.

The idea is that if you fall then you would have to walk all the way around, and would be pretty exposed while in the center since people could just toss grenades down. Its hard to say how well it'd work, but that's what I was imagining.

Also, I love territories, the whole defense/offense thing makes it a much better gametype.
 
GhaleonEB said:
I think it was mine as well. But then, I love all of the objective games. Territories and Assault are my favorites. I would have liked to play Assault on High Ground.
I totally agree. Assault on Valhalla and Territories/CTF on High Ground. Are the best objective games.
 
Territories is fun. I think some may not like it because they played it so much throughout the three maps (mostly for me being High Ground and Valhalla).

We were only limited with maps and certain playlists.
 
One of my very first impressions was that Bungie made slight improvements to all of the Skirmish modes that existed in Halo 2 for Halo 3. The changes to Assault and Territories are both small, but very nice. I personally like Land Grab as well for a nice change of pace but a lot of people don't seem to share that feeling. VIP however...Bleh. It's all right but shouldn't appear that often in Matchmaking, and the Plasma Pistol needs to be fixed. VIP makes people exploit it. It shouldn't drain BOTH shields.
 
ToyMachine228 said:
One of my very first impressions was that Bungie made slight improvements to all of the Skirmish modes that existed in Halo 2 for Halo 3. The changes to Assault and Territories are both small, but very nice. I personally like Land Grab as well for a nice change of pace but a lot of people don't seem to share that feeling. VIP however...Bleh. It's all right but shouldn't appear that often in Matchmaking, and the Plasma Pistol needs to be fixed. VIP makes people exploit it. It shouldn't drain BOTH shields.

negative. Skirmish in Halo 3 is nowhere near as complete/fleshed out/as good as it was in Halo 2. (from the beta at least)

a lot of this can be seen in simple interface problems (wish max hoberman would have stayed until halo 3 was done :/ ) to some other things like... why the Land Grab mode even exists.

It needs some more work to feel as blood pumping as it did in Halo 2.

CTF is close. (but can't really comment too much since the best mode CTF classic wasn't on the playlists) Territories (new variant) is good but also the old version in H2 was very good... Assault is different as it seems the most excitement is getting the bomb TO the base... in halo 2 the excitement was when you trying to actually arm it.

now on too oddball and king of the hill. The new versions of both are nowhere near as good as their Halo 2 variants.

Halo 3 will probably be great in skirmish when it comes out, but it just didn't have the polish the halo 2 skirmish had (yet) and they've still got 1-2 months to do that so I'm not worried.
 
DopeyFish said:
negative. Skirmish in Halo 3 is nowhere near as complete/fleshed out/as good as it was in Halo 2. (from the beta at least)

a lot of this can be seen in simple interface problems (wish max hoberman would have stayed until halo 3 was done :/ ) to some other things like... why the Land Grab mode even exists.

It needs some more work to feel as blood pumping as it did in Halo 2.

CTF is close. (but can't really comment too much since the best mode CTF classic wasn't on the playlists) Territories (new variant) is good but also the old version in H2 was very good... Assault is different as it seems the most excitement is getting the bomb TO the base... in halo 2 the excitement was when you trying to actually arm it.

now on too oddball and king of the hill. The new versions of both are nowhere near as good as their Halo 2 variants.

Halo 3 will probably be great in skirmish when it comes out, but it just didn't have the polish the halo 2 skirmish had (yet) and they've still got 1-2 months to do that so I'm not worried.
I thought every single Skirmish mode was better. Having to arm the bomb and defend it on Assault meant you couldn't do a suicidal run at the arming point, which added to the strategy - it was less of a bum rush. Territories is a great mode in that the tension gets ratched up steadily as plots are grabbed...the last one is always a bloodbath. CTF is improved in a number of ways. I like both the lack of flag bounce and the one-hit kill with the flag now.

To each their own, but I found all of the changes to Skirmish in Halo 3 were improvements.
 
