Let’s skip the foreplay and get right down to the updatin’.

Last week we trotted Luke Smith and friends out to talk at some length about the economy of Credits and how they, coupled with Military Rank, will ultimately inform the visual accouterments adopted by your Spartan avatar in Halo: Reach. This week, we decided to get a little more technical and dive into the more matérielistic side of the multiplayer coin. We’ll dig in even further in just a few, but since the two subjects do intertwine somewhat, I figured we’d begin where the two roads meet.

That brings us to Elites. We’ve already said that the Elites found in Halo: Reach were never meant to conform to the noble notion of equality. For far too long, our Sangheili brothers have been leashed – their very backs burdened by the weight of multiplayer parity. They hunched, bent to the whims of human anatomy.

/LARP

Not anymore. In Reach, Elites are bigger, they’re faster, and they boast better shield technology than their Spartan counterparts. To drive the first point home – the size difference — we’ve prepped a side-by-side comparison so you can see just how pronounced the physical changes really are. Click it to check it out in higher resolution.

Size matters. And when we say Elites are faster, we mean it. Natively, Elites are about as fast as a Spartan at full Sprint. Add Evade into the mix, and they’re easily the most agile combatants on the battlefield in multiplayer.

Unlike Spartans, their health is not limited to recharging in thirds as their vitality is whittled away in stages, but will recharge fully without even the need for a health pack. Their health also recharges faster, as do their shields. Significantly faster.

So, how are we gonna work them into multiplayer? Well, in a number of ways. In some circumstances, like Arena, you’ll only square off Spartan vs. Spartan or Elite vs. Elite. In others, well…stay tuned. 

We’ll dig into some interesting scenarios in the weeks ahead.

In the ways to die category, let’s clear up the 120 degrees comment Sage and Josh made concerning when and where you can engage your death dealing assassination flourish. It’s actually more interesting than you might think. (And it’s actually the same system employed in Halo 3.)

The 120 degree cone is actually based on where you happen to be looking at the moment the nefarious assassin strikes. Your “Aim Vector.” Picture a triangular with its origin point emanating out behind you. If it helps, you can think of Aim Vector as the camera’s current position. If your assailant is within that 120 degree zone outside your vantage, and close enough to you to engage the coup de grâce, then you’re going down. Keep in mind, they don’t necessarily need to be directly behind you if your head's turned.

The assassinations that appear to be happening right in front of the player’s eyes in the Multiplayer trailer, are really occurring in the second stage of the assassination. It’s already over and the assassin has spun his victim around to deliver the finishing blow with a cool, full frontal flourish.




Oh, and if you watched the April Fools’ Day ViDoc and wondered why the Elite wasn’t going down with one standard backsmack, there’s no need to worry, when you position yourself on your opponent’s six, regardless of whether or not they rock the mandibles, you’ll only need to deliver one, clean crack to the back to snag the kill.
We should also clarify a little bit of information about popping player’s shields. In previous titles, when you were laying into a shielded opponent and bringing them right to the brink of shieldlessness, any damage you did before the pop would transfer into their underlying health. Hypothetically, let’s say they had 5 points of shield left when you clocked them for 10 points of damage. The result would be the loss of their shields and a 5 point reduction to their heath.

Not anymore. 

Now those additional 5 points are absorbed by the shields as they wink out of existence and the underlying health is left unscathed.

Perhaps the place this impact will be felt the most is in melee combat. Ostensibly this means that if your opponent is shielded to any degree when you land a melee strike, they will not die. You’ll pop their shields. If their shields are gone, however, they’ll drop like a rock.

For those fearing that this new model will impact weapons like the Sniper Rifle, rest easy. The Long Rifle is exempt, as are other weapons you might expect to be. Rockets will be a one hit kill at close range, as will the Shotgun, even though the April Fools’ ViDoc might have indicated otherwise.

Seeing a pattern develop? Shotty nerfed at close range? Elites require two melee strikes to the back to take down? 32 player matches in Reach? (Nope, still capped at 16.)

If you saw something on April 1st that got you all hot and bothered, you should take a moment alone to cool your jets, turbo. 
Sweet segue, bro! 

Let’s get into Armor Abilities. These are the individual player augmentations that add a rad ability that alters the way you play the game. They can be used as much as you like, with the one caveat being that they need to recharge after your engage them. And in the Beta, when you fall down dead, your Armor Ability will not be added to the subsequent estate sale.

So how do you pick and choose which one you’re currently using?
Load Outs. At the beginning of each match or round, and again every time you wait out your respawn window, you are given the option of choosing a Load Out. 

Load Outs are not player created or defined, but rather playlist and/or game type specific. Essentially, they allow you to choose your Armor Ability, your starting primary and secondary weapons, and your grenade cache on the fly.

For some playlists, that might mean every Load Out features the same weapon sets with only the Armor Abilities to distinguish them. For others, it might mean that as the game goes on, you’ll have access to more and more choices based on a number of factors we can fiddle with.

That's just one example to the right. Many gametypes will feature more uniformity in the initial selection.

What it doesn’t mean is that you will be creating your own custom Load Out to bring into Matchmaking. You’ll be choosing from our prefabricated offerings, based on what’s best suited for each gametype.

Don’t worry about power weapons being available right from the start, either. In most cases, you’ll still be finding those distributed via a number of methods throughout the battlefield, though if circumstance warrants it, we certainly can start you with, say, the Rocket Launcher.

And, of course, you can still loot the corpses of your fallen foes and you’ll still find sweet stashes of weapons strewn carelessly about the map for you to find and acquire.

