RedStarRocket91

How does it make no sense? Are you talking the concept, or the expense? You can't just say 'it makes no sense' without specifying exactly what it is that 'doesn't make sense': those are weasel words and all it suggests is that you want to take a shot at 343i, but don't actually have any points to make, any evidence to back it up, have done any research, or even just considered the problem. 'How' they achieved it is pretty simple: they took the best candidates, gave them the necessary enhancements (whatever those may have been), and gave them the new Mjolnir armour. That's the 'how'. Makes perfect sense. No, I'm going to assume - and as you've only given the vaguest indication of what 'doesn't make sense' to you, that's all I can do - that your problem with the Spartan-IV programme is due to the raw cost of the enhancements, armour, and equipment necessary to outfit a single Spartan. The thing is... this isn't an issue. The economy of scale dictates that if you produce 1,000 items, while the overall expense will be much greater, individually the cost will be significantly cheaper than one which was produced by itself: this is why a supermarket could sell you a bag of apples for a dollar, but if you were to visit an independent 'mom and pop' store you'd probably be paying about a dollar for a single apple. The other thing is, technology gets more powerful over time, and older stuff gets cheaper: if you wanted an Xbox 360 at launch, you'd probably pay about $300 for the base model which came with the old 20GB hard drive. If you wanted to get a brand new Xbox 360 today, you'd be able to get one with a 200GB hard drive, integrated wireless, and a kinect for about $150. Heck, look at the PC market. If you wanted to build yourself a dektop with 2GB of RAM, 512MB of VRAM, a 1GHz processor, and a 500GB hard drive back in 2007, that would cost you about $700-$1000. Today, you could quite possibly build something like that for under $200. Heck, look at cell phones: getting a brick back in the 1990s would cost hundreds of dollars, and you'd often have to pay for texts and calls individually on top of that. Now, you can get something with power comparable to a laptop ad unlimited calls and texts, plus gigabytes worth of data, for under $15/month. Do not underestimate how quickly advanced technology can become commonplace and cheap. Now, bear in mind, at the time the Mjolnir Mk V was introduced, it was the first time humanity had ever produced something with personal energy shielding, an absorbent gel layer, and direct integration with the brain. Of course it was going to be expensive. But as we've seen from the examples above, there's no reason, whatsoever, why both Spartan-level augmentation and advanced Mjolnir armour wouldn't become standard within the UNSC. The fact that the Spartans have their own branch now doens't show that the UNSC has suddenly gotten a lot richer - it shows us just how bad their economy is, because they've had to restrict the augmentations and armour to a specific set of soldiers rather than just rolling them out to everyone!

Hi AAA137, As I say, it's been a while since I read Ghosts of Onyx, which is where the information of Project CHRYSANTHEMUM comes from, so I could be a bit wrong on the details. The thing is, until Reach came out, there weren't any Spartan-IIIs depicted in Mjolnir armour at all - and even the supplementary materials that came with Reach didn't really offer anything in the way of explanation as to whether S-IIIs could natively wear Mjolnir armour, or further augmentation was needed. Unfortunately, the best we can really do here is guess based on the details of the chemical augmentation process. The Fall of Reach gives quite a lot of details on the Spartan-II programme, and the first instance of Mjolnir Mark IV armour being deployed: while the bone implants are really important, the reason it needs to be Spartans who use it, rather than just ordinary soldiers with hardened bones, is because only they have the necessary reaction speeds and fine muscle control necessary to handle the armour's sensitivity. I actually had a quick look at the Spartan-II augments, and apparently their bone hardening process only affects ~3% of the bones directly, while the rest is chemical: annoyingly, it's not stated whether or not this is the same chemical used to harden the bones of Spartan-IIIs, or if a more advanced version was used, so again we have to guess a bit here. In terms of reaction times, in their appearances in Ghosts of Onyx and the Kilo-Five trilogy the Spartan-IIIs do appear to be similar to Spartan-IIs, though again we can only speculate. Anyway, as far as I know the main reason Spartan-IIIs weren't issued Mjolnir armour is just budgetary: they were designed to be expendable, so there was no need to give them really top-level equipment. As usual, it's never outright stated whether that includes the price of augments to make them capable of wearing it, or just the cost of the armour as they could have worn it anyway. Hopefully, at some point 343i will come out with a proper, detailed lore explanation about the augments the various Spartan generation have had!

