The Halo 3 aftermath thread

[Straps]

I think the fact I play mainly BTB is throwing things out a fair bit, a little under 1/3 of my kills come the BR, while melees are third at 12%, behind the AR.

[sir stiff_one]

If I understand right, you're recommending staying away from opponents unless you have a shotgun or mauler? Is that right? If so, I wouldn't argue with you on that point. But, if you have either of those weapons, you're better off continuing to shoot if you're at point-blank range, unless you need to reload. So it's only worth melee-ing in very specific situations (you're out of ammo or for some reason they turn their back to you); otherwise you'd be bonkers not to use the best thing you've got - the up-close specialist weapon.

I'd disagree about the "no close range with the AR" point - but it depends what starting range we're talking about of course. Certainly, there's no point in running from mid-long range if your opponent has a better weapon at that range. But on the tighter Slayer maps, encounters often begin at close range (they're lurking around a corner, or they leap down from a higher platform, etc.).

No it's not, it's much quicker to shotgun/melee.

The assualt rifle is a fucking noob weapon that people think is great at first, which you end up using only when you have to.

Regardless as to whether it was meant or not, this melee system encourages people to grow out of that and be more skillful.

[So. Angry.]

I'm still very much a noob at this so how I do I best use matchmaking to avoid a situation like this in the future?

I was the only Blue Team member not to quit out. Is that good or bad?

[sith]

My stats

Assualt rifle 930

Melee 785

Sniper 500

Shotgun 330

Hmm thought melee would have been top.

Melee is easily the most crucial skill to learn by far as many have said already.

[MalevolentPanda]

I'm still very much a noob at this so how I do I best use matchmaking to avoid a situation like this in the future?

Enter with friends.

I was the only Blue Team member not to quit out. Is that good or bad?

Well, you won't have had an EXP penalty applied because you stayed to the end, but on the other hand you lost heavily and the game was presumably not very enjoyable.

Quitting is much less of a problem now than it was in 2, but it the EXP penalty does mean that if half a team quits, the others tend to stay, regardless of whether how hopeless their situation or tedious the game is.

[Phelan]

Mine look like:

But then again I find the Mauler/Melee combo to be incredibly effective.

[dan_tm]

Reaction times are bullshit, because lag distorts it.

The system punishes the battered player - it's inelegant but probably the better soloution.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner!

The melees have never been about who pressed the button first, even in Halo 2 thanks to the latency. The new system balances it out and clearly gives you a more even chance of coming out on top in a close-up battle with the host/an american.

[Kryptonian]

The assualt rifle is a fucking noob weapon that people think is great at first, which you end up using only when you have to.

I think it's so high on mine because I've played a lot of Lone Wolves. It certainly has its place - a BR will beat you at medium range if you both start shooting at the same time but it can drop someones shield pretty quick. At longer range too, if you see someone has no shield, a few taps of the trigger can sometimes bring them down.

Obviously I'll pick up any other weapon to complement the AR as soon as I can but in Lone Wolves / Rumble Pit you can be stuck with it for a while. Although the best thing is having a BR and just getting a couple of headshots on 2 guys drilling each other with ARs

[utopastac]

My new (currently minor) gripe, that i'm surprised I havn't seen before tonight, is what they did to get rid of de-levelers. Now that you're not punished in terms of team score for suicides and betrayals, people have started to abuse it a bit. We went one behind in a game earlier, for instance, on construct in double team, and the other team just started spawn-suicide-betrayaling each other. It as next to impossible to even see them before they'd taken themselves off the map. We won in the end with a lucky snipe with about 40 seconds to go (they lost the plot after we went level), but we had to endure about 6 minutes of map wandering to get to that point.

[Meers]

Well I've sent everyone in my friends list these clips of me suffering latency, and even lag. I've discussed these with Alisdair and he's convinced that the latency example is normal Halo 3 fare, but the lag one's inexcusable. I must say that it's become better now, as I play this more often, but I still get 2 laggy games like this one out of 5. Anyway, for those of you who're not on my friends list:

Latency anyone? and Lagging tosser. Please download and watch.

[Asura]

Actually, just remembered that melee is useful against duel wielders. But in lone wolf Slayer games, no-one seems to do that very much.

