I'm with shock on this one personally. I took satisfaction from learning the ins and outs of maps so that I could have a much better chance at working out their height from contextual clues. I may not like radar in a competitive setting, but I totally see the need for it in Halo at large. However, I think having radar but still requiring some development of skill to make the most of it is a nice middle ground. Plus, the fact that it is a set height for showing someone on your level makes it dodgy sometimes. If you're on the balcony on Countdown, someone can show as on your level if they're at top health or between triangles on the level below. That's not requiring added skill to make the most of the thing, it's just inconsistent.
I actually like the nade perk thingy. The reason being it means most players can't simply spam nades, pick up more nades, and throw them with reckless abandon. It means players have to be more careful with nade placement or sacrifice a perk slot for it. Granted I still advocate no-perk, no AA, no class gameplay, but if there must be perks and the like, I'm fine with this. I do agree with you on the unlocking weapons part.
I'm in two minds about it. On the one hand, I agree that it'll make you play more carefully with nades and re-emphasise skillful/wise use, but on the other it slightly feels like you're being punished for staying alive longer. I'd like to think I'm pretty good with frags, insofar as you can be (goddamn do I miss my Halo 3 frags), I feel like this element of my play is going to be limited by this mechanic unless I trade off a perk slot for it. Idk, this is one of those things that I am happy to wait until release/a while afterwards to voice an opinion on.
I think you're right about waiting until release before strict judgement for this one. I don't see this as game-changing like a lot of the other new elements that have been discussed, and I don't know exactly how this will affect gameplay. Although I do think it should be said that players who stay alive will most likely be able to nab grenades off of the little ordinance drops scattered around the map without the perk. I saw plasma nades for sure and I believe regular grenades as well being on those little pedestals during the MLG gameplay.
That'd help if so, hadn't even thought of that. Limiting players to on-map nades would leave room for players to stay alive without feeling punished, but negate that uber spam which happens when you get piles of bodies with nades lying everywhere. In fact it'd help map designers guide the use of nades more specifically to compliment the map, which I'm a fan of in principle. Players can still circumvent this using the perk, but give up a valuable spot in doing so.
Hm. I hadn't thought too much about how that would affect map design... Well, once again, it'll be interesting to see how this will turn out. It also makes me wonder how flexible Forge will be with determining weapons spawns...will players be able to decide, in regular slayer (not infinity) will forgers be able to set which kinds weapons can spawn in which locations? Or will any weapon cleared for the map be able to spawn in on any pedestal/location set up? Will the Forge allow for players to create static weapon spawns if they so desire? I'm hoping we get nice, juicy sets of options for all of those.
As far as I've been able to tell, you can still pick up the grenades on the map, just not ones that players drop... but that might not be correct. I'm starting to become intrigued by the whole choices thing, because to be honest, it is one of the things I do like about call of duty (the ability to design the game around my own play style, and so can everyone else.) HOWEVER, now I'm struggling with the choices of what is most important to me. haha. I cannot decide what support features I want most.
Really hope that's not true. I liked that so much about Halo 3: The ton of grenades you could pick up and throw at a group of opponents behind the corner to keep them off. Just a little feature of the game I really loved, the interesting usage of grenades. In Halo Reach, grenades were already buffed and for that reason there weren't so many on the map anymore. I hope it won't change even further with Halo 4. But oh well, if 343i thinks it's the best way to go for then I have faith in them for doing so.
I prefer choices being left to in game, not in lobby. All these perks, why not just have it to where everyone can have all of them. Some people can pick up grenades while others can't, some have unlimited sprint while others don't, some have faster regenerating shields while others don't, etc. I'm not a fan of randomness and by leaving it all in game, you can learn from your mistakes and adjust mid game, from combat situation to combat situation. I think that it's just a lot more balanced and fun. I feel like load outs are devolving the game ironically. No more fighting over guns on the map besides power weapons, no more fighting over equipment, OS, and invis, and no more true skill ranking system. Loving the look of the game, but I feel that it'll become redundant fairly quickly without any goals built into each slayer match.
Haha, I hope there isn't any sarcasm in this statement. I like tactics, I like change, I just feel that the one thing that should stay the same is everyone spawns with the exact same thing and the exact same abilities. You can throw as many unbalanced things onto the map as you like 343i, I'm not against change, but as long as everyone has an equal opportunity to reach it, then I believe it is fair.
I don't. The banshee on The Spire being example #1. (Well technically red team has a much better shot at getting that, but still.)
Like I said, as long as the items scattered across the map are balanced which is where testing comes in. It's why the testers guild here at forge hub is so helpful. You can use testing to balance the tactics created through item placement on a map through creating counters that are fair. Indeed it is impossible to fool proof this, but nothing in life is perfect.
Not to get nitpicky about something that is kind of off topic anyway - but that's the opposite of what you just said. You said they could throw as many unbalanced things on a map as they like so long as everyone has an equal opportunity to reach them.
I think it becomes questionable when you start tinkering with different shield recharge times, because then you can't keep track of the state of someone's shields after they move to cover/out of sight, and can't make as good a judgement about whether to chase them or back off if they re-engage.
That's definitely going to mess me up something rotten. You learn, and thus learn to account for, the shield times to the extent that it becomes instinctive, and I feel that having the potential for refining your decision making on such a basis adds to encounters in a fundmental way.
i don't really like the sound of that perk either, but there are only 2 options. you either chase based on the faster time if you want to be safe, but even if you chase based on the default time and the player happens to have the recharge perk, i would think it would still only be at most a 2 shot kill. plus, based on the other perks ive seen, id wager most smart players will be using that perk, so i dont see it as being a huge gamebreaker.
Am i the only person that looks for visual indications? In Reach a players shields get increasingly orange and shimmer when they dissipate. I wouldn't base my tactics on shots fired as i would have no idea what my opponents shields were prior to opening fire.