I thought we were done being elitist? I'd personally love to see just a one-sided playlist, which would only include 1-bomb and 1-flag on various community maps.
Here goes my own playlist: GAMETYPES: Team Slayer (AR + Mag Start) 30% Team DMRs (DMR + AR Start) 30% Multi-Flag (DMR + AR Start) 10% One-Flag (DMR + AR Start) 10% Team King (AR + Mag Start) 5% Neutral Assault (DMR + AR Start) 5% Team Headhunter (DMR + AR Start) 5% Stockpile (DMR + AR Start) 5% All Gametypes include the following adjustments: Armor Ability - Sprint Speed - 110% Jump - 125% Gravity - 150% Melee - 90% Damage - 110% Shield Recharge - 110% Health Recharge - 110% TEAM SLAYER (AR/MAG) MAPS: - Hydra XXIII (Damnation Remake) - Powerhouse - Redemption TEAM SLAYER (DMR/AR) MAPS: - Cargo Port - Guardian Classic - Sword Base Classic (Beta weapons) - Attainment MULTIFLAG MAPS: - Tempest - Sanctuary Classic - Highlands (Weapon set tweaked) ONE FLAG MAPS: - Ghost Town '74 - Reflection Classic TEAM KING MAPS: - Zealot (Arena) - Redemption NEUTRAL ASSAULT MAPS: - Noble Creek - Blockade TEAM HEADHUNTER MAPS: - Crown of Flies - Countdown STOCKPILE MAPS: - Anchor 9 - Countdown
I'm not personally too fond of Headhunter, but that's not really an issue with the mechanic and more that I just don't enjoy it. Aside from that, looks like a good playlist. I've always been disappointed that Bungie don't do a little more with 4v4 playlists which mix Slayer and Objective. I get that 4v4 is the meat of Halo and thus has the most business being separated out, but I still think there's potential even aside from the example of MLG. I've always wanted a vanilla settings DMR start playlist as opposed to going in to TS/TO and trying to get the gametypes you like. I'd really like to see this manifested in a mixed Slayer/Objective playlist, much like I understand Team Hardcore was in H2. Something which has both "... DMRs" and "... Pro" gametypes would be great imo, I'd play the hell out of that playlist.
I don't think headhunter would be too bad considering the DMR starts and only coming up 5% of the time Obviously I'd add in more maps if I had time to sift through and remember all of the ones I like, but this isn't a real playlist, and it's only for fun, so I'm not gonna put too much effort in. Mostly my playlist would be more about the gametype. I really would like to see this gametype in action. Feels so nice in custom games, and default maps that are less than enjoyable to a lot of the crowd suddenly feel more playable when everyone is stripped of loadouts and gameplay stuttering AAs like jetpack and armor lock. They would serve better as single pickups like equipment in Halo 3.
May I ask why you put in 110% damage? I had this discussion in the Throwdown thread, and my opinion is that the ONLY plus of 110% damage is to make the Needle Rifle a viable starting option as it turns it from a 7sk to a 6sk. Seeing as you're sticking with DMR starts, which it doesn't affect in terms of shots to kill, all it does is further boost the power of nades/rockets (already too strong imo) and turn the Sniper from a body shot/DMR headshot clean up to a body shot/DMR body shot clean up, making it is easier to use (and again, the Sniper is already easy enough imo). I love every other aspect of your gametype, but I really dislike 110% damage even when it's being used for the purpose of buffing the NR.
It's more or less to return most of the other weapons to their former Beta glory. Many of them were nerfed, and once again, aren't used as much. In the beta, I felt like everyone wanted to try out every weapon. Now, It just feels like they are a small step above their Halo 3 counterparts, which were useless in most regards. Obviously I'd test the gametype to death if I was really making a playlist, and if it was really a problem, it wouldn't make the cut.
A good infection playlist!??? nah, Im just ranting alittle. I mean I want the old living dead playlist from halo 3's double exp weekends back. Like braaaaaaaaains or something. and on the dark maps like that one spook house on sandbox or the orbital one. Those were pretty fun. Something like that on Reach's maps would be good. An apocolypse version of powerhouse, swordbase, countdown, or any other map would satisfy me.
