Poll: Most Balanced Multiplayer - Halo: Reach vs Call of Duty: Black Ops

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

The two I'm referring to are Enhanced Vision and Smartlink, although I'm likely being too hard on EV.

I was normally Human: Glider + Wired Reflexes + Teleport but when someone on the other side starts using EV I always gave myself EV and let them think they were creeping up on me. Very satisfying. Smoke also blocked it so I guess I'm just whining about EV in all fairness. Still; the majority of matches I played had no opponents using it.

Smartlink though I'll maintain was overpowered. It's accuracy boost, auto-targetting and additional zoom level made it far too strong. Like EV it was a perk I didn't see many others using despite it's strength. I'll let minigun Trolls away with it though... and perhaps Dwarfs as they didn't have much going for them.

Damn it, now I want to play Shadowrun.

Hmm I never found Enhanced Vision to be particularly overpowered, it was rarely used (IMO) because it was a waste of money and magic slots. Seeing through walls isn't that much of an advantage when everyone knows you can and haven't wasted all their magic/tech/money.

Also I thought that Smartlink had its fair place, it didn't grant you that much of an advantage, with the money spent on Smartlink someone could easily have bought Smoke and counter any hope you had of using them.
Plus the laser eyes gave it away massively so no one could sit round a corner in double zoom waiting for an ambush.
Finally of course it used up valuable magic slots.

Elves could only really get away with around two of the techs(Wired Reflexes and Glider)... the others were a massive waste of magic points.

Plus my favourite class was Elf with Katana, Resurrect, Teleport and Wired Reflexes.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Oh god... this thread is just itching for flaming and hate. Though so far its been civil.

I find Reach to be more balanced of the two. Black Ops has way to many overpowered weapons/killstreaks and horrid spawning. At least with Reach I can spawn far away and not cheaply die. The only imbalance it has are the Banshee (needs its dodge and bomb nerfed) and the occasional players quitting.

 

[dementis]

Halo is definately more balanced, you may have the power weapons but they're in the middle of the map so everyone has a fair chance at getting them and they only have 2 clips tops, black ops lets you spawn with high explosive weapons and anti-material weapons every game.

 

[Udyrfrykte]

DoW2 was a funny one. I don't know how it is right now, but when I played it...

I've never played a more imbalanced game. Holy F, they really, really, really screwed up with the balancing. Remember unstoppable 'nids or the SM blob?
Oh, also when I could make wraithguards and simply just win games.

I'm sure Relic has come around to balancing it by now though. It's a shame that it took so long before they got off GFWL.

OT: I have nothing to contribute

 

[Vibhor]

I'd say counter strike.
I know its old and shit but I like the multiplayer where the player is not governed by some kind of variable.

 

[The Apothecarry]

OT: I have nothing to contribute

Not a problem. I'm just as open to any form of discussion as the next person.

 

[Professor Cubbage]

Halo Reach isn't that balanced in my opinion as the whole game revolves around the DMR. Then again CoD has always been unblanced so I'm gonna have to go with Bad Company 2.

 

[BlueSinbad]

Most FPSs are just bland shit copies of each other now...and they're never going to be completely balanced, 3rd-person shooters for the win!

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Reach is alot more balanced when it comes to weapons.

When you start a new match, all players are the same.
Its up to you to find better weapons.

with COD, once you unlock the best weapon, you can start every game with it. Meaning new people to the game dont have as much of a chance.

Spoiler: Edit I put this on most Halo vs COD posts

I greatly enjoy both games.
COD may be unbalanced, but that does not stop me having fun.
Halo may be unrealistic, but its still a great experince.
Halo vs COD does not need to continue, fan boys get over yourself and get a life.

 

[Calcium]

snip

Hmm I never found Enhanced Vision to be particularly overpowered, it was rarely used (IMO) because it was a waste of money and magic slots. Seeing through walls isn't that much of an advantage when everyone knows you can and haven't wasted all their magic/tech/money.

Also I thought that Smartlink had its fair place, it didn't grant you that much of an advantage, with the money spent on Smartlink someone could easily have bought Smoke and counter any hope you had of using them.
Plus the laser eyes gave it away massively so no one could sit round a corner in double zoom waiting for an ambush.
Finally of course it used up valuable magic slots.

Elves could only really get away with around two of the techs(Wired Reflexes and Glider)... the others were a massive waste of magic points.

Plus my favourite class was Elf with Katana, Resurrect, Teleport and Wired Reflexes.

For a human EV could be strong with the Human tech bonus but I'll admit that my dislike for it stems mainly from my plastyle of trying to flank with a katana. Really messes it up when they know you're sneaking up on them.

As for Smartlink, newer players would keep it on constantly but more experienced players would only activate it in battle. If it was truely constant it may have been more balanced. As for Smoke, it does counter it, but it slows magic regeneration. Also when used actively it'll set your speed somewhere between a Human and a Dwarf, but as the slower magic regneration cripples Dwarfs further, I only found it useful as a Troll (Full Magic Troll was my second favourite setup).

