A Thank You to 343i

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Hey 343i,

I figured it would be a good time to post this, given that the 15th anniversary of Halo is tomorrow. I just think that many people over the course of Halo 5’s life have given you guys a lot of somewhat unfair criticism, and you deserve some good praise for the improvements you’ve made since Bungie left. Now, I wouldn’t really know what the “glory days” of Halo were like; I started out on Ps3. I thought I was special; entitled, and felt above the “filthy” Xbox community. Time passed and all my friends had Xbox, and I felt left out. Sure, you could call it joining the bandwagon, but I felt a better experience calling me. As far as I had seen, the Sony servers were nothing compared to what I saw on Xbox, not to mention the much better achievement system. All of the people on Playstation shunned me for the switch, but I did it mainly for Halo. And I don’t regret it. Not one bit. My experience was very different from that on Playstation. As soon as I joined Xbox Live I realized how wrong I was before, and how welcoming the community here was. 343i was the first company I really got to see in action, adding to Halo 5 as it grew. I had never experienced this very real passion put into a game like this before. Yes, many thought this game was a stumble in the series, but it really appealed to new players such as myself, even leading me to buy the older Halo games. I felt for the first time that the developers actually cared what we thought was good and bad. Maybe they had delayed forge or infection or grifball, but I think it was worth the wait, given all the brand new content we received. (Warzone, armors, new weapons/vehicles, maps, etc.) I had even improved in a gameplay aspect, (even though my K/D kind of sucks). So overall, 343i has made my experience in gaming a great one, and I genuinely appreciate them for this.

Many thanks,

Viper

(Yes i know its a long spiel but I haven’t posted in a while, gotta make up for it.)

(TL;DR) Thank you for not being EA/Dice at the launch of Battlefield 4.

2

> 2535426132999568;1:
> Hey 343i,
>
> I figured it would be a good time to post this, given that the 15th anniversary of Halo is tomorrow. I just think that many people over the course of Halo 5’s life have given you guys a lot of somewhat unfair criticism, and you deserve some good praise for the improvements you’ve made since Bungie left. Now, I wouldn’t really know what the “glory days” of Halo were like; I started out on Ps3. I thought I was special; entitled, and felt above the “filthy” Xbox community. Time passed and all my friends had Xbox, and I felt left out. Sure, you could call it joining the bandwagon, but I felt a better experience calling me. As far as I had seen, the Sony servers were nothing compared to what I saw on Xbox, not to mention the much better achievement system. All of the people on Playstation shunned me for the switch, but I did it mainly for Halo. And I don’t regret it. Not one bit. My experience was very different from that on Playstation. As soon as I joined Xbox Live I realized how wrong I was before, and how welcoming the community here was. 343i was the first company I really got to see in action, adding to Halo 5 as it grew. I had never experienced this very real passion put into a game like this before. Yes, many thought this game was a stumble in the series, but it really appealed to new players such as myself, even leading me to buy the older Halo games. I felt for the first time that the developers actually cared what we thought was good and bad. Maybe they had delayed forge or infection or grifball, but I think it was worth the wait, given all the brand new content we received. (Warzone, armors, new weapons/vehicles, maps, etc.) I had even improved in a gameplay aspect, (even though my K/D kind of sucks). So overall, 343i has made my experience in gaming a great one, and I genuinely appreciate them for this.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Viper
>
> (Yes i know its a long spiel but I haven’t posted in a while, gotta make up for it.)

Don’t feel like combating something like this right now. One thing though before I let it go.

> I had even improved in a gameplay aspect,

If you meant to say ‘it’ instead of ‘I’ then I must respectfully disagree.

3

> 2535406272231884;2:
> > 2535426132999568;1:
> > Hey 343i,
> >
> > I figured it would be a good time to post this, given that the 15th anniversary of Halo is tomorrow. I just think that many people over the course of Halo 5’s life have given you guys a lot of somewhat unfair criticism, and you deserve some good praise for the improvements you’ve made since Bungie left. Now, I wouldn’t really know what the “glory days” of Halo were like; I started out on Ps3. I thought I was special; entitled, and felt above the “filthy” Xbox community. Time passed and all my friends had Xbox, and I felt left out. Sure, you could call it joining the bandwagon, but I felt a better experience calling me. As far as I had seen, the Sony servers were nothing compared to what I saw on Xbox, not to mention the much better achievement system. All of the people on Playstation shunned me for the switch, but I did it mainly for Halo. And I don’t regret it. Not one bit. My experience was very different from that on Playstation. As soon as I joined Xbox Live I realized how wrong I was before, and how welcoming the community here was. 343i was the first company I really got to see in action, adding to Halo 5 as it grew. I had never experienced this very real passion put into a game like this before. Yes, many thought this game was a stumble in the series, but it really appealed to new players such as myself, even leading me to buy the older Halo games. I felt for the first time that the developers actually cared what we thought was good and bad. Maybe they had delayed forge or infection or grifball, but I think it was worth the wait, given all the brand new content we received. (Warzone, armors, new weapons/vehicles, maps, etc.) I had even improved in a gameplay aspect, (even though my K/D kind of sucks). So overall, 343i has made my experience in gaming a great one, and I genuinely appreciate them for this.
> >
> > Many thanks,
> >
> > Viper
> >
> > (Yes i know its a long spiel but I haven’t posted in a while, gotta make up for it.)
>
>
> Don’t feel like combating something like this right now. One thing though before I let it go.
>
>
> > I had even improved in a gameplay aspect,
>
>
> If you meant to say ‘it’ instead of ‘I’ then I must respectfully disagree.

