Ruby's REBALANCED Halo Reach Campaign!

A full Campaign mod all about rebalancing the game to help it reach its full potential through being more fun, fair, but still challenging. Featuring tweaks to the sandbox such that every weapon, vehicle and armor ability is viable and useful, changes to AI to make them more fun and interesting, and additions to scenarios and encounters that makes levels more exciting and large-scale.
PATREON ►: / rubyofblue
TWITCH ►: / ruby_of_blue
TWITTER ►: / rubyofblue
DISCORD ►: / discord
DOWNLOAD:
www.nexusmods.com/halothemast...
SPECIAL THANKS TO PATRONS:
Kenyaun
SuddenlyOrangesandFriends
AlephinNetkey
David Dinger
Vinvan Artsy
Fungo
Omni Discussions
Doublajynxx
XtremetuberVII
#halo #haloreachmods #halorebalanced

[@badger6728]

So this is essentially Halo: Reach as I remember it, not how it was... Intriguing.

[@TheParadoxGamer1]

Mood

[@ilakinger1955]

Mood

[@N1rOx]

moo

[@TheParadoxGamer1]

mo

[@PlGGS]

M

[@munster355]

It's literally the opposite of cursed halo, blessed halo

[@reebdoog1337]

I would play the shit out of Reach: Cursed Edition

[@munster355]

@@reebdoog1337 That's actually a thing now

[@Enclavefakesoldier]

Blursed halo

[@fishsticks785]

A r m o r l o c k s

[@munster355]

Whoa when did this get 300 likes

[@vinnie9458]

Its a immersion breaker when you're the only one getting any kills especially when you're not the only super soldier so the improvements to friendlies is appreciated. I wanna get the impression that your allies have some chance without you.

[@javierititin]

I mean, they made it *that* far, suddenly you show up and they drop dead? Lol.

[@jimmythecrow]

not supposed to, thats why master chief was the one chosen by cortana. The reason why he was the only one left. 343 killed the series buy adding ODSTs that are as capable as the chief

[@derekmensch3601]

@@jimmythecrow uhhh, they uhh didnt do that. And also most of the ground combat engagements were won by the UNSC

[@jimmythecrow]

@@derekmensch3601 uhh yes they did. h5 ll thje "spartans" were ODSTs.

[@idzidz833]

@@jimmythecrow *were*

[@Garrett2142]

Something tells me you like Halo CE

[@arnox4554]

To be fair, Halo CE had a pretty fun sandbox. In my opinion, only Halo 3 rivaled it in that regard.

[@SeanBoyce-gp]

@@arnox4554 Full agreement. It has been fascinating, as a person who played a ton of Halo on Xbox over network tunneling and in big east coast competitions before Xbox Live existed, to see the way things have evolved and changed and more or less come full circle. You hear the guys at Bungie talking about not wanting to have a "god weapon" in their sandbox, clearly referring to the original CE pistol, and then inevitably, after years of experience, you discover that despite their protestations, that's what everyone wants. Everyone wants one or two default, functional weapons that work the way they expect and creates a level playing field in multiplayer. Equally, people want to mess with *the entire* sandbox in a single player campaign, because it's less about efficiency and more about expression. They don't want to have to just use one weapon because it's the only thing that works. They want their trusted, multi-purpose tool and their secondary, specific fun thing. The original Halo (Halo CE as well) got this right more than any of the others, but Halo 3 was really, awfully close.

[@Propane_Acccessories]

@@SeanBoyce-gp I think alot of people do want to have a go to weapon for every match like the BR/ DMR, but to me it completely changes the strategy of the game. In Halo reach, especially in TU playlists there is hardly any point in trying to control spots on the map that have vehicles or power weapons, which in my opinion is what halo multiplayer is all about

[@toffee5266]

Arnox Immordium factsssss

[@Boonses]

Arnox Immordium halo 3 was dog shit lmao

[@phongvu-ju5rm]

Man when an elite can just eat a spartan lazer shot and walk away like a champ, I thought something was off.

[@deepimpactMatt]

For sure! I also thought elites had a sixth sense when you were trying to stealth shoot them. So many times I will have my sniper aimed on their head and right as I take a shot they side step it!

[@Aesth3t1cs]

With its shields still up no less

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

I know, legendary in reach pissed me off, not because was hard just because it was a tedious chore.

[@virginiasaintj]

@@MaxwellAerialPhotography The only way to play vanilla Reach Legendary is to get the DMR and plasma pistol, then wait in the back and pick off the lower enemies, then noob combo the Elites. Rinse, wash, repeat. The weapons are almost worthless as Halo 2.

[@missbelled6700]

@@virginiasaintj don't forget swapping to needle rifle/PP when brutes show up. Such variety.

[@cromwellington441]

“Elites have been buffed” Oh dear god no

[@bgonzalezseeya11]

*Vigorous side step increases*

[@Name-nw9uj]

*SLIDE TO THE LEFT*

[@bgonzalezseeya11]

*SLIDE TO THE RIGHT*

[@ReaperofValhalla]

13RIAN G CHRIS CROSS

[@tahj420]

*WORT* *ROLL*

[@RealllyGoodGaming]

This video shows just how underpowered almost every weapon in Reach’s sandbox is - I’ll never forget the Bungie ViDoc where “Sage” (i think that’s what his name was - he has a big beard) talked about his obsession with nerfing anything he could get his hands on - it got to the point other devs had to hide their work from him, fearful he would nerf it. I personally hold that guy responsible for diminishing Halo Reach’s sandbox to what it is.

[@Climacticc_Chaos]

Especially when nerfing does nothing but make the game less fun.

[@qwormuli77]

@@Climacticc_Chaos Depends. Claiming any common tool in the balancing toolkit, such as buffing and nerfing is useless or always detrimenta is what an idiot would say. Screwing up the general balance, or deviating from that general balance without a workable reason is the problem. What Sage Merrie did was turning reach into a cotton ball fight.

[@NeightrixPrime]

Sounds like a fraud - not sure how someone like that even gets hired.

[@domm138]

dude was one of the leads on Destiny, a game riddled with bullet-sponge enemies what else did people expect from him?

