Imp3nded
09-19-2010, 07:49 PM
I've made a thread over at Bungie.net. It's basically a thread containing quite a bit of constructive criticism I have, and suggestions also (for Halo Reach of course). If enough people support this thread; who knows? We can possibly have one or two of the things being asked for actually happen. :) <3
Reach: Constructive Criticism and Suggestions (http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=49156777&viewreplies=true)
This is more for Bungie's eyes than it is for the Halo community. Anyways, I have loved Reach so far. It is 10x better than what Halo 3 was, and definitely more fun... there's just a few things about the game that I feel completely either ruin, or break, gameplay. I will discuss some of these things. (WARNING: If you don't like to read, then this thread is not for you. This is mainly for Bungie's eyes.)
Things that I think NEED to be fixed (patched), and my reason for it:
-Camo AA - This thing is too overpowered to be something that can be used over and over again for a long time. It jams everyone's radar and makes the person practically invisible. On top of this, it slows down the game to an unbearable pace. This is because the person with the camo is usually using it to camp crouched somewhere like Reflection's S3 which causes the other team to not rush that area... which creates these slow and useless standoffs.
- Camo Power-Up - I'm not sure what made you guys (I'm guessing it was Sage)make the Active Camo Power-up act like the Camo AA, but it needs to be fixed. The reason why Active Camo Power-Up was so important to control over your opponent was because of how powerful it is, and its effectiveness. You can run around at normal speed with it, and when playing good players, you still had to be careful of which routes you took because they could spot you. There's no reason at all to even put this power-up on the map when it's as useless as it is.
- No Bleedthrough - *sigh* This is probably the most frustrating aspect of Reach right now. I'm tired of getting three shots in on someone that's sprinting at me, and not getting any shots in on me... just to have it end in a 'beatdown + beatdown + both die' scenario. This is what always ends up happening. No bleedthrough has ruined CQC (close quarters combat), and has made it quite awkward in a lot of situations. If I get 3 shots in one someone while the other person hasn't shot me once, I should be rewarded with the kill, not my opponent who has effectively done nothing. With this new concept of 'no bleedthrough', all that's been accomplished is an increase in melee fights that end with ties... This shouldn't happen. Gun skill > Melee (Maybe if beating down in Halo wasn't as easy as it is, this would be different)
-- This 'no bleedthrough' concept also has ruined the customization of a lot of weapons. For example... a 4-shot DMR. 4-shot DMR requires too much of a damage increase because of the fact that the last shot doesn't bleed through. Increasing the damage done by the amount needed (130-140% damage, or 120% damage with 90% resistance) breaks all of the other weapons. A 4sk would be nice for a certain competitive playlist. ;) <3
- Arena's settings - Not much I find wrong here... Just the fact that there's radar. If this is supposed to be the 'real' way of judging somebody's individual skill in a very competitive environment, radar needs to go. Radar creates camp-fests, and crouching around corners, among other things. Take the radar off and let peoples' awareness and team communication prevail. I actually prefer going into Team Slayer and getting Slayer Pro because of this. The games are much faster paced with no radar.
- Armor Lock - Eventually you will finally realize just how much of a 'flow-breaker' this thing is. It creates complete stand-stills basically.. a complete halt in action, and it's extremely awkward. This is supposed to be a fluid game... Armor Lock is quite the opposite.
- Zealot's 3rd Tier - Idk how many times I've played a match on this map against a good team of four, and once they get the lead, they all lift to the third tier and camp (it has even happened to me when the other team went up 3 to 2). This needs to be fixed. It's worse than the original Snowbound from Halo 3... and that's saying something. I propose putting a soft-kill barrier in this area.
- Custom Game Options - The fact that there was so much thought and effort put into being able to customize the Firefight Settings, but when it came to Multiplayer Settings there seems to be a lack there of, is beyond me. Multiplayer is Halo's core (No matter how much of Halo CE was its epic, juicy, action-packed campaign... <3 343 Guilty Spark and Two Betrayals). Anyways, Custom Game Options is severely lacking... And I'm disappointed because it's a major part to the game. For example: Bleed-Through Toggle, Fall Damage Toggle, Individual Weapon Damage Modifiers, better customization of the AAs, etc.
--I would rather see 'no bleed-through' removed completely, but at least give us the option to remove it.
--I don't mind fall damage since I used to play a lot of CE, but I'm aware how others feel about it, and would probably like the option to remove it for their gametypes.
