Halo: Reach

[AlNom]

Hm... campaign matchmaking. I wonder...

• how many creds is the norm
• if game completion creds is as broken as other matchmaking (let's just sit on winter contingency for 24 hours!)
• if team/ffa score matters (thus skull multipliers)

At any rate, I hope they do something about idlers or screwballs that just don't do anything significant in the game. It wouldn't be so terrible if commendation credits were a lot higher than for game completion, but mainly it's the awful extra lag introduced with some lazy player that I hate the most.

 

[NRP]

Al is a credit ho.

Anyone up for a Legendary co-op run? I've got about half the missions completed Legendary co-op, and the completionist in me wants them all.

 

[BRiT]

I'm up for Co-Op Legendary run...

 

[HollovVpo1nt]

Have been playing Reach multiplayer a lot. The one thing that bothers me, and bother me a lot, is elite slayer. 99% of the games it's a plasma nade rain/ needler rain. I love playing precision weapons (needler rifle, pistol, DMR), but there is no point in using them in Elite Slayer. You'll get f*cked from every side by those damned needlers. Not to mention Armor Lock.. In most cases they won't even bother to shoot back when they're shot at. They just walk to you, throw a sticky and go in armor lock...

Elite Slayer is the gayest shit ever. Also armor locking AFTER you get stuck should not unharm the sticky. That sucks.

 

[egoless]

Delete

 

[homerdog]

Have been playing Reach multiplayer a lot. The one thing that bothers me, and bother me a lot, is elite slayer. 99% of the games it's a plasma nade rain/ needler rain. I love playing precision weapons (needler rifle, pistol, DMR), but there is no point in using them in Elite Slayer. You'll get f*cked from every side by those damned needlers. Not to mention Armor Lock.. In most cases they won't even bother to shoot back when they're shot at. They just walk to you, throw a sticky and go in armor lock...

Elite Slayer is the gayest shit ever. Also armor locking AFTER you get stuck should not unharm the sticky. That sucks.

I actually like a round of elite slayer every now and then, but I agree armor lock is overpowered. Hell, your shield will even regenerate in armor lock.

It is surprising how much faster you can rank up by playing firefight rather than competitive matchmaking. In Halo 3, if you came across a general you could be fairly certain you were about to get pwned. In Reach, a Lt. Colonel Grade C is usually just good at pwning grunts with a rocket launcher.

 

[NRP]

I still can't figure out armor lock. It's frackin useless for me. I'll take a drop shield any day.

 

[Graham]

Woot! A new Invasion map!

While not as much as Al or Brit, I've played this game enough that I'm starting to think the occassional frame rate drop might be Internet connection lag rather than frame rate drops. I've played the same scenario on the same map several times now, most of the time lag free but occassionally somewhat laggy. And now my upstream bandwidth rating contains a big red *Warning!* sign.

Comcast sucks balls.

It's entirely internet related. Whenever I play firefight with that point whoring scumbag Al (*hugs*) I always pretty choppy performance.

 

[(((interference)))]

I actually like a round of elite slayer every now and then, but I agree armor lock is overpowered. Hell, your shield will even regenerate in armor lock.

I was wondering about that, does it only regenerate while armor locking for elites? I'm pretty sure it doesn't regenerate for spartans while locking (unlike the beta).

I still can't figure out armor lock. It's frackin useless for me. I'll take a drop shield any day.

Nah, armor lock is easily the most underrated armor ability. The problem is it is hard to use, unlike say sprint or jetpacking, effective use of it requires good timing and some degree of inventiveness.

I actually find it extremely versatile, a bit like sprint. The only problem for me is that I use BJ which makes it very hard to go into armor lock quickly (you have to hit x) and also for aiming melees when coming out of armor lock. The new Razer controller will fix that problem though.

But otherwise armor lock is very effective and destroying vehicles trying to splatter you and can let you survive Scorpion, Revenant, Wraith weapon fire (I was playing on Paradiso the other day and a Scorpion got distracted trying to kill me because I kept armor locking it's shots and eventually one of my teammates hijacked it).

Also it lets you survive and even turn the tables against a whole range of power weapons - shotgun, sword, rocket launcher, plasma launcher, grenade launcher, grav hammer, concussion rifle basically everything except the sniper rifle.

You can deflect rockets back at the user or block a hammer strike and then melee him back (instantly killing him).

If you're really good with the timing even in normal CQC encounters when the other player goes in for the melee you can armor lock when his melee lands, EMPing him and allowing you to kill him instantly with a return strike.