[@MastaChafa]

You had me at "The assault rifle sucked and now it actually kills stuff" that change alone would have made me happily install your mod :D

[@yargolocus4853]

it's the most iconic and recognisable weapon aside from the energy sword when talking outside the game. it's featured on every cutscene and box cover!

[@Dan_om3]

But it didnt suck, it was useful at short and mid range, and short barages increased accuracy. It just wasnt overpowered so you would need a full magazine to take down a big enemy.

[@Dan_om3]

@@GLARebel Man, your determination of good sounds to me like Over Powered. And Im just impressed how a lot of people want a weapon that gives them an unfair advantage over groups of covenant instead of providing a fair one v one against elites. What bungie did is they nerfed human weapons because a) it makes it more believable that covenant erradicated the human race out of 7 different planets, and b) because in that way you needed more ingenuity than just point and shoot whatever moves. I always play on heroic and I find many instances where the assault rifle is useful, such as fighting at close to mid range, where it can drain shields faster. It's not overpowered like in previous halos but its quite accurate and easy to follow up with melee, you can also clear 4 grunts or a couple jackals with one mag as well as use it to drain the shields of an elite while you approach to follow with a finshing hit. Theres a trend in gaming saying that overpowering something is better than balancing something because a lot of players are just adrenaline driven. That makes me think that a better tittle for this video would be Halo Reach: Re powered.

[@jacobt6412]

@@Dan_om3 I'd avoid that rifle like the plague. While meh with grunts and jackals the time to kill felt too slow and I found myself focusing on headshot weapons because I never felt comfortable on heroic+ to deal with large groups in a quick manner even while extremely close. The rifle was never meant to take a full elite unless mag dumping which is ok and it's still like that but with bullets being worst against any shields. The bloom adjustment alone allows it to finally be decent mid-range without taking a full minute to kill something and the damage increase allows it to be comparable to headshot weapons especially close which it really needed otherwise why would I pick it up? Overpowered is allowing a weapon to one or two shot half the sandbox enemies, allowing a non headshot weapon to stand at that level in close to kinda mid range is evening the playing ground.

[@andyfriederichsen]

@@Dan_om3 There's a lot more to the Covenant wrecking humanity than just human weapons being useless. A LOT more. And the way enemies in Halo behave would be considered suicidal for any soldier to act in a firefight.

[@gmgz2847]

I thought that sabre battle was a lot harder than it was on the 360, and for Reach being the 2nd most important planet in the UNSC the troopers, odsts, and noble team defended it like they were first day recruits

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

That's mostly due to the game's new 60 FPS frame rate making weapon projectiles travel faster as enemies shoot faster. 343 didn't exactly change the firing rates to compensate for the new frame rates, which is why things feel so much more difficult. The damage per shot is the same as the 360 version, but because enemies fire faster and the projectiles move faster with the new frame rate, the player has much less time to avoid getting hit, especially on the higher difficulty levels.

[@naxxodrop]

@@BioGoji-zm5ph That's bullshit because I play the game at 25 or 30 fps and the enemies on the Sabre battle are agressive ass fuck don't giving you any breathe if you go out of cover. For some reason is not the framerate, 343 really changed the AI to be more agro.

[@miles13092]

@@naxxodrop You're right. It's not the framerate. It's the tickrate. They changed the tickrate from the 360 version, which was 30. And they changed it to 60 for the MCC release. They didn't adjust a bunch of things in the code which was called on timings based on tickrate, which is why the games projectiles move so much faster even if you limit your framerate.

[@NoahsBox]

Man, we had to cheese the sabre battle on legendary in coop by hiding one of us as a respawn anchor. It was so hard on PC

[@mrpiratefox4497]

@@naxxodrop The tickrate is the reason. The game was designed for locked 30fps, so all AI stats, weapon stats and player stats were coded for that tickrate, and increasing it obviously breaks the physics. Happens a lot when a console game is ported to PC, or when an old console game is ported to a new console and you want it to have better framerate

[@levdrekinn1816]

What's surprising is that the Spartans will actually say something when you trade weapons with them. Does this mean that Bungie were originally gonna allow you to trade weapons with them, or what? 🤔

[@thisisntsergio1352]

Definitely was cut content.

[@CivilizedWasteland]

theres a good reason a lot of them left and the company moved to activsion of all places

[@sethwell2552]

You guys always put 2 and 2 together and think you are geniuses

[@negr0mancer]

@@sethwell2552 I don't think anyone's really patting themselves on the back, but you did just reveal to a lot of people that you probably aren't very pleasant to be around

[@sethwell2552]

@@negr0mancer I point out idiotic behaviour when I see it, so yeah, some people don't like me telling them they're stupid, that's 100% normal

[@awsomepossum58]

Literally everything he said in this video about the vanilla game was absolutely positively 100% true, especially the concussion rifle. I can’t even count how many times I was vaporized by an officer with a dino blaster.

[@RomeHam]

That, and have it be COMPLETELY fucking useless whenever I use it.

[@fulcrumflare]

Don’t be a suck-off. Bit of a stretch to say that everything he said was 100%. The Concussion Rifle was the biggest and really only thing I agreed with.

[@awsomepossum58]

Conner Richards not being a suck off i played halo reach myself on legendary

[@blanktester]

Centered reticle is cursed

[@jebalitabb8228]

@@fulcrumflare your opinion is mostly wrong then

[@BungieStudios]

Translation: _I made Reach more like the early beta before Sage nerfed everything short of the nuke nades._

[@221Prohunter]

everyone What the story there? I despise Reach’s multiplayer because it’s unbalanced and random as hell, I’d love to know what it could have been.

