Is this an issue with new players...?

[Planet Etrius]

New players to Halo especially from COD seem to be missing the greater depth to Halo's style and not actually understanding the factors that are there. You can see in their gameplay that a lot of the time they'll just rush, spam grenades (because they think that's the only way to get a kill in reasonable time), fly around carelessly with the jet pack, and just generally play with very ill distinguished play style. This is all because the different factors like strafing, map movement, knowing how and when to team up, knowing how to be useful when away from the team, using gameplay mechanics (EMP, popping shields before headshots or melee), and etc. don't really present themselves in Halo's style. New players also don't explore much. Now usually I don' care about that kind of stuff because I'm a more laid back player, but I just think this may be driving players away from the experience like some of my newbie friends. They just don't know how to get into it. They think it's just about shooting at the guy long enough until he dies and crazy shenanigans. Well the second part is true, but if you can't learn how to develope a play style or just utilize the different factors with a natural flow then it becomes like a shallow "all thrills and no tactics" shooter. And that's not what Halo is. It's not Bungie's or 343's fault though, but maybe that could be a good thing to focus on. You can add more order to something without imposing structure that could take the flow or style out, and you can make utilization of the different factors more prominent and necessary. One of my friends also mentioned "How come I'm already better than most people at the game?" or something like that. I just replied "Maybe you were already good and didn't even know it.", but now I get that he was either trying to say that the game had no skill set or that it just sucked in general. He played with no real style too so you can tell how much fun we had playing together...

[g00n77]

New players to Halo especially from COD seem to be missing the greater depth to Halo's style and not actually understanding the factors that are there. You can see in their gameplay that a lot of the time they'll just rush, spam grenades (because they think that's the only way to get a kill in reasonable time), fly around carelessly with the jet pack, and just generally play with very little distinguished play style. This is all because the different factors like strafing, map movement, knowing how and when to team up, knowing how to be useful when away from the team (team shooting from a distance or getting a territory advantage, using gameplay mechanics (EMP, popping shields before headshots or melee), etc. don't really present themselves in Halo's style. New players also don't explore much. Now usually I don' care about that kind of stuff because I'm more casual, but I just think this may be driving players away from the experience. Like some of my newbie friends. They just don't know how to get into it. They think it's just about shooting at the guy long enough until he dies and shallow wackiness. Well the second part is true, but if you can't learn how to develope a play style or just utilize the different factors with flow it becomes like a shallow "all thrills no tactics" shooter and that's not what Halo is. It's not Bungie's or 343's fault though, but maybe that could be a good thing to focus on. You can add more order to something without imposing structure that could take the flow or style out, and make utilization of the factors that are there in Halo more prominent and necessary. One of my friends also mentioned "How come I'm already better than most people at the game?" or something like that. I just replied "Maybe you were already good and didn't even know it.", but now I get that he was either trying to say that the game had no skill set or just sucked in general. He with no style too. You can tell how much fun we had playing together...

 

I agree that the game is more then just shooting someone till they die. i think invasion or btb are good ways to show people the ropes and how deep the gameplay can actually be. simply because those gametypes exposes the player to more vehicles and weapons. they can see how each vehicle and weapon handles in its own special way and how a player must fine tune a strategy based on what armor ability and weapons he has.

 

also in big battles the player is exposed to the awesome reach physics. most current fps i have played have not had physics like the reach physics. Everything from the way momentum works to the way a vehicle handles feels perfect.

 

when new players shoot at a vehicle with an explosive and witness a flaming, flipping warthog splatter 7 people both enemy and teammates which causes a chain reaction that sets off all grenades in the area, causing random shrapnel or a caution cone to fly like a bullet into someones face, breaking there neck instantly. or they blow up a banshee and parts of it rain down on peoples heads possibly damaging or killing them.

 

now once they get decent at the game they will begin to learn the tactics in dropping an enemy's shield and then quickly damaging their health or preforming a headshot. this gets to be pretty fun as you learn all the different ways to drop a shield and learn all the different weapon strategy's to get kills faster.

 

it might also help to show them how to kill vehicles. because fighting a scorp tank as a noob is probably frustrating.

 

combine all that with assassinations, armor abilities and all the other features and gametypes that bungie added.

 

or just show someone how to board a banshee...that always makes me coming back for more...

 

and if all else fails then the thing to remember is that halo IS a hardcore shooter. i don't care what people say no causal gamer can hang in halo even with armor lock or power weapons because the skilled players are better with armor lock and power weapons. if your buddy said he was good at the game the first time he played then its because hes a skilled gamer and has nothing to do with the game being too easy.

[Planet Etrius]

I think I'd be a bad teacher but I agree. I think part of it is that most gamers this generation are used to all the details and even strategics to an extent being embedded in the game mechanics and features. In Halo you are the detailed game mechanics. Since there are not really any extra features on top of its FPS the player has the potential to develope even more unique and useful play styles based on a more simple game mechanic pallet of weapons, equipment, and vehicles with some detail + diversity in each category. It's like hip hop. The player is the artist and the art. There aren't many parts that you use and a lot of other people are probably using the same stuff but the instrument you're playing can do a million different collaborations and the style of music (gameplay style) is you.

 

And I realized I need to revise my OP too. Found it hard to read.