Welcome to the Exploding Garrmondo Weiner Interactive Swiss Army Penis.
GFF is a community of gaming and music enthusiasts. We have a team of dedicated moderators, constant member-organized activities, and plenty of custom features, including our unique journal system. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ or our GFWiki. You will have to register before you can post. Membership is completely free (and gets rid of the pesky advertisement unit underneath this message).
(Daily Challenges reset at 6am EST, Weekly Challenges resets Monday mornings at 6am EST)
View the current Matchmaking Playlists/Maps/Gametypes HERE
Finish the Fight before the Fight was Started....wait, what?
Release Date: Available Now
Platform: why is this here I don't even
I. Halo: Reach Game versions and other Merchandise
II. Player Investment, or the 4 C's - Credits, Customization, Challenges, Commendations
III. General Gameplay and Changes in Halo: Reach
IV. Weapons and Vehicles
V. Loadouts and Armor Abilities
VI. Campaign, Forge 2.0, and Forge World
VII. Firefight 2.0
VIII. Matchmaking Playlists, Gametypes, and Maps
IX. The Arena
X. DLC
XI. Achievements
XII. The new Bungie.net and Medals
XIII. Videos and Trailers
XIV. Updates and Thanks
Halo: Reach Game versions and other Reach Merchandise Last updated September 19th, 2010
Spoiler:
Day 1/Pre-order bonus
-Spartan Recon helmet. In the US it will come "with all Day 1 copies," indicating that it will probably be a DLC card inside first run copies. Outside the US it will be a pre-order bonus from certain retailers.
Gamestop Exclusive pre-order armor
-UA Multi-Threat Mjolnir Mark V(B) Armor (is a "chest" armor piece)
-Will not be a DLC card, the download code will be printed on your receipot, which is how Gamestop handles all DLC codes and cards now.
Standard (Lame) Edition - $59.99
-Comes with the game. Barely.
Limited So-We-Heard-You-Like-Halo Edition - $79.99
*Game Disc in custom case "modeled after a recovered ONI black box".
*Exclusive "Sangheili Officer" Elite in-game Armor (seen above).
*"Artifact Bag" containing the personal notes and documents of the creator of the SPARTAN program, Dr. Catherine Halsey. This has been worked on by Eric Nylund and Bungie for "quite some time." Stays very true to the fiction and has large amounts of previously unreleased information.
*Dr. Halsey's ONI Security Badge
*Embroidered Spartan II Patch (Click here for an official Bungie video unboxing both the Limited and Legendary Editions)
Legendary "Hyper Lethal" Edition - 1,000 J Allards ($149.99) All contents of the Limited Edition, plus:
*Noble Team statue from McFarlane Toys. Individually molded, hand-painted and individually numbered. The statue is about 10" tall and weighs about 10 pounds.
*UNSC-themed custom packaging.
*Exclusive flaming helmet armor effect. It will add the flames to any helmet you have equipped, not just the one seen above. Likely falls under the Armor Effect category in the Armory, but has not been confirmed.
*Will come with a code to download an exclusive behind-the-scenes full commentary on the Reach Campaign by the developers of the game (a la the Halo 1/2 commentary that came with the Halo 3 Legendary Edition). (Click here for an official Bungie video unboxing both the Limited and Legendary Editions)
Halo Reach Strategy Guide
-Bradygames / 352 pages / $19.99 MSRP, currently $13.49 at Amazon (US) here.
Halo Reach Limited Edition Strategy Guide
-Bradygames / 448 pages / $29.99 MSRP, currently $23.09 at Amazon (US) here.
In addition to the regular edition guide above, the Limited Edition also contains (from BradyGames):
*This special hardbound Legendary Edition includes everything in our Signature Series guide, plus exclusive content not available anywhere else!
*Exclusive 80-Page Concept Art Gallery! Packed with breathtaking concept art and fascinating commentary straight from Bungie Studios, this chronicle of the game’s development is a must-have for every Halo fan.
*Get One of Six Deluxe, Collectible Covers! Beneath the striking dust jacket, each volume features one of six limited-edition covers, each featuring a member of Noble Team. Deluxe print treatments highlight these dramatic cover images. These are randomly assorted so you won’t know what cover you get until you open the package at home!
McFarland Toys Halo Reach Figures
-Continuing in the fine Halo figure condition, McFarland Toys will be putting out a bajillion Halo Reach figures. In all fairness, their Halo 3 figures are actually good quality.
-Series 1 of the figures and vehicles will be hitting sometime in September 2010. Details on these and all previous and forthcoming McFarlane Halo figures can be found here.
Square-Enix Halo: Reach Play-Arts Figures
-Figures will be done for all of Noble Six released in 2 series. Series 1 will contain Noble Six, Emile, and Jun. Series 2 will contain Carter, Kat, and Jorge. No official dates yet, however online retailers seem to be indicating a $39.99 price point (per figure) with Series 1 figures being released in January.
Halo Reach Limited Edition Xbox 360
-$399.99 / Available September 14th / Comes with 2 Reach controllers and a copy of the regular edition of the game
Halo Reach Controller
-$59.99 / Available Now / Comes with exclusive Banshee "prop" for your Live avatar
Halo Reach Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
-$49.99 / Available Now / Does not come with the Banshee Avatar "prop"
Halo Fall of Reach re-release
-Re-release of the book with minor corrections and additions. A good read that is specifically relevant to the events in Halo: Reach. Can be found at Amazon for $10.19 here, MSRP $14.99. If you are interested in any of the other Halo books or expanded fiction, you can check out the Halo Wiki here for a listing of all of the Halo books and comics.
Halo: Reach Avatar Goods
-Also now available is the other five members of Noble Team's armors at 400 MSP each (available in both male and female). Xbox.com doesn't show pictures of these for some reason though.
-Halo: Reach Beta tester hoodie; only available to people/accounts who participated in the Reach Beta. You need to log into Halo Waypoint to unlock it.
