A Concerned Gamer

Community General Discussion
1

To Whom it may concern,
To begin, I am a very avid Halo fan. I loved it ever since that brilliant man climbed out of that tin can and clanked his feet on to the deck of the Pillar of Autumn back in 2001. This game accounts for more hours of my life than I care to admit. That being said I am just your average gamer. I never was a professional gamer. I never had my own twitch channel. I never even created much of a clan for Halo. All that being said I am still a believer in the Halo franchise and hope that this finds the right person. As many other people in the Halo community such as myself think, there seems to be concern for the next game in the franchise. In that 343 has tried to make Halo closer to the gameplay of other large game series such as Call of Duty, or Battlefield. While these games have their strengths and weaknesses just as any other game does, these are not to be the games that everyone needs to strive to be like. Halo was straightforward, yet brilliant in its storytelling. Halo was exciting and weirdly addictive at times. But most of all Halo was fun, pure and simple.
With the addition of Halo 4, and Halo 5 Guardians there was a downturn of those qualities, and this is fine. Industries, executives, and employees are all people at their root and people are most certainly allowed to make mistakes. I make mistakes every single day. This is why I don’t like the way many people in my generation like to handle their gripes; taking to facebook with a numerous amount of expletives, making an angry Youtube video, or something of that nature. I am choosing to voice my opinions via this outlet calmly. (btw, I was unsure of where else to write this seeing as there isn’t an open forum that I was able to find, but hopefully someone can read this) And this is more than likely too little too late, but I thought to write this anyway. Please think of how the Halo franchise began, and how it made you feel to play those games. A few of those attributes that I would like to highlight that I think made it rise above the rest are as follows…
Number 1: Multiplayer Starts
Everyone got the same look. Everyone got the same weapons. Everyone got the same abilities. While on paper some may seem to think that this would be “boring” this is quite the contrary. It was fair. And therefore nobody could complain when their buddy got to the rocket launcher and shoved it right up their -Yoink-, because that buddy was probably a bit better than the other to win the fight to the rocket launcher. And therefore, just because someone with a full time job cannot play as much as the next kid without a job, there were still no advantages to be had when the fully employed member of society finally gets to play on a Saturday night with his friends.
Number 2: Gameplay Nuances
To put it simply, please don’t put sprint into the next game. This takes much more away from the game than one may think. It makes the multiplayer experience have a much different feel and that is not what the OG Halo games did and therefore: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Number 3: No Money Grabbing
This maybe should have been number one but im writing this from the heart. DO NOT MAKE LOOT BOXES. This may make everyone a ton of money over there, but please remember the reason that zit-faced 16 year old decided to become a game designer… to simply make a great game! Make everyone happy, including yourself, and keep the game pure. This may be a hot button issue in the face of businessmen but a good businessman appreciates his product and appreciates the feedback from his customers.
Number 4: Storyline
I recently recited the entire story of the Halo Universe to my wife (yeah gamer’s find love too, and she listened to it because she truly loves me), and I passionately described the story right up until the middle of the story of Halo around Halo 4. Not that there was anything wrong with the story necessarily, but it just wasn’t as easy to describe as the others. That is where she lost interest in my story, and that is when a lot of others lost interest in the game. I don’t quite know how to crack the nut on this one, but just pop open the Halo CE and find some inspiration their if you can. I did indeed read some of the halo books, and loved them. However nobody should have to buy a book to understand a game. Thats why sequels usually suck at the movies, but it doesn’t have to be that way this time around for this game.
There. This may never see the light of day, but at least I can say that tried. I hope to one day come home from my full time job and pop in a truly fun game once again, and know that they did it right. If you read this far, then I tip my had to you my good fellow. Happy gaming, and happy developing.

Your Friend,
Demon XVI

<mark>mod edit: moved to General Discussion</mark>

2

Firstly, welcome. Thank you for your contribution and desire to further the franchise we all love.

