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Winged Warriors

Written by Isnagov

Apropos, searching for the best player you can be. The way your plan
looks, it's going to be the best MLG player you can be, which is quite
different. Either your plan or your goal needs to be updated.

- COB Pez, Overlord, Clan Of Bobs

    A great player is formed in layers, each succeeding layer applied upon the work of the last, each layer essential to the next. Throughout time those deep in competition have trained to be the best player that they can be and in this pursuit they used the best tools. So it is also with Halo, where we as players who wish to improve must further our competitive edge with training and practice. To become the best player we can possibly be we must train in four fundamental areas of expertise.

    The foundation of all play is knowledge. Every piece of information in the game is a part of knowledge, and therefore, anything that can be known is something that the "best" player should know. We must know map structure, respawn times, map structure names, weapon strengths, structure weaknesses, skirmish rules, effective range etc. Consequently, a player that knows all the information everyone else knows plus just a little more is a better player.

    Upon knowledge rests awareness. Awareness is a player's ability to keep track of fluid elements during game play. Whether you know where enemies are in relation to you or you understand what type of attack is occurring are both examples of awareness. Importantly awareness can be the player's ability to digest new information and react with the correct action. This being different from their ability to complete said "correct action" which would be a question of technical skill. Awareness is almost interchangeable with technical skill, but because awareness does not necessarily require technical skill, it comes first.

    After knowledge and awareness a player must master technical skill. Many players attribute an enormous amount of success and failure to luck, yet more often then not; it was skill that actually won the fight. Skill is defined as: A player's success translating their intentions into the game world; i.e. If you attempt to kill with four battle rifle shots and it takes five you are less skilled than the player who took only four. Exceptionally skilled players come in many categories but are most commonly the best slayers. At the level of play that most conditioned Halo players compete at it becomes a test of more than simply skill, all three previous layers of play come into focus with tactics.

    If all of the preceding factors are in a players control they begin to use tactics. Tactics differ from strategy only in the aspect of group organization. A player who uses tactics is making situational decisions not related to just technical skill to affect the outcome of individual encounters. An example:

    You are posted on the third level of the Battle Rifle Tower on Lockout and an aggressor is attacking from the ramp running up the outside of the tower. You could wait for them to arrive and hope that your aim is stronger then, or you could drop over the side and attack them from behind preemptively. This choice to drop or stay is a choice of tactics

    So, when you use tactics you are thinking about how to succeed thinking only of yourself. Once you include other players in the decision you are now using strategy, otherwise the principles are the same. Tactics are the way in which a player utilizes his knowledge, awareness, and skill to place him in a situational advantage. This can manifest itself in exponentially numerous ways.

    I have explained all of this so that I may say this. MLG rules and game types make you a better player because they emphasize the stronger tactics, technical skill, awareness, and knowledge of players. Because of this there are very few winners in an MLG regulated match that did not wholeheartedly deserve to win. There are at least ten or twelve very specific differences between standard HALO game types and MLG customs, those variations depending on what game type are being played. The most discussed and the most fundamentally important alterations are the following: 1) MLG team games have no radar, 2) MLG games, excluding 1v1, have BR starts.

    Not having radar emphasizes the importance of a player being aware of their environment. A player who can compete with or without their radar to function in structurally complex areas is vastly superior to one who requires radar. It forces teams to depend on communication, strategy, and awareness to win games. Also, the concept of camping barely exists without radar because the camper cannot watch the attacking opponents whereabouts unseen. All of these factors make a no-radar start balanced towards a knowledgeable and aware player, and more importantly a strategically sound team.

    Furthermore, the battle rifle is the most versatile, and consequently most powerful weapon in the game, but that doesn't matter for this argument. A player's accuracy is given generous leave to fail with weapons such as the SMG and plasma rifle and therefore does not test a player's technical skill. By forcing all battle rifle starts it allows the player who is most technically skilled to succeed over the lesser by always giving them the tool that most emphasizes that skill. One could argue that other weapons are equally accurate and therefore should be acceptable alternatives, but that goes against game play mechanics and true contest. If we started with sniper rifles or magnums it would be a rather different game that followed, forcing us to play very short or very long.

    So, in response to the aforementioned quote, I offer this article. There are four key areas that all Halo players must master: knowledge, awareness, technical skill, and tactics. I ask "What great player of HALO does not excel in these four areas?" But furthermore, I ask "What MLG player does not have to excel in these four areas thus making them a great player?

Isnagov

Published under the Free Documentation License