crunchUK

" @crunchUK said:

" @Vitor said:

" Agreed.  How are the UNSC losing the war if their vehicles and weapons are apparently so much more powerful than the covenant equivalents?   Also, I hate to say it but they need to copy BFBC2 more - have respawning be based on a button press and not a 3 second wait depending on what camera you've been looking at. Being able to spawn on allies mid battle (as long as you weren't currently capturing a territory). would also help a great deal and wouldn't unbalance the game too much as you could still be a sitting duck if you chose the wrong moment to spawn. It works in BFBC2, don't see why not here. Less down time = more fun time. "

I wouldn't like to see people insta-spawning in the middle of a battle, it would kind of fail, but i have no idea why it makes you wait if you select a conventional spawn point. "

That just means you have to make sure you're paying attention and chose the right time to spawn i.e. when there isn't a tank/rocket nearby.  Also, how come the Spartans get 2 rockets, 2 lasers, a sniper and can spawn with grenade launchers? When the covenant have no real equivalents to those weapons? Sure, they get a focus rifle which is nowhere near as powerful as the sniper, and a plasma launcher which doesn't respawn but that's it. Elites are at a massive disadvantage, "

" Agreed.  How are the UNSC losing the war if their vehicles and weapons are apparently so much more powerful than the covenant equivalents?   Also, I hate to say it but they need to copy BFBC2 more - have respawning be based on a button press and not a 3 second wait depending on what camera you've been looking at. Being able to spawn on allies mid battle (as long as you weren't currently capturing a territory). would also help a great deal and wouldn't unbalance the game too much as you could still be a sitting duck if you chose the wrong moment to spawn. It works in BFBC2, don't see why not here. Less down time = more fun time. "

Just so you know, i was a massive fan of halo 3 BTB. It was both fun yet incredibly deep and strategic at the same time. But i'm just not getting into invasion. I've spent a while now trying to clock up what was wrong with it, and here's what, after a hell of a lot of playing, is what's simply unbalanced about it: 
 
-Tier 1 is boring, although at least the spartans no longer have the overpowered DMR loadout - The elites should get a needle rifle class and a jetpack one. Spartans should get a sniper rifle and the DMR back to make sure it's still slightly tilted in their favour. 
 
-Mass shotgun/rocket camping in tier 3 is unstoppable. The core should be moved to the more open room adjacent to the vehicle bay. 
 
-For such a powerful anti vehicle spawning weapon as the grenade launcher, the spartans have too many rockets and lasers. Either tone down the former or reduce the amount of the latter. The banshee is a good yin to the scorpion tank yang, but it's simply neutralized by the lasers and the now-tracking rockets instead of providing a balanced battleground. 
 
And finally: 
 
-In invasion slayer, the drop should be as soon as you capture the territory. It's truly pointless to go after the territories ATM in tier 3 - you'll just get nuked with grenades/nade launchers before you can even get in the hog.    Any vehicle that spawns is just instantly obliterated, and the elites have a far worse anti vehicle spawn weapon. 
 
 
However, these things are just to do with balancing. The REAL flaw runs far deeper than that - See, what makes grab bag so good is that combined with the AAs all the weapons are hugely dynamic - a Hammer with sprint can give you something to seriously think about far beyone it's habitual range, a DMR on the rooftops thanks to jetpacking suddenly has a vastly superior vantage point, a sniper with camo... could be anywhere, taking his sweet time to 1 hit kill you. 
 
In short, there is a MASSIVE variety of encounters. All with many greatly different possible approaches and counters. Combined with teamwork it is spectacularly fun. But invasion doesn't have this - There aren't any weapons on the ground - Sure, in tier 2 both teams get a chunky weapon cache, but they're all the most powerful of the powerful - You don't so much fight as have your own personal death zone. It's entirely 1-sided towards you within that area, and entireely 1-sided against you outside of it. 
 
There is little variety in the way of loadout selection either. As a result, tier 1 is just a AR, needler and nade fest. Tier 2... there are more loadouts, right? Surely this problem is eliminated, right? Wrong. The hugeness of Boneyard means it's HUGELY biased towards the ranged loadouts, and tier 2 is just a needler rifle and DMR-only game. There are vehicles, yes, but 2 rocket launchers, 2 lasers, and 3 plasma launchers mean they are simply a no-go against any team that acknowledges their existence. And those same PWs, as said before, do very little to spice up combat. 
 
Then Tier 3 arrives. There are TONNES of loadouts to choose from, surely this problem is averted? Well unfortunately... not. IF the spartans know the impenetrability of 6 shotguns in the core room, that's the only weapon you'll be seeing. It doesn't really matter what the elites pick at this stage, it's all equally useless. 
 
But even assuming they DON'T know the awesome power of camping that bungie seemed not to have picked up on, that leaves you with 4 minutes. 4 minutes to get the same degree of fun you'd get for as long as you please in grab bag.  But oh wait, they have a scorpion tank. And 3 lasers, 3 rocket launchers, and 3 snipers. Better make that 0 minutes... unless you're a spartan who likes his medals. The banshee is actually on more or less equal terms with the tank - You die in one shot, he dies in 2, but you have vastly superior movement, and the first strike. But then the tank needn't concern itself at all, there are a total of 6 completely devastating anti vehicle weapons with you in their sights. 
 
 
In short, not only does invasion fail to spice up halo 3 BTB like grab bag did so well for team slayer and skirmish, it's even gone a step back and become horribly unbalanced. That might get fixed for the final product, but then... it still won't be particularly great. Anyone think it's time to bring on arena BTB? 
  
... 

inb4ignboardtrollsintraining

I'm enjoying grab bag a lot more than i thought i would, and invasion a lot less. 

I believe the facts say honda and jaguar

" there isnt a chance in hell that reach will outsell mw2, because mw has taken the spot that halo used to have. "

" @Rowr: The fact that people have invested hundreds of hours into Halo 2 and 3 without a bunch of extraneous rewards to encourage them to play more is a testament to the depth and variety offered by Halo. Would people be as invested in the latest CoD games (CoD4, WaW, and MW2) without the progression system? Would the core gameplay of Modern Warfare 2 be dynamic enough to keep players coming back without gimmicks and artificial rewards? I'm guessing not. Personally, I've found it easy to walk away from MW2, despite the weapon unlocks, because the core game is so fundamentally unbalanced and the skill gap is so small. "

I think a tory/lib dem government will either be really good or incredibly disastrous. The lib dems have good ideals but the tories are just plain... more competent, so it could turn out very well. Or not.

" You can think that. I'll be over here having a blast playing Invasion going positive 15 or more. Later! "