As far as the competitive aspects of Halo 5, in addition to enhanced mobility, I don’t see this changing. Alot of the player base, myself included, found the movements to help in unlocking the creative parts of our brains. I know for me personally this is why despite my status as an old school Halo Veteran, Halo 5 is my go to. I simply have more freedom, which translates of course to a higher skill gap and learning curve, but it was designed in part by competitive Halo players. Fortunately, MCC is a good example of how to tackle this dilemma. The ability to turn off and on certain abilities allows the creation of throwback playlists marketed towards your specific demographic. I foresee this becoming a larger part of the overall multiplayer experience in the next installment.

As far as the story, I wholeheartedly agree. Even my Dad, who used to play through the original trilogy all the time, and even read some of the books, couldn’t finish H5. The story is trash, period. But there is hope. 343 has hired a new writer, and if the direction of Halo Wars 2 says anything, it’s that they are listening to the community and making adjustments. They know as well as we do that if they screw the next one up, that might seal the deal for us. Sinking or sailing, we’re all on this ship together.

Thanks for your input.

3

Well said and very well thought out

4

> 2533274823581196;1:
>

I’ve had concerns since halo reach,I played the hell out of it,but matchmaking was frustrating with armor abilities and loadouts.A majority of the fan base has left and for some reason people don’t see it as a big deal.This franchise was a system seller and imo it hasn’t been since h3.Now they’re other competing games,but instead of trying to remain authentic and do their own thing,343 is copying other games in an attempt to lure fans from other franchises away.It hasn’t worked and its driven even more people away

5

As an avid Halo fan myself, I’ve played every game start to finish a few times. Halo 5 was the exception. (I really don’t care much about the multiplayer for any game, so I’m not even going to mention it) Halo 5’s story was awful and the gameplay was lacking. Idk if anyone else has this issue, but the enemies in Halo 4 and 5, the Forerunner things (Can’t remember what they’re called) were annoying to deal with, unlike the Covenant, who kinda have that formulaic way of being taken down. The Elites for example: Destroy the shields, then shoot it some more and it’s dead. Those Forerunner things are robots so it’s like you’re just having to tear them apart rather than kill them. Idk what it is about killing them that annoys me, tbh.
The stories aren’t that good either. Halos 1-3, you can tell me exactly what the overarching plot was, right? You can’t really do that with 4 & 5. Something about Forerunners being upset that they’re not the favorite or something? Idk, I’m having to go back and play 4–Which isn’t awful, but it’s not good either–because I cannot remember the story. But it’s also been six years since I played it. Halo 4’s story seemed like it would have made a good movie or TV show, but a good game? Eh. It’s okay. You play Halo 5 and Halo 4 begins to look like Halo 2 in comparison. Halo 5’s story can be summed up in one sentence; “I can’t remember.” Halo 5 is so bad that it ruined Halo for me for like 3 years there. I traded in MCC to get it the day after it came out and I’ve never regretted a decision more.
TL;DR: Can we retcon Halo 5 and just do it over?

6

Wow, someone who I agree with almost entirely.
I take a more cynical approach to the series given the developer’s track record, but there’s still a small, naive part of me that looks forward to seeing what the next title is going to bring to the table.
Hopefully the increasing volume of feedback like yours is finally getting through to the devs.

7

Multiplayer starts:

I can appreciate valuing equal starts because it sounds like such a good idea. But matches don’t stay balanced beyond the first fifteen seconds anyway. Somebody makes it to power weapons A first, somebody else gets power up B first, etc. Do I really care whether advantage is gained through a random and arbitrary race to on-map toys which are designed, if you care to admit it, to accelerate the advantage of superior players… or do I care whether players carry their advantages on to the battlefield with them in the form of loadouts? As a bottom 10% player I’m screwed either way, but I’m screwed harder by equal starts. They’re the embodiment of sweat and the inherently unfair proposition that superior players deserve a leg up over their inferior enemies.

Sprint:

I too have played these games from the beginning and I too agree that sprint makes the game different. Where we differ is that I don’t find either situation to be preferable to the other.

Microtransactions:

No money grabbing? They’re a business whose purpose is to create products which they can sell to the public. How are people still shocked or saddened or disgruntled by the fact that businesses need to make money? How are people arrogant enough to decide for these companies at which point their desire for profit crosses some magic boundary into abject greed?

Campaign:

I agree that 343 story-telling can be a little convoluted, but I disagree with the idea that Bungie story-telling was any model of concision and intelligibility.

