Siubijeni

What I want most is a land/air vehicle, preferably something like the Forerunner War Sphinx but perhaps smaller. I love the idea of dropping from the sky on someone for the most epic splatter, walking around and devasting some of his buddies, and then jetting off again--provided, of course, one of them wasn't hiding a splaser or rocket. I think something between the elephant and mammoth would be great, and perhaps the Scarab could finally come in as a covie counter to that. Of course, I think a mini-rab would also make a great mantis counter, a larger and slower, but heavier version. I'd love it if the Chopper came back, it was always a fun one, and it could serve as a close-quarters vehicle with a few slight modifications, such as spikes that can shoot out sideways as it's primary fire, so even a close-miss of a splatter could result in a skewer with a skilled driver. I personally like the Falcon more than the hornet, and would like it to come back more than the hornet. However, if so I'd like it if there were different versions of it like the warthogs--the grenade one you use in campaign, with a fire-speed nerf, would be great. So would anti-air wraiths, heavier ghosts, a transport hog, and the rest.

Neither of those guns needs anything done to them. My main loadout is the one the OP listed, but I use 2 or 3 others about equally. And I do about equal with all of them. I kill DMR users all the time, same with Boltshot. Neither gun has anything wrong with them. DMR does not trump sniper rifle, not if the sniper is used the way it's meant to. If you mean you rush into a fight trying to snapshot and use a sniper like a DMR, which is the only situation I can think of that you could legitimately claim that, you aren't playing the game the way it was meant to. In other words, AfricanBatman, maybe rather than advocating fixing the game, you should fix yourself, because none of your posts indicate a problem ANYWHERE else. And Koffe, the DMR is not more powerful than the BR. It's just better at long-range fighting. Do a test sometime and see how much worse the BR recoil is. I have, and would put the figure at something around 4.5x worse. In more close-quarters fighting, I consistently lose to BRers that are about equal in skill to me. At longer ranges, I consistently win. There is no imbalance, there are different strengths and weaknesses. Don't expect every gun and loadout to play the same because they don't fill the EXACT same roles. Learn the game and weapons before you go and nerd rage on forums like this. The one thing I wonder about is the Covenant Carbine. It doesn't seem to have any real advantages, beyond firing fastest. It's basically the assault rifle of the rifles, and at that point I'd almost rather use a storm rifle. I still use it on small maps, and it's good, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's imba, just that grouping it with the rifles is a little bit/almost misleading. I just wish it were a little more rifle-like.

In my experience, the Mantis' greatest counter is actually infantry. It's not that hard to sneak up on one in most cases, and in those cases where they actually are protecting it fairly well, a sniper or binary-rifler can take it out without too much trouble. If a scorpion and mantis were on the same level, the scorpion would certainly take the cake. Think about it. The Mantis is smaller, yes, but it's also quite a bit taller and has difficulty hiding behind the hills and rises that a scorpion can. It CAN crouch, but it moves much slower and is more vulnerable to infantry that way. A mantis has the same profile, basically, from every direction, as well, rendering it fairly easy to predict and hit. A scorpion, on the other hand, can drive backwards, broadside, or forwards, each of which changes it's profile slightly. By driving backwards and positioning itself behind a ridge, you can bring your cannon into position without exposing much else. And while it may not have the shields that lend the mantis it's long-term durability, in an out-and-out confrontation, it has considerably more armor and staying power. Furthermore, because the mantis does not have a gunner, its field of view is necessarily limited. By having a gunner on the same console or with a mic, the Scorpion effectively increases his visual radius to 360--perhaps not all at once, but that gunner makes a fairly effective ward against infantry seeking to board. The Mantis, on the other hand, has no such advantage, because being boarded from the front is not so big an advantage as you might think. After all, how often do you see a warthog or scorpion boarded from the front? Boarders usually come from the side or back, seeking to gain that element of surprise, anyway. As far as it's power goes, when it really comes down to it those rockets are rather slow, and chaingun fairly inaccurate. A gauss hog or scorpion can take a mantis down fairly easily due to their superior effective range, and even a rocket hog or chain hog can harass it from a distance quite effectively. A sniper or binary rifle, with support from one or two DMR/BR/LR/CC users can take one down fairly quickly, as well. And once a plasma pistol gets it, stickies or a boarder can take the Mantis down like a sack of potatoes.

