[The Bass]

As the weeks have gone by since ODST's release, the renewal of interest in all things Halo has slowly faded. Forum chatter has almost ground to a halt and friends lists have rarely had Halo players since Borderlands and others have come out.

When CoD is released next week the situation will only get worse. Without wanting to give up Halo I find myself forced to until I grow tired of MW2's multiplayer because of the difficulty of switching between such different games.

But maybe all is fine and the Halo love has always oscillated back and forth over time and will pick itself up in a week or a month?

I don't want to wait until the Reach beta before there is something to talk about again.
/depression

[kev.]

To be honest mate,I think Halo OSTD was so bad,nobody wants to even talk about it anymore,after all that waiting......

[1LeeDenton]

Originally Posted by kev.

To be honest mate,I think Halo OSTD was so bad,nobody wants to even talk about it anymore,after all that waiting......

Was thinking this the other day........its been pretty quiet in here for a wee while now :sadface:

I wouldn't say ODST was "so bad", but I would suggest that it had/has a pretty limited life span, based on how Bungie had set it up (pretty short campaign, no Matchmaking for Firefight, easy achievements for Firefight etc).

Must hold my hand up as one of the ones who has left Halo alone since getting Borderlands a couple of weeks ago. Saying that, it won't be long until 'the thirst' is back, and I'll be back on Construct ripping strats with the TGs. I will of course devote some time to MW2, but that will no doubt be doing my head in soon enough, when all the glitchers and grenade spammers have got the better of me.

We all come back in the end

[nerro]

Oh yes, Halo is dying. I've pretty much given up on it now for various reasons. One being that ODST was so poor. My usual co-op buddy and I are struggling to get through the campaign because it's so boring. The only thing that makes us go back to it is for all the Gamerpoints for completing on Legendary.

The Halo 3 multiplayer was pretty laggy when it came out too so that was quite off putting and the constant General-fests in Social made the game just not fun.

Finally with all the great games being released recently and in the coming months there just doesn't seem to be any time for Halo. MW2 will make this even worse when it is released.

Halo is one of those games that needs time put in to it to get results from the games, if you turn your back on it for a while when you come back it won't welcome you with open arms. Anyone who has put a decent amount of time in to the online side of it will know what i'm talking about.

I do miss the custom games with the TGs though, maybe we could all band together for some MW2 sessions when it's released

I know, I know, i'm already on my way to wash my mouth out with soap......

[sordid_sentinel]

I'm probably going to be stuck playing this alone in a few weeks CoD just isn't my thing (not saying it's bad mind, just not for me).

[1LeeDenton]

Originally Posted by sordid_sentinel

I'm probably going to be stuck playing this alone in a few weeks CoD just isn't my thing (not saying it's band mind, just not for me).

No way dude - I will no doubt get involved with some MW2 action, but there will always be time for 'The Daddy', Halo 3

[rebulous]

Originally Posted by nerro

Oh yes, Halo is dying. I've pretty much given up on it now for various reasons. One being that ODST was so poor. My usual co-op buddy and I are struggling to get through the campaign because it's so boring. The only thing that makes us go back to it is for all the Gamerpoints for completing on Legendary.

Though I want to really like Halo 3, the game has too many issues for me. However, I thought ODST was pretty fun. I enjoy Firefight a great deal, especially in co-op. The Campaign was fine - I thought it was pretty well constructed. Halo 3 Campaign I thought was way too long - now *that* got boring!

The Halo 3 multiplayer was pretty laggy when it came out too so that was quite off putting and the constant General-fests in Social made the game just not fun.

