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Halo |OT8| A Salt on the Control Room

Striker

Member
While I do agree 100 percent with this, I really hope there is ranking. I just can't trust "trueskill is working behind the scenes" Just divide the playlists competitive and social like in Halo 2 and Halo 3.

plssss 343
Those did completely different separations, though. One made very limited unranked capacities and one did duplicates from the ranked version, which caused a rise in the number of playlists overall.

Still curious how some of these playlists will work, i.e. guests involvement.
 
Hmmm.. I remember in one of the recent videos, can't remember which one, that completing a game unlocked a couple of AAs. I'm not sure if it's the PAX build that does that. I'll try and quickly dig it up.

edit: found it:

iWwTEOL3hTyKT.png
Unlockable AA's? Called it :) Btw, nice find.
 

Woorloog

Banned
I don't suppose anyone anywhere has yet compiled a comprehensive list of all stuff revealed in PAX?
Smaller and bigger changes, general lists of stuff in-game, that sort of stuff.
 

Aggrotek

Member
Are the links Plywood provided not working for anyone else?
I downloaded all of them but part 4 and it keeps saying the link is broken.


Also my loadout of choice so far:

Primary: Carbine
Secondary: Boltshot/BR
Grenades: Stickies
AA: Thruster Pack/PV
Tactical:Mobility/Firepower
Support: Dexterity

Quoted for new page and fixed my loadout...


If I run into a camo user I'm immediately switching to promethian vision. Fuck that AA so much.
But I thought you couldn't see AC with PV...
 

feel

Member
Active camo user, oh boy.

Such an unbelievable crutch, I really hate that 343 left it in as an AA.
And jetpack.. smh. They'll be damned if any Reach player will feel that his favorite stuff was left out of this game. Fuck what the 2001-2009 fans might want though.
 
Called this last thread. One of the ViDocs had the back piece for Mark IV untextured on a monitor for a split second. It was the same one that had Armored Core Halo in it, I think.

Called the BR coming back on toys, Mark IV coming back, and I called out the Spectre 'cause we're getting a Megabloks Spectre set. Two for three so far. I'm better than a psychic.

Also, that looks like a Mark IV shoulder piece.

Do you mean VI?
 

Recarpo

Member
If I run into a camo user I'm immediately switching to promethian vision. Fuck that AA so much.

In nexy's video that somebody posted yesterday, you couldn't see the active camo user with promethean vision.

Does camo actually show red dots on the radar, though? The only thing I've seen from some of the videos is it showing blue dots and it still shows the camo user as a red dot if he's moving. That seems like it would be much less effective that way.
 
Uh, we already knew this. Guess what, armor, weapons, visors, (everything) is unlocked too.
In the previous thread, I questioned a theory if they were unlockable starting with PV default and you unlock to progress from there. This was during RTX. When I brought that up someone said they are all available and not unlockables.
Edit: Since E3? Haven't seen any sources stating that before which is very odd.
 
What do you think will be your primary load-out come November? (or when you unlock appropriate weapons/mods) (this post has most of the options)

I'm thinking Light Rifle (or DMR) + BR, Hard Light Shield, Firepower and Dexterity.
Maybe DMR + Magnum, Promethean Vision, Mobility and Awareness for BTB.
DMR
Storm Rifle
Thusters
Frags
Firepower
Dexterity

I was shocked at how fast that became my go to this weekend. I will have a number of loadouts for different playlists/gametypes though, and just to mix things up a bit. Also, in MM we won't have everything unlocked at first like we did in customs, so people will be forced to try out some different combos.
Please

I think DLC armor has to be viable at this point. With the Reach trails and them knowing how to do it with Halo 3 but the high workload you think pipelines for this kind of dlc would of been streamlined so its doable and one a somewhat faster scale.

GRD was the test bed
I expect DLC armor.

Maybe it will even be in the form of a specialization, so when you get a new DLC, you get 10 new levels of progression to unlock the new content.
Wait, you can have the same weapon twice in your loadout?

ipGFeT4BnDVU4.png
Definitely a bug. When you selected secondary weapon with firepower on, the weapon you have as your primary doesn't show on the list of weapons to choose from.
 

DeadNames

Banned
Primary: Light Rifle/BR
Secondary: Magnum or Boltshot
Grenade: Pulse for BTB, Frags for normal Slayer.
AA: Sorry... Jetpack or PV
Perks: Dexterity and Mobility.

Also can Frankie or someone say if you can jet pack from lower Haven to upper Haven? Thanks.

Edit: also, VCR helmet errday.
 

