HR: Maps - Sword Base

Sword Base is one of the two maps currently available in the Beta. Here is a picture illustrating a number of the important items (click for huge):

These are locations you should be aware of:

1. Red Lift - This is accessed from the first level of the main atrium. There is a small opening in the wall, that leads around to a red gravity lift which will bring you to the third floor.
2. Green Lift - This is accessed from a room on the first level on one side of the map. It sends you to the third floor, but ends up in a tight room.
3. Mancannon - In the center of the atrium, provides access to both the "Lower Bridge" and "Middle Bridge" when jet packs are not equipped.
4. Low Bridge - The low bridge on one side of the map.
5. Middle Bridge - In the very middle of the map, spawns the Plasma Launcher ("n00b tube") right in the middle.
6. High Bridge - Green Lift room exits onto one side of this bridge. This bridge tends to see the most action in Slayer matches.
7. Sniper Ledge - Is actually all the way against the back wall (not the ramp itself). Can be accessed by going out the door from Red Stockpile and following the ledge out into the open.
8. 1 Flag Spawn - In 1 Flag CTF games, this is where the flag spawns. Has to be taken to directly upstairs to the second level, but is complicated by the Green and Red lifts being disabled.
9. Red Stockpile - In Stockpile games, this is the red spawn and where red flags are collected.
10. Blue Stockpile - In Stockpile games, this is the blue spawn and where blue flags are collected.
11. Sniper Rifle - Spawns against the pillars on this side of the atrium. For Covenant games, this is the Focus Rifle.
    

Grav Lifts. Lots and lots of activity centers around the lifts, especially in Slayer games. The top of Green Lift is an absolute CF and should probably be avoided if possible. Taking Green Lift up leaves you in a tiny room that is constantly spammed with grenades. Exiting the lift room involves dodging DMR/NR fire from both sides. At this point of the Beta, most people do not know how to access the Red Lift, so it's a much better option to get upstairs and flank people camping the top floor.

Currently, the mancannon is the fastest known way to move the flag in 1-flag CTF. A Scout can jump down from attacking spawn onto the ramp leading to the flag and sprint in. They can then hop over the railing, turn left and mancannon the flag up to Low Bridge. The flag carrier moves too slow to clear the jump themselves, but can throw the flag up for awaiting team mates. It may be possible to jump the other way onto middle bridge as well, but that involves passing the lift and coming the other way.

Weapons. I've only marked the Plasma Launcher and the Sniper Rifle on the map because they are easy to mark in the atrium. There is also an Energy Sword in a side room (fairly obvious) and a Shotgun under a staircase on the other side. The Plasma Launcher is the best power weapon in the Beta and is very much overpowered. The fastest way to reach it is to drop down to the main level of the atrium and take the Mancannon up. Or jet pack over, if equipped.

Sniping. I've marked the one Sniper Ledge, but there are also sniper perches on both sides of the map. A balcony is at the top of Red Lift that has visibility to much of the map. There is also a small perch directly above Low Bridge that is accessed via an inside ramp from the top of the Green Lift exit area.

HR: Weapons - Reticle Bloom

Lots has changed for Halo Reach. One of the more subtle changes causing lots of frustration both within the clan and the rest of the community is "reticle bloom." Bungie has introduced a way to simulate the recoil effect of weapons, and is illustrated in your HUD by the reticle expanding in size with each shot. This video demonstrates the DMR:



Your reticle is the targeting window for your weapon, and your shot will generally land anywhere within the reticle. The bigger the reticle, the less accurate the shot. You'll notice the DMR starts with a nice small reticle because it is a precision weapon. However, with each shot, the reticle grows a bit and then shrinks down. With fast shooting, the reticle gets a good deal bigger and doesn't shrink down.

The lesson here? Shoot SLOWER. Especially at range. Players from Halo 3 are used to the BR which forced you to shoot slower because of the 3-shot burst, or the Covenant Carbine which allowed you to spam as fast as you wanted with no penalty. In Reach, the DMR and Needle Rifle replace those weapons and require you to pace your shooting. The human pistol and human sniper rifle also have the same reticle bloom effect, but will be less noticeable due to how people use them.

