Category Archives: War Games (Matchmaking)

Halo 4 Matchmaking Update: Team Objective!!!

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This is a reblog from Halo Waypoint:

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HFFL: Before I paste the info, let me say that I for one am EXCITED that Objective is back! I think that 343 should have NEVER gotten rid of the playlist to begin with. It’s one playlist I lived in for much of my matchmaking career in both Halo 3 and Halo Reach. Okay, now for the info.

Team Objective is back and more objective-y than ever! Replacing Squad DLC, Team Objective will contain 4v4 ball holding, hill capturing and goal scoring action on a wide variety of maps. Staples such as Haven, Adrift and Ragnarok will be available including some Forge fan favorites. Voting for Team Objective has been simplified and is as follows: Continue reading →

Halo 4 Matchmaking Update: Dominion

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Every two weeks we update Halo 4 Matchmaking with exciting new game types, playlist changes and more. You can see what we have planned in the months ahead by looking at the Matchmaking Playlist Calendar below.  Beyond that, you can get details on what’s now available in today’s Halo 4 Matchmaking Update.

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Dominion Light

Today, Dominion is making a lean and mean return to Halo 4 Matchmaking as Dominion Light, which features 4 vs. 4 gameplay. The updated game type will feature a faster pace, modified scoring, smaller resupply drops balanced for smaller teams, and a new custom map list.

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Team Ninja Assassins

Ninja Assassins is back in Matchmaking!

-Sal

 

Halo 4 DLC free (without achievements)?

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So I was perusing Halo Waypoint’s forum and came upon a thread asking for the DLC in Halo 4 to be free. If you all didn’t know, Microsoft has a policy against giving DLC away free that is attached to achievements. However, the forum poster below came up with a pretty nifty idea. My thoughts after his response.
MZealous;2899401 wrote:

At this point I couldn’t care less about the fact I payed money and others didn’t. Just remove the ability to gain achievements through the DLC (until purchased) and release the DLC to all making it a requirement for necessary playlists. I’m even starting to dislike Haven now I’ve played it so much. I’ve probably played more games on Haven than I have played game in total on Reach…We may even see a population spike.
Now THAT’s a novel idea. It might actually work. Essentially, everyone can play. For those that really want to go for the achievements, they pay a modest “fee” to unlock the opportunity to get them. As for what that fee is, since the DLC has been out over a year now, make it $1-2. Then make all the DLC mandatory (free), with achievements accessible for that fee.
I’ve paid for all of them. I really wouldn’t mind if they were made free. At this point, it can’t hurt anything and as said, might actually give a bump up in population.
What do you folks think? Want to see free DLC, if the achievements weren’t attached? Would you then pay that modest fee to unlock the ability to get them?
Hit that reply button and let me hear from you!
-Sal

Heavies and Multi-team LIVE!

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Just in case you didn’t play Halo 4 yesterday or have read it here prior, Heavies is now a permanent playlist and Multi-team is the playlist for the 2-week rotational playlist.

Both are LIVE! So go get those vehicle kills! And have fun in the chaos and mayhem that is multi-team!

-Sal

Squad DLC in Halo 4 = AWESOME!

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Last night I played a bunch of Squad DLC games with several friends of mine. It was a blast! Not only did we enjoy playing on those DLC maps that we paid for and seem to not come up much in regular matchmaking, but we played some good game types as well.

I highly suggest if you have the DLC maps to make use of this playlist while it’s still up. You’ve got about 10 days left remaining for it. While I hope it would stick around as a permanent playlist, unless we can get more people playing in it, it’s not likely to happen.

So I implore you if you do, PLEASE again, go play some games in it! Believe me, you’ll have fun too!

-Sal

Halo 4 new temporary game type: Medal Madness

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This game type just went live yesterday. If you haven’t had a chance to play it yet, I definitely recommend it.

2-25_medalmadness_1920x749I played a couple matches of this last night and had fun.

The first game I went +13. The second game only +3. Still, it was fun both games.

If you haven’t heard about the game and what it entails, then let me be of assistance.

There are 1 minute rounds. You don’t know what the next round is going to be as it’s random. Rounds are ongoing with no stoppage in between, unlike say Grifball. Each round gives you a different medal to get. The team that scores the most of that medal in that given round gets a point. Game ends when a team reaches seven points first.

