"Cater to Infinity AND Traditional fans"

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Warning - I will be categorising players as Infinity and Traditional fans. In general, people tend to mostly embrace or mostly reject one or the other, and it is that which I will be referring to.

It seems to me that there are 5 ways of approaching Halo 5 multiplayer:

1. Cater equally to both Infinity and Traditional
This would mean providing an equal number of playlists and maps for both. So there could be something like this:

Infinity Playlists
Social
Ranked
Traditional Playlists
Social
Ranked

The advantage of this approach is that (assuming it could work) everyone would be happy. We wouldn’t need to worry about our own side of the community being abandoned or neglected.

My main problem with catering to both in this way is that it could create a situation where there are far too many playlists for the population. Players could become fragmented, leading to the problems that come with low populations.

Another potential problem is with the maps - Would there be twice as many?
Would each side only get 5 maps to play with? Assuming there would be 10 overall.
If the maps were somehow designed to work with both playlists, could this lead to a lack of quality in the map design?

2. Cater mostly to one, and offer very little to the other
This would be a situation where the majority of multiplayer (maps and playlists) is designed for either Infinity or Traditional, and the other side gets 1 or 2 playlists and some forge maps.

If both sides of the community are paying the same amount of money for the game (in the knowledge that they are being catered to in some way), then one side should not be favoured over the other. Not if making them both happy is the goal.
This would only cause one side to feel neglected, and the other side rejoicing in their abundnace.

3. Create a hybrid of both, in an attempt to bring both sides together
Some have proposed that the best fix is to make the gameplay a hybrid between Infinity and Traditional Halo.
My objection is based on the fact that, realistically, there is no way to blend Infinity and Traditional gameplay in a way that will make people happy.
Infinity and Traditional are not only different, they are two opposing forces.
You can’t blend equal starts with unequal starts. You can’t blend sprint with no sprint. You can’t blend randomness with predictability. You can’t blend an abundance of power weapons, with a scarcity of power weapons. You can’t blend balance with imbalance.

Yes, you can try to make compromises such as replacing sprint with a higher base speed (which is what I personally want to be done). But this will ultimately make one side happier than the other, which does not sit well with the goal of making everyone happy.

4. Social is Infinity, Ranked is Traditional
This is the idea that traditional fans have to play Ranked all the time, if they want to play the gameplay that they like. And Infinity fans will have to play Social all the time.

Historically, a more consistent core gameplay throughout Ranked and Social has provided the opportunity for players to switch between both, depending on how they felt like playing.
If we felt like trying hard and contributing to our rank, we would play Ranked. If we just felt like playing without having to try so hard, or if we were rusty, we could play Social.

With the idea that Social is Infinity and Ranked is Traditional, this all gets thrown out of the window. It is based on the assumption that all Infinity fans are casual only, and that all Tradtional fans are competitive only, which is just not true.

5. Cater fully to either Traditional or Infinity
This is the idea that one side is chosen, and then they stick to it. All maps and playlists are targeted towards that one side.

The con is that one side of the community would be abandoned.

As far as I’m concerned, the positives to catering to one side of the community are that it would provide a full game experience for that side, and it is actually possible to make that audience happy by doing this.
That one side would not have to deal with the negatives of having too many playlists, or having maps that aren’t fully designed with their gameplay of choice in mind.
It would also give the developers more time to focus on that particular gameplay experience post-launch.
Also, the game would have its own consistent identity.

Closing thoughts
I’m undecided on whether or not catering to both sides of the community and making them both happy, is a realistic approach to structuring the multiplayer of Halo 5. Though I’m very skeptical.

My personal opinion is that the goal of creating Halo should be to innovate/evolve in ways that adhere the original core gameplay, and that this should remain consistent throughout the franchises life (for main FPS Halo titles).
As soon as that core gets boring for too many people, don’t change the core into something else for the sake of continuing the Halo name, just start a new game franchise.
I don’t agree with goals such as trying to make everyone happy, or trying to bait fans from other types of shooters into the franchise.
With this goal being the one that I support, I think that building from Traditional Halo is the way forward. Stripping away those things that did alter the core gameplay. And I’m well aware that I wont be Mr popular with that opinion, but I’m just sharing it for whatever it is worth.

What are your thoughts?

2

I really doubt 343 is just going to abandon Infinity.

3

> I really doubt 343 is just going to abandon Infinity.

4

I think number 1 would be great, except it would have a lot of playlists which is one of the problems with Halo 4. It could be good if Halo had a stronger population, but right now there aren’t enough people playing for that to work.

But then again, Halo games usually have a lot of people playing for the first few weeks after launch, so if the next game has these options right from the beginning it may be able to keep more players interested in the game.