--Individual Damage Modifiers... *sigh* I've come to realize that this is something you guys just won't do, and not only that, but you just WON'T give a reason for not doing it. I understand that you guys think your Sandbox is perfectly balanced... which it is for the pace of gameplay you want, but a certain portion of the community would really benefit from a faster game, which is where this custom option would come into play. It would also benefit the casuals though.
---I recall a thread being made in the Reach forums pre-release... It was a poll on whether the 'Individual Damage Modifiers' should be implemented. I remember a VAST majority choosing yes... a very HUGE majority. It's mind-boggling this feature still hasn't been implemented... and quite frustrating.
- Theater - This is a HUGE issue for me and many others. I guess you guys don't realize just how important the ability to view a gamefilm with your team was. It was extremely important, and it was basically necessary for good teams of four to learn what they were doing wrong and how to fix it. Being able to have all four right there to go over film as it was happening was vital. Yet, it was removed for the ability to rewind Firefight and Campaign...? Really? I don't understand, and I'll have to disagree with urk when he says it's a 'good trade-off'. No, no it's not.
--Also, not only does it really REALLY hurt team practice and film sessions, it also hurts the excitement of being able to show your friend a nasty play you may have had during a game with both of you experiencing it at the same time. Hearing your friend's reaction to your ridiculous play was always great...
- Forge - This is an ideal more than it is criticism. I'm not sure if any of you (Bungie employees) have used Google Sketch-Up... I'm sure you have. I would love to see forge be able to work like Google Sketch-Up does. For example, being able to lock corners of objects to the corners or midpoints of other objects. This would make life much easier (not that you already haven't done that enough.... :)). Also, more items. I find 100 Boxes and 50 Walls still a little limiting.
Things that probably can't be fixed:
- Frame rate - I'll put it simply: It's horrible (I still love you). Playing certain Forged maps is horrendous because of it. Playing firefight multiplayer and co-op campaign is also horrible because of it. It's worse than trying to play competitive Halo on a 55" Plasma HDTV with all of the input lag... :/
- Custom Options Issues - I would really like to be able to crank the run speed up from 100% to 150% without the sensation of me ice skating across the floor. I just wish movement could stay crisp and precise throughout the speed adjustments.
Anyways, there are a couple other things that need to be addressed.. I just can't remember them at the moment.
Overall though... Much better than Halo 3, and with a few of these adjustments (specifically removing 'no bleed-through'), and I think it will surpass Halo 2.
Great job, Bungie. I love the campaign so far. <3
P.S. Countdown is the greatest map I've played on since Halo CE.
<3 Imp3nded
-Impended-
Reach: Constructive Criticism and Suggestions (http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=49156777&viewreplies=true)
This is more for Bungie's eyes than it is for the Halo community. Anyways, I have loved Reach so far. It is 10x better than what Halo 3 was, and definitely more fun... there's just a few things about the game that I feel completely either ruin, or break, gameplay. I will discuss some of these things. (WARNING: If you don't like to read, then this thread is not for you. This is mainly for Bungie's eyes.)
Things that I think NEED to be fixed (patched), and my reason for it:
-Camo AA - This thing is too overpowered to be something that can be used over and over again for a long time. It jams everyone's radar and makes the person practically invisible. On top of this, it slows down the game to an unbearable pace. This is because the person with the camo is usually using it to camp crouched somewhere like Reflection's S3 which causes the other team to not rush that area... which creates these slow and useless standoffs.
- Camo Power-Up - I'm not sure what made you guys (I'm guessing it was Sage)make the Active Camo Power-up act like the Camo AA, but it needs to be fixed. The reason why Active Camo Power-Up was so important to control over your opponent was because of how powerful it is, and its effectiveness. You can run around at normal speed with it, and when playing good players, you still had to be careful of which routes you took because they could spot you. There's no reason at all to even put this power-up on the map when it's as useless as it is.
- No Bleedthrough - *sigh* This is probably the most frustrating aspect of Reach right now. I'm tired of getting three shots in on someone that's sprinting at me, and not getting any shots in on me... just to have it end in a 'beatdown + beatdown + both die' scenario. This is what always ends up happening. No bleedthrough has ruined CQC (close quarters combat), and has made it quite awkward in a lot of situations. If I get 3 shots in one someone while the other person hasn't shot me once, I should be rewarded with the kill, not my opponent who has effectively done nothing. With this new concept of 'no bleedthrough', all that's been accomplished is an increase in melee fights that end with ties... This shouldn't happen. Gun skill > Melee (Maybe if beating down in Halo wasn't as easy as it is, this would be different)
-- This 'no bleedthrough' concept also has ruined the customization of a lot of weapons. For example... a 4-shot DMR. 4-shot DMR requires too much of a damage increase because of the fact that the last shot doesn't bleed through. Increasing the damage done by the amount needed (130-140% damage, or 120% damage with 90% resistance) breaks all of the other weapons. A 4sk would be nice for a certain competitive playlist. ;) <3
- Arena's settings - Not much I find wrong here... Just the fact that there's radar. If this is supposed to be the 'real' way of judging somebody's individual skill in a very competitive environment, radar needs to go. Radar creates camp-fests, and crouching around corners, among other things. Take the radar off and let peoples' awareness and team communication prevail. I actually prefer going into Team Slayer and getting Slayer Pro because of this. The games are much faster paced with no radar.
