Did halo 5's marketing feel misleading to you?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Reading this article made me extremely excited for the release of halo 5 back then, especially considering the functionality of TMCC at the hands of 343. This quote from my linked article especially highlighted why I was looking forward to its launch (even though I didn’t purchase the game until the Christmas holidays) :“Specifically, 343 promises that there will be 15(!) new DLC multiplayer maps added to the game by June 16th 2016, in addition to the 20(!!) that will debut with the game at launch.”

However, I was never expecting such disappointment with the maps we would actually be receiving within this time period. It wasn’t until after I saw this video well into my time playing halo that I realized how much we were misled for the content that 343 would provide. When people see " 20 maps at launch with 15 free DLC maps" as a part of 343’s selling point of halo 5, they typically expect unique maps with much thought put into each one without incorporating previous map layouts. Unfortunately, we were tricked by our own standards of content in halo 5 and 343 played us like fools. Here is the map list when halo 5 launched based on 343’s launch playlist details article:

Escape from A.R.C
Raid on Apex 7
March on Stormbreak
Dispatch (a smaller Escape from A.R.C)
Array (a smaller Raid on Apex 7)
Summit (a smaller March on Stormbreak)
Coliseum
Plaza
The Rig
Truth
Regret (remixed truth)
Fathom
Empire
Eden (empire remix)
Orion (forge)
Pegasus (forge)
Gambol (forge)
Trident (forge)
Trench (forge)
Crossfire (forge)
Altitude (forge)

Let’s subtract 5 maps from this list (dispatch, summit, array, truth, and orion) because orion was removed from matchmaking with its game breaking issues, and the rest of the maps are not unique enough from the maps they were based on to identify as individual maps. That leaves 16 for the launch map list. Now say what you want about the 6 forge maps (Pegasus and the 5 breakout maps), but I don’t personally mind them as forge because the advancement of halo 5’s forge can most definitely allow strong forgers to create high quality maps even though I didn’t love the forge maps from 343. What bugs me about this however is how 343 didn’t release forge at launch for the community to utilize and attempt creating maps for regular matchmaking, leaving out a lot of potential (despite their legitimate reasoning for holding the service back until December). Many people also wouldn’t consider forge maps to be a part of the overall map list (including myself) as this is something everyone has access to and can create our own maps, unlike developer kits that could’ve been used instead for more production. This was another issue with 343’s marketing, attempting to advertise forge maps as if they were made from their developer kits. Ultimately, the marketing of these launch maps gave us a different picture of what we were expecting altogether, and this type of deceit with 343’s lack of proper communication on the actual map count frustrated me along with other close observers.

Many people also criticize 343 for adding remix maps and counting them as unique maps like all the others from launch. I also feel the same for remixes. Even if you disagree with me in how remix maps are lazy map additions to artificially inflate map counts, you can’t deny the lack of communication from 343 of mentioning these remixes. Some of these sorts of maps were mentioned in the Sprint somewhere, but not with much emphasis in including those as their free DLC (correct me if I’m wrong with sources).

Now let’s move on to the DLC maps added since release. Note: none of the maps featured include community forge maps of the BTB, Breakout, or Grifball playlist.

Battle of shadow and light (all forge maps)
Deadlock
Basin
Guillotine
Recurve

Cartographer’s gift
Battle of Noctus (warzone)
Overgrowth (remix of plaza)
Antifreeze (forge)
Entombed (forge)

Hammer storm
Torque
Grifball court (forge)

Ghosts of meridian
Skirmish at Darkstar (warzone)
Tyrant

Memories of reach
Stasis (torque remix)

Many of these maps appear to be remixes of older maps or simple forge maps (during times when halo 5 forge was still left to be desired even with its vast improvements). The warzone maps were exceptional to me (minus the recycled bases in every map), but arena maps felt dull with no special play styles or anything iconic to offer (may be the consequence of adding sprint). The lack of development for these maps are apparent with other set priorities, which destroy the excitement a lot of us felt before halo 5’s launch, especially with our standards for what should count as part of the map count that 343 was advertising about.I myself valued the community map updates far greater than the DLC 343 released and made themselves, but that’s just my opinion. What’s even worse was the elementary mistakes 343 made in their UI and their overall frustrating lack of game modes, leaving me wanting something better and unsatisfied, especially given MCC’s own issues beforehand, making me question’s 343’s ability to properly learn from their mistakes and the predecessors’ successes within the halo franchise.

What did you think of halo 5’s marketing? Do you think they delivered based on their promises and the hype surrounding these news?

2

Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.

3

It’s mixed. MCC nearly ruined halo for me. I hated it, hated I bought an XBone to play it, still hate it. On the other hand look what EA is doing to Star Wars BF. They sold a bare bones $60 game and wanted another $60 for the DLC. Now they have announced BF2 coming 2017 with maps from the new movie (so basically $60 DLC) and will probably have another $60 season pass. So yeah 343 disappoints, but at least it’s free.

