Halo 3 - now coming to Xbox One. MC Collection.

[Don Rosco]

Despite these issues I look forward to being in a big lobby with bilco and Panda and your man Don here, and Rev and Zok and Jon and all the rest, preparing for another hopeless bout of slapstick combat. And 4-player nubes co-op, that doesn't bear thinking about.

Oh man. I'm gonna have to quit my job AND dump my chick.

[Uzi]

They certainly go for the rocket launcher in my experience, if not the laser. Once I was amazed to kill the holder of the rocket launcher but of course in stopping to pick it up , get it aimed etc I was either sniped or meleed from the rear.

I agree with the various comments above - it just isn't fun if you die too frequently and you never seem to improve. I also find that if I follow 2 guys who are intent on killing each other and come up against the victor I always come out worst so I have to improve the proximity kill somehow. Get quite a lot of assists where I assume I damaged people but did not finish them off.

Hopefully we can set up a rllmuk Halo 3 Noobs group when the full game comes out and explore the maps and have a more competitive and enjoyable experience.

Rockets seem to be slower than Halo 2 and not as plentiful in supply in regards to ammo. I've not seen it used much at all. Pop into a game on beaver creek or whatever its called on Halo 2 and see everyone rush for the rocket on the rock bit in the middle. That hasnt happened and doesnt as much IMO.

Also the laser gives you a good 5 secods of a big fuck off red line in the air to show someone is going after you- not like a snipe where you have no idea where you're getting shot from.

You can improve though, Halo is just one of those games that lets you. Play counterstrike as a noob, thats a game that frustrates you if youre trying to get better, die, then goodbye for five minutes!

Also watching videos of your own and other people better than you helps a lot. I watched a friend of mine who isnt as good as me, and I found out why, the idiot never uses the jump button. Ever. To avoid fire or to melee. Its things that become obvious.

Halo 3 is balanced, I don't see how it isn't. If youre really rubbish at it, which some of you may be, I wouldn't blame it on the mechanics. Most games my tool of desctruction is my fist, and I do pretty well/ok. Its not all about the weapons this time.

[dan_tm]

You spawn with the worst weapon of them all every time you die,so you frantically search for better weapon at the cost of everything else.

I assume you weren't talking about Halo 3, but if you were that's complete nonsense*, the AR is a fantastic all round weapon which I hardly ever feel the need to drop. After spawning you're never far away from a Carbine/BR and paired up with the AR you're pretty much prepared for any situation. There's no massive rush for the 'big' weapons to be able to compete.

One thing I don't understand is; how are they going to fix all the bugs/glitches/design errors in time before the (allegedly) September launch?

By not going on holiday for the next 5 months, probably.

Don't you remember Halo 2 at launch?

I know that wasn't aimed at me, but no, I don't. What was wrong with H2 at launch, I can't remember? The biggest patch I can remember was to just re-address the weapon balance.

*™

[Guest]

well, i'll be getting my internet access back from the 30th, so i'll be quickly downloading the beta and joining you lot.

you'll all be able to laugh at my weak skills* as well, seeing as you've all had a head start.

*nothing new there then.

[Petrousgyre]

Also the laser gives you a good 5 secods of a big fuck off red line in the air to show someone is going after you- not like a snipe where you have no idea where you're getting shot from.

I think you also 'see' that red light when you're being tracked by a sniper in H3. You're right though, H3 is much better balanced - the laser is actually pretty useless against folk who know what they're doing.

[ZOK]

All this nube talk is tempting, but I don't know if even Halo 3 can tempt me to borrow a working 360 for six months, or however long they're currently lasting.

[Petrousgyre]

9 months in my experience. Agreed, it's fucking shit.

[dan_tm]

I think you also 'see' that red light when you're being tracked by a sniper in H3. You're right though, H3 is much better balanced - the laser is actually pretty useless against folk who know what they're doing.

Although it's deadly when used by people that do know what they're doing with it. Sadly, I'm not one of those people - I hate the thing.

I've come across 2 or 3 people that use it really well now, almost like a sniper. Charging it up behind a rock so you don't see the laser pointing at you before quickly jumping out at the last second and blasting you to bits before you even know which direction it came from.

