Halo 4 is not Halo

Games Other Halo
1

I am already SR60 and this game is getting boring. I dont know if its because I have been playing Halo since CE and I feel like I have nothing new to learn, or if its because the game is so noob friendly and stripped of all depth and filled with so many random elements that it literally feels like I am playing Fiesta Slayer. The game is mind-numbingly boring because there is no skill-gap or essence of map control and the farthest thing from Halo yet. Its all been said before but I will give my thoughts on the game so far:

  • Sprint makes the game feel like a CoD game instead of a Halo game. Halo was always about decision making and strategic map movement but with sprint its spawn, sprint to the nearest teammate, and die. It messes with the pace of the game and allows bad decision making to go unpunished, as well as making any kind of set-up or map control impossible when combined with instant respawn.

-Halo always had a chess-like meta-game, as a team you had to figure out how to eliminate the other team and dieing was punished by a long re-spawn time, or giving up your advantages to the other team. For example when the other team is 4 players up(Meaning all alive) Then you would play more passively, but as you took down the other team you could slowly take map control and your strategy changes to securing map control and making more aggressive pushes into the other teams base.

With H4 there is no change in game dynamics because everyone is always alive and spawning is dynamic meaning a player you just killed can spawn behind you immediately and clean you up! To add to that, if you kill an enemy sniper and he is not within you’re vicinity, you are most likely not getting the reward for taking down the most dangerous threat on the other team! On Sanctuary any time you killed an enemy’s sniper it was a huge change in game momentum as then you could push into the enemies base, in H4 weapons de-spawn so fast that the enemy team is not punished for dying with PW’s. Players need to be punished for their mistakes in order for the game to evolve into anything more than mindless killing.

  • Random Weapon drops- Whos genius idea was this? There is a reason the sniper spawns every 2 min on Sanctuary in both Team’s Huts and not randomly on the map, its to encourage position holding and allow both teams equal chance to utilize the weapons given to them. With H4 after the initial drop, its a guessing game as to what is going to happen. Holding middle for rockets does not matter if they are just going to spawn on the enemies side randomly during the game, its just unnecessary randomness and more noob catering. Holding Snipe tower on Lockout does not matter if the sniper spawns randomly around the map, the entire concept of map control in Halo is destroyed by this.

How can you specialize in sniping(like a Snipedown) if you dont know where the sniper is going to spawn? How can I strategize around a random system? You cant, it becomes a guessing game and then it longer feels like I am playing a fair game.

-Flinching- So the reason for changing the perfectly fine de-scope mechanic was because 343 thought it was too “jarring” to players. 343 have you ever played Halo before? De-scoping is a natural mechanic in the game to prevent snipers and long range weaponry from dominating at range, now you can hardscope even when someone is shooting you and it will do barely anything to keep them from 5-shotting you. Not only is de-scoping more skill-ful but it makes more sense for Halo. Having you’re reticle fly up in the air is not Halo, this is not a military shooter. It also ruins the smoothness and risk-reward mechanics of Team snipers, when you get shot your reticle goes flying thus making out-shooting an enemy with first shot very difficult. Again, more CoD stuff in Halo, its ridiculous and insulting to the game. Nobody likes this mechanic in Halo.

-Maps- Lack of small maps designed for competitive play, way too much clutter on the maps and way too many hiding spots. The best Halo maps were small and had clearly defined strategic positions, these maps have no power positions and lack multiple angles. There is no way to lock-down huge maps with 1000 camping positions and bases, they are simply not Halo maps there is no other way to say it. Haven is voted the most because its the only map that encourages any kind of movement and has clear sight lines, the rest feel like mazes.

The game is simply not Halo, it does not feel,play, or have the physics of a Halo game. Its a desperate attempt to draw in other players from the military shooter fanbase, and it has failed in that attempt. I feel insulted as a core Halo player for many years, to have this game called Halo when almost no element of the game resembles Halo. THIS IS HALO, whatever Halo 4 is it is not. The beautiful simplicity and strategic flow of the game has been replaced by flash with no substance.

