Combat

It isn't that I hate space. I hate emptiness. There is a difference. With Complex, I simply cannot find people. That is made much worse on a match like Regicide (where a person gets to be King then just constantly runs). Complex simply has too many empty spaces for me, especially all the empty buildings. The entire game seems to consist of trying to find anyone to kill. This would not be as big of a problem on a map that is simply large without a lot of cover (aka, Hemorrhage), because you would still be able to find targets, but on a map with about 10 buildings (some with multiple levels), it is simply too much. Nothing is less fun to me than either searching fruitlessly for targets or getting killed by people I cannot find.

Alright, I officially hate 3 of the 4 most popular maps. Vortex? UGH! Ragnarok? Double-UGH! Complex? Okay, that last one was a joke. It had to be. Complex is a BTB map put on small maps to torment the souls of bad Halo 4 players. It is definitely the worst map I've played in the Halo multi-verse, and I hate playing it on virtually any mode. It is alright perhaps for small slayer rounds (maybe), but not for anything else. Now, if someone can write a convincing reason for loving Complex that I've never considered, maybe I can be convinced otherwise. But playing that map almost made me quit playing small teams on Halo 4 by itself (and I like the small team gameplay more than large team).

Primary: Storm Rifle/Suppressor Secondary: Energy Pistol (for vehicles) Grenade: Pulse AA: Hologram Tactical: Grenadier Support: Explosives Strategy: This is especially useful in Dominion or King of the Hill style rounds. Basically, use the hologram to confuse enemies for a split-second, then throw pulse grenades to weaken the enemy. On close quarters matches, this almost guarantees kills and allows people to take bases (Bravo on Exile) almost single-handedly. It isn't something you should use for every respawn, but it is good to occasionally thrown in. Personally, I like the feel of the Storm Rifle, and the fact that I usually can get kills with it without the grenades fairly easily. However, the Suppressor (and AR) are equally valid for the playstyle of this build. The Energy Pistol is my default weapon because of the utility against vehicles (and potential to surprise people with a charged shot + melee instant kill). The Boltshot's utility seems to work best with a mid-range or long-range primary weapon, so I wouldn't use it in this build, though either it or the Magnum could be used for headshots. Grenadier is absolutely essential, because it allows you to throw two pulse nades. Otherwise, the effect is diluted and considerably less powerful. I prefer to stack this with Explosives, but that is less essential.

The problem is more the maps than the vehicles. In general, the maps in Halo 4 are clusterf-cks that make vehicles like Warthogs and Scorpions pretty useless. The only exception is a single corner in Exile, and even then you better be hella quick at picking up targets and sniping before they stuck/stick you.

I'll admit it. I'm completely hit or miss at Halo 4. On maps where I know what I'm doing (and my teammates aren't completely incompetent), I do well, sometimes very well. For example, in the 1-in-100 chance I get Exile (was it removed from the BTB map list?), I usually go get a Rampage or better because of the Gauss Hog (or finish with 20+ assists and a positive kill-death if I'm the driver). On other maps, it feels like the game is rigged against me. Combine ridiculously horrible lag (seriously, my lag is beyond awful) and stupid teammates, and it feels like nothing works. I feel like I am playing 1 on 8, and this becomes worse when the match is anything more complicated than your basic Slayer round. The entire game consists of me fighting multiple enemies, and then later me fighting multiple enemies with power weapons. Anyway, I feel like knowledge is power. Knowing that the Gauss Hog should NOT be driven around in a circle on Exile, for instance. Or that the Wraith on many Dominion maps (especially on Exile, because only one spawns) is probably the best base fortification perk. These sort of things are the difference between going 20-2 and going 2-20. What are your secrets to getting a good kill-death? It could loadouts, strategies, camping spots, anything. Any playlist, any map.

I'm questioning where people are coming from on the vehicle front. I highly dislike long-range DMR fights, because I've gone from winning 70% of them in Reach to 30% of them in this game for some reason I honestly cannot tell, but I'll accept that people like them for some reason in this game. To me, the vehicle game on Ragnarok is one of the worst on any map. The Banshee is the best exception, but its low durability means that it lasts only a couple of seconds to any amount of concentrated fire. Ghosts? They get shredded very quickly from the Mantis, the Spartan Laser, and general DMR fire from 10 directions Warthogs? Double-kills. Plasma pistol, throw grenades, dead. The map is too clustered for the Warthog to be marginally useful. Mantis? Sure... if you want to focus on just ghosts, banshees, and warthogs. It isn't very good against targets on foot due to limited range. It just feels like there is nothing for me to that is anything close to effective on Ragnarok. On every map in Reach, for instance, I had a strategy that worked very well. I have similar strategies for Exile, and for a variety of the smaller maps. But Ragnarok? I've tried everything, and it just doesn't work. I think this is the map where I really start to miss power weapons spawning on the map, because virtually the entire game is uninterrupted DMR fights. And I honestly don't understand why people are bored from playing other maps. That is sort of an incredible statement to make, essentially saying that every map 343i has made can make people bored in only couple of games, more-so than a map that people have played hundreds of times (not even counting the times in previous games). I don't doubt that, because honestly the only map I truly like is Exile (where I can single-handedly win with the Gauss Hog or Scorpion and generally can get kills on foot while they respawn). Using Reach again, this is where I would vote the maps from both games if they came up: Asphalt Hemorrhage Graveyard Exile Delta Base -Other Reach maps- . . . Ragnarok . . . -Other Halo 4 maps-