5

> I really doubt 343 is just going to abandon Infinity.

I share that doubt.

Though what I want and what I doubt are two different things.

6

> 5. Cater fully to either Traditional or Infinity
> This is the idea that one side is chosen, and then they stick to it. All maps and playlists are targeted towards that one side.
>
> The con is that one side of the community would be abandoned.
>
> As far as I’m concerned, the positives to catering to one side of the community are that it would provide a full game experience for that side, and it is actually possible to make that audience happy by doing this.
> That one side would not have to deal with the negatives of having too many playlists, or having maps that aren’t fully designed with their gameplay of choice in mind.
> It would also give the developers more time to focus on that particular gameplay experience post-launch.
> Also, the game would also have its own consistent identity.

There really is no way to make the entire community happy, even those that want Infinity settings only will find things to gripe about. Halo 4 only has Infinity settings (aside from the Legendary Slayer playlist), but still has too many playlists and relatively poor “swollen” map design. That said, making the Infinity setting respect the “classic” principles of previous games would allow more players to enjoy it. Its not exactly compromise, so much as addressing the current issues with the current Infinity settings.

Simply making loadouts less extensive and only allowing UNSC primary/secondary weapons and grenades would get rid of the problems with N00B combos, PP/grenades that destroy vehicle play, and Boltshot abuse.

Increasing base player speed, as well as making players have the option between sprint and evade as an innate ability would allow people to choose between increased mobility or increased maneuverability. Having Armor Abilities as pick-up items on the map would return them to more of a power weapon status and emphasize map control to get them. Having personal ordinance only able to drop certain AAs would help to focus on weapon spawns.

7

> I think number 1 would be great, except it would have a lot of playlists which is one of the problems with Halo 4. It could be good if Halo had a stronger population, but right now there aren’t enough people playing for that to work.
>
> But then again, Halo games usually have a lot of people playing for the first few weeks after launch, so if the next game has these options right from the beginning it may be able to keep more players interested in the game.

If they do end up catering to both, then I hope that number 1 is the way that they go about it. I just hope that the population can maintain a playlist selection like that.

8

Number 1 sounds the best, dedicate two teams, one to Traditional, one to Infinity

9

The real question is… Are their people out their that actually prefer Infinity to Classic? Their can’t be many of them. Infinity ranked is almost laughable too. It’s like having leader boards for slot machines.

10

> The real question is… Are their people out their that actually prefer Infinity to Classic? Their can’t be many of them. Infinity ranked is almost laughable too. It’s like having leader boards for slot machines.

There are, though how numerous they are is another question.

11

This is going to sound harsh, but they should just abandon Infinity all together.

I’d rather have the majority of people happy and the minority angry rather than having another Halo game like this where 90% percent of people left within the first couple months.

12

> This is going to sound harsh, but they should just abandon Infinity all together.

Personally I agree, and it’s not because I’m mean and want Infinity fans to suffer.

It’s because I believe that Halo should never have strayed from the core gameplay, and I think that it needs to get back.
I can’t see any realistic way to provide a full game experience for both sides of the community, which doesn’t have major drawbacks. So why try? Just take Halo back to being Halo.
Any fans that came along as a result of Halo turning into something else, could easily find any number of games that have all those features.

13

> > This is going to sound harsh, but they should just abandon Infinity all together.
>
> Personally I agree, and it’s not because I’m mean and want Infinity fans to suffer.
>
> It’s because I believe that Halo should never have strayed from the core gameplay, and I think that it needs to get back.
> I can’t see any realistic way to provide a full game experience for both sides of the community, which doesn’t have major drawbacks. So why try? Just take Halo back to being Halo.
> Any fans that came along as a result of Halo turning into something else, could easily find any number of games that have all those features.

What if its not those features so much as the way they are integrated? The things that make loadouts, for instance, can easily be removed and allow more “traditional” gameplay while still giving players a few choices.

14

> What if its not those features so much as the way they are integrated? The things that make loadouts, for instance, can easily be removed and allow more “traditional” gameplay while still giving players a few choices.

Personally I’m not against loadouts, so long as they do not mess with equal starts or balance.

I should stress that I’m not entirely against the new features. What I’m against is the way in which they have altered the core gameplay, as opposed to complementing it.

I’d love for loadouts to stay, but for weapons such as Bolshot, Plasma Pistol and Stickies to be taken out. Oh and for Armor Abilities to be taken out and placed on the maps.

Loadouts are quite unique in that they genuinely have a compromise that can work with the orignal core of Halo.
The problem is that the Infinity fans would probably not universally accept that compromise.

This is the point I’m making, the Infinity/Traditional hybrid approach would not work to make people nearly as happy as they would be with full on Infinity or full on Traditional settings.

