So I don’t know who will read this (hopefully some 343i person or someone who knows one) but I had an hour long discussion with a friend over Skype about what 343 should add/fix to Halo 5 to make it better (both for current players and to boost sales).
The thing that differentiates Halo from so many other FPS’s is the large amount of different communities in it. These communities bring in new people and give Halo a different feel from COD and Battlefield. Here are the most prevalent groups, what they are, why they are important, what Halo 5 has done to appease these groups, and what 343 needs to do in order to make these communities work.
Machinima - Those that make either short or full-length films based off of or in Halo, examples including Red vs Blue and Rise of the Spartans. This community brings in so many new people from people just browsing Youtube, gives pre existing fans time to view Halo outside of the battlefield, and gives everyone a new perspective on Halo outside of the established lore and the multiplayer. Halo 5’s new forge and machinima tools have helped to satisfy temporarily this group, but they are going to need more. There are two big changes that will make this group much happier: a remake of Forge World and Elites. Adding in Elites is something that has been long requested, but here is a better reason than “I want it!” The machinima community can do SO much more stuff with an added race than with just spartans, allowing for more content on the internet and therefore more views (How many machinimas were on Halo:Reach and Halo 3 as compared to Halo 4 and Halo 5?). A remake of Forge World would also help because (after playing Reach one the Xbox One again) I realized that it isn’t nostalgia blindness, the map is much bigger, more beautiful, and has more potential than most (if not all) of the new forge maps. With Halo 5’s new graphics, Forge World would probably turn into that Pokemon episode that caused kids to have seizures, it would be that beautiful. With a map the size of Forge World and a ton of pre-built terrain, machinima makers have much more opportunity for creation than making everything from scratch.
Professional Forge - These are people such as Darth Human who make so many iconic maps such as Avalanche, Speed, etc. and others who make the most incredible buildings, cities, and other sets that take hours, days, weeks, or even months. These people bring in people that are browsing the internet and come across one of the most beautiful things they have ever seen. Halo 5’s new forge has really helped these professional forgers with their goals of making the most insane maps once all the map remakes are over. The only real thing that the professional forgers would want or need at this point would be a remake of Forge World (again). Just the sheer size and different terrain allow for some insane maps, combine that with Halo 5’s new forge features, you’ve got the coolest maps you’ve ever seen. Also, we NEED Reach’s file share system where you could search for a map and find one that you liked, not this new thing where you have to find a certain person and they just so happen to have a map that you want.
Casual Forge - These people are just those who like to go into forge and make something for their friends in an hour and be proud of it, even if it isn’t the greatest quality (I fell partially into this category in Reach). This community helps bring in Halo fans’ friends as new customers to the game with a fun race track or obstacle course that wasn’t too hard to make but still fun. Unfortunately not a whole lot has been done for this community in Halo 5, at least nothing notable. I’m not going to go into too much detail as these have already been mentioned, but a remake of Forge World and Halo:Reach’s file share system would greatly help this community, especially the file share thing, I want a good obstacle course in Halo 5, but I have to find someone that has made maybe one and add them as compared to reach where I could look up “Obstacle Course” and get a million results. Also, the new forge is great and all…for the hardcore. You CANNOT go into forge anymore and make a map in an hour with all the new setup, which is why a setting to go back to a Halo:Reach, Halo 4, or even Halo 2 Anniversary setup would be great for this community, allowing for quick map making for those who don’t have weeks to spare.
Competitive Online - These people are professional eSports players and those who play online to win, set up strategies, etc (I fall into this category for Halo 5). This groups attracts those who like competitive gaming and who watch that sort of stuff on Twitch and other websites. The reason I like Halo 5 so much is because I do consider myself part of this community and 343 has really focused their attention on this community which is great for me, but I have friends that don’t like Halo 5 so much because 343 has put too much into this community and mostly ignored the others. The competitive online community has pretty much everything and doesn’t really need anything more other than normal updates.
Casual Online - These people love to play for fun and play custom games. These are the people that get their friends into Halo (It’s how I got into and same with my friend). This is probably the most largely ignored group with little to nothing done for them (Holiday playlist and unranked stuff kind of helped, but its not enough). This is the category my friend falls in and why he doesn’t like Halo 5 as much as the other games. This community needs a LOT of updates (Forge World, old file share system, casual forger stuff, and elites I’ve already discussed). Unfortunately the whole split screen thing put a HUGE dent in this community and it would help for them to change this (FPS doesn’t matter that much, I played Halo:Reach, horrible frame rate but I would still play with friends in a heartbeat). Other than that, online game modes such as Infection, Multi-Team, maybe an Invasion reboot (Not Warzone) would help a whole lot with this slowly dying community for Halo 5.
I’ve probably missed a lot of communities in Halo, but these are just the ones that I could think of (If there are any prevalent communities that you feel need paying attention to, post this in a similar manner and I’ll add them). Halo 5 can be an incredible game, but 343 can’t just focus on Competitive Online gamers (even if that is what I am), everyone needs plenty of attention which hasn’t been happening. Do you guys agree, should 343 focus on other groups other than the competitive players? Are there any other additions that would help other groups and are there any other groups that need paying attention to? Am I wrong about anything? Thanks for your time.
- A Halo Fan