The people in our play tests acclimated almost immediately, especially if they had played a lot of Halo 1.

"The ""Humorous"" Bungie FAQ wrote:

The people in our play tests acclimated almost immediately, especially if they had played a lot of Halo 1.

Well, F-ing ''aye. I''ll admit it, I pussed out on Halo 2 almost immediately. I liked my frags and I liked the more ""tactical"" aspect of the game. I know a lot of people bitched about weapon balance in Halo 1 but aside from the pistol> everything else it wasn''t that bad.

I didn''t like in Halo 2 that they had toned down the grenades and that Dual Wielding trumped everything else.

The fuse timer has been SHORTENED on the Frag and Plasma Grenade to increase their value in combat and in last-ditch efforts to defeat an attacker. In most instances, this new fuse timing will reduce the harm they cause when accidentally tossed at the start of a new round. The shortened fuse also makes using grenades for attacks slightly more predictable and accurate.

The damage caused by plasma grenades (frag grenade power is increased slightly) is significantly increased. In testing, we found that players equated it with the type of damage caused in Halo 1. A plasma grenade detonating at a player''s feet will likely kill that player outright, even with full shields. The shortened fuse and small damage-boost on the frag grenade means that a well-thrown ''nade is more dangerous.

Yes, notably, you will find lag is actually a little worse for a couple of days. After your system is autoupdated, it ""retrains"" the software responsible for finding the best connection speeds. That means that your first few sessions will get progressively better until your Xbox is fully conditioned to find the best network speeds. So don''t panic. You will also notice longer loading times initially, as maps and other data are re-cached onto your Xbox. Those will vanish rapidly.

You my friend are like a brother to me.

Our current plans are to reset the existing leaderboards within the next few weeks, once the AU and the first wave of maps has been released. We can''t yet say with 100% certainty when that date will be, but we will give as much notice as possible once we have a confirmed date. For now, plan on this happening within a few weeks.

woomp.

I''ll only be able to play if my HALO 2 shows up today. And that, of course, means I''ll be the ULTIMATE NOOB.

It''s Wednesday! Anyone up?

Sadly, no, hockey at 945 EST. I got a goal last night! Wooo!