For me, the playlists still are not very fun. Bungie doesn't do a very good job of matching skill level. I get tired of joining a playlist where I'm skill 2 to find another skill 2 person that has some 5000 games and 100's of EXP to my 150 games and 41 EXP. Not very well matched... :-(

[sordid_sentinel]

Originally Posted by TG V1P3R

No way dude - I will no doubt get involved with some MW2 action, but there will always be time for 'The Daddy', Halo 3

I'm glad you typed Halo 3 at the end there, the bit before it sounded a tad fruity and had me worried as I was reading it

[Dazzaroonie]

I've been dealt some pretty dire matchmaking during my last couple Halo sessions, so I've been giving it a break. That said, I always enjoy the social element when playing with you AV guys - I had a good laugh playing with Sordid and Spratster (aka the Pink Avenger) the other day.

Like many others, I'll become somewhat distracted with MW2 when it arrives, but I can only play COD multiplayer in short bursts - all the grenade spamming and chopper whoring gets on my nerves quite quickly!

To be honest the the bigger threat to my Halo sessions is likely to be LFD2, which I've become somewhat addicted to of late. But there will always be time for Halo, especially when the TG faithful are on.

[rebulous]

Originally Posted by Dazzaroonie

I've been dealt some pretty dire matchmaking during my last couple Halo sessions, so I've been giving it a break. That said, I always enjoy the social element when playing with you AV guys - I had a good laugh playing with Sordid and Spratster (aka the Pink Avenger) the other day.

Like many others, I'll become somewhat distracted with MW2 when it arrives, but I can only play COD multiplayer in short bursts - all the grenade spamming and chopper whoring gets on my nerves quite quickly!

To be honest the the bigger threat to my Halo sessions is likely to be LFD2, which I've become somewhat addicted to of late. But there will always be time for Halo, especially when the TG faithful are on.

I guess I don't quite understand - if you like a game like Halo 3, then play it. For me, MW2 and L4D2 are, like, "been there, done that, got the T-shirt". I don't intent to get MW2 for a long time, if ever. L4D2 I may get eventually. But I'm in no rush for either...

[Sniper Ash6]

Originally Posted by sordid_sentinel

I'm probably going to be stuck playing this alone in a few weeks CoD just isn't my thing (not saying it's bad mind, just not for me).

It would be interesting to see the amount of people on it

I played some custom games on Halo the other day, otherwise havent played it for a while

[The Bass]

I played CoD4 for the first time in 1 1/2 years last night and I've got to admit it really made me appreciate Halo even more. No betrayal booting, punishments for quitting and host migration after 2 years? It also allowed me to finally say without a doubt that Halo requires so much more skill to play. I'm not a fan of the word noob but CoD is infested with what can only be described as them: RPGer's, noobtubes, random nades, martyrdom and even firing blindly through walls with an LMG all took place every game on Hardcore S&D, the supposedly tactical game type.

With all that complaining though, what I'm really leading to is that MW2 is the big game coming out but Halo is still the best and in a month or two I'll be back .

[simon147]

One of the biggest disappointments for me in ODST was that the FireFight had no matchmaking? I know I would have played it a lot more if they had matchmaking. Anyone know why they didn't include it?, surely you could patch it in (please bungie )

[1LeeDenton]

Originally Posted by simon147

One of the biggest disappointments for me in ODST was that the FireFight had no matchmaking? I know I would have played it a lot more if they had matchmaking. Anyone know why they didn't include it?, surely you could patch it in (please bungie )

I think its something to do with the code being based on the Halo campaign mode, again, where no matchmaking is available. Pretty sure I've also read that Bungie will not/cannot amend this via a patch, as it would mean almost rewriting what they've done already.

Disappointing, I have to agree, as finding people to play Firefight is pretty hard at the moment, and only ever going to get worse

[rebulous]

Originally Posted by simon147

One of the biggest disappointments for me in ODST was that the FireFight had no matchmaking? I know I would have played it a lot more if they had matchmaking. Anyone know why they didn't include it?, surely you could patch it in (please bungie )

Could someone please explain to me what firefight matchmaking means? According to some folks I talked to when ODST came out, firefight was the "horde" mode Halo fanboys wanted but didn't get in Halo 3. So what would be the point of firefight matchmaking? For myself, I really like the co-op firefighting. I find it the most entertainment I've gotten out of the Halo series (except possibly when I did Halo 2 Campaign in Legendary, co-op with my son).

