I agree completely. The kill time of the BR, for example, shouldn't matter to novice players unless the MM system is unreliable and the team slayer playlist isn't split by ARs and BRs (they always have 2 of these anyway). Players of their own skill would not immediately be much better with a BR than an AR; they would get better with the BR gradually. High base movement acceleration speeds also wouldn't be overbearing to those players, because they wouldn't start out strafing and aiming well anyway.
I don't know about that, it could very well end up being the case though. Apparently it can take a direct hit with a Spartan Laser and only lose it's shields, but the drawback is that the time it takes to recharge shields looks to be just as long as a normal players and the actual recharge seems very slow. But in the end it was taken out by someone jacking it and beating it to death. Halo 4: Mantis Gameplay on Ragnarok, Valhalla Remake - 9 Minutes of Gameplay - YouTube
I'm surprised that you noticed the missed sniper shots but you didn't notice or mention how neither of the sets of rockets were direct hits. The second set of rockets seemed to be fired deliberately indirectly, as far away as possible while still getting splash damage, as if the player expected the warthog to go flying into the ocean. It also survived a direct (right into the center) laser and continued to take small arms fire for a bit. I wouldn't guess that a fresh banshee would stand a chance against a fresh mantis unless the mantis couldn't shoot as far up as the banshee could shoot down (or the mantis driver decided somehow that the banshee was to be ignored when preoccupied with other targets). I don't know why a competent mantis driver wouldn't watch out for a banshee, seeing as how it seems like it would be one of few threats if there wasn't a scorpion on the map in the same gametype/map configuration. The rockets look pretty fast; a competent mantis driver wouldn't have to worry about being overwhelmed by enemies trying to sprint behind him. Valhalla isn't exactly a maze with thin pathways and lots of cover, or at least the type that would make mantis jacking easy. Three DMR clips doing nothing, according to the video narrator, doesn't seem encouraging. If I remember correctly, that was almost as much as was necessary to destroy a banshee. The mantis won't massacre a competent team, but it will be the single greatest factor determining map control, as far as I can tell. If it can easily maneuver on the laser hill like it can anywhere else, what else but the other mantis could break that strong grip on the entire map and the laser spawn? What about the turret side or the pelican side? I remember reading the Binary rifle impressions on the 343 halo update, and one guy said that he destroyed (what is almost certainly the) mantis: Jeremy (Franchise Writer) - This weapon is no friggin’ joke. Last week, we were playing Regicide on an unannounced map, which is a large symmetrical map that fans will unquestionably dig – evergreen, plenty hilly, and Forerunnerlicious. Generally speaking, you don’t play Regicide on maps this large, but we were doing it, and it was AWESOME. At any rate, I had been trading the King spot with one other player the entire match, and it looked like he was going to pull away with it because time was running out and he had just climbed into a vehicle that is a straight-up death dealer. He was about to square-off against three other players who were rushing him with small arms (not sure what they were thinking). They didn’t have a chance, it was a certain win for him... until an ordnance drop fell from the sky: The Binary Rifle! I raced to it, drew it up and fired on two of the other players, instantly turning them into ash. I reloaded, fired on the third for another instant kill, and then fired on my nemesis to secure the victory. And his -Yoink!- exploded into a million pieces. Such a crazy ending to such a crazy match. If ordinance and personal ordinance drops are needed, I cannot understand why someone would want such game-changing randomness. The personal ordinance reset relies on and still includes randomness (don't know why it wasn't designed to leave out previous weapon choices). I hope that there aren't random non-personal ordinance drops on BTB maps- the players that just so happen to be on top of them will almost certainly get them (even if they spawn half way between two teams, there is an element of luck as to which side). . With personal ordinance drops for kills, the better players will win by a larger margin, and the players who initially fall behind in kills will die against power weapons that they cannot fight fairly (it won't be fun) frequently. I wonder if a BTB team could get a personal ord spree in a mantis and switch places with a teammate to use the weapon, and then repeat, or just spawn the weapon for a teammate. Did anyone else notice the banshee survive a rocket at soon after 2:40 on that 9 minute video? Was it a rocket?
As for the last question, i think it was an IC. So the promethean rocket launcher, but it lacks in power. IC < RL < FRG - Power. IC > RL > - Ammo reserve. Valhalla looks pretty nice. Im quite suprised an laser shot doesnt bring the mantis down, for me it doesnt make sense : if you point the laser towards the legs, fire, and it doesnt come down. And we have now seen the hijack too, but that was pretty obvious. Well, if they include the mantis, they should include the goliath too IMO. Would be awesome to have two types of mechs. The mantis is OP, no doubt. But im positive there will be tweaks, but for now i can see a mantis easily take out a scorpion.
