Tag Archives: Halo 4 Pax East 2013

Halo 4 Post-PAX East Q&A! The Halo Bulletin 3.28.13

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Hi there, back again with this weeks bulletin. Sorry for the late post, Destiny news took up my time and then Forge Island came out unexpectedly earlier today so… I’ve been busy. Not much in the way of news from this weeks bulletin, as 343 just wrapped up their events at PAX East over in Boston. They have a Q&A instead of the normal bulletin format, which will return next week. The Halo Bulletin 3.28.13!

PAX East Q&A

Bulletin Divider

Are there any plans to further support Halo 4 after the next title update?
–SitriStahl

We intend to support Halo 4 through Matchmaking, events, essential fixes and playlist design for a long time to come – and while there are no announced map packs after Castle releases later this spring, we have some cool ideas about future content and support that we’re tinkering with right now.
–Frank 

Will Multi-Team be 4 teams of 3? What game types will be included in that playlist?
–DANGER B0Y

Multi-Team, which launches with the Castle Map Pack, will consist of six teams of two. A couple of the modes that you can expect at launch are Slayer and Oddball. Who knows… maybe we’ll throw SWAT in there as well.
–Quinn 

Can we expect to see some universal balance changes applied to the default game settings?
–D34D D34D D34D

Yes. You can expect to see global tweaks to the sandbox much like the adjustment of the Boltshot in the previous title update and the Warthog’s Gauss cannon in this one.
–Quinn

What weapon balancing is being considered right now?
–NinjaWuu

We’re constantly keeping an eye on the overall state of the game and its sandbox. We’ll let you know more as soon as we can.
–Quinn 

Is the TU weapon manipulation focused solely on damage and rate of fire or are there more variables that can be changed: Aim assist, bullet magnetism, bloom, spread, recoil, etc.?
–THEcareh

We have several knobs that we can use when it comes to weapon tuning, a few being auto-aim, projectile accuracy and rate of fire.
–Quinn 

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Halo 4 Forge Island Gameplay Footage

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  • Forge Island is a brand new Forge environment releasing on April 11th for FREE
  • Forge Island is a HUGE flat land map, there are three areas, one large flat area, one medium flat area and a small flat area, the whole map has a ton of space in the sky
  • The maps aesthetics is extremely similar to Ravine, an on-disc Forge environment
  • The largest island on Forge Island is big enough to have a Hang ‘Em High remake and a Blood Gulch remake (multiple times over!)

UPDATE:

Found some more off camera footage via IGN

– Chief Landless

Geronimo!

PAX East 2013 Halo 4 Panel Video & Recap

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Thanks to PodtacTV for providing us the entire panel video before Halo Waypoint has even uploaded theirs.

The panel discussed many specific multiplayer news in regards to Halo 4. Here’s the breakdown if you can’t watch the entire 1 hour panel video:

Competitive Skill Ranking

  • You will have a 1-50 ranking in every single playlist, including Grifball!
  • CSR is still exclusive to Halo Waypoint – shows up on the Xbox & Website!
  • CSR rank will show up along side your matchmaking history on Halo Waypoint
  • If you haven’t played a playlist, you will won’t have a rank compared to previous Halo’s where you were automatically a rank 1
  • CSR may be reset after a long period of time to prevent account selling and ‘rank locking’, similar to Arena from Halo: Reach
  • UPDATE: CSR will launch April 8th, 2013 (Source bsangel twitter)

Forge & Forge Island

  • Forge Island is a brand new Forge environment releasing on April 11th for FREE
  • Forge Island is a HUGE flat land map, there are three areas, one large flat area, one medium flat area and a small flat area, the whole map has a ton of space in the sky
  • The maps aesthetics is extremely similar to Ravine, an on-disc Forge environment
  • The largest island on Forge Island is big enough to have a Hang ‘Em High remake and a Blood Gulch remake (multiple times over!)
  • No planned improvements for Forge such as Precision Editing, focus going into future titles for Forge