“Nobody should have to buy a book to understand a game.” Agreed 1000%.

My biggest takeaway from your criticisms isn’t whether or not I disagree with them - as noted above, sometimes yes, sometimes no. My biggest takeaway is that when most people set out to list their Halo 5 disappointments or their 343 disappointments, they come up with lists which usually have a lot of overlap. I feel like I’ve read your list a thousand times in the last few years. In the most obvious respect this shows consistency in the concerns of the community. But what puzzles me is how I, as another CE vet who’s played this game relentlessly for the duration, can look at the whole and see a completely different list of problems that plague Halo. Why is skill assessment still completely broken after however many years have passed since Halo 2? Why do we still give matchmaking a free pass to make bad matches while hiding behind the excuse of low population and playing during off-peak hours? Why does a game need a skill gap that’s so wide that skill mis-matches are indistinguishable from cheating? If I can’t satisfy myself over basic questions of fairness and playability (and I can’t, still, after all these years) then it’s hard for me to get worked up over two-speed motion or weapon drops. Those things are nothing to me if I’m questioning the basic integrity of the game. And I am. Daily.

8

I think the H6 story will be better than H5. They admitted they messed up the storytelling of H5 which is the first step to a better H6 and Brian Reed is no longer lead writer. Also looking at HW2 I’m more confident in that notion.

If you asked me a year ago if it was possible H6 wouldn’t have any gameplay hurting microtransactions I would’ve said no way, it’s Microsoft. Especially after HW2 also had loot boxes. But looking at Sea of Thieves and State of Decay, two games that could’ve easily incorporated loot boxes I’m more hopeful H6 won’t. Along with how much backlash the system has had in the past year that helps. I mean Battlefield 5 doesn’t even have loot boxes, a -Yoinking!- EA game! Surely if EA of all companies was smart enough to take them out, Microsoft must be too, right?.. RIGHT?! Let’s hope.

EDIT: As for the gameplay mechanics itself, I really have no idea what they’ll do. If it was still a Don Mattrick/Josh Holmes game Oki would say 99% it would continue the H4/H5 style. But it’s not, H6 will be a Phil Spencer/Chris Lee game. With those two role changes I really couldn’t say if H6 will be more of a classic Halo or continue modern Halo style. Two things are for certain though, Phil is leagues better than Don, and 343 has been better with the community in terms of feedback and communication in the last year or so. So those are two good things we have going for us. Chris Lee I have no clue about, he’s a wild card. We’ll have to see what he does.

9

Well said. It does help to look back on your legacy and see what made halo king. I really hope that halo 6 becomes a culmination of all the previous halos like how halo wars 2 incorporated both old and new art styles.

10

> 2533274823581196;1:
> therefore: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Exactly!

11

> 2533274900668879;6:
> Wow, someone who I agree with almost entirely.
> I take a more cynical approach to the series given the developer’s track record, but there’s still a small, naive part of me that looks forward to seeing what the next title is going to bring to the table.
> Hopefully the increasing volume of feedback like yours is finally getting through to the devs.

I’m with you. I try to stay hopeful that we will see a new game in the classic style. But man we’ve not seen a new game in the classic style since 2007. Unless you count Halo 2 Anniversary which played great but it had barely any content and didn’t even work properly for months. It wasn’t exactly a great experience.

12

While loot boxes come with a number of problems, in this context I hardly see them as money grabbing. They probably make far less money with the micro transactions than they did with paid DLC. This time round DLC is always free and paying for things is optional and only speeds up a process rather than providing an advantage. Much of the money also gets pumped straight back into things like the eSports scene which probably couldn’t have survived let alone thrived without the developer support. Still though, the current system is not working.

Even starts are essential and I’m certain they are guaranteed for Halo 6 given the positive reception for them being in H5.

I’m currently indifferent about armour abilities, I’m fine with leaving the decision to the developers on what they feel the game needs. All I want to see is that at least a few are taken away and the pacing is slowed down.

