Wo1fblaze

This made me laugh, have you thought about applying for a job in politics? You're very good at skirting around the issue at hand and trying to attack everything about ME rather than address issues I've raised about the GAME. Answering this plays into your greasy politician graspers so I'll just say this. I have every right to state my opinions about prospective gameplay based on my experience with the franchise and the information that's been released so far. Furthermore if you actually read my points, you'll realise that they'd still be valid whether I'd played the game or not. P.S I hope you're right, I wish I had your blind faith that they'll have "retooled and balanced everything to make it mesh much better", but if you don't mind I'd like to objectively analyse and discuss the changes they're making to my favourite game franchise.

All of these have already been addressed by me, but I feel like I need to pick through your arguments a bit. So sprint, I think you're wrong, travel time isn't the only element of gameplay we're talking about here, and I don't think you understand that if someone sprints away, around a corner, firstly it's often foolish to follow them, it rewards the defensive player, and secondly if you sprint after them, that's about 7 seconds of either player NOT SHOOTING, it resets the fight, it slows down gameplay. "I didn't have enough time to write an argument against any other issues. I do have a life besides arguing with people on the internet. " hehe 1. You're basically ceding that some of the armour abilities are pointless, if something is unnecessary why shouldn't it be changed or removed to make the game better? 2. Answered this many times, you're simply accentuating my point. 3. Yes, active camo as an armour ability is pointless. 4. You make some interesting points about vehicles, I don't know about others but in Reach, sprint and armour lock made riding around in a vehicle an extremely dangerous experience. Going for those awesome splatters was always risky and sprint/evade made boarding very easy. A shield, usable in every fight, will definitely slow down gameplay, maybe not as much as armour lock in Reach thankfully, but you didn't address that issue. At least you're right in that they're much more "vulnerable". But how often can you easily just "get behind" someone who's facing you next to some cover, and they can crouch facing the grenade to stop it's damage. 5. - see sprint 6. Maybe, not the most exciting game element really. Hologram is lame. 7. No it doesn't, sight lines don't work like that, there's no HUD indicator to let you know that someone's in the air, you didn't address any of my other points about it and it's fairly moot anyway thankfully since it won't be returning in Halo 4. 8. Not the DMR style bloom, and yes Halo has always had Bullet Spread. My points still remain as you haven't addressed them. 9. The no-scope medal. I can't believe you're worried that it will promote missing due to people trying to get no-scopes all the time! I know I wouldn't play any differently, if they're close I always go for the noscope but even 10-15m away I quick-scope. Even if it does make people want to get more no-scopes, that's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm going to be an ass and quote you, "Just because something is unnecessary is no reason to get rid off it". Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

This is completely irrelevant and.... wrong, once again you've failed to address and I'm beginning to think understand anything I've written.

1. They speed up gameplay only in terms of travel time, it only adds as much as it detracts, it's unnecessary. 2. Talk to me when you can sprint backwards. Your solution for sprinters with power weapons is to sprint away. I would prefer no sprinting from either party, and an engagement. 3. Saying it's "balanced" because you can sprint away accentuates my point nicely, thank you. 4. You haven't addressed any other issues. "What you're essentially asking for is Halo 3 with a different story. That would kill Halo more than any change would." I think this is a great sentence that sums up any Reach lover's opinion. My view is that Reach went against what makes Halo great with armour abilities, and that Halo 4 (not halo 5, no.) needs to return to it's roots in that area.

You made no effort to actually read what I wrote about, you made no effort to refute anything I've said. Change for change's sake seems to be your view in a general sense. I'm all for change, I'm sure 343 can bring some great additions and some great changes to the franchise without changing the classic core of halo gameplay, that's not the point. You say halo needs new energy, I say halo lost it's energy when it implemented armour abilities in Reach. It'll get it's energy back when it returns to it's core principles. At the very least in a ranked playlist You can't argue with that.