The only thing I wish for is an objective playlist with no slayer variants. I go to BTB to get in some CTF or Territories...team slayer. I go to team objective for less intense CTF, or some stockpile, or assault...I get team slayer, big bro slayer, elite slayer. Go to rumble pit for oddball or Juggernaut (not even sure that's in matchmaking)...all I get is headhunter or...guess it....slayer. Fine...what's the last place where I could simply play some objective games? Oh...I know...Invasion, which by its nature is made solely out of objective games! Wrong...Invasion slayer is what I get to play because of boring people that can't just f#$%g play rumble pit or team slayer for their kill-fix. Add one freaking playlist that is nothing but objectives with zero slayer!! /rant
Maybe it's just coming from my DMR heavy perspective, but I feel that they're perfectly fine in terms of power as they are. I hear most complaints on this front about the AR and the Focus Rifle, both of which I find are plenty powerful as it is. The AR can kill from a decent distance due to the hitscan, and the range at which it outshoots a DMR due to pacing necessity is reasonable. I'd probably feel better about an AR damage buff if burst firing was actually necessary, but bloom on the AR might as well not exist. I feel it's a bit of a kick in the teeth that Bungie decided to add a layer of skill, but also slow kill times, to the precision weapons by adding bloom, and supposedly did so the auto weapons as well when in fact it doesn't work out like that at all. At the risk of generalising, they seem to have made the harder to use weapon even harder to use and, by dint of increased kill times, less powerful, whilst actively buffing the easier to use weapon in the AR (since it's now hitscan and can do a lot of damage even at range). As for the Focus Rifle, I know what you mean at range, it really could do with a buff. However, I think the reason the nerfed it since the beta is that they realised how having it effective at long range affected its close range ability. I personally don't use it as a sniper-style weapon, I barely ever scope in with it, I just run around and burn people's faces off at close range. Up the damage to make it suitably effective and range and you have a pretty overpowered CQB weapon on your hands.
DMR aside, since i think it works perfectly fine as is, weapons like the plasma pistol and plasma repeater were actually badass weapons in the beta. I felt like it was worth my time to seek them out. Then when the actual game comes, the plasma pistol is once again a noob combo weapon, and the plasma repeater will 9 times out of 10 lose any battle, even at close range. The focus rifle is rarely used as you use it, which makes it a weak and un-interesting weapon. I've placed them on my maps before only to hear that everyone wants it gone and no one picks it up. Concussion Rifle is a bastard in campaign, yet in multiplayer, I rarely pick it up, because it feels useless unless you're playing like King of the Hill. Magnum's clip size got wrecked, and now it barely has enough to get you in a single kill without reloading. Balance is important, and the game is indeed competitive, but they focused heavily on making the DMR less of a killing machine like the BR (good thing) and then instead of making the other weapons on an even scale, they nerf the **** out of them so that the DMR is STILL heads and shoulders above the rest. Halo CE actually did it best in a lot of regards. I could pick up any of those weapons and get a kill with it, despite what the opponent has. Generally this may just be opinion, but having a plasma pistol and picking it up JUST so I can keep it in my back pocket incase I wanna noob combo someone doesn't make the game interesting, and it makes it almost a requirement to carry your DMR 24/7. If I could apply the 110% damage to only the lower class weapons, I would, but you cannot adjust settings that finely. I just would've done things differently.
