Social Skirmish discusses issues with Halo 4
#1
Fri, 11/23/2012 - 19:18
Social Skirmish discusses issues with Halo 4
I've only seen a few minutes of it but the issues mentioned there are real and I also am scratching my head over some of the things 343i said pre-release. Hopefully the whole vid has quality content.
I didn't watch, but first and foremost:
Fix the damn server issues.
I expected to just hear a bunch of whining, but every complaint there is something legit. Join in progress sucks, power weapons despawning after 10 seconds is retarded. I don't get how any of this made it past testing.
I don't know why people are hating on "join in progress." Unless they are only worried about their Win/Loss - it makes the game more fun and balanced when you are playing against a full team.
They were clear how they like Halo 4 in spite of the issues. Surprising to me was the dislike for Slayer Pro because it lacked the entertaining features of Infinity Slayer. Those entertaining features were the ones I remember them being very concerned about pre-release. I certainly agree with a lot of their points. They shouldn't have been surprised about the DMR though. Plenty of opinions stated the DMR had to retain bloom or have a reduced rate of fire. Others wanted it as in REACH but without bloom. 343i was damned if they did or didn't. I like the lurching over de-scoping. De-scoping in previous Halos made me a little nauseous and I'm glad it's gone for now. I know THC has 343i's ear for now.
What hit me, and I only watched the first part of this, is that the points being made are ones that the community would normally provide during the course of a beta -- i.e. basic playability and game setup issues. I still think 343 made a major mistake by not providing a beta for community testing, and rushing the game to market. Hopefully they will go in and fix the problems and expand the functionality.
this, this, and this^^^
My biggest outstanding complaints are the sounds and spawning. They can't fix the sounds I guess. Not sure about spawning. I spawn right in the middle of enemy teams a whole lot. Getting cross mapped during spawn is one thing, but in the midst of the team? I don't recall ever having such issues since H3. I think they were largely fixed in Reach.
Otherwise, I'm loving it. Weapon balance seems really good.
Unfortunately, I traded in my copy today. I started off loving Halo 4, but 30 hours in the frustrations I had with the game were too much. Active Camo is such horseshit in Infinity Slayer, especially when the Boltshot is a starting weapon. The starting weapons themselves are really unbalanced so if you're not using the DMR is most instances, you're just gimping yourself. Playing BTB is little more than people sniping each other across the map with a starting weapon that has near perfect accuracy, infinite range, and a fast firing rate. You could make the comparison to the pistol in Halo CE, but the range on that thing was at least far more limited. Playing Infinity Slayer is all about people camping with Active Camo. The instant respawns ruins playlists like KOTH where you're facing a constant barrage of grenade spam in the capture area. The ordanance themselves, while exciting at first, just becomes a point of irritation. Great, I get a choice between speed boost, concussion rifle, and sticky detonator. The other guy? He gets a SAW, Incinerator Cannon, and Overshield. Guess who's going to win? The random elements, or the "COD-ification" of Halo 4 was interesting and fun at first, but I've grown to despise it. Halo was about skill, predictability, and coordination. That all goes out the window when you're at the mercy of what the Halo gods determines to awards you for your efforts when it's time for your ordinance drop. On top of it all it's not even a month in and I'm already sick of playing the same damn maps. Where did those billions of dollars go, 343i? I'm still hopeful they can patch the game and tweak things, but right now it's just an ugly mutant hybrid of Halo and COD where the respective elements are fighting between themselves. Sorry for the rant. I feel better now
sorry to lose you Laser. I love the game, and it'll only get better.
Play Slayer Pro. problems solved.
Not my cup of tea. Prefer larger games and objectives.
you want large maps and objectives, but with only basic weapons? That will be really boring.
Where did I say that? Read my original post again. My specific complaints were that the DMR is too overpowered, especially in large maps where you're constantly at threat of being sniped from across the map in for sticking your head out of cover for a few seconds, and active camo is far too effective with the plethora of one-shot kill weapons (shotgun, scattershot, boltshot, binary rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, incinerator cannon, etc.) Halo didn't always have ordinance drops, you know.
Were you one of the people who WANTED this DMR in Reach? The DMR HAS bloom right now. Check it in fileshare, it is negligible at medium to close distances, but is quite evident at long range.
I agree that the BR needs upgraded and the boltshot nerfed or made a power weapon.
This game is just zero skill now, and I hate that. I was tempted to put in my reach disc last night! A friend of mine has shown me that firepower with DMR/AR is pretty much a loadout built like a brick shithouse. VERY tough to beat.
"I had more fun with reach in all honesty, and the game was much more difficult to play. Balance is something of the wayside now I believe."
I played Reach about 4-5 months, maybe. I hated the maps with a passion, and no BR + Armor Lock nailed the coffin shut for me. Not fun.
This is fun. It has issues, sure - but it's only like 3 weeks in. It will get tweaked.
I disagree hearily that it's zero skill. I don't know where you're getting that. Sure the mass of power weapons bugs me - but you can still own the other team by smarts and shooting skill. Plus so far as the DMR/AR thing goes - anyone can equip these, so it's even footing.
The aim assist is where it requires ZERO skill. Sniping is super easy, with EITHER sniper. Binary rifle is easy. DMR is hit scan with very minimal bloom. BR is too easy at close range. AR is overpowered. Boltshot? Scatterburst?
All of these weapons require no skill to play with. I find myself saying fuck it, and just slaying. This game is sadly too easy with default Infinity anything.
I hated slayer pro the first couple times I played it, but it is actually where skill comes into play. I'm not going +30, but instead going +8. This game is just too fucking simple to get kills. But I guess that was the point to suck in all the call of duty people. Decreasing kill times and all.
I notice that I've been getting paired up in Matchmaking with a lot of Euros, which is either horrible news for them or horrible news for me. With all the folks playing, do we really need to get formed up with someone half a world over to make a game?
The only server issues I've had are with input lag. It's pretty annoying in BTB and a complete game breaker in SWAT. Since I play about 90% SWAT, I've had my rage moments. With that said, I still love the game and will continue to play it.
I don't care about k/d or w/l. JIP isn't fun for me. I continually get thrown into games at the end, on a team with only one guy on it, and half the time that guy isn't playing. Joining a game at the end and getting spawn killed three times without being able to do anything isn't fun for me. Joining one minute before the game ends isn't fun.
I guess I'm used to having a party of 2O2P people, so I'd at least have 4 or 5 people and therefore very rarely get thrown into a game. I'm looking at it from the opposite end of having to try to find the 2 people left on the opposing team for 10 minutes.
Joining at the end of a match is frustrating. However, I'd much rather have jip than get stuck with an unbalanced team. I just wish there was a cut off. I'd say if a team was within 200 points of winning, or there are less than five minutes remaining, then you couldn't join unless invited.
@ Shadow sometimes I'm on when no one else is, so I run into MM for a few games alone
@ Wam lol!! I know when you're there, because you're swearing :)
All my posts aside - i very much agree with most of the video (so far, still watching).
But I'm still having fun with the game, so much more fun than Reach.
I had more fun with reach in all honesty, and the game was much more difficult to play. Balance is something of the wayside now I believe.
JIP is supposed to be updated today, I think. Not sure where I read it. Might have been a 343i twitter of the weekly bulletin.
I don't go into MM much so let everyone know if you notice a change one way or the other.