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Subject: Communication Without Microphones

Halo as we know it is very team reliant. If your group is disorganized, doesn't listen, or doesn't know what they're doing, It's hard to succeed. Most people seem to either not have their mics plugged in, or just have voice chat muted (And who can blame them? More often than not there's some punk(s) abusing their mic priviledges) which leads to a big flaw in gameplay-- The game assumes your team is working together when over half the time your team doesn't communicate a single word.

My proposal is that some form of silent communication is added to Reach. Some ideas I've come up with are:

--The ability to "tag" enemies: This might have something to the effect of having a dot or waypoint that tracks an enemy on your HUD when they're hit by you or your teammates (Similar to the one you might see in VIP, or Juggernaut) More likely it would go down when they die, when the person who tagged them dies, or when the tag timer goes down. Also the implimentation of a "Tag Gun" as opposed to just pressing a button would probably be preferable.

--The ability to "tag" locations: Something a bit more subtle so the game's "stealth" element, or the ability to juke out opponents isn't lost; pressing D-Pad UP (Or whatever you prefer) while aiming toward a sniper tower for example, could have text notification, a waypoint on your HUD, or even your Spartan's own custom voice pop up to say "Enemy on the red tower", or even just tell your team to focus on a certain area. Also when you pop up a waypoint, it might have a marker telling which teammate placed it.

--Helmet Cams: Another thing that might not hurt is the ability to look through the eyes of your teammate. For example, you could have a reciever in whatever corner of your HUD that you can select a teammate (D-Pad LEFT/RIGHT to select?) and see what they're seeing. See J59's teammate tracker turn orange to say they're in combat? Quickly select them and see through their eyes before their cam suddenly goes static upon their death; you might see that the enemy who just took them out decided to hide up in some corner or something before your go rushing in, or see that the enemy has their back turned to a corner and inevitably flank them and save your teammate.

It may be a good idea for the first two ideas to have some sort of duration between uses, so people don't just spam the notifiers.

Overall, just some ideas that came through my head earlier today. Thoughts, comments, ideas, etc are all welcome.

[Edited on 08.04.2009 12:07 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 9:45 PM PDT

The Hybrid a FanFic by Tehface

"Look for the signs, the keepers of the flame. They will lead you to war, and perhaps, to victory."

I like these ideas. It gives it a more realistic gameplay.

  • 08.03.2009 9:47 PM PDT
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playing a little too much Battlefield/GRAW are we?

meh, they are good idea's, but they would be extremely easy to exploit and annoy people with.

[Edited on 08.03.2009 9:49 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 9:49 PM PDT

Posted by: urk
Eat raw meat.
Punch a bear in the face.


If you don't know who I am, the feeling is mutual.

It could work. The only problem I'd see is people being overwhelmed with how (not) complicated this is.

  • 08.03.2009 9:49 PM PDT
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That would be awesome! I ussally dont have a mic on because there are alot of -blam!-s on matchmaking but this could really work..

  • 08.03.2009 9:49 PM PDT

Posted by: Tibetz
playing a little too much Battlefield/GRAW are we?

meh, they are good idea's, but they would be extremely easy to exploit and annoy people with.


I'll admit they helped to influence my ideas, but they work well. If the game is going to be as reliant on your team working together as it is in Halo 3, then we're going to need some form of simple communication. Right now me and my friends rarely even touch Halo unless we're all online-- It's just not worth it to pair up with a bunch of random people and hope you get people who are willing to communicate with you and know what they're doing, especially when you're usually going up against teams of people who do.

And before someone says "Halo doesn't need to copy other games", I agree. Halo should remain Halo. I'm certainly not trying to suggest halo should turn into "Battlefield 2552", but notice in Battlefield you can go entire matches without once putting on your headset, because there's so much communication going on without even speaking a word. I should be able to have that freedom in Halo, because I'd love to just hop on every day without losing because my teammate has no idea how to call out certain areas of the map, or to even think: "Hey, my teammate just died there, maybe I should use caution!"

[Edited on 08.03.2009 10:02 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 9:56 PM PDT
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Posted by: Po0f MoNk3y
Posted by: Tibetz
playing a little too much Battlefield/GRAW are we?

meh, they are good idea's, but they would be extremely easy to exploit and annoy people with.


I'll admit they helped to influence my ideas, but they work well. If the game is going to be as reliant on your team working together as it is in Halo 3, then we're going to need some form of simple communication. Right now me and my friends rarely even touch Halo unless we're all online-- It's just not worth it to pair up with a bunch of random people and hope you get people who are willing to communicate with you and know what they're doing, especially when you're usually going up against teams of people who do.