In the first game, rounds switched between Rockets/Fuel Rod kills, to Supercombine kills with the Needler, to Double Kills (using a BR with no radar, to Melees, to Hail Marys and so on. It can be quite fast paced and a bit frenetic. That’s actually part of the fun of it. It’s kind of a mix of Fiesta with different weapons, and objective where you have to get certain medals. If you’re NOT one for this type of gameplay, I’d still say give it a shot. The rest of you, jump in before the gametype leaves the rotational playlist in two weeks from now.

I hope that Medal Madness returns to the playlists as a game type within Action Sack. It’s PERFECT for that playlist!

-Sal

 

New Flood game type? CAVEAT (It’s a modded game type)

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My friend Addicted Cha0s tweeted the link to the following video regarding a new modded Flood game type called “Plague”.

This looks to be a lot of fun. As Flood you can choose to be any of three different kinds of flood. Small and fast, normal, or big and slow but powerful.

As Spartans you can heal each other from infection.

Wow, this just sounds amazing!

The only issue is that it’s modded. So PLEASE be aware of that should you download the maps/gametype. XBOX policy says no modding. This could leave yourselves vulnerable to banning. While I’d love to hear an official “okay” from 343 on this, they really can’t. Yes, I know Frank O’Conner stated ok on modded gametypes. That however was an impromptu saying as a convention and he even said he needed to be careful about this.

Now if this made it into the official Flood playlist in Halo 4, you bet I’d be playing it.

-Sal

Heavies playlists is LIVE and it’s FUN!!!

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Okay, yes, I know it went live yesterday. Point is, I was having a lot of fun playing it, I didn’t stop to write up an article about it.

So there are two main gametypes within Heavies. Team Heavies, which is what it sounds like and Kill of the Hill. Honestly, if there are others, I didn’t notice as those two were all people were voting for.

I played on Ragnarok, Vortex, Wreckage, and Shatter. Now for one, I’ve got to say, I’m happy that enough people have the DLC that I could play on those maps in matchmaking, instead of custom games.

Heavies was/is definitely needed and a VERY welcome return to Halo, in my opinion. I wish it were a permanent playlist or integrated with BTB!

Back in my Halo 3 days I used to rush the Scorpion. It was BEAST back then and could take one hell of a beating. In Halo 4 though, while it’s shots are powerful, it’s armor isn’t quite so. Instead of getting into vehicles, much of the time I was going about the map destroying vehicles by any means necessary. This included sniping, Spartan laser, sticky detonator, over-charged plasma pistol then sticking it with a nade or boarding it to melee it to death.

It was EXTREMELY FUN! This isn’t a playlist for the uber hardcore competitive players. Well, it can be, but don’t expect it to be. It definitely caters more to the casual and casually competitive crowd. Callouts help, but when you’ve got all sorts of vehicle mayhem going on, it almost isn’t needed. That said, a good Banshee pilot can be VERY pesky, which happened on a couple of occasions.

I went into the playlist with the thought that I was going to focus on killing Scorpions as I’m trying to finish that commendation. However, while that didn’t go out the window, I found that I was just enjoying the WHOLE game of carnage.

So folks, do yourselves a favor for the next two weeks and play some Heavies!

-Sal

Slow day for Halo, NOT…Matchmaking discussion on twitter! (Synopsis)

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Today was pretty slow for Halo stuff, until Carl from Virgin gaming asked what farming techniques might be applied in Halo.

As well, BS Angel asked what our favorite and least favorite gametypes were in Halo 4.

I had plenty of tweets back and forth with both of them.

While tweeting with Carl, I mentioned my ideas for tiered weapons drops. This would be based on number of kills and you would get ver specific weapons in those drops. None of the randomness as it is now.

For example:
• Tier 1 – Awarded at 5 kills. You get your choice of Shotgun or Needler.
• Tier 2 – Awarded at 10 kills. You get your choice of DMR, Carbine or Concussion Rifle.
• Tier 3 – Awarded at 15 kills. You get your choice of Rocket Launcher or Fuel Rod.
• Tier 4 – Awarded at 20 kills. You get your choice of Sniper or Incineration Cannon.

Along the way, someone (I think it was Cyren from Beyond) added that there should be a death penalty placed upon this.  Basically you die, you either lose ALL of the meter towards those weapons drops or at least SOME of it. I definitely agree with that.