[rebulous]

Originally Posted by The Bass

I played CoD4 for the first time in 1 1/2 years last night and I've got to admit it really made me appreciate Halo even more. No betrayal booting, punishments for quitting and host migration after 2 years? It also allowed me to finally say without a doubt that Halo requires so much more skill to play. I'm not a fan of the word noob but CoD is infested with what can only be described as them: RPGer's, noobtubes, random nades, martyrdom and even firing blindly through walls with an LMG all took place every game on Hardcore S&D, the supposedly tactical game type.

With all that complaining though, what I'm really leading to is that MW2 is the big game coming out but Halo is still the best and in a month or two I'll be back .

Posts like this just make me laugh. Please tell me what makes Halo 3 so great? Don't get me wrong, I like to play Halo 3, but, like CoD, it has many things that annoy the **** out of me - enough for me to not think either game is great. I will admit that Bungie has done some things with their game that I wish other game producers would emulate - such as the Theater and complete history of stats. Now *those* are innovations! I also appreciate Bungie's lack of tolerance for cheaters - something CoD is rife with. On the other hand, Halo 3 sucks at matching skill levels. I weary of joining a playlist where I am skill 2 (or whatever they call it in their bizarre experience scheme) with a total of 150 games and 41 EXP, only to be matched against another person of skill 2 who has some 5000 games and 100's of EXP. Not very well matched, I would say. Or when you join a game where there's a group obviously helping each other accomplish some achievement, and then get ****** off at you for "interrupting" their "party".

[1LeeDenton]

Originally Posted by rebulous

Could someone please explain to me what firefight matchmaking means? According to some folks I talked to when ODST came out, firefight was the "horde" mode Halo fanboys wanted but didn't get in Halo 3. So what would be the point of firefight matchmaking? For myself, I really like the co-op firefighting. I find it the most entertainment I've gotten out of the Halo series (except possibly when I did Halo 2 Campaign in Legendary, co-op with my son).

It means people wish they could play some Firefight with other people that aren't on their Friends List. For example, you put ODST on, you fancy some Firefight, but NONE of your friends are online. What do you do? As it stands, you go and play Firefight by yourself, which means you'll last about 10 minutes. What people were asking for was the ability to search for people online who are also playing Firefight, and join them games/lobbies.

Originally Posted by rebulous

Posts like this just make me laugh. Please tell me what makes Halo 3 so great? Don't get me wrong, I like to play Halo 3, but, like CoD, it has many things that annoy the sh*t out of me - enough for me to not think either game is great. I will admit that Bungie has done some things with their game that I wish other game producers would emulate - such as the Theater and complete history of stats. Now *those* are innovations! I also appreciate Bungie's lack of tolerance for cheaters - something CoD is rife with. On the other hand, Halo 3 sucks at matching skill levels. I weary of joining a playlist where I am skill 2 (or whatever they call it in their bizarre experience scheme) with a total of 150 games and 41 EXP, only to be matched against another person of skill 2 who has some 5000 games and 100's of EXP. Not very well matched, I would say. Or when you join a game where there's a group obviously helping each other accomplish some achievement, and then get p*ssed off at you for "interrupting" their "party".

You say that, but if you are a highest skill 2 in a particular playlist, and it matches you with 7 other people who are also a highest skill 2 (regardless of XP), then that means the system has worked perfectly. The Match Making is based on Skill Ratings, not XP.
It could also be argued that anyone who is a Skill 2 after thousands of games is actually either really bad, does not have a TV to view the screen, or is playing the game with their feet.....and their eyes closed

[EEC3]

Sorry? Halo's matchmaking is poor? Compared to COD which has, let me see, NO matchmaking!!

That's my biggest gripe with COD - no matchmaking and killing sprees/higher levels make you stronger/more deadly. Therefore making the best better.