-Noble 6 Avatar helmet. Only available to attendees of Comic-Con, Gamescom, and PAX Prime. Also briefly available via an Xbox Live Gold re-subscription bonus.
The above Avatar Awards are unlocked via the following:
-Kat's Helmet: Avenge a teammate in Multiplayer Matchmaking.
-Carter's Helmet: Complete a Legendary Campaign mission without dying.
-Emile's Helmet: Earn a Bulltrue medal in either Firefight or Multiplayer Matchmaking.
-Jorge's Helmet: Earn a Killtacular in Multiplayer Matchmaking.
-Jun's Helmet: Kill 100 enemies without dying in either the Campaign or Firefight.
Halo Waypoint Armory Unlocks
There are two helmets (and attachments) and one Chest piece that are tied to your Halo Waypoint account.
-Military Police Helmet (Base): Requires Career Milestone 15 and "The Solider We Needed You To Be" Achievement from Halo: Reach.
-Military Police Helmet CBRN/HU/RS attachment: Requires Career Milestone 20 and the "Pink and Deadly" Achievement from Halo 3: ODST.
-Military Police Helmet HU/RS/CNM attachment: Requires Career Milestone 25, "Fear the Pink Mist" Achievement from Halo 3, and "A Spoonful of Blamite" Achievement from Halo: Reach.
-CQB Helmet (Base): Requires Career Milestone 20 and unlock the "Folks Need Heroes..." Achievement from Halo: Reach.
-CQB Helmet HU/RS/CNM attachment: Requires Career Milestone 25 and the "Campaign Complete: Heroic" Achievement from Halo 3: ODST.
-CQB Helmet UA/HUL attachment: Requires Career Milestone 30, the "Campaign Complete: Legendary" Achievement from Halo 3, and the "Gods Must Be Strong achievement" from Halo: Reach.
-UA/Base Security [W] Chest: Requires Career Milestone 30 and the "Yes, Sensei" Achievement from Halo: Reach.
Halo: Reach branded Mountain Dew and Doritos
-No Game Fuel this time
Player Investment, or the 4 C's - Credits, Customization, Challenges, Commendations Last updated September 19th, 2010
Spoiler:
Credits (cR)
-Players earn Credits (cR) for taking essentially any action within Reach: playing Campaign/Firefight/Forge/Matchmaking, earning Achievements, and completing Daily and Weekly Challenges.
-You spend earned cR to customize your Spartan by purchasing Armor pieces and effects.
-Excluding your Arena Rating, in Halo: Reach there is no number ranking system like in Halo 2/3 (i.e 1-50). Your military ranking is purely determined by the number of cR you have earned. Trueskill matchmaking will still (in theory) match players of equal skill levels, but if you are so inclined you could play nothing but Campaign and Firefight and eventually reach the highest "rank" now.
Spartan Customization Gender
-You can choose between being a male or female Spartan; but unlike previous Halo games, choosing a female Spartan will actually change the character model instead of just the voice.
Spartan Armor and Accessories
-Upgrades are visual only, and have no effect on gameplay.
-Some pieces in the armory will be unlocked through Achievement progression from Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo: Reach via Halo Waypoint.
-There are 10 Armor customization options available as seen in the screenshot above (in addition to the Color and Emblem customization).
-More items become available for purchase as you increase your Rank. For Helmet attachments, you will need to own the base Helmet to see the available attachments that can be purchased for that Helmet.
-Your customized Spartan carries across all game modes, including Campaign. Will only be a "few notable exceptions" to this, such as if you have the Legendary Edition flaming helmet, which will not show in Campaign cutscenes.
-Only armor pieces that everyone has access to in-game with Credits count towards your Armory percentage completion; any pre-order or Halo Waypoint pieces do not count towards your percentage if you don't have them.
-Bungie has stated there will be armory pieces that will take "months, or longer" to acquire and implied that there will be collective community efforts required in some cases to even make pieces available.
Elite Customization
-Elite armor customization works differently than for Spartans. Elites are full-on armor sets, as opposed to Spartans' individual armor pieces.
-You unlock Elite armor sets when you hit certain officer ranks; you do not purchase them with cR like Spartan armor and accessories.
Nameplate Emblems
-In addition to the standard color and emblem options, Nameplate Emblems (aka visual flair) is now an additional option. Located in the same area that the 7th Column/Bungie emblems were in Halo 3, there are now a slew of them that are unlocked via various means.
From top to bottom:
*The Septagon – This option returns for anyone who links their LIVE account to their Bungie.net account.
*The DMR – A pro weapon for Pro members. Get Bungie Pro to bump up your File Share, render videos, and get this emblem. Active subscriptions bought in Halo 3 or Halo 3: ODST carry over to Halo: Reach, of course.
*Marathon – Play the full version of Marathon: Durandal on Xbox LIVE Arcade to enable the Pfhor Terminal emblem.
*Halo 1 – Enter your Halo 1 PC/Mac product key to enable this emblem. Each key can only be used once, so you’d better stop reading this and grab that key before your brother does. Since we have no way to validate who has played the Xbox version, this emblem is reserved for that dedicated community of computer gamers, with over 50k unique users still active each month, 7 years after release. Thanks for sticking with us. It’s been quite a ride!
*Halo 2 – Automatically available if you played Halo 2 for Xbox on your LIVE account before its tearful retirement. If it’s not active for you, no amount of wheedling will change that, sorry.
*Halo 3 – Take a guess… On the plus side, there’s plenty of time to head to your local purveyor of fine, shrink-wrapped games to snag a copy if you’re the one person who actually reads the news on our site and hasn’t played this game.
*Halo 3: ODST – Ditto.
*Assault Rifle – This fine armament goes to anyone who played the Halo: Reach beta a few months ago.
*Spartan Helmet – Meet the conditions for 4 of the 5 other following faceplates: Halo 1, Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo: ODST, and the Halo: Reach Beta.
