Halo 2 Fixes Coming Monday 18 April 2005

[MJZ]

15/04/2005 Update:

The fixes are finally here along with weapon changes:

Originally Posted by Bungie.net

The Autoupdate will be available on Monday April 18th, to fix cheats, bugs, glitches and gasp – tweak some important weapon balance issues. Next time you log in after it's available (it'll be spread out to mitigate server loads) you'll get a message alerting you to its presence. Don't worry if you don't see it first thing Monday morning, it'll show up in your neighborhood eventually.


WEAPONS CHANGES!

The scale of the autoupdate gave us a unique opportunity – a chance to implement balance changes on certain weapons to smooth out the Xbox Live and System Link experience, and in a couple of cases, we feel, subtly improving the overall feel of the game.

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.

More can be found at Bungie.net:
http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?s...l15th&p=3014696

[elwood731]

Great, they've made the magnums even LESS useful. To me, the grenade tweaking is a step in the right direction, but Halo 2 has never felt as good as the original Halo. The weapons in that game, the speed, etc. were all better balanced. I have never had an online game as much fun in Halo 2 as I did in the original Halo. There generally seems to be a loss of technique in the new game. It feels more like your average FPS and less like the tactical game the original was in multi-player.

[MooglePorn]

I'm kind of sad I can't get this update at the moment, but also happy since lowering the pistol even MORE is really stupid. They should have put it back to Halo 1 levels in my opinion. That was my favorite gun.

[MJZ]

I've also heard that something is being done about hiding with the flag and bomb.

[MJZ]

I loaded Halo 2 around 18:15 and when I went to sign in it said something along the lines of there's an update available with the option to proceed or continue offline, so I proceeded and it took me longer to press the A button than it did for the update to download!

I haven't played the game yet to see what it's like as I've been out since I did that.

Apparently if you try taking a guest on it forces the download.

Someone said they tried stand by to see what happens and the screen went black for a few seconds and the culprit was disconnected.

[SilentBob]

Well after about 2 weeks away from the game i decided to play some tonight with my friend. The grenades are back to the good ol' Halo days. They chuck better and boy do they explode nicely. I did notice some lag when playing and Bungoe said to expect that for the first few days to get everything up to speed. The weapons might of been weaken but they somehow feel more realistic when firing them. They almost seem heavy when you go duel weilding and the feedback to the controller seems a bit rougher. Maybe i was feeling that way because of being away form the game for 2 weeks but who knows. I have to say i like the changes

[MJZ]

I used grenades a lot before the update and now they're even more worthwhile.

Overall I like the changes too, the game feels fun again and the new maps should add to that freshness.