[@BungieStudios]

@@221Prohunter kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIbZamubjLuhgpI Bungie wanted to make the game more player accessible, less competitive, and gameplay more dynamic. This was accomplished by increasing ttk, spread, and slowing movement speed. The weapons in the early, early beta were a lot more powerful than the later version of the beta and final retail game. There were crazy game modes like Elites vs Spartan slayer which were later removed because of the new severe drawbacks to Spartans. Also when I say less competitive, MLG even dropped Halo Reach. Their players hated its lack of consistency between matches with bloom, large spread, inability to strafe, etc. In a Halo Reach vidoc, different devs remark about how they were tasked with balancing gameplay. Luke Timmins, lead engineer, describes the complexity of balancing multiple spinning discs on a stick. Lead sandbox designer, Sage, also jokes about how fellow artists and QA testers try to hide the true performance of weapons because of a fear of them getting nerfed. "Don't tell Sage! He'll nerf it!" Well he did. Everything in the retail game shoots toasted marshmallows with grenades being relatively untouched. Grenades still keep their large area of effect and shield draining power but in a sandbox with slow movement and weak weapons that force you to get close. Each Halo .map file is a separate container unique from another .map file. Any tag edits in that .map remain unique to that .map. You can edit both player values and enemy values. Add headshot capability or supercombine for enemies or disable things like that. In previous games, weapon tag values were often separate from multiplayer tags. A weapon might be slightly weaker in multiplayer than in campaign for balance. It seems in trying to balance multiplayer, Bungie did not account for campaign. Weak weapons from multiplayer do not translate over to campaign well. Not when even small enemies have a large time to kill and Elites have what feel like 5x overshield on higher difficulty. Your ammo is quickly expended trying to kill one enemy. Bungie copy pasted the damage values and stats of weapon tags universally across multiplayer to campaign.

[@deepimpactMatt]

I remember playing the open beta way back in the day and thoroughly enjoying it. But when the game came out at launch something felt off and I didn't enjoy the multiplayer that much.

[@MitchJohnson0110]

Ahhh, I remember the Reach Beta. The biggest difference to me was how much the Elites got nerfed in multiplayer. Beta elites where strong as hell and most playlist in the beta seemed to emphasize elite vs spartan gameplay to showcase this.

[@InnuendoXP]

@@MitchJohnson0110 feels like a real missed opportunity with asymmetrical multiplayer. Accessibility with a lower skill ceiling makes experiences pretty forgettable. You may get more engagement short-term, but those same players will move right on to the next thing just as quickly.

[@SpencerBurkett]

You had me at "Assault Rifle Lawn Mower." Consider this mod downloaded. Mad respect to you for making this. Thanks man.

[@arnox4554]

Speaking of which, I did miss the AR from Halo 4 that was pretty much a reskinned AK-47.

[@arnox4554]

@@ilakinger1955 They might shipped a patch to the game and the mod needs to be updated.

[@TranquillShot]

"Noooo Halo Reach is perfect" *25 minutes later* "Ah..."

[@andyfriederichsen]

Also some things about the game's story make the plot seem a little silly.

[@mr_inconspicuous]

Me 25 minutes ago

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

Who's saying Reach is perfect? Some of you halo fanboy types are strange lol.

[@coenisgreat]

I love how all of these re balance mods are basically 'more like CE'. Which I, as an avid player of Halo CE PC, am all for :3

[@christianmingle7275]

Fun drinking game: Take a shot every time Ruby mentions Halo CE

[@flowerpower003]

Christian Mingle Okay I did this when you posted this and I’m finally out my coma

[@christianmingle7275]

@@flowerpower003 hope it was fun before the coma part :)

[@flowerpower003]

Christian Mingle You know it

[@gunslingerspartan]

imagine not calling this mod Ruby's Reach around

[@jikihendrik4281]

Did you fix the ODST's AI in Exodus so they don't keep all falling to their deaths?

[@generaljimmies3429]

"Jumping feet first into Hell."

[@spunky6059]

“Welcome to the bullfrogs”

[@hi-fistereo8987]

"try and keep up, spartan." jumps off a 500m platform

[@uberbeast113]

That used to drive me nuts. I'm a one for giving power weapons to marines and keeping them alive even on legendary. Give an important weapon to Sgt Biggs, set off across the platforms, look back, Biggs gone. Really bad eye to feet coordination

[@Enclavefakesoldier]

so thats how they got the nickname "helljumpers"

[@SAClassHunterZero]

“Reach” its full potential. Yes.

[@acey6991]

not to sound like a halo nerd or anything but...likes are at 117!

[@redenginner]

I love how MCC on PC will allow us to bring the Halo CE’s amazing campaign balance to all weapons and enemies in all four classic games, and probably halo 4.

[@Jeroenneman]

Yeah, playing through Reach was just fucking idiotic on the hardest difficulty. Unload an entire mag on an enemy, not even a fucking dent.

[@ujingamer]

@@Jeroenneman it's even worse on laso

[@GhostSamaritan]

I want Halo 2 balance for the whole MCC.

[@Idontknow-vm1iy]

God damn halo four needs balancing, forerunners are incredibly not fun.

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

Campaign balance? Lol use pistol for 90% of the campaign is balance according to you lol.

[@Dilo22]

The Sabre part on legendary was incredibly not fun. The only way I was able to beat it was by hiding behind the satellite/space station thing, letting shields recharge, fly out to kill or damage 1 enemy ship, and then retreat back to cover because they'd drain your health and shields in literally 2 seconds flat.

[@JohnnyShagbot]

Yeah, this. It was nigh impossible on legendary due to the things they forgot to change on the PC release.

[@PERSONAfan01]

I forgot wtf i had to do to get through that but i can still feel that trauma.

[@SifArtorias]

I did this level with a friend recently on Legendary and even though we were two we were still getting stomped. One of us had to act as a respawn point lmao, it was awful. And I'm reading things that apparently the frame rate affected the difficulty, in that on PC they shoot faster. That's f'd up

[@Sunshine-xs9og]

Screw Long Night of Solace and it’s insanely difficult Sabre section

[@r3al_b00gieboi]

It’s mainly do to the higher tick rate of the game making the AI smarter. Idk why but that’s why legendary and that part are so much harder now

[@phillipmele8533]

22:00 *STORY* *THROUGH* *GAME* *MECHANICS!* Most excellent my guy!

[@anthony199757]

Alright so my first impressions of this mod while playing are "holy shit the ar is fucking awesome!" "My allies are kicking ass!" I gotta say this mod is pretty damn fun. I'll put a full review and any issues I find of this mod. Good job on the mod ruby!