2

> I am already SR60 and this game is getting boring. I dont know if its because I have been playing Halo since CE and I feel like I have nothing new to learn, or if its because the game is so noob friendly and stripped of all depth and filled with so many random elements that it literally feels like I am playing Fiesta Slayer. The game is mind-numbingly boring because there is no skill-gap or essence of map control and the farthest thing from Halo yet. Its all been said before but I will give my thoughts on the game so far:
>
> - Sprint makes the game feel like a CoD game instead of a Halo game. Halo was always about decision making and strategic map movement but with sprint its spawn, sprint to the nearest teammate, and die. It messes with the pace of the game and allows bad decision making to go unpunished, as well as making any kind of set-up or map control impossible when combined with instant respawn.
>
> -Halo always had a chess-like meta-game, as a team you had to figure out how to eliminate the other team and dieing was punished by a long re-spawn time, or giving up your advantages to the other team. For example when the other team is 4 players up(Meaning all alive) Then you would play more passively, but as you took down the other team you could slowly take map control and your strategy changes to securing map control and making more aggressive pushes into the other teams base.
>
> With H4 there is no change in game dynamics because everyone is always alive and spawning is dynamic meaning a player you just killed can spawn behind you immediately and clean you up! To add to that, if you kill an enemy sniper and he is not within you’re vicinity, you are most likely not getting the reward for taking down the most dangerous threat on the other team! On Sanctuary any time you killed an enemy’s sniper it was a huge change in game momentum as then you could push into the enemies base, in H4 weapons de-spawn so fast that the enemy team is not punished for dying with PW’s. Players need to be punished for their mistakes in order for the game to evolve into anything more than mindless killing.
>
> - Random Weapon drops- Whos genius idea was this? There is a reason the sniper spawns every 2 min on Sanctuary in both Team’s Huts and not randomly on the map, its to encourage position holding and allow both teams equal chance to utilize the weapons given to them. With H4 after the initial drop, its a guessing game as to what is going to happen. Holding middle for rockets does not matter if they are just going to spawn on the enemies side randomly during the game, its just unnecessary randomness and more noob catering. Holding Snipe tower on Lockout does not matter if the sniper spawns randomly around the map, the entire concept of map control in Halo is destroyed by this.
>
> How can you specialize in sniping(like a Snipedown) if you dont know where the sniper is going to spawn? How can I strategize around a random system? You cant, it becomes a guessing game and then it longer feels like I am playing a fair game.
>
> -Flinching- So the reason for changing the perfectly fine de-scope mechanic was because 343 thought it was too “jarring” to players. 343 have you ever played Halo before? De-scoping is a natural mechanic in the game to prevent snipers and long range weaponry from dominating at range, now you can hardscope even when someone is shooting you and it will do barely anything to keep them from 5-shotting you. Not only is de-scoping more skill-ful but it makes more sense for Halo. Having you’re reticle fly up in the air is not Halo, this is not a military shooter. It also ruins the smoothness and risk-reward mechanics of Team snipers, when you get shot your reticle goes flying thus making out-shooting an enemy with first shot very difficult. Again, more CoD stuff in Halo, its ridiculous and insulting to the game. Nobody likes this mechanic in Halo.
>
> -Maps- Lack of small maps designed for competitive play, way too much clutter on the maps and way too many hiding spots. The best Halo maps were small and had clearly defined strategic positions, these maps have no power positions and lack multiple angles. There is no way to lock-down huge maps with 1000 camping positions and bases, they are simply not Halo maps there is no other way to say it. Haven is voted the most because its the only map that encourages any kind of movement and has clear sight lines, the rest feel like mazes.
>
> The game is simply not Halo, it does not feel,play, or have the physics of a Halo game. Its a desperate attempt to draw in other players from the military shooter fanbase, and it has failed in that attempt. I feel insulted as a core Halo player for many years, to have this game called Halo when almost no element of the game resembles Halo. THIS IS HALO, whatever Halo 4 is it is not. The beautiful simplicity and strategic flow of the game is has been replaced by flash with no substance.

I know you wanted a Halo 3 version 2 but this won’t happen.

3

Agree on everything, good post.

4

People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.

5

> I know you wanted a Halo 3 version 2 but this won’t happen.

I wanted a Halo game, the core gameplay of H4 is not Halo. Its a cheap imitator that is stuck in between Halo and the military shooter way of play.

Nobody can dispute that, the game is a mess and filled with so much -Yoink- compared to the beautiful simplicity and strategic flow of past Halo games.

