In my time playing this game for the last two weeks, I've had a number of issues with lag and a confusing lack of team support. I've found that players need to communicate far more in this game than they have in any other Halo I've played before. Yes, some of that is learning the layouts and flow of maps. However, I have uncovered an alarming issue: the teammate firing/under-fire indicators are gone in this game.

I wrote a thread in Halo Reach called Awareness 101: On-Screen Arrows in an attempt to encourage players to use the teammate indicators to help with their teamshooting. While I've been playing Halo 4, I've had a weird feeling that my awareness is off and the awareness of everyone else is off. I think the loss of these arrows is at the heart of it. In Halo 4, you either need to respond immediately to a callout about something happening, or you need to hear or see something happening to react to it. This alarms me.

So here's the indicators we don't have for teammates beyond the arrows that used to appear on the side of the screen:

• No flashing waypoint when a teammate is firing
• No flashing waypoint when a teammate is taking damage

Here's the one thing we do get:

• Teammate's waypoint flashes constantly when their shields are down.

EDIT: Mice reminded me that we don't really get Red-X waypoints for dead teammates anymore either. Instead, we only get a yellow X on our radar letting us know that someone died near us.

I think if we're going to utilize teamshot in Halo 4, we're going to need to be much more conscious of our teammates. We're going to have to pay attention to each other, watch each other, and communicate more efficiently.

To compare, it feels like we're playing MLG in a lot of ways. Even if we know where everyone is, some of the basic awareness tools we've unconsciously relied on for years are now gone.

EDIT: Luv Gunn made a video about this:

I had noticed that my map awareness was way off in H4, I attributed it to the loss of the battle -buddy system as well as the loss of indicators. Feel like I'm flyin blind when I play in parties currently.

Yep. It's real rough for us Deaf Halo players/veterans.

Actually, when a teammate is under fire, I think their tag flashes red. Yeah, it's not as helpful as past HUDs have been, but I'm not too upset about it, especially if it means team shooting will be less prevalent. Serious team shooting ruins matchmaking for everyone without a full party. It's no fun to play against

The radar is also too cluttered IMO. It's fine with a full screen, but it's impossible to read while playing split-screen. Split-screen in general is horrible now. Visibility is much lower and the frame rate drops on some maps

This is where callouts will be VERY helpful, as that will indicate not just enemy positions but where allies are looking on the map.

Storm 0ne wrote:

Serious team shooting ruins matchmaking for everyone without a full party. It's no fun to play against

i lol'd

This is SO frustrating... I'm constantly looking for "Red X's) or calling out to mine and its no longer readily visible. OBVIOUSLY, if I didn't suck that would be the number 1 option but I can't change that now...

Also, the press x to respawn feature makes it even MORE difficult to locate 1-shot enemies, power weapons, etc. All of this can be overcome with communication and teamwork but its definitely something we'll have to relearn and WORK to accomplish. Perhaps a more rigorous devotion to traveling in twos is the easiest answer?

Gorillars wrote:

Storm 0ne wrote:

Serious team shooting ruins matchmaking for everyone without a full party. It's no fun to play against

i lol'd

It's the truth. I love teamwork, but small party sizes and large ones don't belong in the same BTB playlist

I wonder why they removed the red X's. That was the most ubiquitous callout of all time

I've been noticed a lot more tunnel vision from players due to these changes, communication is going to even more important.

Also trueskill works too well now, no more mongoose derpin.

when playing with randoms in slayer, running off and dying seems to be a general trait.

The only success i've had when playing this solo is to (as is obvious) stick to my fellow randominians like a dog in heat on their leg.

Zer0 wrote:

stick to my fellow randominians like a dog in heat on their leg.

Honestly the Death of Mic Use in Halo for the last 2 games is killing me...

In Halo 3, you were made fun of for not having a mic... People would send me messages calling me many various sexual/racial slurs if I went into a game without a mic to call out locations or at least let them know how many were "On My X"

Then Reach came out... and the world went silent... Folks either wouldn't have a mic at all, or they'd be a solo player in Party Chat with guys that aren't even playing the same game.

And so far, It seems this is the same in Halo 4. I agree though, in Halo 4, Communication and teamwork is more important than ever... I'm hoping as the months and weeks go on, That most players will realize this and begin to be on mic, even when running solo.

Sarge wrote:

EDIT: Mice reminded me that we don't really get Red-X waypoints for dead teammates anymore either.

Hey I was talking to you about this awhile ago!

With the instant respawn in most gametypes, there's been less of a focus on observing how I died. I find i'm no longer taking 2-3 seconds in respawn to assess what I did wrong or what I could have done better and callout something while I wasn't focused on playing at that immediate moment.

Made a quick vid about this... be sure to put it in the OP Sarge.

Worth noting also is the fact that Halo 4's maps seem especially circular in nature. Not in their shape, but in their flow. If you face one direction for a line of sight you almost certainly leave yourself open to fire from two or three other lines, usually with one directly opposite the one you're facing.

Most shooter maps are designed to avoid giving you too much of an advantage in one location or another, but Halo 4 maps boast so many ways to access each location (and things like promethean vision which keep you from going unnoticed) that even an omniscient player would still get dead once or twice on average.

Combine that with Halo: Reach's slower gun play where you cannot safely go from one fight to the next, and you are basically guaranteed to be flanked and to suffer a lot when it happens. It still takes 5 shots to kill people, which is one shot closer to a reload and an enemy respawn.

You leave every fight hurting a little, reloading, and often someone else is on their way to fight you before you've finished your first fight. They can also do it from more directions, and in the absence of team combat indicators they have no sense of where the action is except where they died last.

Finally, as Cheeseball mentioned, you can respawn faster than ever. No one stays dead for any consequential length of time.

You wouldn't go towards 3 red X's when you were on a 4 man team before, but now you don't know what you're getting into until you're into it. You DO know where you died last, and you know a great way to flank the bastard who killed you...

The cycle continues. It's hard to keep a sense of map awareness when everything is designed to bring the fight back to you before you have time to think. That's what most people enjoy; that's what they gave us.

Overall I don't mind, this early in the game's life I can barely think while playing anyway. Thinking is what you do when you're more comfortable and experienced. I DO miss my team indicators though, dead people can't tell you when they're dead or what killed them, but it's still really nice to know.