Clan night tonight. 8pm PT. HALO REACH BETA!!!

It's finally here! zomg so excited! "Jetpacks are the tits."

The party system is working and the servers have been fixed. Join my HR game party and I'll take us into matchmaking as a group. If you log on late, you should be able to see the whole group together in your "Active Roster." Just select me and choose to queue join. You'll have to wait, but you'll automatically be brought in after our next game. I'll get notified that you're in the queue.

I'm not planning on starting an Xbox Live party right now, but that may change depending on our group size. If you join and see the white bubbles next to everybody's name, it's because we're in a separate XBL party. Try to join that as well.

HR - Servers stable

It appears that the server issues have been fixed for now. Matchmaking is working smoothly, and team play is working as well. Arena matches seem to be much slower to connect than Social Grab Bag.

Halo Reach Servers Inundated

The servers for the Halo Reach multiplayer beta are getting hammered right now. Most players will see "Playlist data pending download..." or "Reach server unreachable..." error messages. You may eventually get into a game if you want in the Matchmaking lobby long enough. If you are able to get into a game, it is recommended that you stay in the matchmaking interface to keep more games coming. Don't try partying up, or exiting to the main matchmaking lobby if you can avoid it, just let the game keep serving games up for you. I was able to play continuously as long as I didn't back out to the lobby.

Halo Reach Beta Now Available

You can now download it via your ODST campaign disc. Expect delays and retries as the servers get hammered.

HR: Beta - What You Need to Know

I've flooded the blog with a ton of content about Reach and there's a ton more coming. But this post will give you the high level overview of everything you need to know to get started.

How to get in: Use your Halo 3: ODST *CAMPAIGN* disc. Will be available "late morning" on Monday, 5/3. I will post here on the blog as soon as its available.

Player models: Spartans and Elites are very different now. The game will decide for you which side you will play on. Elites are faster, have better shields, but are a bigger (easier) target to hit.

Health and shields: Halo 1 (or ODST) style "health" is back for Spartans. After your shields are down, you will take health damage. Shields regenerate, health does not. Health packs are wall mounted and can restore your health, but you must hit a button to activate (can't just walk over it). Elites have regenerating health.

Radar: Enemies below will be a darker red dot. Enemies above will have a shadow behind their dot. Active camo has a radar jammer effect and will create lots of fake red dots.

Melee: In general, works the same as it did before. You can now hold melee to do a super cool assassination when behind a player. This takes time and is not an instant kill, which means you can be killed in the process before your target is dead.

Armor abilities: Brand new in Reach. You will have to choose a loadout, and with it, an armor ability at every spawn. Learn the icons so you know what you're choosing. Spartans have: Active Camo, Armor Lock, Jet Pack, Sprint. Elites have: Active Camo, Jet Pack, Evade.

Weapons: No more dual wielding. Learn the icons so you know what weapons you're choosing with a loadout. The biggest changes to your most common loadouts are the Magnum and DMR. Magnum is now the Halo 1 human pistol that pwns face again. DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle) replaces the H3 Battle Rifle (BR), but works very similarly.

Gametypes: Reach introduces several new game types. These will be in the Beta:

• Generator Defense: 3v3 Spartans vs Elites. Spartans have 3 generators to defend. Elites try to destroy them. Generators can be temporarily locked down and made invulnerable.
• Invasion: 6v6 Spartans vs Elites. Spartans have a data core to defend, protected by two layers of defenses. Elites try to shut down both layers of defense and steal the core. Each phase of the game lasts 4 minutes and introduces better weapons and vehicles.
• Headhunter: Team or Free For All. Try to collect skulls and bring them back to your scoring zone. Kill other players to collect their skulls. Hold and score 10 skulls at once to get an instant win.
• Stockpile: Team. Try to have as many flags as possible in your scoring zone at the end of each scoring period. Scoring periods end every 60 seconds.
  

65 hours to Reach

Requirements: All you need is your Halo 3 ODST campaign disc. Once the beta is active, there will be a menu item that says "Play the Beta." You can test this out now, there should currently be a menu item that says "Preview the Beta." That's where you'll begin. You don't need anything else to get in. It is a 1.2 GB download, so it will take some time, and you'll need the hard drive space available.

