RedStarRocket91

That... actually makes a lot of sense. I can't believe nobody's thought of that before! Doesn't matter, once the Repeater is overheated you have to vent it anyway (which takes much longer than just letting the Plasma Rifle cool) or it fires so slowly that enemies can die faster from old age. Spread doesn't matter as it's a close-quarters weapon, more analogous to the Shotgun than the Assault Rifle. Most players back up once their shields are down, so it works at longer ranges too even if actually finishing players off is more difficult.

Someone having a different opinion isn't ignorance. Not knowing something is ignorance. I actually generally agree that no bloom makes for a more competitive game, just not Reach. Reach without bloom just makes all the precision weapons far too overpowered, and turns the Pistol into the BFG. Especially now that melee bleedthrough has been removed, non-precision and non-power weapons are literally worthless in ZB games, and the DMR's huge scope distance just makes that all the worse.

In Invasion your teammates have icons over their heads to mark them, plus Elites always have big groups of soldiers with them who are shooting at you instead of them. And are colour-coded. I generally agree though, I feel like it would be nice to have a team playlist where people can actually use their own colours. I admit you are less likely to see enemy soldiers out of the corner of your eye, but a little bit more stealth capability could actually open up more options for gameplay. The models really are sufficiently different to justify no forced colour.

For those who don't know, in TU gametypes the ability for players to inflict melee damage onto a player's Health while they still have Shields has been removed. This means that as long as a player has at least one hit point left in their shields, they will survive a melee attack without any Health damage, exactly the same as in pre-TU gametypes. This is going to be a controversial one. Please be polite while discussing your opinions and try and back them up with good reasons!

I have no idea why they cut bleedthrough out. There's a whole vanilla playlist for those who don't want it. All it needed was for melee damage to be toned down a little and it would have been perfect.

Yeah, definitely not multiplayer - can you imagine if you accidentally lowered your gun right in the middle of a fight?

I'd like to see it back, I just think the physics threshold should be increased - the players are significantly more advanced than those in the Reach/CE era, after all. Fall damage adds that little extra bit of strategy to the game, but we should definitely be able to fall from much further than before.

I hope it's like the Reach pistol, that one definitely feels like the best balanced out of all the incarnations.

Nah, should be available everywhere except matchmaking. If someone wants to make a machinima in campaign or custom games, this would make it much easier for them.

You have to wear a helmet, otherwise your shield's envelope would cut your head off when you activated it. Also, it's a lot of processing power for nothing in terms of gameplay.

It's just because the characters themselves are a lot smaller - if you go into Theatre in Halo 3 and look at Chief standing next to a Marine, he towers over them. Noble Six is exactly the same height as a marine, so that's why everything looks weird. Assuming we play as Spartan IIs again in Halo 4, scaling should be back to normal.

Ah man, that's awful. I wish players could use creativity like that to fight the enemy once in a while, you hardly ever see really imaginative play used against anyone but someone's own team!

Fair point, but then you guys have things like the DMR and Needle Rifle which are a lot easier to use to make up for that. Not that I'm complaining, I just really, really like Sniper Rifles!

That's why they make such great competitive weapons!

Thank you for that, Dog. I hate that word - nobody would ever get away with name-calling about skin colour, and insulting someone's sexual orientation is just as offensive.

Actually, you need to have taken off more than half an opponent's shield in order to get a kill when they're at full health. Also, what do you want someone with an inaccurate, close-range weapon to do? Walk away from their target as they fire? As for making it more effective than before, I don't understand that. Double melee was a kill before, it's a kill now. There is nothing wrong at all with people being forced to use their weapons at their effective ranges. The world is a better place now that the DMR does not automatically win at every range.

Shotgun, every time. It's the risk, I think, makes it so much more exciting and all the more satisfying when you get a kill.

The G36 series, probably the C variant as it's the easiest to control.

Football, all the way. I don't understand why Americans call their version 'football'.