Title Update

  • The Title Update is expected to be released within the next two weeks
  • The panel had a video displaying what the Title Update can do, for example, an Incineration cannon that does no damage while the
    rest of the weapon sandbox goes untouched – these changes can be applied universally or singularly
  • Other changes that the new TU will allow is damage changes, rate of fire changes. Which can also be directed towards vehicles and adjusting their weapons.
  • Weapon descoping will not be happening
  • Hold X to pick up the Flag isn’t being discussed, but it possible
  • A DMR rebalance is being looked at

Matchmaking Updates & Changes

  • Multi-Team will be returning on April 8th with the Castle Map Pack. SIX teams of TWO setup
  • Fiesta in Team Action Sack will be getting tweaked in the future
  • Legendary Slayer is a Throwdown & Infinity mix with competitive in mind, it’ll feature tweaked weapons and is launching in late Spring/early Summer

Images of Forge World and CSR

– Chief Landless

Geronimo!

ONE SHOT ON MY X! The Halo Bulletin: 3.13.13

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This weeks Halo Bulletin is quite brief, but it lays the frame work for things to come. You can read it here, but onto the highlights!

  • No more Weekly Playlist Updates. Moving to bi-weekly updates (Next update will be March 25th)
  • Castle Map Pack Trailer was released (click here to watch)
    • 3 new Multiplayer maps for Halo 4
      • Perdition, Outcast, Daybreak
      • 800 Microsoft points (or “free” to War Games Map Pass owners)
      • April 8th, 2013 release
  • March 18th – Studio producers will release their map pack coverage videos
  • March 22nd – Castle Map Pack featured in a panel and playable at PAX East in Boston
  • March 25th – Next playlist update: Adding more game variants to Team Action Sack Playlist
  • April 1st – Castle Map Pack Strategy videos by 343 Industries, Achievement list, and pre-launch livestream with 343.
  • April 8th – Castle Map Pack release

Now onto those items without a specific date:

  • Upcoming updates to many existing playlists to prepare for CSR launch sometime in April
  • Still finalizing the new FFA playlist
  • Working towards “how to bring objective game types to larger parties” (hint: Big Team Objective perhaps?)
  • Plenty of exclusive PAX East panel information
  • “X Marker” upon death will be returning. i.e. a “X” indicator will appear where your teammates have recently killed so you can shout “ONE SHOT ON MY X!!”

They also added some details to the 3 maps for the Castle Map Pack

castle_wallpaper_daybreak_1920x1080

Daybreak: Although it is currently being used as a military staging ground, this fertile world will one day be colonized.

Description: Operation: Daybreak is effectively a cluster of ONI research facilities and sensor relays residing in the vast highlands of Saviron, on the blue-green planet Oban. With the destruction of so many worlds at the hands of the Covenant, this planet is now undergoing preparations to make it a home for millions of human refugees. In the meantime, the UNSC Navy continues to use it as a key staging ground for a number of highly classified military exercises.

castle_wallpaper_outcast_1920x1080

Outcast: Dissident strongholds such as this one helped foment several anti-centralization movements.

Description: One of the few worlds left unscathed by the Covenant, the remote outer colony of Talitsa has always had a strong anti-centralization and pro-colonial autonomy sentiment, even since before the war. The UNSC halted several early political uprisings in the colony’s major population centers, but this only fostered a more radical form of dissent, now in the form of secluded and heavily armed redoubts. Ultimately, these sites would provide the foundation for a number of major political movements.

castle_wallpaper_perdition_1920x1080

Perdition: City-wide evacuation orders have confirmed that the unstable thermal reactor cannot be contained.

Description: New Carthage has always been a prime example of a healthy, growing colony, even since before the war. Hidden below the city of Pilvros, however, one of the thermal reactors which provided clean and safe energy in the past has now gone critical. While a large-scale evacuation effort is underway, scans of the reactor section are quickly acquired to help analysts determine the root cause of this impending disaster.

– Chief Landless

Geronimo!