*HALO – Like Blamite out of a Needler, these faceplate options can supercombine. Unlock the emblems for Halo 1, Halo 2, and Halo 3 to get this special emblem.
*The Star – Who knows? We haven’t come up with a use for this yet. Maybe we will in the future.
Challenges
-There will be both daily and weekly challenges across different game modes with different difficulties and cR rewards.
-You can check your Challenges progress both in-game as well as bungie.net. In-game will only show the current the number of Challenges completed for that Daily/Weekly Challenges, you can view lifetime number of Challenges completed on Bungie.net.
Commendations
-Most actions in Halo: Reach across all game modes will count towards specific Commendations reflected in your Service Record. So for example someone who spends most of their time driving would have a high level Wheelman Commendation level.
-When you advance to the next "rank" within a Commendation you will receive a cR bonus, although this is throttled to avoid exploitation and to encourage players to play as they normally would.
General Gameplay and Changes in Halo: Reach Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
General Gameplay
-No Dual Wielding of any type.
-No more Flag "juggling". There is no longer any speed boost or advantage to throwing the Flag.
-Excluding Sniper Rifle rounds, you can no longer do damage "through shields," the shield has to be completely gone before you do health damage. So things like doing a melee attack or point-blank shotgunning someone who is at 5% shields will no longer result in instant death, it will just "pop" their shields.
-To prevent people from exploiting and getting off a map in ways that were not intended, there is now a 10 second timer that counts down once you leave the map boundaries, and once it hits zero you just die. This 10 second timer does not reset, so if you leave the map for 5 seconds once then go back outside the map you only have 5 seconds left. However you can use the 10 seconds to your advantage for possible shortcuts around the map.
Spartan and Elite differences
-Most gametypes will feature Spartan vs Spartan gameplay.
-Elites are much faster than Spartans; a regular Elite running is nearly as fast as a Spartan Sprinting.
-Elites also have more health and shields, and regenerate both fully and faster than Spartans; Spartan shields fully charge as before, but Spartan health bars are now broken into three sections, and you only recharge your current section. To fully regain health Spartans must pick up health packs.
Assassinations
-Assassinations are new optional one-hit kill moves. You can still do just a regular melee attack behind an opponent to instantly kill the, however if you hold the melee button for a moment you will trigger one of these animations. Basically a humiliation move.
-Assassinations can be done ground to air, when both players are in the air, etc.
-The 3rd person animation does leave both you and the opponent vulnerable; if you are being assassinated a teammate can save you by shooting the attacker off, etc.
-There are over 40 custom assassinations in the final game, some unique to Campaign, some not.
Weapons and Vehicles Last updated November 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
Covenant Weaponry
Concussion Rifle (New in Reach) - Basically the Covenant equivalent of the Grenade Launcher.
Focus Rifle aka the Bacon Wave (New in Reach) - A beam weapon similar to the Sentinel Laser but much more powerful. Treated as a power weapon in-game/Matchmaking.
Plasma Launcher aka Comedy Gun, Clown Cannon (New in Reach) - Charges and fires up to 4 plasma grenades that track vehicles or enemies. Once the rounds "stick" to the target slight delay before exploding.
Plasma Repeater (New in Reach) - Similar to the Plasma Rifle, the Covenant equivalent of the AR. Does not have "ammo." Works on a cooldown system like the Plasma Rifle, however now instead of ceasing fire when it starts to heat up like the Plasma Rifle, the Plasma Repeater's rate of fire will slow. You can manually partially or completely "vent" it at will, and you can take other actions such as throwing a grenade or melee while it's venting.
Needle Rifle (New in Reach) - A mix of a Carbine and Needler, excels at mid-to-long range; accurate enough to score headshots, but a super-combine Needle explosion can still be triggered just like the Needler. You can hold down the trigger to fire quicker, and this will cause super-combine explosions faster on unshielded opponents but causes significant reticule "bloom".
Needler (Returning) - Needles no longer home in if your reticule isn't red, and no super-combine until their shields have dropped.
Plasma Pistol (Returning) - It's overcharge shot now has a EMP burst effect, so you can potentially pop several shields at once, etc.
Gravity Hammer (Returning) - Yo, it's the hammer. No real changes here. Parachute pants.
Plasma Sword (Returning) - The only big difference in Reach is that if someone hits you with a sword melee or lunge, if you melee back at the same time you can "block" the sword and it will deplete your shields but it is not a one-hit kill.
Fuel Rod Cannon (Returning) - Appears to operate the same.
Plasma Rifle (Returning) - Gone from Matchmaking, but is in Campaign and Firefight, works as before.
Spiker (Returning) - Like the Plasma Rifle, appears to have been completely gone in Matchmaking but has returned in Firefight and Campaign.
-The Covenant Sniper Rifle, Carbine, and Mauler are completely gone from Halo: Reach.
Spartan Weapons
Target Locator (New in Reach) - Used to call in an airstrike on a targeted location, comes with 2 uses.
Grenade Launcher aka Pro Pipe (New in Reach) - Has two modes of fire. Firing a round normally will cause the round to detonate on impact (automatic), or you can hold the trigger and it will detonate when you release it (manual). Allows you to do things like set traps, or aim specifically at mid-air targets and detonate at will. The round explosion also creates an EMP effect.
DMR aka "Deemer" (New in Reach) - Designated Marksman Rifle, replaces the BR from Halo 3. Medium to long-range weapon similar to the BR but single-shot fire. The DMR will require more precision than the BR due to the reticule "bloom" after every shot.
Spartan Laser (Returning) - Holds 4 shots now instead of 5, virtually identical otherwise.
Shotgun (Returning) - Only fires inside the cross-hair now, and it's blast/projectile radius is a little tighter (requires a bit more aiming) but the range on it is slightly longer as well.
Magnum (Returning) - Much improved, will take down an enemy from full shields to death twice as fast as a DMR, but it takes a much bigger hit on accuracy when fired quickly, and is much closer range than the DMR.