[@DanStormVO]

So I've downloaded and playing through right now, really liking it so far. On Oni: Sword Base, as a consequence of letting you swap weapons with Noble team, you can give Kat the Target Locator. Its beautiful, please don't change it lol Edit: Just finished tthe playthrough on Heroic and its great, but there are some tweaks I'd like to see- - Reduce the EMP radius/damage for supercombines and Stickies. If you're too close when using them and don't have enough Shield & Health, its basically an insta-kill. - Wraith's motar splash radius needs to be reduced, I think it was fine in the base game and all it needed was a speed increase. As someone else said, you rarely use the Wraith during normal gameplay and as enemies they're pretty stationary so decreasing the radius would balance it out. - Maybe tone down the aggressiveness on friendly AI, as I had a few instances where I was killed by friendly fire, whether it be overzealous troopers with rocket launchers trying to kill the same enemy I'm going for, or Jorge taughting a dead enemy and accidently killing me with his machine gun fire. - The Brutes and their weapons need some tweaking. I found that in sections with large packs of Brutes (Hospital secion, POA landing pad section) because of their modified behavior in rushing you down, combined with their increased resistance to melee damage and that they're pretty tanky, spongy enemies to begin with make them more frustrating than fun when you don't have a close range weapon like the Shotgun or AR. The Hospital section of New Alexandria was especially frustrating, being pinned down by Spikers taking my health, Plasma Repeater stripping shields and Nedle Rifle fire while having to try and pick them off with just the DMR (Again, bullet sponges) was a bit of a slog. -Civilian vehicles, mainly the Forklift, ned a slight speed reduction. I found it was much harder to control and it felt a little *too* fast for a Forklift honestly. Overall the best way I can describe this mod is smooth. Its challenging but immensely fun and definitely achieves its goal. I was using weapons I barely even touch in normal gameplay, mainly the Focus Rifle and Plasma Repeater. Giving Noble different weapons also helps to keep the encounters fresh. Despite the suggestions I've made this is a much preferable way to play the campaign!

[@staryoshi06]

Wait so can you give noble team energy swords or gravhammers?

[@DanStormVO]

@@staryoshi06 Can't give them swords, I tried. Gravity hammers are probably the same. I guess its because they were never programmed with melee weapons in mind.

[@staryoshi06]

@@DanStormVO I assumed that the reason you could give them target locators was because they are spartans, so you can give them any weapons players can use.

[@uberbeast113]

I found myself getting regularly killed anyway by a friendly rocket launcher especially in narrow confines eg in the corridor between the Covie ship entrance and the hangar. I quote enjoy wtf deaths on legendary...hmmm...but maybe what you describe would become tiring after a while

[@LateNightHalo]

Interesting, Ill have to try this out. Some stuff I dont agree with for changes but some other stuff looks more interesting then how base-Reach handled it

[@RubyofBlue]

Nice to hear from a big Halotuber like you. Thanks!

[@peanutgallery4]

@@RubyofBlue R E T I C L E P O S I T I O N I N G

[@corvax8644]

Peanutgallery4 you know he’s gonna ree about that. Wish you could use the lower option tho I like it better

[@JMObyx]

@@RubyofBlue I have some ideas to (maybe) make this mod cooler. Give Anchor 9 and Savannah health bars, with you getting a game over if either are depleted. This would make you actually NEED to take out the Phantoms, and the Corvette Escort and guns even more. Also, the Banshee is nerfed AF in this, your mod would make attempting to fly a Banshee to the top of the tower in Tip of the Spear a NIGHTMARE! I would also like to have some of the regular marines mixed in with the army guys, since it was mentioned that members of the UNSC army were trying to get to Aszod, and since the UNSC Army and Marines are different, the marines would use the more 'modern' weapons, like the Battle Rifles, and I think you should change their AI to make them even better, since they're supposedly the strongest UNSC infantry...if you can, of course. And make the weapons the Covenant starships use against you pack more punch...but make their AI incompetent at fighting you in space, it's established in lore that the Covenant held the advantage in space purely by technological superiority, and they relied on their superior weapons and armor to put the UNSC Navy out of commission, while the UNSC's air force and Navy in contrast were more competent versus the Covenant, but had inferior assets. Thel's tactical and strategic brilliance was what made him such an impossibly difficult enemy for the UNSC to defeat that Locke explicitly stated that the only way for humanity to survive was to assassinate him, as a whole, The covenant did not truly understand the technology they had at their disposal. Also...ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE THE FALCON'S MAIN GUN USABLE IN MULTIPLAYER? With all of these other buffs and nerfs, would you please? Imagine using THAT in a multiplayer match! Especially with how Ground Vehicles were buffed! I'll beta Test the Hell out of this for you...I just need the game itself on Steam...which I can't afford.

[@EskChan19]

@@JMObyx Falcon with Main Guns is coming in the Thorage Update to the Forge as far as we know.

[@realityvanguard2052]

I just got into the Halo 2 flight. And it's incredible how Legendary simply ramps up the "difficulty" in the laziest ways possible, while giving absolutely no consideration to the fun factor of the changes from heroic. Because instantly reacting, perfect accuracy, 1-shot snipers was such a great idea 15 years ago THEY HAVE TO KEEP THAT PART IN!

[@r3al_b00gieboi]

I’d honestly rather play Halo 2 on legendary then Reach cuz you can get far more creative in how you take on situations then in Reach

[@Muzikman127]

In conclusion: everything is buffed, all guns tear shit up now lol

[@bbarbiter]

I tried this, and it's mostly really great, but my god every time an enemy has a needler they are VERY annoying. I think the increased range that enemies shoot you is too much, and maybe only elites and jackals get that treatment. That's my only critique.

[@snekkie117]

i had problem with wraiths shooting ungodly fast like, i never had the time to dodge because a new shot would be coming up

[@KeyBadgel]

i just dodge the needles, not TO hard but i can see how it can get enoying

[@L3monsta]

@@KeyBadgel felt like the only reasonable way of dodging them was to get behind cover. Especially if it was one of the elites with dual needlers...in an open field you're doomed

[@KeyBadgel]

@L3monsta i just strafe side to side and jump over the needles, the increased movement speed helps with this

[@Cheezmonka]

@@KeyBadgel When I was playing this mod for the first time today I was struggling to dodge the needles no matter what sort of movements I made, other than sprinting perpendicularly to their line of fire. Am I doing something wrong?

