Talk about what you would like to see in Halo 4 Grifball, and give your opinions on whatever information is revealed that may have an effect on Grifball in Halo 4.

I know there is a thread for Halo 4 in General Gaming, but this thread can be used for talks more specifically on the future of Grifball, and how it will be implemented in Halo 4.

Talk about settings, features, matchmaking, forge, standards, etc.

Ok, so the main reason I wanted to start this thread was talked about on Hubcast 101 very briefly.

Some people, moreso on the Halo Waypoint forums, seem to be misinterpreting the way instant respawn will function. Here is a quote from pg.49 of the Game Informer (May issue):
"...there's no delay on respawn after death; a tap on the X button sends you right back into the action."

If any of you have played Unreal Tournament or other shooters with the same instant respawn system, you will know that the mode only allows you to respawn as immediately as you allow yourself to (whenever you press the X button).

You won't be instantly respawning after death. You will respawn after pressing the X button. You may respawn immediately after death, if you choose to press the X button that quickly. The great thing about this is that AFKs will no longer be spawning on the map to offer free kills to the enemy. If a player has spawned, and is doing nothing but standing at their respawn point, you will know that they are at their controller and actually pressing the X button but refusing to contribute for their team (which is a waste of time).


Ok, so once I read that line about pressing the X button, I thought of some ideas on how this could help Grifball.

This could be one of the best new features to help improve Grifball. No longer will AFKs be of any problem, like the "Anti-Spawn Kill" map achieved. Furthermore, now players can choose when to spawn on the court. This will do what most alternate Grifball maps have tried to do - like my own and the "Anti-Spawn Kill" map, and that is offering respawning players the chance to spawn at the most opportunistic time to counter stat-padders. You can spawn within 1 second, or wait for 6 seconds... The best thing is that you will spawn on the court which does not interrupt a player trying to respawn and defend their goal as soon as possible.

One thing I would like to see, however, is something else Kal mentioned on the Hubcast. Being able to set a minimum for the respawn time would be fair for teams trying to make a legit offensive rush, but being met with an endless swarm of defenders. Setting a minimum respawn time of something like 2 or 3 seconds before players are allowed to tap X button would be great.

Finally, to end this long post, something else that would help Grifball without dramatically changing the fundamental basics would be allowing players to choose which respawn point to use.

With the ability to choose when and where to respawn on the court, stat-padding would be much more difficult. It would be the best system implemented for stopping stat-padding in Grifball, without any unnecessary changes to the aesthetics and map structure, but with the manipulation of the respawning system itself.

Hm, all this sounds really good, you have my approval :3

Reminds me about the spawnsystem in BF3, you choose when to deploy, but you still have to wait 3 seconds.

I can see a potential problem with the respawn system that you describe. I like the fact that we are trying to stop stat padding, but with allowing people to choose which spawn point and when if you time it right you could always spawn behind the carrier when he is running in to score. Doing this would allow the player to quickly turn and assassinate the carrier. This would lead to endless games where people choose to respawn at the optimal moment to stop the runner every time.

Since it is confirmed that the respawn will be "push certain button to respawn," I believe the best thing would, if possible, force a wait time of three seconds with the random spawn point just as it is now in Reach and how it was in Halo 3.

Oh good there is a thread about Halo 4. I have a concern that if there is not a way to disable the sprint function then Vanilla Grifball will never be the same again and I might lose interest. Do you all think it will be able to be disabled?

They do say sprint will always be on, so I'm really not sure.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. How would you be able to always spawn behind a carrier (and turn and assassinate the carrier?)

Players have always been spawning at 1 of 4 locations on their team side. That would not change. You wouldn't be spawning behind the carrier... And also, if you somehow spawned behind a carrier, you wouldn't need to turn and assassinate them because you're already behind them.

Your paragraph was a bit confusing, and I'm having a hard time understanding what you're trying to say. Please explain

My system would just let players choose 1 of the 4 respawn points and maybe even the direction they faced (like invasion). That kind of thing probably won't happen in Halo 4, but choosing when to spawn may be an option. And with that, you will spawn randomly on 1 of 4 respawn points, but at whichever time you want to.

I'm not sure if what you're trying to say is, maybe I could spawn right before the runner is about to run in and assassinate him/her then. It would require great timing, and it may just be too late if you were to wait that long. The best thing for the runner to do would be to run down the middle to score in that case. But, if the runner was unfortunate enough to run for the score on the side and cross your path, you may be lucky (if you spawn on the correct respawn or were able to choose). Even then, if you did get a beat down or assassination, you're going to need to prevent the tanks from "cleaning up" and planting the bomb themselves.

It's an interesting twist to the respawn system, especially if we could actually choose which respawn point to use and the direction we face. I'm not sure which options will be available in Halo 4 or future Halos, but it would definitely require some playtesting to see how significantly it actually changes the gameplay and strategies. I would imagine it would definitely mix some things up, but it may be one of the less intrusive changes to how we play Grifball.