No, I meant to say I, because I REALLY sucked at fps games when I started out. REALLY SUCKED. I was one of those people who moved the analog stick, paused, then pressed the necessary button.
Yeah I understand your point of view, since I assume you’re a veteran player, but I’m newer so I wouldn’t really have too much of an opinion on that.
Disregarding my lack of knowledge of online multiplayer for the older Bungie games, I can see where you’re coming from.

4

Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.

5

> 2535416474113375;4:
> Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.

Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.

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> 2535406272231884;5:
> > 2535416474113375;4:
> > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
>
>
> Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.

Comparatively, to the insults.

7

> 2535416474113375;6:
> > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> >
> >
> > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
>
>
> Comparatively, to the insults.

That are pretty well deserved.

8

> 2535406272231884;7:
> > 2535416474113375;6:
> > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > >
> > >
> > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> >
> >
> > Comparatively, to the insults.
>
>
> That are pretty well deserved.

But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.

9

Nice post, OP.
I’m a noob in Halo, I always been, but I feel I do not want to be a pro or someone who is always looking if my K/D is positive or not. I just have fun with it, Halo 5 is not perfect, not even close, but man, I love it so much!

10

> 2535455681930574;8:
> > 2535406272231884;7:
> > > 2535416474113375;6:
> > > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> > >
> > >
> > > Comparatively, to the insults.
> >
> >
> > That are pretty well deserved.
>
>
> But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.

Actually, when nothing is done about it, it does need to be said everyday until they fix it.

11

> 2535406272231884;10:
> > 2535455681930574;8:
> > > 2535406272231884;7:
> > > > 2535416474113375;6:
> > > > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Comparatively, to the insults.
> > >
> > >
> > > That are pretty well deserved.
> >
> >
> > But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.
>
>
> Actually, when nothing is done about it, it does need to be said everyday until they fix it.

Like what? Things like the story, spartan charge, and the UI (the whole thing) takes another title.

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> > 2535406272231884;10:
> > > 2535455681930574;8:
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> > > > > 2535416474113375;6:
> > > > > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Comparatively, to the insults.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > That are pretty well deserved.
> > >
> > >
> > > But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.
> >
> >
> > Actually, when nothing is done about it, it does need to be said everyday until they fix it.
>
>
> Like what? Things like the story, spartan charge, and the UI (the whole thing) takes another title.

Lack of game modes, game types. Theater being broken or near unusable. Near nonexistent community interaction or important topics. Spartan charge being stupid with its extremely high magnetism and aim assist. UI being bare bones and worse than the past four titles. Customization being weaker than the past three games. REQ problems. Firefight balance issues. Content Browser issues. These are all issues that can be solved in THIS game. Don’t lie to yourself, we got at the least 2 years til Halo 6 comes out, and all these problems aren’t complicated enough to warrant another game to be fixed. Maybe customization, but other than that, there is no excuse.

13

343 has made most fans pleased, but not when they demanded it. People wanted forge, they got it, but not on launch. People wanted more req options, they’re still getting them. And yet, the idiots blame 343 for not releasing it. The quality of the game is astonishing, especially when not all of 343 industries is working on it. I hate to admit it, but Halo 5 is my second favorite game of the franchise. First is 2.
But when people gripe about how bad the game is, I just want to tell you this.
Get off your -Yoink- and fix it yourself if you think its bad.

14

Very well said mate. I think 343 gets more hate than the one it deserves. They blame 343 for “destroying” Halo while the real reason of it not being so popular is that the market on online FPS games was waaay smaller back then and it has expanded SO MUCH that Halo doesn’t outstand that much anymore. I honestly do prefer Bungie’s games but I think 343 is great as well, the main problems I see are that they want to create their own legacy instead of continue Bungie’s already established legacy (Gears of War 4 did much better on this aspect) and that they come up with great ideas but they’re usually executed in a very disappointing way (the best example I can think of is the REQ system). My favorite game so far is Reach, as to me it has the best armor, Custom Game Settings and a great gameplay, plus it wasn’t as competitive (I personally dislike competitiveness as I think having fun is the most important factor and competition kinda ruins it to me) as other previous games. But Halo 5 outstands to me when it comes to Forge (this one can’t be argued about), Custom Games, as its options along with the Forge possibilities are MASSIVE and Weapon / Vehicle Sandbox, as having so many REQ variants (and more on their way) is amazing, mainly what I miss is my dear Brute Shot and the Armor Abilities so I regain my Bubble / Hardlight Shield. To me few variants, mainly Loadout Weapon Attachments / Scopes and UNSC Vehicle Skins are pointless, almost everything else is almost like a dream come true to me.