15

> What if its not those features so much as the way they are integrated? The things that make loadouts, for instance, can easily be removed and allow more “traditional” gameplay while still giving players a few choices.

I agree. I think the main reason that 343i’s changes were so poorly received, was due to the fact that they were all-encompassing. 343i offered nothing in the way of a traditional Halo experience. Their mountain of changes covered every aspect of the game and, as a result, alienated a large majority of long time Halo fans.

I think most of 343i’s ideas (sprint, personal ordnance, armor mods, ext.) would have worked had they been implemented gradually, offering players the choice between the new features and a traditional Halo experience.

16

> I think most of 343i’s ideas (sprint, personal ordnance, armor mods, ext.) would have worked had they been implemented gradually, offering players the choice between the new features and a traditional Halo experience.

Are you saying that they should have kept the game as Traditional by default, and gradually implemented Infinity type playlists over time? To see if players would warm to them.
Then eventually get to a place where the game is divided equally between the two?

17

> As soon as that core gets boring for too many people, don’t change the core in to something else for the sake of continuing the Halo name, just start a new game franchise.

That’s the pessimistic view I adopted. It’s sad, but when a game starts losing momentum, the developer should either accept that their product has become niche or they should let it die gracefully. Because for a game that is a competitive multiplayer shooter at heart, making drastic changes to the formula won’t really save it.

But really, if they still want to continue the franchise, fully catering to one group of players is the only sensible option. At the point where you have fragmented the gameplay of the game enough to create two distinct groups of fans of classic and modern gameplay, the fans of classic gameplay are just extra baggage.

Dividing the whole matchmaking to half will only fragment the population. Making a small niche playlist to one group or trying to mix the gameplay is only torturing the classic fans by forcing them to a corner and giving them false hopes. The social/ranked divide is a semi-sensible choice. But it still maintains the problem of splitting playlists (social and ranked BTB, for example) and ultimately, no one wants to play ranked or social all the time.

Players either like it or they don’t. Trying to appeal to everyone is eventually only going to disappoint more people. Of course completely disregarding a group of players is not the perfect solution, but as a part of the group who should be disregarded, it’s the option that’s the least painful in the end.

18

> > As soon as that core gets boring for too many people, don’t change the core in to something else for the sake of continuing the Halo name, just start a new game franchise.
>
> That’s the pessimistic view I adopted. It’s sad, but when a game starts losing momentum, the developer should either accept that their product has become niche or they should let it die gracefully. Because for a game that is a competitive multiplayer shooter at heart, making drastic changes to the formula won’t really save it.

Yeah this is exactly my thinking.

> But really, if they still want to continue the franchise, fully catering to one group of players is the only sensible option.

I agree.

It’s an unpopular opinion, but I think that it’s the most sensible and realistic one.

19

> > > This is going to sound harsh, but they should just abandon Infinity all together.
> >
> > Personally I agree, and it’s not because I’m mean and want Infinity fans to suffer.
> >
> > It’s because I believe that Halo should never have strayed from the core gameplay, and I think that it needs to get back.
> > I can’t see any realistic way to provide a full game experience for both sides of the community, which doesn’t have major drawbacks. So why try? Just take Halo back to being Halo.
> > Any fans that came along as a result of Halo turning into something else, could easily find any number of games that have all those features.
>
> What if its not those features so much as the way they are integrated? The things that make loadouts, for instance, can easily be removed and allow more “traditional” gameplay while still giving players a few choices.

Halo the equal opportunity game traditionally starts off with the same gear and ends with unequal results. Loadouts should be aesthetic only, user created, customizable weapon and armor decals. We can make all sorts of gametypes without diminishing core Halo gameplay.

20

> > What if its not those features so much as the way they are integrated? The things that make loadouts, for instance, can easily be removed and allow more “traditional” gameplay while still giving players a few choices.
>
> Personally I’m not against loadouts, so long as they do not mess with equal starts or balance.
>
> I should stress that I’m not entirely against the new features. What I’m against is the way in which they have altered the core gameplay, as opposed to complementing it.
>
> I’d love for loadouts to stay, but for weapons such as Bolshot, Plasma Pistol and Stickies to be taken out. Oh and for Armor Abilities to be taken out and placed on the maps.
>
> Loadouts are quite unique in that they genuinely have a compromise that can work with the orignal core of Halo.
> The problem is that the Infinity fans would probably not universally accept that compromise.
>
> This is the point I’m making, the Infinity/Traditional hybrid approach would not work to make people nearly as happy as they would be with full on Infinity or full on Traditional settings.

On point: Infinity/Traditional “hybrid” is Halo IV. There’s no compromising Halo’s proven gameplay identity and cows were made to be milked.