Alright, now that we’ve explored how you get your hands on Armor Abilities and weapons, let’s talk about what you should do with them. Armor Abilities first, with all due respect to the alphabet.
Active Camo can be used by Spartans and Elites alike. It grants you temporary invisibility, but the effectiveness is hampered in two distinct ways. The faster you move, the more visible you become and the shorter the duration of the effect will be. If you want to make the most of it, stand still or move slowly.

[There's a sweet image of an invisible Elite here, but you can't see it because it's, you know, invisible.]


Plus, while you’re refracting light, you’re also jamming everyone’s motion tracker – including your own. Players in the immediate vicinity will know that they’ve got a stalker in their midst and you should expect them to be on their toes. 

Use it wisely.
Armor Lock gives you a burst of invulnerability. You can click once to briefly engage it, or hold it for a longer lasting effect, but either way, while you’re in the throes you can’t move a single, solitary inch. You’re rooted. But you’ll shed plasma grenades, shred vehicles unfortunate enough to attempt a splatter, and deflect projectiles. (And you look pretty bad ass while you're doing it.)




Those that get too close are treated to an EMP blast when you exit the lock and the longer you’re locked down, the bigger and more powerful the effective radius becomes. While you’re in Armor Lock, you can’t be melee’d or assassinated, either.

So, what’s the downside? You’re a sitting duck. While you are temporarily invincible, if you deploy Armor Lock carelessly out in the open, you can bet someone will be lining you up from long range. Watching. Waiting.
Evade let’s you make a leap of faith in any direction. It’s fast, it’s tricksy, and it’s something you’ll be getting a lot of mileage out of as an Elite. It will shed locks and tracking and makes for one nasty juke when you’re in close quarters combat. 

Now you see me, now I’m assassinating you.




You also grunt when you evade. A lot. And it’s awesome.
Jet Pack should be pretty self explanatory. You can hold the button for an extended burst or feather it after a jump for just a little more height. If you’re get too close to the sun, you’ll need to worry about the landing, so make sure you save some juice to soften the approach.




Of course, while you’re aloft, you’re completely without cover and your ability to get shifty is severely hampered. If someone has you in their sites, your only real recourse is to fall away and hope you find cover before they clip your wings (though you can return fire from your airy perch).

You’re also susceptible to EMP bursts from Plasma Pistol charges and the Grenade Launcher. While you’re controlling the skies, make sure you keep your head on a swivel. You might feel like Superman, but you won’t be stopping any speeding bullets, Clark.
Sprint is Spartan only and should be pretty self-explanatory. It gives you a quick burst of speed, but while you’re at a dead run, you can’t get all offensive. If you want to engage, you have to let off and regain your composure. 




It’s weapons down during the duration of your marathon session.
We’ve been seeing a lot of confusion swirling around Reach’s ordnance. Since the dust has settled a bit after the recent media barrage, let’s do some clean up.

Straight away, Sage wanted me to clear a couple of things up. On our most recent Podcast, he said some things he thought we should address. First, the Assassination Train scenario won’t make Beta. You won’t be playing the caboose to a deadly ten player choo choo. 

That’d be inappropriate anyway, right? Get your mind out of the gutter.

Secondly, grenades will not asplode when you shoot them on the ground. Didn’t make it into the build in time, but it’s still in the works for retail. You can still shoot grenades out of the air, though, and frags will still do minor impact damage should you bean another player with a direct shot. Which is awesome. And hilarious.

I’m sure we’ll all make due and nobody will start a thread about how Reach is now destined to fail as a result of these two minor omissions from the Beta. Because we are all polite, understanding adults who refuse to succumb to hyperbole and immaturity, right?

Uh huh. Anyway, here’s the rundown on some stuff that is in.
You’ve probably heard that both the Designated Marksman Rifle and the Magnum are now five shot kills. Four anywhere followed by one to the face. So, how then, are these two weapons different? One of the big tenants of Reach’s core multiplayer weapon design was to give each weapon its own unique role, right?

Right. But better grab hold of something solid, I’m gonna totally freak you out right now. Ready?

As is, in the Beta, the Magnum will take down a fully shielded player, from start to finish, almost twice as quickly as the DMR will.
Still with me? Good. Deep breaths, there’s some big caveats.




First, the Magnum gets squirrely if you go all out and squeeze off rounds as fast as you possibly can. Real squirrely. You’re better off sticking with the proper cadence relayed to you through the reticule bloom. That’s your sweet spot. Know it. Respect it.

Second, the Magnum’s maximum effectiveness is found at short to mid range, fitting snugly between the Assault Rifle and the DMR. And while the DMR may take some extra time to take down a player, at mid to long range, it’s easily the more effective weapon due to its magnified scope and reduced recoil.

If you have the Magnum, you don't want to engage a DMR user at long range. Unless you want to die. Then, by all means.




And the Assault Rifle? It’s your go to rifle at close to mid range. You’ll definitely want to feather the trigger to take down shields and make your assault as personal as possible, just like you did in Halo 3, even though it's been tuned a little to favor accuracy over straight up aggression.




Ultimately the choice between the Assault Rifle and the Magnum may come down to personal preference, play style, and the situation you happen to find yourself in. It’s nuanced. Good thing is you’ll get tons of hands on time with all three by way of the Beta. And of course, we need to mention, that all of these details, every single one, are subject to change.
Plasma Repeater. It’s a bit different that the Plasma Rifle you’ve become accustomed to. It still sends out a steady stream of bright blue plasma bolts, but the cadence will taper off as the weapon overheats. And while you’ll never need to worry about it rendering the weapon useless as it cools, you’ll need to vent it out if you want to run it at full speed using the reload button.