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> > > > > > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > > > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > > > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Comparatively, to the insults.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > That are pretty well deserved.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.
> > >
> > >
> > > Actually, when nothing is done about it, it does need to be said everyday until they fix it.
> >
> >
> > Like what? Things like the story, spartan charge, and the UI (the whole thing) takes another title.
>
>
> Lack of game modes, game types. Theater being broken or near unusable. Near nonexistent community interaction or important topics. Spartan charge being stupid with its extremely high magnetism and aim assist. UI being bare bones and worse than the past four titles. Customization being weaker than the past three games. REQ problems. Firefight balance issues. Content Browser issues. These are all issues that can be solved in THIS game. Don’t lie to yourself, we got at the least 2 years til Halo 6 comes out, and all these problems aren’t complicated enough to warrant another game to be fixed. Maybe customization, but other than that, there is no excuse.

At launch. Now we have a ton of gsmemodes.

Theater is does have a lot of bugs, but it’s definitely still useable.

There’s a ton of community interaction.

You can’t really nerf a mechanic in a game.

The UI has been improved, but it can’t just be completely fixed. That’d take a whole lot of work when they should be working on future UIs.

You can’t fix customization without changing the UI, which takes a lot of work.

What req problems?

16

i thought everyone hated 343

17

> 2533274923926799;13:
> 343 has made most fans pleased, but not when they demanded it. People wanted forge, they got it, but not on launch. People wanted more req options, they’re still getting them. And yet, the idiots blame 343 for not releasing it. The quality of the game is astonishing, especially when not all of 343 industries is working on it. I hate to admit it, but Halo 5 is my second favorite game of the franchise. First is 2.
> But when people gripe about how bad the game is, I just want to tell you this.
> Get off your -Yoink- and fix it yourself if you think its bad.

So I’m supposed to kiss their butt unless I have a programming degree and a job at 343?

18

Im so glad to see positivity instead of unnecessary criticism for once. I agree 343 deserves more credit than what they are normally given. It’s astonishing how fun Halo 5 is, I’ve loved every bit of the story and multiplayer. Not to mention they also did an incredible job with Halo 4 as it blew me away and is probably one of my favorite campaigns. Thanks 343 for everything you do for the community!

19

> the improvements you’ve made since Bungie left. Now, I wouldn’t really know what the “glory days” of Halo were like; I started out on Ps3

How can you comment on the “improvements” while also admitting you weren’t around for what came before?. For you to know the improvements you must have a similar experience to directly compare it to.

> As far as I had seen, the Sony servers were nothing compared to what I saw on Xbox, not to mention the much better achievement system

That’s an xbox thing not a 343i thing. Xbox has always had a much better online experience than PlayStation. This is down to MS and the Xbox Live team, and the work they started back pre-2004. Not 343i who work entirely on Halo and only started in 2009

> 343i was the first company I really got to see in action, adding to Halo 5 as it grew. I had never experienced this very real passion put into a game like this before - Thank you for not being EA/Dice at the launch of Battlefield 4

EA and Dice had some huge issues with the launch. They did however work endlessly to get it working. In fact, not only did they get it working but they believe in the game so much that it received an update not too long along (3 years post launch) to give it a unified UI with BF1. Keeping BF4 alive even though its successor has launched. The work they did with the game has actually kept BF4 above Halo 5 (just a year old) in the most played on xbox live.

More over 343i left Halo: MCC to pretty much die shortly after launch. They seemingly reluctantly patched the game until either people gave up/the game worked just enough/the bad press mostly went away. Even today people complain about bugs, design and lack of support for the game. It was utterly ditched for Halo 5.

A stark contrast between the two companies and the post launch support of their games, and not in 343i’s favour.

> Yes, many thought this game was a stumble in the series, but it really appealed to new players such as myself, even leading me to buy the older Halo games

That is great. We love new players. But we also love and appreciate the old players. Unfortunately, as a whole Halo 5 has not appealed to either on a large scale. Halo 5 sits below at least 20 other games on the xbox most played. Other than Halo 4, no Halo game has ever faced this kind of drop in population.

> I felt for the first time that the developers actually cared what we thought was good and bad. Maybe they had delayed forge or infection or grifball, but I think it was worth the wait, given all the brand new content we received. (Warzone, armors, new weapons/vehicles, maps, etc.)