I don't get it Dopey, exactly what kind of "polish" are you talking about that can be added to the gametypes? I mean, the mechanics are basically the same as before, with the exception of Assault and Territories. I've only had Oddball like two times so I can't really comment on that, but what else is different other than the one hit kill? King of the Hill is also the same AFAIK with the exception of the really bad hill marker that blocks your view. Are those the kinds of things that you're talking about (the hill marker)?

Oh, and CTF classic (that is when each team has their own flag, right?) was actually in the beta - I only got it twice, but it was on the BTB playlist on Valhalla.
 
CreepingDea7h said:
I don't get it Dopey, exactly what kind of "polish" are you talking about that can be added to the gametypes? I mean, the mechanics are basically the same as before, with the exception of Assault and Territories. I've only had Oddball like two times so I can't really comment on that, but what else is different other than the one hit kill? King of the Hill is also the same AFAIK with the exception of the really bad hill marker that blocks your view. Are those the kinds of things that you're talking about (the hill marker)?

Oh, and CTF classic (that is when each team has their own flag, right?) was actually in the beta - I only got it twice, but it was on the BTB playlist on Valhalla.

CTF classic is touch return CTF (with flag home to score)

what was in the beta (on the playlists) was multi-flag CTF and 1-Flag CTF. free flag scoring and no touch return (which means it's easier to score)

the markers, a ton of interface problems likewrong indicators, using ssss instead of mm:ss for oddball / king of te hill / bad use of icons (like the flag taken/away icon being minimized to a tiny icon beside the score).

It's easier to ignore the problems because the gunplay in H3 is far better than it was in H2. imo it's like Halo 3 is 3/4 the way inbetween Halo and Halo 2 in terms of skirmish. there may be more options than halo 1 and 2 multipled by each other, but it's not as tight as Halo 2.
 
DopeyFish said:
CTF classic is touch return CTF (with flag home to score)

what was in the beta (on the playlists) was multi-flag CTF and 1-Flag CTF. free flag scoring and no touch return (which means it's easier to score)

the markers, a ton of interface problems likewrong indicators, using ssss instead of mm:ss for oddball / king of te hill / bad use of icons (like the flag taken/away icon being minimized to a tiny icon beside the score).

It's easier to ignore the problems because the gunplay in H3 is far better than it was in H2. imo it's like Halo 3 is 3/4 the way inbetween Halo and Halo 2 in terms of skirmish. there may be more options than halo 1 and 2 multipled by each other, but it's not as tight as Halo 2.
That's understandable. I haven't really noticed any problems myself (other than the hill), but I honestly haven't played as many objective games as I would have liked. I just hope Bungie does not make a skirmish playlist that includes TS in the final game.
 
CreepingDea7h said:
That's understandable. I haven't really noticed any problems myself (other than the hill), but I honestly haven't played as many objective games as I would have liked. I just hope Bungie does not make a skirmish playlist that includes TS in the final game.

They did in Halo 2, originally there was no team slayer playlist when the game first came out
 
the disgruntled gamer said:
I totally agree. Assault on Valhalla and Territories/CTF on High Ground. Are the best objective games.

I agree with you about the two modes on High Ground. Especially territories.

Its amazing how much strategy can go into just shooting people at specific spots.
 
DopeyFish said:
CTF classic is touch return CTF (with flag home to score)

what was in the beta (on the playlists) was multi-flag CTF and 1-Flag CTF. free flag scoring and no touch return (which means it's easier to score)

I really don't see touch return so different than secure return to distinguish them. Really don't see them making two seperate game types for them either.
 
Escort sounds like it will be a better gametype than VIP anyways. The more the variants, the better Skirmish will be. Though I agree about changing up the times on Oddball and KotH.

Son of Godzilla said:
I really don't see touch return so different than secure return to distinguish them. Really don't see them making two seperate game types for them either.
CTF Classic, Multi-CTF, 1 CTF, and Neutral Flag all should be in Halo 3. They were all in Halo 2. Why not the third?
 
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