Sniper Rifle aka Long Rifle (Returning) - Sniper Rifle Headshots will still bypass shields and be a one-hit kill (unlike other weapons). Also affected heavily by reticule "bloom" like the DMR.
Rocket Launcher (Returning) - Operates largely the same, however the vehicle lock-on from Halo 2 has returned (for aerial vehicles only).
Assault Rifle (Returning) - Has seen improvements to accuracy and damage, overall a more viable weapon in Reach.
-The SMG and Battle Rifle are both gone in Reach.
Covenant Vehicles
Revenant (New in Reach) - A bit of a glass cannon; it is very maneuverable, and it's cannon fires shots comparable to a Wraith. However it can only carry one passenger (with no turret), and it is very susceptible to taking damage.
Ghost / Banshee / Wraith (Returning) - All are basically unchanged.
-The Prowler and Chopper are gone from Halo: Reach.
Spartan Vehicles
Rocket Warthog (New in Reach) - Fairly self-explanatory; each trigger pull fires a barrage of rockets (watch out for friendly fire!). Can lock onto aerial vehicles like the regular Rocket Launcher can.
Sabre (New in Reach) - Playable spacefighter. Only in one mission in Campaign, and is not in multiplayer at all.
Civilian Vehicles (New in Reach as playable) - In Campaign you will be able to use some civilian vehicles, such as a forklift and truck. Worth noting that the forklift does not achieve speeds high enough to splatter kill enemies.
Falcon (New in Reach) - Appears to be the replacement for the Hornet in Reach; in Multiplayer the pilot does not have access to any weapons, but each side has a turret that can be manned by another player. In Campaign however the driver has access to a machinegun turret as well as the two passenger turrets.
Mongoose / Warthog / Gauss Warthog / Scorpion (Returning) - All returning and operate largely the same, except the Warthog now has a cooldown on the turret fire (as all turret weapons do now).
-The Hornet is gone in Halo: Reach.
Loadouts and Armor Abilities Last updated August 24th, 2010
Spoiler:
Loadouts
-Loadouts let players pick from a set of weapons and armor abilities to spawn with; on every re-spawn the player can change their loadout if they choose.
-The available Loadouts will depending on the gametype you are playing, there is no need to unlock Loadouts through XP rank or anything similar. You can create custom Loadouts in Custom games.
Armor Abilities (AA)
-Armor Abilities give your character a unique ability; you can only carry one at a time and there are 7 AA's in total.
-All Armor Abilities re-charge automatically after use, indicated by a circle that fills up around the AA icon on the bottom left of your HUD.
-You cannot pick up or carry a flag while using an Armor Ability. If you activate an Armor Ability while already carrying a flag, it is immediately dropped.
Drop Shield
-A "medic" ability; drops a protective bubble shield that will also heal players within it.
-Will disappear once the charge expires or if it the shield takes too much damage as indicated by the color of the shield.
Armor Lock
-When you engage Armor Lock, you become temporarily invincible, but you cannot move or shoot. The camera pans out to 3rd person view which you can rotate.
-You can engage Armor Lock up to 3 times on one "charge", or you can hold one sustained lock for a few seconds.
-There is both an EMP area of effect; if you do the single "Lock" it has a small area of effect and duration, but if you do the full charge it has a much larger EMP blast.
-If you have Needles or Sticky grenades on you when you do Armor Lock it will blow them off you when you come out of the Lock.
Jetpack
-Can fire multiple short bursts or one long burst. You can take fall damage/die if you fall from too high.
Sprint
-Self-explanatory. Your weapon is lowered while running so you cannot fire.
Evade
-Rolling will break weapon lock-ons.
-Can be used twice before needing to recharge.
Active Camo
-The slower you're moving while it's active, the slower it drains the charge, while moving faster will cause it to drain faster as well as make you more visible.
-It will also jam all nearby radar (including your own) when active.
-All sound is "muffled" when active.
Hologram
-Create a duplicate image of yourself by aiming your reticule where you want the Hologram to go to, and it will run in a straight line to that point.
-Will last 10 seconds, or until it is "killed."
-In Campaign you can use it to fool Covenant AI, provided that they don't see you trigger it.
-Your Hologram can use Mancannons, but you can't put one "into" a vehicle.
Campaign, Forge 2.0, and Forge World Last updated September 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
Campaign
Quote:
Halo: Reach takes place in late 2552, during the Covenant invasion of the Human colony world Reach, which also serves as the main military center of the UNSC. The game follows Noble Team, a six-man special operations unit of SPARTAN-II and SPARTAN-III commandos. The player assumes the role of the team's newest member, SPARTAN-B312 or "Noble Six" and will be defending Reach from its ultimate downfall at the hands of the Covenant.
-Your character (Noble Six) is a completely new character; they are given no personality or image as you can completely customize both their armor and their gender.
-Bungie has said that Legendary difficulty in Campaign will have "more than a few Elites armed with Active Camo and Sniper Rifles."
-Names have now been assigned to NPC Marines, Troopers, and ODST's in the game, so now you can see their name, rank, and service tag in-game so as to encourage keeping them alive (presumably).
-When playing Campaign in Co-op, the difficulty will now scale up in terms of difficulty and number of enemies if there are more players (which none of the previous Halo games have done).
-There is now Campaign Matchmaking.
-Campaign now has "Jump Out" capability; while you still cannot join a session already in progress, if one of the players leaves the co-op Campaign session it will no longer end the game.
Forge 2.0
-Forge returns with a multitude of new additions and options. To avoid going into a huge amount of minutia I don't think anyone here cares about, if you're interested in the finer details and options check out the Halo wiki page here on Forge and it's options.
-While you will earn cR for time spent in Forge, it is not very much, and Bungie says that the game can tell if you're being active or not (i.e. you won't get cR just for sitting in Forge for 8 hours).
-You are not able to Forge Firefight maps.