Overdoziz

Banned
So as an avid Active Camo user, below is a compiled list of all observed active camo changes and my analysis of how it will affect gameplay. These are all predictions and what I've seen from the videos and most of them I am pretty sure of. :) The main reference is this video, but there are others I've noticed things like Nexy's LR gameplay and NakedEli's attempt at camo to "sneak into their base" *shakes head*:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FHG4Y4l5UQ

  • First things first the amount of radar jamming dots has been reduced from 15+ to only 6 dots. This does multiple things for camo.
  • - At first glance of your radar it isn't as obvious that someone with camo is around you. It could actually be 6 people of a team in BTB games (if you are crouched). Allowing you to play defense with that added scare factor of maybe the team is actually camping in there.
  • - In Reach when you knew there was someone using camo around you, you just ignored your radar because tracking all those dots was unfeasible and distracting. They focused on what was around them making it more likely that you will be found thanks to your shimmer of camo. Now tracking a handful of dots on the radar is feasible and most people won't think to count the amount of dots on the radar that camo makes. So instead of ignoring their radar they will analyze the dots and see if they can pick out movement that they expect you to do in the given situation. This makes them equally aware as Reach (if they ignore their radar) or less aware and more distracted if they are analyzing their radar meaning less chance you'll get seen.
  • Dots on the radar do not move random and sporadically like they do in Reach. The dots are slower and more believable. Not all of them are just swirling around. Some stand still, some move forward quickly, etc. Because of this it is easier for someone to think a particular dot is you. ;)
  • Dots on the radar are no longer always almost centered around you. Instead these dots can be all behind you or a couple in front and the rest behind, or in a line off to the right. This stops players from being able to track camo players based on the dot circle. And for those who decide to continue to track based on that will end up getting assassinated by a smart camo user who knows how to analyze what their opponent is going to do.
  • A small side bonus to the dots being more predictable and there being less of them is that a good camo player can actually more accurately predict how his opponent is going to move based on the setup of dots on the radar. As long as the dots are the same for everyone in range. Which can easily be checked in split screen and with a friend on a different xbox in your house. Something I'll be checking day one.
  • When you come out of camo you lose a chunk of camo. Looks to be about 2 seconds worth of camo. I am pretty sure this is to avoid people spamming it to save on camo time like I used to. In Reach you can tap spam it to make sure that you avoided the initialization period where you are transferring between visible and not visible without loosing too much camo time. This also had the side effect of making people ignore their radar thinking that it would be useless since there is a camo user about.
  • [Unconfirmed] When you run around while camo is activated instead of being in poor camo you shimmer back and forth between no camo and good camo. This can be seen at the beginning of Nexy's video for his first opponent and later in the video right after he becomes king. This is an interesting change cuz there is a very slight chance that if you are moving around and someone is sweeping an area they may pass over your location while you are in good camo. I have yet to see how camo interacts with sprint yet so I don't know if you can sprint while this happens or if sprint makes you fully visible or just shuts off camo all together. I don't think it would shut off camo, but this effect may happen with sprint allowing you to sprint between cover and possibly not be seen.
  • [Unconfirmed] The total camo time is less than TU camo. TU camo is around 20 seconds if I remember correctly while this camo looks to be about 15 seconds as long as you don't come out of it. Meaning it has to be more intelligently to be of optimal use.
  • [Unconfirmed] It might be just me, but in the videos I watched of people using camo it seemed like the meter went down slower when you were moving as opposed to when you sit still. I REALLY hope this is the case because this promotes more active stalking rather than just players sitting still and camping/sniping. It seems that you can squeeze an extra 3-5 seconds out of camo by actively moving rather than sitting still. This also means that if you are under pressure by a pursuer and you stay still you have less time before you run out of camo. This would be a buff to players who actually move with camo or at least a better state than those who don't (like me) and a nerf to those who camp or snipe with camo. :)
  • Remove Camo
 

Brolic Gaoler

formerly Alienshogun
In nexy's video that somebody posted yesterday, you couldn't see the active camo user with promethean vision.

Does camo actually show red dots on the radar, though? The only thing I've seen from some of the videos is it showing blue dots and it still shows the camo user as a red dot if he's moving. That seems like it would be much less effective that way.

That's some bullshit, PV needs to be a counter for it, because as it stands there is no counter then.

In the previous thread, I questioned a theory if they were unlockable starting with PV default and you unlock to progress from there. This was during RTX. When I brought that up someone said they are all available and not unlockables.

