Halo 4 has drastically changed the Halo formula and for what cause? To make the game familiar and more accessible to newer players (to try to gain a bigger fanbase).
League of Legends (LoL) is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games for Microsoft Windows[1] and Mac OS X, inspired by the mod Defense of the Ancients[2] for the video game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. It is a free-to-play game, supported by micro-transactions. It was first announced on October 7, 2008, and released on October 27, 2009.[3] League of Legends was generally well received at release, and has grown in popularity in the years since. According to a 2012 Forbes article, League of Legends is the most played PC game in the world in terms of the number of hours played.
Now LOL is being topped by the far more challenging and hardcore game Dota 2.
Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game and the stand-alone sequel to the Defense of the Ancients (DotA) mod. Developed by Valve Corporation, the game was officially released on July 9, 2013 as a free-to-play title for Microsoft Windows, concluding a beta testing phase that began in 2011. OS X and Linux versions of Dota 2 were released on July 18, 2013. In most regions, Dota 2 is exclusively available through Valve’s content delivery platform, Steam.
Development of Dota 2 began in 2009, with the hiring of DotA’s developer, “IceFrog”, to serve as the sequel’s lead designer. Dota 2 was acclaimed by video game critics, who lauded it for the full transition of the game components established with its predecessor, as well as its engaging and rewarding gameplay experience. However, the game was criticized for its steep learning curve and inhospitable community.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/09/11/why-is-dota-2-the-biggest-game-on-steam/
While League of Legends still is the king, Dota grows at an enormous rate as seen here, becoming both the most played game on Steam, and the second most played game of the week (and month) overall.
Top Games Being Played by Everyone (This Week/ Raptr Makes Gaming Manuals in PDF | The gogopdf Blog ).
1
Grand Theft Auto V (360)
882,144 hrs
2
DOTA 2 (PC)
349,145 hrs
3
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360)
199,713 hrs
4
Warframe (PC)
190,586 hrs
5
World of Warcraft (PC)
189,728 hrs
6
League of Legends (PC)
183,194 hrs
THE REASON
"The root of DOTA 2′s enormity, however, is perhaps due to the game, and the genre, already commanding an enduring hardcore audience. Without the hardcore to champion and sustain a game like this, it has nothing. During the early 2000s, Defense of the Ancient was amongst the most popular games to be played around the world, and part of Valve’s brilliance was in identifying that this was a vast, unseen community that required a well-funded developmental core to step in and make it whole. What Brood War was to the Koreans in terms of competitions, was rivaled by China’s adoration for Dota and WarCraft III.
This, perhaps, is the true answer: it is that passion for the game that has truly made it the biggest game on Steam. Without people, without absolutely devotees, no game like this could ever reach such heights. This is no casual game, after all. Valve understood that. Just as they did with Counter-Strike (150k peak players everyday), and just as they likely will with other games."
Now on to Halo 5 343.
Now there is a reason to believe:
The downfall of Halo wasn’t the franchise, it was the developers trying to make the game appeal to everyone, thus changing the mechanics. 343 think Halo will suffer if they don’t keep up like CoD, but that is obviously not the case, as seen here. People like good games, not easy games.
“Like the best games, the basics are easily grasped, while the mastery of far off, thanks to the vast array of possibilities its rules create.”
Go back to Halo’s roots 343.
How 343 should make the game “easier”:
THE VICTORY
“New people are getting interested all the time. For these newer players, Valve offers a variety of assistance in understanding the mechanics of Dota 2 through a structured tutorial system and limited hero pool mode (20 easy-to-understand heros are selected from a pool of over 100 for newcomers to learn and play) as well as in-game Dota 2 hero guides that you can subscribe and use directly in the game. Additionally, Valve has future modes coming such as mentoring, where more experienced players can mentor others similar to how they do in Team Fortress 2 as well as a last-hit single player mode where players can practice their “last-hitting”. It is mastering the skills of this game – and winning with the skills you’ve learned – that bring players their greatest pleasure.”.
How 343 should innovate the game:
Credits to Vetoed:
> Stuff like Ricochet is the awesome kind of new! A lot of people like these new interesting modes, and this is the kind of stuff we need as “new things”. Not excessive core changes. New fun things that doesn’t break or remove existing content.
>
> Simple enough?