Controller Setup

Myth: The higher look sensitivity you have, the better player you are.
Myth: Default config is best.

Ill get look sensitivity out of the way.  It is dang hard to snipe with look sensitivity 10.  A lot of the pros stay between 3-5.  Do what feels best for you.

Regarding controller configuration, what is best is not what is common; what is best is what suits your play style best.  All configurations have advantages and disadvantages.  Take a look at my sig:

Look at my medals.  You can tell right away what type of player I am.
I have a pretty unique controller setup (in that I rarely hear of others that have the same type).
I run a Legacy Boxer setup with inverted look and inverted flight controls - look sensitivity 5.
I dabbled at 7, but it was too much.
Let me break it down a bit:
- Legacy -
I grew up on consoles, not PC games.  I played my N64 to death (and still do); moreover, I played Goldeneye 007 with friends to death.

To run forward, you used the analog stick (center) and used it to turn left or right.
To strafe, you used the left and right "C buttons" (Buttons 5,3 in figure) and to look up and down you used the top and bottom C buttons (6,2).  I had a PS, but didnt get a PS2 or xbox right away. My AWESOME wife bought me an xbox Christmas before last with Halo 2, but I had been playing LAN Halo 1 for a while already (and was pretty good for having not owned one).  My N64 play style (Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok) translated well to Haloin the form of the Legacy controller setup.  Enough backstory.

Legacy is good if you have a similar gaming background.  It fits me just fine, and with my slightly higher look sensitivity I can dance circles around most people.
Legacy is bad if you are accustomed to Default.  Default is killer for me because if, say, I want to circle strafe to my right (while turning to the left) I would press my thumbsticks outward on Legacy. To do this on Default, you would press them inward.  Halo 1 was difficult for me to pick up if someone quit midgame and I got the controller, especially since my look inversion was enabled also... I flat out sucked unless I could create my guy ahead of time.  Luckily H2 lets you change mid-game if need be. Good job Bungie.
If you are reading this and you think you are a lesser skilled player compared to most, you may want to toy with Legacy.  It may come naturally to you (apart from breaking the habitual tendencies you have from playing Default to date) and, in time, allow you to react quicker than your enemy since it (potentially) feels more natural.  Ignoring lag, those milliseconds of instinctual reaction time could make a big difference in the long run.

Now for the biggie:
- Boxer -
The "secret to my success" is running a Boxer setup.  Look at my medals: at the time of this posting, I have 1,061 beatdowns and 444 assassinations.  Most "Defaulters" highest medal count is sniping.  You can obviously see the difference it makes.  I am a good all-around fighter, but I love to beatdown.  If you dont know, Boxer setup switches the Grenade and Melee buttons on the controller.  You can tell from my sticky medals that I dont grenade as much as say, DedJeLoC and some other players.  But think about it:  Sticking people is hard, and you will have MANY more opportunities to melee an opponent than stick them.  If you are a lesser skilled player, give boxer a try in some of the custom games you play, and see if you find yourself getting more beatdown kills.  Think about button combos.   For the Default person, they have to press BXB for the double melee.  I on the other hand press LXL, which I would bet I can do faster than they can.  Further, because of my legacy setup, I can still have full control over my movement; at most I lose the ability to strafe if im pressing X for that split second.  For the Defaulter, they lose their ability to turn since their right thumb is BXBing.  So, Boxer coupled with Legacy allows me to get a LOT of kills via melees.
The biggest downside to Legacy Boxer is that when dual weilding, since L is my left gun, I cant melee immediately.  So in a game of Dual Weapons, I get beat down more since the Defaulter can simply press B to drop and hit me, whereas I have to hit Y to drop my weapon then hit L; otherwise, hitting L just shoots more bullets.

All in all though, I think this setup is great, and recommend it to anyone looking to try something new, especially if you feel youve reached your peak and are still not as good as youd like to be.
Good luck.  See you on Live,
- Meef -

Posted by SweetMeef @ 6:16 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

"Had a Bad Day" - Pet Peeve

Dear Daniel Powder,

The words "most" and "lost," though they both end in "ost," in fact, do not rhyme.
That is all.

Posted by SweetMeef @ 9:57 pm EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments

Dang IE

I just spent 30 minutes typing up a detailed blog entry...  This one was even related to H2.

In the course of creating this entry for the edification and benefit of my fellow 2o2pers, I cleared the temporary internet files and cookies in IE.  Still had the blog post window open though.

When I hit submit entry... nothin.

No new entry... grrr.

When I hit the Back button, it took me back to the main blog page... grrr.

So there went 30 minutes down the drain, and now I dont feel like re-typing it.

Maybe another time.  Sorry guys.

Posted by SweetMeef @ 10:31 am EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

"Customer Service"

Posted by SweetMeef @ 3:43 pm EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments

Graduation

Posted by SweetMeef @ 10:24 am EDT | Permalink | 3 Comments