Campaign level design is good, story was all over the place

13

> 2533274873843883;7:
> But what puzzles me is how I, as another CE vet who’s played this game relentlessly for the duration, can look at the whole and see a completely different list of problems that plague Halo. Why is skill assessment still completely broken after however many years have passed since Halo 2? Why do we still give matchmaking a free pass to make bad matches while hiding behind the excuse of low population and playing during off-peak hours? Why does a game need a skill gap that’s so wide that skill mis-matches are indistinguishable from cheating? If I can’t satisfy myself over basic questions of fairness and playability (and I can’t, still, after all these years) then it’s hard for me to get worked up over two-speed motion or weapon drops. Those things are nothing to me if I’m questioning the basic integrity of the game. And I am. Daily.

Gotta give credit where its due, these issues really aren’t discussed as much as they should be.
Even a brilliantly executed game will fail if it can’t match players fairly, and you’re right on the money about the population being an excuse. I can speak to this problem being prevalent during Reach’s peak at least, and to hear that its still occuring in Halo 5 is pretty abysmal. Heck it even happens in Halo Wars 2 and that’s not even the same developer.

I think most of the critiques come from the perspective of getting the games ‘back on track’ before improving them from what they used to be under Bungie, when ideally we ought to expect the latter and not require the former.

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> 2533274830166194;4:
> I’ve had concerns since halo reach,I played the hell out of it,but matchmaking was frustrating with armor abilities and loadouts.A majority of the fan base has left and for some reason people don’t see it as a big deal.This franchise was a system seller and imo it hasn’t been since h3.Now they’re other competing games,but instead of trying to remain authentic and do their own thing,343 is copying other games in an attempt to lure fans from other franchises away.It hasn’t worked and its driven even more people away

I agree – Halo used to be a system seller. It was a great family game. It’s the main reason I bought an Xbox 360. I never regretted buying the Xbox 360 because of Halo. I actually bought another Xbox 360 just for a backup.

But now, Halo is no-longer anything special. They removed everything that made it special. It’s no-longer a system seller, which is why I haven’t bought an Xbox One. There’s no reason to. I have a family member with an Xbox One, and I’ve played MCC, and it’s just full of bugs and lacks system link. Really terrible. Certainly not worth buying an Xbox One for. And Halo 5 took out every feature I loved about Halo, so I wouldn’t even buy Halo 5. It’s now just another online shooter. I agree, they’re simply copying other games now. There are so many of those, and most are on the Playstation 4 too. I may buy a Playstation instead, even though I’ve only bought Xboxes in the past.

Ironically, I still play the older Halo games on a weekly basis. I just played Halo Reach Firefight yesterday. It’s still awesome! I still make Forge maps in Halo Reach and Halo 4.

15

Wow! I have searched long and hard for people who say the same things I do and for me to feel that they are just as passionate about it, and man you are one of few who hit the mark! I completely agree with you and your sentiment is appreciated. I especially love that bit about the 16 year old who want to become a game developer, because in all hinehon that’s me (minus the zits)! I just graduated and I’m majoring in computer science with hopes of becoming a game developer all because of my years spent playing and reading Halo. So I appreciate how relevant you made your post. Not many people seem to truly get it!

16

Better to be simple and deep (Classic Halo) , than complex and shallow (Nu-Halo) - Fred Rodgers , Mr Rodgers Neighborhood.

17

I see these posts all the time and though I am to an extent sympathetic to your outlook on Halo today I normally openly disagree with what is being said. (Which I almost always cop hate for). With that being said, I enjoy the competitiveness of Halo, power weapons and power ups have always been key parts to all MP games. Custom games are always there to practise maps with friends, which I have done to perfect difficult jumps slides, etc.

At this point in Halo’s evolution why wouldn’t there be sprint? Originally Halo CE was supposed to be an RTS only genre but was later changed to FPS! Also on top of that was to be an explore and discover kind of game. But the powers that be produced Halo CE FPS game, which was also limited to it’s technology at the time. Move forward almost twenty years and we have a sophisticated piece of machinery which allows us to utilise so much more in Halo. Sprint isn’t a problem, because the game currently suits both old play style and new at the same time. For example yes you can sprint, but take damage and you have to walk, crouch, or hide to recover shields. A good aspect. Spartan abilities, in H4 thrust was the go for ability so it only made sense to add it as an ability in H5 as an all rounder. As for the other abilities they are high risk high reward abilities, succeed and be rewarded, fail and boy are you punished for it!

