The Halo 3 Thread

[Ario]

The achievements with points are actually really easy to get for a player like me, not as frustrating as say the double lazer or the triple sword!

the one with 0g where you have to complete it on legendary with Iron would be a real test! (that deserves like 100g!)

What does that achievement mean though? Iron Skull means it restarts the level if you die, right? But completing it in ghosts, how's that even possible? x

It means complete the escape scene at the end of the level Halo, but with Ghosts instead of Warthogs.

Oh, complete as in get to the end, not play through the entire campain

That might be possible, but I didn't know there were that many ghosts on the map! I know there's a Mongoose and Ghost somewhere...

[The Alchemist Penguin]

There isn't, at the moment. Bungie are clearly putting in the special challenges for a laugh so I would say there will be some way to select the challenge, and then automatically start at the escape bit with four Ghosts sitting in front of you.

[JiggerJay]

If it didn't have the iron skull on, i think that would be a fairly easy challage, however its a real bitch of a level to do with a team of 4 without someone dying, especially where you are going up the tower and the flood keep dropping down with an array of weapons.

[Ario]

If it didn't have the iron skull on, i think that would be a fairly easy challenge, however its a real bitch of a level to do with a team of 4 without someone dying, especially where you are going up the tower and the flood keep dropping down with an array of weapons.

Isn't it just the escape part after you destroy Guilty Spark?

[JiggerJay]

i was assuming the whole level!

We will find out in due time though.

[Shadow]

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx ... &cid=15519

New update is out next week Tuesday.

New map variants, new achievements, new online gubbins and changes to the playlists.

[Christopher]

Awesome news

[The People's ElboReformat]

Head to Head

* This playlist is retired.

Ah bollocks.

[Shadow]

Head to Head

* This playlist is retired.

Ah bollocks.

How many Head to Head games have you played?

[mcjihge2]

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15519

New update is out next week Tuesday.

New map variants, new achievements, new online gubbins and changes to the playlists.

Ive only very quickly (badly) read through the link, but did i miss new maps? they dont seem to be any in this update. My one main gripe about Halo3 MP is that there alot fewer good maps than Halo2. Almost a year on and Bungie havent sorted this out yet. I really think they need about 5 more good maps - even if they are reimaged Halo2 maps and, most importantly, realeased for free.

[TornadoShaun]

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15519

New update is out next week Tuesday.

New map variants, new achievements, new online gubbins and changes to the playlists.

Ive only very quickly (badly) read through the link, but did i miss new maps? they dont seem to be any in this update. My one main gripe about Halo3 MP is that there alot fewer good maps than Halo2. Almost a year on and Bungie havent sorted this out yet. I really think they need about 5 more good maps - even if they are reimaged Halo2 maps and, most importantly, realeased for free.

I was speaking to one of my mates just yesterday about the fact that Halo 3 has had the worst multiplayer map selection out of the three games. Bring back Blood Gulch strawberry floaters!!

[TornadoShaun]

speaking of the new achievements. Any 3 Halo-heads want to team up sometime next week to do that Iron fist challenge achievement? I know it's worth 0g but I'd still like to get a complete set of achievements again if possible so if anyone else wants to do that one then please let me know!

[Shadow]

speaking of the new achievements. Any 3 Halo-heads want to team up sometime next week to do that Iron fist challenge achievement? I know it's worth 0g but I'd still like to get a complete set of achievements again if possible so if anyone else wants to do that one then please let me know!

Is that the one where you have to do the full game on Legendary with Iron switched on?


I'm out.

[Shadow]

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=15519

New update is out next week Tuesday.

New map variants, new achievements, new online gubbins and changes to the playlists.

Ive only very quickly (badly) read through the link, but did i miss new maps? they dont seem to be any in this update. My one main gripe about Halo3 MP is that there alot fewer good maps than Halo2. Almost a year on and Bungie havent sorted this out yet. I really think they need about 5 more good maps - even if they are reimaged Halo2 maps and, most importantly, realeased for free.

No completely new maps, but new versions of old ones.

* Added Epilogue – Epitaph with no Shield Doors.
* Added Boundless – Snowbound with reduced Shield Doors.
* Added Sand Tarp – Sandtrap sans Elephants, default team spawns switched in one-sided games.
* Added Pit Stop – The Pit with inaccessible spawn hives.

Although not entirely new like you're hoping these subtle changes do make quite a big difference to how they play, apparently.

[The People's ElboReformat]

Head to Head

* This playlist is retired.

Ah bollocks.

How many Head to Head games have you played?

Quite a few. Currently only rank 7 in them but was at 10. I thought it was quite a good/challenging mode.


