Supporting the Sniper

Another great strategy link: http://nikon.bungie.org/gameplay/stratguide/

Today, I'm writing a little about supporting a slayer that is a spider or hawk. If your slayer is the type that likes to wait for opportunities, you’re in luck. This is a great strategy especially if you have the lead. It forces the opposition to attack on your turf and they often do so in predictable ways. Your job is to keep them coming. Poke your head around a corner and take a shot or two to lure your enemy into a trap. Save your grenade instead of throwing it straight at them. Remember, you’re not the best slayer, your teammate has a better chance at finishing them. Instead, time that grenade to land just as they round the corner as they pass it. They will have passed the point of no return and won’t have the shields to fend off your slayer’s snipe body shots. If the enemy avoids your grenade by jumping, they are as good as dead. Jumping puts a player on a predictable path that a good sniper can easily hit.

The same general strategy will work if your slayer has sword or shotty. You can bait players into following you. Make sure you call out "Sword, two on my tail". This situation usually doesn't last long because a good team will avoid a shotty trap by grenade spamming enclosed spaces. Be aware that you may only get a few kills before the enemy changes its strategy. Keep some distance from your camping teammate so that you don't become a double kill.

If the enemy is aggressive and travels in packs, you’ll need to stay a little closer to your slayer. Protect his flank to keep him alive. Compensate for the slayer’s weapon set. If he has snipe and BR, perhaps he’s not bright, but if he’s got good aim you shouldn’t complain. Grab a mauler or shotty to take care of anyone that gets too close. Your goal is still to "not die" but you'll have some tough decisions to make when the enemy rushes in. Sometimes you'll have to leave your slayer to fend for himself, sometimes you'll have to take one for the team to keep him alive.

Even though you’re playing a support role, you can still lead the team. Tell your teammates what you’re doing and always communicate enemy positions as you see them. If you’re playing on Narrows, always call out dots you see above or below you and especially enemies coming through the man cannon trying to flank you. If other players keep rushing the enemy and disturbing your trap, tell them to back off or ask them to cover a different flank. Most other players will listen to direction if you just politely give some.

Feeding kills to your other players is difficult to do. They need to know what you’re doing so they can be ready and you need to be selfless enough to give up the kills. Its tempting to just try and finish off enemies yourself but remember, your goal is to “not die”. Once again, this is a mindset change. A support player doesn't just shoot at the same spot as the slayer, a support player can create targets for the two of you to shoot at. Kills will come as you finish off enemies with one shot in them. The longer your alive, the less you’re in respawn and the more opportunities you’ll have.

Posted by hubristes @ 10:28 am EDT | Permalink | 0 Comments

The Begining, a change in mindset.

So you get a team of 4 and decide to venture in the MM ghetto… haxorz heaven, timmy town, team slayer. That means you’re either going to have a great night of pwnage or another lesson in corpse acceleration as you become frazzled by your negative K/D and launch rockets into the backs of your teammates. For many of us, how the night goes will depend on the teammates we have. If they’re awesome, you’ll be on a winning team. If not, well perhaps you should head into customs.

If that sounds accurate to you, you’re probably a “support player”. That means you run around following other players hoping to help them and praying they protect you. Maybe you take a different approach and try to play as a “spider.” Actually, you’re probably just hiding with a shotgun more than you’re trying to trap someone with it. That’s all okay, but I know from experience that it isn’t fun to feel like you’re not contributing enough to the team.

Here was my first goal: Suck less. Serious. I set out to try and suck less. Vague enough? Well, that will mean different things to different people but the point is that I decided that before I could be considered good or positive, I would need to stop being bad or negative. It’s a mindset. As with any goal, its good to have metrics to measure yourself against. Mine was the K/D ratio. I thought that there was only so much I could do about my killing skills, but knew I usually had a lot of stupid deaths I could prevent during a game. That’s what I worked on: Not dying. It sounds obvious and oversimplified, but it is completely changing my play style.