Forge World
-Forge World initially began as 5 different maps being created by Bungie to be set up as Forge variants for users. The maps were then combined into one super-huge level that can be transversed as a whole or segmented off as desired. The 5 maps within Forge World are the Canyon, Island, Quarry, Coliseum, and the Pillar, and four new areas were added between the original spaces: the Coastline, the Lagoon, Alaska and Montana.
-Within these spaces, Bungie has created maps completely within these areas, some of which will full-on be in Matchmaking:
*Asylum - A remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2 located in the Quarry area. Expected (but not confirmed) to be in Matchmaking.
*Grifball Court - The new Grifball court map is set up in the Coliseum area. Not in regular matchmaking, but should show up in whatever form Grifball comes up in Matchmaking.
*Hemorrhage - A remake of Blood Gulch and Coagulation set up in the Canyon. Confirmed to be in Matchmaking.
*Paradiso - A new map that takes place in the Island area; no word at all if this will be in Matchmaking or not.
*Pinnacle - Remake of Ascension from Halo 2 set in the Pillar area. Expected (but not confirmed) to be in Matchmaking.
*Cage - A map reminiscent of Lockout from Halo 2 and Blackout from Halo 3 set in the Lagoon area. Not a direct remake of either map, but obviously inspired from. Confirmed to be in Matchmaking.
Firefight 2.0 Last updated September 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
Matchmaking and Modes
-Firefight is still only up to 4 players, however it now has Matchmaking.
-Firefight now has "Jump Out" capability; while you still cannot join a session already in progress, if one of the players leaves the co-op Campaign session it will no longer end the game.
-Just like Campaign and Multiplayer, there will be daily and weekly Challenges for Firefight. Additionally however, there are armor permutations that can only be unlocked through completing Firefight Challenges.
-urk has confirmed that Drones are not in Firefight this time around neither is the Black Eye Skull, which were pretty much the two things that everyone absolutely hated in ODST Firefight.
-These are the standard Firefight Gametypes; I'm not clear if all of these are in Matchmaking or not.
Classic Mode - Comparable to Firefight in ODST; doesn't end until you die, standard setup, etc. Standard - Standard setup, but only lasts for 1 round. Generator Defense - Same as in the Beta, defend the Generators against the Covenant trying to destroy them. Rocket Fight - You have infinite Rockets, go! Gruntocalypse - aka the best gametype to ever exist in any game. You and nothing but Grunts. Birthday Party is active! Score Attack - The only mode that is not customizable by the player at all; all waves and drops are standardized. Set up this way so it's the same for all players across the board, so it encourages high score runs. There will be in-game and bungie.net leaderboards for this mode.
Firefight Customization
-You can set up custom Firefight settings, just like other Custom games.
-Customization options are completely insane; you can create custom skulls, set up enemy waves how you want them, starting weapons and Loadouts, if you want damage or physics modifiers on, and I could go on and on. If you want 2000% health in 3x gravity with infinite rockets and nothing but suicidal Grunts, go for it.
-urk posted a mostly complete listing of the Firefight customization settings. It is incredibly long and wouldn't format correctly for a copy/paste here, and I'm not spending hours formatting it. Go check it out here.
Final Shipping Firefight Maps
Beachhead
Waterfront
Overlook
Corvette
Courtyard
Outpost
Glacier
Holdout
Matchmaking Playlists, Settings, Gametypes, and Maps Last updated November 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
Gametypes
Returning gametypes with little to no changes
Oddball, 1/2 Flag CTF, King of the Hill, Crazy King, Slayer, SWAT.
New or significantly changed gametypes
3 Plots - A return from Halo 2, there are three territories, teams score points as they hold territories. Main difference as opposed to Land Grab is the game is not round based, and the territories can be taken and re-taken. First to a score limit wins.
Elite Slayer - Regular Team Slayer, but with all Elites.
Stockpile - Two teams fight over 4 neutral flags. Flags are scored by bringing them into your team's territory and protecting them until the timer reaches zero. Flags are collected every 60 seconds. Flags will not count if they are outside the territory, even if someone on your team is holding them. First to a score limit wins, or the team with the most points at the end of the match time limit.
Slayer Pro - Slayer with different Loadouts and no motion tracker.
Juggernaut - Juggernaut is now temporarily invincible upon become the Juggernaut, and being the Juggernaut "wears off." You score points for killing the Juggernaut or getting kills as the Juggernaut.
Headhunter - Whenever someone is killed, they drop a Skull that can be collected. You can cash in skulls at territories that randomly move through the match; if you die you all of your skulls are dropped. All players can see how many skulls other players have by a number above the player's head (even with Active Camo), which makes players with large numbers of skulls moving targets. Match will immediately end if someone scores 10 skulls at once (Skullmanjaro).
Invasion
-6 vs 6 Spartans vs Elites. Teams will change sides at the end of a round. Game takes place across 3 phases each with a 4 minute timer; if the the attackers fail to succeed at a Phase objective at the end of the 4 minutes, the round immediately ends.
-The map determines who the attacking and defending sides are (ex. on Boneyard the Elites are the attackers, on the Spire the Spartans are the attackers).
-In any Phase, if the attackers are in control of the current objective, the game will go into Sudden Death.
-You can either spawn at designated locations, or you can spawn on your Fireteam member aka Battle Bro that is assigned to you pre-game (you are unable to choose). If you re-spawn on your teammate they can't be in combat, just like co-op spawning in past Halo Campaigns. You can spawn in vehicles if your Battle Bro is in them.
Phase 1: Attackers must gain control of one of two specific territories. Only one or two Loadouts are available, and no vehicles available in this Phase. Phase 2: Attackers must gain control of one of two new territories. At the start of Phase 2 more Loadouts are available, as are some vehicles. Phase 3: Attackers must carry the Core to a waiting dropship that has now arrived. There are now 5 high-level Loadouts for each side, as well as heavy vehicles.