Bolded and underlined for emphasis. It doesn't appear like anyone ever plays other maps. The only exception is Exile, which I actually really like (mostly because I always do really well on it). Otherwise, Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Longbow (no other choices)- Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Exile-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok-Ragnarok. And can people please elaborate on what they do to have fun on that map? To me, the map is rare in that every single game goes the exact same (unfun to me) way: 1. Rush spartan laser 2. Kill Banshee/Mantis (over in 2:00) 2b. If Mantis survives, nothing happens for the rest of the match 3. People just go in packs of 3-4 and shoot loners with DMRs 3b. Snipers, snipers, snipers, snipers 4. Those people get power weapons and start raping the other team Every match I've been on has followed that timeline. The problem I have with the map is that I never find guys to defeat solo, I don't snipe (it feels selfish to me), and the map makes it hard to get kills with the ghost or Warthog by funneling fast vehicles into grenade traps. It is hard to break the pattern because nothing else I try works, and I rarely do well unless the team I'm against is horrible. Whenever I play Ragnarok, I either go 5-2 (and get last on the team) or get a -10 K/D and get in the top 3. So what do people do on Ragnarok that makes it fun? Do most people find sitting in groups and DMRing to be the epitome of fun in this game? Is sniping the hilarious way to a good time? Do people like the methodical nature of the Mantis, the quickly destroyed Banshee, or the worthless ghosts and warthogs? Because I am honestly puzzled. Or is it just that it is symmetrical and a remake? Because that seems more like an indictment of 343's new maps than praise for Ragnarok.

I have played on that map 7-10 times in a row playing BTB, and every time I see it I vote against it. The only conclusion I have is that Halo 4 people absolutely, unconditionally love that map. But for the life of me, I cannot see why. The map is boring, predictable, and doesn't reward many playstyles. Why do people vote for it en masse?

It may just be that I have either no aim or hideous lag. I feel like I am threading a needle with a sledgehammer trying kill players at any distance with the railgun. Seems to require no-scope levels of accuracy, but the way the projectile works, it could be altered by lag pretty significantly. Usually, when I get a power weapon I want something that I can kill a normal person before they kill me, but I cannot kill people in an equal fight with the railgun. The only success I've ever had is against people that weren't aware of me.

This might also be a factor. I think that some maps (Solace and Adrift for instance) give red team almost a form of camo.

Valhalla is a unique case. The problem is that a few spots have very long lines of sight (the cliff in the center), so teams rush those. This does tend to concentrate the game somewhat. However, I hate the 99% of the combat is long-range DMR "fights" (which end up being one-sided if one person shoots a second before the other). And that style of gameplay means that once people get to the cliffs, the game stalls. It isn't like weapons constantly respawning. I never feel like I can change anything on that map, whereas in Reach I'd always be thinking about what I could do to get an advantage. And for some reason, I absolutely cannot get a kill on Valhalla. I've just never had success on that map, because I always get shot first or overwhelmed from multiple sources of fire. The worst thing about it is how utterly boring the map is. No diversification of gameplay, just DMR, DMR, DMR, get a vehicle, its dead, DMR, DMR, DMR (throw in sniping for the DMR if you are a sniper). The Banshee gets shredded easily, the Warthog isn't incredibly effective, and the Mantis is just about the only thing that changes the pace of the game. It is even worse then Hemorrhage, but at least I was really good at Hemorrhage.

Whenever my options for an ordinance are a railgun and a needler, I feel cheated. I seriously don't see how a railgun is really a power weapon. However, I've heard people that feel the gun is very good at its job. To me, the gun is essentially almost impossible to get a kill with. It is like a joke version of the spartan laser, and it seems to have a very small blast radius if any at all. Essentially, you need to get a body shot. That means you have to lead your target, and that makes the weapon practically impossible to aim because of the high level of accuracy needed to use it effectively. If I miss and the opponent is shooting at me, I won't get another shot, and I have really bad luck trying to land a shot on people (and it seems useless against vehicles). In general, it seems weaker than a BR or DMR. However, I've heard that a lot of people like the weapon. What are your feelings on it?