[@fuckologic1202]

"So that the game can REACH it's full potential" I see what you did there

[@kuratowakiru]

petition to make this official halo reach campaign rebalance.

[@javierititin]

I can't help but preffer Reach Evolved

[@PlayStation360Gamer]

@@javierititin Evolved = best Halo experience. Rubys = best Reach experience.

[@omni6982]

@@PlayStation360Gamer truth

[@vassowned7768]

This version is voor noobs way to easy wtf

[@SeanBoyce-gp]

@@javierititin I thnk they're both good, but Ruby's Plasma Repeater concept is way better, in my opinion. It turns the Repeater into a kind of Covenant SAW, with much clearer purpose, alignment with its name and designation, and even its size. And while I like the concept of Evolved's Spiker, I always wanted the damage to go up as the barrel got hot.

[@L0rdLexan01]

"I really wish Halo Reach was just Combat Evolved 2.0" the mod

[@Matanumi]

not a bad thing to wish for

[@about47t-rexes12]

I totally forgot how weak all the weapons were in Reach compared to CE. For every change you made I just thought "dang why didn't they do that to begin with!". This mod looks amazing, definitely going to try it out! Also, Didn't even realize drones had ranks in Reach, great touch recoloring them.

[@jacobzufelt8513]

It’s so weird seeing the assault rifle ACTUALLY killing stuff. Great mod!

[@Synergy7Studios]

"I stabilized the Warthog" HERESY!

[@omegamalkior1874]

Bro this is salvation...as someone who started playing Halo for the first time ever with MCC Reach on Heroic, all of these changes make so much sense and will make the experience extremely better now.

[@omni6982]

:(

[@apolloptx]

Oh god, why would you do that? Start wih CE, which is still amazing nowadays. Don't tell me you can't enjoy a game with old graphics. CE is the best or 2nd best campaign in the series.

[@omegamalkior1874]

Apollo Alexandre when I got MCC it only had Reach. And a friend of mine actually recommended it first and oh boy, was that a bad desicion imo lol

[@rdcarbonk1885]

I played all my halos on pc only. Still waiting for halo 3 on pc mcc. I will pass halo 4 mcc.

[@quisquoses]

Combining this mod with Halo Reach: Evolved would be the best experience ever!

[@OfficialSpyderr]

343 Need to hire this man to balance things instead of the typical game dev company attitude of "we have balanced everything by decreasing your damage output and increasing the enemies"

[@InnuendoXP]

Ditto this. They need to stop having campaign weapon balance match the multiplayer weapon balance! And stop nerfing things into oblivion to lower the skill floor!

[@MasterHobbes]

Yes. Please dear god.

[@adolfhortler9477]

What? Bungie are the ones who started the trend of shitty gameplay "balance". In fact 4 and 5 have the best weapon sandbox in the franchise, I mean at least automatic weapons can finally kill people at middle range

[@OfficialSpyderr]

@@adolfhortler9477 I'm not pointing fingers of who started what. Nor am I bothered about weapon sandbox. Just using examples of how davs tend to balance

[@angelmin8819]

Everybody gangsta till a Spartan charges into battle with nothing but a forklift

[@ChrisRayGun]

This is awesome.

[@sirbibton]

Didn't expect to see you here Awesome.

[@unequivocalsuffering2734]

Good to see you here

[@jemileedabear9630]

more allies? MORE ENEMIES? I'd like to say "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY REACH"

[@sammottershead]

Undoing sage meril's "tweeks". Listened to all of the podcasts during Reach's development... Everything you fixed is what he implemented.

[@MasterHobbes]

His implementations made me hate playing the game.

[@jamestheviking983]

Do you have a link to those podcasts? I’d like to learn more about those tweaks. I like Reach but it has my least favorite balancing.

[@sammottershead]

@@jamestheviking983 They're on bungie.net, just look for ones dated before Reach's release date. halo.bungie.net/projects/halo3/content.aspx?link=bungiepodcasttime I hope this helps.

[@Owyx-bake]

Please put this in the steam workshop this would be an amazing addition

[@tetranova6]

>Buffed the forklift You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.

[@volition142]

It can get flipped by a single spiker

[@stardust_2339]

I played on Legendary till Exodus with Tough Luck skull on and did beat PoA SLASO (Minus blind and iron because of testing) without using any shortcuts or skips. Here are a few things I encountered. - Carter doesn't board the Falcon on Winter Contingency if he has anything but a DMR and he not following messes up the dialogue . - Managed to destroy a Phantom on Nightfall with Jun having rockets and militia with snipers, script broke there and no more dropships came but nobody moved either , you can proceed on the map but you will lose the militia men. - The mongoose on PoA barely makes the jump because of the increased gravity Gonna play around a bit more. I like it a lot so far. Funnily enough this rebalance makes doing LASO runs doable without skips. Still hard, still need to employ some of the tactics for back-smacks, giving AI guns and all but no despawning or running away is necessary anymore.

[@RubyofBlue]

For the first issue, I have given Carter the Concussion Rifle and he still gets on the Falcon just fine. I haven't had that issue. For the second, that will happen if a Phantom is destroyed too early. Will increase its health on that level. For the third, I know, but you can still make it just fine.

[@stardust_2339]

Ruby of Blue Maybe Carter just did not feel like boarding it that day haha. I will test Exodus LASO too because the Falcon ride can be detrimental, otherwise it seems beatable. Mongoose is not really an issue, true, just wanted to mention it. Oh another one. On Long Night of Solace, the two elites with focus rifles can melt you before you can crawl to cover. Drop shield from the previous room can protect you but it makes having it equipped a necessity. I managed to get to cover on my fourth try but if they are aware of you it's random if you can pass that section or not.

[@TheParadoxGamer1]

You know this is a good in between for Vengeful 'Vadams Reach Evolved and the vanilla version of the game. Love this stuff.

