N1AK

I can let the odd cutscene go but in general I think you make a good point. Elites are supposed to be better than even John 117 in terms of physical strength etc. It is tactics, teamwork and determination that help the outclassed humans win through. I can appreciate that having the game constantly telling you you're doomed because 6 hunters just appeared would get old, but acting like taking out better troops, while outnumbered and in enemy territory is a cakewalk constantly seems a little silly. In my opinion Halo is at its best when it's closer to 'survival horror' than 'action hero rampage'. When I'm playing H1 or H4 campaign on legendary I know I'm outclassed in a front on confrontation so I need to plan, sneak, use terrain and generally outsmart my foe to win. If it's that hard to Masterchief to do it then it shouldn't be blown off as trivial by 2nd rate 'spartans'.

The character hasn't grown on me so far. As others have said he seems inappropriate for the role he fulfils, combat operations and controlling a starship aren't the place for puerile comments and messing about. Hopefully they'll make it work, and I think the change may be to differentiate him from Cortana and/or AIs without a personality, because he detracts more than he adds so far.

I think we're talking about a world where the 'marines' are no more advanced than modern day standard infantry in terms of armour, tactics or weaponry. The Halo universe is not a believable setting if you start from the premise that they are 500 years more advanced than we are and that is true for weapons as well as most other things.

You should have led him on for a bit first this could have been an epic troll

It'd be a nice option to increase re-playability. It would also be nice to do something to discourage players from constantly running in and getting killed without a plan and/or something that stops scum-bags from AFK boosting.

I got an AFKer in my second run of SO (only me and him). Got about half way through the level 'avoided' him then climbed up to a safe location and went out for a couple of hours. When I came back he'd left the game which I proceeded to complete. It was enough to put me off playing SO multiplayer again because I don't want to carry AFKers through and get them XP. I'll either play with a party or solo in future.

I think they've got the Scorpion pretty much bang on. It requires team play to defend which is great because if it didn't it would be so much more powerful than anything else in the game. A remotely decent player with a couple of team mates in support can rack up dozens of kills. Some people seem to forget that tanks don't operate in densely terrained environments without considerable infantry support in real life because they ARE vulnerable if OF get close. It's one of the reasons why conventional armies struggle to force insurgent forces from built up areas. So far I have found every vehicle in H4 to be impressively well balanced. The Ghost in particular can run riot if not countered properly but is very vulnerable to players who play smart.

I think friendly vehicle fire is a required 'evil' to make players think a bit more about where they fire weapons when team mates are in vehicles. I'd rather see people who consistently team kill vehicles come up on a boot menu and people who get consistently booted get matched with other douches. Splatters can be a real pita. I've been hit by, and accidentally caused, plenty and I think most people can appreciate the difference between a mistake and some idiot using the hog chaingun to destroy his own team's mantis etc.

Got quite a bit more play in over the last couple of days and my view on the Boltshot continues to gradually shift. I wouldn't mind seeing the charge time slightly increase (0.1-0.2s) or the OHK range slightly shortened because it does seem to be a bit of an easy cheap kill generator at times. I think having a gun like it in the game is a good thing because it makes shotty/Scatter users think a little more but it could still do that with a tiny tweak. Also I've found that firing it slightly early really isn't that big an issue when you get the drop on someone or fire simultaneously. Most times I'll BS and then headshot for kill before BR/DMR user that starts firing at the same time gets the kill.

Having played a little more big team today this is definitely my experience. The Mantis can't chase opponents it is reliant on them making themselves easy targets. Against a couple of tactical players the Mantis would be lucky to get either of them.

I think this is exactly the point. I usually start vehicle maps with the plasma pistol anyway but even if I didn't I'd always have a loadout with it in case I needed to swap to it on kill. I've played two big team games in total, both games started with me getting on a warthog gun (once gauss) with a random driver; the first time I got a 7 kill streak and the 2nd a 6 kill streak. It feels to me like vehicles still make you feel plenty powerful enough but have enough counters to stop them dominating without proper support. If you're playing against smart opponents you need to keep track of when anti-tank power weapons get picked up and avoid going too near obvious ambush points.

Hi jockmahn. I'm pretty certain that the red arrow in kill cam is added to the replay and not something that the player has during the game. I've seen Kill cam footage of me getting kills and it shows the arrow but I don't have that arrow during normal gameplay. Hope that helps.

The Mantis is resilient but it seems to me that the armaments aren't that powerful. The rockets have very little splash and the minigun doesn't seem to be as effective as the Hog/Turret version. It moves slowly and is a massive target. I see most Mantis getting loads of kills because players will rush at it on open ground. Some counters: If you've got a Gauss hog or Scorpion you should be able to beat it in a gunfight. There are plenty of power weapons that handle it (sticky launcher, railgun, spartan laser, rocket launcher) and snipers murder its shields. Plasma pistol is an insta-win if it is near any terrain that lets you get in range. Jet Pack, Camo, Dash, Hologram can all be used to make a dash to board. People seem to be frustrated that you can't simply take it on 1v1 with a DMR and expect to win but you shouldn't be able to. It takes a strong counter or 2+ players working in a coordinated manner to beat and that's fine.

A lot of people will say that the BR doesn't really have an advantage over the DMR; personally I'd suggest you give them both a try but expect you'll settle on using the DMR soon enough. As to finding your enemy; you'll have to use your legs and go find them or play with a group who tell you. Most of the time it isn't too difficult. You can see where team mates are and if they are getting hurt. Personally I think not always knowing where enemies are is an important point as it makes you think about routes, ambushes etc.

Sticky grenade is a fantastic power weapon. I play with Explosives most of the time which apparently makes the blast even bigger (though I wasn't aware) but I can get a kill with ~80% of shots and it can be used defensively: you only need to see (and be target-able by victim) for the time it takes to fire the single shot. I rarely use it for more than direct shot and kills but using it tactically on a choike point or objective can be very effective