For some reason, the MCC uses the launch version of Halo 4 rather than the weapon tuning update version in its custom games: this doesn't actually make the BR underpowered, so much as it makes the DMR overpowered, as against things like the AR and Carbine, the BR still performs okay provided it's used at its correct range. However, while I generally like the weapon tuning update, one thing that irks me about it is that it once again makes the Battle Rifle overpowered at anything but very close range, as even though the DMR is supposed to be better at long range, in practice at anything shorter than Sniper Rifle range, the BR is still going to have the advantage due to its low spread: put simply, it's too accurate. This is one of the reasons why I always say that Halo 3 has the best weapon balance: the BR will get torn up at close ranges by an AR user, and at anything beyond mid-long range due to its fairly wide bullet spread it's still unlikely to get kills in anything less than a full magazine, which gives the target plenty of time to fight back or go for cover. Even if the bullet travel time were replaced with the instant hit from other games, it would still be balanced due to spread. The weapon tuning update actually buffs pretty much every weapon except the DMR, so in that regard the BR doesn't actually become too unbalanced - the AR in particular is an absolute monster at close range now - but due to its low spread, reasonable scope, and high aim assist, the BR remains capable of delivering its optimum kill time at pretty much any range, which makes it arguably the 'best' starting weapon - and not simply the most versatile.

Ghosts of Onyx actually goes into quite a bit of detail about the Spartan-III programme, so if you haven't already done so, it's definitely worth reading if you want to find out more about the Spartan-IIIs. Admittedly it's been a while since I last opened it, so a lot of this could be wrong, but from what I remember it's never actually made clear whether or not Spartan-IIIs are as strong as Spartan-IIs: Gamma company in particular is very uncertain, due to the fact that they received extra enhancements which meant they could go beyond the human body's normal limits. As for whether Spartan-IIIs could use Mjolnir - yes, there are at least six documented instances, as the members of Noble Team used Mark V Mjolnir armour during the fall of Reach, and Thom-A293 wore it during a previous mission. There's concept art for Rosenda-A344's armour as well, but as she's never actually seen wearing it in any Halo media we can't be sure that she actually was capable of wearing it. However, it isn't clear whether or not those Spartan-IIIs seen wearing Mjolnir armour received any additional augments or not in order to do so, as prior to Reach, Spartan-IIIs were only ever seen using weaker, SPI armour. Notably, although Noble Team seems to have filled a role somewhat similar to the Headhunters, another Spartan-III special ops team, the latter only used an advanced model of SPI armour, even though Mjolnir would seemingly have suited their role better: however, it's possible that the Headhunters were, like most Spartan-IIIs, just considered expendable, and so weren't equipped with better armour for simple budgetary reasons. Eventually, a lot of surviving Spartan-IIIs were adopted into the Spartan-IV programme, in which everyone wears Mjolnir armour - but again, it's never made clear whether this is because the Spartan-IVs received the same enhancements as the IIIs, better enhancements which were retroactively granted to the IIIs, or simply because the new generation of Mjolnir armour needed less augmentation to safely operate than its predecessors. In any case, ultimately at least some Spartan-IIIs were capable of wearing Mjolnir, so in broad terms, the answer is yes. In terms of raw strength, reactions, and toughness, it's still unclear, but there are a few examples within the games. At the start of Reach, Noble Six is pinned down by a Covenant Elite, and although capable of punching the Elite, still needs help from the rest of the team to throw it off entirely: by contrast, during the second encounter with the Promethean Knights on Requiem in Halo 4, the Master Chief is able to free himself with a single kick. Unfortunately, as usual there are a few things muddying the waters here - firstly, the Chief is wearing a significantly more advanced version of Mjolnir armour than Six was, meaning it's difficult to tell whether that extra strength was simply due to his suit, and it's also not clear exactly how much a Promethean Knight weighs in relation to a Covenant Elite - it's possible that they're actually not very heavy, as there are a few hints that they, like everything on Requiem, are formed purely from hard light rather than actual materials. Another set of examples can be found in the various falls from space - Six suffers moderate injuries after his fall from the Ardent Prayer in the aftermath of Operation Uppercut, while equipped with a specialised re-entry pack: however, the Chief is back on his feet, apparently unharmed, within minutes of a similar fall from space with nothing but a large sheet of Forerunner metal for protection. Again, it isn't clear whether this is due to the more advanced Mark VI Mjolnir suit he was wearing, which as we've seen in Halo 4, may have had some sort of thrusters built into the armour itself to help slow him down, or simply due to the game mechanics not including a visible health bar. What is certain is that Spartan-IIIs were at least as capable of the same levels of combat effectiveness as Spartan-IIs: Noble Six is specifically noted to be the only Spartan, from any programme prior to the fall of Reach, to hold the same rating as the Master Chief, and while he may have been unusually effective it at least proves that Spartan-IIIs could match Spartan-IIs, at least in combat abilities.

