Edit: I just want to preface this by saying that they addressed a lot of the things we’ve been unhappy with, and i do appreciate that because it is proof that theyre paying attention. Be that as it may, i still hold all of this with cautious optimism considering 343’s track record… But i did still appreciate this update.
Sorry Sean, the script you were given is riddled with inconsistencies, and that speaks to the amount of sincerity 343 projects when they put out statements like this.
343 can’t seem to reconcile the fact that a first person shooter doesnt have to be a constant sweat fest. And they pretend like they’re aware of this. Sean Baron had this to say in reference to some of the wackier cosmetics:
“ We need to be able to support… other personal preferences, other identities that people want to show… because it should be a community, it’s a social place, right?”
But literally 2 minutes prior to saying this, he dropped this tiring sentiment.
“We are a VERY competitive game. That’s who we are. Thats our DNA.”
Extremely contradictory. It’s also worth mentioning that the original creators of Halo wanted this game to be a “party game with shooter mechanics.” Verbatim. It is not in their DNA, unless they started playing around with eugenics.
So then which is it? Is Halo a competitive game or is it meant to be a social game with competitive aspects? When you take it in context, 343 doesnt much care about social aspects at all (In fact, the only social aspect that was really touched upon was in reference to paid cosmetics). Especially when you consider that one of the next things Sean says is this:
“How do you take [A LOT of playlists] and combine it with all of the challenges that exist with Skill Based Matchmaking” (Emphasis Sean’s)
Like does anyone see the disconnect here? They’re so rooted in this idea of having such a strict SBMM in place that they cant even wrap their heads around the idea that social playlists dont need to be skill based.
Needed to get this out there cuz it was really getting under my skin. Also I dont want to just trounce on Sean Baron for saying all of this. I’m sure it was some Board approved script he was given that needed to have specific buzz words and talking point.
All that being said, i am excited to see all the changes coming in the next few months. I’m a little salty that season 3 isnt going to be until March, but i feel like the winter update is a good interim idea to get their “seasonality” on track. It is massively unfortunate that its taken this long to get to that point tho… sigh… so many mixed feelings