When I go into battle, I don’t think “how can I kill these sombitches?” I think “How can I have a shot at these sombitches and stay alive”. The first thing I do at spawn is grab a BR or Carbine and stickies. Spike grenades or stickies are a support player’s best friend. The ‘nade/BR combo is awesome for slayers, but a sticky will get a support player out of trouble and that’s our primary goal. Human grenades bounce and roll which makes them harder to place. If you’re being attacked or chased, a less skilled player can easily throw a stickie at a doorway to cover an escape or even get a kill at close range. The BR is a difficult weapon to master, but a must for support players. You may not have the reflexes or map knowledge to be effective at close range. Close range for a mediocre player is at best, a break even tactic. At worst, you spend the game watching your enemy’s crotch bounce off your helmet. You need to keep battles at a distance so that you can escape when need be. Best tips for the BR: Aim for the neck, and just barely lead targets at a distance.

So, the first thing I concentrated on was finding stickies and ranged weapons at spawn. After that, I concentrated on not dying. When I first started working on this, I would get killed looking for weapons. Eventually, you learn where they are and how to get them so that’s not a huge problem anymore. As for my “not dying”, at first I was going very negative with my K/D; the opposite of my goal. I spent too much time hiding. When I say "hide", I don't mean find a corner and assume the fetal position. I mean shooting from behind cover and running after taking hits. Anyway, at first I’d fire on someone, take some hits, turn around, get surprised and then waxed... -1. Very frustrating. However, that rough period has paid off. Now, I know where to escape to and when to do it. More on that and how it helps me kill stupid timmies later.

Disclaimer: I’m still not a “good” player so all of my tips should be taken with a healthy dose of salt. That being said, I’ve enjoyed some success in the last few months and I’m writing about what has helped me.

EDIT: I just figured I should post a link to some of my inspiration : www.2old2play.com/Blog/Fetal
I don't think I've plagiarized anything but there's probably some definite parallels. Imitation is the highest complement, right?

Posted by hubristes @ 11:37 am EDT | Permalink | 5 Comments

The jockstrap of 2old2playHALO

I had a fantastic run last weekend.  I won 11 of 13 slayer matches and ranked up from a 21 to a 27.  Then, I stank it up for a couple games with Disk8 (sorry).  I'm blaming that on not being warmed up.  Later, I played another 6 or so games with randoms and flipped between 27 and 28 for my rank.  I went positive on those last games, but my team of randoms didn't always.

Anyway, I've been a inspired to get my star.  Actually, I don't care about rank, but its a milestone I have been inspired to deserve.  In pursuit of that goal, I've been looking at improving my mental game.  I'm re-reading the guides by Fetal and Overswarm.  Here's where the blog comes in.  I'm collecting ideas and strategies and I find that writing about them helps me think about them later.  I think I'll put them here in my blog because I post whore enough in the forums and blog entries create more member points (that's good, right?).  I'm not cocky enough to think that I'll actually be presenting game changing ideas for others to follow.  Actually, I hope that I get some critiques and ways to improve more.  When I get a solid base of strategies, perhaps I'll post them in the forums for all to enjoy or flame as folks see fit.  I'll call it "The Jockstrap of Halo, a support player's strategy guide"

The term "support player" gets thrown around a lot but it usually just means "weak player".  I know that's not what it really means but in reality that's what it becomes.  This last weekend I had the chance to play as lead slayer, support player, and something in between with different teams.  I normally play as support, and through those recent games I realized just how important the role is.  When I played as lead slayer, I listened closely to my teammates.  They called out enemy positions and team shot so I was able to rack up some kills.  We beat better slayers by working together.  Then, I happened to party up with a couple great slayers and played some of my finest support games ever.  One guy was awesome with the snipe and I continually baited the enemy into his sights.  It was beautiful.  Later, I had a third team that was well balanced. None of us got a ton of kills but we truly won as a team because we listened and communicated. Three different situations that all resulted in wins.

A lot of the info I’m collecting is detailed but still missing something.  It's mostly old news, but I'm trying to tailor it for the support player.  For me, really.  Many guides and strategies assume that you have a team that works together often.  Sure, that's the best way to win but it’s just not practical for many of us older gamers.  I play often but even I have trouble maintaining a schedule.  So, how does an average player pwn in team slayer without a regular team to play and practice with?  Hopefully, I’ll find out.  If you have any links to good guides, please comment.  If you post tips, expect me to copy them and put them in future blogs.  Thanks!