6

I didn’t read the entire post because the title and the first paragraph were enough to get the general idea.
I bought the original xbox at launch just to play Halo and have been playing it ever since and I would have to disagree with you on pretty much everything you said (at least the bits I could be bothered to read anyway). It sounds more like you’re just one of those people that likes to complain just for the sake of complaining. If you hate the game so much, don’t play it. I don’t like football so I don’t watch it. It’s not rocket science. And there’s nothing stopping you from going and playing Halo 3 and Halo Reach if you prefer those instead. Nobody forced you to buy the game and nobody is forcing you to continue to play it.

The only thing I agree on is the flinching thing. If you are zoomed in and get shot, you should be knocked out of zoom. See, I did read some parts.

Besides, the game has only been out for a couple of weeks. Give them time to tweak the playlists, weapons and spawns etc before you -Yoink- about it. You think you can do a better job? Let me ask you this; What was the last multi-million copy selling game you made?

Yeah, that’s what I though.

7

> People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.

They actually don’t.

8

> People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.

Uhm no they really don’t. The custom game options in this game are extremely limited. You cannot create any “Classic” game modes despite them promising the game would have a Classic playlist. Slayer Pro (while a good game mode) isn’t Classic as they promised.

9

> I didn’t read the entire post because the title and the first paragraph were enough to get the general idea.
> I bought the original xbox at launch just to play Halo and have been playing it ever since and I would have to disagree with you on pretty much everything you said (at least the bits I could be bothered to read anyway). It sounds more like you’re just one of those people that likes to complain just for the sake of complaining. If you hate the game so much, don’t play it. I don’t like football so I don’t watch it. It’s not rocket science. And there’s nothing stopping you from going and playing Halo 3 and Halo Reach if you prefer those instead. Nobody forced you to buy the game and nobody is forcing you to continue to play it.
>
> The only thing I agree on is the flinching thing. If you are zoomed in and get shot, you should be knocked out of zoom. See, I did read some parts.
>
> Besides, the game has only been out for a couple of weeks. Give them time to tweak the playlists, weapons and spawns etc before you -Yoink!- about it. You think you can do a better job? Let me ask you this; What was the last multi-million copy selling game you made?
>
> Yeah, that’s what I though.

You do know that some people complain about changes because they don’t think it fits, they’re worried about the franchise.

How would Halo look like today if no one ever said anything bad about a feature and instead went “Meh, I don’t like this and that, I’ll just stop playing now”.

Yes we’ve seen those as well, but that’s the wrong way to go at complaining.

The proper way is to adress the problem, why you think it doesn’t work, in a good manner of course, and then perhaps open up a discussion for improvements or come up with your own constructive tips for improvements.

The way the OP does it is wrong.

Also, perhaps not Halo for you, but it’s Halo for me.

10

> > People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.
>
> Uhm no they really don’t. The custom game options in this game are extremely limited. You cannot create any “Classic” game modes despite them promising the game would have a Classic playlist. Slayer Pro (while a good game mode) isn’t Classic as they promised.

And what makes you think there isn’t some kinda classic playlist in the works to be added via a matchmaking update later on? They just added SWAT and Team Snipers. I don’t doubt there will be more changes coming. Besides, it’s only been out for just over 2 weeks and there have always been constant changes and additions to multiplayer matchmaking playlists in Halo games.

11

> > People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.
>
> Uhm no they really don’t. The custom game options in this game are extremely limited. You cannot create any “Classic” game modes despite them promising the game would have a Classic playlist. Slayer Pro (while a good game mode) isn’t Classic as they promised.

Exactly, you make sweeping changes to a franchise and then have no options to revert them? Its almost like 343 is giving the core Halo player the finger, if we dont get options to revert some of this -Yoink- like random weapon drops and sprint I am done with Halo.

Slayer pro is SWAT with shields, no weapons on the map, no grenades, its just the game stripped down to its core.

The worst thing they have did is change the core of Halo, then they changed the strategy and game flow of Halo. What is left that is Halo?

