343 Industries have lost my trust and respect

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Honestly I have now lost my respect and trust in 343 Industires as a developer. They have done 4 things that has completely crossed the line for me. I honestly don’t know who to blame. Is it the people in charge of 343? Is it Microsoft? Is it a bit of both? Now this isn’t a direct hate post but I’m pointing out why I have lost fate in 343 Industires and I hope that 343 Industries takes note of this (I highly doubt they will) and fix these issues for Halo 6 and beyond. These 4 things are :

  • The lack of content. Now this is a very obvious issue but it means something more than just a lack of popular gamemodes. What bugs me about this is that it defies one of the things that made the Bungie games so great. In the Bungie games thenre was something for EVERYONE. In the original games the was so much variety of social slayer and objective based gamemodes that are absent in Halo 5 (KOTH, Oddball, Ricochet, One flag, Juggernaut, VIP, BTB Heavies, BR’s, Headhunters) and this created little sub-community’s but in Halo 5 those sub-community’s have been neglected or have just completely been cut off by 343 Industries. Also this is the main reason why Halo 5’s population died so quickly. - The atrocious treatment of beloved community features. Forge was released 2 months post launch. The file share was released a year post launch. Theatre launched and still is to this day, broken. If these community features don’t work/aren’t in the game then the community won’t grow. If the community doesn’t grow then the community will simply die and the games population will die (which is exactly what happened to Halo 5 which is struggling to be in the top 15 most played games on Xbox Live). Altough Forge is amazing it was missing when the game needed it the most. The same can be said for the custom game browser. It would have been very useful on Day 1 but its not going to do much since 90% of the people who bought the game have left. - The presence of sprint and Spartan abilities. Now before you start hating in the comments HEAR ME OUT. Whether you like or dislike the Spartan abilities is completely up to you but that’s a completely different subject (I personally hate them). What bugs me about the Spartan abilities is how it has completely split the community down the middle. When people played the original games they played it because it was HALO. Now the community has been split into a bunch of different groups with different opinions. There’s pro 343. There’s pro Bungie. There’s pro sprint. Anti sprint. There’s competitive players. There’s casual players. There’s pro coloured undersuits. There’s anti coloured undersuits. There’s pro 343 art style. There’s Pro Bungie art style. There is so much toxic hate in the forums with people arguing over their opinions and being honest it’s depressing. The halo community was one of the brightest community’s in the video game industry. Now it’s a dying and divided shell of what it once was. 343 has done so much to divide and alienate the community in the last few years and it’s honestly painful just speaking about it. - Their lack of interaction with the community. Sure people like Unyshek, Bravo and Ske7ch do a good job of this but the people in charge of 343 don’t. For example let’s look at selling one req at a time. There have been complaints about this since DAY 1. Even Bravo said that he would pass it onto higher officials at 343. Nothing happened. Now some of you may argue that they did listen to the community at times so let’s look at some examples of this :
  • We asked for a classic playlist. What we did get was a cheap, lazy “CLASSIC” playlist as Spartan abilities were turned ON. It literally takes 30 seconds to turn them off. Credit to Unyshek and forgers for making the maps though - We asked for a less codified multiplayer after halo 4. What we did get was the return of even starts along with a bunch of new issues like infinite sprint, ADS and more. - We asked for BTB. We got a terrible version of that great gamemode with only 3 gamemodes - We asked for a 4 player co-op system… Wait we never asked for that - We asked for playable elites… Wait those were never added :(Honestly I don’t know if I will buy Halo 6 at this stage and if I do I CERTAINLY won’t be pre ordering. If 343 screws up again for Halo 6 they will loose a lot of fans including myself
2

You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.

I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.

3

> 2533274817408735;2:
> You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
>
> I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.

Yeah, I am not sure why this is still a discussion over a year later…

4

> 2533274817408735;2:
> You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
>
> I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.