When: The beta will become available to the general pubic "late morning PDT on Monday, May 3." That means NOT midnight. Friends and Family codes started become available between 10-11am on Thursday, so that's as good a guess as any. The beta is currently slated only to run through May 19, so play it while the playing is good.

Friends and Family: You may have seen chatter about special access codes. Bungie made hundreds of codes available allowing people early access into the Beta. Check your bungie.net inbox, you might have one. The codes unlock the beta, and do NOT require the ODST disc.

Bootcamp: IGN has written a comprehensive gameplay guide to the Beta. It covers everything and most importantly highlights the new stuff. Read it here.

Armor Lock for Territories

IGN posted a video with one good tip: Armor Lock is a great armor ability for taking territories. Have three guys with Armor Lock go for a territory with each person activating their lock after the previous one wears off.

Bungie Reach Beta Guide

Bungie has posted a very clear description of what the Reach Beta is all about.

Read it here.

It describes how you are eligible, how you download it, how you queue up in active roster, and all the gameplay elements. PLEASE do me a personal favor and read at least the first three sections: Get In, Get Setup, and Matchmaking. If it's not obvious, stupid questions hurt my head. Please don't hurt my head.

OMGvidz

Invasion on Boneyard gameplay showing continuous footage of phases 2 and 3:



Generator Defense on Overlook, showcasing the new 3v3 gametype:



Stockpile on Swordbase, lots of jetpacks and flag bashing



Slayer on Powerhouse:



Lots more vids here:

http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3171232&type=game&sec=VIDEOS

Clan night tonight. Left 4 Dead 2. 8pm PT.

Last week before Halo Reach multiplayer beta.

One Week to Beta

Some things of note as we hit the one week mark to Beta:

• Ars Technica is giving away early-access Friends and Family beta codes here.
• For the H3 beta, Bungie sent Friends and Family codes to bungie.net inboxes. Make sure you check your b.net inbox on Thursday 4/29.
  
• This hands-on preview notes how active camo is very effective for Elites to capture territories.
• Grenades and melee attacks both pwn generators quickly. However, generators blow up when destroyed,which will pwn your face if you are mid-melee.
• Skulls dropped in the scoring area of Headhunter will disappear, preventing camping n00bs from just stalking the scoring area.
  

Halo Reach Overload

b.net's latest update about the Reach MP beta is hurting my head. This is far and away the steepest learning curve of any Halo game to date. New weapon set, new abilities, new loadouts, new spawn control, new game types, new maps. There's a lot going on here, so we'll need to ramp as a clan to work together effectively in teams. Reach seems to be putting a much greater emphasis on team work than ever before.

Invasion on Boneyard. Details have finally been announced. This will be a Spartans vs Elites game type where you get to play as one or the other in the Beta. Spartans defend the high ground, and Elites try to break down stages to progress to the next phase.

• Phase 1: 4 minutes long, Elites need to occupy 1 of 2 generator territories for 20 seconds to unlock the next phase. Elites have choice of two short range loadouts, but mid/long range Needle Rifles are available on the map. Spartans can choose short or long range loadouts. No vehicles.
• Phase 2: 4 minutes long, Elites need to occupy 1 of 3 territories for 20 seconds to unlock the next phase. Both Spartans and Elites have choice of short or long range loadouts. Warthog, Ghost and Wraith spawn in each team's respective vehicle bays.
• Phase 3: 4 minutes long, Elites try to move data core outside to awaiting Phantom to win. Both sides have four different loadouts to choose from, Jetpacks and specialty weapons become available. All vehicles spawn, which should result in massive chaos.

Team Work. Bungie has now announced two heavily team-centric game types in Invasion and Generator Defense.

• Generator Defense is 3v3 where the 3-man Spartan team has to defend 3 generators.
  
