Social makes you try even harder to do anything than ranked because players who are really good at the game are going into the social playlists as a team of 4 and dominating anyone who isn’t good at the game. If you’re a casual player who gets ranked no higher than silver, you may as well just play ranked with other silvers. That probably provides more of a social environment than social playlists do despite being ranked
I’m not saying a good player can’t play social playlists and still try to do good, I just think there’s no point in labeling it as social when we all know the teams of 4 stop it from being just that. Just call it Ranked and Unranked so there’s no confusion
IMO, aside from good and fair servers… the single thing that impacts user experience most is the lack of party size restrictions. A party/ team of 4 should only match up against a party of 3 or 4.
Going into an unranked social playlist and finding out a group of friends are playing together, socially if you will. They just so happen to be good at the game.
Its a playlist where ranks arent considered, what were you expecting? The entire point of the ranking system is so you play with people on your level. The entire point of social is to have fun with friends and other players. It’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun. If you are a silver then sadly you are quite likely to bump into plenty of players with a higher rank than yourself in social, if you are looking for fair games where skill is considered don’t play social
> 2535408316691716;3:
> Going into an unranked social playlist and finding out a group of friends are playing together, socially if you will. They just so happen to be good at the game.
>
> Its a playlist where ranks arent considered, what were you expecting? The entire point of the ranking system is so you play with people on your level. The entire point of social is to have fun with friends and other players. It’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun. If you are a silver then sadly you are quite likely to bump into plenty of players with a higher rank than yourself in social, if you are looking for fair games where skill is considered don’t play social
I never understand people like you. You have obviously no experience playing yourself because if you would, then you’d know that completely random matchups are never a good idea no matter if they record stats or display rank. A team of 4 Onyx-level players getting matched against 4 randomly assembled players of skills lower than Platinum isn’t fun for anyone involved. The team of low level randoms certainly would feel like there isn’t any point in trying to for example capture a flag. I haven’t played a single (yes, not one) game in social where less than 2 players quit. Then new players join in on the losing side and quit immediately. Quitting is rampant in social. Your argument is: “it’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun”. The rampant quitting is telling you that unfairness ISN’T fun. The quitters certainly didn’t have fun, and the one’s that are left are not having fun because of the quitting, and the new players joining the massively losing team are not having fun. Reasonable fairness IS a big part of making it fun. No matter if it’s social, stats aren’t being recorded, no ranks involved; the objective is and always will be, to win. If players feel they can’t win under ANY circumstance, then they are not going to have a good time. So, you can continue living in your fantasy world where social ‘is about having fun’, and I’ll continue telling it how it really is.
Personally, I think one thing that made social playlists so special in the pat was the ability to go into them with guests in splitscreen, which was what made them such a laid back and fun environment. Without the ability to play splitscreen, social playlists are merely unranked playlists.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that we finally have a ranked and social split, it’s just that the social playlists can’t quite have the same magic to them as yesteryear without guests.
> 2533274808386392;5:
> Personally, I think one thing that made social playlists so special in the pat was the ability to go into them with guests in splitscreen, which was what made them such a laid back and fun environment. Without the ability to play splitscreen, social playlists are merely unranked playlists.
>
> Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that we finally have a ranked and social split, it’s just that the social playlists can’t quite have the same magic to them as yesteryear without guests.
Came here to say this, posted to reinforce it.
Having guests on splitscreen is what made social. Playing BTB in Halo 3 with six guests is what made social social. It’s so very hard to have a social game when you cannot have guests.
Here’s an idea though - I know people don’t have them now as much as they used to, but opening social up to people who have XBL silver accounts like they did in Halo 3 might help.
> 2533274850493408;6:
> > 2533274808386392;5:
> > Personally, I think one thing that made social playlists so special in the pat was the ability to go into them with guests in splitscreen, which was what made them such a laid back and fun environment. Without the ability to play splitscreen, social playlists are merely unranked playlists.
> >
> > Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that we finally have a ranked and social split, it’s just that the social playlists can’t quite have the same magic to them as yesteryear without guests.
>
> Came here to say this, posted to reinforce it.
>
> Having guests on splitscreen is what made social. Playing BTB in Halo 3 with six guests is what made social social. It’s so very hard to have a social game when you cannot have guests.
>
> Here’s an idea though - I know people don’t have them now as much as they used to, but opening social up to people who have XBL silver accounts like they did in Halo 3 might help.
I really like that idea, it would give people a chance to try out Halo 5 online to see if they like it or not, and could potentially give a nice boost to the population. Plus, for a lot of people, social is more than enough to get what they need/want out of the game.
i have said this before and im sure ill say it a million more times.
the games are not any easier in a social playlist vs a competitive one. what makes ANY playlist relaxed or sweaty is how much you care about winning and doing well. if you go into a “social” playlist thinking you aren’t gonna have to try and you’ll just breeze through it and win, you’re gonna have a bad time. if you go into a social playlist thinking “hey i get to play Halo 5 without it changing my Arena ranking regardless of the outcome” then its gonna be fun. competitive vs not is a mindset. there is no amount of settings that 343 could add to make you happy if you just dont want to lose.