In a game like Halo where individual weapons fill very specific roles and operate very differently, I actually tend to dislike weapon skins from a competitive perspective, as knowing what weapon your opponent s holding is a vital part of decision-making. In something like the Call of Duty series, where kill times are extremely low and all weapons operate in a roughly similar manner, it's less so, as you can reasonably expect that exposing yourself to direct fire at any range is going to result in being killed, but in Halo knowing whether your opponent is holding a BR or an AR can make all the difference between life and death. As an example: I'm holding a DMR, and an opponent comes around a corner 20m ahead of me. If he's holding an Assault Rifle, at this range I can probably kill him, and so the best decision I can make is to open fire: however if he's holding a Battle Rifle, then the odds swing in his favour, and so attacking head-on will probably get me killed. This is a decision that I need to make quickly, and so it's important that weapon designs are different enough that each one is visually unique enough that I'm going to recognise it instantly instead of needing to hesitate for half a second to work out what it is. This is a particular problem in Halo, as while power weapons all tend to look pretty distinct, the three human rifles all look pretty similar at more than a few metres, as their silhouettes from the front just aren't particularly diverse. One of the ways that H5 seems to be dealing with this is the use of colours: the Assault Rifle has quite a lot of synthetic colours in it, the DMR is a fairly standard gunmetal, and the BR is very dark, which makes it a little easier to distinguish between them at range (at least, when the environment is reasonably well-lit). It's not a huge difference, but even during the beta I did notice that it helped my recognition skills a little. And this is where the issue with weapon skins comes in: while they undoubtedly do look cool, they make weapons look less individual and thus, less immediately distinguishable. This is fine for casual play, but particularly in high-level games, it's a problem. That said, I'm sure that there'd be a few easy ways to compromise the inclusion of weapon skins: a toggleable 'force no skin' option in game settings switched on by default in competitive playlists would ensure that competitive modes aren't adversely affected, while still allowing skins to be used elsewhere. As for applying skins, I'm sure that could also be done without too much trouble: there could just be an option to choose skin sets, which are automatically applied to whatever the loadout weapons are.

