Screenshot by Fyrewulf.

Co-op Night Is Wednesday at 9 EDT

Something is happening aboard the Forward Unto Dawn. After four years, seven months, and 10 days of drifting without incident, there are multiple decompressions on several decks--the ship is obviously being boarded. A certain spartan better wake up PDQ.

Long time no see, friends! I took a long break from Halo 4, and when I returned to it the other week, guess what? I realized that I really missed it. I'm a campaign guy, primarily, and even though I've got my quibbles with this installment, playing with friends always makes Halo games better, so I'm really looking forward to season 5 of Co-op Night. (And you need a break from GTA V, right?)

This week's battle plan:

Prologue/Dawn
Legendary
Tough Luck, Thunderstorm, Tilt, and Mythic (fun skulls optional)

If you haven't yet, be sure and send a friend request to Coop Night on XBL. This will help me organize teams.

Co-op Night FAQ (V5)

Why co-op?
I like playing with other people--especially people from the bungie.org communities. We all love inhabiting other worlds and kicking alien butt. Co-op Night gives us to chance to do this while also enjoying each other's company and maybe getting to know each other better than we might when we're trying to shoot each other in the face.

What will we play?
A level of the Halo 4 campaign each week until we're done.

Why only one level?
There's no limit to what you can play. The battle plan is just a starting point. If you want to continue to play the next level, that's fine, but personally, I’m about savoring one level per night. Simply put, Co-op Night is about having a night where if you show up, it's assumed you are interested in co-op with community members, and you’re committed to playing through one level.

So there are no rules?
Not really, but the goal is to milk as much fun as possible out of each mission, and for the most part, this means full path Halo, appreciating the story, killing everything, avoiding glitchy shortcuts, and saving the galaxy with style while leaving piles of dead enemies in our wake. In other words, this is not high speed Halo. Co-op night is about teamwork. On co-op night, assists count as much as kills.

How will teams be formed?

1. Send a friend request to the gamertag Coop Night on XBL. (You can also send a note to Kermit7, but friends of Coop Night get invited first.)
2. If you're online at the designated time, I assume you have an interest in co-op and invite you to my party.
3. If and when we have a full party (or multiple parties), we play a short game and the results will serve as our randomized team list. I'll assign team leaders, and we'll count off four starting from the top.
4. The party leaders leave to form their own Xbox Live party, inviting their assigned teammates (usually the two to three names under them in the last game results).

With luck, this process shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes.

Will Bungie employees be there?

No. I mean, who knows? It's happened before, but that would just be the cherry on top. We're plenty tasty as is. (That's not to say that you wouldn't be extremely welcome, Bungie folks!)

But what about my friends?
You have friends? Congratulations! Gathering a party to play co-op should be easy whenever you want. Quit your bellyaching, soldier! You've got a job to do. Co-op night isn't about playing with the same old people you always play with. It's about playing with the bungie.org community, and maybe forming new friendships and bonds forged in brightly colored blood.

<3

Kermit

Based on some comments about the impromptu co-op night I organized last week, there might be some confusion or intimidation regarding how I run these things. It's a little more complicated than most game nights--there can be a lot of people to divide into teams of four--but it's really not a big deal. We've played through three campaigns and spartan ops, and it's worked pretty well.

Don't be put off by my long FAQ. I never expect anyone to read it more than once. It's a lot of me saying what I think is fun about co-op.

I hope newcomers here will join in.

Kermit

Yay! The return of the Co-Op! My favorite movie of all time!

Fair warning to whoever I team-up with: I might have to go AFK (AFC?) at random times to tend to a tiny human who doesn't like to sleep.

Understood. Forward unto dawn indeed.

I'd like to do this. We'll just have to see how I feel this afternoon.

If I can manage to remember while playing GTA V I will be there. But I make no promises.

Sounds like fun! I'd love to join you guys!

Set an alarm for 8:30 so you have time finish jumping out of an airplane or whatever and can save your progress.

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I'll try to be there. Why do you always run these things during my travel seasons? :(

Definitely not deliberate. :(

Great idea! Co-op is my favorite way to play, but I'm gonna have to miss this session. Looking forward to next time!

Welp, I ran my iPad's battery all the way down while playing with iOS 7 so I guess that seals it. I'm in. :)

Yay!

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Apparently I forgot to update earlier *sigh* be on as soon as I can.

Yeah… I had that…

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I didn't really plan on playing Halo 4 multiplayer… ever again… and so didn't think to install the maps.

Remember the good ole days when you put the game disk (SINGULAR) in and played the game… Yeah, that was nice…

… as long as nobody tries to make me redownload Spartan Ops! :p

Bones, Ragashingo, and myself had a great time, and I heard positive reports from other teams.

The set up went pretty well considering it was our first time in a while and there were some technical issues.

If you didn't play and you're planning on playing in the future, keep in mind that Halo 4 may have had some updates since you last played, and these take time to install. Load it early (before next Wednesday night would be ideal).

Also, I didn't make it clear enough in my FAQ, but we do play a quick Free For All match to help us sort ourselves into co-op teams, so if you're sworn off H4 multiplayer and uninstalled the maps, undo that before next week. Hell, undo that before Xenos' game night tonight!

One last thing, we had almost everyone ready to start by 9:01 last night. Let's make that a habit. If you can get on a little before 9, that is ideal.

Thanks for playing guys (and Jackie!),

Kermit

P.S. I welcome feedback, especially about skulls. I won't be switching them around each game night like I have before, but are there any we need to add to the standard line-up? (I don't think we need to make it easier.)

cc: HBO

Snipe, Mal, Zack, and I enjoyed a Lag-filled fun time with zero g's or fucks given.

Short level with invincible magna-elites, but playing catch with zero-g stuff was awesome.

Of course you won! Snipe is one competitive dude.

But he found a way to frogblast it.

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Well, my corpses did.

Fun fact: ragdolls are pulled into Requiem like any other free floating items.

Well, my corpses did.

Fun fact: ragdolls are pulled into Requiem like any other free floating items.

I discovered this myself. "Meet you guys down there!" I told my teammates.