[@acey6991]

Its actually insane how good this mod is. I love everything about reach, and this just makes everything better. The needler grunts are snipers now and i genuinely find it hilarious and awesome. 11/10 good job ruby =)

[@LieutenantSilver]

Oh yes, yes, YES! Not being able to trade weapons with Noble Team was so annoying in the original game. It completely destroyed their appeal to me. They were useless in gameplay and hence I didn't care about them in the cutscenes.

[@ryanelliott71698]

It’s really baffling when I’m Halo 3 ODST you CAN trade weapons from your ODST squad mates. A game that was made prior to Reach.

[@LieutenantSilver]

​@@ryanelliott71698 -- And of course you _can_ still trade guns with other NPCs. Must have been a deliberate design or story decision. They either wanted to emphasize everyone's personality and fighting style with a signature weapon or drive home how Noble 6 was the outranked, mistrusted new guy.

[@ryanelliott71698]

@@LieutenantSilver even if that was the case, it didn’t help that they were set dressing that couldn’t do much of anything and were given weapons such as Kat’s AR that was basically useless.

[@zeeqayum4834]

@@ryanelliott71698 they did that because they were invincible.

[@warcrhymes251]

My only complaint: Has anybody noticed how damn far the grunts and jackals could hit you with a needler from? Way too far in my opinion, like sniper level far.

[@bbarbiter]

Yep, that's my issue too. And they seem to shoot it much faster than before.

[@deriznohappehquite]

War cRhymes it’s because projectile speed is tied to frame rate.

[@warcrhymes251]

@@deriznohappehquite What does projectile speed have to do with range?

[@deriznohappehquite]

War cRhymes if the bullet goes faster it can hit you from further away.

[@mrpiratefox4497]

Every Rebalanced has this problem, making sniping or range weapons hard to use

[@Gohan11217]

This is the advantages of the pc, mods literally can completly change how a game feels. Really nice work at enhancing reach 10/10

[@solarwolf1336]

We know he likes CE a lot, but he also clearly loves marshmallows

[@Pillysrule]

This is amazing. I am such a big fan of this. I really appreciate the work you have put into it!

[@thegriff8095]

Hey! Tried out the mod and I really enjoy it so far. Just one thing I noticed is on the mission 'Nightfall,' the stealthy level of the game, I think the AI trigger immediately. I played through on legendary, and combat was triggered as soon as the mission began. Either Jun shot the first Phantom, or the Phantom shot first. While intense, not sure that was the goal. Love the changes to the shotgun, AR, and all the vehicles. Made the whole experience feel like I was playing Reach for the first time. Keep at it.

[@thebanditoking]

"Sabre segment borderline unplayable on legendary", being melted in less than a second isn't borderline unplayable it's actually unplayable. I hope the nerf you gave works because this segment killed my desire to replay all the games on legendary lol.

[@deriznohappehquite]

the bandit king lock the game at 30 FPS to make it playable.

[@Frygonz]

The problem was that even when you did the dodge maneuvers, the enemies would still have a perfect lock on you. The dodges were completely useless.

[@thebanditoking]

@@deriznohappehquite Yeah, I figured that I'd have to do that after googling what the hell was wrong, but after being beaten into the ground like that I just didn't want to bother any more. I suppose I needed a break.

[@fancypig]

I definitely think you needed a break. Halo: Reach is by far the easiest Halo game on Legendary, if you lose the will here, it's unlikely you'll find salvation in the depths of Halo CE or 2. Halo 3 might be more fun than Reach on Legendary, but Reach is by far the easiest.

[@rgentum]

the bandit king I had a similar problem, but I found a somewhat helpful solution. Hide behind Anchor 9. While yes it takes forever, pick them off one by one from the back. It takes awhile, but you eventually get it. Same deal for the Corvette section, pick off the engines and reinforcements from behind the Savannah.

[@bloodrune329]

Reach with a centered reticle makes me deeply uncomfortable

[@nello3941]

Two Doom games later and now I’m starting to realize how playing as a super human should feel like. This mod seems like basically that, like how being a Spartan in the halo universe should feel like. It looks likes so much fun. It’s a wonder how a few changes here and there can really ramp up the experience for any game. I only wish this mod was available on Xbox in someway. ):

[@cooperlittlehales6268]

my favourite things in games is when they make your AI buddies be actually competent in combat. halo is especially good with this when you give marines power weapons like rocket launchers (riding around on mongooses with rocket marines is my favourite level from halo 3). glad you included more of these aspects in this mod.

[@zevorothrappaleano58]

Is it possible for this mod to be brought over to the steam workshop? It's *the* only mod I want to play with and it drives me nuts It's not easily accessible

[@kompav5621]

You're telling me that this entire time, those golden Elites in CE were zealots and *NOT* generals?... You must be lying, it's the only explanation!!!

[@BlackKaiserDrake]

Golden Zealots are actually called Field Masters I believe.

[@salahad-din9168]

"Stripping down mobs of grunts."

[@OverwatchSniper]

I am glad you are still working on modding these games. It would be cool to have a full on MCC campaign rebalance modpack once every MCC game is released on PC. I very much enjoyed your Halo 1 and 2 mods and would love to play them in the Anniversary MCC versions.

[@davidarrington5561]

I would like to point out the fact that Ruby deserves way more than they're currently getting

[@TheRealBeady]

the fact you had to literally double the ars damage to make it viable is kinda nuts lol

[@el-fantasma21]

this is incredible!! This truly feels like this is bringing the sandbox balance closer to CE where it's fair between the player and enemies - it felt like the enemies got all the over powered stuff but now we get nice trade offs too, excellent work buddy :D

[@HedgehogY2K]

Funny, it's the huge leading on the pink needles themselves that make it easy to strafe past. It turns when you do so when it's close enough, you stop and strafe off making AI needles a joke. Seeing this pinky de-buff set's the weapon's rating accurate to it's reputation. I've been on Firefight/Score Attack long enough to recognize every pattern, it's just the elites that choose between 2 or 3 things I don't know until they do it, and 2/3 of those picks are straight up attempting melee from a distance, ALL AT ONCE!

[@josephsedge2978]

Hi, I love this mod, makes the campaign a lot more fun. I've got two questions for you: 1) Any plans to bring these changes over to firefight? 2) I wanted to change the clip size for the assault rifle to 60 because I always felt it was too low for real crowd control. How would I go about doing that myself? If you can answer either of these I'd be appreciative.