OK then, we clearly disagree and I'm glad you've had a chance to state your opinions because you're clearly someone who hasn't played Halo 3 extensively, probably with a K/d less than 1.0, you're the epitome of a casual Reach player, your first reaction to having jetpacks in the game is not "Ok how will this affect gameplay?" It's, "Ok, cool!". Whenever I say "slows down gameplay", you say "no it speeds it up". You're right in that sprint and thrusterpack speed up travel time, but in combat situations, having mobility results in heavy kiting and elusive playstyles, in other words it rewards the player who plays passively, can you understand how this slows down gameplay? Also you didn't address the fact that they promote double bashing, they make close combat weapons like the sword overpowered, and that Halo has never needed sprint to produce fun, fast gameplay. Your main point for Active Camo (I'll disregard the other as sniping in Halo has always been an on the run experience just as much as a "hold this tower" experience, you seem to be implying that you need camo to aim) is that it's countered by Promethean Vision. This goes against everything I've said about the core halo tenet. Having specific players counter each other with specific abilities isn't tactical (due to the scattered dynamics of encounters) and it definitely isn't an "equal playing field". Your comments on Hologram do nothing to discount the fact that it's unnecessary, in fact you yourself said it's simply an irritant. Your comments on Jetpack are interesting, you seem to be saying that high mobility in and of itself is a worthwhile quality to be put into Halo (it was also one of your points for thrusterpack and sprint) when in fact Halo works ON the very principle of everyone having equal mobility. You're also implying that Jetpack is "balanced" because you're "vulnerable" while you're in the air, that's simply not true. In halo getting quick kills with standard weapons involves a nade or bash followed by some accurate fire. Jetpackers are invulnerable to frags and bashes, with a DMR you can usually do some good damage but you'll rarely finish someone off before they reach their destination and find some cover, especially with bloom. Your other point is that it does nothing to decrease skill gap. Skill gap is a whole other post and that statement is irrelevant, yes pros are better than noobs at using jetpack. Perks, I don't think the word means what you think it means. Perks have never been in Halo, over shield wasn't a perk, it's a powerup, a map deliverable, a resource. Perks, for those who don't know, are additions to your Spartan that you can buy with SP (Spartan Points) earned from playing and ranking up. These are things baked into your loadout when you spawn. Incidentally, they function exactly like they do in CoD, don't get me started on how 343 are pandering to the CoD market, that's a whole other kettle of fish. So the one's I've heard of range from mild things like starting with an extra clip, an extra grenade and sprinting longer to non-mild things like making your armour abilities refresh quicker, reloading faster, having stronger shields, getting ordnance faster and doing more damage. "Your post suggests it detracts from 'Halo' itself. I argue against this point, as I believe it allows all players to have equal abilities with the use of the Ordnance." So that pretty much refutes itself. You're referring to Perks, but then you talk about ordnance and suggest that ordnance (unconnected apart from the "faster ordnance perk" itself which literally provides some players with ordnance drops more often than others) provides equal footing for all players in terms of perks. And I'd just like to say now that I think Ordnance will be interesting, obviously I'm a fan of weapon placement on map as traditional but I'm interested to see the anti-weapon-camping potential and gameplay of Ordnance drops, since every player has access it's one of the few new things that doesn't truly go against the core halo tenet and it's a great example of 343 adding something interesting and hopefully awesome to the game. I've already answered your point about sprint but you diverge and start talking about elements of games and marketting and plasma pistols. I'm messin' with ya, I know what you mean, very confusing paragraph though haha, had to read it through a few times. In answer, I think that something shouldn't just "be in the game" for the sake of it. There should be solid reasoning as to why it adds or improves gameplay. You seem to be saying that sprint "adds a variety of gameplay", but I think it detracts as much as it adds. Specifically, increased travel time and mobility against promoting double bashing, promoting elusive ergo slow gameplay and overpowering close combat weapons. I think it's unnecessary. "Also, if you are unable to shoot someone fleeing away, you probably lack the skills to play." I don't like to blow my own trumpet but if I have trouble hitting someone sprinting or evading away, everyone is going to be having trouble doing those things. (refraining from screaming COME AT ME BRO! haha) "While it does promote the use of the Sword, simply run past them to get your killing reward." "If your opponent be irksome, and often be bashing, simply strafe away, and prevent your armor from mashing." While I approve of your rhyming skills (have you considered a career in rapping?) this doesn't add anything to the discussion on sprint. You can't "out strafe" someone with a sword, or someone sprinting at you, able to drop your shields to nothing despite the fact that you were winning the fight. You're implying that I'm simply a bad player and that's why I don't like these elements, lets just say that I've seen your service record and I'm not impressed I agree with you about the ranking system of Halo 3, however I never mentioned it, (I couldn't get past 45 on most playslists simply because I had too much xp to let any wins I got boost my trueskill score) but do you agree with what I've said? As a casual player you're probably not too interested in ranked, but if there was a FAIR, WORTHWHILE and ACCURATE skill system in Halo 4 (for example's sake the seasonal rank of the Arena in Reach), would you agree that it should be prominent on your gamercard next to your "overall XP", to let others know how experienced and skilled you are? I'm interested in your response. Your point on bloom doesn't refute anything I've said, just states a fact, the bullet spread on the BR in halo 3 was even a bit irritating sometimes it's true. Bloom not only decreases the skill gap but it adds far too much luck to the gameplay. Thanks for reading P.S ARE YOU KIDDING...... WHY WOULDN'T YOU WANT A NO-SCOPE MEDAL?!??!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!