- Armor Lock - Eventually you will finally realize just how much of a 'flow-breaker' this thing is. It creates complete stand-stills basically.. a complete halt in action, and it's extremely awkward. This is supposed to be a fluid game... Armor Lock is quite the opposite.
- Zealot's 3rd Tier - Idk how many times I've played a match on this map against a good team of four, and once they get the lead, they all lift to the third tier and camp (it has even happened to me when the other team went up 3 to 2). This needs to be fixed. It's worse than the original Snowbound from Halo 3... and that's saying something. I propose putting a soft-kill barrier in this area.
- Custom Game Options - The fact that there was so much thought and effort put into being able to customize the Firefight Settings, but when it came to Multiplayer Settings there seems to be a lack there of, is beyond me. Multiplayer is Halo's core (No matter how much of Halo CE was its epic, juicy, action-packed campaign... <3 343 Guilty Spark and Two Betrayals). Anyways, Custom Game Options is severely lacking... And I'm disappointed because it's a major part to the game. For example: Bleed-Through Toggle, Fall Damage Toggle, Individual Weapon Damage Modifiers, better customization of the AAs, etc.
--I would rather see 'no bleed-through' removed completely, but at least give us the option to remove it.
--I don't mind fall damage since I used to play a lot of CE, but I'm aware how others feel about it, and would probably like the option to remove it for their gametypes.
--Individual Damage Modifiers... *sigh* I've come to realize that this is something you guys just won't do, and not only that, but you just WON'T give a reason for not doing it. I understand that you guys think your Sandbox is perfectly balanced... which it is for the pace of gameplay you want, but a certain portion of the community would really benefit from a faster game, which is where this custom option would come into play. It would also benefit the casuals though.
---I recall a thread being made in the Reach forums pre-release... It was a poll on whether the 'Individual Damage Modifiers' should be implemented. I remember a VAST majority choosing yes... a very HUGE majority. It's mind-boggling this feature still hasn't been implemented... and quite frustrating.
- Theater - This is a HUGE issue for me and many others. I guess you guys don't realize just how important the ability to view a gamefilm with your team was. It was extremely important, and it was basically necessary for good teams of four to learn what they were doing wrong and how to fix it. Being able to have all four right there to go over film as it was happening was vital. Yet, it was removed for the ability to rewind Firefight and Campaign...? Really? I don't understand, and I'll have to disagree with urk when he says it's a 'good trade-off'. No, no it's not.
--Also, not only does it really REALLY hurt team practice and film sessions, it also hurts the excitement of being able to show your friend a nasty play you may have had during a game with both of you experiencing it at the same time. Hearing your friend's reaction to your ridiculous play was always great...
- Forge - This is an ideal more than it is criticism. I'm not sure if any of you (Bungie employees) have used Google Sketch-Up... I'm sure you have. I would love to see forge be able to work like Google Sketch-Up does. For example, being able to lock corners of objects to the corners or midpoints of other objects. This would make life much easier (not that you already haven't done that enough.... :)). Also, more items. I find 100 Boxes and 50 Walls still a little limiting.
Things that probably can't be fixed:
- Frame rate - I'll put it simply: It's horrible (I still love you). Playing certain Forged maps is horrendous because of it. Playing firefight multiplayer and co-op campaign is also horrible because of it. It's worse than trying to play competitive Halo on a 55" Plasma HDTV with all of the input lag... :/
- Custom Options Issues - I would really like to be able to crank the run speed up from 100% to 150% without the sensation of me ice skating across the floor. I just wish movement could stay crisp and precise throughout the speed adjustments.
Anyways, there are a couple other things that need to be addressed.. I just can't remember them at the moment.
Overall though... Much better than Halo 3, and with a few of these adjustments (specifically removing 'no bleed-through'), and I think it will surpass Halo 2.
Great job, Bungie. I love the campaign so far. <3
P.S. Countdown is the greatest map I've played on since Halo CE.
<3 Imp3nded
-Impended-