I agree about the plasma repeater, but aside from that I think it's pretty so so. I feel that people not using the FR like that isn't strong enough a reasoning, simply because when people do click and start using it like that its imbalance becomes apparent and you have a broken weapon on your hands. There are some people who will only pick up a weapon if it = easy kills to them, and I dislike catering to them simply because the moment better players click how overpowered that thing is it gets abused to hell. I personally love the concussion rifle, and whilst I feel that increasing the radius would be a nice touch, boosting the damage straight up only has this same effect once again of making the weapon appealing only cause it's easy kills. And the Magnum's clip size is the same as it was in the beta, and it's still 5sk with 110%. The magnum didn't change from the beta except that the bloom was reduced a little (I think, though part of me thinks it was actually increased), nor does 110% damage boost it in any real way. I agree that I often find myself thinking how utterly useless the thing is other than as a close range spam weapon or the last ditch attempt to clean up a one shot guy, but as a specific example, 110% damage does nothing to really help that. I actually disagree about the PP, if you watch high level players using it now they don't even bother with the charge. It tears through shields so fast that it's barely even worth charging because a charged PP rinses battery so fast and the charge up time has increased since H3. Spamming it is by far the most effective use, and whilst that's not to say I never charge it at all, I personally feel that the PP is better in Reach than it's ever been in terms of balance within the sandbox and balance between the two uses. Also, I just disagree that other weapons have had the **** nerfed out of them and thus the DMR is still head and shoulders above the rest. The DMR is still miles less powerful than the BR was due to pacing necessity alone, and the AR is so much more powerful than it's been since CE. The only weapon I really think could do with a boost is the Plasma Repeater, I agree wholeheartedly on that point, but I just don't feel it's worth 110% damage in terms of how it overbalances much more common aspects. In terms of balance, I feel that the key principle is that a weapons power should directly reflect how difficult it is to use. Make an easy to use weapon too powerful and becomes a crutch for bad players and something to exploit for good players, thus overbalancing the game towards that weapon. The reason the DMR, or rather precision weapons as a whole are more powerful is because they are, bluntly, harder to use. It's why a bad player will do little to no damage with them, but a good player will destroy, there isn't nearly as much differentiation in how much useful an AR is simply because it isn't as difficult to use and thus the skill differential has less effect on its power in any given situation. Straight up buffs to stuff like the AR (even if this is not an aim, it's an inescapable effect of 110% damage and tbh one of the most prominent effects, even if your aim is to encourage diversity of weapon pickup, the biggest effect is always going to be on the weapons you start with) make it easier to use for lesser and more skilled players alike, instead of increasing the key notion of differential which would be great. Which leads me on to: Same. I would have made it so that the DMR bloom consistently punished spammers as opposed to adding a dice roll. This would make choosing a short range weapon (AR/PR etc.) against one a proper tactic as opposed to one that leaves you thinking 'I might win this, I might lose this, depends how generous lady luck feels to that thar spammer today'. It would make effective ranges and the decision making behind situational weapon choice much more important, as they should be. I'd also boost the AR power a little, probably more so against health and leave shield damage as it is (again, something that 110% damage can gesture towards but not quite achieve without compromise to other mechanics), but I'd make it so that burst firing was essential to even getting a kill at anything past the closest of ranges. This would mean that good players were rewarded for proper use of the weapon and those who just spray and pray would actually lose out, rather than the current situation of both ends doing almost as well as one another. I'd definitely boost the PR power, especially against health once again. I get that plas weapons are shield-eaters primarily, but purely in balance terms I feel that the necessity of leading so heavily with it leaves plenty of room for more power against health without making it OP. But then I'd also nerf nades and rockets, the former being much more important since you start with 2 of the damn things. It really irks me how Bungie scaled up the power of nades (not just in pure damage terms, but in effective terms of how hard they are to dodge since movement/jump height are reduced from previous games) without scaling up the nature of the geo in which they're used ie. the average width of corridors, doors and walkways. The Cage is a prime example of how broken nades are even at 100% damage, you've simply got 2 chances off every spawn to forbid someone moving past a certain point in the walkways. The same is true of the top corridor on Reflection. As long as you have a nade, an L trigger and a sense of coordination greater than that of drunkard, you can just ban anyone coming through there. Past that basic level, there is no skill differential that can overcome how much nades own that corridor, it just slows gameplay way down. tl;dr I agree that things should have been balanced differently, and I agree that there are upsides to 110% damage. However, personally I feel that they are outweighed by the downsides, most notably the boost to ARs and Frags, the most inescapable and prominent effects no matter how much it helps pickup weapons since starting elements are always going to be the most used. Obviously this is your gametype setup and I wouldn't presume to tell you what you should do, I'm just putting forward the opinion that, were it not for that single setting I'd have no problem labelling them the best approach to default Reach settings I've ever seen.
Oh you won me over about the 110% damage awhile ago. I went on a rant about what i wish they would've done instead. lol
Lol sorry I went for a nap, god damn I went on a rant there. Yeah the bit about doing stuff differently is the only bit worth reading of the above post. We should totally make a game one day, dude .
Elite apocalypse: elite slayer blarg ball (elite griffball) elite 1 flag elite 1 bomb elite infection banshee warfare (yeah you herd me) that is my dream playlist and don't troll me just because i like elites :'
Invasion Skirmish Infection Pro- Only spooky Map Variants, more Gametype diversity, no standard Infection with Evade and something to make Connection more fair. Also removal of aim assist. [br][/br]Edited by merge: Marry me.