And, I point to your lack of reference. The community has had a huge issue with communicating with 343i. Ever since Halo 4 the community had been largely ignored until something went wrong. The problem has been so bad we’ve had constant complaints about it and the community manager has even been replaced. Many of the miss-steps 343i has taken with Halo 4 and 5 could have been avoided by listening a bit more to the community.

Bungie did a great job listening to the community. And we received plenty of post launch support for their games. Especially including things like Griffball, Forge maps and other community focused things. They were able to add new features, like forge, theatre, and file share, while also keeping split screen and LAN, and all the old gametypes. It’s a balance that 343i haven’t managed and it’s alienated plenty in the community.

Back to MCC. We were promised support for the game beyond Halo 5 and it’s not materialised. They also left the players in the dark for months on end to when fixes were coming, and then if any more updates would happen. The classic community has been completely mistreated and without any real actions that make up for that. They completely botched the launch and have tried to distance themselves from it rather than make up for it (fix it, re-launch it, re-design it, anything more than they have done).

> 343i has made my experience in gaming a great one, and I genuinely appreciate them for this.

That is great for you.

> I just think that many people over the course of Halo 5’s life have given you guys a lot of somewhat unfair criticism

But I think the community has the right to feel the criticism they have given 343i is completely fair.

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> > > > > > > > 2535406272231884;5:
> > > > > > > > > 2535416474113375;4:
> > > > > > > > > Thank you for addressing the positives. Very rare to see nowadays.
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > Rare? You mean like every single day? Or more specifically every 8 hours.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Comparatively, to the insults.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > That are pretty well deserved.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > But don’t need to be rehashed every damn day.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Actually, when nothing is done about it, it does need to be said everyday until they fix it.
> > >
> > >
> > > Like what? Things like the story, spartan charge, and the UI (the whole thing) takes another title.
> >
> >
> > Lack of game modes, game types. Theater being broken or near unusable. Near nonexistent community interaction or important topics. Spartan charge being stupid with its extremely high magnetism and aim assist. UI being bare bones and worse than the past four titles. Customization being weaker than the past three games. REQ problems. Firefight balance issues. Content Browser issues. These are all issues that can be solved in THIS game. Don’t lie to yourself, we got at the least 2 years til Halo 6 comes out, and all these problems aren’t complicated enough to warrant another game to be fixed. Maybe customization, but other than that, there is no excuse.
>
>
> At launch. Now we have a ton of gsmemodes.

Nowhere near what Reach and Halo 4 had though, and they were Xbox 360 games, the console that was less powerful than this one.

> Theater is does have a lot of bugs, but it’s definitely still useable.

Occasionally, if you get lucky. Sometimes one simple glitch can make an entire saved game be completely worthless and unusable.

> There’s a ton of community interaction.

You mean when they say stuff like “I like that”, “I was there”, or post some silly image? Yeah that’s bare bones “are you human” interaction. What i’m talking about is speaking with people about issues they have with the game like playable elites, game modes, game types, bugs. Something that shows they at least care enough to let us know something or even acknowledge are presence.

> You can’t really nerf a mechanic in a game.

Tell that titanfall 2, IW, Destiny, and literally every single game in existence. Its not rocket science. For a guy like me who doesn’t know much about game programing I still can understand at the very least that spartan charge can easily be nerfed. If you still don’t believe me head to bungie.net and see mechanic nerfs/buffs they do, its completely possible. For a matter-a-fact Halo Reach nerfed Armor Lock, changed Bloom, and made some other fixes to abilities, so why can’t 5?

> The UI has been improved, but it can’t just be completely fixed. That’d take a whole lot of work when they should be working on future UIs.

IMPROVED?!!? HOW?!!? Adding a post game screen isn’t improving the UI, its adding a good feature to the game that was in the others at launch. Improving UI is making it easier to sort through Armor and REQs, giving you easier ways to find what you want and get rid of certain things, giving us a pre-game screen, making it so that everything doesn’t look so 2D and simple. Plus, if they made one really good UI, they could easily just carry it over and improve it, wouldn’t that be much less time consuming to constantly have to make a new UI cause the old one was bad?

> You can’t fix customization without changing the UI, which takes a lot of work.

It does, but what else is more important to Halo 5 at this point? They obviously got the manpower if they can still push out REQ’s and fixes. Plus, I’m not even sure if the UI needs that big an update for customization to work, just add “head, torso, legs, arms” and your done! Plus, somebody modded customization on Halo 5: Forge for PC, 2 weeks after it came out and it looked pretty smooth.

> What req problems?

Well, how about when I can’t access them until 10 minutes after I start up Halo 5? They sometimes don’t work in warzone? I feel like I’m forgetting some stuff but I just took a 3 hour test and I got a pretty big headache.