And before someone says "Halo doesn't need to copy other games", I agree. Halo should remain Halo. I'm certainly not trying to suggest halo should turn into "Battlefield 2552", but notice in Battlefield you can go entire matches without once putting on your headset, because there's so much communication going on without even speaking a word. I should be able to have that freedom in Halo, because I'd love to just hop on every day without losing because my teammate has no idea how to call out certain areas of the map, or to even think: "Hey, my teammate just died there, maybe I should use caution!"

To be honest, I can go entire games in Battlefield and Call of Duty without a headset simply because I work better alone on those games.

  • 08.03.2009 10:16 PM PDT

Oh what glorious and magnificent wonders the internet hold. Xbox live should have a warning that says, "Be aware, the presence of anonymity and voice communications may cause people to be complete d-bags and the laws of social interactions are thrown completely out the window"

I completely agree. Nowadays in matchmaking every other game is some form of trash talk or pointless ignorance, so most of the time when Im playing without my friends I will go without my mic. It would be great to have some kind of tool to tell my team go here or kill this person without plugging in my mic for two seconds every time. Also the spartans have been working together since they were children, they have signals, subtle as they may be, that tell the team information. For instance, if the Master Chief said Red one, attack from the south, Red One would then wink an acknowledgment light on. I think that would be very innovative and add that much more to the game.

  • 08.03.2009 10:30 PM PDT

Ugh...

First on a BWU.. yeah, I'm cool.

ODST;MYTHIC Screenshot winner! One of the first to get their hands on the mythic map pack.

I propose you get some friends, and go into a game and play with them.

  • 08.03.2009 10:31 PM PDT

Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
I propose you get some friends, and go into a game and play with them.


Posted by:Po0f MoNk3y
Right now me and my friends rarely even touch Halo unless we're all online-- It's just not worth it to pair up with a bunch of random people and hope you get people who are willing to communicate with you and know what they're doing, especially when you're usually going up against teams of people who do.


[Edited on 08.03.2009 10:37 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 10:36 PM PDT

Ugh...

First on a BWU.. yeah, I'm cool.

ODST;MYTHIC Screenshot winner! One of the first to get their hands on the mythic map pack.

Posted by: Po0f MoNk3y
Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
I propose you get some friends, and go into a game and play with them.


Posted by:Po0f MoNk3y
Right now me and my friends rarely even touch Halo unless we're all online-- It's just not worth it to pair up with a bunch of random people and hope you get people who are willing to communicate with you and know what they're doing, especially when you're usually going up against teams of people who do.

Some solutions:
-Get more friends
-Don't let a video game consume your life

OR (the more popular idea)

-Deal with it!

Many people don't even want to win the game. Many people just want to kill. If they have you muted, they don't want to hear you. They don't want to follow your commands either. They want to do thier own thing.

  • 08.03.2009 10:40 PM PDT

wait why is there a forum for this if the only thing we've seen for Reach is a trailer.

  • 08.03.2009 10:41 PM PDT

-----+-----
(ROFL}===(X)
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☺/
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/ \ sighting watch out haha semipro
"...we need to mature past the big play mentality and look more closely at how/where/why the plays are unique/impressive/rare, what are truly sets a player apart..." (bullxrape)

great points

  • 08.03.2009 10:45 PM PDT
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Posted by: Bladerunner227
wait why is there a forum for this if the only thing we've seen for Reach is a trailer.

Speculation.

  • 08.03.2009 10:46 PM PDT

Oh what glorious and magnificent wonders the internet hold. Xbox live should have a warning that says, "Be aware, the presence of anonymity and voice communications may cause people to be complete d-bags and the laws of social interactions are thrown completely out the window"

Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
Posted by: Po0f MoNk3y
Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
I propose you get some friends, and go into a game and play with them.


Posted by:Po0f MoNk3y
Right now me and my friends rarely even touch Halo unless we're all online-- It's just not worth it to pair up with a bunch of random people and hope you get people who are willing to communicate with you and know what they're doing, especially when you're usually going up against teams of people who do.

Some solutions:
-Get more friends
-Don't let a video game consume your life

OR (the more popular idea)

-Deal with it!

Many people don't even want to win the game. Many people just want to kill. If they have you muted, they don't want to hear you. They don't want to follow your commands either. They want to do thier own thing.

And some people fart rainbows and live on the moon ^_^

Why dont you "deal with" the fact that some people play the game to win. So some help in communicating with your team is a good idea.

[Edited on 08.03.2009 10:49 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 10:49 PM PDT

Ugh...

First on a BWU.. yeah, I'm cool.

ODST;MYTHIC Screenshot winner! One of the first to get their hands on the mythic map pack.

If your team doesn't want to communicate, then they don't want to communicate. If they wanted to, they would.

And do you not see how the features in the original post being a little unfair? Tagging an enemy? Really? If he goes behind cover... he is behind cover, you shouldn't see a waypoint over his head. I mean, if there was a weapon, like the lazer where you had to keep your lazer charged on your enemy for a certain amount of time, then he got the waypoint, then yeah sure.