[@RubyofBlue]

Not at least until after I'm done making changes to the campaign. I don't wanna have to manage and update several more maps than I already do. And you need a program called Assembly, and open the desired level's map file within. Open the .weap tag for the Assault Rifle, and its ammo properties will be located under the "magazines" block.

[@pr3historic647]

Ngl this does seem a bit more like "Reach but easier" than rebalanced but I'm sure I gotta try it to see

[@GruntKF]

I gave it a go last evening on heroic and yep does feel significantly significantly easier but still rather fun. Was actually in the comments now to see if anyone was saying if it's too easy. Briefly tried legendary and it's seemingly not any more difficult, just slower because you receive more damage faster

[@Aries0098]

Basically, are less spongy but increased in numbers.. Still challenging but defintely not as tedious as the vanilla version. Definitely much more fun IMO.

[@Aries0098]

Some areas could definitely use less enemies... and the focus rifle needs a slight nerf...

[@1989Namz]

Great job. Actually planning a session with some buddies and this mod. Looks very promising!

[@coolbingo385]

This is really great! Probably the best Reach Sandbox changing mod out there

[@Fuk99999]

“Weakest sandbox of all the games” *laughs in halo 4*

[@Themrcesar53]

I hope hokie trys this out :).

[@computerpwn]

This is so awesome! One thing I really wanted from a Halo game was a tough level of difficulty with little room for error, yet the boots-on-the ground feel of your allied npcs actually getting kills and surviving enemy encounters for longer. You just couldn't have both when it came to vanilla legendary; the marines would get picked off near instantaneously

[@SuperKamiHemo]

OMG Ruby you da best! I was searching high an low for a mod to fix up Reach's AI for noble team.

[@Plasmatic5150]

Huge missed opportunity with calling it "Ruby's Reach-balanced"

[@jcdenton3512]

I’ve been loving all these halo rebalance and evolved mods coming out, can’t wait to eventually see halo 3 and halo 4 rebalanced and modded.

[@lowlyatom2678]

JC Denton he can do that too

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

@Smugglerscomedy I agree! I want a Halo 4 campaign where the Prometheans are actually FUN to fight against. And one where the enemy AI firing rate is actually adjusted properly to compensate for the new 60 FPS frame rate, which the console MCC version of Halo 4... lacked, which meant that enemies fire at the player faster than they did in the 360 version.

[@hi-fistereo8987]

With all the mods coming out I was hoping we could have a Reach mod where you drop as an ODST into new alexandria, kind of like a second Halo ODST. In fact I think Buck does show up with some ODSTs in the level New Alexandria so the potential is already there. It would be really cool to be able to explore the city on foot especially with the high level walkways it has, and with newer hardware you could probably make it way bigger and more detailed than New Mombasa.

[@JustMelsie]

Your changes to friendly AI are always my favorite. It's so cool seeing their role expanded.

[@TyRexDaQT]

Earned my sub just from the Rebalance series, can't wait to try it out myself!

[@343killedhalo4]

man i hope you update this for mcc i wanna play it so bad.

[@odstarmor557]

1:48 YES THANK YOU FINALLY SOMEONE SAYS IT!!!!

[@ysmi1r_160]

I'm replaying the campaign with your mod and oh my God does it make the campaign perfect, A+ to you brother 🤘🤘

[@fanamatakecick97]

I thought i was subscribed... goddamn i’m late to the party I honestly am excited to see this, seeing how your rebalancing for CE and 2 were OUTSTANDING! ^^^

[@danielbob2628]

Did you do anything to the Fuel Rod Cannon and Rocket Launcher? Also, what makes you think the gold elites from CE were Zealots?

[@staryoshi06]

I believe that the game's manual called them zealots, and they're also known as such in the game files.

[@BioGoji-zm5ph]

@@staryoshi06 Actually, the game files call them Commanders, since the Zealot term didn't really catch on until Halo 2, but either way they're pretty much the same unit.

[@spartan2299]

But halo wiki says that Halo CE gold elites are zealots.

[@TheBoomamatic]

As a new player of reach, I played through the campaign on Heroic and had such a sloggy, frustrating and ultimately unsatisfying time. I constantly felt as if my weapons weren't worth the bullets they had. Seeing an elite two shot you with a concussion rifle with splash damage alone, only to turn around and require several direct hits to take him down in return was hugely frustrating. Hunters ate all the ammo in the universe, & that FFFfffucking space section can burn in the hell it decided to put me through. Also imagine getting emotionally invested in the story only for the final Lone Wolf segment to end with phantoms dropping your shields in the first 2 seconds & jumping down into the loving arms of a SINGLE grunt who peppers you to death, making your last stand feel more like you stubbed your toe & gave up. However, all my nagging criticisms I've had for how this game feels to play (except the multiplayer, that remains superbly enjoyable) have been addressed in this rebalance. Battles are bigger, faster paced & aggressive playstyles are rewarded & not punished, Golden Zealots are my A E S T H E T I C, suit powers have way more utility instead of being rather gimmicky. Having Noble team actually feel like a team has gone a long way to making me even more invested in these wet cardboard characters who barely strung together an interesting personality between them, ultimately making their sacrifices mean more, as your actually losing team members & not intermittent input from voice actors. I've already played through about half of the game with this rebalance & I'm absolutely loving the changes, while each fight is individually much easier than before on equal difficulties, they are WAY more fun to engage with, it's made me do a complete 180 on how I feel about Reach as a singleplayer game & has brought what I love about halo back into a campaign that initially disappointed me, Glad I stumbled upon this channel (also just in terms of explaining, humor & pacing this was a really good video) & you have certainly earned a subscriber.

[@Muzikman127]

that concussion rifle shit really was the worst on the first reach playthrough. It feels like you're being taunted, you meet a highranking elite with this new weapon that absolutely obliterates you, and then when you use it it feels like a water pistol... It took a while to realise that I wasn't doing anything wrong, the weapon just sucks in the player's hands

[@connergoldsborough4093]

This is soooo cool!!! My absolute favorite change is too the friendly ai’s!!! I love it!