Since dual wielding is out, our guys needed a more effective native weapon to strap into an Elite’s hands. The Repeater is, essentially, the Assault Rifle’s counterpart, but it’s a little too effective for use in campaign. So when you’re in that space, you’ll likely see Elites utilizing the Plasma Rifle you’re already familiar with.
The Plasma Launcher can send a volley of one to four plasma explosives toward your opponent, depending on how long you keep your finger on the trigger. How many rounds you’re prepping is communicated to you through a nifty combination of visual and audio cues. And when you see and hear it coming your way, you need to find some cover.Fast.




The rounds will track both infantry and vehicles, but don’t freak out, the magnetism is more akin to the Needler than it is the Missile Pod. Vehicles are much easier to hit, given their size, but if you play it right, you can affix an explosive round to some poor sucker’s face.

Suffice to say, if it’s featured on a map, you’ll want to know where it is at all times.
The Focus Rifle takes the Sentinel Beam and the Beam Rifle and combines the two weapon’s traits for some deliciously deadly peanut butter and chocolate type death dealing action. Zoom in and hold the focused beam on your opponent and you’ll tear through their shields and take out their health pretty quickly. Even if you don’t kill your enemy, you can bet they’ll be encouraged to give up their ground and get behind something that doesn’t smell like burning. 




It’s a bit like herding goats. With a laser beam. Not that I have any firsthand knowledge.
The Grenade Launcher, or “Pro Pipe” as it’s come to be known inside the studio on the heels of Hoovaloov’s Multiplayer Trailer dissection, is also something you’ll want to spend some quality time with. If you point and shoot with a single pull of the trigger, you’ll send an explosive round out into the world. If it hits your target dead on, it will explode. If it bounces, it’ll arm much like a frag and explode after a short spell.




But if you hold the trigger after you fire, the round will not detonate until you release your death grip. If you let the round come to rest, it’ll remain in play until you decide that it’s your opportunity to blow. And if you want to arc it and time the detonation mid air using the same method, you can do that, too.

The round itself will do impact damage to an opponent even if you don’t detonate it, much like frag grenades now will, and when it does explode it also produces a fairly sizable EMP blast that will damage and deactivate the type of stuff you would expect it too.
The vehicle stable at play in the Beta are all machines you should feel comfortable with when you get behind the wheel, but there are some small differences you need to know about.

The Warthog’s chain gun will now overheat after prolonged use and the Scorpion once again features a secondary machine gun turret (which looks hilariously awesome when occupied by an Elite).




The Ghost, the Banshee, and the Wraith are largely identical to their Halo 3 counterparts, and as you can see, they, along with just about everything else, have been pimped out and prettied up something fierce.



Oh, and we know some of sweet delectables from the recent batch of sweet screenshots feature Spartans with some strange lookin’ knees. Bugged, researched, and resolved. When you suit up in the public Beta, your delicate knee caps will be fully protected.




No Roadhouse action, Miho.
Speaking of builds, we closed out our internal Alpha this week. It’s a testament to the team’s hard work, resolve, and wealth of experience that even at Alpha the game is loads of fun. But while the games were good, we also got some good data and we’re using it to better the experience across the board.

Internal Beta will go live shortly, featuring all kinds of fancy improvements. If things change significantly from there to Delta, which again is what you will come to know as the public Beta, we’ll make sure you get up to speed.
And speaking of improvements, Marcus continues his campaign crusade with no signs of slowing. If you want to get the latest insights into the Halo: Reach development cycle, you should head over to Noble ActualIf you missed our April Fools’ offering, don’t worry. We’re not going to take it down this year. It was a bit, you know,obvious. We’ll inline it in case you weren’t in on the joke.

 
Stosh made time in his packed schedule to dig out this little gem. He’s so good to you.

 

That’s it for this week. More en route. Stay Tuned. Look for all the high resolution assets to go live in our official Halo: Reach project page early next week, including some additional info included in the Field Guide for good measure.    

Let’s skip the foreplay and get right down to the updatin’.

Last week we trotted Luke Smith and friends out to talk at some length about the economy of Credits and how they, coupled with Military Rank, will ultimately inform the visual accouterments adopted by your Spartan avatar in Halo: Reach. This week, we decided to get a little more technical and dive into the more matérielistic side of the multiplayer coin. We’ll dig in even further in just a few, but since the two subjects do intertwine somewhat, I figured we’d begin where the two roads meet.

That brings us to Elites. We’ve already said that the Elites found in Halo: Reach were never meant to conform to the noble notion of equality. For far too long, our Sangheili brothers have been leashed – their very backs burdened by the weight of multiplayer parity. They hunched, bent to the whims of human anatomy.

/LARP

Not anymore. In Reach, Elites are bigger, they’re faster, and they boast better shield technology than their Spartan counterparts. To drive the first point home – the size difference — we’ve prepped a side-by-side comparison so you can see just how pronounced the physical changes really are. Click it to check it out in higher resolution.

Size matters. And when we say Elites are faster, we mean it. Natively, Elites are about as fast as a Spartan at full Sprint. Add Evade into the mix, and they’re easily the most agile combatants on the battlefield in multiplayer.

Unlike Spartans, their health is not limited to recharging in thirds as their vitality is whittled away in stages, but will recharge fully without even the need for a health pack. Their health also recharges faster, as do their shields. Significantly faster.

So, how are we gonna work them into multiplayer? Well, in a number of ways. In some circumstances, like Arena, you’ll only square off Spartan vs. Spartan or Elite vs. Elite. In others, well…stay tuned. 

We’ll dig into some interesting scenarios in the weeks ahead.

In the ways to die category, let’s clear up the 120 degrees comment Sage and Josh made concerning when and where you can engage your death dealing assassination flourish. It’s actually more interesting than you might think. (And it’s actually the same system employed in Halo 3.)

