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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - The Official Halo: Reach Thread

yo_john117 on 08 March 2010
AlkamistStar said:
@ tkul & john

Absolutely! That'd be great.I'm looking for players to help me in Firefight now actually, it'll be a great start to see how we work together as a team, lol.

@ JaggedSac

Rocket Race was soo much fun, expecially playing splitscreen online I think the idea Zucas has could be implemented also, with Warthogs, and only a gunner in the passenger side.

Yeah I think we should all get together and see how we play as a team in Halo 3.

The only problem I would have with that though is for some reason my nat is set at moderate and there seems to be nothing I can do to change it so I can't join most of my friends anymore.



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JaggedSac on 18 March 2010

Fantastic read on Bungie's Arena system:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62873



BenVTrigger on 18 March 2010

Halo Reach with monthly competitive leagues? Honestly the more info I get on this game the more I realize its going to suck my entire life away.



yo_john117 on 19 March 2010

@ Jagged-Wow that was a good read!



JaggedSac on 19 March 2010

A look at Active Roster and Matchmaking:
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62887

Shacknews is whooping ass as of late with these Reach scoops man.



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yo_john117 on 19 March 2010

Wow they really are on fire with awesome Reach news!



JaggedSac on 19 March 2010
yo_john117 said:

Wow they really are on fire with awesome Reach news!

Here is some more from Bungie employees(sorry for formatting):

 

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Also can you confirm that all players will have the same starting weapon?

If not exactly the same starting weapon, then something very close (more info coming soon!) The goal is that all players start off on an even footing.

 

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Will there be specific maps used for areana exclusively?

Probably not. There will be specific variants, though.

 

 

 

The plan is to pretty much dive into a new feature 'bucket' every week for the next few weeks. A steady build towards May 3rd, detailing all the nuances introduced in the trailer and probably culminating in more multimedia goodness before we flip the switch and go live.

Next week the focus moves to a new aspect of Reach MP, one that may very well address the 'mystery ranking', and also bring an old friend back out into the public light.

 

 

Originally Posted by ferrex:
Our playlists support Spartans Only, Elites Only, various mixtures, player selection, et cetera.

Arena Playlists will probably not mix the two, since there are some significant differences between them now and we don't want to skew the results.

 

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Q. Will the Arena feature armor abilities and weapons such as rockets, grenade launchers, etc. Or will it be hardcore guns only.
Originally Posted by ferrex:
Too early to tell. We'd like to use the range of Halo's sandbox, but if there are parts that don't work well with the Arena's goals, we'll edit them out. The MLG's excellent process of tweaking and iterating over their desired gametype is something we would like to emulate.

Seasons help us do that. If we introduce Rocket Launchers on some maps in a season, and they don't work out well, we can remove them in the next Season.

 

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Q. When will the Arena feature objective gametypes?
Originally Posted by ferrex:
When we can come up with a good way to quantify a person's individual performance in a team CTF game as a four digit numeric rating. It's very hard to do so--who did more, the person who capped the flag, or the person who defended the base?

We're starting with Slayer because it is (relatively) easy to distill into ratings. The importance of this will be more evident once the Arena is live. :)

I'm sure the forums will help us discuss the subject in the future. Our playlists are, as ever, very adaptive and evolving things.


A Bad Clown on 19 March 2010

I hope they'll do it like Call of Duty and allow people to join midgame if someone leaves, that always pissed me off.



19:44:34 Skeezer METAL GEAR ONLINE
19:44:36 Skeezer FAILURE
19:44:51 ABadClown You're right!
19:44:55 ABadClown Hur hur hur
19:45:01 Skeezer i meant
19:45:04 Skeezer YOU ARE A FAILKURE
19:45:08 Skeezer FAILURE*
JaggedSac on 19 March 2010
Quote:
In the recent info regarding arena it was said that players would have to play EVERY day to earn an overall ranking in each months league.... is this true?

No, not every day. We're still adjusting numbers, but let's say you need to be Rated on 5 days to qualify for a Division. If that were the case, you can play any 5 days you want.

And you can play more than 5 days if you think you can do better and move up to a higher Division. But you have to play at least that many days to be assigned to a Division. No more.

 

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Will our arena stauts/rank effect our rank in the other playlists ?

No.

 

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Will we be able to view Arena games in Theater mode?

Absolutely. I hope that high Rated Arena films are a popular commodity in the (new and improved!) File Share.

 

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My question for the Arena is this: will Bungie fix the language boosting trick that was prevalent in Halo 3? With more options available to choose how you want to be matched, I feel it would be much simpler to exploit a form of this. Obviously in Arena, people will want to be in the highest division so I feel it could become a problem.

Yes, this is fixed. Our playlists can now be configured to match in two stages: find teammates, then find opponents. Each stage can have different parameters.

In Arena playlists, for example, we would consider Language Preference for finding teammates, but not for finding opponents. So (ideally, population permitting) you'll be on a team with people who speak your language, but your opponents will be the most appropriate skill and ping match. Somewhat harder to exploit.

 

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Are you familiar with how Blizzard is currently operating their ladder system in the Starcraft 2 Beta?

Afraid not, I haven't had a chance to install the Beta. :(

 

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Will each grouping have separate divisions? Will there be an Onyx 1 and an Onyx 2, or will all Onyx players be ranked together? Additionally, will there be a way to view the players in your division?

Are there any plans to incorporate teams into this system? Let's say a friend and I compete in a 2v2 ladder, are there any plans to rank teams of players against other teams? As an extension of this, are there plans to implement a clan system with the arena?

There will be some subdivision within divisions when the competition is most heated. Think "Gold Division, Top 5%".

There are no plans to implement a clan system specifically for Arena. If we did Clan support (not saying we are, mind you), we would support them across the board.

 

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Is arena the only ranked playlist?

They are currently the only playlists which will display a playlist specific ranking/rating/etc.

But all of our other playlists are built on the same tech that made Halo 3's Ranked playlists work, which means they will have strong skill matching and high match quality (population permitting, as always.)
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If we were to use Halo 3 as an analogy for the Halo: Reach matchmaking system would Arena be akin to a specific playlist (e.g. Rumble Pit, Big Team Battle et cetera) or would it be a grouping (e.g. Ranked, Social, Hardcore) or none of the above?

It doesn't really map to Halo 3 analogies. This is a new beast.

The old favorites from Halo 3 will still be there, as improved as we can make them. Arena is something being added on top, to scratch a particular itch.

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Are you guys putting just as much love into the Social Playlists of the game as you are the: "Super Hardcore Arena Playlists?"

Absolutely. This isn't an "us or them" thing to us. :)

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What are seasons?

They're like sports seasons, except over a shorter timeframe. For example, an August 2010 Season would start on August 1, end on August 30, and would only count games played between those two dates. A new season would start on September 1.

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Will there be an Arena Season in the beta?

Gotta test it, right? :)


JaggedSac on 19 March 2010
Quote:
Does the Arena rule out any chances of a specific 'MLG' playlist?

No.
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Once in Onyx Division will you permanently remain in Onyx Division, or do you have to earn it month after month?

If you want to be able to state "yeah, I'm Onyx this Season", then yes, you'll have to earn it each Season.