Why do people love Ragnarok?

[Combat]

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?

[Harbinger]

I think people like it because its a remake of an original.

[Christian.]

I like it because it's even sided and it's big and wide open.

[Twisted Oracle]

I feel that is one of the fun maps to play on

[Bloody Initiate]

I consider Valhalla/Ragnarok the best Halo map ever made.

 

As for why people love it in Halo 4, it actually makes a lot of sense. It is the ONLY remake in this game, it is an extremely faithful remake, and there's something important about that fact. Specifically, Valhalla/Ragnarok was made for a different game by a different team, and each Halo game has a sort of theme with their maps that makes them identifiable as originating from that game.

 

So in Halo 4 they deliberately designed the maps for run'n'gun gameplay. There is a definite feel and flow to Halo 4's maps and it differs a lot from previous games. Like this or not, the difference is undeniable, and people probably like play ragnarok because it's the only Halo 4 map that doesn't feel like a Halo 4 map. They may love Halo 4 maps, but still like variety, or they may hate Halo 4 maps, and desire that step back to a different map design philosophy.

 

To sum up, Ragnarok is unlike any other map in Halo 4, and people will want to play it no matter what because love or hate Halo 4's maps, everyone likes someting different every now and then.

[Jamesw01]

Because its fun but I feel like its way over played in btb, why the hell isnt it in infinity slayer it use to be a 4v4 5v5. With the sprint I think itll be a lil easier for smalle r game types

[buffy the spartan buffalo]

because it's one of halo's best big team maps and is a classic, balanced map.

[Combat]

To sum up, Ragnarok is unlike any other map in Halo 4, and people will want to play it no matter what because love or hate Halo 4's maps, everyone likes something different every now and then.

 

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.

[Cocoa]

I love it for CTF. To me it is one of the best CTF maps ever.

[Kiing 0f Coffe]

I agree, The DMR and the Light Rifle makes it to where you have to sit in your base and snipe the whole game. If you try to go to the other side of the map you get sniped or shot down by a DMR or a Light Rifle.

[Chris Hansen]

They need to add big team battle CTF to this game already. This map is made for it. People love it because of nolstalgic reasons, and it also offers that old school own the enemy team by controling the ridge mechanic intact.

[Yoshi1176]

It's an original when i think about halo ragnarok/valhalla is there.

[OMG Treason]

People familiarize it with Halo 3.

[Baeztoberfest]

Broad open space. Good for sniping. Distance BR and DMR hunting ground. Vehicle friendly. Unable to cross map kill. Not "cluttered" like exile. Has the Mantis. It's a remake.

 

Not the best map in my opinion. Lockout, Midship, The Pit, Beaver Creek, Rat Race, and Blood Gulch are among my favorites. And I think well thought up. Ragnarok is good, but... As for certain affinity's map creation ideas? Hmm...

[Jamesw01]

 

 

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.

How is sniping selfish your raking out enemies and can call out location from farther away

[Bloody Initiate]

When teams are good the games go the same way on every map. Obviously one team will win and so there are differences that make one side win in one game and another in another game, but eventually people narrow down the best approaches to each map and they ONLY take those approaches.

 

The reason every game feels the same on Ragnarok is because a lot of people played that map for 2-3 years and they know what they need to do. The difference with Ragnarok is they enjoy doing it. Games follow a predictable pattern, but in a good map it's at least an enjoyable pattern.

 

Sniping and DMRing ARE fun. People DO like that.

 

It beats Exile, where the predictable pattern is "Whomever spawns on light side will annihilate with the Gauss Hog."

 

Or Vortex where the pattern is "I will have a horrible time and some stuff will happen in Bravo."

 

Or Longbow where the pattern is "I might snipe and DMR while we fight over Bravo"

 

Or Meltdown where the pattern is "The spawns or the flow of this map will eventually surround me and end anything good I get going."

 

The fact is Ragnarok is fun because you start with your enemy on one side of you, generally they stay on that side of you, and the variety of encounter ranges allows for a variety of fights. People DO still just sort of fight over hill, but there is more than one approach to that. They also have fights at Pelican and turret. Ragnarok is the only map in Halo 4 that doesn't play like a Halo 4 map. You may argue it gets repetitive, but every map does.

 

Halo 4 maps are designed to have NO strong spots, to maximize movement while minimizing camping. "Camping" in this case is defined as sitting still for any reason. You can't camp when every location on a map is open to a dozen angles of attack. Even in spots where there are only 1-2 approaches to them, they're designed so those approaches are far enough apart from each other that you can't switch between them quickly (AKA can't defend both at once).