The 120 degree cone is actually based on where you happen to be looking at the moment the nefarious assassin strikes. Your “Aim Vector.” Picture a triangular with its origin point emanating out behind you. If it helps, you can think of Aim Vector as the camera’s current position. If your assailant is within that 120 degree zone outside your vantage, and close enough to you to engage the coup de grâce, then you’re going down. Keep in mind, they don’t necessarily need to be directly behind you if your head's turned.

The assassinations that appear to be happening right in front of the player’s eyes in the Multiplayer trailer, are really occurring in the second stage of the assassination. It’s already over and the assassin has spun his victim around to deliver the finishing blow with a cool, full frontal flourish.




Oh, and if you watched the April Fools’ Day ViDoc and wondered why the Elite wasn’t going down with one standard backsmack, there’s no need to worry, when you position yourself on your opponent’s six, regardless of whether or not they rock the mandibles, you’ll only need to deliver one, clean crack to the back to snag the kill.
We should also clarify a little bit of information about popping player’s shields. In previous titles, when you were laying into a shielded opponent and bringing them right to the brink of shieldlessness, any damage you did before the pop would transfer into their underlying health. Hypothetically, let’s say they had 5 points of shield left when you clocked them for 10 points of damage. The result would be the loss of their shields and a 5 point reduction to their heath.

Not anymore. 

Now those additional 5 points are absorbed by the shields as they wink out of existence and the underlying health is left unscathed.

Perhaps the place this impact will be felt the most is in melee combat. Ostensibly this means that if your opponent is shielded to any degree when you land a melee strike, they will not die. You’ll pop their shields. If their shields are gone, however, they’ll drop like a rock.

For those fearing that this new model will impact weapons like the Sniper Rifle, rest easy. The Long Rifle is exempt, as are other weapons you might expect to be. Rockets will be a one hit kill at close range, as will the Shotgun, even though the April Fools’ ViDoc might have indicated otherwise.

Seeing a pattern develop? Shotty nerfed at close range? Elites require two melee strikes to the back to take down? 32 player matches in Reach? (Nope, still capped at 16.)

If you saw something on April 1st that got you all hot and bothered, you should take a moment alone to cool your jets, turbo. 
Sweet segue, bro! 

Let’s get into Armor Abilities. These are the individual player augmentations that add a rad ability that alters the way you play the game. They can be used as much as you like, with the one caveat being that they need to recharge after your engage them. And in the Beta, when you fall down dead, your Armor Ability will not be added to the subsequent estate sale.

So how do you pick and choose which one you’re currently using?
Load Outs. At the beginning of each match or round, and again every time you wait out your respawn window, you are given the option of choosing a Load Out. 

Load Outs are not player created or defined, but rather playlist and/or game type specific. Essentially, they allow you to choose your Armor Ability, your starting primary and secondary weapons, and your grenade cache on the fly.

For some playlists, that might mean every Load Out features the same weapon sets with only the Armor Abilities to distinguish them. For others, it might mean that as the game goes on, you’ll have access to more and more choices based on a number of factors we can fiddle with.

That's just one example to the right. Many gametypes will feature more uniformity in the initial selection.

What it doesn’t mean is that you will be creating your own custom Load Out to bring into Matchmaking. You’ll be choosing from our prefabricated offerings, based on what’s best suited for each gametype.

Don’t worry about power weapons being available right from the start, either. In most cases, you’ll still be finding those distributed via a number of methods throughout the battlefield, though if circumstance warrants it, we certainly can start you with, say, the Rocket Launcher.

And, of course, you can still loot the corpses of your fallen foes and you’ll still find sweet stashes of weapons strewn carelessly about the map for you to find and acquire.

Alright, now that we’ve explored how you get your hands on Armor Abilities and weapons, let’s talk about what you should do with them. Armor Abilities first, with all due respect to the alphabet.
Active Camo can be used by Spartans and Elites alike. It grants you temporary invisibility, but the effectiveness is hampered in two distinct ways. The faster you move, the more visible you become and the shorter the duration of the effect will be. If you want to make the most of it, stand still or move slowly.

[There's a sweet image of an invisible Elite here, but you can't see it because it's, you know, invisible.]


Plus, while you’re refracting light, you’re also jamming everyone’s motion tracker – including your own. Players in the immediate vicinity will know that they’ve got a stalker in their midst and you should expect them to be on their toes. 

Use it wisely.
Armor Lock gives you a burst of invulnerability. You can click once to briefly engage it, or hold it for a longer lasting effect, but either way, while you’re in the throes you can’t move a single, solitary inch. You’re rooted. But you’ll shed plasma grenades, shred vehicles unfortunate enough to attempt a splatter, and deflect projectiles. (And you look pretty bad ass while you're doing it.)




Those that get too close are treated to an EMP blast when you exit the lock and the longer you’re locked down, the bigger and more powerful the effective radius becomes. While you’re in Armor Lock, you can’t be melee’d or assassinated, either.

So, what’s the downside? You’re a sitting duck. While you are temporarily invincible, if you deploy Armor Lock carelessly out in the open, you can bet someone will be lining you up from long range. Watching. Waiting.
Evade let’s you make a leap of faith in any direction. It’s fast, it’s tricksy, and it’s something you’ll be getting a lot of mileage out of as an Elite. It will shed locks and tracking and makes for one nasty juke when you’re in close quarters combat. 

Now you see me, now I’m assassinating you.




You also grunt when you evade. A lot. And it’s awesome.
Jet Pack should be pretty self explanatory. You can hold the button for an extended burst or feather it after a jump for just a little more height. If you’re get too close to the sun, you’ll need to worry about the landing, so make sure you save some juice to soften the approach.




