Halo 2 Online Update

[Scroby 0]

The Halo 2 online update is finally be released on Monday, April 18th (A mere few days before Wrestlemania 21, damnit!) and here are a few things to give you a better idea what is being updated. Other than the cheats, glitches, bugs being fixed. The update will also change what weapon damage is caused, here's some details..... This is all from Bungie.net

 

Melee Damage

 

Melee damage has been increased across the board as a counter measure of sorts to close-up dual wielding. Jumping strikes are now much more powerful, often resulting in instant kills, while the general potency has been increased for normal melee attacks and the Brute Shot has been given a specific melee attack boost, in recognition of the fact that it has a huge scythe attached to it. This actually makes the Brute Shot a go-to weapon in a lot of new situations.

 

Examples of the increase in power include one-hit kills from many jumping strikes, two-hit kills from the Brute Shot melee attack, and far more power on torso and head strikes from all other weapons.

 

Grenades

 

Grenade attacks will be one of the most significant changes for the 1.1 version of Halo 2. In many ways, the new grenade balance is a reflection of the way we really wanted them to be. Grenades were not only weakened in the previous iteration, they didn't address the balance difference between a grenade-throwing player and a dual-wielding attacker.

 

A common complaint amongst critics (and Bungie employees!) was that grenades felt very weak and often simply ensured that a player would be hurt rather than killed. Some unfortunate side effects of this, apart from a difference in "feel" between Halo CE and Halo 2 were unpredictable damage and difficulty making accurate, long distance throws have any significant impact. The grenades, both plasma and human, have been improved in a number of ways and are significantly more powerful.

 

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.

 

We feel that this, more than almost all the other changes will be noticed, and incorporated into the widest range of player skill. The grenade goes from being a dangerous distraction to a potent, flexible weapon and will change the balance of Slayer and objective-based games dramatically. We expect to see a lot of criticism initially, as we understand folks are used to playing one way – but long term testing has shown that it improves the experience in the vast majority of maps and game types.

 

Plasma "sticks" will continue to be utterly deadly. And note that there is a knock-on effect to Brute Shot ammo from the power increase on frag grenades. It's subtle but enhances the Brute Shot nonetheless.

 

 

Magnum

 

Magnum bullet damage has been slightly reduced to emphasize accurate headshots over a simple dual wielding combo. The auto-accuracy of the Magnum has also been toned down slightly when dual wielding.

 

SMG

 

Other slight reductions include the softening of the Plasma Rifle and SMG combo, to bring it in line with other combos. Experts will notice the difference.

 

 

 

We asked designer Jaime Griesemer to explain some of the reasons Why We Tweaked the Gameplay.

 

The changes to the weapon balance - why did we do that several months after the game’s released?

 

It’s surprising how much impact the community can have on how a game evolves after it is released.  Their choices and play styles subtly change how the core gameplay works.  After Halo 2 shipped, we saw a lot of people relying on a small number of weapons and always choosing dual-wielding over melees or grenades.  We started experimenting with ways to nudge things back toward the variety of options that we had originally intended.  Nothing major, just small tweaks to change the emphasis.  We played with these changes for awhile and they were so much fun, it felt like we would be cheating our fans if we kept them to ourselves.  That’s when we started looking for ways to get as wide a distribution as possible.

 

Are these changes going to affect how the Campaign mode plays?

 

No.  These are multiplayer-only changes.  The Campaign doesn’t change as the community evolves, so it still plays as intended.  Wait a second… is this some sort of dig about the ending?!  Screw you, Frankie!

 

What are the most significant balance changes - and how do they affect typical gameplay scenarios?

 

The two most significant changes to the overall balance are the ones we made to the melee attacks and grenades.  One of the reasons Halo is special is that it has “damage spikes”.  In any given situation, you can choose to melee or throw a grenade instead of shooting, and if you do it right you get a big jump on your opponent (when you don’t just kill them outright.)  We wanted to emphasize these “damage spikes” relative to the bullet-hoses, so we made them do more damage.  For example, now if someone charges too close with dual SMGs you can melee them and actually kill them faster than they can kill you.  You have viable options again.

 

It took me ages to get used to the balance as it stands, what if I just don’t like the new tuning?

 

I believe that anyone who really appreciates what makes Halo unique will like the new tuning.  I know that some people want a flatter, more predictable experience suitable for high-stakes competition, but that’s not the mainstream.  Most players want lots of parallel options and unpredictable situations to get as much variety as possible.  The “pros” always come up with their own rules anyway, so these changes are really for people that are just playing for fun. Mind you, there's a lot in here that makes me think the pros will like it better too.

 

How long does it take to get used to the changes?

 

 

I imagine that most people will not even notice these changes consciously; some of them are pretty subtle.  The people in our play tests acclimated almost immediately, especially if they had played a lot of Halo 1.  Hopefully it will take people long enough that I can pad my Live ranking, though.

 

Do you think new combos will emerge from the changes?