And JUST played my first game of Shadowrun in about 8 months or longer: Top of the match with 5600 points.

Also sorry for deviating so far from the topic OP. xD

 

[Dyp100]

Black Ops is extremely unbalanced. Loads of guns are either over powered (FAMAS, AK74u) or overpowered. (Almost all other weapons than assault rifles.)

It'd say go for Halo if you want balance, because with a game like CoD the developers really can't be arsed to change everything to not make things sucky. That's one good thing about Bungie, they let their prefences get in the way of good game design.

 

[WanderingFool]

I don't find Black Ops to be balanced,

But I don't find Halo to be fun.

So I'll stick with neither.

This, I find neither games MP to be that fun now. But I would say Halo Reach does seem a bit fair easier to balance than COD.

 

[Calcium]

Shadowrun...played it, but never got into it. Mostly because I got it so late (two plus years) that I figured I'd be dead in three steps. It was an interesting concept, indeed.

It does have a much larger learning curve compared to other FPS's, and with no single player I don't suppose it's very easy to learn without taking multiple massive beatings. I hadn't played it in so long as I thought I'd be rubbish, that it may be dead, and that it may lose it's nostalgia.

I only just played a match an hour ago though and it found 4 games; I was surprised it didn't take longer connecting but perhaps there's more Vista players than before.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

As for Smartlink, newer players would keep it on constantly but more experienced players would only activate it in battle. If it was truely constant it may have been more balanced. As for Smoke, it does counter it, but it slows magic regeneration. Also when used actively it'll set your speed somewhere between a Human and a Dwarf, but as the slower magic regneration cripples Dwarfs further, I only found it useful as a Troll (Full Magic Troll was my second favourite setup).

And JUST played my first game of Shadowrun in about 8 months or longer: Top of the match with 5600 points.

Also sorry for deviating so far from the topic OP. xD

Congratulations ;d I'd play Shadowrun however I sold it ages back D:

Also I found Smartlink ridiculously easy to counter, it was only really worth anything if you were a tech based Human or Troll with a Minigun.

Being an elf with Teleport, Smartlink could never keep up with me, even if they panned fast enough to keep shots on me for more than a split second then a quick jump and teleport would take me to safety anyhow.


Still I can see how Dwarves/Trolls/some Humans/people moving slowly could be taken down with Smartlink.

 

[Ziggy]

Black Ops is massively unbalanced. If you want a truly great online experience, go with Bad Company 2, Battlefield 2 or Battlefield: 2142.

in the Battlefield games it's more about teamwork then individual skill.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Call of Duty 4 on Hardcore is utterly balanced. End of.

This. That shit was more balanced than a spirit level.

OT: Black Ops, by far.
Ok, so the AK74u is overpowered. I have got mildly annoyed at it and it's users in the past.
But not nearly as much as I've got pissed off at Armour Lock.

I'd say Reach is more balanced, for different reasons.
Well... ehf... jg... Ok, so Black Ops was made in about two years. Halo Reach three.
Reach's zombies mode has (Or at least had on release) a shit-ton of camping spots, making games largely unfair and not very fun.
Playtesting wise, I'm annoyed at the way Bungie claimed to have playtested for ages, and upon release all sorts of exploits were found, like on that small one in Forge World (Not Pinnacle... it's floating above the water) there was that part where you could jump up to hard-to-get spots. Same with Reflection, and the other Forge World map with the arena in the centre and red and blue bits.

However, Black Ops has Nuketown. Which I, personally, can't stand. Kill 1-2 guys, die, respawn, repeat.

So in conclusion, I say they are both very balanced, but Halo: Reach's maps are worse and the game is overall more frustrating. For me anyways, as this is entirely just my opinion.

 

[mb16]

I voted halo. But i would say that "Battle field bad-company Vietnam" is the most balanced of the bad company games, which are already well balanced with choosing your own weapons at the start but with none being overpowered. But in Vietnam i find the vehicles are slightly weaker so it comes down to skill more if you can use the tank or the chopper.
Example: i was in a game and i had just jumped in the gunner seat of a chopper. Now we had a good pilot who knew that the guns did good damage, so he gave us good angles while still avoiding fire from the ground. We managed to last to almost the end of the game with out being shot-down and got around 50kills. Now this may seem like the chopper is overpowered, however in the same game when the chopper respawned and i jumped in the gunner again. But it was a different pilot and he tried to do the same but also did attack runs with the missiles which meant the gunners couldn't really aim, and as we were close to the enemy we were shot-down by light arms fire within a minuet.
(rambling story is rambling)

 

[Adam28]

Reach by far, as it is much more easier to find a balanced game in a balanced map.

Black ops has over powered weapons not available from the start.