[@Evan-eh9dd]

That assault rifle change looks exactly like how the gun feels in Halo 2A

[@MajoraZ]

Wow, I've actually been brainstorming a set of Reach rebalance changes myself (albiet moreso for MP) and you are doing a lot of the same ideas I was going to. If I ever start to work on it as a mod; maybe we can collaborate and combine our projects as a unified thing. That aside, here's, some first glance input/feedback for you to maybe consider: - You do much of what I would to the AR, but I think straight up doubling it's damage might be a bit much (or not, given enemy health/shield changes, I'll try the mod out and report back!), and while lowering it's spread is good, I don't think doing that alone is enough. I'd consider, instead, having much less spread for the first few shots, but then much more spread after the 4th or 5th shot in rapid successon, along with a higher maximum spread cone, less bullet magnetism, alongside, say, 1.5x more damage, but a 25% lower fire rate, and then, finally, a 1.5x headshot multiplier, both shields/health. This turns the AR into more of a "precision" automatic, designed around shorter bursts and encouraging accurate fire, and would still retain a roughly 2x damage, but only if you land headshots. - I feel like the Plasma repeater doesn't have a distinct role here, it sounds a bit too versatile and powerful. I like making it more of a rapid fire spray gun, but I feel you should go further with that: keep the increased fire rate you gave it, even the increased damage, if not even more extra damage; but don't give it increased accuracy/the vehicle, and make it overheat even faster: This way up close it can absolutely melt people, but it will quickly start to overheat, making it important that you don't overextend yourself and can track targetrs up close or else your DPS will start to drop and you'll get punished for it. This makes it a sort of extra beefy SMG, in contrast to the Plasma rifle and Spiker, which will act as traditional some-what more versatile autos, and the AR (with the above suggestion), being more designed around precision. - With the color changes to Minor and Major elites, i'm not a fan of how it seems like you removed the iridesecent effect on Major elite armor, the fact that covenant materials in reach have it is one of my favorite visual design elements. I'm not sure if this is something you really know how to modify, but if you and I collaborate we can do it: I'd basically make the base diffuse texture a darker red, but keep/brighten the specular iridescecent orange. (Also, in general, it might be fun to add this iridescence to more stufff/make it more apparent) - This is more of a personal preference thing, but i'm not a fan of swapping the General and Zealot colors: Generals, despiote not being called Zealots, still preform the gameplay function that zealots did in past games. If you ask me a better solution would be to name changes: Have Generals be called Zealots, while calling the Zealots something else: Naming them "Silent Shadow" would fit in with existing lore! Everything else seemed more or less good as is.

[@josh539]

Reach was my favorite HALO. I feel like the Halo series had the best campaigns, but multiplayer was always dogshit. You would get spawnkilled immediately and everything was so unbalanced you had to play for months to get your dmr aim good enough.

[@belzweis9568]

Reach has my favorite multiplayer, however I do agree the DMR should be treated as a power weapon & gave longer respawn time & less ammo.

[@Propane_Acccessories]

The casual playlists in multiplayer could be instantly improved by reducing the frequency of dmr starts. Keep them in the competitive playlists as those people generally like the dmr starts

[@tostie3110]

Wow, you really surprised me with this mod. Just got it in my recommended, and I was expecting to dislike it, being the purist that I am. You've made me genuinely excited to play through the campaign again! Even though I played the campaign tens of times and even played the PC release on heroic in one sitting

[@5erase]

Nice work on this man!

[@lowlyatom2678]

Ruby how did you make this mod so fair and balanced on legendary?

[@RubyofBlue]

Looking to Halo CE and how it balances difficulty, and tons of testing and playing.

[@lowlyatom2678]

Ruby of Blue Are you going to make a rebalanced for Halo 2 anniversary,Halo 3 & 4

[@Tyler-uc4ye]

Yeah

[@AvoozlPlays]

Reach pretty much bored me for the most part, but I also found it very imbalanced and ball bustingly difficult as a result.

[@iimasheriiol222]

I actually watched this almost entirely and didn’t even have halo downloaded you sir have a talent for keeping people interested

[@PlGGS]

Wow this is incredible and finally gives me a reason to go back and play reach again

[@Nonamearisto]

Seriously, most of the weapons were nearly useless against elites and higher-level brutes. I could fire a plasma rifle until it overheated and not even kill an elite with every shot hitting. What the hell?!

[@bbarbiter]

Yeah, you ended up using grenades or plasma pistol overcharge shots pretty much every time you fight the high ranking enemies.

[@javierititin]

On Ultras, every shot in a plasma rifle can't drain their goddamn shields

[@justiceforjoggers2897]

@@javierititin I remember landing 3 full body shots from a fuel rod and still the Ultra had shields

[@javierititin]

@@justiceforjoggers2897 Yeah man they're fucking insane.

[@epicon6]

This is way too easy even with legendary+increased health+increased rank. It's already too easy as it is.

[@hi-fistereo8987]

yeah it sounds like it might make it too easy on legendary

[@volition142]

Agreed but still fun with good movement you can play crazy aggressive but you will get punished if you mess up

[@GhostVanguard]

This is everything I ever wanted from this game. Thank you

[@admiralasia5982]

Just now watching this 8 months later... the fact that you did this without pay and just for the love of the game is amazing

[@tonythegreat4275]

This brings me to tears! Like literally vanilla Halo reach is so lame haha, it's amazing to see that plazma bolts actually shoot fast and from afar! That's 1 thing I hated about the covenant weapons like a Nerf gun bullet can travel faster than it! I'm sharing your content! 343i NEEDS TO SEE YOUR WORK AND TAKE HEED!

[@ViolenVaymire]

Outdated(Broken) QQ the best mod! That mad e reach so fukin fun to play. Tragic af. downgradeing is unsupported by the devs... Have to download ugly software and hack your system just to get it to work. Unplayable.

[@MuchKoku]

Holy shit, Ruby. This is absolutely amazing work.

[@HelplessTeno]

Just finished my re-balanced playthrough of Reach, and my Lord was it the most fun I've ever had playing that game. It's like I was 15 again playing it on launch day. Thanks Ruby, you've revitalized a series that is dear to my heart.