Halo 4

[vman]

Remember, remember, the SIXTH of November,
when the covenant corpses will rot.
I know of no reason why "'tis the season"
should ever be forgot

Loving bees and keeping it clean
were never enough for MC,
his luster and sheen will make us all scream,
"A spartan's life for me!"

[Variation-XBA]

You make that?

[Symmetric-XBA]

Halo 4 Official Intel

Excited for Halo 4? Well November 6th seems like lifetime away for millions of us so until then we are going to try and provide as much information as we can so feel free to contribute! A ton of new information has been released and I'm sure many more surprises lay in the months ahead, but here's some of the info we know so far:

Recently 343 Industries did a podcast for Halo 4 on Tuesday that sent shockwaves through the Halo community. Information such as: random weapon spawns, custom gametypes, competitive multiplayer, Spartan Ops, armor abilities and the new Forerunner Vision.

Random Weapon Spawns

The weapon spawn system is completely new and was constructed from the ground-up and works hand in hand with the Infinity multiplayer system. At the beginning of every match there are initial weapon spawns that emphasize teamwork to gain a tactical advantage.

According to 343 there are timers set up to provide players with an audio cue in the form of a giant boom as the weapons are dropped from space on to the map. Think of these like the obital drop pods and just like before if you're caught under one when it drops, you will die.

The size of the level will also determine what preloaded weapon drops are available. Smaller levels will not receive weapon drop for guns such as sniper rifles. This means that a large amount of detail has been poured into focusing on balancing the preloaded weapon drops for each level. This can though be customized in custom game loadouts.

All this new information will come by the way of subtle visual indicators that appear on the hud screen to show players what weapons dropped and their location on the map. When those indicators disappear, that means someone has picked that weapon up.



Player Spawns

Think of this aspect as a modified version of the spawns in Halo Reach. Once you're sent to your grave in Halo 4 you will have options of either waiting out a timer which grants you a chance to change your loadout or you can instantly respawn with the push of a button. Objective gametypes will feature 5 vs 5 gameplay while traditional team deathmatch gametypes are 4 vs 4. Maps can support any gametype and player count but you'll be able to tell which particular mode each map was designed for.


Custom/LAN Games

Players will still be able to create custom games with their own rules like turning off instant spawns and physics like 80% gravity. They'll even be able to create tournaments that support unlocking weapons and armor abilities. Unlocking armor abilities and weapons in system link games for tournaments are going to be supported 100%.

Base Weapons

This is a core feature of the new weapon loadouts. According to 343 if you want to use a BR as your starting loadout you'll have to earn it. Once earned however, you are free to use it when and where you want. 343 has also stated that all the base weapons are balanced and their goal was not to creat any god tier weapons. This is to help drive focus onto the new loadout system and attempt to make your halo experience more unique. The DMR was a weapon that originally could be fired fairly quickly but the accuracy suffered. Now though in Halo 4, 343 has slowed the weapon fire down but increased it's accuracy. As we all know the BR is back, but this time there are some balancing tweaks to the weapon. While the BR fires faster than the DMR, the BR produces recoil which affects accuracy. This is part of the balancing system so that gamers who use the Assault Rifle stand a good chance by charging in.

Armor Abilities and Sprint

343 Industries says they learned from Halo: Reach and that the armor abilities in Halo 4 will have more of a rock, paper, scissor component versus Reach's "four rocks and one paper." Part of this is achieved by making spring a permanent ability since it was the most popular ability used in Reach.

With sprint now a permanent fixture, the base speed of players has not slowed down and is actually faster than Reach according to 343 Industries. A sprint meter is present so you won't be able to run fast endlessly. However, getting shot will slow players down so sprinting up and trying to double melee doesn't sound like it will be as effective.

Overall, the levels were designed with faster mobility in mind and 343 looked at Halo 3 for movement benchmarks. Halo 1 was used for weapons benchmarks.

Armor Lock was removed because it ruined the flow and balance of multiplayer but all remaining armor abilities from Reach have been tweaked.

Forerunner Vision

Forerunner Vision continues to be one of the controversial new armor abilities in Halo 4 but 343 Industries suggests that comes from the Game Informer article that essentially suggested that it lets you see through walls. The 343 guys say it is actually more akin to the visor mode from Halo 3: ODST which provides players with better situational awareness. It's more like a sonar motion tracker that has a set distance and delay.

Forerunner Vision can be countered because other players within your visual range can hear it.

Spartan Ops

There will be carry over between competitive multiplayer and Spartan Ops. You can take the character you've created and the weapons you've unlocked between the two multiplayer modes. The plan is to let players create characters they feel attached to and to reward and incentivize players for trying out different weapons and roles.

Spartan Ops is more focused on teamwork and communicate with other players to achieve objectives versus the Firefight mode from Halo: Reach which could be played as a bunch of individuals. The other emphasis is obviously the fiction being built around Spartan Ops that appeals to players looking for gameplay but for "great science fiction" too.

[vman]

You make that?

yes, I wrote it. Took me all of 5 minutes, too. I was inspired by the RvB Halo4 announcement. Obviously a play on V for Vendetta's poem about the 5th of November and the Pirates of the Carribean "A pirate's life for me." So, yes, I wrote it, but I wouldn't call it entirely original.

[Unreal]

Some of the features sound good

[l Maximus l]

I gotta say...with Halo Anniversary, I love the classic mode with the old school pistol...so fun. All of this talm about "balance" with weapons seems like they won't have a classic feature....we'll see. To me, the original pistol made it the most fun.

[thAshAdyOne]

I love the idea behind the Spartan Ops. I'm slowly but surely coming into the number of fans

[Symmetric-XBA]

Pre-Order Bonuses starting now!

EB Games


Microsoft Store/Mighty Ape


Best Buy/Mighty Ape


Amazon

[Symmetric-XBA]

Walmart/Game/Gamestation


EB Games/Gamestop


Mighty Ape


Play.com

[Symmetric-XBA]

"Unknown"


Amazon


Amazon


Mighty Ape


Mighty Ape

[l Maximus l]

I've been so busy with work and finally had a chance to view some of the released videos....Halo 4 looks insane. So far, I've only seen some campaign vids...looking great!

[Variation-XBA]

I'm liking that color scheme for the walmart bonus....but yea, not going to get my game there ever

[Symmetrics Love-XBA]

I like both walmart and ebgames. Im kinda torn between the two.

[Symmetric-XBA]

idk, the walmart one looks like a cross breed of bioshock.

[Steeps5]

Oh hello! Look what I found yesterday lol.


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[thAshAdyOne]

Just preordered mine. IDK how I'm gonna pretend to have a life between ACIII & this next week.