As for maps that I want to return/be remade I'd like Coagulation, Ascension, Beaver Creek, Burial Mounds and Headlong.

[emilythestrange]

Bought Halo 3 second hand for £14. Been playing the campaign with my boyfriend and I don't see what all the fuss is about (although obviously people are going to say it's all about online multiplayer, I just don't have the internet at home so I can't play online...yet).

I am terrible at this game.

[The People's ElboReformat]

Bought Halo 3 second hand for £14. Been playing the campaign with my boyfriend and I don't see what all the fuss is about (although obviously people are going to say it's all about online multiplayer, I just don't have the internet at home so I can't play online...yet).

You've already answered your own question. Though it wasn't really a question, more of a statement. (For me atleast) Halo 3 is all about the online (and offline) multiplayer. I haven't even finished the campaign mode on Legendary yet - but that's because my disc is borked and won't load the last levels when I up the difficulty level anywhere past Normal.

[Sarge]

Title Update 2 Interview

Judging by the back and forth between Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 at the top of each week's rankings of which games are being played the most on Xbox Live, there are still a lot people interested in Halo 3. That's a testament to both the game's quality and the stellar support that Bungie has given the game post-launch. That support continues on September 23 with Title Update 2, a patch that will automatically download and install itself when you log on to Xbox Live, bringing several fixes, changes, and new achievements. We had the opportunity to send a few questions regarding the update to Bungie Community Lead Brian Jarrard.

IGN: Bungie.net is sporting some teaser stories right now. Is that related to the new title update or is it something more juicy like a new game announcement?

Brian Jarrard: Something is definitely amiss at Bungie.net, but it's not clear exactly what is going on.

IGN: Can you explain the changes coming to the Halo 3 ranking system in a way that somebody who doesn't live and breathe Halo would understand? If the answer is yes, please do so.

Jarrard: I can certainly try… the gist of it is that we're adding a new dimension to the existing player rating system. We are introducing "Playlist Ratings" which will generate a separate military rating, based purely on your EXP (games played/won), for each matchmaking playlist. Now it is possible to be a General in a specific playlist, like Team Slayer, without any reliance or cross-over with your TrueSkill rating. It's important to note though that we are NOT resetting people's existing TrueSkill ranks, your highest skill will still be visible in your Service Record.

IGN: You guys have gone through a lot of the playlist and player rating updates on Bungie.net. Are there any changes that are flying under the radar right now that big Halo fans will get excited about?

Jarrard:Until people get their hands dirty and start playing in their favorite playlist, it may be hard to really grasp the impact of these changes. This new playlist rating removes the previous barricades to achieving a General by allowing you to simply play and enjoy your favorite playlist and not stress about your TrueSkill rank. It's safe to say that some hardcore fans may feel this 'cheapens' their current, legit, "global" General ranking but that honor will always live on in their service record. For everyone else, it really opens up a clearer reward path for playing the playlist you like.

IGN: What about this title update will get people who have lost interest excited about playing Halo 3 again?

Jarrard: The main draw for most will likely be the new achievements. With 10 new achievements
and 250 gamer points up for grabs, why NOT go back and play what is still an awesome game anyways? There's more to say on this later, especially regarding the three zero-point "Vidmaster" achievements. There is no gamerscore on the line but there will be a payoff.

Another change that some may welcome is the improvement to our cheat-detection tools and Banhammer punishment system. We realize there are a lot of deviants and miscreants out there who enjoy ruining the game for others and we're doing our best to remove them from the population.

We've also seen a big increase in custom content and file sharing lately as these features are really starting to hit their stride. The Bungie.net team has been extremely busy, recently launching revamped player stats and profile pages with a major overhaul to the file sharing infrastructure on the horizon. This should really improve sharing and discovering custom content within the Halo 3 community.

These changes, along with the promise of new maps, new achievements and a more rewarding player rating system are all things our fans have asked for. And we've listened.

IGN: New achievements are always fun. [Note: Head over to Bungie.net to read up on the changes and new achievements.] Why is one being held until September 25 rather than all of them going up at once? Which do you expect to be the hardest to earn? Care to tell us a few of the new achievements you haven't already announced?

Jarrard: The "Annual" achievement is specifically being held until 9/25 so it coincides with the one-year anniversary of Halo 3s release. Keep in mind that when this work all began, we weren't quite sure exactly when it would get released, we just knew it had to be before 9/25. We're hoping it's a fun way to get the community to rally and share a collective experience on the anniversary day.

The co-op achievement won't exactly be a walk in the park but I think the "7 on 7" could be the most difficult to obtain since you really only get one shot at it every month. The remaining achievements shouldn't be too hard for a dedicated player.