Also, in objective games, people go for lots of kills/sprees rather than trying to win the game. You'll get some guy on headquarters who loses but gets a +50 k/d spread and about a million XP. Pointless really.

Having said that, I'll probably buy it anyway - it's good fun and the surround sound in COD4 was incredible - worth having a 5.1 system for

And in response to the original question, the Halo forum isn't dying. It's just camping in a corner with the shotgun - lolololololololol

[The Bass]

Originally Posted by rebulous

Posts like this just make me laugh. Please tell me what makes Halo 3 so great?

What part of my post amuses you? Are you disputing that CoD4 has no betrayal booting, punishments for quitting and host migration? Or that the things I listed are annoying and cheap tactics to make up for a lack of skill? You also seem to have interpreted 'the best' as 'perfect' which is not what I said.

[rebulous]

Originally Posted by The Bass

What part of my post amuses you? Are you disputing that CoD4 has no betrayal booting, punishments for quitting and host migration? Or that the things I listed are annoying and cheap tactics to make up for a lack of skill? You also seem to have interpreted 'the best' as 'perfect' which is not what I said.

Anyone who talks about Halo 3 being 'great' amuses me.

However, I think I was misunderstood with regards to CoD. My list of gripes about the CoD games is easily as long, if not longer than, that for Halo 3. So in comparing like for like games, yes, Halo 3 is better - marginally.

One point I will address here is the punishment for quitting a game. One of my gripes (though tbh, I don't really care about the punishment) is being punished for quitting. I play to have fun - not be in a game where 1) my team just hide while the other team runs around waiting for somone (usually me) to stick a head up, then 6 guns shoot it off, or 2) both teams are working together to advance someone's agenda (usually an 'achievement') and I happened to 'butt in'. Try booting an entire team when the other team is their buds. Yeah, that's fun.

And I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'annoying and cheap tactics.' Both games have'em. For example, to me, hopping around like a bunny ('bunny-hoppers' I call'em) is just about the most annoying thing - especially when it is brought over to CoD.

[sordid_sentinel]

Originally Posted by rebulous

One point I will address here is the punishment for quitting a game. One of my gripes (though tbh, I don't really care about the punishment) is being punished for quitting. I play to have fun - not be in a game where 1) my team just hide while the other team runs around waiting for somone (usually me) to stick a head up, then 6 guns shoot it off, or 2) both teams are working together to advance someone's agenda (usually an 'achievement') and I happened to 'butt in'. Try booting an entire team when the other team is their buds. Yeah, that's fun.

You keep mentioning these achievement boosting parties but out of my 3500+ games I'd say I've encounteered less than 10 games with folks like these... maybe I've just been lucky?

I can't see how you'd think punishing quitters is bad either, playing for fun is good (it's what I do too!) but how fun is it for the team who end up playing a man down because someone quits? No-one likes losing but it's a million times worse when people quit and leave you with even less chance of coming back into the game.

Halo is great btw

[Pooon]

Originally Posted by rebulous

Anyone who talks about Halo 3 being 'great' amuses me.

Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great. It is one of the most complete online games, if only there were regional filters available it would be nigh on perfect

[The Bass]

Originally Posted by Pooon

Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great Halo 3 is great. It is one of the most complete online games, if only there were regional filters available it would be nigh on perfect

Originally Posted by rebulous

One point I will address here is the punishment for quitting a game. One of my gripes (though tbh, I don't really care about the punishment) is being punished for quitting. I play to have fun - not be in a game where 1) my team just hide while the other team runs around waiting for somone (usually me) to stick a head up, then 6 guns shoot it off, or 2) both teams are working together to advance someone's agenda (usually an 'achievement') and I happened to 'butt in'. Try booting an entire team when the other team is their buds. Yeah, that's fun.

And I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'annoying and cheap tactics.' Both games have'em. For example, to me, hopping around like a bunny ('bunny-hoppers' I call'em) is just about the most annoying thing - especially when it is brought over to CoD.