Invasion Slayer
-Slayer-based variant of Invasion. Goes to 100 kills, and at 25 and 50 points Tier 2 and Tier 3 Loadouts and reinforcements are unlocked, offering similar escalation to regular Invasion as the game progresses. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are unlocked at the 4 and 8 minute markers respectively if the game kill count has not already been reached.
-Also in Invasion Slayer there are randomly positioned territories; capture them, and 10 seconds later an airdrop containing either weapons or vehicles will arrive.
Infection
-Standard Infection mode returns.
-New Infection mode called Safe Havens. Survivors in this mode are very fragile; can be killed in one hit and do little damage. However, if they are standing in a Safe Haven, the Survivors are immortal and can kill zombies with one shot. The catch is that every time a Survivor steps into a Haven, a 15-second timer counts down. Once the timer hits zero the Haven moves to a different random location, leaving Survivors vulnerable again until they can reach the next Haven.
Current Matchmaking Maps
Boardwalk
Countdown
Sword Base
Powerhouse
Boneyard
Reflection
-Remake of Ivory Tower from Halo 2.
Zealot
Spire
Hemorrhage
-Remake of Blood Gulch/Coagulation in Forge World.
Asylum
-Remake of Sanctuary from Halo 2 in Forge World.
Pinnacle
-Remake of Ascension from Halo 2 in Forge World.
The Cage
-Heavily inspired by (but is not a remake of) Guardian and Lockout/Blackout.
Paradiso
Atom
-Cannot find any screenshots online, will have to take my own later; a Forge World map intended for 8-16 players.
Cliffhanger
Settings and Options in Matchmaking
-"Active Roster" is now always on as soon as you boot Halo: Reach. Allows you to see everyone on your Friends List and Party Chat members (if they are not on your FL) and what they are doing in Reach. From here you can Queue to join, and as soon as their status becomes joinable (their match finishes, etc.) you will automatically join their group.
-In Reach there is no Ranked or Social Matchmaking split; the Arena loosely replaces Ranked Matchmaking. Everything else falls under the Competitive Playlist. Bungie has stated that the Matchmaking machine is smart enough to match players up fairly based on ranks, skill, matchmaking preference settings, etc. So there is no further split needed between Social and Ranked, individual Ranks per Playlist (a la Halo 3), etc. Will also make it easier to get into matches since there will be not Playlist splits like in Halo 3.
-The Matchmaking system will also be smart enough to know whether or not to keep a group of players together after a match or not; so for example if it was a close match, the system can determine it is a fair matchup and just automatically roll both teams directly into the next pre-game lobby.
-There is no push to talk chat in any game modes like there was in Halo 3. Additionally, there is no ban on Party Chat in Halo: Reach (unlike most modes in MW2). If you do not have a headset plugged in at all, the Matchmaking system will attempt to put you into games with other people with no headsets, to try to avoid pairings where half of a team may not have mics.
-You can set Matchmaking preference settings; these settings will not override all Matchmaking criteria, but if you set that you are a Chatty player who wants to Have Fun, the system will attempt to match you with similar players if at all possible.
-Vetoing has now been changed; in the pre-game Lobby the teams will be given 4 map/gametype options to choose from. This avoids scenarios like Halo 3 where everyone would veto a map, only to get a more undesirable map/gametype since you don't know what it is beforehand. In a change from the Beta, it no longer defaults to everyone voting for the first option unless they indicate otherwise. Now there are 0 votes placed, so if only one person votes that choice will win. The game will only default to the first choice if no one votes.
The Arena Last updated September 19th, 2010
Spoiler:
-Slayer and Team Slayer playlists entirely geared toward the "hardcore." Could be considered Reach's "ranked" matchmaking.
-You can bring a party into Arena, but only up to the max teamsize for the playlist.
-In each game you play in the Arena you are rated individually, not as a team. The game will also reward you not only for kills, but Assists and other team actions. Your score will be penalized for deaths and betrayals.
Arena Ratings and Seasons
-The Arena is broken up into month-long "Seasons."
-At the start of every Season, you will need to play a certain number of games in a given day to qualify for a Daily Ranking (in the Beta it was 3). When earning your Daily Rankings, the game only counts your 3 best games for that day, so at this point one bad game will not hurt your ranking.
-Then once you have a certain number of Daily Rankings (in the Beta it was 5) you are placed into one of 5 divisions. From highest to lowest it is Onyx (top 5%) -> Gold -> Silver -> Bronze -> Steel.
-Your rating will range from 0-2000, with most players placing between 1000 and 1500. This is relative to your division, so a 1500 player in Onyx is not the same as a 1500 player in Silver.
-Once placed in a division, you move up and down in your division for the duration of the Season based on your performance. It is possible to move up and down divisions in a single season. And since you are placed relative to everyone else you can be moved up or down a division even if you are not playing (ex. you barely make Onyx and then don't play for two weeks, and enough people "pass" you, pushing you out of the top 5%).
-Your rating is completely reset every season. This is done partly in hopes of avoiding account smurfing and duplicate accounts being created like in Halo 3.
Arena Playlists
You can find all current Arena Playlists here.
DLC Last updated November 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
-The first DLC for Halo: Reach will be out on November 30th, titled the Noble Map Pack. Will include the multiplayer Matchmaking maps Anchor 9, Breakpoint, and Tempest. Will be 800 MSP ($10). Also adds 7 Achievements worth 250 points (see Achievement section).
Breakpoint
-8-16 player map, BTB and Invasion are both specifically mentioned as Matchmaking gametypes.
Anchor 9
-2-8 player map, has a space area you can jetpack out in.
