HALO 3 Beta

SwampYankee wrote:

Why isn't it something more accessible to GWJ like, errr, "Podunk"?

I do believe after his response to ColdForged, CrankyBaby may in fact be more appropriate.

Maybe Certis could switch that over.

ColdForged wrote:

Did any actual games get played? By the time I got there it was everyone hanging out in the lobby gaping at the ("hot, hot") menus while "waiting for information from Xbox Live" blinked endlessly in the corner of the screen. Admittedly the actual blinking experience was of a quality I've come to expect from Bungie but I was hoping to accomplish a bit more in the way of shooting things.

Yeah, we managed to play some games. There was a period of about 15 minutes where we had that "waiting for information from Xbox Live" message, but it went away and we were able to play relatively smoothly after that. My guess is that it probably had something to do with the half a million people who were trying to download the beta client at the same time.

The other problem, that of having too many players in the party to enter a playlist, should hopefully go away as they roll out the rest of the playlists. See this page for more details, but here is the important information:

Bungie Matchmaking FAQ wrote:

Matchmaking in the Public Beta

Throughout the Public Beta, we'll be using you as guinea pigs to test a number of Matchmaking Playlists. Since the Beta doesn't support System Link or Custom Games, matchmaking is your only recourse anyway, so we're doing what we can to give you as wide a variety as possible over the three weeks. The lists will be rolled out in an order to be decided by Bungie, and they will include the following modes, but are subject to change/removal and addition:

Ranked Playlists

Rumble Pit – all out action with you entering alone to play in Slayer, and some objective game types. Max party size: 1 (you!).
Team Slayer – Enter alone or with a small group and you'll be matched against another team of equal size in a small variety of Slayer variants. Team Size: 3-4. Max party size: 4
Team Skirmish – Team based objectives are the order of the day here, everything from single flag CTF to Territories. Team Size: 3-4. Max party size: 4
Big Team Battle – Just like it says. Big team based games on maps big enough to support them. In this case, that's Valhalla. Team Size: 5-6. Max party size: 6.

Social Playlists

Rumble Training – Just like Rumble Pit, but unranked. Max party size: 6
Team Training – An unranked mixture of team-based games, with both Slayer and objective types. Team Size: 3-4. Max party size: 8
BTB Training – An unranked version of Big Team Battle. Max party size: 12
2V2 Training – Pint-sized teams battle each other for bragging rights and little else in this unranked playlist. Max party size: 4

So what we are really waiting for is the BTB Training playlist. That way we'll be able to get up to 12 people together and play large team matches against nothing but goodjers. Until they update that playlist in, though, our options are to either form 4 player parties and go into ranked team games against random folks, or to form parties of either 6 or 8 and enter rumble training or team training respectively, and get to play the games from those lists against nothing but goodjers.

To answer the question Burritos posed, the lobby allows more than 8 players because it is an early version of the final lobby. In the final lobby, if you end up with too many players for a playlist, you'll be able to just switch over to a custom game. For now, though, we'll just have to be a little more active about having someone split off and form a second (or third) lobby than we were last night.

SwampYankee wrote:

Why isn't it something more accessible to GWJ like, errr, "Podunk"?

Because Live wouldn't allow me to use Podunk, OKAY?

Jeez. I'll put it in my sig, you f*cking crybabies.

Why don't you link to the real thing, like real men do.

Mr.Green wrote:

Why don't you link to the real thing, like real men do.

'Cause I stole it from Swampy's sig!

Podunk wrote:
Mr.Green wrote:

Why don't you link to the real thing, like real men do.

'Cause I stole it from Swampy's sig! :lol:

No wonder. Steal it from mine, I'll look the other way.

Mr.Green wrote:

No wonder. Steal it from mine, I'll look the other way. ;)

Done!

Podunk wrote:
Mr.Green wrote:

No wonder. Steal it from mine, I'll look the other way. ;)

Done! :)

Hurray, he's not such a thoughtless ass! Okay, maybe he is but at least we know where to find him ;).

