I have always noticed that Halo players tend to play Sniper like SWAT in that they are rushing and forcing a lot of CQC with snipers in their hands. It seems that rushing, hunting, and getting up close is the Halo fashion of most players. But it seems that Sniper v Sniper should be far slower paced game play and with much greater distances... Like Hemorrhage, perhaps the most popular sniper map in Reach (and I say that not based upon posts, but on voting choices whenever I saw it come up in the Sniper playlist). I was playing Sniper with a party today and we played a number of maps, with the consensus favoring large arena style maps - maps that are FAR smaller than what I would ever want to play sniper on. Why are any arena maps being favored for sniper? Really, the bigger question is why do people play sniper like SWAT? Sniper is the game style where you lay in wait for the other guy to expose himself and you then TAKE THE SHOT. And THEN you move to a new location. I rarely ever see this style of play, and when people do want to play it, they can't because no one else is going to play that way. I put together what I consider a good concept for a sniper map, but after listening to others today I doubt it would ever be considered. It has static spawns (each side 10 team assigned respawns) designed so that when one team pushes the center the other team can be trapped along the back edges of Ravine. This seems like the competitive level sniper v sniper to me. I just don't get Halo players and their concept of sniper. --- Also, on a side note, can someone answer this question for me? If we call Simplex an ARENA map, what kind of map do we call Exile, Meltdown, or Longbow?
I don't play snipers, but I see two possibilities that immediately come to mind: 1. The crowd that plays snipers also likes SWAT - thus carrying over the SWAT play to snipers. 2. Playing snipers like SWAT is more effective than playing it as a long-range battle. In either case (or if both are true), it would seem that the problem could be corrected by making maps that reduce the opportunities to play it like SWAT. So, concentrate cover in designated areas of the map and leave the rest wide open. This could be supplemented by reducing the unscoped aim assist / magnetism on the snipers. Dunno. I don't play it, so perhaps I shouldn't be commenting on it in the first place.
I want to like both of the previous comments. Hmmm... what to do, what to do. I represent the typical Halo player mentality, I guess, which is that I like to rush and hunt and turn encounters into CQC a lot. I guess my feeling on it is that static and slow gameplay is boring; dynamic and quick gameplay is fun. So I like to run around, flank, get the drop on people, make them uncomfortable by getting one inch away from them when they're trying to shoot someone else a mile off... etc. I will ALSO do some long-range sniping, but it's not my preference, and if I do it I naturally start moving up toward the enemy even as I'm picking them off. The whole hide-and-seek, patiently-wait-for-an-hour, feel-the-beads-of-sweat-on-your-forehead thing doesn't work for me. And I don't think Halo is really built for it. It's seldom a very tense or suspenseful game (unless you're playing an even match at the highest levels of competitive play - I could regale you with a story of beating a really good team one time on Uncaged, where every member of both teams basically hid for the last two minutes until someone got off the world's greatest snipe for the win...). It's a game where matches are most often limited to 10-12 minutes, which doesn't suit a gametype where you might go two minutes without even seeing another player. Its maps are very often not designed for the type of gameplay you're talking about - some Halo maps have very few positions that are really suited for sniping, so you're either in that position, or in a much crappier position lining up a shot on someone in that position. And finally, it's a game where the most popular matches benefit from a wide range of gameplay styles, facilitated by the variegated weapon set, the vehicles and infantry interplay, the mix of close and long-range scenarios created by the map designs, and so on. A typical Halo match of slayer or CTF played with 8-10 guys requires you to have a well-rounded skill set to really thrive; it's far less fun for me to just hide and wait to shoot a dot four miles away, and it doesn't represent nearly the full breadth of skills tested by a "real" game of Halo. Just my opinion, of course.
I should think about trying that game mode one day... I'm also not a rusher, in particular, in BTB map, I often try to keep a safe distance between me and enemies. most players are just running mindlessly in the open, so they are easy targets. one problem, maybe, is that only kills count for the score. you can die 1 or 20 times in the same game and it makes no difference, so you are encouraged to rush and not play safe.
A lot of it boils down to personal preference. I enjoy Halo mostly because of the pace of play it has traditionally offered. There is certainly room for varying paces of play according to map design and gametype. However, Halo is generally not built around a 'sit and wait' style of play. My personal desire for the Snipers playlist is at least one gametype variant that makes Snipers more like traditional Slayer. I want powerups and power weapons on the map to promote movement instead of promoting sitting and waiting. I want grenades, to be able to flush out players that are camping. I want it to feel like traditional Halo, just with a different starting weapon. I don't think either of us will ever get exactly what we want, but that's okay as long is there is enough variety in the Snipers playlist to keep both of us somewhat satisfied.
That's not really true. Dying doesn't directly decrease your score, but every death (or most of them anyway) result in points for the other team. If you get 49 kills by yourself but die 50 times, you still lose the game. (Is this why you have your custom gametypes set up to subtract points for dying? I don't think it's necessary, if so.)
yeah, I agree about that, but I'm not convinced many players think that way, especially when your team is made of random strangers. yeah, it's the reason for negative points in my game modes. I think scores make no sense in this game. that guy with 49 kills will still be ranked the best player of the game, even if he gave more points to the enemy team than to his own. maybe I should just substract points for suicides.
Hmm, good to know! I've been wondering that ever since you started testing with us. Personally I like the scoring as is where deaths don't count against you, except that the other team gets points for them. However, I'd love to see 343 come up with more intelligent stat-weighting so that it ranks players more in line with their actual contributions in the post-game lobby. Give me the guy that went 15-5 over the guy that went 20-22 every time. And likewise, give me the guy in CTF with lots of flag activity (defending and helping score) over the guy who just racked up kills away from both flags and didn't help his team at all. Bungie never dealt with this either. But if it's any consolation, real players know what's up. If I look at the post-game stats and see a guy on my team had the most kills but still went negative, I'm not likely to appreciate his performance much.
What pisses me off is when the only death I have from a game is a betrayal because my teammate didn't want me to have a zero death ... I know, off topic...
The Human Sniper is one rare weapon in the Halo sandbox that is effective at ALL, I REPEAT ALL, RANGES. Trying to shoehorn the snipe into strictly long range combat would be a disservice to the capabilities of, not only the weapon but, the players who use it effectively at more than just long range. The Shotty Snipes gametype is the perfect example of redundancy. Your sniper is your shotgun. Just don't scope in. To suggest that Halo sniping should be similar to real world sniping, a mixture of no-scopes, quick-scopes, and hard-scopes VS a go prone, wear camo, first spot your target then adjust for windage and fire is ludicrous...in my opinion. With the fast kill times (that Halo should have), there is no need for such realism.
I obviously wasn't saying that the sniper cannot be used as you say. I said I would prefer the slow patient hunt style of game play.
No scoping is hella fun. Getting a snap shot is far easier in cqc than it is at long distances. Personally I hate maps that are far too big and open like haemmorage was, team snipers on that map was a nightmare for me. gameplay was WAYY too slow. I preferred team snipers on reflection back in reach. Call me a noob but there's something to be said for being stuck in a restricted hallway and seeing who has the better strafing skills.