I don't think that follows, because most people (myself included) will chuck a dual weapon in favour of a melee, unless it's the mauler.

[kerraig UK]

Had a brilliant bit of backchat after a team slayer game on snowbound. My team won and we went back to the lobby where a guy fromt he other team said "you guys are horrible with the BR, you can't even reach level 35 you noobs". I checked my service record and my tool of destruction was the carbine while his was beatdowns. As i pointed it out to him and everyone started laughing at him he quit out.

[sir stiff_one]

A lot of people keep mentioning the Mauler as a weapon of choice and I have to ask why? It seems really weak compared to the likes of the Brute Shot and I dont even think I've managed a kill with it. Seems really weak. Or am I missing something?

You're missing something (as most people would expect). It's strictly a close range weapon only though and one shot doesn't kill.

[sir stiff_one]

I think it's so high on mine because I've played a lot of Lone Wolves. It certainly has its place - a BR will beat you at medium range if you both start shooting at the same time but it can drop someones shield pretty quick. At longer range too, if you see someone has no shield, a few taps of the trigger can sometimes bring them down.

Obviously I'll pick up any other weapon to complement the AR as soon as I can but in Lone Wolves / Rumble Pit you can be stuck with it for a while. Although the best thing is having a BR and just getting a couple of headshots on 2 guys drilling each other with ARs

I think you get stuck with it loads. When you got your perfection medal how many kills did you get with the AR.

[Meers]

I see nothing wrong with those videos except you being shit

Thanks for your expert observation, Jon. Very helpful.

I bet you can't name another online FPS with this frequent amount of lag.

[MalevolentPanda]

I bet you can't name another online FPS with this frequent amount of lag.

Lol?

[sir stiff_one]

We had one match which was decent and at the end we said "Good game", "Well played" etc. One guy was half way through returning the sentiment "Goo.." when his teammate started saying "You suck dick you suck dick you suck dick" for ages. Everyone went quiet waiting for him to stop. The other guy seemed pretty embarrassed. People are funny.

[sir stiff_one]

Thanks for your expert observation, Jon. Very helpful.

I bet you can't name another online FPS with this frequent amount of lag.

You must have been getting horrible games. Have you experienced this when playing other Dutch/Netherlands based players?

Lag is an issue in all online games - Halo 3's lag 'hiding' system isn't always fair, but at least 80% of the games we've had have been fine. When you get a pure bullshit one you just ignore it.

[Lothar Hex]

Rich, I have honestly not seen the amount of "lag" you seem to be expriencing. I really am starting to think it's all in your head. Yes there are some laggy games, but 9/10 of mine have been fine and my connection is shite. I've never felt the need to blame me losing on lag.

[Guest alisdair]

I bet you can't name another online FPS with this frequent amount of lag.

All FPS games have this much lag. Reasons it might annoy you more in Halo:

1) You don't get host as often, because Halo initially rotates host rather than picking what seems to be the best connection;

2) Halo is very fast-paced compared to other console FPSes;

3) No other FPS has melee attacks anything like the same, and close quarters combat is where you'll see really weird lag problems.

[Kryptonian]

I think you get stuck with it loads. When you got your perfection medal how many kills did you get with the AR.

Indeed, I know what you're saying - I'll use a BR over the AR in most situations but if I run out of ammo I can happily switch to it to finish someone off. It's not an amazing gun but I don't think it's as horrible as some people make out.

[MW_Jimmy]

4) You suck at Halo and need an excuse for your rubbishness.

[kerraig UK]

Meerman, with other games you host with your mega connection so you would just have never seen the latency before. What you're seeing is what pretty much every FPS plays like for most people. You've just been lucky enough to not have to experience it till now

[sir stiff_one]

Indeed, I know what you're saying - I'll use a BR over the AR in most situations but if I run out of ammo I can happily switch to it to finish someone off. It's not an amazing gun but I don't think it's as horrible as some people make out.

No I certainly don't think it's horrible. You can kill someone with it and it's better than the old SMG. It's just about good enough to use when you're thinking carefully (grenades and positioning) and just about bad enough that it becomes a risky proposition (about 50/50 in a one on one) and encourages you to use other weapons where possible.

