Posted by: Mike Huntt
Skill Gap was achieved in Halo 2 mainly by the pace of the game.
In Halo 2, you died REALLY fast.
4 shot (HITSCAN).
BxR.
BxB.
Double/triple/quad shot.
Fast movement.
Near-perfect map layout.
Amazing Sniper.
Nade launching (lol so fun)
QUICKSCOPING!
Every single one of these had their own skill levels.
You couldn't just go into LW and AR Derpdown your way to a 45 like in Halo 3. A 45 in Halo 2 was either modded/cheated for or the player was amazing. I think the bell curve maxed out at a skewed value of around 20, maybe even lower, and as the levels got higher, the amount of players got lower, which is how it should be. However, there is a significant drop in players after the 32-3 mark. FAR more so, than Halo 3.
In Halo 2, you HAD to be good. You HAD to get the aforementioned qualities down-pat and perfect to get a high level. Anything in the 35-40 level was about equal to a 50 in Halo 3.
The reason for this?
You needed to be able to the button glitches.
You needed to be able to 4 shot.
Sometimes the easiest things create this biggest skill gap. If 4 shotting was easier in Halo 2, then more people could do it, therefore it was a requirement to be any good at all. Add on top of this the double shot, which would get you to the next tier. Then you have the BxRs and the triple/quad shots and you get to the top tier.
If you could pull all these off cleanly, consistently and quickly, you were at the top of the pecking order.
In Halo 3, it is nothing like that. There is a definite learning curve, but not like Halo 2. Halo 3 you can AR someone to death, the Rockets are overpowered, the beatdown system is even worse than Halo 2, and ridiculous compared to CE. The autoaim is crazy, although in Halo 2, it was pretty bad as well, mainly on the BR.
The main differences on the H2 BR vs. the H3 BR are:
Halo 2:
Hitscan.
One packet.
Halo 3.
Spread.
Damage drop off over distance.
3 packets (one for each bullet).
TBC - Lunch break!
The huge amount contradictions made in your posts just made me laugh even more. You seriously believe quick-scoping, cheap button-combinations and faster kills allowed more skill? ANY BLOOD IDIOTS COULD PEFORM AND MASTER THEM! There are no methodical tactical strategy required within Halo 2, you could have your reticule slightly off from your target and not have it highlighted in red, yet still land a perfect head shot. Just because the gameplay is fasterpaced, doesn't mean it takes more skill. It just allows for more randomness, and cheaper kills. In fact, Rocket Launchers in Halo 2 had the blast radius of a nuclear bomb, and it doesn't help that the Lock-On instantly make vehicles into boob-traps.
It's all pathetic, and the only reason people enjoyed it because it was overly-blatherskite ruga billingsgate gawp accessible and anyone (including the annoying twelve year-old brats) could easily master the basic mechanics.
By your definition of what takes skill: Modern Warfare 2 > Call of Duty 4. Afterall, Modern Warfare 2 had faster kill-times, quick-scoping, and f***ing cheap button combinations. Therefore, it's more balanced than COD4. Am I right?
If I wanted to play a REAL competitive first-person shooter that has the number 2 in the title, I'd play this little game you may not heard of before called Team Fortress 2.