I am not sure what you mean by “money grabbing”? As you could unlock a ALL things in the game relatively quickly if you bought the REQ’s accordingly. (Silver - Gold) H5 also gives a generous amount of REQ points per game, including a ton of boosts, if you’re like me I have more of everything than I know what to do with now! I would agree with your statement if there were things in the game stuck behind a paywall, and in this instance there is not.

The original Halo games were not without fault in fact there were quite a few random things going on. I do agree with you 100% that no game should ever rely on follow up books to help you understand a story. That’s crazy! I am a Lore fanatic and yeah for me on that was a bit too much lol. That aside you have to remember that at the end of Bungie’s reign they killed off many beloved characters. Characters that 343 had to replace, H4 made sense and was heartbreaking if you truly understand that the reason for H4. It was made to show that the MC is coming to te end of his journey with us. Obviously he’s not gonna be around forever and H4 was designed to show a darker version of him. A broken John who up to that point truly lost everything. H5, if the game was longer and included more, well just more. Then it would have been 1,000,000% better, thankfully the story writer has moved on from 343. I don’t know what they were thinking after Spartan Ops! Moving forward you really need to look past all of the hoo har coming from the generic complaints! I have played all Halo games, majority have now thanks to MCC. And I am really enjoying how 343i handle each step of the future right now. It’s time that a lot of us woke up and looked a bit closer, because these passionate developers LOVE THIS GAME JUST LIKE US! They also need some positive feedback once in a while too, I couldn’t imagine going to work each day and seeing the tweets, facebook messages, forum posts, reddit posts, you-tube videos, etc about how you’ve ruined a good game and this that the other. 343 stepped in when Bungie left. Microsoft handed them the Mantle, trust in them.

18

> 2535445608274502;17:
> I see these posts all the time and though I am to an extent sympathetic to your outlook on Halo today I normally openly disagree with what is being said. (Which I almost always cop hate for). With that being said, I enjoy the competitiveness of Halo, power weapons and power ups have always been key parts to all MP games. Custom games are always there to practise maps with friends, which I have done to perfect difficult jumps slides, etc.
>
> At this point in Halo’s evolution why wouldn’t there be sprint? Originally Halo CE was supposed to be an RTS only genre but was later changed to FPS! Also on top of that was to be an explore and discover kind of game. But the powers that be produced Halo CE FPS game, which was also limited to it’s technology at the time. Move forward almost twenty years and we have a sophisticated piece of machinery which allows us to utilise so much more in Halo. Sprint isn’t a problem, because the game currently suits both old play style and new at the same time. For example yes you can sprint, but take damage and you have to walk, crouch, or hide to recover shields. A good aspect. Spartan abilities, in H4 thrust was the go for ability so it only made sense to add it as an ability in H5 as an all rounder. As for the other abilities they are high risk high reward abilities, succeed and be rewarded, fail and boy are you punished for it!
>
> I am not sure what you mean by “money grabbing”? As you could unlock a ALL things in the game relatively quickly if you bought the REQ’s accordingly. (Silver - Gold) H5 also gives a generous amount of REQ points per game, including a ton of boosts, if you’re like me I have more of everything than I know what to do with now! I would agree with your statement if there were things in the game stuck behind a paywall, and in this instance there is not.
>
> The original Halo games were not without fault in fact there were quite a few random things going on. I do agree with you 100% that no game should ever rely on follow up books to help you understand a story. That’s crazy! I am a Lore fanatic and yeah for me on that was a bit too much lol. That aside you have to remember that at the end of Bungie’s reign they killed off many beloved characters. Characters that 343 had to replace, H4 made sense and was heartbreaking if you truly understand that the reason for H4. It was made to show that the MC is coming to te end of his journey with us. Obviously he’s not gonna be around forever and H4 was designed to show a darker version of him. A broken John who up to that point truly lost everything. H5, if the game was longer and included more, well just more. Then it would have been 1,000,000% better, thankfully the story writer has moved on from 343. I don’t know what they were thinking after Spartan Ops! Moving forward you really need to look past all of the hoo har coming from the generic complaints! I have played all Halo games, majority have now thanks to MCC. And I am really enjoying how 343i handle each step of the future right now. It’s time that a lot of us woke up and looked a bit closer, because these passionate developers LOVE THIS GAME JUST LIKE US! They also need some positive feedback once in a while too, I couldn’t imagine going to work each day and seeing the tweets, facebook messages, forum posts, reddit posts, you-tube videos, etc about how you’ve ruined a good game and this that the other. 343 stepped in when Bungie left. Microsoft handed them the Mantle, trust in them.

