Halo 3: Improvement Techniques 7.) Recognizing Playstyles

This Blog deals with recognizing what type of player you are, and what type of player you are facing. I am not the pioneer of this, other have come before me and blogged about it, and they have done a reasonably good job so I'm going to be borrowing a lot of material from a site I visited when I was a Halo 2 n00b. That site is www.overswarm.com. I visted it last night for a little bit, and he has drastically changed the look of his site. Much of the information I'm about to give to you, he wrote first, and I'd link you directly to it if I could find it on his site. So keep in mind the majority of this information is paraphrased from his site. If I have anything to add to any future paragraphs, I'll write in italics.

It is helpful for any player to recognize what kind of player they are and what kind of player they are facing. Overswarm originally labelled players as any one or two of four different classifications.

1.) The Bear. The Bear is pretty much the type of player most people become when the first play Halo. The bear has no regard for thought, and no regard for his own welfare. The bear will charge masses of enemies in a suicidal attempt to take anyone he can with him. Surprisingly, as people continue to play in the "bear" playstyle, they generally become some of the most skilled killers in the game. The only problem is they never really learn how to reign in their self destructive tendencies. They aren't as much of a detraction from a team as you might think though. Most good teams have at least one bear among them, and a bear pointed in the right direction can destroy a team's defense leaving it open for the remaining players on the team to take advantage. In my opinion, bears are generally the main slayers on tactically minded teams.

2.) The Spider. The spider is the most commonly known as "the camper". Spiders allow you to see them in the hopes you will charge to attack them, or hope you wander into them. This is what they want. They have chosen the ground, and most likely, the weapon, of your demise. Spiders are generally smart players, but their prediliction to always lay traps is also their undoing. In team games they are easily avoided, and allow you to go 4 on 3 against the rest of their team mates. In lonewolf games, they are easily avoided as well, but if you find the majority if the people in the game with you keep falling into the spider's web, you must make attempts to get rid of him. Remember, the spider always looks weak, and then comes on strong. Don't fall for his tactics. Make him play your game.

3.) The Vulture. The vulture is probably the most hated player in the game. He is what is commonly know as the "kill stealer". This is the guy who will watch you engage someone in a battle, then when both of your shields are down, he'll toss a grenade into the middle of your battle and steal both kills. Vultures generally favor longer ranged weapons, and you'll almost always find them on the outskirts of any map. Don't get mad at them, what they are doing is reasonable when you think about it. They are giving themselves the best oppotunity of getting kills without dying. In lonewolf games, these guys will almost always come out on top.

4.) The Wolf. The wolf is a bit of a misnomer, because a wolf doesn't generally play by himself. A wolf runs in a pack, and as a pack, wolves are difficult to kill. Wolves will flank and attack en masse on one target. Wolves communicate well, and always have help nearby. And wolves generally change their playstyles often. A lone wolf is easy pickings generally. The trick is finding one who's by himself.

The trick to these classifications is realizing what type of player you are, and then consciously trying to change that play style around. An example of this is say you start out playing as a spider and setting and laying traps for people to run into. If you find this not working because people aren't coming your direction, or too many of them are and you aren't able to capitalize upon your trap, you need to change tact to fit the situation. In rumble pit games, you'll have to become a bear if no one is coming into your trap. If too many people are coming into your trap, a wise move would be to become a vulture.

In team games, it is generally wise to become a wolf. And if no one takes on the position of leadership, you need to at least try and direct the flow of battle. This doesn't mean you have to shout out orders or commands or get pissed if someone doesn't do what you thought they should do. It just means you call out positions in relation to team mates positions. let them figure out how to handle it. Wolves use all of the tactics of the other three travellers of noah's ark. Sometimes you must be a vulture and help team shoot one of your team mate's opponents. Sometimes you'll need to camp out an area to hold off an assault like a spider, and sometimes you'll be forced to become the bear and charge even if you know you're going to die.

Figuring out what kind of players your opponents are will help you out immensely. If you play a game against a guy who constantly charges, he's a bear. You now know this. what is a bear's weakness? his willingness to charge regardless of the consequences. So become a spider and set a trap for him. After a while, if your bear has any sense at all, he'll change his playstle to suit your. He won't charge anymore, but will sit back. Become a vulture then and shoot him from a distance. If you continue to beat him, chances are he'll become a camper. He's not camping to get kills though, he's camping out of frustration. so if you know where he is, you can toss a grenade and come at him like a bear.

Use this information to dictate how you approach different situations. And remember Overswarm is the guy who wrote all of this out. His site is www.overswarm.com .

your assignment for tonight is to use all of the previous blogs information and now, to try and recognize playstyles of different players you play again. try predicting their movements if you have them pegged as a certain type of p-layer. you might be surprised at what you can predict and take advantage of.