Of course, while you’re aloft, you’re completely without cover and your ability to get shifty is severely hampered. If someone has you in their sites, your only real recourse is to fall away and hope you find cover before they clip your wings (though you can return fire from your airy perch).

You’re also susceptible to EMP bursts from Plasma Pistol charges and the Grenade Launcher. While you’re controlling the skies, make sure you keep your head on a swivel. You might feel like Superman, but you won’t be stopping any speeding bullets, Clark.
Sprint is Spartan only and should be pretty self-explanatory. It gives you a quick burst of speed, but while you’re at a dead run, you can’t get all offensive. If you want to engage, you have to let off and regain your composure. 




It’s weapons down during the duration of your marathon session.
We’ve been seeing a lot of confusion swirling around Reach’s ordnance. Since the dust has settled a bit after the recent media barrage, let’s do some clean up.

Straight away, Sage wanted me to clear a couple of things up. On our most recent Podcast, he said some things he thought we should address. First, the Assassination Train scenario won’t make Beta. You won’t be playing the caboose to a deadly ten player choo choo. 

That’d be inappropriate anyway, right? Get your mind out of the gutter.

Secondly, grenades will not asplode when you shoot them on the ground. Didn’t make it into the build in time, but it’s still in the works for retail. You can still shoot grenades out of the air, though, and frags will still do minor impact damage should you bean another player with a direct shot. Which is awesome. And hilarious.

I’m sure we’ll all make due and nobody will start a thread about how Reach is now destined to fail as a result of these two minor omissions from the Beta. Because we are all polite, understanding adults who refuse to succumb to hyperbole and immaturity, right?

Uh huh. Anyway, here’s the rundown on some stuff that is in.
You’ve probably heard that both the Designated Marksman Rifle and the Magnum are now five shot kills. Four anywhere followed by one to the face. So, how then, are these two weapons different? One of the big tenants of Reach’s core multiplayer weapon design was to give each weapon its own unique role, right?

Right. But better grab hold of something solid, I’m gonna totally freak you out right now. Ready?

As is, in the Beta, the Magnum will take down a fully shielded player, from start to finish, almost twice as quickly as the DMR will.
Still with me? Good. Deep breaths, there’s some big caveats.




First, the Magnum gets squirrely if you go all out and squeeze off rounds as fast as you possibly can. Real squirrely. You’re better off sticking with the proper cadence relayed to you through the reticule bloom. That’s your sweet spot. Know it. Respect it.

Second, the Magnum’s maximum effectiveness is found at short to mid range, fitting snugly between the Assault Rifle and the DMR. And while the DMR may take some extra time to take down a player, at mid to long range, it’s easily the more effective weapon due to its magnified scope and reduced recoil.

If you have the Magnum, you don't want to engage a DMR user at long range. Unless you want to die. Then, by all means.




And the Assault Rifle? It’s your go to rifle at close to mid range. You’ll definitely want to feather the trigger to take down shields and make your assault as personal as possible, just like you did in Halo 3, even though it's been tuned a little to favor accuracy over straight up aggression.




Ultimately the choice between the Assault Rifle and the Magnum may come down to personal preference, play style, and the situation you happen to find yourself in. It’s nuanced. Good thing is you’ll get tons of hands on time with all three by way of the Beta. And of course, we need to mention, that all of these details, every single one, are subject to change.
Plasma Repeater. It’s a bit different that the Plasma Rifle you’ve become accustomed to. It still sends out a steady stream of bright blue plasma bolts, but the cadence will taper off as the weapon overheats. And while you’ll never need to worry about it rendering the weapon useless as it cools, you’ll need to vent it out if you want to run it at full speed using the reload button.




Since dual wielding is out, our guys needed a more effective native weapon to strap into an Elite’s hands. The Repeater is, essentially, the Assault Rifle’s counterpart, but it’s a little too effective for use in campaign. So when you’re in that space, you’ll likely see Elites utilizing the Plasma Rifle you’re already familiar with.
The Plasma Launcher can send a volley of one to four plasma explosives toward your opponent, depending on how long you keep your finger on the trigger. How many rounds you’re prepping is communicated to you through a nifty combination of visual and audio cues. And when you see and hear it coming your way, you need to find some cover.Fast.




The rounds will track both infantry and vehicles, but don’t freak out, the magnetism is more akin to the Needler than it is the Missile Pod. Vehicles are much easier to hit, given their size, but if you play it right, you can affix an explosive round to some poor sucker’s face.

Suffice to say, if it’s featured on a map, you’ll want to know where it is at all times.
The Focus Rifle takes the Sentinel Beam and the Beam Rifle and combines the two weapon’s traits for some deliciously deadly peanut butter and chocolate type death dealing action. Zoom in and hold the focused beam on your opponent and you’ll tear through their shields and take out their health pretty quickly. Even if you don’t kill your enemy, you can bet they’ll be encouraged to give up their ground and get behind something that doesn’t smell like burning. 




It’s a bit like herding goats. With a laser beam. Not that I have any firsthand knowledge.
The Grenade Launcher, or “Pro Pipe” as it’s come to be known inside the studio on the heels of Hoovaloov’s Multiplayer Trailer dissection, is also something you’ll want to spend some quality time with. If you point and shoot with a single pull of the trigger, you’ll send an explosive round out into the world. If it hits your target dead on, it will explode. If it bounces, it’ll arm much like a frag and explode after a short spell.




But if you hold the trigger after you fire, the round will not detonate until you release your death grip. If you let the round come to rest, it’ll remain in play until you decide that it’s your opportunity to blow. And if you want to arc it and time the detonation mid air using the same method, you can do that, too.