I didn’t mention Halo 5’s atrocious story because it doesn’t show any signs of not caring about the community. While Halo 5’s story is terrible I felt that it didn’t belong in this list because that’s just my opinion where this list is mostly fact. This is a list of things 343 have done to make me hate them not a list of everything I hate in Halo 5. I already said that this isn’t a hate post, it’s just why I’m feeling that 343 isn’t treating the community with the respect it deserves. Also Frank o’Conor made many PUBLIC interviews they hardly listen to feedback and hardly respond to forum posts, even in support. As I said I don’t care if you like or dislike sprint I just want you to acknowledge that it has divided the community due to it being in the game.

5

> 2533275000870778;4:
> > 2533274817408735;2:
> > You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> > As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> > Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
> >
> > I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.
>
>
> I didn’t mention Halo 5’s atrocious story because it doesn’t show any signs of not caring about the community. While Halo 5’s story is terrible I felt that it didn’t belong in this list because that’s just my opinion where this list is mostly fact. This is a list of things 343 have done to make me hate them not a list of everything I hate in Halo 5. I already said that this isn’t a hate post, it’s just why I’m feeling that 343 isn’t treating the community with the respect it deserves. Also Frank o’Conor made many PUBLIC interviews they hardly listen to feedback and hardly respond to forum posts, even in support. As I said I don’t care if you like or dislike sprint I just want you to acknowledge that it has divided the community due to it being in the game.

Did you come up with all of these ideas on your own?

6

well 343i hasn’t made a game I’ve fallen in love with, or spent more than around 20 hours with in all honesty, all in all they are extremely mediocre and I strongly believe that if a more competent developer would have taken the reins maybe Halo still could have been a console seller AAA franchise. At this point it’s absolutely not.

7

> 2808047981948072;6:
> well 343i hasn’t made a game I’ve fallen in love with, or spent more than around 20 hours with in all honesty, all in all they are extremely mediocre and I strongly believe that if a more competent developer would have taken the reins maybe Halo still could have been a console seller AAA franchise. At this point it’s absolutely not.

You have 22 hours in H5, 3 days in 4, and 21 hours in MCC, but thats none of my businessEdit: SAS Dredd pointed out to me that he also has 20 hours in H5 campaign.

8

> 2533274924401014;3:
> > 2533274817408735;2:
> > You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> > As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> > Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
> >
> > I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.
>
>
> Yeah, I am not sure why this is still a discussion over a year later…

Because a year later people are still disgusted with the top down tear down of one of the most consistent franchises of the gaming world.

9

> 2533274924401014;7:
> > 2808047981948072;6:
> > well 343i hasn’t made a game I’ve fallen in love with, or spent more than around 20 hours with in all honesty, all in all they are extremely mediocre and I strongly believe that if a more competent developer would have taken the reins maybe Halo still could have been a console seller AAA franchise. At this point it’s absolutely not.
>
>
> You have 22 hours in H5, 3 days in 4, and 21 hours in MCC, but thats none of my businessEdit: SAS Dredd pointed out to me that he also has 20 hours in H5 campaign.

Hey that was a good guess by me bro, 22 hours on Halo 5 I guessed 20. Damn 3 days in 4, dunno how that makes sense.
Well you caught me I guess, I love 343i

10

> 2808047981948072;9:
> > 2533274924401014;7:
> > > 2808047981948072;6:
> > > well 343i hasn’t made a game I’ve fallen in love with, or spent more than around 20 hours with in all honesty, all in all they are extremely mediocre and I strongly believe that if a more competent developer would have taken the reins maybe Halo still could have been a console seller AAA franchise. At this point it’s absolutely not.
> >
> >
> > You have 22 hours in H5, 3 days in 4, and 21 hours in MCC, but thats none of my businessEdit: SAS Dredd pointed out to me that he also has 20 hours in H5 campaign.
>
>
> Hey that was a good guess by me bro, 22 hours on Halo 5 I guessed 20. Damn 3 days in 4, dunno how that makes sense.
> Well you caught me I guess, I love 343i