If this were instituted, skilled players would be rewarded for skill and those not so skilled wouldn’t. Yes, that might deter some from playing, however, it also takes out much of the awful randomness that Infinity drops put in the game currently. At present you can’t rely on what power weapons are on the map. With the ideas above, it still would be hard, but you’d know that later into the game, more powerful weapons are going to pop up. Also, you and/or your teammates can call-out in game when they are making a drop so your whole team knows when that weapons in coming into the game.

That adds tactics, which also equate to a portion of skill.

The tweets between BS Angel and myself talked about playlists. I mentioned I liked Team Objective the most. While I dont’ really have a least favorite, I mentioned CTF. Now, don’t get all “WHAT THE HELL” on me. I LOVE CTF. However, when 343 took out Team Objective and put just CTF in it’s place, WE the players LOST our ability to choose. This is PARAMONT to continued success of the game. Also, consider there are commendations to get in the likes of Oddball and King of the Hill for examples. Making those gametypes only available in the rotational playlists or in the rarely voted on option in BTB makes it difficult to work on those commendations.

Along the way, Cruellegacy (former Waypoint moderator) chimed in and mentioned how working on commendations changes gameplay. I do agree with that. However, changing playlists in a way that takes out CHOICE for we gamers changes what GAME those players are going to play. By that I mean, MANY people bolted for other games rather than sticking with Halo. Why? Well, certainly in part because classic playlists like Team Objective were gone. Team Objective was VERY popular in Halo 3 and Reach. Why 343 decided to take it out still confounds me to know end.

I’ll admit, I prefer objective over slayer matches any day of the week. I like the idea of working toward something OTHER than just killing an opponent. It adds more of a reason as to why you’re playing. Well, it does for me anyway.

So, if you want to see what all the hub-bub was about, I invite you to check out my twitter feed at: https://twitter.com/HaloFanForLife or @HaloFanForLife. And please, if you do, give me a follow if you haven’t already! THANKS!

-Sal

I LOVE Halo Paintball!

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So I played several games of Paintball yesterday and had a blast. I played a couple on my own, then a few with my friend, Brent. After a few games I brought in another friend, Erickyboo and then a surprise… Petetheduck himself! Yep, Pete’s a friend of mine. So when he popped on, I sent him a game invite and he joined in for several games. It was quite fun playing with the fella who created the map itself. BTW, Pete did pretty darn good in those games… Pete joined another party of friends while Brent, Eric and I partied up with a bunch of other friends.

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If you haven’t played Paintball yet in Action Sack, let me give you the lo-down on the settings.

• 1 life per round
• 5 rounds per game
• Mobility perk only
• NO jumping
• No grenades
• Unlimited Plasma Pistol ammo

Scoring is a bit weird in this, but honestly, I didn’t care about scoring at all. I was out to have fun and get those Plasma Pistol kills!

When the game starts, you’re right next to the wall where there is a soft kill boundary. Take a few steps forward and you’re out of it easily, so no worries.

The game is pretty fast paced with nearly everyone spamming plasma shots from the get-go. I got kills from across the map this way (and was also killed that way too….). Rounds tend to last no more than 20-30 seconds or at least it seems like that. Of course the time for each round is longer, but I honestly can’t say how long as we never even got close to a round going the distance.

For those worried about K/D, consider that since you only have ONE life per round in a five round game, the WORST you can do is go 0-5.That’s EASY to come back from, so I wouldn’t worry about it. I had some really good games and some not so good. However, the key to this is that I was having FUN as well as working on my Plasma Pistol commendation. I knocked out more than 70 plasma pistol kills yesterday. That’s more than the 14 MONTHS preceding it playing Halo 4 nearly everyday. So yeah, this is GREAT for working on your Plasma Pistol kills!

I’m sure you can tell by this article that I HIGHLY support Paintball. I’ve been campaigning for it to be in Matchmaking for many months. I have no clue if any of my campaigning for it helped get it into matchmaking. Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me, I’m just happy Paintball is IN. I’ll be playing this hardcore every night at least until I get my Plasma Pistol commendation done. So if you want to work on yours as well AND have some fun, send me a game invite over XBOX LIVE to my gamertag: HaloFanForLife1. I’m trying to be on at roughly 7pm EST each night and play for at least 2 hours.