Certain emblems and the voices of war pack are locked behind a pay wall.Halo was also competitive and successful before all of these new additions,so like the op said…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it

19

> 2533274830166194;18:
> > 2535445608274502;17:
> > I see these posts all the time and though I am to an extent sympathetic to your outlook on Halo today I normally openly disagree with what is being said. (Which I almost always cop hate for). With that being said, I enjoy the competitiveness of Halo, power weapons and power ups have always been key parts to all MP games. Custom games are always there to practise maps with friends, which I have done to perfect difficult jumps slides, etc.
> >
> > At this point in Halo’s evolution why wouldn’t there be sprint? Originally Halo CE was supposed to be an RTS only genre but was later changed to FPS! Also on top of that was to be an explore and discover kind of game. But the powers that be produced Halo CE FPS game, which was also limited to it’s technology at the time. Move forward almost twenty years and we have a sophisticated piece of machinery which allows us to utilise so much more in Halo. Sprint isn’t a problem, because the game currently suits both old play style and new at the same time. For example yes you can sprint, but take damage and you have to walk, crouch, or hide to recover shields. A good aspect. Spartan abilities, in H4 thrust was the go for ability so it only made sense to add it as an ability in H5 as an all rounder. As for the other abilities they are high risk high reward abilities, succeed and be rewarded, fail and boy are you punished for it!
> >
> > I am not sure what you mean by “money grabbing”? As you could unlock a ALL things in the game relatively quickly if you bought the REQ’s accordingly. (Silver - Gold) H5 also gives a generous amount of REQ points per game, including a ton of boosts, if you’re like me I have more of everything than I know what to do with now! I would agree with your statement if there were things in the game stuck behind a paywall, and in this instance there is not.
> >
> > The original Halo games were not without fault in fact there were quite a few random things going on. I do agree with you 100% that no game should ever rely on follow up books to help you understand a story. That’s crazy! I am a Lore fanatic and yeah for me on that was a bit too much lol. That aside you have to remember that at the end of Bungie’s reign they killed off many beloved characters. Characters that 343 had to replace, H4 made sense and was heartbreaking if you truly understand that the reason for H4. It was made to show that the MC is coming to te end of his journey with us. Obviously he’s not gonna be around forever and H4 was designed to show a darker version of him. A broken John who up to that point truly lost everything. H5, if the game was longer and included more, well just more. Then it would have been 1,000,000% better, thankfully the story writer has moved on from 343. I don’t know what they were thinking after Spartan Ops! Moving forward you really need to look past all of the hoo har coming from the generic complaints! I have played all Halo games, majority have now thanks to MCC. And I am really enjoying how 343i handle each step of the future right now. It’s time that a lot of us woke up and looked a bit closer, because these passionate developers LOVE THIS GAME JUST LIKE US! They also need some positive feedback once in a while too, I couldn’t imagine going to work each day and seeing the tweets, facebook messages, forum posts, reddit posts, you-tube videos, etc about how you’ve ruined a good game and this that the other. 343 stepped in when Bungie left. Microsoft handed them the Mantle, trust in them.
>
> Certain emblems and the voices of war pack are locked behind a pay wall.Halo was also competitive and successful before all of these new additions,so like the op said…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it

Ah of course, the voices of war behind a pay wall. Well I’m not sure if you’re aware but that DLC was available for free recently! As far as the team skins that are available for purchase, they help fund the pro teams and HCS, and bought packs directly help HCS. I’m not sure what money grabbing is happening here? As an extra side note ALL OTHER DLC IN HALO 5 WAS FREE!! 343 also made all legacy game DLC free too so everyone who plays those games are on even grounds. Or would you prefer to get a game were only half the population buy the DLC and split the community even more which then pulls people away from the game? Halo has evolved, guess you could say Combat has Evolved.

