Ever since halo ce, multiplayer/system linking/xbc is what made Halo contain its longevity. Only after about 5-6 months, halo 4s numbers of people who play have dropped from over 400k to 35-40k left. THAT’S 8-10% OF THE ORIGINAL POPULATION. After you beat campaign, what else is there to do? Back in the days of halo ce-halo 3 the answer is matchmaking and I suppose you can include forge with h3. But even then, big deal its the same game types over and over, it gets repetitive and boring, yada yada, after 2 months or so then whats the point?
The answer is competition. Proving that you are the alpha male that is better than that low life fat -Yoink- that sits in his moms basement all day behind the TV screen doin nothing but being worse at the game than you. The innate drive & determination that is embedded in every human beings mind to be the best. It goes as far back to Darwin’s theory of evolution & survival of the fittest. I want to be the very best halo player to ever walk this planet, & rub it in every single other persons face whenever I see fit. Which is what brings me to my first point of how 343i can put halo 4 back on the breathing tube (because currently its dead) and save the halo franchise with the upcoming titles.
Change number 1: COMPETITIVE RANKING SYSTEM
Thank god it is finally coming out on Monday. It only took the entire life span of Halo Reach and about 5-6 months after launch of Halo 4 for them to finally come to their senses. Honestly, after all of Reach, the one thing people complained about the most is not having a CSR. What on earth was going through the heads of the people sitting in the development room during the production of Halo 4 that made them say, “Yeah a ranking system for halo 4 is a bad idea.” That should have been the NUMBER 1 PRIORITY for 343i when the multiplayer aspect of the game was being discussed.
This change obviously speaks for itself and there’s no sense in beating a dead horse. We are getting the ranking system. Sure you can complain all you want it should be visible in game, but whatever it’s there and if you care enough you will check waypoint regardless. We can only hope now that they dont remove CSR in later titles.
So you’re all probably wondering, ok well you brought up an issue that has already been addressed this thread is pointless do you actually have any changes that arent already being put in? To answer your question, yes, i do.
Change number 2: Playlist Types and Arrangements
There’s no denying that the amount of playlists is absurd. Theres no reason to have 7 different playlists all revolving around different objective based games. Simple Solution: to appeal to all competitive, casual, small team, big team, no team type players; there should only be about 7-9 actual playlists.
- Infinity Slayer (4v4 or 5v5)
- Big Team Infinity Slayer (7v7 or 8v8)
- Team Objective (4v4 or 5v5)
- Big Team Objective (7v7 or 8v8)
- Team Doubles
- Team Snipers (maybe)
- Team Throwdown
- Rumble Pit/Lone Wolves/FFA whatever you want to call it
- A Rotating Special Playlist (i.e. griffball, action sack, multiteam, forge community test, etc)
Why does this help/why is this in any way important? It addresses the major issue of the community being divided. There’s already one ENORMOUS division being the BR vs. DMR communities, there doesnt need to be anymore as a result of playlists. The numbers within each playlist will obviously increase which in result will lead to: more games being played overall, less time waiting in between games, wider range of competition, and more user friendly. Everyone likes variety, that way if you go into the team objective playlist, you arent playing ctf every game, or odd ball every game, or extraction, etc etc. You will get the variability everyone wants and it makes voting actually important rather than 2 people voting for Haven every damn time you join a room, and the rest of the 6-8 players standing by idle.
Change number 3: MAPS MAPS MAPS
What happened to the chill outs, midships, damnations, warlocks, beaver creeks, sanctuaries, pits, lockouts (remakes all have been crap), and hang em highs?
Yes they have came out with the majestic map pack which included monolith, landfall, and skyline (best map yet) but a majority of the maps on the original disc are big team maps, landfall might as well be a big team map too, and the next castle map pack is an entire big team map pack. Halo’s multiplayer scene is known for its up close and personal combat 4v4 type gameplay. Yes there is still room for the BT area, but this isnt COD where 7v7 and 8v8 is the normal gameplay it has been rooted on. The community for BT has about 9-10 maps while the rest of game types have about maybe 6 and even then, half of them are decent or garbage (cough solace, abandon, monolith cough) and yeah i get it theres forge maps that have been made, but we need the developer support and professionalism to bring back the true small maps. Majestic was supposed to be the map pack for small maps. cmon, lets be honest here, we got skyline which is phenomenal, and monolith which is decent but not great, and wth is landfall, seriously? Needless to say, new and improved classic halo maps need to make a come back in the future of halo 4 and with halo 5/6 later.
Change number 4: Weapon spawning
Honestly who actually enjoys random ordinance drops? THAT ISNT HALO! Part of being good at Halo has to do with map flow, communication, and strategical movements to control power weapons and power positions on the map, which a majority of the time are determinate upon weapon spawns. Everyone knows where and when rockets or snipers spawn on pit and as a result when you see them come up, theres a major stand off or strong hold on those position that are INTENSE and MEANINGFUL. It gives purpose to move about the map in a certain way to obtain a competitive advantage over the other team. If you remove a rhyme or rhythm to the way weapons appear it completely diminishes a MAJOR competitive portion of matchmaking. Which while im here, im all for personal ordinance, i think it’s a great addition to the game, & it gives you something to work for & achieve. That being said, an incineration cannon should never be one of those choices. or rockets, or a binary rifle, or maybe even a sniper rifle. those are exactly the types of weapons that should have special, timed, locations on the map that you work as a team to obtain.
Change number 5: Loadouts or should I say Classes?
I didnt realize I was buying COD a week early when i picked up halo 4. Again THAT ISNT HALO. Ya customization is cool & what not, but being able to spawn with noob combo, camo, or AAs is a bit ridiculous. Remember when camo was a powerup you wanted to control just like power weapons? i sure do. nope not now! you can instantly have it right off the get go! I cant explain how much fun i have walking around a corner and getting blasted by the crouched camo kid with a shotgun. Camo, thrusters, jet packs, HLS, etc should once again be placed upon maps to pick up and work for such as weapons. There has been nothing wrong with Halo CE-Halo 3s decision to start us off with a particular gun. Loadouts is what caused the DMR vs. BR seperation to begin with.
I had more but Im running out of characters. All this being said, if things dont change halo’s franchise name will be tarnished.