Also, the clip is enough to kill one person more or less, leaving you vulnerable on the reload.

Well balanced, certainly.

[Meers]

You must have been getting horrible games. Have you experienced this when playing other Dutch/Netherlands based players?

Yeah. It's all over the place. 2 out of 5 games are like this.

I really am starting to think it's all in your head.

Excuse me? In my head? Have you actually watched those vids? In that lag one, I die a whole second later! How the hell can anyone find that acceptable?

4) You suck at Halo and need an excuse for your rubbishness.

I'll show you who sucks, soon.

Meerman, with other games you host with your mega connection so you would just have never seen the latency before. What you're seeing is what pretty much every FPS plays like for most people. You've just been lucky enough to not have to experience it till now

Again, how is that acceptable? And you may be right with me being the host in most other FPS this gen, and not used to latency...but Vegas never took the piss like Halo 3 does. No-one ever complained about latency/lag on my host, and host advantage was almost absent because I've lost quite a few matches as well.

So okay - Vegas is slow-paced. Should that really matter? CoD4 is fast, and the beta ran rather smoothly for me too.

Granted, I haven't played H3 as often as I'd wish due to other commitments, so it may need to pick up on my host record. But if it's still not better when CoD4's about to be released, H3 won't be getting much playtime from me anymore, I'm afraid.

Oh one more thing...the custom games - is the party leader the connection host as well, or is it a random one? And does the game switch hosts mid-game?

[redman]

Lag is an issue in all online games - Halo 3's lag 'hiding' system isn't always fair, but at least 80% of the games we've had have been fine. When you get a pure bullshit one you just ignore it.

2 quick questions:

What's this hiding system?

what's the difference between lag and latency?

I'm not sure who hosts the custom games but in theatre mode I've been asked to switch party learder when the game deemed my friend had a better connection. Maybe that's an indicator?

[MalevolentPanda]

I'm not sure who hosts the custom games but in theatre mode I've been asked to switch party learder when the game deemed my friend had a better connection. Maybe that's an indicator?

It says that but it actually means 'person who set up the room' instead of 'person with better connection'. Likewise, custom game host will usually, but possibly not always, give host to the person who set up the room.

[redman]

It says that but it actually means 'person who set up the room' instead of 'person with better connection'. Likewise, custom game host will usually, but possibly not always, give host to the person who set up the room.

no, honestly I set up the room, there were only two of us, and I was asked to switch to make him the party leader specifically because he had the better connection and must host. Anyway I'm not sure how relevent/important it is but I'm 99% certain that viewing the films I was asked to fuck off and make someone else the party leader because of their better connection.

[Shafto]

Something quite bizarre happened to me yesterday, that some of you might be able to help me with.

Playing Lone Wolves, Slayer, on Epitaph, about 5 minutes in, and the game goes black. Typical host quit, reconnenction issue I think.

Game comes back, and my view point is on the floor on one of the outside walkways. I can see my shadow against the wall, as if i'm lying down. I can look around, but my shield is flashing, and I can't move. It stays this way for the rest of the game, and I just have to sit idly by.

The weird thing is, almost as soon as it's happened, a guy comes running round the corner and gives me a sound teabagging. It was too long after it had happened to be a post-kill act, so i'm wondering if he somehow caused it to happen, knew what was going on and was having a wee chuckle at my expense. A few other guys later on had a shot at me, so my name must have still appeared on screen when they focused on me. Even looking at it in Theatre hasn't shed any light on the issue.

Pretty boring watching my 4 point lead drop until I came in 5th place, and not wanting to quit or lose XP.

On the whole, mtachmaking rocks, but there are clearly some issues.

[MalevolentPanda]

no, honestly I set up the room, there were only two of us, and I was asked to switch to make him the party leader specifically because he had the better connection and must host. Anyway I'm not sure how relevent/important it is but I'm 99% certain that viewing the films I was asked to fuck off and make someone else the party leader because of their better connection.

Yeah, but it isn't actually right about who has the better connection, and switching party leader doesn't mean switching host anyway: they are independent of each other. We always get told to make Jimmy the party leader if he set up the room because 'he has the best connection' whereas in actual fact, every single other person in the world has a better connection than Jimmy.