This has happened in every halo game since xbl released. I dont know why people are supprised. The purpose of a social playlist is to be able to relax while you play and not worry about your rank if you lose. Its only as competitive as you make it
> 2533274962008908;4:
> > 2535408316691716;3:
> > Going into an unranked social playlist and finding out a group of friends are playing together, socially if you will. They just so happen to be good at the game.
> >
> > Its a playlist where ranks arent considered, what were you expecting? The entire point of the ranking system is so you play with people on your level. The entire point of social is to have fun with friends and other players. It’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun. If you are a silver then sadly you are quite likely to bump into plenty of players with a higher rank than yourself in social, if you are looking for fair games where skill is considered don’t play social
>
> I never understand people like you. You have obviously no experience playing yourself because if you would, then you’d know that completely random matchups are never a good idea no matter if they record stats or display rank. A team of 4 Onyx-level players getting matched against 4 randomly assembled players of skills lower than Platinum isn’t fun for anyone involved. The team of low level randoms certainly would feel like there isn’t any point in trying to for example capture a flag. I haven’t played a single (yes, not one) game in social where less than 2 players quit. Then new players join in on the losing side and quit immediately. Quitting is rampant in social. Your argument is: “it’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun”. The rampant quitting is telling you that unfairness ISN’T fun. The quitters certainly didn’t have fun, and the one’s that are left are not having fun because of the quitting, and the new players joining the massively losing team are not having fun. Reasonable fairness IS a big part of making it fun. No matter if it’s social, stats aren’t being recorded, no ranks involved; the objective is and always will be, to win. If players feel they can’t win under ANY circumstance, then they are not going to have a good time. So, you can continue living in your fantasy world where social ‘is about having fun’, and I’ll continue telling it how it really is.
idk man, personally, social is everything i expected it to be. join in progress is a god send i will never and i mean never under appreciate!
yes teams are running social right now because it’s new, it will die down in a few days, yes, teams are unbalanced that’s the point of social. you play, whoever wants to play, regardless of K/D and CSR, that is the point of social. why do people expect it to be a cake walk for them just because it is social, i actually don’t mind going up against the higher competition level, why? because winning and losing, doesn’t matter, you aren’t losing anything from losing. maybe your pride but. little timmy won’t cost your that diamond 1 you worked all month to get in social. HECK, you might even LEARN something from going up against the higher leveled( better players) i know i have.
in short, change your mindset. because if anything social is way more of a mixed bag of skill levels then ranked will ever be. so don’t go in expecting to CRUSH. and i promise you will have a better time.
The perception of the “entitled playerbase” is the expectation to win easily or just win. While, losing generally indicates, that it is less of a social experience. In short, these entitled players are “sore losers”, and already like some people have said, have a “competitive mindset” of trying not to lose.
> 2535468547991460;8:
> i have said this before and im sure ill say it a million more times.
>
> the games are not any easier in a social playlist vs a competitive one. what makes ANY playlist relaxed or sweaty is how much you care about winning and doing well. if you go into a “social” playlist thinking you aren’t gonna have to try and you’ll just breeze through it and win, you’re gonna have a bad time. if you go into a social playlist thinking “hey i get to play Halo 5 without it changing my Arena ranking regardless of the outcome” then its gonna be fun. competitive vs not is a mindset. there is no amount of settings that 343 could add to make you happy if you just dont want to lose.
this 100 percent!, it feels so refreshing to be able to say “hey let me hope in some team skirmish and see how it goes :)” opposed to flaming my team-mates for going 5-16 and causing me to tilt from gold 5 to gold 1 -.-. i have waited a YEAR for this, this wannabe pub stompers who get smacked in social really need to change their mindsets, before we end up with, 100 percent ranked again. and this is coming from an AVERAGE player. you will lose, you will lose hard, you will win, you will win hard. social doesn’t save you from losing or doing bad.
Just to mention a practice already in use by Halo 5’s cousin Gears of War 4, in social for Gears 4 you have a maximum party size of two that you can search with.
I feel like this might be a good restriction to put in place for Social in Halo 5 as well if we want to stop these full teams from dominating social playlists.
> 2533274827519891;12:
> > 2535468547991460;8:
> > i have said this before and im sure ill say it a million more times.
> >
> > the games are not any easier in a social playlist vs a competitive one. what makes ANY playlist relaxed or sweaty is how much you care about winning and doing well. if you go into a “social” playlist thinking you aren’t gonna have to try and you’ll just breeze through it and win, you’re gonna have a bad time. if you go into a social playlist thinking “hey i get to play Halo 5 without it changing my Arena ranking regardless of the outcome” then its gonna be fun. competitive vs not is a mindset. there is no amount of settings that 343 could add to make you happy if you just dont want to lose.