Dominion is one of my favorite game-types, and you've all made some great points. I just want to say thanks before I throw out my own tips and tricks: Know the map. Knowing all the approaches and entrances to a base is key, and can make the difference between victory and defeat. On Exile for example, people all-too-often disregard the tunnel where the banshee spawns. I have cloaked my way up that side a bit at a time while my team held onto two bases and literally taken the third base single-handedly simply because they don't expect people to come from behind. Vehicles, vehicles, vehicles. As you've all said, vehicles are a game-changer. Ghosts and Mongeese are great transport vehicles, and in the right hands a Ghost is an effective anti-infantry platform. Wraiths and Banshees provide the extra fire-power to defend a base against heavy weaponry or multi-infantry pushes. It's always important to know as a driver, too, whether to be on offensive or defensive at any given moment, which often depends upon the other teams tactics and your own holdings. Assymetricalities. I cannot stress this one enough. I have played with teams made up of players that were fairly skilled, but lost completely because they disregarded these. The best example I can think of at the moment is Exile. Base C has a wraith, but Base A and B do not (nor is Base A the middle base. On Longbow B spawns a banshee, but the middle base is by definition symmetric, and often spawns specialties). Sometimes that Wraith is all that stands between you and victory. Nests. By "nest," I mean those famous little camping spots Kasper mentioned. There are popular spots that you should always check, because you might otherwise find yourself being assassinated when you try to capture. I've found hologram an effective tool for clearing nests, by sending it on a path that brings it past in optimal assassination positioning. It's by no means foolproof, because some players would prefer to make sure it's a player and risk missing an easy kill, before jumping (I'm one of these, rather paranoid). On the other side of the nesting coin, you want to find yourself some unorthodox perches. Cloak and corners really help with these, because you can sometimes hide half-way in plain sight, but because you aren't in one of the usual places, people miss you 90%. It's not slayer, so don't play it like slayer. A positive KDR is all well and good, and for the most part you're probably going to keep one, if you're good. That being said, your life and sprees are not everything. If saving a base requires you give your life, do so. By this I mean the whole recapture process. More than once, I've been on base defense, and while I can usually kill incursions of 1-2, eventually they learn and more than a few people come at once. By sticking two, and beating the third down in the back, I can kill all 3, but this usually leaves me open to return fire, or being too close to my own stickies and I die. However, the extra time you buy can make all the difference. That being said, the key words are saving a base. If your death would not stop a base capture, or if your death WOULD empty a base but no team-mates are nearby to save or capture the base once it's empty, it's not worth it. It's a tough call sometimes. Resupplies are not team-specific. Some of the resupply drop points are outside the base shields. Many are, in fact. It's quite easy to steal an enemy weapon. On Vortex this is particularly useful. Right outside A (I think it's A, the one in the cave, not the buildings.) there is a heavy weapon spawn. More than once I have stolen a Spartan or Incineration Cannon from an enemy team. At the very least, it denies them of a shot or two, but at best you can sometimes take a base single-handedly with a surprise attack from their own incineration cannon. That being said, resupplies inside bases are not team-specific, either. This tactic works especially well on Vortex, but sometimes if your team places harassment fire on base shields, a cloaker can sneak inside their base and camp out. When the next resupply hits, they are hit from within, AND without. Vehicle Pads are team specific, but they aren't generally inside the base proper. You can often use this to your advantage, because base defenders are usually within the base proper, making it relatively easy to camp behind, for example, the wraith pad on Exile base C. Even if you don't hold that base, with proper application of the cloak you can steal the wraith the instant it is deployed. Parkour is your friend. There are many routes or hiding spots that most people assume you need a jetpack to reach, but with good timing and following the appropriate path, you can reach with sprint and jump. Many times, this is more obvious than people often realize. On exile, for example, you can jump up onto the roof of base C, the side the Wraith spawns on. Somehow, there are many people who don't realize this. There are a lot of other good hiding spots, too, especially on Vortex. One of my favorite nests is one of these 'parkour' spots, and people never think to look up That's about all I've got at the moment. Good luck Dominioning, everybody.