(GIMME THAT GODDAMNED SCHECTER!)

Alright, I broke down and rented Crackdown. You've got me for the next two weeks, or until Blockbuster sends some heavies over to my apartment.

I'm such a Halo newb it's silly. Two Zombie skates and a few hours of #1 in college, already tho I got second in a ranked match. Also, I dressed up my Mister Chef in blue an yella. *grin*

Someone headshot me please, I love the death physics.

TheWanderer wrote:

Alright, I broke down and rented Crackdown. You've got me for the next two weeks, or until Blockbuster sends some heavies over to my apartment.

Note that you have a month or so of goodness without heavies. They'll charge you for the game but if you bring it back during the appropriate timeframe you will be reimbursed for everything but $1.25 or so in "restocking fees". Check your receipt. Just FYI.

I'm starting to get back into it, but it's really tough to shake the Gears / Counter-Strike playstyles. It's been a year or so since I last played with GWJers, and that's the last time I really did the Halo thing at all. Weird.

I got on to play this afternoon and the fact that it's a Beta test kinda bit me. It's "unavailable" at the moment so I guess they're fixing something.

Thin_J wrote:

I got on to play this afternoon and the fact that it's a Beta test kinda bit me. It's "unavailable" at the moment so I guess they're fixing something.

You have to sit on that screen for a few minutes before you can get in, the unavailable message just means the servers are being completely rocked.

This morning I had breakfast to the shenanigans of Souldaddy and Schmoona recorded from yesterday. So cool. The first two files they have uploaded to the fileshare are of the same match, so you get the poor man's equivalent of perspective control. Upload me some videos; I hunger for them.

The Spartan Laser is such a gratifying weapon to use because of the momentum given to your victim's body. It's right up there with a headshot in Gears. I want one for my den.

Mongoose feels like a deathtrap so far. Maybe I just suck at it.

The Ghost feels a bit slower and a little more unwieldy, but at the same time more fun. I'm not sure how that is.

Love the new AR. It's a decent starting weapon. I no longer feel like I'm spawning into chaos wet with a towel wrapped about my manbits.

Dual wielding Spikers seems effective at mid to close range, but they always seem to put two next to each other. Why not just make it one, two-handed weapon?

Zero noticed that the plasma pistol now depletes ammo while you're holding a charge, so hopefully we'll see less of the Plasma/BR combo.

The new Boxer configuration would be perfect if they'd just let me switch the B button and the Left Bumper.

The Oddball now kills in one hit. It seemed fair while I was holding it. Shotty-Snipers is fantastic, but VIP not so much.

It's good to see the assets in Valhalla, as that's most likely an indicator of the locales we'll be seeing in the campaign. Very reminiscent of the level 'Halo' in the first game, which was too cool for words. I still haven't noticed any rings in the sky, but honestly I forgot to look what with all the headshots and farting around in the water to be had.

Sometimes I dream about working for Bungie. Then I realize that I'd have to deal with Bungie "fans".

IMAGE(http://www.coldforged.org/images/_loadinginfo.jpg)

Then I'd conclude that I'd probably prefer being devoured live by ferrets.

The new Boxer configuration would be perfect if they'd just let me switch the B button and the Left Bumper.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

Dual wielding Spikers seems effective at mid to close range, but they always seem to put two next to each other. Why not just make it one, two-handed weapon?

Because with a little work you can find a plasma pistol or rifle to combine it with, and THAT sh*t is truly deadly. Mix and match, my friend, mix and match.

I prefer death-dealers of a "no assembly required" variety.

I downloaded the demo to check out the graphics and because I've been a fan of Bungie's since Pathway in to Darkness - I've never been into multiplayer gaming though.

At first glance, it looks a lot like a high res version of Halo 2. But, there's a lot of really nifty and subtle stuff going on. There's something remarkable about the way the light plays on the canyon walls. The air itself has a slight weightyness - like shore-side air on a humid day. Light/Dark transitions are better done than any other games I've seen.