• Invasion is 6v6 where only 2-3 territories have to be defended at any given time, but it is a MUCH larger map.
• Fireteams. New for Reach is 2-man fireteams. The game will automatically pair you with a buddy for the duration of the match. When you die, you will have the opportunity to spawn on your fireteam buddy, or choose from other predetermined spawn locations. This will have a HUGE impact on gameplay. If your buddy is in a fight, he will get notified that you're trying to spawn on him, can pull back out of fire to allow you in, and then come out of cover with a new ally! You can also directly spawn into the gunner seat of your buddy's vehicle!

Invasion Slayer. This is a watered down version of Invasion where the phases are determined simply by time or kills. Each phase introduces better weapons and better vehicles. The craziest thing here is that there will be random territories placed around the map. In order to get the better weapons and vehicles with each phase, you have to hold a territory which will then trigger a weapon/vehicle drop.

Controls. Bumper Jumper is back, but may not be as super if you plan to use your abilities a lot. Abilities are mapped to "X" in Bumper Jumper, which will make it hard to aim and shoot while flying or camo'd. Abilities are mapped to "LB" in most other schemes.

Man, my head hurts.

Halo Reach Multiplayer ViDoc

No clan night this week.

4-20, dude! Local conflicts for several of us. Though some of us may be on split-screen sporadically around 9pm.

ODST/Reach Beta Giveaway

Defend This House is running an easy contest to win a copy of Halo 3: ODST, and with it, an invitation to the Halo Reach multi-player beta. Click here for details.

New Game Modes for Halo Reach

1up.com has some more details and new game modes that we've heard teased so far.

Headhunter: Basically an Assault type game where the object is to capture an object and deliver it somewhere else. Specifically, you are trying to pick up skulls and score them in deposit zones that move around the map. Actually, very similar to Powerball from the American Gladiators TV show. The twist here is that you can carry more than one skull (maybe up to 10), but if you are killed before you score, you drop them all, allowing anybody else to pick them up. Also, you have shiny waypoint marker on your head indicating how many skulls you are carrying.

Stockpile: Described as Territories meets CTF. Scoring happens at regular time intervals, and the game counts how many flags you have within your territory at each interval, regardless of which team is actually holding the flag. So you must bring neutral flags back into your territory, and hold them there until the scoring time interval ends.

Generator Defense: A round-based 3v3 game type that pits Spartans (defenders) against Elites (attackers). There are 3 generators to defend, 3 random power-weapon drops fall from the sky at the beginning of each round, and generators can be locked down (invulnerable) for 30 seconds at a time. This actually sounds like a pretty hard game type because there are only 3 defenders available to defend 3 objectives. Only played on a purpose-built map though, so maybe the generators are in difficult locations.

Invasion: This is a large scale 6v6 game type that is described as epic and should be a clan favorite, given our predilections. Not many details have been released, but it does appear to be round-based and multi-stage, with heavy weapons being air dropped in for the later stages.

GT wont' be on tonight

For those that get this on RSS and e-mail, I won't be able to make H2 night tonight at 10pm. A 6am meeting got scheduled after I wrote the post. I did verify during the day today, however, that the downloads are all available and that matchmaking is working correctly. Today is the last day you'll ever be able to play Halo 2 on Xbox Live, so get it while it's good! I sucked pretty hard, so wouldn't have helped you guys anyway.

Halo 2 tonight. 10pm PT.

(For those of you who are interested, this is a rally point. GT will not be on.)

In last week's Bungie update, they announced that they would be giving away some Halo Reach prizes for people on the last day Halo 2 will be available. I'll be on-line tonight at 10pm or earlier to log a few games to qualify. Join me!

Two important things:

• There are two title updates and several map packs that you will likely have to re-download to play in matchmaking. So far, I am the only one in the clan that I know of who was been able to do it successfully. If you want to play, I strongly recommend that you log in at least an hour ahead of time to try to get your downloads.
• Halo 2 is an Xbox 1 title, so it doesn't support any of the new Xbox Live NXE features. Specifically, XBL parties will not work, so it will be hard for me to help you if you're stuck. Also, chat and messaging (though supported within Halo 2) is not interoperable with the XBL NXE interface. That means if you are in the new XBL dashboard and send me a message, I will not be able to view it in Halo 2, and vice versa.