Loving this! As Legendary Weapons are supposed to be actual, specific weapons, rather than just powerful but mass-produced models, I think we need to look at potential ones as more than just things like the SPNKr line of rocket launchers or the M6D series of pistols, and focus on individual guns which hold a specific place in the canon. As a few ideas so far, beyond those suggested above: Captain Keyes' M6D This is the first weapon that the player ever gets to use in the series (and therefore, quite possibly the first weapon a lot of players ever used in a shooter!) and therefore it would do very nicely for a 'Legendary' version of the classic pistol. Weapon Name - Keyes' Pistol What Makes it a Legendary - 3 shot kill and ability for damage to bleed through shields, fast firing speed, and large magazine Specialties in Animation - Complete classic set, including pistol whip and idles How to balance this weapon out - Suffers from surprisingly poor accuracy Appearance - Original M6D model with increased polygon and textures levels Sergeant Johnson's M6 G/GNR The Spartan Laser has unfortunately gone through a bit of a decay since it was introduced in Halo 3, first having its charge time increased in a title update, then having its battery reduced in Reach, and by the time of Halo 4 it wasn't even a particularly useful weapon for destroying vehicles, even when it was available at all. As the weapon that destroyed 343 Guilty Spark, Johnson's laser needs no such nerfs! Weapon Name - Orion Laser What Makes it a Legendary - Faster charge time, larger battery, increased damage, and ability to penetrate vehicles Specialties in Animation - Complete classic set, plus any Spartan holding the laser acquires a cigar complete with puffs of smoke on kills How to balance this weapon out - Don't, the standard laser actually needs a buff as it is Appearance - Halo 3 model with improved polygon count and textures, plus an elite skull and kill count scratches on the side Infection Shotgun Only essentially a semi-canon weapon, the survivor's Shotgun has been a staple of the Infection gametype ever since Halo 2, and was eventually given its own variant in Halo 2: Anniversary. There have been plenty of famous shotgun rampages throughout Halo, particularly on Flood levels, and so simply branding it as a shotgun that saved its owner's life many times against the swarm would do nicely as backstory. Weapon Name - Survivor's Shotgun What Makes it a Legendary - Longer range and increased damage combined with faster reload speed Specialties in Animation - Faster reload animations and unique assassinations How to balance this weapon out - Larger pellet spread and no ability to replenish ammunition Appearance - CE:A/Reach model with weathering and flecks of blood and biomass over it, particularly so nearer to the front Noble Six's Assault Rifle Noble Six wielded an Assault Rifle to great effect during the last battle on planet Reach, its fire still capable of downing multiple Elites despite taking enough plasma damage that even Six's Mjolnir armour had begun to fail. Though lacklustre in gameplay, during the cutscene of Six's final stand this particular rifle proved the equal of those encountered in Combat Evolved, and along with Six's helmet, may have survived Reach's glassing. Weapon Name - The Last Stand What Makes it a Legendary - 60 round magazine, increased accuracy and fire rate Specialties in Animation - Similar animations, but firing and reload sounds are scratchier and clankier to represent damage How to balance this weapon out - No ability to use smart scope, plus the ammunition counter/compass is cracked and inert Appearance - Same model as Reach, but weathered and rusted to reflect damage taken in Six's final stand and the subsequent years of exposure to the elements without care

Staff Response Reminder: this thread is for the request of signatures, and the posting of signatures by staff members of Forum productions only. Please do not post in this thread unless you wish to either request a signature, or are a member of Forum Productions fulfilling a signature request.

Staff Response Just to clarify: this policy will extend to the post-election, not expire at the moment the winner is announced. Those who cannot be gracious in victory or defeat and feel a need to stir up trouble or drama will meet the same fate as they would have had they continued to act out of line prior to results.