IGN: There's a new Halo 3 campaign achievement going up with this title update. Are there any plans to add new content to the campaign with this update or future ones?

Jarrard: We're always looking at ways to further expand and improve the Halo 3 experience, but there are currently no plans for an update to add new campaign content.

IGN: Will the new Assembly map be released with this update? If not, when can we expect more multiplayer maps?

Jarrard: It's been great getting such a strong reaction to the new map "Assembly," which debuted last month at PAX. We're as eager to release it as our fans are to play it, but the timeframe and means are still something being discussed with various parties.

IGN: There's been a lot of speculation regarding a full map editor for Halo 3. That's not coming with this update, is it?

Jarrard: Funny how you can make one award acceptance video using an internal build and next thing you know we've somehow guaranteed our fans that we're shipping a campaign editor or a new version of Forge with bots or whatever the rumor-of-the-week is. We've definitely got cool stuff coming with TU2 and more cool Halo 3 stuff on the way but there is no functional augmentation to Forge in the works.

IGN: Is it ever coming?

Jarrard: We're really happy with the Forge map editor in Halo 3, but also realize there's a lot we can improve in terms of sharing and discovering this custom content within the community. That is what we've been primarily focusing on for the time being. We don't have any plans to build a "full map editor" for Halo 3, but there are more maps coming and we're definitely building maps with Forge functionality in our thoughts.

IGN: How long do you plan to support Halo 3 with updates like this, map packs and the like?

Jarrard: We still have a sizeable team in the studio that is focused solely on sustaining and improving Halo 3 and the Bungie.net experience. It's hard to put a limit on how long that support will continue but we've just now hit one year, our community is as strong as ever and we're seeing growth in areas like file sharing and custom content. Suffice it to say we are not close to being done with Halo 3 yet.

IGN: When Master Chief is in stasis at the end of Halo 3, does he grow a beard?

Jarrard: Hair growth and cellular activity does continue while in cryo sleep but at a dramatically reduced rate.

clicky

[Sarge]

New Achievement Info

The Halo 3 title update is being released on Tuesday! This release is mostly addressing some behind the scenes improvements and tools to help us maintain a fun, competitive playing environment for fans but as icing on the cake, we’ve included TEN brand new achievements (250 gamer points) that are retroactively applied to Halo 3. Here’s a quick overview:

* Vidmaster Challenge: Lightswitch (0 points) – Get to the rank of Lieutenant in any playlist in the new EXP progression system.

* Vidmaster Challenge: 7 on 7 (0 points) – Enter into any ranked or social playlist with 7 EXP on the 7th of the month.

* Vidmaster Challenge: Annual (0 points) – After 9/25/08, complete Halo on 4-player Legendary LIVE co-op, with Iron, and everyone in Ghosts.

* Double Double (25 points) – On a Legendary map, get two Double Kills during any ranked or social match.

* Poor Yorick (25 points) – On a Legendary map, get 3 Oddball melee kills during any ranked or social match.

* Came…From…Behind (50 points) – On a Legendary map, get 3 assassinations during any ranked or social match.

* Defend This (50 points) – On a Legendary map, get a flag melee kill during any ranked or social match.

* Flag Dropped (25 points) – On a Legendary map, get 2 flag carrier kills during any ranked or social match.

* Road Rage (25 points) – On a Legendary map, get 5 Warthog chaingun kills during any ranked or social match.

* Look Both Ways (50 points) – On a Legendary map, get a Splatter Spree during any ranked or social match.

The first 3 achievements are part of the “Vidmaster Challenge” and while they don’t award gamer points, they do lead to something that should be of great interest to fans. We’ll have more to say about that later, but for now it’s important to note that the special co-op achievement won’t actually be activated until 9/25. October 7th will be your first shot at the “7 on 7” achievement and the “Lightswitch” can be worked towards as soon as the update is released.

The remaining 7 achievements will get you 250 gamer points and can all be earned by playing multiplayer games on any of the Legendary DLC maps (Blackout, Avalanche and Ghost Town).

clicky

[Sarge]

New Achievements?



clicky

All new achievements are now viewable on Xbox.com along with (surprise!) a bunch of additional achievements that haven't been officially announced. These additional achievements total 500 in Gamerscore which bumps Halo 3's total Gamerscore to a whopping 1750!

The additional achievements look to be the same ones that were leaked from PAX a few weeks ago which are the ones Bungie made it clear they wouldn't be talking about just yet. It's interesting to note that a few of these newer achievements make mention of "Mythic" maps, referring to six different (and yet to be announced) multiplayer maps called Assembly, Citadel, Heretic, Longshore, Orbital and Sandbox. Or so we think they're multiplayer maps.

clicky