But pressing up on the d-pad when aiming at an opponent is just ludicrious. It is unfair. It would make the game extrememly hard to play. It would be like everyone having a waypoint over thier head.

Also, with targetting an area. How would that work, press down on the dpad when looking at the area you want targetted? This is fair how? Jerks would still be able to grieve.

Target areas every couple of seconds. Having like infinite texts pop up saying here, there, here, there. Grief! How could you stop it? Would there be an option to turn it off? Even then, the option would be turned off unless you were with some buddies. No one wants grievers in the game, people grieve by yelling into thier mics, so you mute them. People grieve by betraying, you boot them. This option just allows another way to grieve.



[Edited on 08.03.2009 10:58 PM PDT]

  • 08.03.2009 10:57 PM PDT

Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
Some solutions:
-Get more friends
-Don't let a video game consume your life

OR (the more popular idea)

-Deal with it!

Many people don't even want to win the game. Many people just want to kill. If they have you muted, they don't want to hear you. They don't want to follow your commands either. They want to do thier own thing.


I've got plenty of friends, and plenty of them aren't always online, or willing to play Halo.

Don't assume everyone should play the same way you do. I like to win. I like playing competitively. I like actually having a chance to win as opposed to having a bunch of people "Doing their own thing" who should be playing Lone Wolves in the first place. To me it isn't fun to lose, and it isn't fun when the other team steamrolls over me because two of the four people on my team have -21 K/D ratios for the game.

The game should have some way to communicate with others, or at least do something to streamline the way your team works together. I'm just trying to come up with ideas that might help; if you disagree with them then that's your prerogative, but there's no reason you should come in here and tell me how to play, or what I should do with my gaming experience.

  • 08.03.2009 10:59 PM PDT

"They let me pick... did I ever tell you that? Choose whichever Spartan I wanted. You know me. I did my research. Watched as you became the soldier we needed you to be. Like the others you were strong and swift and brave, a natural leader. But you had something they didn't. Something no one saw but me. Can you guess? Luck."
—Cortana to John-117

Yes great idea...

I think this would make gameplay alot better and team games alot more tactical.

Also, it would help to tell allies in a party/chat where enemy(ies) are/ where to attack/defend.

Also, spartans ( Not elites) should have helmet cams.. I believe they did in the book.. So it should be in the games.. That is unless the chief left his cam on the Pillar of Autumn.

  • 08.03.2009 10:59 PM PDT

Ugh...

First on a BWU.. yeah, I'm cool.

ODST;MYTHIC Screenshot winner! One of the first to get their hands on the mythic map pack.

If you are going to complain about your team not communicating then there are some easy solutions. Go in WITH A TEAM! You shouldn't expect randoms to communicate with you. You shouldn't need this either. If you are going into a TEAM GAME, WITHOUT A TEAM, don't complain IF YOUR NOT SO TEAM, DOESN'T ACT LIKE A TEAM.

See where I am coming from?

If you are going in alone, maybe you should take your own advice and play lonewolves.

  • 08.03.2009 11:13 PM PDT

Here’s what Luke had to say about the differences in treatment between the Spartans and Elites in Reach:

“Instead of piece-by-piece customization like the Spartans, Elite customization is a full model swap with models selected from the various Elite classes appearing throughout the Campaign. There are all kinds of reasons for this, not the least of which is our continued emphasis on the Spartan as your identity in Reach.”

Use the D pad for these.

  • 08.03.2009 11:52 PM PDT
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Indecision may or may not be my problem.

Just a few comments:

Posted by: Po0f MoNk3y
--The ability to "tag" enemies: This might have something to the effect of having a dot or waypoint that tracks an enemy on your HUD when they're hit by you or your teammates (Similar to the one you might see in VIP, or Juggernaut)


There would have to be a time limit on the duration of the 'tag', for example the length of time the regenerator lasts for, otherwise the person that has been tagged will end up running around the map with a flashing beacon over its head thats worse than the security helmet. It would also have to be removed when that person died. Also, it might be better if there was a limit on the number of times you could 'tag' an enemy within one game, forcing you to use it sparingly.

--The ability to "tag" locations: Something a bit more subtle so the game's "stealth" element, or the ability to juke out opponents isn't lost; pressing D-Pad UP (Or whatever you prefer) while aiming toward a sniper tower for example, could have text notification, a waypoint on your HUD, or even your Spartan's own custom voice pop up to say "Enemy on the red tower", or even just tell your team to focus on a certain area. I prefer this idea to the first.

I like this one, but it could be exploited by non-team players. I frequently get people on my side who are in a party chat with people on the opposite team, or have been split up from their party. Instead of facing them they drain their team mates' shields making it easier for their friends to get the kills. These individuals, or those that just like to be a nuisance, would likely put random location tags all over the map and eventually people will start to ignore them. A limit on the number of times you could use this function would go some way to stop this from happening.