The round itself will do impact damage to an opponent even if you don’t detonate it, much like frag grenades now will, and when it does explode it also produces a fairly sizable EMP blast that will damage and deactivate the type of stuff you would expect it too.
The vehicle stable at play in the Beta are all machines you should feel comfortable with when you get behind the wheel, but there are some small differences you need to know about.

The Warthog’s chain gun will now overheat after prolonged use and the Scorpion once again features a secondary machine gun turret (which looks hilariously awesome when occupied by an Elite).




The Ghost, the Banshee, and the Wraith are largely identical to their Halo 3 counterparts, and as you can see, they, along with just about everything else, have been pimped out and prettied up something fierce.



Oh, and we know some of sweet delectables from the recent batch of sweet screenshots feature Spartans with some strange lookin’ knees. Bugged, researched, and resolved. When you suit up in the public Beta, your delicate knee caps will be fully protected.




No Roadhouse action, Miho.
Speaking of builds, we closed out our internal Alpha this week. It’s a testament to the team’s hard work, resolve, and wealth of experience that even at Alpha the game is loads of fun. But while the games were good, we also got some good data and we’re using it to better the experience across the board.

Internal Beta will go live shortly, featuring all kinds of fancy improvements. If things change significantly from there to Delta, which again is what you will come to know as the public Beta, we’ll make sure you get up to speed.
And speaking of improvements, Marcus continues his campaign crusade with no signs of slowing. If you want to get the latest insights into the Halo: Reach development cycle, you should head over to Noble ActualIf you missed our April Fools’ offering, don’t worry. We’re not going to take it down this year. It was a bit, you know,obvious. We’ll inline it in case you weren’t in on the joke.

 
Stosh made time in his packed schedule to dig out this little gem. He’s so good to you.

 

That’s it for this week. More en route. Stay Tuned. Look for all the high resolution assets to go live in our official Halo: Reach project page early next week, including some additional info included in the Field Guide for good measure.    

I'm glad loadouts are basically classes.

I find it awesome how your blog is made entirely out of bungie's weekly update.

" I find it awesome how your blog is made entirely out of bungie's weekly update. "

This is the only reason I might miss my 360. I had a beta spot too.

" This is the only reason I might miss my 360. I had a beta spot too. "

safe to say i'm not as excited as you are. Ok, they didn't fuck up the loadouts. But 5sk's? really? 4sks was bad enough, but unless these weapons fire really freaking fast this game will be worse than H3 (BR battles lol). I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon when the Halo franchise doesn't really work/fit with it. the Elites thing is fine, since they're apparently balancing the fact that Elites are a lot freaking better somehow, at least they'll be banned from certain gametypes. if the AR has the same range as the magnum, either it got a lot better or Bungie lied again and the magnum still sucks. Vehicles i don't really care about...plasma rifle or whatever looks like it might be good, focus rifle looks like a nerfed Spartan laser.

That last gun there reminds me of the Magsec from Perfect Dark. 
 
Game is looking SWEET

Hurray, they're actually making Halo: Reach a good game, instead of a cash-in on Halo 3. Awesome.
 
Also - hurray for getting rid of dual wielding! The ridiculous amounts of dual wielding in Halo 2 and 3 was just annoying. It looks like Halo: Reach is going back to the Halo 1 formula with gunplay.

I hope they balance these loadouts. I hate customized weapons.

Looks fun, thank god the magnum is back!

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

" I hope they balance these loadouts. I hate customized weapons. "

The update this week was awesome, it sounds like they're introducing some really exciting new features and Bungie's Urk has a style of writing that I really like.

Man, I absolutely can not wait for the Halo: Reach beta!  ^__^

" Man, I absolutely can not wait for the Halo: Reach beta!  ^__^ "

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

I know, doesn't mean they won't suck. I like the one starting weapon/nades thing from H3. Loadouts are unbalanced in MW2, work in battlefield, but I still don't like them. "

Awesome. I'm actually impressed. Thought it'd be complete shit back when i got ODST, but it actually looks pretty cool.

I really love the new weapon designs.  Look similar enough to the originals to be familar, but look so much more technical and impressive now.
The loadouts are a really nice idea too..  I've become very sick of practically every single Halo 3 match involving little beyond the battle rifle.  This should really help change things up, and make people focus on their strengths/favourites instead and create a much more varied experience.
 
Looking forward to the beta a lot.

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

I know, doesn't mean they won't suck. I like the one starting weapon/nades thing from H3. Loadouts are unbalanced in MW2, work in battlefield, but I still don't like them. "

Yeah I suppose, but it makes more sense to have weapons as well, instead of just armour abilities. "

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

I know, doesn't mean they won't suck. I like the one starting weapon/nades thing from H3. Loadouts are unbalanced in MW2, work in battlefield, but I still don't like them. "

Yeah I suppose, but it makes more sense to have weapons as well, instead of just armour abilities. "

At the same time, it seems like they're deviating more and more from the Halo game that I loved on the original xbox. It's probably the only last gen game that i still play on a regular basis. "

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

I know, doesn't mean they won't suck. I like the one starting weapon/nades thing from H3. Loadouts are unbalanced in MW2, work in battlefield, but I still don't like them. "

Yeah I suppose, but it makes more sense to have weapons as well, instead of just armour abilities. "

At the same time, it seems like they're deviating more and more from the Halo game that I loved on the original xbox. It's probably the only last gen game that i still play on a regular basis. "

But think of it this way, only like 5 weapons are available from loadouts, and there just your standard affair. You still pick all the power weapons from the map so it's still like Halo in that sense. "

This is totally good news. Loadouts being gametype presets means it won't at all boil down to finding the cheapeast effective combination possible and spamming it nonstop for 2 whole years. Let's face it, people who like customization do NOT like it for creativity and the power to vary, they like it because they can be sure of getting their same old tired out, tried and tested formula over and over with the end result being a ruined game.   