12

> > I didn’t read the entire post because the title and the first paragraph were enough to get the general idea.
> > I bought the original xbox at launch just to play Halo and have been playing it ever since and I would have to disagree with you on pretty much everything you said (at least the bits I could be bothered to read anyway). It sounds more like you’re just one of those people that likes to complain just for the sake of complaining. If you hate the game so much, don’t play it. I don’t like football so I don’t watch it. It’s not rocket science. And there’s nothing stopping you from going and playing Halo 3 and Halo Reach if you prefer those instead. Nobody forced you to buy the game and nobody is forcing you to continue to play it.
> >
> > The only thing I agree on is the flinching thing. If you are zoomed in and get shot, you should be knocked out of zoom. See, I did read some parts.
> >
> > Besides, the game has only been out for a couple of weeks. Give them time to tweak the playlists, weapons and spawns etc before you -Yoink!- about it. You think you can do a better job? Let me ask you this; What was the last multi-million copy selling game you made?
> >
> > Yeah, that’s what I though.
>
> You do know that some people complain about changes because they don’t think it fits, they’re worried about the franchise.
>
> How would Halo look like today if no one ever said anything bad about a feature and instead went “Meh, I don’t like this and that, I’ll just stop playing now”.
>
> Yes we’ve seen those as well, but that’s the wrong way to go at complaining.
>
> The proper way is to adress the problem, why you think it doesn’t work, in a good manner of course, and then perhaps open up a discussion for improvements or come up with your own constructive tips for improvements.
>
> The way the OP does it is wrong.
>
> Also, perhaps not Halo for you, but it’s Halo for me.

If we dont voice our concerns now, by H5 we will literally be playing something so far from Halo that the core of Halo will be dead. Say no to the CoD-ifying of Halo before its too late.

13

All I really want is for 343 to remove the absurd aim assist and huge hitbox that has been in the series since Halo 2. Halo has always been a very casual friendly game that you just sit down with friends and play for a few hours while getting drunk and/or high. But I would still like to see modern day Halo without any sort of assists. I think we would get a Halo game that actually lasts a real long time, even on the same level as Counter-Strike, if this happened.

14

> > > People still play Halo 3. And custom games option in H4 still gives you many of the options you liked about pervious Halo’s.
> >
> > Uhm no they really don’t. The custom game options in this game are extremely limited. You cannot create any “Classic” game modes despite them promising the game would have a Classic playlist. Slayer Pro (while a good game mode) isn’t Classic as they promised.
>
> And what makes you think there isn’t some kinda classic playlist in the works to be added via a matchmaking update later on? They just added SWAT and Team Snipers. I don’t doubt there will be more changes coming. Besides, it’s only been out for just over 2 weeks and there have always been constant changes and additions to multiplayer matchmaking playlists in Halo games.

Oh they probably will, but this doesn’t justify the fact that Custom games are lacking in pretty much every field.

15

Voicing concerns are better done by not sarcastically insulting people.

A proper thought out post will be more appreciated than an insulting one. I think that if we started more with that, then 343 might be more inclined to read more from here and actually respond.

16

> All I really want is for 343 to remove the absurd aim assist and huge hitbox that has been in the series since Halo 2. Halo has always been a very casual friendly game that you just sit down with friends and play for a few hours while getting drunk and/or high. But I would still like to see modern day Halo without any sort of assists. I think we would get a Halo game that actually lasts a real long time, even on the same level as Counter-Strike, if this happened.

If they lowered aim assist, made the weapons 4-shot again, and reverted the strafe to H2 status it would be much more skilled and interesting. But that is obviously not their intent to make a balanced and competitive game like H1 or H2, its just too easy which makes me lose interest fast. Its a game that has no rhythm or flow and relies on cheap gimmicks, the opposite of what a Halo game should be like.

17

I think it would be more accurate to say that it no longer feels like Halo to some people. It definitely feels like Halo to me.

> - Sprint makes the game feel like a CoD game instead of a Halo game. Halo was always about decision making and strategic map movement but with sprint its spawn, sprint to the nearest teammate, and die. It messes with the pace of the game and allows bad decision making to go unpunished, as well as making any kind of set-up or map control impossible when combined with instant respawn.

Since everyone can sprint, if someone sprints away from me I just spring after them. Or jump and try for headshots in the air before they get away from my horizon. I’m not very good at this mind you, but it doesn’t bother me. And it definitely doesn’t feel less like Halo to me. The faster I can move the better in my book. And it feels balanced by sprint bring limited, and taking time to cool down. If someone sprints and “runs out of breath,” and you still have sprint, you have a slight advantage in terms of evading their shots briefly.

