[Paul B]

Thanks for the run down Bubba- Makes sense now. I've obviously gotten lucky with 'All oz' teams in the lag free games. I'll up my speed anyhow as it can't do any harm and I'll just have to pick my times when hopefully all the Yanks are in bed.

I'd try the router thing as Paul suggests but it'd probably mess up my general net access as many of the sites I use are US based (although I guess I could just allow those through). Just not sure if I want to keep changing the settings all the time.

Have you got the Level 50 achievement or gotten bored and moved on?

I haven't bothered, I just go for "Good Connection" as Bubb's suggests but I've got a wireless connection anyway (see previous pages in the thread) so as you might guess, latency doesn't bother me THAT much.
I guess I could probably add IP restrictions on my W AP and then only the Xbox would be effected, but I can't be bothered, its all working nicely.

[Bubba]

surely you can do this through your router Bubb's?

Blocking US IPs? Harder than you'd think.

You have to obtain all the US IP address ranges, then feed them into some sort of blocking software. You also have to make sure that you don't block the XBL IP addresses for obvious reasons.

I can't remember the best place to find US IP address ranges now, they are published somewhere. They change often so you need to keep on top of it.

If it was one continuous IP range then it'd be easy to do in the router but it's not, there's hundreds of them. It'd be a pain! Also, it kills surfing to any US websites so you want it to be as easy as possible to turn on/off.

The software I used was Outpost Firewall along with a free plugin called Protowall which could accept the IP ranges. There used to be a whole Halo 2 community called "wallwalkers" (after the effect of walking into walls under extreme lag) dedicated to updating these ranges. They've gone now though.

It's quite likely that the current XBL would detect this sort of thing and ban you, though I'm not sure if they are technically allowed to do that for using a firewall.

[Bubba]

Have you got the Level 50 achievement or gotten bored and moved on?

I got to level 45 in a public Horde match, and I've finished level 47 on my own (easiest settings) but i've become frustrated with reaching 50 due to quitters. Time and time again I'd play for an hour only to have the host quit and the game to end. If they had host-migration like Halo does this wouldn't happen, but they don't.

I've pretty much given up now. I did love Horde but the general online play in GOW2 isn't a patch on Halo 3's multiplayer.

H3 is way more skillful and the game is much better at dealing with lag, etc, so it's back to H3 although i'm in love with the mental Braid at the moment

[Carnage]

I'll give the router idea a miss then - Sounds like a right pain the arse.

Thats pretty good going. There seem to be a few effective strategies out there for completion on certain levels but it does require the whole team to work together, which is something most of my random team mates fail to grasp. Especially the idiots that don't even know how to revive you (or just take pleasure in watching you crawling around at their feet until you almost die before doing it  )

I've not actually played Halo 3 yet and guess I should be ashamed of myself. Just never been big on each man for himself deathmatch type stuff. Much prefer the team based which is why I'll prob pick up Left 4 Dead before I get Halo 3.

[Bubba]

Halo 3 is team based. It does have FFA (Free For All) matches but the majority of games are team based. Probably the most popular games are Team Slayer.

In fact to do well in H3 then team communication is everything. I'm still looking for a UK casual to join as at the mo I just play with random parties which as you've said above is frustrating.

If you watch some pro H3 matches in action with a voice track on the recording then the amount of team communication is crazy.
 

[Paul B]

Halo 3 is team based. It does have FFA (Free For All) matches but the majority of games are team based. Probably the most popular games are Team Slayer.

In fact to do well in H3 then team communication is everything. I'm still looking for a UK casual to join as at the mo I just play with random parties which as you've said above is frustrating.

If you watch some pro H3 matches in action with a voice track on the recording then the amount of team communication is crazy.
 

feel free to send some vids (or links)... That one you sent me of the Boss on construction is absolutely insane!

[Carnage]

I'll have to give it look again then. I only ever completed the campaigns on 1 and 2 , and after watching some of the vids I realise the learning curve is going to be pretty high. Does selection try and match you with/against those with similar abilities/stats or do you end up as the token noob that gets pasted everytime until you get to grips?

[Bubba]

Yeah, you get matched to those of a similar level but you'll still meet people who are starting new accounts so will past you. The learning curve is steep but there's plenty of low-level players too

[vivahate]

2v2 is quite dope in H3, and easy to arrange with a mate.

Agreed about the teamwork thing in H3, I don't think you can coordinate as heavily as in CS and it's less tactical. Are there H3 'clan' type matches, never really explored it to a competitive level