upton889

I've said many times that 343 needs to follow the model of success laid down by Halo 2 and 3 and implement smaller and mostly symmetrical maps. I'm sure they'll put in many more maps to fix the small variation but Halo 4 needs more maps like Guardian, The Pit, Midship, Lockout, Zealot, etc. to give that exciting gameplay.

It seems that Halo 4 matchmaking is still using the model of Halo Reach's matchmaking. Ultimately, this boils down to the currently hidden skill system which 343 needs to improve so that each player can play against others of similar skill and have the best Halo experience possible.

I'm also experiencing lag and I live in the United States. There are others with this problem to and I know for a fact it is not my connection or my xbox that is the problem. I've never had connectivity issues with any game before the past few days. I also posted a thread on my predicament. If anybody can offer any information please do so.

I've been experiencing extreme lag for the past few days now. This lag involves connectivity, not frame rate (I have seen other threads on the issue of frame rate lag). I know the problem is not my internet connection or my xbox because my computer works fine and my friend has been on his Xbox right beside me and he experiences the same issues. Lag spikes occur 6-7 times a game and almost every game shows consistent lag throughout (I'll get the occasional game that possesses good connectivity). I'll even experience the occasional kick from Xbox Live. It seems like this started when team snipers was added. Is anyone else experiencing extreme lag issues?

I've been kicked offline several times and last night's lag for me was terrible. 343 needs to do some fixing.

Being that Halo 4 is making it's return to the top of MLG, I don't see how they couldn't implement an MLG playlist. I haven't done any research but I'm sure Vplus is correct.

Having faster players doesn't necessarily equal faster gameplay. Smaller maps = faster gameplay. 343 has made maps much larger to compensate for sprint. With that said Halo 4 needs an MLG playlist and more smaller, mostly symmetrical maps.

I loved Halo 4. It's a breath of fresh air compared to Halo Reach.

Just another reason 343 needs to implement smaller-scale, symmetrical (or mostly symmetrical maps). It would get old playing Haven over and over, but it truly is one of the best playing maps. 343 should make more maps that follow that same design (i.e. Haven, Zealot, Midship, The Pit, Guardian, Warlock, etc.) so that players can have that exciting gameplay in a variety of maps.

I'm not personally affected by the XP cap all that much but I can see why people are upset about it. Credit farming is an issue but there's no reason to punish the entire player base because of the actions of few.

Similar to your thoughts, I can't wait for the ranking system and I agree that it should have came out sooner, along with other playlists, with team snipers and team doubles having yet to make an appearance. But the playlists and ranking system will be updated so it's all good. I haven't had to much trouble with lag so far but spawning has been somewhat of a nuisance. I feel like smaller and more gunplay based maps should be implemented such as Haven. I'm not too much of a fan of sprinting all the way across a map just to have a chance at finding an enemy, and it's even worse to get killed from the side or back after all that sprinting. 343 should follow the model of success from Halo 3 and Halo 2. Make small, symmetrical (or mostly symmetrical) maps, as these maps always had the most exciting gameplay. This shouldn't constitute all the map variation but I would say half or more. I see your points on all of those issues. Well said.

When people get disrespectful is where the line gets crossed. You may not like another person's opinion but you can at least respect that opinion. This would lead to much cleaner discussions on these forums. Great post and I agree.

I can't begin to describe how much Halo 4 is like a breath of fresh air after playing Halo Reach for years. Halo Reach was poorly made and a lot of gamers quit playing because of it's poor design. Unlike Halo Reach, Halo 4 has a good balance of weaponry, armor abilities, and on top of that, bloom is out and the ranking system is making a return. The numbers of people who played Halo Reach long after Reach compared to those same numbers of Halo 2 and 3 are not even comparible. 343 still needs to make some minor tweaks to the game but overall they got the right idea. Halo needed balance and that's what we got.

I see your point but team games are about more than stats and individual skills, as stated in the previous post. And I think we can agree that maybe wins and losses combined with individual stats should decide a person's skill level. Maybe progress more rapidly if you win and do well, than if you win and do poorly? And the same concept for ranking down (play poorly in a loss and be pentalized more, play good in a loss and get little pentalization). Just throwing ideas out there. I get what you're saying about stats because somebody can absolutely carry a team and still lose, I understand. Happens to me all the time. But rank in team playlists should be based on more than just individual stats.

I could easily take the DMR for the same range of a BR or longer, but a BR isn't a bad weapon to have at medium range. I think the DMR should be nerfed slightly by 343.

Now that Halo has returned to a more competitive game I don't think Join in Progress is really necessary, but there it serves as a great benefit for teams who have quitters or people that lag out.

Agreed. Not just regicide either. I'm sure they'll add it in at some point with all the playlist and title updates they plan on doing. Lone wolves is a classic and is a great playlist if you don't want to play team playlists.

This really is one of the fixes 343 needs to make on the game. The killcam tells me nothing at all when I watch it.

Rank should be visible and should be reset when CSR launches. I would like to see my level increase from day one. As far as team games go, I think it should be based on wins and losses. Stats don't tell the whole story when it comes to teamwork, which is why wins and losses are an important measuring tool. Communication and other intangibles are immeasurable and usually the best team will have the people with the best K/D ratios anyway (not all the time but most). As far as regicide/ffa, maybe skill rank should be based more off of kills+assists/death ratio. Sometimes the best the player in the game doesn't win simply because of the luck factor involved with finding people.

I like Valhalla and I'm glad 343 made an attempt at bringing back an old map but I agree that the vehicles need to be tweaked. The mantis is virtually unstoppable. 343 should have banshee spawns and no more vehicles. Valhalla is a good gun battling map, and only an ok vehicle-based map and should be set up as such.

343 is, in fact, implementing a visible ranking system. It will be for each competitive playlist and it will be visible in Halo Waypoint. No worries, 343 has listened and will deliver in the near future. Link: http://blogs.haloway...nouncement.aspx

I agree that Halo should have a pure classic playlist but I think Halo 4 is pretty well balanced. There are a few things that could be changed such minor weapon nerfing, more powerful grenades, and more small, symmetrical, fast-paced maps. Overall the weapons are pretty well balanced and the armor abilities areas well. It's a huge step of from Halo Reach. Glad to see Halo return to a more balanced game.

What Halo needed to get back was balance. With different weapons having different purposes and armor abilities being less powerful (except maybe promethean vision) I think Halo 4 has achieved that balance. The weapon spawn argument can go both ways. One teammate could be close to the spawn and pick it up or it could produce some great battles between both teams but it also eliminates the advantage of others timing weapon spawns so overall I think that is a good change. Maybe Halo could use some very minor nerfing of some guns and make grenades more powerful but the only thing I really wish Halo would change is to implement the indicator over the head of my teammates. It's very important to know when I need to help a nearby teammate or kill the enemy he had one shot. Also, 343 needs to come out with some smaller more fast paced battle-oriented maps like Haven and not so many big maps where there's no gunfire for long periods of time. Small, symmetrical maps play the absolute best.

343 is currently compiling data to give the best ranking system possible when it releases. I also prefer the Halo 2 ranking system but this is so much better than nothing, as so many people (including myself) thought we wouldn't see a ranking system. I agree with you that it was one of the many determining factors in the failures of Reach. No worries, we'll get our ranks.

I don't think even 343 knows at this point. I've heard January and I would say that's an accurate prediction. 343 just says "after the first of the year." I agree with you about Team Doubles. Along with that I think Lone Wolves and Team Snipers should be availiable from the start as well.