> -Halo always had a chess-like meta-game, as a team you had to figure out how to eliminate the other team and dieing was punished by a long re-spawn time, or giving up your advantages to the other team. For example when the other team is 4 players up(Meaning all alive) Then you would play more passively, but as you took down the other team you could slowly take map control and your strategy changes to securing map control and making more aggressive pushes into the other teams base.

That depends on how you play in my opinion. I don’t go into a team match and strategize. I just look around and do my best to help both myself and my team intuitively. Halo has never been a particularly deep or strategic game to me. It’s an action-heavy arcadey shooter in my book. Anything can have strategy if you want it to, of course. Everything comes down to game theory, strategy, maneuver, and force and capability projection. Everything. But that you can do that with virtually everything, doesn’t mean that virtually everything is strategically deep. Halo isn’t by my standards, but those are my standards and I won’t force them on others.

In my honest opinion though, Halo 4 offers more layers of strategic options now than Halo 3 did. The more tactics you have to account for and counter, the more strategically deep something is by my standards. Whether those tactics might be deemed cheap or noob-friendly or not. The skilled player (which I’m not by the way, and I’m fine with that) will find a way to surmount them. The unskilled player won’t, and will suffer for it.

> With H4 there is no change in game dynamics because everyone is always alive and spawning is dynamic meaning a player you just killed can spawn behind you immediately and clean you up! To add to that, if you kill an enemy sniper and he is not within you’re vicinity, you are most likely not getting the reward for taking down the most dangerous threat on the other team! On Sanctuary any time you killed an enemy’s sniper it was a huge change in game momentum as then you could push into the enemies base, in H4 weapons de-spawn so fast that the enemy team is not punished for dying with PW’s. Players need to be punished for their mistakes in order for the game to evolve into anything more than mindless killing.

Ordnance drops change the dynamic from where I sit. And they aren’t truly random (getting the drops I mean, not what you get in a drop,) they’re dependent upon kills. Meaning the more skilled player will get access to power weapons sooner than the unskilled player. Someone getting a disintegrator or a sticky gun is a dynamic changer in the matches I play at least. And if you have one, and die rather than successfully using it - which would mean you made some mistakes because they are OP as hell when used correctly imo - you are punished for it by losing those weapons, precisely because, as you point out, they despawn so quickly. Instead of holding areas you know things will spawn at, you have firefights over ordnance drops, and have to change tactics on the fly once someone gets a power weapon. It changes, however briefly, the whole complexion and disposition of your team’s tactics toward that player (or players.)

> - Random Weapon drops- Whos genius idea was this? There is a reason the sniper spawns every 2 min on Sanctuary in both Team’s Huts and not randomly on the map, its to encourage position holding and allow both teams equal chance to utilize the weapons given to them. With H4 after the initial drop, its a guessing game as to what is going to happen. Holding middle for rockets does not matter if they are just going to spawn on the enemies side randomly during the game, its just unnecessary randomness and more noob catering. Holding Snipe tower on Lockout does not matter if the sniper spawns randomly around the map, the entire concept of map control in Halo is destroyed by this.

I find that an element of randomness makes for more dynamic gameplay in most online shooters. It seems that what you really mean by strategic, is predictable. You know where spawns are, so you fight to hold those areas. To me, real strategy means reacting to changing conditions on the battlefield and being able to think on your feet enough to adapt (sorry to use the word that has become a dirty one on this forum for some reason) to changes in power and capabilities on the fly. This is why I say that things like armor mods are also not reductions in strategic layers, but additions. More potential tactics to counter.

(Continued…)

18

> > All I really want is for 343 to remove the absurd aim assist and huge hitbox that has been in the series since Halo 2. Halo has always been a very casual friendly game that you just sit down with friends and play for a few hours while getting drunk and/or high. But I would still like to see modern day Halo without any sort of assists. I think we would get a Halo game that actually lasts a real long time, even on the same level as Counter-Strike, if this happened.
>
> If they lowered aim assist, made the weapons 4-shot again, and reverted the strafe to H2 status it would be much more skilled and interesting. But that is obviously not their intent to make a balanced and competitive game like H1 or H2, its just too easy which makes me lose interest fast. Its a game that has no rhythm or flow and relies on cheap gimmicks, the opposite of what a Halo game should be like.