>
> this 100 percent!, it feels so refreshing to be able to say “hey let me hope in some team skirmish and see how it goes :)” opposed to flaming my team-mates for going 5-16 and causing me to tilt from gold 5 to gold 1 -.-. i have waited a YEAR for this, this wannabe pub stompers who get smacked in social really need to change their mindsets, before we end up with, 100 percent ranked again. and this is coming from an AVERAGE player. you will lose, you will lose hard, you will win, you will win hard. social doesn’t save you from losing or doing bad.
not to mention how AMAZING join in progress is! waited a year for that as well
> 2533274823654350;13:
> Just to mention a practice already in use by Halo 5’s cousin Gears of War 4, in social for Gears 4 you have a maximum party size of two that you can search with.
>
> I feel like this might be a good restriction to put in place for Social in Halo 5 as well if we want to stop these full teams from dominating social playlists.
yes! i love social in gears, because it’s actually social. knowing there is atleast 3 randoms mandatory on each side feels great. me and my buddy play social and shoot the breeze all the time. never feeling tense or NEED to win. although king of the hill will forever bring out my demon lolol
> 2533274797704815;2:
> IMO, aside from good and fair servers… the single thing that impacts user experience most is the lack of party size restrictions. A party/ team of 4 should only match up against a party of 3 or 4.
Although I absolutely agree with you about party restrictions, in this case you will still get teams of 3 or 4 Onyx players going into social only because it’s easier for them. So unless the MMR works like it should they can still match 3 or 4 Gold/Plat friends and you have the same issue. If the MM worked fairly there would not be threads asking why a Bronze, Silver team gets matched against an Onyx, Champion team and destroyed 25-1 in Ranked Dubs.
here is a solution: Make social only available to solo players, this way you don’t have a team dominating a bunch of low skilled randoms, and If you play in a team then play ranked as if you are playing in a team then you are likely trying to win and care about getting a high score/kill streak, but social is about when you don’t care about rank because you are tired or whatever and so are likely playing solo
i actually played a few games of social slayer (arena) tonight for the first time in months. the lead in my first game swapped over about 15 times, so it was great! the next, not so much, but i have been having a bad halo week 
as a fan of shoot 'em style games i think this might be a move in the right direction regarding solo players. there are always going to be ‘pro’ players that get butt hurt in any format of any game when they lose one, but i do think that this might be a step in the right direction!
disclaimer: yes i am level 130 something but that is almost purely from wzff with no life 
> 2533274962008908;4:
> > 2535408316691716;3:
> > Going into an unranked social playlist and finding out a group of friends are playing together, socially if you will. They just so happen to be good at the game.
> >
> > Its a playlist where ranks arent considered, what were you expecting? The entire point of the ranking system is so you play with people on your level. The entire point of social is to have fun with friends and other players. It’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun. If you are a silver then sadly you are quite likely to bump into plenty of players with a higher rank than yourself in social, if you are looking for fair games where skill is considered don’t play social
>
> I never understand people like you. You have obviously no experience playing yourself because if you would, then you’d know that completely random matchups are never a good idea no matter if they record stats or display rank. A team of 4 Onyx-level players getting matched against 4 randomly assembled players of skills lower than Platinum isn’t fun for anyone involved. The team of low level randoms certainly would feel like there isn’t any point in trying to for example capture a flag. I haven’t played a single (yes, not one) game in social where less than 2 players quit. Then new players join in on the losing side and quit immediately. Quitting is rampant in social. Your argument is: “it’s not meant to be fair, it’s meant to be fun”. The rampant quitting is telling you that unfairness ISN’T fun. The quitters certainly didn’t have fun, and the one’s that are left are not having fun because of the quitting, and the new players joining the massively losing team are not having fun. Reasonable fairness IS a big part of making it fun. No matter if it’s social, stats aren’t being recorded, no ranks involved; the objective is and always will be, to win. If players feel they can’t win under ANY circumstance, then they are not going to have a good time. So, you can continue living in your fantasy world where social ‘is about having fun’, and I’ll continue telling it how it really is.
I disagree with the part of your post that I Bolded. I’ve seen plenty of Onyx players who think it’s fun to pub stomp lower players and they go into social to do it instead of smurfing. There wouldn’t be smurfs if my assertion wasn’t true. As a lower level player myself I have a much better chance of doing well in ranked. Higher level players have a much better chance of doing well in social. The nature of unranked is that it’s easier for the higher level and harder for the lower level players. That’s just how it is. I still play social for the experience of playing against very tough competition. At lest in social I know what to expect. Running into smurfs in ranked can be tilting if it happens too often.
> 2533274965187692;17:
> here is a solution: Make social only available to solo players, this way you don’t have a team dominating a bunch of low skilled randoms, and If you play in a team then play ranked as if you are playing in a team then you are likely trying to win and care about getting a high score/kill streak, but social is about when you don’t care about rank because you are tired or whatever and so are likely playing solo
That is seriously a terrible idea.Make all social playlists for ONLY solo players? That totally kills the social experience of Halo.