I'll start off by saying that I've been a fan of the franchise since Halo: Combat Evolved, and that I'm currently studying game design. These are my impressions of Halo 4 so far after spending roughly five or more hours snapping up every tid-bit of information on the net and from E3. I'm going to focus on the things I DON'T like, there are a lot of things I'm excited for about Halo 4 including Campaign, Spartan Ops, the fact that they brought the BR back into the sandbox, etc. Please realise that I'm writing this for the love of Halo. ARMOUR ABILITIES should be removed, or toned down. They slow down the gameplay too much, they imbalance the gameplay, they're unnecessary for a fun, engaging experience and most importantly they go against the core principle of halo gameplay, that everyone has the same abilities (when I say that, I'm talking about moving, shooting, reloading, jumping, etc.) and everyone starts off a match on equal footing. I'll go into a bit of detail about the new armour abilities and why I think they're unnecessary. -Promethean Vision, the radar is a classic Halo staple, and gives players everything they need in terms of player detection. Seeing through walls also focuses the player on visual detection too much and detracts from the simply awe inspiring sound engine that's been in every Halo. -Active Camo, not sure if this has actually made the cut or if it's coming back as a powerup from an ordnance drop, in which case I wouldn't have too many problems with it. But in it's armour ability form, active camo slows down gameplay A LOT, promotes camping and is activated too often, making radar redundant. -Hardlight Shield, for those that don't know is Halo 4's version of armour lock (what I like to think of as the spanner-in-the-works of Reach) and appears like a riot shield. It's much more toned down than armour lock however most of the same problems remain. It promotes defensive gameplay, ergo slowing down gameplay, and makes 2v1 situations (traditionally always an interesting dynamic where the underdog always has that chance for the double) untenable for the lone player. It is also far too useful in team situations where focus firing should be rewarded as an active component of gameplay and is instead punished by the press of one button. -Thrusterpack is implemented like a toned down version of evade from Halo: Reach. It detracts from the gameplay because it makes grenade placement and aiming redundant when combined with the new grenade indicator (just like the jetpack did in Reach) ergo slowing down gameplay, it promotes double bashing, it makes close combat weapons like the sword and the Promethean shotgun overpowered as players are able to rapidly close distance between targets, it makes escaping far too easy and thus promotes elusive playstyles, slowing down gameplay even more. -Hologram, from what I've seen it seems to be implemented the same as it was in Halo: Reach and the same problems remain, it doesn't really add anything to the gameplay as players will use it EVERY fight, it's possible for it to trick a skilled player but most of the time it's just a small irritant, therefore it's unnecessary. -Jetpack (I really hope this doesn't make the cut) it has all the same problems as thrusterpack with the added problem of having to make all maps abuse-proof and an unhealthy redundancy of power weapons like the rocket and sword. PERKS are not as bad as armour abilities, but still unnecessary. They also go against that main tenet of core halo gameplay. SPRINT, sprint is unnecessary because; 1. Halo has never needed sprint to produce dynamic, fast, fun and engaging gameplay. 2. It rewards players for playing elusively, thus slowing down gameplay. For example it makes the important positional gameplay of Halo 2 and 3 redundant because players can high tail it out of situations with sprint that they should really be punished for entering. 3. It makes close combat weapons like the sword overpowered. 4. It promotes double bashing. The RANKING AND EXPERIENCE SYSTEM of Halo: Reach that rewards mindless playing. I'm not against an exp system that gives unlocks and shows how much a player has played in a holistic sense, but I'm more of the mind that it NEEDS to take second place next to a WORTHWHILE RANK that accurately displays a player's LEVEL OF SKILL. RANKED PLAYLISTS should not be thrown in the same category as "social" playlists like the Arena in Halo: Reach. It should have it's own category to make it seem worthwhile and important and encourage players to try it out. This was one of the main reasons the Arena in Reach is a wasteland, along with the fact that the rank attained in the Arena isn't visible outside that playlist. If armour abilities, perks, loadouts and unlocks absolutely must be in Infinity Slayer, then so be it, but RANKED PLAYLISTS should NOT have these, they should remain a more pure, traditional halo experience that I'm confident 343 can deliver. BLOOM is another major element that ruined Halo; Reach for me, it introduced far too much luck. Rather than promoting skilful shooting as it was intended, it rewards players that spam the trigger and get lucky with the bullet-spread at the more common encounter ranges. From what I've seen and heard, bloom isn't as major an issue in Halo 4 as it was in Reach but I'd like to see it removed and have distance dps modifiers implemented in a different fashion. tl;dr To sum up, and continue, SUGGESTIONS FOR HALO 4. -Remove armour abilities from the game, if they must be in, give them a long cool-down, for example 60- seconds, so that they're only usable in every 4th or more encounter rather than every encounter. OR, simply have them in a separate playlist from everything else. -Remove Sprint, Bloom and Perks from the game. -Ranked playlists separate from "social", without armour abilities, perks, bloom and with fixed loadouts. -Ranks attained in ranked playlists that are worthwhile, accurate, and given a priority on a player's gamer card in-game. -Maps to bring back from the franchises' past (me faves) Guardian, The Pitt and Sanctuary. Although I love a lot more, there's no point listing everything. -A no-scope medal! Thanks for reading.

