Nerd Mentality

Chrono

i'm gonna order Crackdown from gamefly, they probably got a first batch.

I've seen copies of Crackdown with the Halo 3 Beta inside at my local Best Buy. At least 20 of them. You could look for it, but maybe you rather rent it.

Rocksteady

I've already played the Alpha.

Pistol sucks.

As in... It's the Magnum? Or is it some other nerfed form of the old pistol?

Ninjazn

I'm going to be on it everyday for the entire three weeks probably. Sad...I know.

My calendar is marked. I'm going to be sick that day.

Dragon164z

Hey I want an answer Rocksteady.

Missed this one my bad. The pistol from the original sucks ass.

Rocksteady

I'm not familiar with the term "nerfed" but it's the old pistol and they changed it so it sucks.

Nerfed means they made it worse so that it's balanced with everything else.
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ness

I hope they balanced the sniper rifle.

How can you balance a sniper rifle?

Advance

More recoil, slower load time, removal of the lock-on glitch.

There already is too much recoil on the Covenant sniper.

Slower reload time is possible but I don't think that'd make it more balanced. It isn't that hard to take out a sniper with a BR if you know what you're doing, adding slower reload times would make it virtually impossible to overcome most good BR users.

Lock-on "glitch" isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It isn't as bad as virtually any of the other weapons in game. Taking it out would mean changing the game so much that it wouldn't fit the title Halo. Auto-aim is what console Halo is all about.

IGN Preview of PC version of Halo: Combat Evolved

Randy believes that because there is now no auto aim and you thus have to take more time to lead targets and figure out the ballistics system, that it'll be somewhat more difficult, or at least difficult enough to be a comparable experience to the Xbox version with auto aim, but lacking mouse control. In practice, it doesn't always work out like this.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/403/403470p1.html

Game Revolution

The control is the slickest and the most intuitive for a console FPS, but that doesn't make it perfect. Two analog sticks will quickly frustrate before they gratify. Don't fret, though - the relative auto-aim is great and you'll quickly get used to it, yet still mouse and keyboard should be supported.

http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/xbox/halo_combat_evolved

Analysis of Halo: Combat Evolved
using Game Design Patterns

5.2.1. Pattern: Sticky-aim

This pattern is a form of auto-aim. Auto-aim helps when trying to aim at targets; it moves your crosshair towards potential targets if you aim near enough. Sticky-aim is not as intrusive as that, it makes your crosshair move slower and slightly following the target when you come across it, making it easier to adjust your aiming to pinpoint the target.

Name: Sticky-aim

Description: A form of aiming aid, not as intrusive as auto-aim though. It sticks to targets rather than aiming for you. Ordinary auto-aim can be found in Half-Life (www.half-life.com).

Consequences: The game will be easier to handle, which makes it good for a wider audience. Even so, the feature is so subtle the player might not have noticed how it works until much later in the game. It will most likely prevent over-aiming, that is the player aims for something but goes too far, switches direction and going too far again, and keeping on doing that.

Using the Pattern: As the player has aim assistance enabled, the enemies' health might need to be adjusted to balance the difficulty. Also a friend or foe crosshair would help suppressing the aim guidance, as the crosshair would change at the same time as the aim assistance kicks in, stealing the attention.

If this pattern were removed: It would be harder to aim and get successful hits when firing. The game would seem harder to pick up for new players, and be more directed towards hardcore players as it will be harder to master, but still playable. The enemy balance would also need adjustments as the amount of successful hits would be lower.
When Halo was ported to from the Xbox to the PC and the input hardware changed from a gamepad to mouse and keyboard causing a boost in accuracy; this was compensated by removing this pattern, and actually simplifying the balance process.

http://nikon.bungie.org/misc/boll_gamedesignpatterns.html#521

Get a clue.

Have you ever actually played Halo? Serious question.

Bionic Commando

[url]Get a clue.

Have you ever actually played Halo? Serious question.

I can't believe you actually hunted for links that all said "Halo CE has only a minimal form of auto-aim" and then posted them anyway.