 

Halo 4 maps ARE in fact very much like Call of Duty maps. Ragnarok isn't. It also may play the same way every time, but it DOES NOT play the same as every other Halo 4 map, which was my original argument. I don't care if you get bored playing Ragnarok, I was talking about getting bored playing every other map in Halo 4. I'm not bored of them all yet, but Ragnarok is the only one that plays any differently from any other.

[Baeztoberfest]

When teams are good the games go the same way on every map. Obviously one team will win and so there are differences that make one side win in one game and another in another game, but eventually people narrow down the best approaches to each map and they ONLY take those approaches.

 

The reason every game feels the same on Ragnarok is because a lot of people played that map for 2-3 years and they know what they need to do. The difference with Ragnarok is they enjoy doing it. Games follow a predictable pattern, but in a good map it's at least an enjoyable pattern.

 

Sniping and DMRing ARE fun. People DO like that.

 

It beats Exile, where the predictable pattern is "Whomever spawns on light side will annihilate with the Gauss Hog."

 

Or Vortex where the pattern is "I will have a horrible time and some stuff will happen in Bravo."

 

Or Longbow where the pattern is "I might snipe and DMR while we fight over Bravo"

 

Or Meltdown where the pattern is "The spawns or the flow of this map will eventually surround me and end anything good I get going."

 

The fact is Ragnarok is fun because you start with your enemy on one side of you, generally they stay on that side of you, and the variety of encounter ranges allows for a variety of fights. People DO still just sort of fight over hill, but there is more than one approach to that. They also have fights at Pelican and turret. Ragnarok is the only map in Halo 4 that doesn't play like a Halo 4 map. You may argue it gets repetitive, but every map does.

 

Halo 4 maps are designed to have NO strong spots, to maximize movement while minimizing camping. "Camping" in this case is defined as sitting still for any reason. You can't camp when every location on a map is open to a dozen angles of attack. Even in spots where there are only 1-2 approaches to them, they're designed so those approaches are far enough apart from each other that you can't switch between them quickly (AKA can't defend both at once).

 

Halo 4 maps ARE in fact very much like Call of Duty maps. Ragnarok isn't. It also may play the same way every time, but it DOES NOT play the same as every other Halo 4 map, which was my original argument. I don't care if you get bored playing Ragnarok, I was talking about getting bored playing every other map in Halo 4. I'm not bored of them all yet, but Ragnarok is the only one that plays any differently from any other.

 

Yes. Agreed 100%.

 

It has a CoD feel because Certain Affinity developed the maps for Halo 4. They have had long dealings with CoD maps. They made maps for :

 

Halo 2 Blastacular Map Pack

Left 4 Dead Xbox 360 Port

CoD World at War Mulitplayer Maps

CoD Black Ops Multiplayer Maps and Mods

Halo Reach Defiant Map Pack

Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Co-Developed with 343i.

And Halo 4 Forge

 

So the couple of Halo map packs combined with the almost EXCLUSIVE map developer with CoD. When 343i took over they worked in sympatico with certain affinity to develop maps and forge options. Makes sense why you get that CoD feel to everything.

 

Ragnarok brings us back.

[upton889]

It is a remake of Valhalla and is a simple fun map that plays well. Not a whole lot to vote against.

[SatanicBagels]

Because it's a great map. It has long range DMR/BR duels, intense vehicular combat, some aerial combat, and is also good for objective games. Plus it helps that it was a fan favorite from Halo 3.

[Combat]

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-

[Meta Knight]

Because its a remake

[Halogeek99]

Being "rectangular" and having sides staying in place for most of the time is a very underestimated plus with Valhalla. Why are so many maps built like racing tracks?????! Its beyond me.

[TornadoFlame]

they remake a map that shouldn't have needed to be remaked we'd all rather have gaurdian or pit then this bs lol

[l Xenoes l]

I hate the map more then any other. Well besides Meltdown of course. I played enough of it in Halo 3. Every match I play on it is just sitting back and having long range DMR fights unless you have a sniper or in the Mantis or Banshee. One of the most boring maps in my opinion right next to SWAT on Adrift. Like it's been said the game progression on that map is very predictable.

[SatanicBagels]

they remake a map that shouldn't have needed to be remaked we'd all rather have gaurdian or pit then this bs lol

 

Valhalla was a huge fan favorite. While everyone would like to see the Pit return can you imagine playing on Guardian with the new game-play settings and mechanics. The entire map would be covered with explosions and insta-spawn would wreck any competitive atmosphere that it might have had. No not many faithful remakes could have probably been successfully done after 343i implemented their new game mechanics. We can be glad that one of the ones that would work was a popular map from the past.

 

Even though it's not my favorite map (some members of the forum may have heard me bash it before) in the end I do enjoy the game-play on it and am glad that they remade it so faithfully for Halo 4.