Yes I totally agree with this, it's very true. The arena in reach failed because; 1. It wasn't visible, it was just displayed as another playlist amongst all the "social" playlists. 2. Even though the way it ranked players was pretty good, no one used it because your skill-based rank wasn't visible anywhere outside the playlist and simply wasn't prominent enough.

YES! For me one of the pillars of halo multiplayer gameplay, if not THE pillar, is that every player has exactly the same set of abilities. They can run, they can jump, they can pick up and hold 2 guns, but only fire one, etc. As Nightshade said, everyone starts off on equal footing. Armour abilities, and I'm hearing hints of a "perk" system, simply ruin that. Another way to ruin this concept is random weapon drops. Bloom, I have a love hate relationship with it, mostly hate. Luck has always been a part of halo, throwing that nade just right, fluking the noscope. But until reach it's never been about "I spammed the trigger and the fifth shot went into his head". The BR had spread too, but it was more of a distance dps modifier, at the BR's effective range, it didn't come too much into consideration. Bloom doesn't fit in with this fundamental pillar of halo gameplay. MLG has recently taken bloom out for Halo Reach tournaments, need I say more? Just worried that 343 are stepping too far away from the concepts that made Halo great. I'm not against change, but please put your change in a separate playlist to my classic Halo goodness. I could go on and on and... oh yeah please bring back Guardian in some form and add a Noscope medal

THIS!!!!! And just to go into more detail about the ranking system. Alot of people on here are saying "Yeah but the 1-50 system was flawed!" Yes, it was, I could list all of it's problems but it would take up the whole page. What I think Grunt Minor means when he, or any other person says "bring back the 1-50 ranking system", is that the ranking system must be VISIBLE, it must be WORTHWHILE. Sure showing how much someone has played is useful but that rank (the one you paid for in blood and sweat) has to dominate the in-game gamercard. What made the Halo 2 and 3 multiplayer so addictive was the fact that the higher ranks were actually hard to get to in terms of skill! And, that they were right there, next to your name when you went into a playlist with your friends. Now - a suggestion, the "league" ranking system of reach's Arena playlist is actually a very viable and tested alternative, it's used in Starcraft 2 and other games very successfully. The only thing Reach really did wrong with that, and why most people abandoned it I feel, was the fact that you had to play 3 games a day to get that rank, even me, a hardened halo veteran never bothered with it more than a couple of times, life gets in the way. Five placement matches to determine your league, once there you are matched with other players from your league, each is seeded in divisions to determine whether a player/team has gained skill and needs to be moved up or vice versa. These would be organised into seasons and your highest rating in a league would be displayed right there on your in-game gamercard. Ranks and stats from previous seasons would be easily accessed and displayed on your service record. This is one of the things I want for Halo 4!

Hey I'm an Australian Games Design student and avid halo player since the first. The main things my friends and I want out of Halo 4 are: - NO ARMOUR ABILITIES, zero-G jetpack is acceptable. - Dedicated servers for multi-player. The thing that really kills online play for any Australian is lag, 200 ping is accumulated just from the jump between continents, if you're fighting against Americans with host it's impossible to win if skill-sets are similar. At the very least we need location/region specific matchmaking searches, "Good connection" never really seemed to cut it. - Ranking system that is prominent in the interface, like halo 3 it would show your "highest skill", not just how much you've played. (The "league" ranking system of reach is also a great indication of skill, not adverse to it, as long as your rank is right there next to your gamer tag in any lobby.) Pipe-dreams: -Drop in, drop out spectator mode (maybe delayed by a minute from the actual game to prevent cheating). -Dual wielding. -Equipment like in halo 3, but refined. -MOBA style game mode, slayer on a linear map, checkpoints inside bases to capture, NPC's on each team pushing alongside the players (each player leads a fire team of marines/covenant, or the NPC's could just push on their own). Kind of like invasion but with NPC's. -Keep Chief's helmet on