Here's an idea. Include a single-user code with all new copies of the game which makes all DLC free, but require it for all but the most basic of playlists - a sort of 'grab bag' offering medium-sized games (5v5/6v6) of all game modes, so while you can still play the game you don't get as much freedom of choice over it. People who paid premium price for a new copy are happy because they're being rewarded for their loyalty, the companies still get to make money from people who haven't paid them for the game and who want to have more than just a minimal experience, and those who haven't paid either for the game or the DLC can still at least play something. Everybody wins.

You mean where a teammate should have had a showstopper but you still died? I've never been on the receiving end of that, although I've definitely missed out on showstopper medals. I think as long as the knife isn't actually in the body, it's supposed to be safe, although dying even though that hasn't happened is nothing new.

Arena-style games definitely could benefit from this, but the problem is in regular games it just becomes far too powerful - the BR at least had bullet spread between its rounds and a weaker scope, so you couldn't easily four-shot someone from half a map away. With DMR starts spawn-trapping would become way too easy, as even a disorganised team could do it. Even in regular DMR Slayer, no bloom would hurt map movement more than it would help the skill barrier, as nobody would risk leaving cover when they could be killed very easily and quickly from what is normally Sniper Rifle distance. Not necessarily, that works on the idea that the ability to pace shots is less of a skill than the ability to aim. 85% bloom seems to work pretty perfectly at punishing spammers but rewarding pacers, and leads to better map movement as well as preserving power weapon strength. Also, the idea of aim assist kind of renders battles meaningless too, as we can't be sure it's personal skill rather than mechanical assistance which is responsible for keeping your crosshair on target. This is why I regard Team Snipers as the only playlist which truly tests a player's skill: there's so little assistance that if you're a bad aim, you won't kill in two shots. Or three. Or even four. You just won't kill anything - period. I'm not sure casual players do enjoy bloom, or slower pace. I actually quite like it because it leaves more room for tactical play rather than just going for headshots right from the spawn every time. I completely agree that there should be more options for those who do want to play with zero bloom, though. There should definitely be a chance to play Objective games without it, at the very least - right now they can't be done even in Custom Games, which is really unfair. Not sure about a 2v2 playlist, as that seems like it would appeal to way too few players to ensure fair and fun matches, but a Lone Wolves playlist without it would be nice. I actually agree with a lot of what you say, I just don't know that there's a big enough population to set up new playlists for - it just seems like you'd end up with really unbalanced matches.

Infection has always been quite bad with the new damage calculation system - I assume you're complaining that thing where despite your having headshotted a zombie from five metres away, they still manage to kill you. Or getting betrayals when you infect humans. There's not much can be done about that, unfortunately.

Yeah, I've tried to cancel it before - tossed 'nades, fired, reloaded, jumped, even tried enabling night vision once... I have literally no idea why I thought that would work...

I actually prefer Halo 3's engine, actually. Collision physics on Reach just seem... off. I can't put it into words, it feels like damage is a little too high and a little too random - instant death from jumping into the side of a moving Wraith, for instance, or the kinds of glitches you see on Fails of the Weak - those didn't really happen with Halo 3. Plus the strange damage fields of explosions, they really aren't consistent. I'm sure it's nothing that can't be fixed, though. Anyway, I'm totally against anything which interferes with the 'skill is everything' philosophy. Your experience and your ability should determine whether you win or lose of their own accord, not by proxy via weapons and armour and bonuses. People already have the chance to play according to their strengths by using the weapons they're good with effectively, by moving around the map in a way that suits them and by guessing what their opponents are going to do. Changes to a player's base stats, however small and regardless of whether they have drawbacks or not, still affect gameplay and add randomness to gameplay, reducing the game's ability to form an effective platform for competition. I'm actually of the opinion that armour customisation isn't really needed, and has gotten to the point where it actually harms the game rather than enhances it. More customisation just means more complex character models and more strain on the engine, for no real in-game benefit. It can also make it harder to work out whether you're hitting your opponent or not, especially if it's particularly bulky. Cutting it out altogether wouldn't do any harm and might actually allow for more complex physics calculations which adds a real, measurable improvement to gameplay.