An embarrassing confession: I've yet to actually kill anything with a Boltshot since Halo 4 was released. The weapon chargeable secondary fire is a joy to use, but that joy is strongly contingent upon the skill of the wielder, and skilled I most certainly am not. Alas, 343 seems intent on depriving me of satisfaction - a forthcoming Halo 4 update will hack the Boltshot's effective one-hit kill range down by a quarter to a third.
As detailed by the latest Halo Bulletin, the update "is nearing completion, and it is expected to release within the next two weeks. It addresses some of the concerns we've been hearing from the community," the post continues, "but just to set your expectations accordingly, we know we still have work to do.
Here's a very partial list of the fixes and changes, plus a Halo-themed Valentine's Day card, which may cause you pain. Speak not to me of pain, readers. Alas, my precious Boltshot. Never shall you and I glory in the sight of somebody evaporating from the neck on down.
- Reduced the range of the Boltshot's damage scaling over distance. The previous effective range for 1-hit kills was 20'-25'. The range has been reduced to 15'.
- Fixed an issue that did not allow players to create respawn timers or disable instant respawn in custom games.
- Fixed issues with friendly fire against vehicles. If FF is disabled, damage / EMPs from friendly sources will no longer damage vehicles that are fully controlled by your team.
Next Monday sees the addition of Team Throwdown to Halo 4 matchmaking, billed as "our premiere competitive playlist". The Halo 4 team "have been monitoring community game type settings and feedback over the past few months, and teamed up with competitive community leaders Walshy, StrongSide and Gh057ayame to build this playlist.
"We created an experience that will feature the popular "v2" settings and maps, which have been carefully developed and tweaked for competitive play. The playlist will feature Team Slayer, Capture the Flag, Extraction and King of the Hill at launch." Read the piece in full for specifics as to how each mode has been customised.
"We are still making final tweaks to these settings - they may launch with the playlist on Monday, or may be released in a future update. We'll be sure to announce a final, detailed breakdown of the settings that will be featured in the playlist in the Matchmaking section of the forums, so be on the lookout for that this weekend."
Shot anybody in an amusing way lately? And what's your favourite playlist or post-release Halo 4 mode variant so far?
15 comments so far...
smjenkins77 on 14 Feb '13 said:
I'd really like to see more focus on the Big Team maps, which according to population, are the most popular by far.
It's sad there is only one map with a wraith on it.
GossipHound on 14 Feb '13 said:
Think I've only got 1 kill online with the Boltshot charge so far! Never tend to use it in my weapon load outs - stick with the plasma pistol instead for my secondary weapon - can guarantee everyone will be using it more now before its nerfed to bump up their commendations for the weapon. Like the post above I mostly play big team slayer but can get boring when every game is either on Ragnarok or Exile so would be nice to see more stuff for that. The new team snipers can get pretty intense and grifball is always a laugh. The Crimson DLC doesn't seem very popular - haven't seen figures over 500 for people on it for a while now whilst slayer modes can get into five figures. Hopefully this won't be a common trend with the future DLC/map packs.
PonderingWalrus on 14 Feb '13 said:
This saddens me as I frequently succeed in taking on opponents wielding shotguns with my trusty boltshot but it looks like that could end with this update.
MasterChiefJ117 on 14 Feb '13 said:
Too little too late
Just like the poor weeks 1-5 of Spartan Ops put most players off 
(6 to 8 have been really good 
), many players are still waiting for a proper BIG TEAM BATTLE...............
MAX PARTY SIZE: 16
MAX LOCAL PLAYERS: 2
Game Types
TU ASSAULT, TU NEUTRAL BOMB, TU MULTIFLAG CTF, TU BIG TEAM SLAYER, TU BTB SNIPERS, TU STOCKPILE, TU TERRITORIES, TU ELITE SLAYER, TU 1 BOMB ASSAULT, TU 1 FLAG CTF, TU TEAM CRAZY KING, TU BTB HEAVIES
These have always been the most popular game type in Halo games!!!
My only possible explanation for his NOT being included is that the Halo4 game engine and 7 year old Xbox 360 are not capable of running it, I must admit Spartan Ops is over next week and as I am nearing SR-130 once these are finished so am I with Halo 4
MasterChiefJ117 on 14 Feb '13 said:
Hey Halo fans ( or should that be 'Call of Duty' fans we want to like our Game, who would rather be playing Black Ops 2 anyway ! A much better example of pleasing their loyal fan base )
We have picked three people who already love playing lone wolf slayer that our game engine can cope with 
to IMPROVE 
a game most of the Halo fans hate 
by giving you more game types with NO vehicles or team games that you enjoy playing with your friends. 
Yet JUST give you more KD obsessed, lone wolf camper maps and game types. 
( Just like a radio station that says it asks for people to ring in with requests and then just picks the callers that match their pre-chosen playlist ) 
I used to love meeting new team mates and people from all around the world 
All players do now on Halo4 is camp for KD and steal each others kills, with no mic ! IF THIS IS PROGRESS or as 343i term it "our premiere competitive playlist" then future isn't such a brighter place after all . 
FOR THE LOVE OF HALO give us Big Team Battle Objective !
MasterChiefJ117 on 14 Feb '13 said:
As I write this there are 245 people in whole World ! Playing the crimson DLC now if that doesn't tell you that people are not happy with Halo 4 then I don't know what does ! The Halo 2 map packs were so popular back on the original Xbox hat they had a full retail release ! Next time with Halo 5 no £69.99 Limited edition for me to get the map packs 245 people are playing but the vanilla edition for £35 down the supermarket to complete the campaign and then trade in IF pre- owned games haven't been blocked on the next gen of consoles.
