Halo: Reach Discussion

[p0lar_bear]

You're speaking as if you have absolutely no options for cover. GET THE FUCK BEHIND SOMETHING.

Speaking from my luck and experience on the matter in similar scenarios:

Incoming hail of grenades.

Or a spammy scorpion.

I think the biggest issue with the laser is the fact that it's often used when nobody sees it coming. Like, oftentimes, say, on sandtrap in H3, of course everybody expects to get lasered if they get in a vehicle at match start. But, after it gets used and the game goes on, vehicles come out and start doing their thing. Then out of seemingly fucking nowhere, you get lasered while trying to escape after your gunner just died in a firefight.

[sevlag]

regardless of vehicles, boneyard still focuses heavily on "on foot" combat so laser becomes more or less a anti-personnel weapon

still think invasion is pretty fun

[Arteen]

Hell, I'm all for making the game harder, the last two were too easy, which is why I sucked at them in multiplayer. I guess you and I will just have to be content with our opinions.

Yeah, but I don't really see it as making the game harder, since you just have to shoot slower to be accurate. It just feels tedious to always have to fire a gun slightly slower than it allows any time you want to use it, when the playability could be improved just by making the gun shoot slower in the first place. I can live with it if it doesn't decreasein the final, but meh.

More thoughts on the beta:

• How to balance the plasma launcher without nerfing its tracking: make its projectiles do half-damage. This would change the dynamics of the weapon tremendously, for the better, but it would still be a powerful weapon.
• The vehicle combat, at least on Boneyard Invasion, isn't any good. It's way too easy to EMP a vehicle when an entire team gets grenade launchers. As an Elite, you can jetpack high above a Scorpion, hit it with an overcharge, then drop grenades on it. Bye, bye tank.
• I have no idea when my vehicle is about to blow up or die. I've committed suicide in a Banshee because I performed a loop up into a ceiling accidentally and that apparently killed me? When I'm flying around in a Banshee and get shot by a Scorpion, I usually have no good indication what happened to me until I respawn and see the tank. It just looked like I suddenly died. I've seen (and been in) Wraiths that didn't last 5 seconds after spawning, same with Scorpions. When you're in the midst of combat, you have no clear indication as to when your vehicle is going to blow up, and it's always invariably 'way too soon'.
• Fix Invasion so I can actually see where all my teammates are at all times, not just when they're obstructed by geometry. While we're at it, don't make their indicators so pale. I've seen (and caused) so much friendly fire because people cannot tell at a glance if a vehicle is hostile or friendly.
• Similarly, as an Elite, if someone else has the core and I don't have line-of-sight, then I cannot even see the marker above the core. What the heck?
• I dunno, but Spartans seem to get all of the cool loadouts. I know they should get a slight advantage due to being slower and weaker, but Elites don't get any fun weapons, and the sword is severly gimped compared to a shotgun, since the sword has barely any lunge and can be blocked.
• Laser? Terrible, terrible weapon. It seems unchanged since Halo 3, which is a bad thing. You really can't evade it, even in a Banshee, if the user is half-competent. No, the charge time and red beam really don't make a difference. How to balance it? I'd suggest not giving the beam a width. If you miss, you miss. On vehicles, the beam has to intersect the driver or else it does much less damage. Or preferably get rid of it. The laser doesn't miss because you have leet banshe skillz, it misses because the user f'ed up.
• What happened to the turret seat on a tank being durable? At full health and shields, I'll just get killed by a Wraith mortar. I liked how in Halo 3 you could survive a bit longer than that.
• Regular Invasion isn't all that fun. As an Elite in tier 1, have fun rushing past all of those DMRs. If you and your battle bro die, have fun trekking all the way back to the ship from your spawn point. Either that or one of you hides near the ship the whole time, and the other one rushes the territories. Too bad that's not any fun for half the team. For tier 2, the inside territory is too easy to defend, so there is no reason to try taking it over the outside territory. Overall, the progression from territories->territories->1FlagCTF isn't particularly interesting. It doesn't feel like there is much variety between each match.
• In Invasion, spawns (especially for Elites) tend to be very far away. Either one Elite hides and their battle bro continually respawns and rushes for the objective, or they both try to fight, die, and have a long trek back. Not fun.
• In Invasion Slayer, one third of the map is never used. No territories spawn over there and there are no spawn points over there, so Bungie might as well just block it off.

[jcap]

The vehicles were so damn overpowered in Halo 3 and invincible to literally anything that there weren't enough lasers on maps.

I haven't played against enough vehicles yet, since I usually die by another heavy weapon before I can even do damage to the vehicles, but when I was driving in them they did feel like they take damage easier. Well, maybe they don't take damage easier, as more damage is inflicted on them...

Invasion needs to be faster paced.

[sevlag]

I like the warthog chaingun turret, now people can jsut sit on that all day and kill, the turning speed is :\

I hate hate HATE incopitent teammates on invasion, whats that you say? the elties have the laser and rockets? well now HOW THE FUCK DID THEY GET THOSE?

[Warsaw]

They rushed past the armoury on the way to the Tier 2 objective? Somebody doesn't have to die for them to get those.

Personally, I think Invasion would be infinitely more entertaining if it were more similar to a Halo-spun version of Unreal Tournament's Warfare or Assault modes instead of a hack of Territories and CTF.

Also, when the Elites get the core, a base alarm should sound off until it's returned or end of the match.

[sevlag]

They rushed past the armoury on the way to the Tier 2 objective? Somebody doesn't have to die for them to get those.

Personally, I think Invasion would be infinitely more entertaining if it were more similar to a Halo-spun version of Unreal Tournament's Warfare or Assault modes instead of a hack of Territories and CTF.

Also, when the Elites get the core, a base alarm should sound off until it's returned or end of the match.

there is a sort of alarm that sounds when the core is "cracked"

[Pooky]

The vehicles were so damn overpowered in Halo 3 and invincible to literally anything that there weren't enough lasers on maps.

I haven't played against enough vehicles yet, since I usually die by another heavy weapon before I can even do damage to the vehicles, but when I was driving in them they did feel like they take damage easier. Well, maybe they don't take damage easier, as more damage is inflicted on them...

Invasion needs to be faster paced.

Uh, what ?

Shit, vehicles, run for cover! Quick, use one of the four available anti-vehicle explosives or 2 methods to EMP (most of which spawn right in the goddamn bases)! Failing that, shoot any given part of the vehicle with a laser for an instant kill!

Vehicles were gimped as fuck in Halo 3, and Halo 2. The pattern needs to stop.

[Warsaw]

I remember when killing a vehicle took a well-timed grenade and a series of well-placed shots.

[Pooky]

I remember when killing a vehicle took a well-timed grenade and a series of well-placed shots.

That, or an overcharge plasma pistol followed by a mag or two of pistol spam. Halo 1 had methods of vehicle ownage that were powerful and useful, but still allowed the machines to have a position of prominence on the maps.