So, here's obvious but important tip #1:  Get warmed up.  Starting off with a couple very negative K/D games puts you in catch-up mode which is never a good mindset.  From now on I'll be headed into social slayer or BTB before working on my rank.

Posted by hubristes @ 6:25 pm EDT | Permalink | 2 Comments

Double What?

Double What?

That's a phrase that our clan is known to utter frequently. It was started perhaps by one of our village idiots (not an insult, you'd have to know them), but more likely by the mysterious spirit of the game we have come to love. What does it mean? Technically, in Halo it means that two kills were accomplished within 4 seconds of each other. No small feat in a game of constant action and frenzied attacks. However, the technical definition doesn't sufficiently convey what just happened. You just got pwned. I just killed you more than you killed me. In your current state, maybe watching your corpse being tbagged into oblivion, you are likely still unaware of the shear gravity of what just happened so we'll explain it to you, but more on that later...

This is a proud day for me. I have climbed from the depths of sucktitude into the glorious halls of mediocrity. No longer, shall I be the heavy weight that drags your team to the lower half of the scoreboard. Nevermore, shall I turn the other cheek when I hear "Noob!" shouted in description of my skill. Nay! With grenade and BR I shall pwn those beotches that hold the flag I need for some unknown reason! With mauler and shottie I shall protect the base I am randomly assigned to! Tell it loud, tell it clear; to the timmies and the nelsons to come; if you are blessed with a kill by the chaos theory based melee system when faced against Hubristic... he will kill you back.

That's right folks, I now have a K/D of 1.00 in Social. It has never felt so good to be so average. Its been a long hard road for me. When I started with the clan almost exactly a year ago I didn't really know what I was getting into. With help from folks like Malinko, who gave actual classes, I was able to improve to a K/D of 0.78 in H2. I started Halo3 with almost the same ratio but without the haxor mf-ers I was able to properly grow as a player. My clanmates would post strategies and I would read. They would call out attacks in game and I would listen. They would pwn and I would watch. I learned that teamwork wins. I learned that knowing yourself is as important as anticipating the enemy. I remembered that grenades are f-ing awesome. I'd also like to give a shout out to my favorite strategies: Covert Tactical Placement, Superior Weapon Monopolization, Calculated Termination Procurement and Follow the Level Forty Guy.

My first blog post here was after one of my first double kills in Halo2. That double kill is what inspired me to search for 2old2play.com and helped me find the 2old2playHalo clan. Eighty-six of those medals in H3 have helped me reach my K/D ratio milestone. Its been barely over a year that I've been on 2o2p so with this momentous achievement coinciding with my clan anniversary I thought another blog was in order to mark the occasion. One year later and I still haven't #@$% with any amish donkeys, Timmy. I did that with your mom. Twice.

Thank you 2old2play, thank you 2old2playHALO and thank you Double Kill, my favorite medal.

Double What?
Double Kill, Bitches.

(I also have a K/D of 1.00 in Ranked TS. The other crap shouldn't count, right?)

Posted by hubristes @ 4:44 pm EDT | Permalink | 11 Comments

2old2playHALO needs your vote!

Our clan entered a video over at the HBO contest for "Best Halo 3 Beta Montage". The montage is composed of all sorts of footage captured by our clan during the Halo3 Beta. Our video made it into the top 7!

Long story short, yeah if it wins, we will win a Zune media player. But, more importantly if we win, Jonny12guage will be able to submit another version of the video with credits (you were not supposed to have credits because you would then have been disqualified). Submitting a version with credits would ultimately plug 2old2play.com

Winners will be picked on June 25, and HBO would host the video until September 25!

VOTE HERE, VOTE NOW!

Our video filename is M11.

Thanks in advance to anyone who will vote!

Posted by hubristes @ 9:12 am EDT | Permalink | 1 Comments