Halo: Reach

[sportsdude]

Re: Halo: Reach

Generator Defense goes live tomorrow. Looking forward to checking out that map. This gametype currently isn't even going to be in the final game, although Bungie has said if it's received well, they will try and rally to get it put in. This leads even more credence to this testing Firefight or whatever its evolved into for Reach.



I remember seeing some footage of this, and it being with Mongoose, single Spartan on each, and no rockets. Didn't look really compelling.

I wonder if it's a variation of the custom game "cat and mouse" from Halo 2. The cats were in Wraiths, the mice in unarmed warthogs. When you die as a mouse you become a cat. Last mouse standing wins. Sounds silly but was actually a lot of fun.

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Network Test 1 is up. Lag was pretty bad to start, but it got better as the match went on. Very likely testing netcode for Firefight and Co-op, and where improvements need to be made. Overlook is nice looking. The HDR lighting is much more noticeable, and not toned down like the other maps in the beta. Not sure how I feel about the gametype itself, but like I said, it's not even slated to be in the final game at this point. I could see it becoming a Phase in Invasion though.

[Sandman42]

Re: Halo: Reach

Network Test/Generator Defense is live.

Overlook looks amazing. Probably the best looking multiplayer map I've seen. I played one game though and the framerate took a pretty big hit at some points.

[Steel5]

Re: Halo: Reach

Is "race" like rocket-race from Halo 3 or is it a different gametype than just mongooses?

Race is actually originally from Halo CE. The footage shown was mongooses and checkpoints created a track and it was 3 laps to win i think. I think the reason it is included is so that games like Rocket Race can actually be a variation of the "race" gametype, instead of basing it off "VIP".

[Flawless]

Re: Halo: Reach

Bungie Weekly Update

Well over ten million games played already on record. Ho, boy. You’re the best around, Seventh Column. Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down.

As a reward for your herculean efforts, earlier today we rolled out Network Test 1 – sweet Spartan on sweaty Elite Generator Defense action. Okay, so it was always in the plan and never intended to be the gilded prize for you to stroke and fondle for kicking so much *** in the Beta. It’s really – surprise, surprise – a network test. And as the description advises, you might wish to steel yourself for some small blips and bumps before you head in.

We’ve already witnessed the immediate impact of the alteration, as Phase 1 has started to swing more in the Elite’s favor early on, which is great because the new skew lends itself well to a more interesting Invasion experience. After all, there aren’t any big guns in Phase 1 and more games should now be ending in data core captures or defensive holds involving a bit more drama.

This also gives us a good place to remind everyone that yup, the Beta is indeed designed to provide us with deeper insight into how millions of real games play out over Live, taking into account all the stuff you see right before your very eyes and all of the secret under-the-hood stuff you don’t. We’re not pandering when we propose that this Beta really is an honest assessment for us. We’re already getting great data and feedback we can use (and in some cases, already have) to make the overall experience better in the fall. And as you now see, when and where we can, we can use it to make intelligent decisions on the fly.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Spartans vs. Elites.

Yup, it’s unbalanced and totally unfair. Yup, it’s by design. Did we open it up just to see you scramble as a Spartan, secretly laughing after we pulled down on the lever and sent you out to die in the face of insurmountable odds? No. Well, maybe a little, but ultimately we are, as our fine community commentator quoted above correctly alludes to, gatherers of information. It’s simply, as Carney notes, “all for science!”

We already knew that Elites outclassed their Spartan counterparts in a variety of ways, but we are still interested in seeing just how big the gulf between the two species really is. Yeah, we have a handful of game modes that pit the two against one another in various forms of mortal combat, but we wanted to decouple the core brawling from all of the other external factors introduced by objectives, loadouts, map layouts, and vehicles. So, you get SvE Slayer. Native Spartans versus Au Naturel Elites.

In a recent playtest, we picked up on a problem in the way our collision model was calculating headshots. Coupled with rumblings from the community regarding some inconsistencies in the Beta’s headshot capable weapons, we were able to identify an issue that you may have already experienced.

In certain circumstances, explicitly those where you would typically score a headshot in the lower range of the target zone (for the layman, that’d be the face and head region), we’ve discovered that bullets are impacting a few pixels lower than they should, plunging into the chest volume instead of the head. This often allows an unshielded opponent to remain upright after your crack shot should have taken the legs out from under ‘em.

Once again we’re reminded how potent a tool a Beta test can be. Having a teeming horde of ravenous players chew through our game makes identifying these nuanced issues possible. And while you may be gnashing your teeth while reading this paragraph, the good news is that this will definitely be resolved for the retail release in the fall. In fact, it’s already been fixed.

We talked about it last week, but talk is cheap. Quit Probation and Penalties are now being meted out in the Beta, much to the chagrin of people who apparently keep lengthy lists of legitimate reasons to quit that simultaneously weren’t legit enough to last more than 15 minutes. Yeah.

Anyway, last week we called the punitive actions for quitting a multitude of games a Quit Ban. Today, we’re revising the nomenclature to more suitably describe what’s really going on. Because we’re fickle like that.

Quit too many games and we’ll put you on a week long “probation.” Consider that a warning, not a ban. If you quit another game during your probationary period, however, you’ll be required to sit out of Matchmaking for fifteen whole entire minutes.

[sportsdude]

Re: Halo: Reach

Bungie Weekly Update

wow, glad to read about that headshot thing. Because I swear there were times when I would unload on somebody with a pistol/DMR/needle rifle with what appeared to be headshots only to have the guy stay alive through it all and kill me. I doubt the bug was in place every one of those times, but I'm just glad the problem has been acknowledged and fixed.