Everyone who hates Halo 2 hates it either because of poor weapon balancing or because of auto-aim. Everyone who said Halo 2 wasn't Halo was because of the auto-aim.

Maybe you can't read?
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DayLahs

BC it would have helped if you didnt list what others said. it kinda makes it seem like you really havent played it.

http://www.bungie.net/Account/Profile.aspx?player=General+Swine

There you go. You can't exactly prove whether or not you've played Halo: CE, but of course I have. Not only have I played it, but i've completed it on Legendary. Those stats should be enough proof that I have a lot of experience with Halo 2, thus making it highly likely that I have quite a bit of experience on H1 as well.

No, I didn't search for that term.

Everyone who says that is an idiot. There is auto-aim in Halo (or should I say sticky aim which is a form of auto-aim) it just isn't as prevalent as it is in Halo 2. It can be difficult to notice at times, but it's there. Quite a lot of console FPS have auto-aim these days. Halo 2 does indeed have poor weapon balancing, but so does the original. For example, the shotgun is ridiculously powerful even at a range, as is the pistol and as is the plasma rifle. Those weapons are actually more powerful than their H2 counterparts.

I can read:

There was no auto-aim in Halo CE.

When Halo was ported to from the Xbox to the PC and the input hardware changed from a gamepad to mouse and keyboard causing a boost in accuracy; this was compensated by removing this pattern [sticky aim], and actually simplifying the balance process.

Enough said.

Imp

Every single first person shooter on consoles has auto aim.

QQ baby cakes.

Try telling that to Advance.

ness

The sniper dominates every match in Halo 2. You don't even need the zoom you can walk around no scoping people in the head all day its so easy its pathetic especially on small maps. One of the reasons I quit Halo 2 is because every match became a run to the dominate weapon. When thats the object of every round you can see how unbalanced the games weapons are.

The sniper needs longer pauses between shots, hold your breath for a steady scope like other games, a smaller hitbox for headshots, etc. etc. Its not the only weapon though Bungie needs to tweak just about every weapon in the game based on Halo 2's unbalanced arsenal.

I think you're slightly exaggerating.

I've participated in MLG matches where no one has even touched the sniper rifle. As for getting no scope headshots all day. I don't believe that either. It isn't exactly easy to get decent no-scopes consistently if the other player knows what they're doing. I dunno who you play with, but the power weapons are only really the object of the game on maps like Ivory Tower and Lockout, and even then, most of the time you can hold your own (although IT is ridiculous). If you're on a small map just grab yourself a BR and Shotty combo or dual-wield an SMG and a plasma rifle. You'd be sorted.

Part of the fun of the Halo games is that they're pretty damn fast but one small move and you could cost yourself the whole game. Making the sniper more realistic or whatever wouldn't really help because it'd mean something like the BR would be the dominant weapon. If you're really that fussed on balance just play MLG. It's the only setting I play at LANs.

Dewby

Another issue with the sniper is that it occasionally does not do what it is supposed to do. Like getting a clear headshot, but not getting the kill. Or shooting an enemy twice, which equals a kill, but the guy does not die even though there are two seperate blood spatters. This is more apparent on larger maps. However, I don't think it is overpowered. If you play a match of Team Hardcore you will see that the sniper is valuable, but not dominant because of all the BRs being shot.

Also, is anyone else kinda worried about all the host advantage crap again? That, by far, is what I disliked most about Halo 2 online.

I don't think there's a set number of shots for a kill with the sniper rifle. For instance, you mention two shots for a kill, but if those are two leg shots, you're definately not gonna get a kill. A shot to the head doesn't always guarantee a kill either, but you're right, it really should. Range is a key factor as well. Even if you shoot someone in the head, from a great distance, it'll do very little if the reticule isn't red.

You're right about host. It was the only major irritating thing about Halo 2 for me. Thankfully at LANs we give it to the player with the lowest amount of kills, so it isn't too bad.

DayLahs

Halo 3 Beta Video

http://www.gameswank.com/?p=204

looks amazing

Damn, it's already down. I guess I saw it just in time.
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