-Sal

Team DLC and Paintball are in matchmaking!

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Today is first day back for Team DLC. This playlist will only be available for two weeks folks. So, if you bought the DLC, jump into the playlist and get your monies worth!

Also, the fun new Paintball gametype has been added to the Action Sack playlist. I’m personally going to be looking to play this one a lot for the next couple of weeks. I want to finish the commendation for Plasma Pistol kills!

If you want to game with me in either playlist over the next couple of weeks, send me a game invite to my gamertag: HaloFanForLife1

-Sal

Rocket Race is up and playable!

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The Rocket Race playlist is now available, and will be playable until January 6th. In this game type, players race with a Mongoose, partner, and Rocket Launcher to each checkpoint. The game type is available on the following maps: Exile, Meltdown, Shatter, Wreckage, Vortex, Ragnarok, Longbow, Harvest, Daybreak, and Complex.

Played the DLC maps in Halo 4 lately?

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I will say that it is bit frustrating not being able to play on DLC maps paid for. I for one am of the mind that there needs to be a DLC specific playlist. Yes, map sizes vary widely so some DLC maps may be better than others depending on party size.

So I’d suggest a Team Slayer DLC playlist and a BTB DLC playlist.

The maps for each would breakdown as follows:

Team Slayer DLC (4v4):
-Monolith
-Skyline
-Pitfall
-Vertigo
-Landfall
-Daybreak

BTB DLC (8v8):
-Wreckage
-Harvest
-Perdition
-Outcast
-Shatter

Broken up like this, there is a good distribution of maps per DLC playlist. Of the ones I put in for Team Slayer DLC, only Landfall is a bit big for 4v4. However, it’s been used for such already, so people are fairly used to it.

The BTB DLC maps are the biggest of the 11 DLC maps. While a couple of them may seem a bit tight for 8v8, they are definitely a bit too big for 4v4. Now if BTB DLC were actually 6v6 then all of those I put in that list would definitely work.

Regardless, population is low. So how do we get these two playlists without affecting the regular population much?

Consolidate the current playlists a little. We need to have Team Objective again. CTF needs to go into that playlist. It will be the big draw for that one. Then add in Oddball, Regicide, and King of the Hill. With those others also having commendations attached to them, it makes sense to have them in a unified Team Objective playlist. I’d MUCH prefer that than a rotational playlist that comes around every few months.

One thing is for certain, if there isn’t something done to better manage DLC maps, the next game’s DLC sales will suffer GREATLY. I’ve already had many friends tell me they aren’t going to buy DLC for the next game because of the issues with DLC in Halo 4.

I for one look forward to new maps, so not having DLC in the next Halo game is NOT an option for me. However, if the franchise is going to flourish, DLC must be handled much better.

-Sal

Multi-Regicide is HERE!

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Multi-Regicide
The winner of the second Community Choice poll for the rotational playlist is Multi-team Regicide, or Multi-Regicide.

It’s starts today and I’m excited to play this. I need only 31 more Regicide wins to FINALLY unlock that elusive Kingslayer emblem. Seen below:

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Hopefully I can knock those wins out in short order.

I’ll be playing a crap-ton of Multi-team these next two weeks until my goal is achieved….

-Sal

Multi-team to make a limited return with Multi-team Regicide, via rotational playlist next two weeks.

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Multi-team is the next playlist to come into the rotational playlist for the next two weeks.

It looks like Multi-Team Regicide is going to win the community choice poll as well. I’m SO happy about this. The reason being is that I’ve been trying for MONTHS to finish my Regicide commendations so I could unlock the Kingslayer emblem. (Seen below)

kingslayer

The reason for this is that it’s crucial to my web series “MaC Rounds.” Why? Mac Rounds is a web series that follows the further adventures of Crimson and Majestic Fireteams. Majestic uses the Kingslayer emblem on their armor, as seen here on Spartan Grant’s left shoulder:

Grant Kingslayer

With Regicide being picked for the community choice of Multi-team for the next two weeks, I have a better chance of completing the commendation sooner. I only need 35 wins in Regicide to get this done, so you can bet I’ll be playing this playlist a LOT for the next two-weeks. Hopefully I can get it done BEFORE those two weeks end!

-Sal