Then of course armor lock lets you survive stuck plasma grenades or grenade spam in enclosed spaces, which is extremely useful seeing how powerful nades are in Reach.

There's lots of other encounter specific uses for it as well - like one time I was being attacked by two players from the other team and so armor locked, they came in close waiting for the kill, I popped out early, threw a plasma grenade on the floor and went back in lock before they had time to react and got a double kill.

 

[AlNom]

I was wondering about that, does it only regenerate while armor locking for elites? I'm pretty sure it doesn't regenerate for spartans while locking (unlike the beta).

Since you're not taking hits or damage, you have just enough time in armour lock for the shield regen to kick in by the time it is used up assuming you use it as soon as you are hit. You can otherwise regen your shields as usual.

 

[(((interference)))]

Since you're not taking hits or damage, you have just enough time in armour lock for the shield regen to kick in by the time it is used up assuming you use it as soon as you are hit. You can otherwise regen your shields as usual.

Oh, so that's why I notice it while playing as Elites, since they have much faster (2x IIRC) shield regen times.

 

[AlNom]

Yup, plus elites can regen health completely.

 

[HollovVpo1nt]

The only problem I have with Armor Lock is that it can undo a stick after beeing stuck. If I throw a sticky and the person armor locks, than I can accept my suckage. But when I throw a sticky and succesfully stick and then that person Armor Locks, man that's just gay. I also never choose Armor Lock. It's either sprint or evade for me, 5 shotting my way to #1 That's much more rewarding that whoring Armor Lock and needler :/

Also, it takes longer to kill a person by 5-shotting compared to using the needler. What the fuck is that man? 5 shotting requires much more skill and should kill faster. I really love the concept of Elite Slayer, but man those damned Armor Lock+Needler people ruin it for me.

 

[AlNom]

Also, it takes longer to kill a person by 5-shotting compared to using the needler. What the fuck is that man? 5 shotting requires much more skill and should kill faster. I really love the concept of Elite Slayer, but man those damned Armor Lock+Needler people ruin it for me.

Well, it's supposed to be a medium to sort of long range-ish weapon...

 

[NRP]

Yeah, in Invasion slayer I much prefer starting as a Spartan because the pistol totally pwns needler-wielding bastards. Besides, I'm finding now that people are getting good at dodging needles so the needler isn't as much of a sure kill as it was at launch. I still like using it though. It's fun watching people explode in a pink mist.

 

[(((interference)))]

The problem with the needler is that it is unreliable if the enemy knows how to dodge or is moving perpendicular to you. Also it is completely unusable at med to long range, unlike the DMR/NR which are effective at a variety of ranges.

Hence it is a balanced weapon.

I was wondering whether you could counter a fast moving, jumping enemy by tracking his movements with the needle fire. Is that any more effective than just
shooting in his general direction?

And in Invasion the Elites definitely have the advantage, shields
recharge 2x as fast as Spartans and evade is much better than sprint. They might not have magnums but the plasma pistol is at least as good if not better at close range, especially since the magnum has been downgraded significantly since the beta (stupid decision IMO).

 

[egoless]

Delete

 

[homerdog]

In one of the updates before Reach's release, we learned of a bug report that basically said the camera didn't stay on the corpse long enough for victory teabagging. If this is the reason for the serious delay... arrrrrgh.

But what's the point in killing somebody, if you can't rub your sweaty nuts on their corpse?

 

[AlNom]

But what's the point in killing somebody, if you can't rub your sweaty nuts on their corpse?

Why, credits and daily challenges, of course.

 

[nintenho]

And in Invasion the Elites definitely have the advantage, shields recharge 2x as fast as Spartans and evade is much better than sprint. They might not have magnums but the plasma pistol is at least as good if not better at close range, especially since the magnum has been downgraded significantly since the beta (stupid decision IMO).

They're even as long as you're playing objective based game modes that pit them against each other. The spartans can run and therefore flank faster and of course being smaller targets and starting with magnums makes them more survivable at longer ranges. Elites are better in close ranges where being a bigger target isn't such a big drawback and being able to roll and use plasma grenades gives you better opportunities to get the drop on someone. As far as plasma pistols go, the only real way to get a fully charged shot onto somebody is if you're already pretty close to them in which case a decent spartan player should have already gotten a couple headshots on you. Honestly, I find the plasma pistol more useful for disabling vehicles than anything else.

So that's why I feel that they're pretty evenly matched as long as it's an objective game type. In something like slayer, you'd probably always see Elites guarding the corridors or the spartans camping in good sniping locations or something. I pretty much only play Invasion but I have no problem playing either side honestly.