At longer range I don't think the Mantis will beat the scorpion. It has a much faster shot that will kill the Mantis (most likely) before the Mantis's rockets can reach it at range. For me I still belive a smart high flying banshee bombing it can do the job, as long as he heeps distance and stays high. Also, it's understandable that it takes a laser shot if you look at this as a new form of tank. The Scorpion and Wraith can take 2 or more laser shots to kill, though I agree it would make sense form a physical perspective if it ripped right through the leg. The shot may also do more damage to the cockpit if it hits right where the person is sitting. And remember of course that this was a month old build where they still had time to tweak it pre-launch.
Ragnarok looks good and fairly true to the original(possibly bigger?). I do agree that I liked the lush green of the original versus the dried cracked look. But thats irrelevant to how the map plays. I am a bit disappointed that they put two banshees and two mantises (mantae? lol). I feel like thats just too many vehicles. I'd rather they just remove the banshees all together. Just watching the gameplay on Ragnarok gives me chills of nostalgia goodness. And makes it look like it plays like Halo should.
That's kind of like saying a laser shot pointed at the cannon of the Scorpion should rip it off, rendering the cannon (and scorpion) useless. Sure it makes sense from a logical point of view, but it would throw off the balance in gameplay. Also then you'd have to take into account everything else that makes "logical" sense. I don't know about the new cracked-earth look of the ground. Meh
Fresh Scorpions in H3 and Reach could be killed with a single laser to the gun. In H3 it killed the driver and left the scorpion intact but in Reach it took off the gun, leaving a useless tank but a living player. I don't know if the wraith's gun was a weak spot in H3, but it was in ODST and Reach.
Right, and we don't know if the Mantis will have such a weakness spot. @Grenade this is the same number and palcement of vehicles as was in the original Valhalla, besides the Mantis's replacing the Wraiths (I belive there were Wraiths in soem game modes?) With the Mantis's there I would hope the banshees stayed so as to counter them. As for the new ground... personally living in a desert state it looks more realistic to me. But to each his own.
Oh right. I'm thinking of valhalla in different playlists I think. Like social slayer and team slayer. The vehicle sets were different in each one.
Yup. And I just remembered the social slayer vehicle set had the hogs and banshees only. We were both right in a respect. All in all there is nothing else we can say about the Mantis or the map but that we will have to play it and see what is different from the build we have seen. I wish the release date was just a bit sooner, I'm sick of this rampant speculation as to how the game will play.
yeah, valhalla heavies had 2 banshees, 2 scorpions, 2 wraiths, 4 hogs, and 4 geese, as well as a splaser at each base and rockets in the middle i believe. so it was pretty loaded. i never really liked heavies though, it was just too many vehicles and rockets and splasers that it got a little too crazy. it was occasionally fun, but not very often for me. and i personally think the new look of valhalla is pretty cool.
Agreed. I preferred playing it in team or social. I don't really play a lot of btb anyways. And when I do, (i prefer dos equis) I don't grab vehicles especially in heavies just to get more points.
Wish they hadda kept the look exact..or changed it more drastically (all sand or now). Mantis looks cool, I wanna play with it. Is it me or did the view from the base seem more restricted? Seemed like the railing was higher or something.
I think it may be a nerf when you consider LoS to people closer to base. It looks like there's a passable view of top mid, but your view of anyone much closer would be cut off, especially people past the rock in front of cannon. Could make pushing the base a little easier, idk.
If you can still jump on these walls, people are just going to do that. It might expose them a bit, but it's going to protect them just as much too. If people want to actually camp, they would just sit by the ramp, safe as sound from grenades, and everything but attack from the back. These are kind of pointless comments when you consider that this is a BTB map, and might not feature in things like 4v4 team slayer where it's big vehicles are pulled out and camping becomes harder to counter. And even if it was, the introduction of more weapons is going to make map control even more decisive. Camping might work for a time but rearming and coordinating should win that base over every time.
One of my favourite aspects about H3 Vahalla was that it played both 4v4 and 8v8 well, if they only use it for BTB then I'll be pretty gutted. Even then it looks like 6v6 is going to feature heavily in H4, and surely you'll agree that it'll play that fine. Idk, it does indeed look like the Mantis is going to up the vehicle stakes further, but I still think that a good set up in base could be a serious advantage, I'd disagree with you and say that it often meant a decent amount in Halo 3. I agree that this isn't going to be a huge change even if we accept that the bases are important, it's a slight tweak at best. But they were rebuilding anyway, might as well tweak things if you see them along the way, maybe it'll be a small but nice tweak in the end. Idk, I always loved sitting there in Halo 3, and when watching the video I immediately noticed it and it seems like it'll feel a bit less comfortable as a result. Potentially not a bad thing.