if any one reads this page help meee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just got the auto update and it now takes about two min. to get into my friends list has this happened to anyone else. if so post how to fix plzzz. i need to play normal

Nice Job Judge!! :) I understand what you mean. Bungie must not have been thinking!! GIVE US A COUNTER-PATCH NOW BUNGIE!!!

Yes lag is heavily increased as predicted, I have so far seen no standby, but well, many glitches are stil being taken advantage of. Zanzibar super jump, Burial mounds super jump and a few others still exist and was dissappointed to see they did not get fixed, perhaps in the next update?

....I had helped DarkZero a little with his rant...but never had the chance to write mine until i got home. Anyway i got about 10 players of my friends list that are already quitting Halo 2 for good...on live anyway. We found that deleting all of your halo 2 files on your memory wipes the download completely....so it lets you freely keep it the way it was. Meaning that playing halo 2 system link without the update is above and beyond xbox live's updated version. A few things changed that needed too.....flag bouncing. glitches, stand-by...or at least thought to be...and a few other great things. Although some things were told to gamers through bungie a week ago or so that other changes would be added like changes to grenades, dualing, brute-shot, meleeing.....seemed good at the time, but wtf? Too many people forgot to realize that about 90% of gamers BIGGEST problem was the cheaters and stand-byers. Ok so bungie made a patch to fix it.....good keep it that way.....although i dont remember anyone ever having too much problems with dual wielding, or grenades, or melee's.....at least the only people who did complain was those who couldn't counter it or couldn't find a way around it... Now playing halo 1 was good, it was different and fun, but after playing it for 3 years like myself there was a need for a change...something to have the same feel, but not the exact same. Halo 2 was the change...except the stand-by, but we knew it was going to be fixed and playing halo 2 the way it was supposed to be played was coming. Now think about those all these people everywhere that play halo and tell em that they weren't noobs to begin with.... so why change it? Why make it so that the pro's and veteran gamers that took time to improve skills over the endless years to be better then what they began with, were to only be shot down by unskilled noobs to halo. Thats what this update really does and everyone knows it.....i do however see a few changes that make sense such as the brute shot, and melee hits (but is way too strong than it should be). However when you make an update to make the game somewhat like its predecessor is pure stupidity, why then would millions or even billions of people wait three years for the same damn game? Halo 2 had to be the best game for xbox live because it's multiplayer was good, and because it was NEW, and had more things to do and more things that changed the way you played. Dual wielding changed the fact that meeting a person one-on -one would give you the upper hand because you had 2 weapons....let me say that again 2 weapons. Now what happens when you dual wield against a single wielder? You...by common sense and physics...should beat your opponent because you fire off more bullets and fire power then they do. Now to avoid that situation you should automatically know to stay a distance well beyond there range so that they dont gun you down faster, because most of the time you should see there are dualing. Theres a counter for each, and makes it plenty enough to deal with. But making dualing weaker is like having players go back to the single dualing on halo 1 using AR's on each other and seeing who has better luck. Basically the update "fixed" dual wielding by making it only a misc. thing to do....just so holding a second weapon might be cool. WOW and to think that one might want to use duals to get an advantage?...nope cuz everyone likes to just watch the master chief/elite use duals for no reason..(much sarcasm involved) Secondly the grenades....i have no problem with them in the first halo, ask anyone of my buds im sure they'll tell you i was a frag wizard. Well along with the new game of halo 2 i had to change the way i threw them. They only went half as far and it was hell to get it to aim right again. Regardless i wanted frags to be instant kill, but more over i wanted to challenge myself then just frag killing.... i wanted to force myself to use other things, other weapons, so that i could be a balanced player knowing how to use every weapon on the game. But as far as i can see, after the AU you can go online and just press the left trigger all you want at the exact right times to kill someone, you dont even have to fire a bullet off. Now when you state that you should be able to "see" grenades come at you and be able to dodge them thats called impossible. Period. There is no way you can play halo for ever and not get caught of guard by a grenade. Think about a player that sits-tight around corner and then throws one right at your feet? Being that they got the surprise shouldn't you get the chance to at least try and survive or run away to recharge shields? Yea i think so. Even i think a frag death is a little cheap for having high-tech armor such as the master chiefs....and grenades did just fine for me by wounding opponents, not killing them. Cuz a person could kill you still, but the grenade you last got off could be a way for you teammates to get the point back. Games seem to be more of luck know then ever, why should those that gained exp. and be better than others be punished by losing all they have accomplished over the few years of playing. Why should soo much skill go to waste? I played halo so that i could end up being ranked to people of my skill, and then trying to find ways of out-doing them and getting even better, challenging myself yet again i state. But all i see know is that my skill is out the window and i rank the same as everyone else in the world at this game. Everyone that plays now has a chance of beating anyone else. Sure there are other factors involved within winning games but heres an example: I spent all night on April 16th raising my rank of team slayer, i went from 17 to 20, and i was satisfied. (Knowing stats wound be erased i wnated to see how far i could get for fun and the satisfaction of knowing i could get there after the stats reset.) Within the next three days i played team slayer again i lost my rank 20 and stopped at 19 seeing this update as the problem. Using the same teamwork and communication as i had nights before, it failed....more than once at the games we played. We might've been out-played sure....but not when you play people a "little ways" below you ranking. Im not calling myself the best halo player ever known, but nor am i a noob. Im a regular halo fan trying to get the game back to were it was fair. Pro's worked to get there, veterans all the same, and noobs have the challenge that lies ahead of them to play and practice, and find skills to develop. But what this sytem was is all but gone, pros, veterans, noobs, can all go out and play the same . Theres no way to tell who is better, or who needs improvement, or whose better at this or that....its just a lucky game that may or may not turn in your favor, ....if your gonna play halo 2 on xbox live anymore fine i wont stop you....i might still play myself, not anything more than trainning though. But matchmaking games are just as predictable of winning as the easy it is to filp a coin. Heads or tails you choose, its luck, chance, no skill. Halo 2 has dropped in my favorite online game (and Rallysport Challenge 2 has moved up), but at least i'll be having the time of my life playing with those of my friends on system link lan parties playing the old halo 2, without the update. As far as im concerned bungie, halo 1 and halo 2 only differences are the graphics and the new halo 2 models....good job. ....If however, you want to regain some of the most precious halo fans and players change it back for god's sake....we never got to play Halo 2 the way it was supposed to be played, cuz of the stand-by and things. It was already fun cuz you could play trainning or custom made games without rank, and stress of losing a game. Thats why its there to have fun, ranks are there for competition , to see who is better than who, and to have players challenge themsleves to step up there game by making better communication between teammates and thinking critcially. All there is to it is a sense of running around and pulling triggers. How many ways can i state it for you? Halo 2 is no longer a skill, teamwork, and thinking game, exp. that players have had is gone and i can tell you no more of who is a pro to a noob. I just hope to god that Conker: Live and Reloaded has good online game qualities so that i have a reason to keeping playing on live. I mean of course bungie wouldn't want to be at fault for losing gamers off xbox live would they? (just to let everyone know there is to be typo's expected, this took me a half-hour to write out.....thank you) [Edited on 4/20/2005]

