BravoMLG - Why Halo 4's Loadouts Can Revive Pro Halo
#1
Thu, 09/20/2012 - 06:29
BravoMLG - Why Halo 4's Loadouts Can Revive Pro Halo
BravoMLG comments on how Halo 4 may hold the options Pro Halo requires.
BravoMLG comments on how Halo 4 may hold the options Pro Halo requires.
Seeing how H4 will have such a huge sandbox of options, I really hope the "MLG types" give the default settings an honest try before deciding to strip things out of the game.
As a business model I think MLG dropped the ball on the one point made in the video- maps.
I'm a casual player with a bunch of online friends that prefer the MLG settings. I can't differentiate a 5% reduction in speed, jump height or damage but I know when I'm on a map I've never seen.
When MLG went to largely custom maps in Halo 3 I stopped watching matches. I don't expect default settings will get the workout Darth and I would like to see them get. Halo pros are the one group that could conceivably press the engine hardest to find out what it's capable of. However, if 3 and Reach are indicators, instead they will just tweak shit in an endless quest ro define some ideal from 10 years ago. Fine. But at least play on a map I can recognize, that isn't all one color and that isn't a remake of Warlock.
So to recap. If you play MLG gametypes you probably have a whole host of other feminine qualities as well.
Discuss.
There is another subtle point to “the revival”. In this discussion, we have covered maps, weapons and very apparent ingredients to Halo – but there is something also fundamental that prevents a rebirth of the brand. Something MLG has tried very hard to accomplish – having legitimate professional players, that other players/fans look too. Think about it in a traditional professional sports aspect – Professional players, NHL, NBA, MLB, Etc. are easily recognizable. You aren’t going to spot them playing pick up at the rink, and if you are…the differences are usually obvious, and immediate.
The Halo audience – the competitive “pro” audience, the MLG brand itself is comprised of players, chances are if we watch, we also play – the pro e-athlete persona exists without enough division. Even if you get your face handed to you, by a pro – we immediately trigger deflection – “they play more, they are hooked on adderall, etc.” Why? It breaks down in two parts.
1.We play on the same theoretic field/arena. We can emulate their “moves” easily.
Even though most pro gamers, are humble, polite and tremendously skilled, pride just doesn’t lend itself to fandom. Even in this thread, this comment
Joke, sure...but the point is apparent.
I'd say the problem was Bungie. Where there's talk about people not recognizing maps that the competitive folks are playing on, that's because most of the default maps didn't set up very well for the competitive douches at all. Forge enabled the douches to make those maps, which was then used as a crutch by Bungie, for them to branch out into Invasion gametypes and Firefight and what not. If a subset of the Halo population wants to play on these custom maps, then they can make their own, I assume Bungie thought. That's where this gap widened greatly, in my estimation.
Fix the maps, you fix the game.
I look forward to playing some vanilla Halo before seeing what to tweak, but, if there is a competitive playlist from the outset, I'm going to head towards that pretty quickly.
Bad maps and bloom are what killed Reach's MLG competitions. Granted there are other factors to consider, but I agree with Dixon in that "fix the maps, you fix the game". Well, considering that the weapons APPEAR to be in good working order and base movement and jump are back to quicker/higher settings.
Even if a couple of the weapons suck or don't make sense, they can be taken out. That part isn't the game breaker.
I will take bloom over BR spread every day of the week. If one shot lands, it registered all 3. Now, you have to control your rate of fire to make sure the target is within the reticule. That's not entirely a bad thing, and actually can give you kills faster at closer distances.
Removing bloom in Reach has ruined competitive play IMHO. With hitscan, it seems whoever has the twitchiest finger, or an onza with the fire button on a bumper, has the upper hand.
The problem with H3 was the netcode and mechanics of hits registering, the problem with reach is the lack of symetrical maps. I loved MLG in reach at the outset, and prefer 90% of the map weapon loadouts (sniper/rox on countdown is a PRIME example) By moving the power weapons to where they have them spawn, it forces the players to move from the nooby choke points to actually have to control multiple locations. I also miss having sprint and evade.
Vanilla-ing it all down caters to noobs like "insert MLGpro beta tester" who spams the trigger now, as seen in a BUNCH of the H4 vids he plays in, and gets his ass handed to him in EASY pickup situations.
The more videos I watch of single person complete gameplays, the more excited I am to see what balance everyone has in being able to choose how they want to play. It seems very fast paced, I just don't like all the waypoint markers on screen....
AND the medals that popped in the Covey video look AWESOME if anyone missed em :)
I'm sticking with the audience factor. It is the one factor that has to work. None of the other stuff about fair, kill times or skill matter if this game only pulls in the audience sizes of the past. I know I am guessing but I figure the old audiences were primarily hard core players who typically like MLG settings. I continue to believe those numbers will not revive a Pro Halo league for long.
This game needs a much wider audience for Pro events who can identify with what is going on, on the screen. I.E. More flash, bang, vehicles and a very similar sandbox to default MM playlists. Those are players that we consider today to be casual and maybe even people who don't even play Halo (friends, partners).
I suppose if Halo 4 was so massively successful there would be enough hardcore players to make up an audience of sufficient size but that would mean a huge influx from COD games and I really can't see that happening over an extended period.