Waffles2541 on 14 Feb '13 said:
MasterChiefJ117
You have used so many emoticons in your comments that if you put them together it looks like you were having a seizure. Big Team Battle are for those players who aren't willing to risk moving out into the wider world of Halo. There are so many other great game modes. Being fixed on a single one really narrows the enjoyment of the game.
Metalrodent on 14 Feb '13 said:
masterchief instead of venting your fury here why not go to the Halo Waypoint forums, i have a few moans there (not that ive checked them for months) so why not add to them.
In fairness my moans are only minor - its still a fun game for me
Metalrodent on 14 Feb '13 said:
shame they're nerfing the boltshot, in my experience hardly anyone uses it anyway - so it can hardly be that much if a gamebreaker as it is
MasterChiefJ117 on 15 Feb '13 said:
I was a MASSIVE fan of Halo reach and all other online multiplayer halo games since halo 2, and my friends list is full of some of the best players in the world most of which are all in the top 10 of BTB players in the world based on true-skill as well as other game types. I myself am STILL one of the top 10 UK players based on true skill and still in the top one hundred in the world even having not played it since the launch of Halo 4. From that list of 100 friends who all regularly played Halo Reach only 6 now regularly play Halo 4! My point is this BTB WAS the most popular playlist on Halo Reach and all other Halo's before it so why remove it? Is it because the Game engine can't handel it then fair enough ! If not then it's absence baffles me ! Perhaps you are one of the 245 people playing crimson map pack if so I'm glad at least 245 people like it !
This it out of a game population that paid £220 million dollars on just it's opening weekend. I suppose I wouldn't feel so bad if I had bought it for £25 this week from my local high street game retailer. 
As to the comment about the wider world of Halo what is that ? Slayer with 8, Slayer with 2, Slayer as a lone wolf and oh slayer with 4 players because the game engine can't handle any vehicles that move at any speed remotely beyond slow? BIG TEAM BATTLE contained ALL the following game types (TU ASSAULT, TU NEUTRAL BOMB, TU MULTIFLAG CTF, TU BIG TEAM SLAYER, TU BTB SNIPERS, TU STOCKPILE, TU TERRITORIES, TU ELITE SLAYER, TU 1 BOMB ASSAULT, TU 1 FLAG CTF, TU TEAM CRAZY KING, TU BTB HEAVIES) why should I have to boot four friends to play a varied game type ? And how on earth does it get any wider than those choices above? I can't see how you can defend an inferior product to what has come before ? As to the comment about seizures I don't really think it's really appropriate to make fun and riddicule people about medical conditions on a site about video games, I use a lot of apple products such as my iPhone where emoticons play a big part in my communication to others if you don't like it then faire enough but making derogatory comments about people's medical conditions isn't really the way to do it.
Metalrodent on 15 Feb '13 said:
FYI - I am one of those people who play Crimson map pack
Metalrodent on 15 Feb '13 said:
Methinks you be bullshitting
http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/34891858.jpg
PonderingWalrus on 15 Feb '13 said:
Furthermore, nobody really cares...
MasterChiefJ117 on 15 Feb '13 said:
In answer to the comments above 'Metalrodent' which I hope you are man enough to apologise for?
My gamer tag is MasterChiefJll7 (That's lower case LL)
I have had this account for over 7 years so have used it to play Halo 3 onwards, I had a different account on my original Xbox to play Halo 2.
I have a gamerscore of 102392 illustrating the fact that I have a long and varied experience of the best games that the Xbox 360 has had to offer over it's life cycle.
My Halo Reach stats are ........
Rank: Inheritor
Kills: 105536
Assists: 17823
Deaths: 50846
K/d: 2.08
K+A/d: 2.43
Last Played: 11/3/2012
Games Played: 6924
Wins: 5636
Win Percentage: 81.40%
In the UK for BTB I am currently ranked number 2 even though I haven't played since November !
STATs taken from http://www.halotracker.com (Data provided originally by Bungie and now by 343i)
Rank. Gamertag Site Score Games
1 l VEXO l 194,154.05 5,114
2 MasterChiefJll7 114,791.59 6,244
3 HYPEZ IV 98,196.51 3,697
4 OneStrongFinish 79,802.32 2,227
5 Cyantificz 79,208.15 5,603
6 Sober Steve22 72,896.08 3,804
7 king g00fyy 70,838.19 3,538
8 Mind Shift 48,523.76 1,093
9 Misfits Brah 43,450.46 2,436
10 MSB Styles 43,030.70 2,295
For Big Team Battle based on true-skill I am currently 88 in the World ! My highest rank was 72 but it is currently lower due to many people still playing and having not played since November.
STATs taken from http://www.halotracker.com (Data provided originally by Bungie and now by 343i)
Rank. Gamer tag Games
88. MasterChiefJll7 6244
I am Ranked the following in the Uk for each vehicle.......
1. Wraith = #1
2. Ghost = #1
3. Scorpion = # 2
4. Banshee = # 28 & 34
I am ranked the following in the UK for the following weapons for BTB .....
1. DMR = # 3
2. Rocket Launcher= # 4
3. Sniper Rifle= # 10
4. Spartan Laser =# 6
Most of the world's leading players for BTB are on my friends list from the world's number one from France and the world's best players from Holland, Italy, Germany and Austria and of course the UK all of which speak FANTASTIC English !
The whole point being to justify MY opinion of Halo4. I have no problem with the 245 people who enjoy the crimson map pack but of the millions of people who bought the Limited edition at launch this is ridiculously small number, and is a statistical way of supporting that it is not just me who is unhappy with the Halo 4 multiplayer.
MasterChiefJ117 on 15 Feb '13 said:
" Furthermore, nobody really cares..."
If that's the case Ponderingwalrus then WHY post a comment ?