 

 

No, the changes aren’t severe enough that they actually add “new” combos.  However, they do make single-wielding more competitive with dual-wielding, so I expect you will see people using a larger variety of weapons.

 

Philosophically, how do you think the changes have improved the multiplayer experience?

 

I think these changes make for better multiplayer stories.  After a fight in the shipping version, the story is usually pretty simple.  Either it’s “I ran around the corner and he had the shotgun and blew me away.” or even worse it’s “I saw him first and starting shooting and then he saw me and started shooting, but I started shooting first.”   With these changes, the stories get a lot more interesting and varied.  Now sometimes it’s “He came up behind me and started shooting so I ducked around the corner and dropped a grenade and he ran right into it!” or “He jumped down at me just as I was reloading, but he got in too close and I beat him to death with my battle rifle.”  The fights last longer and each player has several options.

 

 

A few more tidbits:

 

-The leaderboards will be resetted, they figure since its a new online experiance, they should make it the same feel.

 

-Lag will be pretty bad for a few days after the update is released, but after a couple of days, the problem of lag will not be so present

 

-Turf and Terminal are both earth based levels.

 

-The very first E3 Demo we saw, is still around and even playable but has to many issues/bugs to be released.

 

 

Lets just hope everything works out good now and whole multiplayer experiance changes.

[Matt Young 0]

Some of my clanmates mentioned this earlier tonight. I think the update sounds great, especially the increased potency of the grenades. It's also cool that they're resetting the leaderboards and ranks since I got Live in late January, and now it can be a level playing field.

 

Of course, I'll have to pry myself away from WM21 to play Halo...

[Scroby 0]

Of course, I'll have to pry myself away from WM21 to play Halo...

 

Its a very tough choice, isn't it?

[Matt Young 0]

If WM21 is as good as I'm hoping, I won't be playing Halo for a while. Halo's great and I often spend hours on the game once I start it up, but if I don't play it for a couple days, I can go without it.

 

I went without playing it for 2 weeks after getting MVP Baseball, and that was just offline since MVP sucks online. I'm sure that a good wrestling game with good online play will keep me occupied for months.

[Guest EQ]

I don't know if anyone else has signed on and tried to auto-update today, but I keep getting some kind of error with XBOX live. It tells me the update is required, but when I try to download it, it says it can't download the update, which means I can't play.

[Scroby 0]

Yeah some people are having problems with the download at the moment. I know I wasn't able to play big team battle, and thats my favorite game on Halo 2. I know someone couldn't actually play any games. Just give it probably about a day or two and everything should be up and running correctly. Bungie even said they're were gonna be some problems for a few days, so just sit it out and if anything Wrestlemania 21 comes out in the next two days.

[Matt Young 0]

I signed on around 5:30 P.M. Pacific and had no problems getting the update. However, since Raw started soon after, I haven't played a game yet. I'll be trying it out as soon as Gaming Ring Radio ends their report on the final build of WrestleMania 21.

 

Reports have come in that it takes a long ass time for matchmaking, and will continue to be that way for several days. And the new maps are only available for custom games for the moment, so I don't see why that slows down matchmaking.

[Scroby 0]

What new maps? The new maps won't be released until next monday night.

[Matt Young 0]

Oops. *slaps head*

[Guest EQ]

OK, I figured out the problem. In case any of you have the same "technical difficulties" problem, here's how I fixed it.

 

If you're using a hub or router to connect to your cable modem, turn off your xbox, unplug your modem and then connect your xbox to it directly. Start it up again, download the update. Then connect everything back the way it was and try it.

 

Worked for me.

 

Good luck

[Matt Young 0]

The new maps are available right now. I'm downloading them as I type this.

[Matt Young 0]

Stats officially reset today. Time to build the rankings back up...

[Scroby 0]

and time for that tournament to start up as well....DEATH TO ANYONE IN RUMBLE PIT FOR THE NEXT MONTH!

[Matt Young 0]

I'd like to get as many TSMers as possible together for a game soon. I'd be way back in last place most likely, but it'd be fun. Scroby, you're a 16, so you appear to be damn good. The Dames tears shit up, and Bravesfan (where the fuck has he been?) is awesome as well.

[BigPoppaKev 0]

I will be down for a game once I get back home and have Live. Up at school trying to run live is pretty much impossible. When I was playing on live I was a 14 team slayer.

[Guest eBayBrison]

if you guys want to hit me up, (i know some people still hate me here), then hit me up on my TAG: brackish.

 

KJ

[Scroby 0]

...I miss my 16 from the Big Team Battle games, now its a 1. I got it up to a 3 today but then after I won a game it went back down to 1. Seriously how fucked up is that!? But now I'm a 6 on Rumple Pit...again, I was a 12.

[Fökai 0]

The Dames tears shit up, and Bravesfan (where the fuck has he been?) is awesome as well.

I was out of the loop for a bit. Had to go back to Hawai'i for the past two months, but now with a steady flow of cash and a return to a cable modem, I'll be back full-time (sadly) on TSM and Xbox Live on Tuesday.

 

...and yeah, I'm pretty good, I think.