Oh, and it sounds like elite gametypes will be much more akin to halo 3 - Faster movement, more health, more jump, full recharge, bigger, taller...

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2 said:

" @DystopiaX said:

 I hate loadouts in Halo, it's a lot like jumping on the MW2 bandwagon 

Even though there gametype specific, and more akin to, I don't know, Battlefield.  They also explicitly say that players cannot choose there own loadout, I.e. they are not classes. "

I know, doesn't mean they won't suck. I like the one starting weapon/nades thing from H3. Loadouts are unbalanced in MW2, work in battlefield, but I still don't like them. "

Yeah I suppose, but it makes more sense to have weapons as well, instead of just armour abilities. "

At the same time, it seems like they're deviating more and more from the Halo game that I loved on the original xbox. It's probably the only last gen game that i still play on a regular basis. "

But think of it this way, only like 5 weapons are available from loadouts, and there just your standard affair. You still pick all the power weapons from the map so it's still like Halo in that sense. "

Yet the fact that there is deviation in starting weapons already changes the game so much. Before, you knew what the other spawning players had and could plan accordingly, and moreover, everyone starting out with the exact same ability, and everything was up to individual and team skill. NOw, a lot more is knowing which loadout to pick depending on the situation, and if you have the long/short range capability to deal with the opposing team off spawn, which would be impossible if you start shotty/pistol because the DMR is so much better (for example)...it's the same problem you get with CoD/battlefield/any other game. It works then because they're more team/reaction focused (no time to die/quicker paced), but when long shootouts determine the game like Halo, starting weapons matter. "

"Oh, and it sounds like elite gametypes will be much more akin to halo 3 - Faster movement, more health, more jump, full recharge, bigger, taller..."

@DystopiaX:

I understand what you're saying - After all, it's pretty much what i said in another thread. I'm guessing though that loadouts are not going to play such a huge role in strategy as say, classes in BC2 (which does indeed lead to blind faith strategy). From what's been said, the magnum sounds like it's going to be the "main" weapon, the one that you can revert to for the majority of situations. Like a slightly less omnipotent BR. And this same magnum is present in all the loadouts.

 
Whatever you choose will largely just be a case of either the map - e.g on a halo reach equivalent of sandtrap you'd be foolish to pick the shotgun loadout over the DMR, or merely a case of playstyle and not rock paper scissors - i.e on your average pit-sized map all loadouts are equal but just require you to play differently to make full use of them. They won't have different roles, per se. Or at least that's how i imagine it.

"

@DystopiaX:

I understand what you're saying - After all, it's pretty much what i said in another thread. I'm guessing though that loadouts are not going to play such a huge role in strategy as say, classes in BC2 (which does indeed lead to blind faith strategy). From what's been said, the magnum sounds like it's going to be the "main" weapon, the one that you can revert to for the majority of situations. Like a slightly less omnipotent BR. And this same magnum is present in all the loadouts.

 
Whatever you choose will largely just be a case of either the map - e.g on a halo reach equivalent of sandtrap you'd be foolish to pick the shotgun loadout over the DMR, or merely a case of playstyle and not rock paper scissors - i.e on your average pit-sized map all loadouts are equal but just require you to play differently to make full use of them. They won't have different roles, per se. Or at least that's how i imagine it.

"

" @Pinkshley1 said:

" This is the only reason I might miss my 360. I had a beta spot too. "

Mind sharing it? =) "

" @Agent47CSim2: I hope to jesus that the Elite gametypes aren't like Halo 3's speed. That means that the Spartans are even SLOWER in Halo 3. They may as well rename the whole fucking game Halo: turtles.

" @Agent47CSim2: I hope to jesus that the Elite gametypes aren't like Halo 3's speed. That means that the Spartans are even SLOWER in Halo 3. They may as well rename the whole fucking game Halo: turtles. @crunchUK said:

"

@DystopiaX:

I understand what you're saying - After all, it's pretty much what i said in another thread. I'm guessing though that loadouts are not going to play such a huge role in strategy as say, classes in BC2 (which does indeed lead to blind faith strategy). From what's been said, the magnum sounds like it's going to be the "main" weapon, the one that you can revert to for the majority of situations. Like a slightly less omnipotent BR. And this same magnum is present in all the loadouts.

 
Whatever you choose will largely just be a case of either the map - e.g on a halo reach equivalent of sandtrap you'd be foolish to pick the shotgun loadout over the DMR, or merely a case of playstyle and not rock paper scissors - i.e on your average pit-sized map all loadouts are equal but just require you to play differently to make full use of them. They won't have different roles, per se. Or at least that's how i imagine it.

