New details! All title update changes will only take affect in a number of playlists, similar to the Halo Reach title update. It will be released in 1-2 weeks. The ability to tweak weapon balance without future updates Damage, fire rate edits possible DMR tweaks are likely Can be used on special gametypes and specific playlists as well as a tweaks across the whole game Competitive Skill Rank 1-50 May be reset after a long period of time to prevent account selling Gauss 'Hog rebalance Reduced magnetism, damage and auto-aim Active Camo rebalance Slower fade out and sped up fade in of visibility when weapons are fired Enabled “X-Markers” on the HUD to designate when and where teammates are killed. Along with the previously announced changes: Future Title Updates: Press X to pick up flag Elements many hoped for but will not be included: De-scoping when taking damage will not return No plans for dropping flags No forge improvements (but a new forge map!!)
Glad for picking up flag being an option, though being able to drop flags would be preferable. But still, this opens up custom gametype options a bit.
I haven't actually played many CTF matches yet in Halo 4. I wasn't aware it had some annoying properties. I heard about not being able to drop the flag, which is pretty stupid. I'm not seeing the logic in why they chose to take that out of the game. But also the flag was on "auto-pickup" like oddball??
I suppose their reasoning was the fact that you now have a Flagnum. I think the main reason why a standard player would drop the flag in previous Halos was so they could shoot their weapon - only when you got more competitive did you start 'flag-shuffling'. With the ability to now shoot with the flag, 343 saw a reason to remove flag dropping. A bit silly, and it probably shouldn't have been taken out. Oh well. Regarding the TU: it looks amazing. I'm glad to see 343 addressing more issues with the game. I'm a bit disappointed to see that the changes will only affect some playlists. That may confuse people a bit.
Based on the way they talked about CTF before/shortly after release, I'd say it was more about forcing players in to more definitive roles. They talked about getting players to "focus" on the objective above all, which is also in line with the way they make the fact that you're carrying the flag more apparent in your HUD/announcements. You can look at this two ways: cynical or necessary. Perhaps that's not giving the majority of MM players enough credit. Perhaps it's giving them exactly the right amount of credit. Auto pickup didn't really make sense even in this context. The decision to not pick up the flag is still there (perhaps just to slay rather than focus on the objective), it's just achieved by not walking directly over it. All this does is invite accidental pickups, which then can't be undone. Glad they're disabling it, since the only purpose it serves is helping people who find holding pickup difficult in the heat of the moment, which is a minor benefit compared to all the issues it brings. Hopefully we will see flag dropping return as well, but I can see why they addressed this first since it made less sense.
I actually preferred the auto-pickup and no flag-dropping. Auto pickup meant I didn't have to worry about finding that point near the flag where it would let me press X to grab it, or have to worry about a weapon being there and interfereing with my attempt, etc... I just had to walk over it and I grabbed it, and if I didn't want it, I just had to stay away from it. And no drop is nice, imo, because it *does* get rid of that annoying flag-shuffling. It helps encourage teamwork a little more as well, since aside from the magnum, the flag carrier *is* left fairly vulnerable once they have the flag. They can't necessarily just drop the flag and whip out a Rocket Launcher or hide around a corner with a Shotgun and take out their pursuers on their own as easily. Also, it's a shame that there's no actual Forge fixes to go along with the new map. Having precision editing return along with other possible glitch fixes would have been really nice to see wrapped up together to go along with Forge Island.
I've had too many times (read: any) where I'm fighting around the flag and accidentally strafe in to it. Just staying away from it is still pretty restrictive imo, I shouldn't be put off from going near the flag for fear of accidentally picking it up. I've also seen or experienced plenty of cases where you're running next to the flag carrier, or just walking past them, and they die, making you automatically pick up the flag. Sucks. I've personally never seen the annoying nature of the announcements when flag running as a big enough deal to offset the actual mechanic. I disagree about teamwork. I'd argue that the flagnum really negates that, as it's actually a very capable weapon (killing 1 shot faster than the regular magnum). The fact that you don't have to drop the flag to attack also means that you can keep moving it whilst you fight. With dropping, you have to drop and wait while you fight, then pick it up and keep moving. It's a good sacrifice of mobility for self defense imo. I preferred the trade off nature of flag dropping in other ways, too. Having a permanent waypoint for the carrier negates nearly all strategy when it comes to coordinated flag runs. Absolutely no chance of a sneaky flag cap because the enemy knows exactly where you are at all times. I hate that. With the old system, you could hold the flag and sacrifice speed/attack capability, but remain hidden. Or you could juggle it for faster movement but give up your position, same applied to dropping it to fight. You gained the ability to use your weapon again, but you gave up your position and ability to move the flag. Agreed. I think this forge map is a fantastic gesture on their part, but it would have been the perfect time to fix precision editing too.
I agree with Pegasi on ctf. However, I understand the reason why people like auto pickup. I don't understand why 343 couldn't have just given people a choice.
Flag tossing encourages teamwork FAR more than the current system. . . Orchestrating toss-ups, or quick runs requires much more team-coordination than just "shoot at guys that shoot at the flag". I mean, let's compare. Halo 2: Guy 1 get's flag inside BC base, tosses it through upper winder so it lands behind the base. Guy 2 grabs the flag from behind the base and runs it through the teleporter, then proceeds to toss it up on top of the base where. . . Guy 3 grabs it and drops in for the score Halo 4: Guy 1 grabs flag, and has the ability to defend himself. Oh. And **** his rocket launcher, he's not allowed to drop the flag to use it. Rest of guys, wait for him to score or die, and continue shooting at opponents like they would do in any game ever. . . .It's not even close. . .At all.
thank god for that. I am excited for the new map coming out! i wonder what the new pieces will be... i heard that there may be trees added to the pallet... please let it be so!
Yup, no where near. The reason they made the change was to encourage casual players to play the objective and make it more fun for them. They are the majority after all. But it sucks for people that play Halo all day long.
I haven't really worded that correctly. What they said was; "We have this on the list as something to do eventually"
Nah, that's not in existence now. Hopefully Elliot's right and they'll change it in the future. This would make flag games so much better.
so wait, you mean that if I play with my offline profile, and I log back in to DL the new maps, all my stats will be reset?
Yes and no Your stats(K/D, Commendations, Service Record), and things that you have unlocked through them, won't be touched. But if you've played in competitive playlists on that account, then your 1-50 ranks for those playlists will be dropped back down to "1" periodically. It's not really that big of news unless they mean they're doing it OFTEN, because rank resets happened in both H2 and H3.