I've experienced a lot of oddities watching people's kill cams. A lot of it I feel is lag, because I was getting horrible lag earlier. ARs would suddenly unload entire clips within a split second, and I would die without firing a shot. BRs and DMRs would stutter shoot and shoot faster than normal. And of course, the normal rubber-banding and the like. This makes me think that other kill cam weirdness may be lag related. It seems like it is very rare for a kill-cam in SWAT, for instance, to show the enemy actually making a headshot on me. For instance, it will look like the following (X is my body, O is the cursor, [ and ] are the edges of the screen) [-----------------------------------------------------------] [----------------------------------------------X-----------] [---------------------------O---------------XXX---------] [-------------------------------------------xXXXx--------] [-------------------------------------------x--X--x--------] [--------------------------------------------X--X---------] [--------------------------------------------X--X---------] [-----------------------------------------------------------] Usually, it feels like players have about an extra second to shoot me, and have a very large radius that will count as a headshot. I never seem to get the rapid jerk headshots that I've seen on the kill-cams, but again, I feel it is mostly lag.

It feels like Halo 4's weapons have all been replaced with nerf rifles. I think part of the problem is that in the campaign the new enemies replace strong shields or armor with high amounts of life (regardless of what weapon is used), so that weapons feel weaker against them. In matchmaking, it just feels like my weapons are ineffective. This is partially because Reach's firefights have been replaced, so that most of the time you stumble upon a person and try to shoot them before they find cover (and vice-versa if you are the one running). This makes it harder to get a kill because enemies simply are much better at running away. Other matchmaking problems include the additions, like the Mantis. The Mantis isn't incredibly powerful offensively, but it takes a heck of a lot of fire to bring down (especially if it is able to keep bringing the shield back up). A couple of the new weapons are pretty wimply or hard to use, like the Railgun (so very hard to get a kill with that thing) and the sticky detonater (instant kill, but have to be close to get a kill with it without setting a trap). Also, things like overshields, shield perks, the regeneration field, and others all tend to make it harder to get a kill. These aren't necessarily bad things, but sometimes they can give a negative impression of the game. It feels far less hectic than previous Halo games, and that part of the reason is a general increase in the survivability of our opponents, both in the campaign and on matchmaking. I think it makes one-shot weapons and vehicles a lot more powerful, because otherwise you have to rely on being able to find and kill opponents before they get into cover. Anyway, what differences do you believe this game has compared to other Halo games, specifically in terms of the way the game "feels."

In my honest opinion, the worst difference about this game is that it is MUCH harder to find targets. I was a decent to good player in the previous games, but picking out an enemy before he saw me was never a strong suit. In fact, I'm horribly deficient at it. In past Halo games, this didn't matter so much because the limited number of weapon spawns forced people to move to a few spots, dictating the flow of the battle. Now, I alternate between being really, really good and absolutely horrible, and the main difference is just finding guys. On BTB maps like Valhalla, the forward movement has died, and all most people do is camp (with a DMR or Sniper Rifle). There is NO reason to advance, and I find that change to sometimes ruin the Halo experience. It makes maps like Complex seem huge and empty because the map is just a cover to hide behind instead of an interactive object. The only way to find players is to use precognition and guess where they will be, and I am just not good at that. I'll have to go to theater and watch hours of tape in order to find out where people travel without the incentive of power weapons (and places to use them). This has created a bunch of maps I absolute HATE. I have no idea why people like them, because I've never had a positive experience with them. They basically reward camping and are no fun at all to play on. A couple of those maps: Valhalla (no clue why people adore this map) Vortex (pretty sure, talking about the rock map with a central base) Complex (too big and empty for small teams) You may wonder why I don't put Exile in that list. Well, mainly because Exile is the map that I believe best recreates the traditional Halo feel. It doesn't have weapon spawns, but the additions of the Gauss Hog, Scorpion, and Banshee create a more concentrated ebb and flow of players, instead of Halo 4's random smattering of players across the map. What can 343 do to fight this? Well, for one, new maps need to be smaller. Without weapon spawns, players are far more spread out than normal, and it is just not fun to spend most of the match looking for fights. The most annoying thing in the game is to spend minutes not finding anyone only to die from shots in the back from an opponent half the map away. A map the size of Complex should be a BTB map, and personally I think even an 8-on-8 match would feel a little spread out on Complex. One other thing they could do is to focus more on vehicles. Regardless of whatever 343 may think, constant DMR fights in every playlist eventually are boring. Unlike previous Halo titles, it feels like every single match is a small team match because only one map really diversifies the game with heavy vehicles. Maps like Valhalla start off with a vehicle rush, but the recharge times on the vehicles pretty much stop regular usage of them. New maps should have more Wraiths, more Scorpions, more Gauss Hogs (and don't restrict those vehicles to one per map), and should reintroduce vehicles like Revenants, Hornets, Falcons, and other vehicles not currently present. The final thing 343 can do is make maps with less hiding spots. Complex (man, I hate that map) is the worst about this. There are more buildings to hide in then players to hide in them, and it just hard to find a line of sight towards a target. Vortex is another map with tons of useless hiding spots. The entire exterior ring of the map is a bunch of hiding spots that just make the gameplay boring and campish. Simpler maps would be preferred by this player. TL;DR version: It is hard to find players. The game is boring if you spend most of your time looking for targets, and the randomization of weapons has spread out players so much that the entire game has become camping with a DMR with brief spurts of power weapons from ordinance drops. This leads to a bland and unfun experience, and 343 needs to try and keep people more concentrated to prevent this.