Then that person was confused/short sighted. Congrats on seeing the future though...
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
It's posts like this that make me question why I bother updating the OP.
I've been on GAF for six years, and I rarely think to look in an OP for recent news. Someday I'll get in the habit.
 

willow ve

Member
  • Remove Camo

Maybe the fact that no achievements are tied to any specific AA is 343's concession that certain aspects of the game might prove to be game breaking. You can't remove an item that is tied to an achievement, but they conceivably could drop Camo, Hardlight Shield, and Jetpack if they prove to be too easy to abuse.

Same thing happened in 3 when the exploits were discovered with certain equipment pickups.
 
For those who don't like camo, I agree that it would have fit perfect with the ordnance system and I wouldn't have been opposed. However I also think that with the right balance tweaks Active Camo increases the tension of encounters rather than ruins them. Camo sniping is a cruel culprit and something I'm very against as well as camping with the shottie. And I think that camo should drain MUCH faster while you are standing still to promote active stalkerish use of AC rather than camping/slow gameplay with AC. I use Active Camo as a misdirection AA. It forces players to think a certain way and move a certain way and it allows me to exploit that and go in for the assassination. The radar jammer is key to making people aware of AC and it makes people move predictably. A good camo user knows how to exploit that predictability. In addition the removal of aim assist is great and how I win a lot of encounters in 1v1s because it effectively allows me to get the first shot in.

So I agree with you that Active Camo is unfun when abused, but I think there is a way to make it balanced and the changes are taking a step in the right direction. Again I wouldn't mind AC being a powerup in ordnance, but I do enjoy the unique playstyle it allows me to play. I play an action stealth game inside of Halo. It is a completely different way of playing and that is something I like about AAs. They encourage people to play in their own way as long as they are utility abilities, not improvement abilities.

In nexy's video that somebody posted yesterday, you couldn't see the active camo user with promethean vision.

Does camo actually show red dots on the radar, though? The only thing I've seen from some of the videos is it showing blue dots and it still shows the camo user as a red dot if he's moving. That seems like it would be much less effective that way.

Actually I looked back at Nexy's video and the first opponent he runs into with camo is signified by a red dot as well as the other opponent, but the AC dots are blue... perhaps this is a bug.
 
So after looking at the different armor mods I'm going to go with this as my main loadout I think,

Primary Weapon: Battle Rifle
Secondary Weapon: Magnum
Grenade Type: Frags
Armor Ability: Promethean Vision
Tactical Package Shielding
Support Upgrade Dexterity
 

Skilotonn

xbot xbot xbot xbot xbot
Digging a couple of the helmets, good to see that even if this isn't all of them, there'll be some that I already like. Still want the unicorn one somehow too.

Oh and I'm gonna quote this excellent post again for myself and others to watch later today:

This is what I was able to round up (mostly thanks to Cyren and THC folks, but some other sources in here as well). I know there are some more impressions I'm missing but as I mentioned previously, I was catching up on 30+ pages.. so if anyone else dropped some impressions here, please add. This should be helpful for those of us lttp and want a single list of content to go through;

...

Halo 4 - Media/Info Dump - PAX 2012

Halo 4 Panel
Halo Reborn - PAX Panel

Vidoc
Halo 4: A Hero Awakens - Vidoc
Gameplay & Cutscenes from the Vidoc (Only)

Gameplay

Haven
Haven Gameplay (Light Rifle/Hologram)
Haven Gameplay (Incinerator Canon)
Haven Gameplay (Binary Rifle) - @ 38s
Haven Gameplay w/ Walshy (+ loadout options)

Exile
CTF on Exile Gameplay
CTF on Exile Gameplay (Boltshot)
CTF on Exile Gameplay w/ Bravo (Light Rifle, Sniper, Thruster Pack)
20+ min CTF on Exile Gameplay w/ Nak3d Eli - Lots of new content
Halo Waypoint's Original Exile Gamplay Teaser
CTF on Exile Gameplay
CTF on Exile Gameplay via Wu

Demos
Oddball Demo on Exile
Grifball Demo in New Forge Environment*
*Grifball arena shown here is a small part of a new Forge environment

Forward Unto Dawn
New Halo 4 "Cryo" Video

Screenshots
Exile Screenshots I
Exile Screenshots II

Impressions
Time Glitch
Ghaleon (Part I - Movement, "Feel," Golden Tripod)
Heckfu

*Will continue to update as I find more content.
 

L1NETT

Member
If I run into a camo user I'm immediately switching to promethian vision. Fuck that AA so much.

Sorry if this has been answered, but can one of the people who have played it answer whether PV can see camo users?

Edit: Cheers Higher and Steely, I am just hoping they are visible in some form.


Go to about 4:40 of this video. You can see him use PV against a camo user and not see them until they are around the corner and then you see a little bit of an outline.