#exposed

lol

11

While I agree with most of your points, you’re kind of beating a dead horse at this point. I do really think that 343 needs to actually listen to the community however. It just irritates me how selective and stubborn they are (or at least seem to be). The new “classic” playlist, while admittedly quite fun, is like a huge middle finger to all the people who have been asking for a classic playlist. Warzone Firefight was kind of the same for the Firefight community. What makes Warzone Firefight worse though is how they seemingly haven’t even bothered to fix any of the blatant design flaws or glitches within the game mode, despite it being one of the game’s “selling points” and the focal point of the biggest and most advertised update yet. Most of the time I can’t figure out whether 343 are stubborn/prideful and greedy, or simply incompetent. Honestly, I don’t know which is worse.

12

Well OP, I agree with what you wrote. As someone else mentioned, most of these are tired topics and we all can pretty much agree.

For me, what really did it was the “classic playlist”.
I’m sorry 343, but you really did a piss poor job of handling this one. WHY would you build hype about a “classic” playlist in a community update when there are rumors going around about a no spartan ability / sprint playlist ? They HAD to have known that people would get the wrong idea, reading what they said about it. Then sure enough when it dropped everyone was pissed because it’s just classic maps.

All they had to do was say it’s just classic maps. Watching 343 manage this community is like watching a chicken run around with it’s head cut off.

As someone who has dropped Halo 5 out of frustration and getting my feelings hurt one too many times, I can say that Dice does an IMPECCABLE job of listening to community feedback for battlefield by delivering quality, meaningful patches, and interacting with the community in a productive manner.

13

> 2533274817408735;2:
> You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
>
> I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.

Thank you. I could not tell you how many anti-343 posts I’ve read. We get it.

I’m just grateful I still have a Halo game to play and I love discussing it peacefully with members of the Waypoint.

14

nothing new to read here, really
just the same old

15

Really? I didn’t know that you didn’t have faith or trust in 343. It’s not like you don’t make this clear in literally every one of your threads /s.

I feel like you’ve made a ton of these threads. This thread would have been acceptable in the first few months, but now it’s not. There are so many things that have been fixed/added and you still want to rehash the past for no apparent reason other than to say that you don’t like 343.

16

I feel like I’ve read this thread multiple times because it’s an old topic and we just have to deal with it like we have the past year. All we can do now is hope for a good game out of halo wars 2 and Halo 6 and hope that they have a decent balance of social and competitive and little to no micro-transactions.

