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This post will also cover my thoughts on future Halo games as well. It has been edited to not call out a person whom many dislike.
If you read the title, you saw the words “Halo Newcomer.” I purchased my first copy of a Halo game (games?), Halo The Master Chief Collection, on March 3 of 2015. Since then I have come to love the series, and the universe of Halo. I have been able to play every campaign except for Wars and Reach, and the same goes for multiplayer gameplay (all through the MCC.) Anyways here are my thoughts(3 sections; general,campaign and multiplayer):
General:
UI: So, coming from the MCC, I never got to really firsthand experience the UI’s of Halo 3 and Reach. However, Halo Youtuber LateNightGaming showed some of Halo 3’s UI, and it puts 5’s to shame. The main menu of Halo 5 is so bland. Also, where are pre-game lobbies in multiplayer! I would like to know who the player blasting music through their mic is and mute them! Post game medals would be awesome too.
Glitches and bugs: So, coming from the MCC, I do have experience with glitches. While I was not there for the rough launch, I still did see a lot of glitches like unexpected crashing, being temporarily unable to play multiplayer (downloading latest data thingy), and some weird syncing errors. Now, Halo 5 is nowhere near as much of a mess as the MCC, but there are some huge problems. Many people are starting to have to wait before playing Warzone as their Reqs simply won’t load for a few minutes, as the more reqs they get the laggier it becomes(also happens to LateNightGaming, he is locked out of Reqs for 3 minutes). I have the occasional issue where I am locked into a lobby unless I quit my game for it has to retrieve data (Has not happened in a while, but I suspect it happens to others). Theater mode is also completely broken, and every monthly update seems to break something. So, 343, please watch the Req problems and be sure to playtest EVERYTHING before you release an update, as they are causing some bugs.
Campaign:
Oh boy.
343, the story behind this campaign was an incomplete mess. Character development was only in a few characters, and even if it was there, it was very minimal. The only time I can recall it was when Chief finally realizes that Cortana is not her past self, and Tanaka opening up as a character (which was very hard to notice and I only realized it when Halo Canon showed it in a Youtube video). The story was also completely cut off from the marketing, and while I realize that is MS’ fault, I would like SOME sort of tie in. But despite all of this, I would have been completely fine with the story. If it didn’t end right after the introduction. That’s what I thought Halo 5 was. An introduction. But it was somehow considered a full story. Not to mention how many story lines were just cut off after Halo 4. 4 set up two story lines; Jul M’Dama and the death of Cortana. Both thrown out the window. Anyways, my suggestions:
1.Bring the Hunt the Truth story in somehow. Those audio episodes were AWESOME. Now you might be thinking that the campaign is already over, but look at my next suggestion.
2.A campaign DLC. This might need to be outsourced, but I want this Halo game to be complete. 343 said they woudn’t do this, but they should. The good thing about this is that it could be marketed, bringing people into the game. While the odds of this happening are slim, I would rather see Halo 5 be complete than see Halo 6 just be what was missing from Halo 5. The reason is because that makes Halo 6 underwhelming, kind of like how Halo 5 was at launch campaign wise. And as we all saw, an underwhelming Halo game does not do well after the first week.
4. Implement the soundtrack better. The soundtrack for this game is awesome. However, it is not as well implemented as it was in Halo 1-3. In the future, maybe take time to collaborate with Kazuma to see what fits where.
Biggest thing for future Halo games is a new writer. Please.
Multiplayer:
Arena
343, this is the area where Halo 5 is so close to being perfect. The arena gameplay is so fluid. The magnum/pistol has a nice and high skill gap, and most of the competitive Halo games for HWC were super fun to watch. However, their are a few changes that Vetoed and Proximitty (very good Halo Youtubers) point out, and they are very easy changes(I could do them in forge). They pointed out that:
- The game is very pick-up heavy
2.It is very auto heavy
These go hand-in-hand. Vetoed highly recommends that all smgs only have one clip, and I personally believe that the number of storm rifles needs to be reduced. They are both VERY good guns, and in general take away a lot of that precision weapon skill that many relate Halo with. One might argue that having them encourages power weapon control, another thing people associate Halo with, but having fewer of them simply increases the competition for them. Now for Proximitty’s suggestion that I do agree should be implemented, especially to make the game more competitive, is to cut down on the amount of BRs and DMRs. These guns both give distinct advantages over players wielding the pistol, as they are both (especially the BR) much easier to use than the pistol. Limiting their numbers would make the game more competitive as we have higher competition for them, and because there is more pistol gameplay which has a higher skill gap.
Other than that, I can simply only ask for mini-game playlists, community playlists, and just casual stuff in general. The increased competitiveness is good for Halo. But you can’t let the casual community die. Bringing back Infection is a good start, and I love the Grifball maps, so I think you all are heading in the right direction regarding casual playlists.
Warzone+Req system
Warzone overall is great. You need to do something to eliminate farming, though, as I can see many people angry about it, and it ruins the fun. I think incentives to destroy the core or a free quit if a team is down by say 400 points could work. I won’t talk about Firefight as many have already said my thoughts about it in the Beta Feedback post.
The Req system overall is not great. It is fine for getting vehicles, weapons, and a FEW armors/emblems for WZ and arena, but is not good for a progression system. My main drive to finish MCC legendary with my buddy(who, unfortunately does not play Halo anymore as 343 took too long to get their casual game together) was for Helioskrill. Thankfully I got it, (another bug that needs to be fixed) but that was the only armor that was actually a challenge to get. I really think that the cosmetic Req’s should stop being developed, as right now the system is full of emblems and variants. In fact, I want you, 343, to make challenges for the gamer to unlock hard-to-earn armors. Games that do this greatly improve player retention(for me at least). The only reason I have been playing Black Ops 3 this past month was because it was splitscreen and because there were camo challenges I wanted to do for my snipers. Anyways, bring back challenge based armors.
So those are my suggestions for Halo 5. As far as future games go, I just want more at launch and want split screen. I do think that split screen helps boost popularity for couples and siblings.