--Helmet Cams: Another thing that might not hurt is the ability to look through the eyes of your teammate. For example, you could have a reciever in whatever corner of your HUD that you can select a teammate (D-Pad LEFT/RIGHT to select?) and see what they're seeing. See J59's teammate tracker turn orange to say they're in combat? Quickly select them and see through their eyes before their cam suddenly goes static upon their death; you might see that the enemy who just took them out decided to hide up in some corner or something before your go rushing in, or see that the enemy has their back turned to a corner and inevitably flank them and save your teammate.

I can see where you're coming from, but consider the problems with lag on xbox live due to the lack of dedicated servers. I just think this may have an impact on the lag players suffer and in my mind would make the onscreen display a bit too busy if that makes sense?

Overall I like the first two ideas but not the third one so much.

[Edited on 08.04.2009 12:11 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2009 12:11 AM PDT

Good Idea

[Edited on 08.04.2009 2:06 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2009 2:06 AM PDT

Because the mics aren't very great and have bad quality, people from other than English-speaking-countries might speak bad English or don't understand what others are speaking. This is bad if you're trying to communicate with them. With in-game command setting it'll be way easier to understand what team wants to do. Of course there are people who spam with it, but you could always mute them completely. I'd love this option pretty much.

  • 08.04.2009 4:46 AM PDT

Maybe even add a mute feature if they start spamming you with useless notifications

  • 08.04.2009 4:52 AM PDT

Posted by: POKEY CLYDE
If you are going to complain about your team not communicating then there are some easy solutions. Go in WITH A TEAM! You shouldn't expect randoms to communicate with you. You shouldn't need this either. If you are going into a TEAM GAME, WITHOUT A TEAM, don't complain IF YOUR NOT SO TEAM, DOESN'T ACT LIKE A TEAM.

See where I am coming from?

If you are going in alone, maybe you should take your own advice and play lonewolves.


Yes, I see where you're coming from-- You seem to be missing the point where I say: "I've got plenty of friends, and plenty of them aren't always online, or willing to play Halo." Maybe if the Matchmaking system actually had an option to set you up with a group prior to gameplay, say a search feature like: 'Looking for other serious players willing to work as a team', then I might be able to always go into a game as a team. But that isn't the case.

I can't just pull people to play with me out of my ass. And this forum isn't a complaint thread, I'm trying to think of a way to fix the issue.

Now to Ohlala.

Posted by: ohlala
Just a few comments:

Posted by: Po0f MoNk3y
--The ability to "tag" enemies:


There would have to be a time limit on the duration of the 'tag', for example the length of time the regenerator lasts for, otherwise the person that has been tagged will end up running around the map with a flashing beacon over its head thats worse than the security helmet. It would also have to be removed when that person died. Also, it might be better if there was a limit on the number of times you could 'tag' an enemy within one game, forcing you to use it sparingly.


This I greatly agree on. I certainly wouldn't want to keep it on them the entire duration of the match, that would completely nullify the use of the radar system. More likely it would go down when they die, when the person who tagged them dies, or when the tag timer goes down. Another possibility for tagging enemies could be to have some sort of harmless "tag" gun that fires a dart or some such thing onto the target.

--The ability to "tag" locations:

I like this one, but it could be exploited by non-team players. I frequently get people on my side who are in a party chat with people on the opposite team, or have been split up from their party. Instead of facing them they drain their team mates' shields making it easier for their friends to get the kills. These individuals, or those that just like to be a nuisance, would likely put random location tags all over the map and eventually people will start to ignore them. A limit on the number of times you could use this function would go some way to stop this from happening.


I know what you mean, I've played plenty of social games where my teammate just jumps over the head of an enemy and keeps going instead of doing what they're supposed to. The only thing I'd be worried with having a limited number of times (Unless it's individually as opposed to the team having a "pool" of waypoints to use) is one person spamming them until the team is out. I certainly wouldn't want it just plain removed from social matches, but there would have to be limitations for them. If the game could recognize it for example, people in split parties, or guests (Since they're on the same xbox anyway) could be denied the ability to use it.



--Helmet Cams:

I can see where you're coming from, but consider the problems with lag on xbox live due to the lack of dedicated servers. I just think this may have an impact on the lag players suffer and in my mind would make the onscreen display a bit too busy if that makes sense?


It does, I was just thinking of my experiences from GRAW where it has actually helped. It wouldn't necessarily be extremely high resolution or anything to where it would be like having a second player screen's detail in a small box; think of your rear-view mirror in most racing games.

[Edited on 08.04.2009 11:48 AM PDT]

  • 08.04.2009 11:29 AM PDT

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