20

> 2535445608274502;19:
> > 2533274830166194;18:
> > > 2535445608274502;17:
> > > I see these posts all the time and though I am to an extent sympathetic to your outlook on Halo today I normally openly disagree with what is being said. (Which I almost always cop hate for). With that being said, I enjoy the competitiveness of Halo, power weapons and power ups have always been key parts to all MP games. Custom games are always there to practise maps with friends, which I have done to perfect difficult jumps slides, etc.
> > >
> > > At this point in Halo’s evolution why wouldn’t there be sprint? Originally Halo CE was supposed to be an RTS only genre but was later changed to FPS! Also on top of that was to be an explore and discover kind of game. But the powers that be produced Halo CE FPS game, which was also limited to it’s technology at the time. Move forward almost twenty years and we have a sophisticated piece of machinery which allows us to utilise so much more in Halo. Sprint isn’t a problem, because the game currently suits both old play style and new at the same time. For example yes you can sprint, but take damage and you have to walk, crouch, or hide to recover shields. A good aspect. Spartan abilities, in H4 thrust was the go for ability so it only made sense to add it as an ability in H5 as an all rounder. As for the other abilities they are high risk high reward abilities, succeed and be rewarded, fail and boy are you punished for it!
> > >
> > > I am not sure what you mean by “money grabbing”? As you could unlock a ALL things in the game relatively quickly if you bought the REQ’s accordingly. (Silver - Gold) H5 also gives a generous amount of REQ points per game, including a ton of boosts, if you’re like me I have more of everything than I know what to do with now! I would agree with your statement if there were things in the game stuck behind a paywall, and in this instance there is not.
> > >
> > > The original Halo games were not without fault in fact there were quite a few random things going on. I do agree with you 100% that no game should ever rely on follow up books to help you understand a story. That’s crazy! I am a Lore fanatic and yeah for me on that was a bit too much lol. That aside you have to remember that at the end of Bungie’s reign they killed off many beloved characters. Characters that 343 had to replace, H4 made sense and was heartbreaking if you truly understand that the reason for H4. It was made to show that the MC is coming to te end of his journey with us. Obviously he’s not gonna be around forever and H4 was designed to show a darker version of him. A broken John who up to that point truly lost everything. H5, if the game was longer and included more, well just more. Then it would have been 1,000,000% better, thankfully the story writer has moved on from 343. I don’t know what they were thinking after Spartan Ops! Moving forward you really need to look past all of the hoo har coming from the generic complaints! I have played all Halo games, majority have now thanks to MCC. And I am really enjoying how 343i handle each step of the future right now. It’s time that a lot of us woke up and looked a bit closer, because these passionate developers LOVE THIS GAME JUST LIKE US! They also need some positive feedback once in a while too, I couldn’t imagine going to work each day and seeing the tweets, facebook messages, forum posts, reddit posts, you-tube videos, etc about how you’ve ruined a good game and this that the other. 343 stepped in when Bungie left. Microsoft handed them the Mantle, trust in them.
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> > Certain emblems and the voices of war pack are locked behind a pay wall.Halo was also competitive and successful before all of these new additions,so like the op said…if it ain’t broke don’t fix it
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> Ah of course, the voices of war behind a pay wall. Well I’m not sure if you’re aware but that DLC was available for free recently! As far as the team skins that are available for purchase, they help fund the pro teams and HCS, and bought packs directly help HCS. I’m not sure what money grabbing is happening here? As an extra side note ALL OTHER DLC IN HALO 5 WAS FREE!! 343 also made all legacy game DLC free too so everyone who plays those games are on even grounds. Or would you prefer to get a game were only half the population buy the DLC and split the community even more which then pulls people away from the game? Halo has evolved, guess you could say Combat has Evolved.

I would prefer legitimate dlc…dev made maps,no 3 variants of the same armor and helmets and they have already made so much money off us ,so why should the fans be funding the championship series? And the transition from halo 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 was a great evolution,while the transition from 343 halo games has brought us back to the stone age…metaphorically.I see your pun and I raise you lol