From the amount of boosting games you seem to have been in, I think you must have been searching with a language preference of sanskrit in Lone Wolves.

I won't deny that Halo has some cheap tactics but when it takes 4 headshots to get a kill any advantage is minor compared to the skill required to get those headshots. However, in a game where two bullets kill any cheap advantage has a huge effect of whether you live or die. Also jumping whilst moving, tracking a target and compensating your aim for the jump is not an easy task. Think of it as a vertical strafe.

[rebulous]

OK, as I can see I've infiltrated a group of fanboys I'll be bowing out now.

[sordid_sentinel]

Originally Posted by rebulous

OK, as I can see I've infiltrated a group of fanboys I'll be bowing out now.

I'm not entirely sure how my post was fanboyish but okay!

[The Bass]

Originally Posted by rebulous

OK, as I can see I've infiltrated a group of fanboys I'll be bowing out now.

Yup, thinking anything is great makes you a fanboy. Life should be one long stream of mediocrity.

[Pooon]

Originally Posted by rebulous

One point I will address here is the punishment for quitting a game. One of my gripes (though tbh, I don't really care about the punishment) is being punished for quitting. I play to have fun - not be in a game where 1) my team just hide while the other team runs around waiting for somone (usually me) to stick a head up, then 6 guns shoot it off, or 2) both teams are working together to advance someone's agenda (usually an 'achievement') and I happened to 'butt in'. Try booting an entire team when the other team is their buds. Yeah, that's fun.

And I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'annoying and cheap tactics.' Both games have'em. For example, to me, hopping around like a bunny ('bunny-hoppers' I call'em) is just about the most annoying thing - especially when it is brought over to CoD.

Have you played H3 online with friends? or only alone joining randoms each game. If its the latter no wonder you find H3 annoying, more people who play it are, probably because most people who play are american.

As for cheap tactics, hmm not convinced, surely the idea of almost all fps online games is not to die, so jumping to make yourself harder to hit makes sense, just like back in the day on Counterstrike everyone would crouch to make themselves harder to hit(and reduce recoil)

Anywho i'm sure you wont even read this as you seem to be missinformed to what a fanboy is, nevermind

[Dazzaroonie]

Originally Posted by rebulous

OK, as I can see I've infiltrated a group of fanboys I'll be bowing out now.

Another Halo detractor ejected from the fanboy lair!

[Billy Goodgun]

I'm slightly confused. Isn't everyone basically saying the same thing, yet somehow arguing? I thought both perspectives were that Halo is very good, but flawed.

@ rebulous - I don't think there is anyone in here that will say Halo 3 is perfect, but it all comes down to preference.

I still think Halo 3 takes more skill than CoD to get good at, mainly because it takes so much more effort to kill anyone in Halo. Similarly, though, there are amazing players in both games, and having prestiged both WaW and CoD4, I can certainly see why people love CoD. They're both FPS games, but other than that, they don't really have much in common. The fact that anyone can die so easily in CoD encourages more conservative tactics (AKA camping), and while I understand it, and appreciate its effectiveness, it's one reason I don't like CoD as much as Halo.

The jumping tactic in Halo used to really annoy me, until I eventually realised it's a necessary tactic for staying alive - you can strafe jump for a more effective BR, jump nades, make bumper jumper assassinations, and all sorts - it's a tactic that bears comparison to the camping in CoD, in my opinion. Until you start to face up to the fact that it's necessary to get by and not get humiliated every game, and accept it for what it is - utilitarian gameplay - then both of these things can superficially seem annoying and "cheap".

To be honest, though, nothing online is really doing it for me at the moment - I'm enjoying SP much more these days. I have no doubt that this will change again, but my most anticipated game for ages has been Mass Effect 2. I've also still got Dragon Age to get lost in, which will happen over Christmas. Thank goodness for BioWare!

[signs]

I didn't even know there was a Halo section !