"

I agree that they've been pushing magnum as the all around weapon, but based on what they've released about it I think that it's a huge mistake- look at the magnum in H1 and the BR in 2/3- they are good at basically any distance. They've already said that the magnum has a spread and is severely limited in terms of long range weaponry- the DMR beats it. To me, that's the mistake. The DMR should be their "all around" weapon, because it's the most analogous to the BR/magnum- accurate at any range, yet not all-powerful because it can be beaten by other "specialized" weapons (shotty/snipers, etc.). They've already said in the latest weekly update that the magnum is most effective at the same range as the AR, and which you'd prefer at that distance is personal. That looks a lot like the magnum will be powerful, but its range will be extremely limited, leading to more charge/melee shit like in H3 (since the AR and magnum ranges are the same). either that or the AR's range was greatly increased...which i doubt. From what we've seen, I think that the magnum will be much less effective at range than most of us believe now, and will be beaten by decent middle/long-range weaponry like the needle rifle and DMR every time- something that the "all around" weapon in Halo is not supposed to do. "

" It is all powerful though, because teamshooting pretty much makes all other forms of combat redundant on all but a couple (Assembly, Ghost town, ?) of maps. Play some team slayer at some point, you'll start to see what i'm saying when you hit the 40s. They also said in the podcast that they don't want Reach to be a one-gun game, which *cough*halo2*cough* sure as hell was. Probably certain areas of halo 3 too, despite fitting your description of "all round".   Bungie seem to have realized the flaws all their starting weapons have had - The H1 magnum was super powerful and almighty, the H2 BR was even more so, then they created the AR in halo 3, which resolved the previous problem but it was rubbish for maps with less forgiving spawns, then they added it with a magnum, which is theoretically a good compromise between AR and BR spawns, but maybe 1% of the halo population understands how to use it effectively due to the giant chasm separating 5-shot outside lockon range and total uselessness. Personally, magnum in halo 3 is the only weapon which is truly all round but defeated by specialization. "

" @DystopiaX said:

" @Agent47CSim2: I hope to jesus that the Elite gametypes aren't like Halo 3's speed. That means that the Spartans are even SLOWER in Halo 3. They may as well rename the whole fucking game Halo: turtles. @crunchUK said:

"

@DystopiaX:

I understand what you're saying - After all, it's pretty much what i said in another thread. I'm guessing though that loadouts are not going to play such a huge role in strategy as say, classes in BC2 (which does indeed lead to blind faith strategy). From what's been said, the magnum sounds like it's going to be the "main" weapon, the one that you can revert to for the majority of situations. Like a slightly less omnipotent BR. And this same magnum is present in all the loadouts.

 
Whatever you choose will largely just be a case of either the map - e.g on a halo reach equivalent of sandtrap you'd be foolish to pick the shotgun loadout over the DMR, or merely a case of playstyle and not rock paper scissors - i.e on your average pit-sized map all loadouts are equal but just require you to play differently to make full use of them. They won't have different roles, per se. Or at least that's how i imagine it.

"

I agree that they've been pushing magnum as the all around weapon, but based on what they've released about it I think that it's a huge mistake- look at the magnum in H1 and the BR in 2/3- they are good at basically any distance. They've already said that the magnum has a spread and is severely limited in terms of long range weaponry- the DMR beats it. To me, that's the mistake. The DMR should be their "all around" weapon, because it's the most analogous to the BR/magnum- accurate at any range, yet not all-powerful because it can be beaten by other "specialized" weapons (shotty/snipers, etc.). They've already said in the latest weekly update that the magnum is most effective at the same range as the AR, and which you'd prefer at that distance is personal. That looks a lot like the magnum will be powerful, but its range will be extremely limited, leading to more charge/melee shit like in H3 (since the AR and magnum ranges are the same). either that or the AR's range was greatly increased...which i doubt. From what we've seen, I think that the magnum will be much less effective at range than most of us believe now, and will be beaten by decent middle/long-range weaponry like the needle rifle and DMR every time- something that the "all around" weapon in Halo is not supposed to do. "

It is all powerful though, because teamshooting pretty much makes all other forms of combat redundant on all but a couple (Assembly, Ghost town, ?) of maps. Play some team slayer at some point, you'll start to see what i'm saying when you hit the 40s. They also said in the podcast that they don't want Reach to be a one-gun game, which *cough*halo2*cough* sure as hell was. Probably certain areas of halo 3 too, despite fitting your description of "all round".   Bungie seem to have realized the flaws all their starting weapons have had - The H1 magnum was super powerful and almighty, the H2 BR was even more so, then they created the AR in halo 3, which resolved the previous problem but it was rubbish for maps with less forgiving spawns, then they added it with a magnum, which is theoretically a good compromise between AR and BR spawns, but maybe 1% of the halo population understands how to use it effectively due to the giant chasm separating 5-shot outside lockon range and total uselessness. Personally, magnum in halo 3 is the only weapon which is truly all round but defeated by specialization. "

 ... 
 

@DystopiaX said:

 In my mind,   "

   

All that complex quoting has ruined something or other, so ima double post:

Seriously? i mean, could you even beat a BR at point blank range with a shotgun in halo 2? You have a strange definition of "all round", it seems to me the word you're looking for is "omnipotent". 
  

@DystopiaX said:

 The way it is now still forces the player to find a better weapon/combo than AR/magnum  " 

   

   Or to put it another way 
 
 

@DystopiaX said:

 The way it is now still forces the player to find a different weapon" 
   
 
 
 

 Or to put it another way 
 

@DystopiaX said:

 The way it is now still forces the player into many different situations" 

       

Or to put it another way
 
 

@DystopiaX said:

 The way it is now still forces variety" 

   

   You complain about running to the nearest weapon spawn or getting killed, yet to get into that situation in the first place you have to do a considerable amount of losing. Even if you are, is there not merely a greater emphasis on positioning and coordination? 1 AR vs a sniper means the AR stands no chance. 3 ARs vs a sniper means the sniper has no chance. Sure there are other guys but that's where the positioning "skill" comes in. Anyway, i could further go along this line but if you haven't realized how to regain map control effectively in 2 and a half years me telling you probably won't help.

 
Really though, play TS at 40+ with a party of other intelligent guys (regular TS players don't fall under this umbrella i'm afraid...). Play a BR game, then play an AR game knowing how to magnum and coordinate, and then you may well see my perspective on the argument. Honestly, the difference in the amount of thought, freedom of strategy, and range of viable tactics is absolutely astonishing.