[Thread Astaire]

I've shot a guy in the face with a shotgun and he was sent off flying into the sky. He couldn't respawn either, but was still able to talk. Funny as hell, but a nasty bug nonetheless.

Best one I've seen so far was in a game of bomb. My mate planted the bomb and dropped a sheild. He's stood there while I killed the team. I looked down to see the bomb explode with him still inside the shield with his head stuck in the roof and his body hanging down. Not really a glitch i suppose, but I found it funny.

[Uzi]

Although it's deadly when used by people that do know what they're doing with it. Sadly, I'm not one of those people - I hate the thing.

I've come across 2 or 3 people that use it really well now, almost like a sniper. Charging it up behind a rock so you don't see the laser pointing at you before quickly jumping out at the last second and blasting you to bits before you even know which direction it came from.

I done that once to a guy in the face

Again its subtle, you can also HEAR it, so you know its being charged up around you. Most people so the silly thing and begin attacking head on and running at them and they never kill them in time before it goes off.

My general rule is, if you hear or see the laser, RUN. In an non straight line to some cover.

[Kryptonian]

Sweet mother of god, I just checked out your stats too - that's unnatural. Here I am thinking I'm doing OK with a K/D ratio of around 1.3 - you fuckers are sitting at 2.8. Also 8000 odd games of H2? That's just wrong.

I assume you always play as a team - that's got to help your stats, I guess. I don't remember Krypt being supernaturally good back when we played RTCW and the original R6, but then maybe I've just been left behind, trailing in the wake of your collective awesomeness.

Yeah, we always play as a team. Tyler is our killing machine whereas me and Yawdib will go do the objectives under his watchful eye

I was shit at RTCW but amazing at Black Arrow.

[Ben]

I know that wasn't aimed at me, but no, I don't. What was wrong with H2 at launch, I can't remember? The biggest patch I can remember was to just re-address the weapon balance.

Off the top of my head; being able to pull flags through walls, jumping across half the level with swords, constant standbys. There were loads of other bugs and niggles too, like the Plasma Pistol homing in ridiculously (even moreso than it does now) or people hiding off the map forcing another team to quit in Objective Games. Red team winning when the game finished as a draw was another good one also.

[MalevolentPanda]

I know that wasn't aimed at me, but no, I don't. What was wrong with H2 at launch, I can't remember? The biggest patch I can remember was to just re-address the weapon balance.

Well it wasn't aimed at you, but surely you remember the fact that loads of the walls weren't solid, so you could just pick up objects and weapons on the other side of walls as if there was nothing in the way? And there was the whole dummy cheating thing, sword flying, glitching out of levels etc.

The walls not being solid was the big one though, in that it wasn't possible they weren't aware of it. They knew it wasn't finished and put it out anyway to meet a deadline.

[dan_tm]

Off the top of my head; being able to pull flags through walls, jumping across half the level with swords, constant standbys. There were loads of other bugs and niggles too, like the Plasma Pistol homing in ridiculously (even moreso than it does now) or people hiding off the map forcing another team to quit in Objective Games. Red team winning when the game finished as a draw was another good one also.

Hmm, I'll give you the flag one as I know that was being used right at the start. I also remember the red team wins on a draw thing but I don't think it was as blatant as just that, I never remember being annoyed by it anyway, did it only happen under certain circumstances?

The sword jump thing, getting the bomb out of the map, super jumps (which you didn't mention), they weren't discovered until well after the release, over half a year at least for one or two of them, I'm sure. Those sorts of things can't be tested for so I'm sure there will be similar problems with Halo 3 appearing after millions of games have been played by next summer.

Standbying is an issue for pretty much every online game I think.

[Treble]

For the 'noobs' feeling left out because the standard is too high, don't worry: most people who picked up Crackdown the beta are hardened H2 players, and most skills are transferable. You're not going to be playing against level 1s, they'll be level 20-30s in disguise. It's the same on H2 after a stats reset. When the full release comes out, there will be oads of level 1s who are actually new to the game - the level 30s will accelerateout of your reach very, very quickly and you can play people as inexperienced as yourself.

