Podtacular 284: Game Informer Week Review

April 23th, 2012

Hosts: Dust Storm & DaftLink


Halo 4 Links

Halo 4 Information Hub at GameInformer.com - Halo 4 May Coverage 343 Sparkast 12 A Halo 4 Multiplayer-focused Extravaganza

E-mails

Simnar

Hola Podtac people, Simnar here. I've come to say I really love the show; glad to hear GLewis back. Also congrats to DaftLinkI17 for becoming the newest host. So in short, love the show. Keep up the good work and keep on armor locking the Covenant.

Doody bound

[1] So here I am, commenting again... most of my previous submissions seem to be irrelevant now. I'm glad to hear that the game still "feels" halo. At least, that's what we have been told. I agree, and feel that, albeit how unknown, the random (power?) weapon spawns sound noob friendly. it doesn't matter if the timer is the same or not, the fact that a rocket launcher won't always spawn in the same place sounds like its going to be as bad as armor lock. Almost all team slayer games i find myself fighting for a power weapon at every spawn time. Knowing when and where vehicles and weapons will spawn is a huge key factor in all my games.
This brings me to an interesting point. If there IS a forge, does this mean that when I put down a weapon, it MIGHT spawn somewhere else during my custom game, or do I now have to do even more work and put down more hill markers for random weapon spawn points? To go even FURTHER in depth, if 343 adds custom maps to the playlists, will we HAVE to put down these weapon spawns if they exist? I have a hard time enough setting up spawn points for players, let alone spawn times for weapons and vehicles!

To reiterate my point about Halo Reach's multiplayer, there is NOTHING wrong with 100% bloom. Like I said, I could never figure out the battle rifle, but the DMR works just fine for me. If what is true, and the MLG players are trying to use the DMR like a BR, then that's their own fault, NOT the games.

I find myself falling into the trap of, "get over excited about something different in halo 4 that wasn't in 1, 2, or 3, and freak out and complain only to sleep on it and decide that I have to see the game to know if it was shit or not." honestly though, until random weapon spawns and what was meant by (possibly) no firefight, Halo 4 is making me more worried then excited.

On regards to elites in multiplayer, halo 3 got it wrong. Elites should ALWAYS have been how they are in Reach, not the same as Spartans. Honestly, invasion slayer is terrible! Unless the team just sucks, Spartans will usually win only because there are better human weapons. I mean, how are you going to beat a team with 2 or more snipers when all you have is a focus rifle? That weapon SUCKS and is NO comparison to a beam rifle.
BTB needs to be called "Heavies" because that's all anyone votes for now!!! I want to play something other than heavies, and I most certainly want to play a map OTHER than hemorrhage. Those two selections are picked by far 80% of the time.

Well, I've voiced my opinion about 4 or 5 times now and probably have the mailbag market cornered... this should be interesting.

[2] So I just listened to 343s "sparkcast" and it was EXACTLY what they needed to do! After listening to their podcast, I feel reassured, and confident in their abilities to make Halo 4 GREAT! I was just waiting for them to give us an explanation for the "random weapon spawns". My understanding is that it is like the ordinances that are dropped from the sky during Firefight, and they contain a random power weapon. Initial weapon spawns will still be there. We got this one so wrong as to think that random weapon spawns meant different spots. What it really means is exactly how it's worded, random WEAPON spawn, as in there might be a rocket launcher, or their might be an energy sword.
I can honestly say that I was very concerned about Halo 4, but now I'm pleasantly surprised. If rather be that then expecting really epic things, and being disappointed. I CANT WAIT for halo 4 anymore! Ahhhhhdidiejnenakzldjebsnozpvovi!

[3] So to add to my voice mail I sent you, what have you thought about the Firefight maps so far?
I believe all the ODST maps were from campaign, and halo reach has all but 1 map from campaign. Unearthed is the only map that was custom built just for Firefight, and wasn’t seen anywhere in the campaign. Do you guys like that map or not? Personally, I don’t like it based on the spawn points. Actually, I really don’t like Reach’s Firefight much at all. I honestly hate that the covenant spawn right out in the open. I liked ODST because Firefight was more realistic. The enemies came out of doors, and we’re dropped off from the phantoms. The only map that currently does that is Corvette.You were lucky to grab the rocket launcher, and even luckier if a jackel dropped a sniper from their perch on top of the roof. Going back to ODST FF for me feels like going from playing easy, to playing mythic. One thing that really does bug me is although the editing options for FF for reach are completely amazing, I still can’t fight buggers…why were t hey in campaign twice, but not in FF? That has always confused me.
Keep up the fantastic podcasts!

Doody Bound

PS. I agree, MLG should have 1 map for each game type they play, that would make things a lot more interesting to watch.

PPS. I find it slightly ironic that you commented on how 343 was giving non-informative answers to the community’s questions from your last non-informative podcast.