Tempest
-8-16 player map, although Invasion is not specifically mentioned as it is for Breakpoint
Achievements Last updated November 5th, 2010
Spoiler:
Launch/Retail Achievements (1,000 points)
-There are a total of 49 Achievements, the split works to:
Campaign - 23
Firefight - 7
Multiplayer - 4
Training - 6
Player Experience - 9
All achievements with descriptions (below):
1. Completed the Campaign on Normal difficulty.
2. Completed the Campaign on Heroic difficulty.
3. Completed the Campaign on Legendary difficulty.
4. Completed every mission in Halo: Reach alone, on Legendary.
5. Completed the 2nd mission on Normal or harder.
6. Completed the 3rd mission on Normal or harder.
7. Completed the 4th mission on Normal or harder.
8. Completed the 5th mission on Normal or harder.
9. Completed the 6th mission on Normal or harder.
10. Completed the 7th mission on Normal or harder.
11. Completed the 8th mission on Normal or harder.
12. Completed the 9th mission on Normal or harder.
13. Completed the 10th mission on Normal or harder.
14. Cleared the 2nd mission without setting foot in a drivable vehicle.
15. Killed 2 vehicles at once with the Target Locator in the 3rd mission.
16. Hijacked a Banshee during the Reach Campaign.
17. Killed the Elite Zealot before he escaped during the 5th mission.
18. Performed an Assassination against an Elite to survive a fall that would've been fatal.
19. Destroyed the Corvette's engines & escort in under 3 minutes in the 6th mission on Heroic or harder.
20. Finished the 9th mission on Legendary with the Scorpion intact.
21. Earned a Triple Kill while Jetpacking in Campaign, Firefight or Matchmaking.
22. Killed 7 Moa during the 2nd mission of the Campaign.
23. Killed 3 of the anti-aircraft batteries during the 8th mission.
24. Used a Health Pack to replenish life after taking body damage.
25. Performed an Assassination on an enemy.
26. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the M6G pistol.
27. Killed 10 enemies in a Firefight or Campaign session with the DMR.
28. Traded weapons with an AI ally in Campaign.
29. Killed 10 enemies in Firefight or Campaign with a supercombine explosion.
30. Let a teammate spawn on you 5 times in an Invasion Matchmaking game.
31. Earned a First Strike Medal in a Matchmaking game.
32. Won a game of Invasion in the 1st phase.
33. Earned a Killing Spree in multiplayer Matchmaking.
34. Earned a Killionaire medal in Firefight.
35. As an Elite, killed 5 Spartan players in Matchmaking.
36. Scored 15,000 points in Score Attack Firefight Matchmaking.
37. Scored 50,000 points in a Firefight game.
38. Scored 200,000 points in a Firefight game.
39. Scored 1,000,000 points in a Firefight game.
40. Completed a Firefight set on Legendary without dying.
41. Purchased an item from the Armory that required the rank of Lt. Colonel.
42. Reached the rank of Corporal in the UNSC.
43. Reached the rank of Captain in the UNSC.
44. Used the File Browser to upload a file to your File Share.
45. Completed all of the Daily Challenges in a given day.
46. Purchased an item from the Armory.
47. Recommended a file to someone.
48. Advanced a Commendation to a Silver state.
49. Completed a Weekly Challenge.
DLC Achievements
-The first DLC Noble Map Pack adds 3 maps with 7 Achievements worth 250 total points, as broken down below:
-Totally Worth It (50): Earn a Double Kill from the Grave in multiplayer Matchmaking.
-Both Barrels (50): Earn a Double Kill with the shotgun in multiplayer Matchmaking.
-Cross-Mappin' (50): Kill a player at long range with the DMR in a matchmade Slayer game.
-You Ate All the Chips (42): Collect all of the flags in a matchmade Stockpile game.
-You Blew It Up! (13): Blow up the research facility in a matchmade Invasion game on Breakpoint.
-Poppin' & Lockin' (25): Destroy a vehicle using Armor Lock in a matchmade game.
-Offensive Driver (20): Earn a kill in a matchmade Rocket Race game.
The new Bungie.net and Medals Last updated September 19th, 2010
Spoiler:
-Bungie.net has far more exhaustive options for Halo: Reach. You're now able to do things like:
*Filter K/D and other stats by Gametype (no more Griffball games wrecking Havoc on your Foundry map stats)
*View your progress on your Commendations, as well as the Daily and Weekly Challenges
*When you take screenshots, bnet is now able to identify every player that is in the screenshot, tag them Facebook style, and link you to their profile
*Will now only show medals in the medal chest that are available in that Gametype (i.e. no more Firefight-exclusive medals showing up in the Multiplayer Matchmaking medals area).
-A listing of all of the Medals in the game with descriptions can be found here.
Videos and Trailers Last updated November 5th, 2010
Updates and Thanks Last updated September 19th, 2010
Spoiler:
3/3 - Added actual info outside of some shitty Korean leaked video 5 minutes before leaving the house this morning.
3/7 - Added awesome trailer analysis video.
3/18 - Added articles about Matchmaking details
3/19 - More matchmaking details
3/21 - Update with Bungie Weekly update and Q&A tidbits
3/25 - Resembling an actual thread, also made a sandwich
3/28 - Small update based on this week's BWU
3/31 - Update from GI reveal on specifics regarding Load-outs, weapons and some gameplay changes.
4/17 - Massively updated OP through the G4TV Invasion reveal, segmented OP which allows for more info and pics without being a huge post.
4/18 - Massively updated OP again, resized pics, added categories; essentially everything we know to date is more or less in.
4/20 - Added Bnet stuff.
4/21 - Overhauled OP again based on huge embargo lifting, removed and condensed some things for much easier reading.
4/23 - Condensed OP further, added details on editions, added new ViDoc trailer and other info from 4/23 BWU
5/7 - Several updates with Beta impressions, added section for things Bungie has confirmed have/will be addressed for retail.
5/14 - General impressions and updates.
5/20 - Updated, largely removing things that were only Beta specific.
5/21 - Updated with some more particulars from BWU regarding Swordbase changes that will be made.
5/23 - Added release date.
5/25 - Added day 1/pre-order bonus.
6/3 - Updated Commendations and large list of Beta to Final changes
6/5 - Updated with new Commendations/Armory screens from BWU.