Actually, in Call of Duty kills times are more usually measured in fractions of seconds than whole seconds: admittedly it's been a while since I played, but I've done a quick bit of maths on the basic M4 assault rifle from Modern Warfare 2 (the last one I played competitively, so admittedly things might have changed a bit since then) and even assuming every shot is a body shot at maximum range for damage drop-off, you're looking at 5 hits to kill on a weapon that fires about 14 rounds a second - meaning a kill time of just over a third of a second. While obviously things like headshots, range, and misses will affect this, it's reasonable to assume that's the standard 'perfect' kill time in high-level play. For comparative purposes, I've also calculated the 'perfect' kill times of a few other weapons: taking the above factors into account, it's generally fair to assume that average kill times will vary from about 25% faster (close range headshots) to 50% longer (missing half of the shots). Scar-H (3 rounds to kill at ~11RPS) - just over a quarter of a second FAMAS (4 rounds to kill at ~8RPS sustained) - one second. Burst weapon, so can notably kill much faster FAMAS ('perfect' kill, 3 rounds at ~17RPS) - just under a fifth of a second MP5K (5 rounds to kill at ~15RPS) - a third of a second UMP45 (3 rounds to kill at ~11RPS) - just over a quarter of a second L86 LSW (3 rounds to kill at ~13RPS) - just under a quarter of a second RPD (3 rounds to kill at ~12 RPS) - just over a quarter of a second USP .45 (5 rounds to kill at 20RPS) - a quarter of a second. Semi-auto fire hard capped at 20RPS, so likely to have much lower RPS in hands of average player .44 Magnum (3 rounds to kill at ~13 rounds per second) - just under a quarter of a second. Semi-auto fire, so likely to have somewhat lower RPS in hands of average player Thanks to the Call of Duty wiki for Damage/RPM stats! The point I'm making here is that the 'average' kill time in Call of Duty for a skilled player is actually about a quarter of a second - this is so fast that it's actually possible to kill the average person before they can even react, as they simply can't respond quickly enough to do anything. Bear this in mind as we turn to kill times in H2A: From the video's description, here's a list of 'perfect' kill times in H2A: Magnum 1.51 SMG 1.52 Suppressed SMG 1.36 Assault Rifle 1.43 Battle Rifle 1.52 Plasma Rifle 2.79 Brute Plasma Rifle 2.69 Covenant Carbine 1.56 Needler 0.36 Brute Shot 0.13 Sentinel Beam 1.36 These are still fairly fast compared to a lot of other games - however, they seem roughly consistent with the kill times of their counterparts in the original Halo 2. What matters here, is that even assuming that a player is absolutely perfect with their Battle Rifle, their kill time is still going to be about six times longer than the average kill time in Modern Warfare 2 - and as I stressed before, these kill times can be shortened even further with optimum shooting conditions like headshots and close range. This is all a very long way of making the point that claiming the average kill time in halo is about a minute is ridiculous. It takes significantly less time than that to empty the Battle Rifle's entire reserve of ammunition. Now, weirdly enough, at high-level play kill times in Halo actually tend to increase rather than decrease, as players are very careful about exposing themselves to enemy fire and kiting opponents rather than engaging them head-on: this is why a lot of matches on things like Lockdown often descend into teams grouping up atop the two towers and poking at the enemy team before retreating into cover. If you make a habit of watching very high-level competitive Halo, it's easy to understand why you'd assume BR duels last a lot longer than they actually do. What's important to note here is that kill times in Halo are long enough that it is possible to continue a duel by breaking line of sight and evading an opponent - something which is generally not possible in Call of Duty games, unless your opponent is a particularly inefficient shooter. Because of this, the average BR duel tends to either be over in seconds, as both players refuse to back down and force a confrontation, or much longer as one player pulls back to try and win an advantage: in high-level play this is more common as teammates are usually on hand to cover the losing player's retreat, meaning they can't simply be chased down. Put simply - yes, Halo has fairly fast kill times, but it's always been that way, and it's still not even close to the kill times you'd expect in something like the Call of Duty series. Apologies to rrhuntington for the length of this reply, yours was just the best post to quote

Topic locked: while we encourage users to share their opinions, whatever those may be, this is a forum not a blog and thus any topics should have some discussive value.

Halo's betas have always been multiplayer-specific: those of us who enjoy PvE will just have to wait until the final product is released, although hopefully given 343i's use of the Halo Channel so far we'll see some gameplay in the run-up to launch. Given that we're still nine months away from launch, right now it's quite possible that most enemy models, weapons, and AI simply haven't even been coded yet - in this respect, PvP is a much simpler thing to hold a beta on. I think it's also a bit unfair to suggest that no PvE demo will result in 'hardcore' fans not buying the game, as I'm fairly sure that most 'hardcore' fans will either buy the game just to see what happens in the story, or make a decision based on how much they enjoy the multiplayer, which is traditionally the most important aspect of Halo for a majority of Spartans. You may not have heard, but the beta is actually going to expand over the course of its run to include a total of seven maps, with more weapons and gametypes to come, so if you're looking for more variety then just keep logging in and playing.