It seems like 343i didn't want to deal with betrayals so much, but I really hate the new system of no-team damage. I can't count the number of times I've snuck up on a pair of the enemy and been about to get a double-kill or triple-kill, then some banshee or tank just fires. And somehow, what should result in a double or triple betrayal, is just killing me. It's just wrong that they can fire indiscriminately and kill enemies without harming their team-mates in the slightest. It's not just vehicles, either. People do it with rocket-launchers and sticky detonators, too. I've seen people put stickies on their own guys, and when someone assassinates they blow the sticky. They get a showstopper, and for what? Not skill, but exploiting a loophole in the new betrayal and team-damage system. And then on the other hand, I get run over by team-mates in warthogs or ghosts, because they want my ordnance drop I just picked up. Do I EVER get the option to boot them? Of course not--it literally hasn't given me that choice once. How is that fair? I've been doing good, I get an ordnance sniper, and BAM! Nope, Chuck Testa, it's his! In some ways, this system of betrayal is better, because in Reach the problem was getting betrayed in the first 10 seconds, or getting shot up, but not killed so that you were always an easy kill for the enemy. Seriously, they can monitor well enough to tell when someone is boosting, but they can't write a program that tells them there are jerks ruining games in the first ten seconds, when there's not an enemy in sight? What are your thoughts on the new team-damage/betrayal system? Like? Dislike? Hate the unliving guts of?

I liked the last 5 spartan ops, but I would be thrilled if they had a bigger variety of maps in them. It was just a little disappointing, but not a major thing for me. Team Snipes would be great to have back too. As for new things, Grifball and Forge Maps are a must. I voted that I didn't think major changes were necessary, but I suppose that depends what you define major as. Grifball has been in every other Halo and is already a gametype--I don't think add it is major. And Forge Maps were in Reach, so adding those now that we've had months to make them isn't too major either. Flood is disappointing in some ways, but over-all I rather like it. The main problem I have is the same as with any mode--everyone's consoles have some ping, so events are seen SLIGHTLY differently, but the laggers and teleporters events seem to be favored. There are people in Flood that are just ABSURDLY laggy and it's impossible to avoid them. EDIT: I don't think the DMR or the Boltshot or any of the weapons I've seen complained about need any sort of redo. The only one I'd worry about is the covenant carbine--it doesn't seem to have any strengths, just weaknesses. It seems to fire a bit faster, but if its spread and damage are worse, that really nulls that out and then some.

I use the boltshot myself, and I see nothing wrong with it. It's not OP, because it's not like you can hold a charge. It's a very situational weapon. I sneak up on people with them all the time and they can do nothing. I get snuck up on myself, occasionally. The OHK isn't at all wrong, either. That video that was posted earlier, you might want to actually watch it some time. That part where he says "Maybe if they get closer?" They don't actually move any closer. It proves nothing because they either rigged it or just screwed up. Moreover, both the other secondary's can beat a boltshot fairly easily. As others have pointed out, the magnum has it's beat-down headshot combo, and the plasma has its shield-stripping. With the magnum's high fire rate, you can even just fire a quick 3 and beat-down. Don't even have to be headshots. And people, assuming you are right about the boltshot and it trumping all in CQC, have you ever thought that maybe 343i planned it that way? Everything about the game is situational. If the enemy has a sniper, either you sneak up on him, or your own sniper out-snipes him. If he's not incompetant or unlucky, those are the main ways you'll deal with him. If an enemy mantis is around, you don't just sprint at it hoping not to get stomped, you sneak around or cloak and wait for it to pass, then jump on its back. If someone has a plasma pistol, you try to stay where you can get any potential overshot blocked, and vehicles either stay away or priority target them. If someone has a boltshot, do the smart thing and REACT to that. Half the kills I get with a boltshot could be prevented by the victim, because that charge time is NOT insignificant (which, let me add, neither the shotgun nor the scattershot has to charge). And these people aren't newbs or 10-year-olds either. I can go up against them in a million other situations and they show some amount of skill. But all you whiners see or hear a boltshot and just give up. It makes for great KDR's, so I can't entirely complain. But when you start complaining about how it needs to be changed... honestly it's frustrating and hilarious at the same time. The Boltshot is not OP. You just need to stop being UP.