6/11 - Updated with pre-order helmet change, Elite customization options, confirmation of Infection/Safe Havens, added Last updated dates in categories.
6/19 - Complete overhaul of OP, Firefight added, Campaign added, Enemies added, most categories updated with new information.
7/2 - Added info from BWU regarding Visor Color, Medal Count, Launch Playlist details, Strategy guides
7/9 - Added info on Blood Gulch remake reveal, Hologram AA, Gamestop exclusive pre-order bonus, McFarland toys
7/13 - Added Achievement section and info, some minor toys and armory updates
7/17 - Added full armory details, more Achievements, Avatar Awards, Hologram image.
8/25 - Massive overhaul and update, OP setup and layout more or less final, only pending minor information and confirmations pending release of final game.
9/19 - Cleanup, added links to top of OP for Challenges and current Playlists.
11/5 - Some minor cleanup, removed Beta references, fleshed out DLC section
Fall of Reach was the best Halo book, so to experience some of those events in a game will be freaking awesome, even if it doesn't follow the book. Some of the additions I've seen so far (sprinting, reactive crosshairs, larger scale in battles) have looked really exciting, and I can't wait to play the campaign. New music should be sweet too.
There's nowhere I can't reach.
map car man words telling me to do things is currently Offline
You can get the HD version on the Live market place now.
I can just see the veto-rage against jet-pack matches already. "HAY GUYS, EVERYONE VETO, THIS IS GAY, I WANNA PLAY BR'S ON BLOOD GULTCH".
The set-pieces in ODST were pretty epic, even if the mincing around the city bit was slightly pointless so this has the capacity for a pretty great single player mode. I'm assuming the larger scale battles will work something like the Battlefront games with rolling spawns and AI characters, unless Bungie have managed to seriously tweak their net-code. Bigger battles would be cool though, I've still yet to experience an online FPS on console to match the fun of 50 player Frontlines matches.
Also, the assasination thing looks like a way to nerf the power of from-behind melee attacks by slowing them down, dressed up as a new feature.
This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.
Last edited by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss; Mar 3, 2010 at 07:31 PM.
Added a bunch of shit the OP, making it an actual OP. I'll probably try to actually keep this thing up to date and add some more shit when I have time in the next few days.
From the video of Headhunter and from the name, I'd guess it was a mode where you collect skulls for scoring headshots. Notice the guy gets plugged in the face before dropping a load of skulls so it would seem logical that you score skulls for getting headshots and lose them when you're killed by one. Perhaps with one team as the headhunters and the others trying to steal their skulls.
Also, agreed that the assasinations look like they can be done from the front. One of the first things you see in the video is a dude getting gut-punched. One of my major lacking Halo skills was the timing for melee attacks, I generally lose when going head to head with someone and closing to quick punch range so whether or not this will improve things for me will be interesting.
I was speaking idiomatically.
Last edited by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss; Mar 4, 2010 at 04:54 AM.
Time to finally buy ODST for the beta! Not sure how I feel about this though. I just hope to god it isn't a visual mess like Halo 3/ODST is when played in anything but 480p. I know bungie overhauled the engine but WE'LL SEE!
I'm hopefully about the main campaign part of Halo Reach, I think that could be very cool, though the multiplayer looks like it's just the current Halo 3 MP tweaked somewhat. I'm definitely down for giving it a go, and if there's a group of us it could be good fun, but Halo's multiplayer has never been as appealing to me as the core campaign parts.
Oh of course I will, I just don't necessarily know if it'll hold my attention for long once people start going back to playing other things just because I've never been into the Halo MP all that much.
Added a really, really good analysis trailer that pretty much covers all of the apparent changes and speculation, along with a couple of good catches I hadn't seen elsewhere (like the radar being 3D).
Oh of course I will, I just don't necessarily know if it'll hold my attention for long once people start going back to playing other things just because I've never been into the Halo MP all that much.
Go back to playing other things? MW2 was the first game to pass Halo 3 in terms of online games played on a month by month basis and I think Halo 3 came back out on top recently.
Unless youmean people here, in which case fair point.
This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.
You realize though that if all the speculation is true, because the Elites are completely different and much larger model wise, that you will likely ONLY be able to play as an Elite in that mode and if you're playing on the Elite side.
Bungie finally realized that the Elite population had to be sequestered off for their own protection, because they're so stupid.
They'll probably give Charlie invisibilty and that gay roll move from the video, leave the proper cool shit like flying around to the Spartans who can properly handle the awesome.
MASSIVELY updated OP with the Matchmaking details revealed today. Holy shit, if this stuff actually works it will be fucking amazing. In particular my two main problems with Halo 3 and why I stopped playing it was that you basically hit a brick wall with progression, and people on alt accounts destroying you. If what they're doing here can fix or at least alleviate that, holy shit.
Also the guy at Shacknews who's doing these articles posts at GAF and says more are coming tomorrow, and as a tidbit passed along that they're getting rid of push to talk, it's open mic across all gametypes/player counts now.
Does this mean no more fighting between Tails and Iwata about who is bringing the team down and how I'm not pulling my weight? Halo Reach Hype building, erection incoming.
Oh my god, some of those fixes are fucking genius. I absolutely adore the ideas they're presenting.
FANTASTIC.
Agreed. These are some brilliant ideas and sound like they could fix a lot of the problems with matchmaking systems. This now has me considerably more interested.
Does this mean no more fighting between Tails and Iwata about who is bringing the team down and how I'm not pulling my weight? Halo Reach Hype building, erection incoming.
Look. It's not my fault you probably played when you were high half the time and did bad. You are an awesome dude to chill and talk with, but when you sucked, you sucked and it was kinda frustrating.
We still bros though, but you gotta step your BR game up.
85239
35211
Similar Threads
SailorDaravon 
map car man words telling me to do things 
Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss 
OmagnusPrime 
russ 
Tails 
value tart 