17

> You’ve stated things that are, at this point, essentially common knowledge and widespread opinions. Yes, Halo 5 launched with dismal amount of content. It’s better now, but that kind of launch, when you compare it to past Halo titles, was pathetic. I include Forge and File/Content Browser under the “content” umbrella, as opposed to its own separate issue.
> As for the abilities, well, that is not necessarily a problem. Game mechanics change; remember that much of what contributed to 343i’s style of Halo began in Bungie’s era with Halo Reach. And to its credit, Halo 5 is closer to the original trilogy style than Reach or 4. But change is necessary, for better or worse. I would criticize 343i more if they tried to release the same game year after year like CoD has done. And game communities are divided all over the place. I guarantee you that Bungie-era Halo saw divides in the community; never will 100% of people in a group all agree on the same thing. That’s just how humanity works.
> Communication is a problem for many game developers, not just 343i. If you look at Bungie now, they aren’t much better. And I don’t know of any AAA developers where the people who run the companies directly communicate with the fans. That’s what community managers are for. But I’ll say that I’ve read more public interviews from Frank O’Connor than I have from Destiny’s development director at Bungie (don’t even know that person’s name). And on the point of listening, there is a difference between listening and doing what people say. I’m sure 343i knows everything that the community wants (and many of those desires are not shared by 100% of the community). But that doesn’t mean they will implement everything they listen too. That would be unrealistic to expect. Game developers have an idea for their game in mind, and while there is some wiggle room for changing based on player feedback, I doubt that any developer would drastically change their game unless it was totally broken or not selling at all. Many people complain about the “Anniversary Playlist”, saying that it’s not the classic playlist they were promised. Well, I must have missed when they used the term “classic”, because I only ever heard it called “Anniversary Playlist”. I agree that “classic” suggests the old ways of movement, old map designs, etc. But maybe 343i doesn’t want to promote a style that goes against what they have created themselves, which is kind of understandable; if they publish a playlist that is truly “classic”, would that depopulate all their other playlists? Would people not want to go back to Halo 5’s style of play within Halo 5? Who knows the reasons for these decisions. Personally, since I didn’t hear them advertise a “classic” playlist, I’m more forgiving with the resulting Anniversary Playlist; it does its job of celebrating Halo’s past by showcasing old maps and old weapons. Could it have been done different, even better? Sure. But I don’t think 343i should be burned at the stake for that playlist.
>
> I will admit that 343i has made plenty of mistakes. Halo 4 gets more flak than it deserves, but 343i got the hint that too much CoD in Halo is a bad thing. MCC launch was broken, they should never let that happen again. I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about Halo 5’s story, which was nowhere near what fans expected it to be; I hope 343i learns from their mistakes in crafting Halo 5’s story. 343i has made mistakes, but they have yet to make the same mistake twice. And that is important. That is what gives me hope that 343i can do better in the future, and that is why I’m still on board with this developer and their franchise. If they ever do make the same mistake twice (and Halo 6 is shaping up to be their “do or die” moment with many players, including me), I’ll probably give up Halo. But I can’t hold 343i to higher standards than I do other AAA game companies when they already do better than most. 343i aren’t Activision, they aren’t EA, they aren’t Ubisoft; they’re better than them. They also aren’t Bungie, but even Bungie isn’t Bungie anymore. 343i are doing what they think is best for the franchise, and they’ve made some stumbles along the way, but they have also contributed good things. Halo 4’s story was good. Halo 5’s multiplayer has been one of the more stable MP experiences I’ve had in the last year. I think it is important to not get so caught up in nostalgia that we are blind to the positive aspects of what’s right in front of us. We should absolutely speak up when we don’t like something, but we need to also remember that not everyone feels the way we do, and everyone else’s opinions are just as important as our own. So when Halo 5 doesn’t hit every check mark you personally set for it, rather than call it a failure, try to have a more global look on it, because I’m sure where you have a missing check mark, someone else has filled theirs in.

This is astonishingly well-written and backed up. I couldn’t agree with you more though.

18

totally sick of this recurring hate that has been circulating since Reach & 343i’s takeover of the series.
nostalgia, member berries, classic formula, golden triangle, savetmccfirst, and on and on

19

I was once an irrational 343 hater who just hated the entire company, but I’ve since redirected my anger towards the people who truly deserve it. Those people are the ones in charge: Bonnie Ross, Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor, Dan Ayoub, and Josh Holmes. Probably a few others as well like Quinn Del Hoyo (or however you spell his name).

I believe it is the fault of those people that have brought Halo down to where it’s at now. I’m sure the rest of the employees, the ones who actually make the games, are fine, talented people who do their best to work with what they’re given.

20

> I was once an irrational 343 hater who just hated the entire company, but I’ve since redirected my anger towards the people who truly deserve it. Those people are the ones in charge: Bonnie Ross, Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor, Dan Ayoub, and Josh Holmes. Probably a few others as well like Quinn Del Hoyo (or however you spell his name).
>
> I believe it is the fault of those people that have brought Halo down to where it’s at now. I’m sure the rest of the employees, the ones who actually make the games, are fine, talented people who do their best to work with what they’re given.

Exactly. The every day employees are just carrying out the orders given to them.