The modeling and architecture are very well done. Like WoW, it benefits from very strong and consistent art direction.

The jumping is still pretty low grav, but it's not nearly as floaty feeling as it was in H2. I'm not sure which I prefer yet. I'm finding myself trying to make jumps that I think I *should* be able to make, but falling quite a bit shorter than expected.

Wanna apologize last night for A) Bugging out unexpectedly and B) Not saying anything. A storm knocked our internet out last night and it was late enough that I just decided to hit the sack, and for the not talking, I was using the wireless headset because I can't find my regular wired one and I know some people get monster feedback from the wireless one when I use it.

Regardless I had a good time, I haven't played a HALO multiplayer game in over a year and it was fun to be back in. Gave me an urge to play through HALO 1 and 2 again also. I'm definitely going to be trying out more of the beta.

Well, I played my first match of Halo (of any kind) MP, and I must say it was a lot of fun. I was surprised that I got 9 kills. I was playing in a ranked match, and I had a good time. I should be on after 8 pm central tonight. I hope to find some GWJers willing to play. See you guys tonight.

Just played some. Didn't really enjoy it. Might try again later.

Lots of fun last night. I was able to sneak in a few more rounds this morning. And I'll be on again tonight.

I never owned the original Xbox, and I can count the hours I spent with Halo 1 and 2 multiplayer on one hand, so I can't really compare them with the new experience. I can say that I'm really digging the Halo 3 beta, though.

Love the weapons, really love the maps. At first I was a little disappointed in the visuals, especially after playing Gears. I'm over it already. The overall experience just feels extremely polished and accessible. I'm surprised that after all the Gears/Graw2/R6:Vegas cover shooting, straight-up twitch shooting can still be this much fun.

Even more surprising, must of the ranked matches I've played haven't been populated by complete asshats. Yet.

I love it!
The graphics are not jaw dropping, but they are very pleasing to the eye. The environments feel much less static than the other Halo games, and the game play is just as good, if not better. I'm very happy, thanks for the games guys!

I can't wait for the single player campaign! Bring on the Covenant!

I have to do some real life work, but I'm in tonight if anyone's still around by the time I get there.

1UP has a story on what went wrong yesterday with the Crackdown access.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=...

But, what exactly happened? Who screwed up? Realtime Worlds, the folks behind Crackdown, weren't even aware of the situation. Located in Europe, they awoke to message boards threads hundreds of pages long Female Doggoing about their game. "We were puzzled," said Crackdown Producer Phil Wilson to 1UP. "Microsoft dealt with this swiftly and without our involvement over night [Europe time] so, though we were surprised at the solution, we were certainly pleased to see it working this morning."

Microsoft confirmed there was no issue with Crackdown, instead pointing the finger at Xbox Live. "This is the first time that we've tried to interface downloading of a beta through Xbox LIVE with a previously-shipped game. It's a complicated process, made even more significant by the huge interest in this beta," said the company in a statement. "This was not an issue with the Crackdown discs themselves, nor was it a problem with the Halo 3 beta," company representatives told us.

Wilson also echoed that the problem was not Crackdown's, but issuing a Crackdown update proved the fastest solution. "...the simplest and fastest way to resolve the situation was to make a change on the Crackdown side, hence another title update this morning," he said.

Hey if any goodjer wants to get together, send me a friend request...

So, my experience tonight has been nonstop frustration. The maps to have very fixed spawn points, resulting in a aggravating number of spawn kills. I know this was a problem in H2, but I expected it would be fixed. In the last game I played (With GWJers, no less) I was killed within seconds well over half of the time that I spawned.

Frustrating? Absolutely.

Hmm, I haven't been spawn killed once in over twenty matches. I can assure you that in the matches we played, Goodjers were not intentionally watching memorized spawn points. The old H2 algorithm seems to be in full swing, choosing a point for you to pop into existence furthest away from your opponents and nearest your buds if it's a team game.