My only advice is: go online, don't play ranked matches, try and play objective games where people aren't constantly trying to kill you as their primary objective (Territories, VIP, CTF etc.), watch the better players and how they react in close combat, and, wherever possible, team up with a decent player: press X to party up, or send them an invite.

[Petrousgyre]

Yeah, we always play as a team. Tyler is our killing machine whereas me and Yawdib will go do the objectives under his watchful eye

I was shit at RTCW but amazing at Black Arrow.

Wheras I bossed RTCW, was good at R6 and am now only average at Halo. I'm going backwards here guys - I blame age. And stupidity.

[sir stiff_one]

This is what I was saying to my mate though,HALO is all about the posession of the best weapons and the acquisition of them is everything.

You spawn with the worst weapon of them all every time you die,so you frantically search for better weapon at the cost of everything else.

If your lucky you'll pick one up-just before you die again.

Would it work if you could modify the weapons balance just like in RESISTANCE?

Hmm, I think this much less of an issue than in Halo 2. You assault rifle doesn't seem great, but better than the old SMG. There isn't necessarily a best weapon, just superior contextually. After skillz it's rock/paper/scissors.

[roskelld]

Why does the game pause every now and then and go to an upload screen, before putting everyone back in the game?

[Straps]

Why does the game pause every now and then and go to an upload screen, before putting everyone back in the game?

Not-yet-perfected code, I suspect. Most times I get that I get booted, mind.

[Dave White]

god I can't play this after 7 months of rainbow 6 vegas.

[Petrousgyre]

Why does the game pause every now and then and go to an upload screen, before putting everyone back in the game?

Normally because someone quit.

[Talvalin]

My only advice is: go online, don't play ranked matches, try and play objective games where people aren't constantly trying to kill you as their primary objective (Territories, VIP, CTF etc.), watch the better players and how they react in close combat, and, wherever possible, team up with a decent player: press X to party up, or send them an invite.

Haven't had a game of VIP yet. Is it any good?

I was chatting with Don about the changes to Territories. It's far more enjoyable than before, since you have to think tactically about whether the entire team will go to capture a territory or whether you want to risk spreading people out to capture more at the risk of increased vulnerability. Land Grab is still a bit arse, since it boils down to one-on-one fighting at each territory - if you die first then that territory is as good as lost.

[moosegrinder]

To be honest, all teh games we've played (with friends, nto randoms) have been a lot closer than Halo 2. Obv. I 'm no expert but that's my observation.

[MalevolentPanda]

I was chatting with Don about the changes to Territories. It's far more enjoyable than before, since you have to think tactically about whether the entire team will go to capture a territory or whether you want to risk spreading people out to capture more at the risk of increased vulnerability.

How is that any different to 2? What changes are you talking about?

[Don Rosco]

On territories, there's attack and defend rounds, 2 of each. On your attack round, you're only taking over territories, and once they're captured, they're locked into your colour. Highest score at the end wins. It's much less random and chaotic, and much more fun.

Land Grab is five neutral territories, and again, once they're taken over, they're locked. I'm not so sure that's an improvement, at least not as much as territories is.

[MalevolentPanda]

Oh. That does sound interesting, but I liked Territories the way it was. Couldn't they just have made a new gametype out of the attack/defend thing and left old style territorities in there? Then maybe they could have got rid of King of the Hill.

[mprice]

Improving somewhat I think, though it may be down to being drawn against people of similar skill levels.

I've started checking everyones max skill rating before every game and must admit its getting increasingly annoying to be playing against lv20-30 as a puny level 6 Corporal 2nd grade.

In my opinion they'd be better off pitting people against each other based on their max skill and doing away with loosing skill points all together.

bass or treble is my tag if anyone wants to add me.

[Treble]

Haven't had a game of VIP yet. Is it any good?

I like it, yeah. The VIP has an overshield and can run slightly faster than a normal Spartan. The guys I've played against didn't seem to 'get' that you only score by killing the VIP - I teamed up witha mate, hid and acted as bodyguard whilst the rest of our team mates racked-up kills on theirs.

[Phelan]

The lag is really starting to get to me.

Everyone was on green except me who was on one red bar - I had to log off in anger and frustration because people were killing me before I could even react

[moosegrinder]

Karmic retribution for living near a beach and rubbing the fact in, Phelan