4

> 2533274860945165;2:
> Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.

The game’s functionality itself cannot be a deciding factor on whether halo 5 will be appealing. Its base content and DLC content should be exceptional in the hands of the consumers to ensure that the game sustains a healthy population over a long time period.

5

> 2533274968707582;4:
> > 2533274860945165;2:
> > Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.
>
>
> The game’s functionality itself cannot be a deciding factor on whether halo 5 will be appealing. Its base content and DLC content should be exceptional in the hands of the consumers to ensure that the game sustains a healthy population over a long time period.

At least H5 didn’t nuke the population like MCC, since there is still a lasting community in H5 (a very salty one).

6

> 2533274860945165;2:
> Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.

I’m sure there is a lot more to the story than simply, “It works”.

7

> 2535468812026872;3:
> It’s mixed. MCC nearly ruined halo for me. I hated it, hated I bought an XBone to play it, still hate it. On the other hand look what EA is doing to Star Wars BF. They sold a bare bones $60 game and wanted another $60 for the DLC. Now they have announced BF2 coming 2017 with maps from the new movie (so basically $60 DLC) and will probably have another $60 season pass. So yeah 343 disappoints, but at least it’s free.

My main intent on making this article was to remind the community on 343’s misleading marketing that drove many people to be hyped for the game’s release, only to buy the game disappointed because of lack of content. 343 had a grand opportunity to actually grow its fan base and make strong comeback from TMCC, but they greatly missed its potential and only worked to maintain enough customers for the next game. Yes, the content is free, but does that really excuse 343’s focus on REQ content instead of maps and game modes? We need to be more observant in what they say when halo 6 comes around so that no one is surprised assuming that 343 takes the same marketing approach as halo 5.

8

> 2533274860945165;5:
> > 2533274968707582;4:
> > > 2533274860945165;2:
> > > Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.
> >
> >
> > The game’s functionality itself cannot be a deciding factor on whether halo 5 will be appealing. Its base content and DLC content should be exceptional in the hands of the consumers to ensure that the game sustains a healthy population over a long time period.
>
>
> At least H5 didn’t nuke the population like MCC, since there is still a lasting community in H5 (a very salty one).

Why exactly do you think that the community is strongly negative of some of 343’s decisions over the past several months? Also, do you think that 343 has deserved your forgiveness after the debacle of TMCC, and why?

9

> 2533274802932721;6:
> > 2533274860945165;2:
> > Halo 5 worked. MCC didn’t. End of story.
>
>
> I’m sure there is a lot more to the story than simply, “It works”.

Couldn’t be closer to the truth in this case.

10

I’m fine with the Warzone Assault variants and the Arena remixes counting to the total count, but the Forge maps can not count. Seriously, they’re Forge maps, anyone can make them. I also remember seeing a 343 employee say that the Forge variants would not be added to the 15 additional maps.

11

> 2533275016942754;10:
> I’m fine with the Warzone Assault variants and the Arena remixes counting to the total count, but the Forge maps can not count. Seriously, they’re Forge maps, anyone can make them. I also remember seeing a 343 employee say that the Forge variants would not be added to the 15 additional maps.

I think that if anything, 343 should maximize the functionality of halo’s forge service so that they and the community can give us better arena/warzone assault maps in the next game, along with releasing forge on launch next time.

12

Creating several crappy maps doesn’t make up for the abysmal lack of content at launch.

13

I also think (based on mainly speculation) that a lot of the planning for free DLC came from how 343 perceived that their game wouldn’t support enough content for the player base when halo 5 launched. Think about it: for about 2 possible years, they had to split up the staff to develop halo MCC while the rest worked on halo 5. A lack of workers for the new game probably made them put much content as an afterthought because they may have been struggling to even execute the core mechanics, especially with the extended period of time for those other employees to fix MCC from their fundamental issues, spreading themselves thin (which I can’t overemphasize).

14

> 2533274867452014;12:
> Creating several crappy maps doesn’t make up for the abysmal lack of content at launch,

Which is how I mostly feel about halo 5’s content, especially when 343 uses that free DLC as a means to redeem themselves from the failure in properly supporting TMCC for several months, destroying the game’s population in the process.

15

I could care less whether the maps are remakes or not, I don’t play Halo to admire the maps (though they are usually nice to explore in Forge/Customs), I play simply because I have a strong love for the game. It was a little frustrating to play it at first, (like all the Halo games from Reach to now), but it quickly grew on me because I understand that they are handling a franchise that the creators abandoned, of course they’re just trying to figure out what innovations they could probably bring in to make Halo unique to other FPS games on the market. However, if they had just used the same game mechanics as Halo 1-3, people would have bagged on them for copying Bungee’s style, and a large amount of people would have left saying that Halo is becoming CoD. So instead of trying to do what other FPS do by recycling gameplay and adding in weapons or a few new features, they decided to be the next best thing by reestablishing Halo as an innovative FPS like the golden days of the Classic Trilogy, however, a lot of what they tried to do has sort of been disappointing or not as satisfying.