what do you mean they couldnt help??? there help didnt worK??? or they dont want to help you?

1-800-4-MY-XBOX couldnt help.

When reading the article about the AU and maps on IGN today, they mentioned in passing that while people can still push the standby button, they will no longer be able to move freely around the level after doing it. Whether that's true or not, I have no clue.

wow you need to use better english than that ''no offense'' but i didnt under stand -blam! you said. but if i were u ill feed back this guy and never talk to him again. and ill assure you that dumming doesnt work any more.. his lieing.. but about standby its true.. people still can standby. ''which sucks'' [Edited on 4/19/2005]

i heard today a guy tell me that he did dummy and this was after the au was realeased andanother told me he can use stand by the one that said he was going to use stand by is Xx bluscreen xX the other i forgot his name

vegamo, I agree with you on that. The split screen does feel a little squirrely this time around.

i agree with you completely! but i still cant get the update!

I know this make me sound noobish but i enjoy halo 2 campagin on legendary, my cousin, who is also my Halo2 MLG partner. we some times go to each others homes and play some levels on legendary for fun, the problem is that halo 2's split screen is -blam!-. the camera is -blam!-. halo 1's camera wasnt hard to play with in 2 player coop. now my quetion is: is it possible to release a patch allowing us campaign lovers to play them online?? or at least system link?? any thing but split screen. cause it screws up ur sense of awareness.

i agree completely! but i still cant get that update!

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Fortune003 same here...but...i need the update to play and i cant get it still and now i have no Halo 2 data![/quote] If you backed up your profile then you shouldn't be any worse off than you were before. Good luck bro.

same here...but...i need the update to play and i cant get it still and now i have no Halo 2 data!