If I understand this correctly, the question is how do we cater to a broader audience, and a comp audience - without altering the mechanics of the game, in great strides. From what Im seeing, I think h4 is aiming for that…
But with anything "pro" or competitive - it will get boiled down. Wether its the game's administrator, or the players themselves. Weapon selections will emerge, tactics, nades....
IMO - I think people look back to h3, and h2 with rose colored glasses. Nostalgia unfortunately clouds vision a lot in life.
H2, was made good by MLG, not vice versa. H2 didn’t even have Team Slayer when it launched. H3 was meh, but we played the hell out of it. There was also a lot less CoD, GoW - so h3 was the go to. Reach....IMO, is awesome. I love being able to shoot someone from more than 15 feet away. I do think it’s harder to be average in Reach, which hurts its popularity. After all CoD is more laden with average players, then the bullets strewn and sprayed across walls in slo-mo cinematic for the winning kill. What’s not to like?
With Halo - I think a lot of people are just tired of the grind. Hopefully, that will go away with H4.
I just want to say - I like them all. I played the heck out of CE, h2, h3, and Reach...and I am looking forward to h4 as well. Community is what makes these games great - Pro, Comp, Casual.
I think you nailed it - GREAT POST!
Halo 4 has the potential to bring all of what we loved about the previous games and mash them up into one epic title. I believe this is what 343 is hoping will happen and that Halo fans will come back and renew the series.
I have to echo what bubba and dixon are saying. MAPS MAPS MAPS MAPS MAPS. Sure bloom was a dividing factor and the amor abilities were a bit silly, but the bottom line was that Reach put the designing of maps into the hands of the players. While this might have seemed good on paper, it didn't create a memorable or inspiring experience. Everything turned into a monotone-grey lifeless arena where the viewer couldn't point out one defining trait to relate to.
If i'm viewing a game I want to see a map I've played on, watch what a pro does on it, and relate that to my own game play. Instead we get a game that was stripped of everything Halo Reach was out of the box on a map that almost no one could recognize. Then we fell into the world of REHASH REMAKE RESELL which I've bitched about endlessly on my vidcast with LB. Sure beaver creek was fun 5 YEARS AGO why would anyone take that environment seriously after it has already been played to death. So in closing...
MAPS
MAPS! Yes - agreed - the latest packs and installment of Halo could of been better. Though I dont think Reach had a fair chance there. We gotta really play maps in order to start loving them. How many maps do all of us HATE!.....but within a year or two, LOVED!
It's what I've been saying here and there. If left to a minority of vocal gamers, they'd love Halo to death. These people only want the Halo CE experience and the same maps from CE and Halo 2. They can't even agree amongst themselves which maps are the best but they still just want the old maps.
In some ways I hate Forge because the community tries to remake the old maps and start arguing about which is the best remake and that they are better than what comes from the developer.
In some ways, Forge and the level of customization we get from Halo is a curse.
There where no default BTB maps at all. The DLC never comes up in matchmaking and there are no good 4v4 competitive maps. Maps to me in the end will be Reaches biggest fail. I love alot of stuff about the game, DMR, weapon balance, netcode, but without good maps its just not as much fun. I remember playing Midship, Lockout, Standoff, Pit and just not getting tired of playing these maps, but Reach had no go to maps that gave me that feeling.
See? You're killing Independent George, with your vehicles and your lack of skill. Your types had their way with Reach. You're killing the good Halo that was in Halo 3. Well....you get the rest of the reference.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxuYdzs4SS8
I'm not sure I follow what you mean Neks.
Many of the halo "pros" have fan followings. With the increased exposure to pro play via streaming sites like Twitch.TV, it's even easier to watch these guys play on a daily basis AND even get their faces out there so people may actually know who they are and not just a gamertag.
Now as far as what makes somebody "pro", I suppose there could be the idea of somebody that gets paid to play and travels to the various competitions in order to compete and win prize money. Many of these guys even have sponsors that help them out.
Overall, I don't know what exactly classifies somebody as "pro" and perhaps that is exactly your point...lol
Well - its partially my point.
There are definitley "fans", and there are most certainly pros. My point was more aimed at this particular topic, the "revival" portion anyways. For a revival, or a fan base and viewership to increase - maps, loadouts, etc are all great - but its not going to just save a franchise (MLG Halo).
Halo is/was so saturated, and the pros just became "kids" that are good because, A, B, C excuse. Then that turned into "this sucks, and Im bad because A, B, C excuse". Ill go play this game or that game.
Sort of like Android phones are COD, and iPhones are Halo. The first post you will read after any iphone news on any site will be "OMG, youre a sheep, apple sucks, Droid DOES111!!!!1one!111".
Droid does, only because apple did - and iphones are "played out". Hopefully Halo4, is more like the iphone 3g, where we are excited again, and not just waiting for the next vanilla installment.
Right now, I think the biggest thing Halo 4 has going for it, is the lack of players playing Reach - I think people are/were just tired of Halo. Reach isnt a failure by any means, especially financially....but in the eyes of fans, it fails.
Though I bet if Reach came out when H3 did, and H3 came out when reach did.....we would be talking about how Reach was so great, and how much H3 sucked. knowwhadimean?
Well, like you pointed out, nostalgia can screw with peoples' perception sometimes.