Thank you!
 

Overdoziz

Banned
For those who don't like camo, I agree that it would have fit perfect with the ordnance system and I wouldn't have been opposed. However I also think that with the right balance tweaks Active Camo increases the tension of encounters rather than ruins them. Camo sniping is a cruel culprit and something I'm very against as well as camping with the shottie. And I think that camo should drain MUCH faster while you are standing still to promote active stalkerish use of AC rather than camping/slow gameplay with AC. I use Active Camo as a misdirection AA. It forces players to think a certain way and move a certain way and it allows me to exploit that and go in for the assassination. The radar jammer is key to making people aware of AC and it makes people move predictably. A good camo user knows how to exploit that predictability. In addition the removal of aim assist is great and how I win a lot of encounters in 1v1s because it effectively allows me to get the first shot in.

So I agree with you that Active Camo is unfun when abused, but I think there is a way to make it balanced and the changes are taking a step in the right direction. Again I wouldn't mind AC being a powerup in ordnance, but I do enjoy the unique playstyle it allows me to play. I play an action stealth game inside of Halo. It is a completely different way of playing and that is something I like about AAs. They encourage people to play in their own way as long as they are utility abilities, not improvement abilities.
Camo AA makes people camp.
Camo power-up makes people move around.
Camo on demand is dumb.
 

Holiday

Banned
Did anyone get extended time with the sniper? Just wondering how the balance feels between it and all these primary rifles.
 
That's some bullshit, PV needs to be a counter for it, because as it stands there is no counter then.

At close range the counter to it is psychology and understanding how an AC player moves and just being aware of your surroundings. It actually isn't that hard to understand how AC players play and to abuse that. I love full teams of AC players because they make the easiest targets because typical AC players are the most predictable players out there because AC acts as a false security blanket.

At long range I can see your argument as countering camo sniping can be a bit of a hassle which is why I propose AC drains faster while standing still. 10 seconds of pure stationary time and 20-30 seconds of time if you keep moving. Moving ensures that the camo aspect (the displacement that it creates) is easier to see than just standing still. I'd also say add in removing time from AC for every shot taken, but that is getting a bit nit picky and overly complex so probably not. Perhaps firing disables camo in general and takes a chunk out. That could work as well.
 

TCKaos

Member
First game in. Got Super Slayer DMRs on Powerhouse.

We lost 50-34, of which I had 27.

So yeah, who wants to play some TF2 and Arma?
 

Ramirez

Member
And jetpack.. smh. They'll be damned if any Reach player will feel that his favorite stuff was left out of this game. Fuck what the 2001-2009 fans might want though.

Indeed, I feel like Jetpacks won't be as much of a problem with bloom gone though. 9/10 times when I would die to a jetpacker it was because they went up, and bloom just goes haywire and refuses to acknowledge headshots for some reason.
 
Camo AA makes people camp.
Camo power-up makes people move around.

I completely agree. The timer on a power-up encourages active use before it runs out to ensure you reap the rewards of it. However I still feel that you can cater to players like myself without making it too unfair. Several other games use active camo where it doesn't completely create camping gameplay. Transformers WFC/FOC are great examples where Scouts/Infiltrators have access to camo on demand yet they are completely balanced against the rest of the sandbox. Hell scientists can turn into jets yet they have managed to balance them out as well. Now there is the factor that Transformers can dip into varied health amounts as a balancing knob, but there are other balance knobs that can be tweaked to meet a similar balance.
 
Did anyone at PAX get to use the Concussion Rifle, and if so is it any different? Also, those who went to PAX- Are there any weapons we didn't really know about? From videos we have seen the Binary Rifle and Incinerator Cannon in action, and we saw an image of the Concussion Rifle as a weapon drop. Oh, and we also saw the Beam Rifle in action for a little bit.

We still need to see the Regen Field in action... Any impressions on how that thing worked? And what about the Boltshot.. Was anyone able to use that successfully and if so what is it like?


For those who went through the armory, are there any old favorites or expanded fiction helmets that we don't know about yet? We have only seen a few from the PAX vids, so I assume there are still a few we don't know about.


The Germans always make good stuff.

h4_helmets.jpg



Assume the worst, hope for the best.

Hm, I like them in the context of the game.. I just hope there are enough unique chest and body pieces to really distinctly vary out look.

Hmmm.. I remember in one of the recent videos, can't remember which one, that completing a game unlocked a couple of AAs. I'm not sure if it's the PAX build that does that. I'll try and quickly dig it up.

edit: found it:

iWwTEOL3hTyKT.png

That is one strange looking helmet.
 
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