One cool thing to prevent players from being very picky with "when" they spawn would be to a have a timer that resets with a "cooldown" thing.

So, say the "minimum wait time" is 2 seconds.
I die, and after 2 seconds I am allowed to respawn with X button.
But, I wait until 4, 5, 6 seconds... and so on, still waiting. After maybe 10 seconds, the timer resets with a "minimum wait time" of 2 seconds again. So then, I am allowed to respawn again at 13 seconds and up until the 20th second, and so on.
It would be neat to be able to set the "initial" "minimum wait time" and the "new reset" "minimum wait time" so that maybe we would need to wait 3 seconds first, and then there would be 1 or 2 second gaps after each reset. And hey, maybe being able to change when the respawn timer resets would be great, so rather than every 10 seconds, it could be every 15 seconds with a 2 second wait time or ever 6 seconds with a 1 second wait time.

That may be able to help prevent any abuse or exploits or "cheap" defensive strategies. Also, AFKs would still not respawn if they don't press X.

This is what I was trying to say, sorry for the confusion. One thing that I personally like about Grifball is the spontaneity and randomness that occurs on the court. I feel like if people would be able to choose their spawn point and direction, some of the fun and great moments that occur due to random and chaotic spawns would be sucked dry.

Some of the clutches stops or embarrassing moments can come from the last defender when he/she spawns. I know I've spawned when the opposing runner is coming in and turned the wrong direction hoping to stop them. I've also had times where I've spawned and turned in the direction of the runner and got that line stop. I believe the random spawns (what is currently in Reach and Halo 3) keep players more on their toes.

tl;dr version: Random, chaotic spawns > choosing where and which direction you spawn.

This is all my opinion.

You have a good point Lambchop and I have to agree with you

If I had super-duper control of a grifball variant, in my opinion, I think it would be best to have a minimum initial waiting time of 3 seconds (like default grifball) with the ability to press X afterwards whenever you want, and maybe implement additional waiting times of 1or2 seconds after each 10 second interval. Holding X 1 sec before the initial waiting time of 3 seconds would confirm you want to spawn immediately at 3 seconds.

I would only allow players to choose where to respawn after some kind of smart system and algorithm determined stat-padding or extensive spawn killing was taking place in the team zone for a long enough time. That would allow people who are being spawn-trapped and stat-padded on to choose where to respawn and hopefully stop it. That kind of freedom would be limited to those situations only, and they would be gone after the team has recovered. It would be difficult to implement in code, lol. Still, I'm not sure if it would be necessary. The ability to choose when to respawn after 3 seconds might just be enough to surprise and kill the stat-padders.

^ Sorry for the walls of text, they're just ramblings and thoughts on trying to find ways to improve Grifball with super-duper developer tools and stuff...



Moving on!

I can't wait to see what Forge is going to be like in Halo 4. Two things I am most interested in finding out are what objects we will be able to use, plus what new features will be added, if any.

I don't really see 343i adding alternate textures or colour skins to objects, but I do see them adding a feature like the "Physics" option in Halo: Reach. Something that will help us Forge even faster or better.

I have some ideas for maps I want to make for Halo 4, more specifically for Grifball. I can't wait to find out what the standard dimensions are going to be.

I was never part of the early days of Grifball in Halo: Reach, so I hope to participate in some of the early testing in Grifball variants and maps for Halo 4

Aerial Grifball, you say? Maybe some Jump Pack will be hanging around still? or Hand-Egg!?

Maybe a new melee weapon?
Jackal shield anyone =0.

Yes, I really hope that 343 brings back the options that made those gametypes possible. Especially for Hand Egg.
I also wouldn't mind seeing something, whether be built into the game by 343i or brainstormed by the community, to cut down on stat-padding. No idea if it'll happen or not, but one can dream right?

I found something very interesting while looking at the War Games Gameplay video on my little netbook.
What do you guys think of these 2 images. Do you see a Gravity Hammer or could it be something else?
Forgive me for the image quality. My netbook isn't great at watching 720p videos, so if anyone else can get a better capture I would appreciate it.


1:42


1:21


My second point that I would like you guys to consider and discuss is: What weapon revealed so far in Halo 4 may be the best replacement for a Gravity Hammer in Grifball?
My personal opinion would be the Scattershot from an experience I had playing Grifball with shotguns and grenades in one of GrifballHub's playdate events with Kal. I actually enjoyed using the shotgun, and so a combination of the Scattershot and Energy Sword may be able to work. However, like everyone else here in the hub, I hope the Gravity Hammer returns, and I wonder if my 2 images above may have been our first glimpses at the Gravity Hammer, or a very similar weapon, or something completely different.

Tell me what you guys think.

If that's not a gravity hammer, then I don't know what else it could be. It just screams big smashy hammer thing to me.

1st image might be from the hog. It looks like the gun.

kinda funny how unless they put in the 3 second wait to respawn it will destroy grifball but all anybody can interpid is "oh it stops stat padders hur dur" i am serisouly loosing faith here.