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] DarkZero And I understand that. But there is a difference between reliant and knowing the weapons. I do not consider myself reliant. My favorite combo in fact was dual magnum. It required skill and accuracy to use. But even with both of those, it's still useless now. I loved the magnum, but I still knew that it would it could be countered. I could counter all of the weapons they were complaining about just fine. I centered my playing style around not whoring the power weapons. I played for fun, but learned how to play well. But all the people who complained either were mad because they were staying at a low rank (which was possibly due to standby, it was only through extreme patience that I got up to 20) but it was likely because they weren't good. Is it that surprising that a new player can't beat a veteran? And besides, some things should be basically better. It adds to the fun of the game if you can beat someone underhanded or out-gunned. Not only that, but tough situations spur on skill and give you a need to get better. There isn't a point now that anything can beat anything if you stick a melee or a grenade into it.[/quote] You're right, there IS a difference between knowing them and being reliant. However, if every game devolves into a race to the sniper and rockets, something is wrong. I either run around with the BR or with the SMG/Mag, so I suppose I haven't been too terribly affected by the patch. However, saying that having a better balance takes away any difference between the weapons is absurd. This is where the brains of a veteran come in, if you have a BR and a guy is coming towards you with dual SMGs... don't let him get close enough to do any damage. If you have the shotty, don't go running at a sniper unless you're right on his tail. There are still advantages to using certain weapons, and a true veteran will know when to use what (not to mention where to go to get it).

fortune.. Then im afraid its ur xbox... call 1-800-4-my-xbox and ask about the problem... im a gamer sorry not a technition lol

And I understand that. But there is a difference between reliant and knowing the weapons. I do not consider myself reliant. My favorite combo in fact was dual magnum. It required skill and accuracy to use. But even with both of those, it's still useless now. I loved the magnum, but I still knew that it would it could be countered. I could counter all of the weapons they were complaining about just fine. I centered my playing style around not whoring the power weapons. I played for fun, but learned how to play well. But all the people who complained either were mad because they were staying at a low rank (which was possibly due to standby, it was only through extreme patience that I got up to 20) but it was likely because they weren't good. Is it that surprising that a new player can't beat a veteran? And besides, some things should be basically better. It adds to the fun of the game if you can beat someone underhanded or out-gunned. Not only that, but tough situations spur on skill and give you a need to get better. There isn't a point now that anything can beat anything if you stick a melee or a grenade into it. [Edited on 4/19/2005]

ummm...that didnt work.

He might have ment the AU file? [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] IronHorse03 u can still use stand-by. My Level 21 friend (non-stand-byer) was stand-byed many times since th AU. I'm a level 14 (playing at a level 16-19) and i can now get beat by total n00bs in TEAM TRAINING WITH AN SMG! Holy Crap! A single SMG shouldn't be able to beat a duel-weild no matter how bad the combo is. My SMG-Covie Rifle is useless now. I was able to beat level 21's now i get beat by level 10!!! This is insane! This is All after the AU[/quote]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Fortune003 thank you very much but what do you mean to be deleted? all my halo 2 data?[/quote] Yes, back up your profile if you have a memory card, then delete the Halo 2 data from your Xbox.

thank you very much but what do you mean to be deleted? all my halo 2 data?

I agree

fortune ... I think ur only chance now is to delete the halo 2 from ur hard drive and reinstall patch again!!!

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] DarkZero The "balance" that now exists it the fact that anyone with any level of skill and holding almost any weapon can beat anyone else with anything else. With that considered, what's the point of a ranking system if everything is balanced out? A brand new player can now win a game against a veteran, so please tell me what's the point[/quote] The point is that if you actually ARE the better player, you should be relying on your tactics and brains more than using a certain weapon as a crutch. I can't count how many times I've been in a game where an opponent couldn't kill me unless he had the sword/rockets/sniper rifle in his hands. Give him any other gun and he was utterly useless. That's not skill if you ask me. The difference between a "noob" and a veteran shouldn't rest in knowing what weapon to pick up, it should be that the pro knows what situations to avoid, knows when to press forward, when to retreat, how to outsmart the opponent, etc. Relying on a specific weapon to be able to function sounds a lot more "noobish" to me.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] vegamo Mobdeep, softwares with diffrent patches NEVER work togather... if ur friend doesnt have the patch u then u cant play linkplay wtih him cause its a diff code...when ur xbox is communicating with the other xbox... it check if it has the same patch.. and if it doesnt,, then it wont work.. ever play blizzard games?? well its the same thing [/quote] According to IGN, if a 1.1 box plays a 1.0, whichever one is the host will determine what version is used. So if you are patched and the host is not, that match will not be patched.