The Tides of Momentum in Halo 3

Halo 3, much like the NFL, is a game of momentum. When you have it, you win. When you don't, what happened to me last night happens. I was carrying the week, starting with a 22 in Team Doubles (the only "team" game I'm good at). Three nights later I had a 31, just 5 away from my record 36 in Lone Wolves. I had gotten 9 points in 4 days play, which for me is outstanding. The wins were piling up like spent shells, my Kill/death ration was averaging about +8 (no, really), and I could almost swear my SPARTAN was grinning in the replays.

Then last night I made a terrible, awful, disastrous mistake. I turned on the Xbox 360 and clicked on "Play Game," activating the insidious disc hidden within the bowels of my Split Pea Soup Green Xbox. The first game was a loss. A bad one. I might have been -11. Maybe it was -12. Either way, I had a boot print on my SPARTAN's butt that was destined to become more pronounced as the night went on.

The next game, I lost. Not too bad, though. Only -8. Then I lost again. And my score dropped to 30. Then I lost again, and again.

And again.

And my score dropped to 29.

This is when a sane person realizes he just "doesn't have it" and gives his blood pressure a break. This is when he (or she) realizes that the god of Halo 3, Bungiemalahara (ruler over the virtual realm Halo inhabits) has forsaken them, at least for that night. As punishment for my Halo 3 sin of gluttony and self-mutilation, I was cursed with a slow connection.

I know, lag gets blamed for poor performance more than any other reason, but in one night I got sent to the "Black Screen" room six or seven times, had a partner lag out, and lost 90% of my melees. And that's AFTER the Melee fix (which I'm a big fan of, despite everyone else's inexplicable complaints.) I should have stopped. After all, Rock Band was sitting there next to the Xbox 360, waiting for it's turn. "You have so much to do, Solstice!" it seemed to say. "You need to finish guitar on medium to unlock all the songs, and get that drum set rocking on medium as well!"

I lost again.

"...come on baby, don't fear the reaper..."

The Skill value seems to be a mystery to most people. I look at it like this: If you level up one skill point, you are considered -. If you do okay for 1-3 games, you are considered null, and if you win 1-3 games, you are considered +. This is how I interpret it, and it seems to work pretty well for me to predict where I'll be after a game. Of course, if the game's a disaster (like many yesterday were), sometimes you can drop without warning. Say you just move to Skill 30. I would consider you Skill 30-.You play two games, and have a k/d ratio over both games of +1. You would then be considered a Skill 30. Then you win two in a row, with the last game being a +4. Now you're a 30+, and only need one or two more solid games to move up to 31. This is in regards to Lone Wolves. Team games muddy the water due to teammate skills and performance beyond the understanding of all but Bungiemalahara and his chief demon, Algorhythmus. Also remember that really valuable medals help bump you up artificially. A killing frenzy, for example, is the freight elevator to the next point.

Back to my tale of woe. I backed out of Doubles, tired of the idiot "partner" I had been stuck with the last game complaining that I should have told him the other guys were behind him. Time for Lone Wolves, where I can block communications, and pretend like I'm playing bots. (Sometimes I wish Halo 3 DID have bots.)

I lost yet again. But did okay. Enough to only lose by 5 and have a K/d ration of -1. So I played again.

At this point in my story, the proverbial blood was gushing down my face from repeatedly bashing my head against the momentum wall, and it was getting hard to see the screen through the red haze. (The red haze might have been frustration as well.) So finally, at long last, I backed out of Halo and turned the Xbox off for the night.

So will the momentum shift back in my favor tonight, or will Bungiemalahara curse me again despite my offering of nightly abuse on his electric alter? Or will I just play Rock Band?

The moral of the story is this: when I am winning, I need to keep playing. If I am losing I need to stop. After one more game. Or two.

- Solstice01