Official Halo Reach Thread

[WRXtranceformed]

Been sessioning it pretty hard the past 2 days, having fun with it except for SWAT and snipers. Some sniper levels I do work but if you get a couple of elite players in there it gets frustrating real quick.

[G.Irish]

Yeah one of the cool things about armor lock is that the longer you hold it down, the bigger the EMP pulse when you release it. The other night my roommate armor locked and three guys were sitting there trying to kill him. He emp'ed them and end up triple killing them with a pistol. Another thing that will happen is that sometimes someone will wait behind you to try to get the assassination once you come out of armor lock. If you turn to face him while you're locked you'll be ready to punch him in the face when after your lock runs out. With the EMP he won't have shields so you'll usually get the kill. Just did that about 3 times the last match I played.

[WRXtranceformed]

Warrant officer grade 2 right now, just hit over 100k credits. I'd have more if I didn't spend a bunch on some armor pieces. I am starting to get better and better at Halo in general, I'd say I'm a moderate player now. I do have to say that armor lock is fucking retarded. My brother, who is an absolutely sick Halo player, refuses to play Halo Reach multiplayer because of shit like armor lock. I'm really hoping Bungie nerfs it, because people are using it to get out of being outplayed in certain situations. The last game I played the same guy used it several times when I had him worked and then one of his buddies came and killed me from behind because it was Slayer Pro and there was no radar. I saw some guys using it to tank when playing in groups too. Unlimited invulnerability is too stupid to have in a multiplayer game like Halo.

[G.Irish]

Yeah Armor Lock can be rather annoying to deal with. I haven't run into too many people that use it very well though. If it's a close fight and I'm winning I'll just time a grenade or headshot them when they come out of it. If I see that he has teammates near by I'll retreat. Armor lock is really only dangerous when people use it as a team. In that case you have to work as a team to take those guys down. If your team has sprint or jetpack you can easily outflank an armor locking team. Even then, after they use it all up the first time it takes a while to charge back up.

If armor lock is bothering you a lot, just play the big team list. On that list the maps are so big that armor locking is very ineffective. It just ends up being a DMR magnet, not to mention it limits your mobility. Only time I use it on big team is if the other team is trying too hard to run you over. Oddly enough I've gotten a lot better at recognizing when a guy is trying to bait me into smashing into his armor lock with a ghost.

[WRXtranceformed]

It seems I'm not the only one that thinks armor lock is gay based on what I read on a couple forums. A lot of gamers are like "well, you suck for not being able to beat armor lock." I've killed people coming out of armor lock more times than I can count. What IS gay is that like you said, on tighter maps like Sword Base where it's easier to work in teams, someone ganks you after you're working one of his teammates who then went invincible. I personally think it detracts from the game as opposed to adding another element of strategy.

[G.Irish]

I think Swordbase is particularly problematic because of the hallway on the top floor by the yellow lift. In a tight space like that armor lock is really tough to beat. Especially if the opposing team has the sword or shotgun. I'm thinking maybe they need to remove either the sword or the shotgun and replace it with a rocket launcher or sniper rifle.

One of the keys to beating armor lockers is to always making sure you're stocked up with grenades because:

*If their teammate tries to jump in to help they'll get hit with the grenade
*You can kill them right when they get out of lock
*If you come up on someone and you see them before they see you, you can grenade them and headshot them before they can armor lock.

And of course starting out encounters 2 on 1 as much as possible means you're usually going to beat an armor locker, even if his teammate comes to help. Just as long as you don't get too close to him. In general, not getting close will get you much better results if you can get your hands on a needle rifle, DMR, sniper, or focus rifle. Only time I really want to be close is when I have a shotgun, sword, or hammer.

[G.Irish]

Just downloaded the new map pack last night. Without a doubt the 3 new maps are more fun than most of the original maps except for maybe Powerhouse. I feel like the pace of the game was faster in all 3, especially in Anchor 9. Anchor 9 is pretty much a non-stop shootout. If anyone still feels like playing I definitely recommend the new maps.

As an added bonus, they finally added Firefight Versus to the active playlist. So it's 2 spartans vs 2 player controlled elites in alternating rounds of Firefight. If you're a Spartan you're trying to kill the normal computer-controlled Firefight enemies in addition to the 2 human-controlled Elites. If you run out of lives the round is over. If the attacking Elites run out of lives they can't respawn for the rest of the round. The twist is that Elites have less shields than normal and the Spartans have double shields. So if you're an Elite you really have to approach carefully because if you do the frontal assault thing you WILL get killed.

Even if you don't get the new maps you should definitely check out Firefight Versus. It's under the "Grab Bag' list.

[WRXtranceformed]

Meh I haven't touched Halo since I picked up COD:BO and the new Assassin's Creed. When I first started COD multiplayer I liked Halo better, but as I've played Halo more it seems so one-dimensional when compared to COD. I might give the new map packs a try just to see if it spices things up.

[G.Irish]

What do you mean by one-dimensional? One strategy rules all? One gun rules all? You only do the same thing over and over?

[WRXtranceformed]

I don't really know how to describe it. The pace of play is slower, the new suit abilities screwed a lot of the old strategery and created lame new strats. There are less options, the maps are less intricate, etc. Perks in COD allow for a richer multiplayer experience without having any one of them being unbalanced (now that Stopping Power is gone).

[G.Irish]

I would say that the pace of play is slower in all of the Halos versus CoD but I think Reach is even slower now because the move speed got decreased. In some ways the armor abilities further slow things down but in some ways they speed it up. So armor lock and active camo slow things down, but sprint and jetpack speed it up. Either way it is kind of frustrating if you have to run a long ass distance to get back to the fight after you respawn. I'm fine with armor lock but the run speed can be a real pain on a larger map.

In CoD it's easier to get killed but I find strategy is pretty much to camp and wait for people to come into range. The majority of the match tends to be trying to get to a good spot to control the rest of the map and trying to make sure people don't flank you or pick you off wherever you're camping. It's weird but I find myself being much more methodical with CoD for this reason. You can move faster but running around usually gets you killed quickly.

[G.Irish]

Here's a fail while playing last week:

Me shooting at dude in Falcon, somehow I got "Splatter" and "Pull" medals out of it:
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Close up of what actually happened (FAIL):
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[G.Irish]

My latest Halo fail:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=13054507&player=El%20Kabonggg">http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=13054507&player=El%20Kabonggg</a><!-- m -->