Though 343i has had a couple screw ups, I still believe that they are the best company to make Halo games and that Bungee would not be able to compete with them if they had continued, considering Destiny was more of a failure than Halo 4 and 5 combined, primarily because 343i is more passionate and determined to make Halo games than Bungee was by the release of Reach.

I’m not bashing anyone, just making some points that people tend overlook.

16

I’d be happy if we could get some permanent game modes/play lists added to the game. The weekend/weekly play lists were cool when they first started doing them but now, I think it’s been more than enough time for them to add the game modes they finally released on a permanent. Or at least give us a reason why they haven’t yet. Unless it’s because of the population, which, I can understand why they wouldn’t want to tell us that’s the reason.

Action Sackor Action Sack Objectives I think would make a lot of people happy.

17

> 2533274968707582;13:
> I also think (based on mainly speculation) that a lot of the planning for free DLC came from how 343 perceived that their game wouldn’t support enough content for the player base when halo 5 launched. Think about it: for about 2 possible years, they had to split up the staff to develop halo MCC while the rest worked on halo 5. A lack of workers for the new game probably made them put much content as an afterthought because they may have been struggling to even execute the core mechanics, especially with the extended period of time for those other employees to fix MCC from their fundamental issues, spreading themselves thin (which I can’t overemphasize).

I totally think this is true. Divide and Conquer isn’t always the best choice.

18

> 2535471109694535;15:
> I could care less whether the maps are remakes or not, I don’t play Halo to admire the maps (though they are usually nice to explore in Forge/Customs), I play simply because I have a strong love for the game. It was a little frustrating to play it at first, (like all the Halo games from Reach to now), but it quickly grew on me because I understand that they are handling a franchise that the creators abandoned, of course they’re just trying to figure out what innovations they could probably bring in to make Halo unique to other FPS games on the market. However, if they had just used the same game mechanics as Halo 1-3, people would have bagged on them for copying Bungee’s style, and a large amount of people would have left saying that Halo is becoming CoD. So instead of trying to do what other FPS do by recycle gameplay and adding in weapons or a few new features, they decided to be the next best thing by reestablishing Halo as an innovative FPS like the golden days of the Classic Trilogy, however, a lot of what they tried to do has sort of been disappointing or not as satisfying.
>
> Though 343i has had a couple screw ups, I still believe that they are the best company to make Halo games and that Bungee would not be able to compete with them if they had continued, considering Destiny was more of a failure than Halo 4 and 5 combined, primarily because 343i is more passionate and determined to make Halo games than Bungee was by the release of Reach.
>
> I’m not bashing anyone, just making some points that people tend overlook.

The majority of destiny’s controversial mechanics may have come from Activision, a company who likely convinced treyarch to reintroduce supply drops based on weaponry that can actually provide advantages to a lucky player in BO3, under a frustratingly random system.

However, your first paragraph (and the bolded part in particular) doesn’t have much to do with the actual claims made in my OP, as I mainly touched on 343’s marketing that mislead players into thinking that the content they were providing for halo 5 post-launch was something greater than what it was in reality, not the game mechanics and 343’s decisions on how players control the game. Map making plays a strong role in a player’s enjoyment of the overall game and based on whether it is well suited for the SA’s that 343 provided while providing a skillful experience, something you clearly are underestimating.

19

> 2533274802932721;16:
> I’d be happy if we could get some permanent game modes/play lists added to the game. The weekend/weekly play lists were cool when they first started doing them but now, I think it’s been more than enough time for them to add the game modes they finally released on a permanent. Or at least give us a reason why they haven’t yet. Unless it’s because of the population, which, I can understand why they wouldn’t want to tell us that’s the reason.
>
> Action Sackor Action Sack Objectives I think would make a lot of people happy.

I support this decision, especially when it would’ve easily satisfied the social community disappointed in TMCC, but 343 was not thinking ahead during development.

20

> 2535471109694535;17:
> > 2533274968707582;13:
> > I also think (based on mainly speculation) that a lot of the planning for free DLC came from how 343 perceived that their game wouldn’t support enough content for the player base when halo 5 launched. Think about it: for about 2 possible years, they had to split up the staff to develop halo MCC while the rest worked on halo 5. A lack of workers for the new game probably made them put much content as an afterthought because they may have been struggling to even execute the core mechanics, especially with the extended period of time for those other employees to fix MCC from their fundamental issues, spreading themselves thin (which I can’t overemphasize).
>
>
> I totally think this is true. Divide and Conquer isn’t always the best choice.

Especially given 343’s previous track record of halo 4 prior to the split up in 2 different projects.