[Antec]

Re: Halo: Reach

It's not fixed in the Beta btw, only in the retail game. You still need to aim a little higher to score headshots for the remainder of the Beta.

[AnArtofWar]

Re: Halo: Reach

I noticed the HS thing the second I got any single shot rifle...I feel like they need to lower the amount of shots to get a HS, doesn't seem like with the DRM/Needler Rifle that you need around 3-5 shots to get the HS, or maybe that is just the HS problem.

I am really liking this so far. It is a good bit of fun, although at times it sucks because of terrible teammates and no one on my friends list plays...this is also the first Halo game I am good at, makes it even better.

[Antec]

Re: Halo: Reach

The DMR is a 5 shot kill.

I would recommend shooting the first 4 shots quickly to kill the shields then pause to let the reticle return to normal and then get the killing headshot.

I'm not sure if the Needle rifle is the same 5 shot kill, but I'd imagine so.

[Steel5]

Re: Halo: Reach

The DMR is a 5 shot kill.

I would recommend shooting the first 4 shots quickly to kill the shields then pause to let the reticle return to normal and then get the killing headshot.

I'm not sure if the Needle rifle is the same 5 shot kill, but I'd imagine so.

I also recommend this for the DMR. Also, crouching reduces your bloom so you can fire more accurately with a high rate of fire.

The Needle rifle takes 6 shots to break shields and one headshot to finish the kill. (Or three body shots to unshielded opponent.)

[Candyman5]

Re: Halo: Reach

I also recommend this for the DMR. Also, crouching reduces your bloom so you can fire more accurately with a high rate of fire.

The Needle rifle takes 6 shots to break shields and one headshot to finish the kill. (Or three body shots to unshielded opponent.)

According to what I have heard from Bungie's Pod Cast and Info the Needle Rifle and DMR are the same in Breaking shields and Head Shots.

[Steel5]

Re: Halo: Reach

According to what I have heard from Bungie's Pod Cast and Info the Needle Rifle and DMR are the same in Breaking shields and Head Shots.

Nah you must be remembering incorrectly:

DMR: http://www.bungie.net/News/content.a...news&cid=25376

You’ve probably heard that both the Designated Marksman Rifle and the Magnum are now five shot kills. Four anywhere followed by one to the face.

Needle Rifle: http://www.bungie.net/News/content.a...ink=BWU_040910

The Needle Rifle is the Covenant’s answer to the DMR. You’ll want to use it at mid to long range and begin by aiming for the body until you see the shields pop. Just like the Needler, it takes six rounds to tear through a Spartan’s shielding and seven to eat through an Elite’s.

Unlike the DMR, you can hold the trigger down if you choose, though you’ll suffer significant bloom with each new shot fired and your ammunition will actually super-combine if you stick just three needles into an unshielded opponent. None of your shots will track, however.

If you go for the brainpan, you won’t need to worry about counting if you’ve already removed the shields from the equation. One needle to the dome will get the job done (and make your foe look like a pretty, pretty unicorn if you pop ‘em right between the eyes).

[Bears_16_and_0]

Re: Halo: Reach

i dont really like the needle rifle =/

[Candyman5]

Re: Halo: Reach

I was reading back in this thread and I almost guessed the Needler Rifle right on the nose. Lets hope for the multiplayer maps also that were rumored also. Will try to quote my old post about them. Also I forgot about that cloning ability...Wonder if that is still in there.

EDIT:

It looks like one of the weapons out of Halo 2-3 Concept art. It shot out spikes like a needler BUT they were much bigger and stronger than the needle shards. From what I read on Bungie.net from devs and looking at concept art it may be one of 2 new alien weapons that did not make the final build for Halo 2-3.

The first being a Needler based Mortar/Rocket Launcher. It shot out one large Needle Crystal that explodes. Mainly a Anti Vehicle type weapon. It sticks in it the detonate into more Needle Crystals. It can also be used against Infrantry but supposely is hard to aim and does damage splash similiar to a Brute Spike grenade.

The second being a Super Needler Combine. It shoots like the regular Combine being as it has zoom capability but shoots out 3 Needle Shards similiar to the battle rifle.


There have been 2 maps that have been getting talked about alot now and may be new muliplayer Maps. Devs have came into this thread about them saying they will try to incorperate it into a Multiplayer/Campaign based maps.

The first one is rumors of an Forerunner based Muliplayer lvl that has setinals repairing objects that actually effect the battle field. Like there may be a place that will get repaired by the setinals that you can get to later in the match. Also damage you do to the lvl will be repaired by them also. Sounds Interesting.

The second has you on the Planet Reach in the Shield base(Book readers know what I am talking about) and it has Alien Cruisers bombarding the base, eventially the shield gives in and destroys everything including you and ends the match. Seems to be pretty cool idea maybe for Campaign or CTF based gametypes.


The ideas above are strickly off of Concept Art images I have seen and other sources of info I have found. NONE OF IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED!

Just to share.

[Steel5]

Re: Halo: Reach

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/18/halo-reach-beta-extended-to-thursday-may-20/

Bungie's Brian Jarrard has just informed Joystiq, "Our official plans as of now are to turn off the Reach beta on Thursday, 5/20 at 10AM PDT." Previously, the beta was scheduled to end tomorrow, May 19, at an unspecified time.