Has Halo ever truly been competitive after Halo 2 came out? Because that is when the aim assist and large hit boxes started appearing. Honestly the only true competitive FPS out there to date is still Counter-Strike 1.6

19

1 sprinting
on large 1s it does help getting around trying to flank your enermy so can help add depth in sense if u run into anyone u will be at the disadvantage
but on slayer combined with small maps and instanst respawns i can see your point

2 map control/dynamics
it is a hard thing to balence id imagine between allowing map control and making sure there isnt spawn killing i agree instant spawns do hamper this but i believe its ordonance that does damages it mostly
not that i think ordonaces are bad just think there should be a better balence between spawn weapons tier 1 ordonances should be tier 2 so they do give an advantage but tier 3 like snipers and such should be only map spawn to encourage map control

im guessin weapon de-spawn is ment to balence the flood of power weapons brought in through ordonance but i guess could be balenced in another way

3 random weapon drops
if you go into custom you can see you can pick what selection of weapons can spawn so i guess to solve this again just have game changing weapons only spawn in middle
unless you have a garenteed power weapon spawn e.g. sniper spawn at each base but random times so like after you pick up the sniper at your base a new 1 is garenteed to spawn between 120s to 180s
this allows for organised chaos which is fun

4 flinching
isnt this just with the support upgrade or something?
assuming it is i agree is slightly overpowered but could be solved with simply only the 1st 2 shots dont take you out of scope thus giving an advantage
but means that if you dont use it right or someone gets jump on you it becomes useless

5 maps
… cant realy say owt some i like some i dont but hopefully with dlc it will solve this problem so best thing i can say is make thread about “why the maps are bad” but also “why the maps are good” that way 343i will know what the fanbase actully wants to keep and want it wants to change which should hopefully lead to epic maps =D

6 not feeling like halo
i think they have added alot of new stuff some worked brillently some… didnt but now time to bring it back they have shown new stuff like ordonances and random drops can work but now need to tweak em to bring more order to the chaos and then hopefully halo 4 will truly be able to hold the mantle of halo

ps 343i a beta for halo 5 would be nice to get this stuff out of the way early

20

(Concluding from above…)

> -Flinching- So the reason for changing the perfectly fine de-scope mechanic was because 343 thought it was too “jarring” to players. 343 have you ever played Halo before? De-scoping is a natural mechanic in the game to prevent snipers and long range weaponry from dominating at range, now you can hardscope even when someone is shooting you and it will do barely anything to keep them from 5-shotting you. Not only is de-scoping more skill-ful but it makes more sense for Halo. Having you’re reticle fly up in the air is not Halo, this is not a military shooter. It also ruins the smoothness and risk-reward mechanics of Team snipers, when you get shot your reticle goes flying thus making out-shooting an enemy with first shot very difficult. Again, more CoD stuff in Halo, its ridiculous and insulting to the game. Nobody likes this mechanic in Halo.

This I agree with, though I don’t find it “insulting” personally.

> -Maps- Lack of small maps designed for competitive play, way too much clutter on the maps and way too many hiding spots. The best Halo maps were small and had clearly defined strategic positions, these maps have no power positions and lack multiple angles. There is no way to lock-down huge maps with 1000 camping positions and bases, they are simply not Halo maps there is no other way to say it. Haven is voted the most because its the only map that encourages any kind of movement and has clear sight lines, the rest feel like mazes.

I actually feel the opposite is true. Not enough larger maps. I miss Sand Trap and the like. Those were my favorite maps. Ragnarock is the closest thing in Halo 4 to my favorite map types.

> The game is simply not Halo, it does not feel,play, or have the physics of a Halo game. Its a desperate attempt to draw in other players from the military shooter fanbase, and it has failed in that attempt.

It feels like Halo with added options to me. The general aesthetic, audio, visual, feedback, pacing, and gameplay of the game feels like Halo always has to me. I just have more options at my disposal.

I do not have a problem personally with them tossing a bone or two to new players and even enirely new gamers. Games exist to be enjoyed by players of all skill levels, and I think sometimes that people forget that not only are there levels of “hardcoreness” (i.e. someone can be passionate and play more than so-called “casual” gamers without taking it as seriously and competitively as you seem to, which is your prerogative, no problem with that,) but also that not everyone has the time or inclination to dedicate time and effort to become super skilled at a game. If the alternative is to simply alienate that audience, no company is going to do that. That’s just not realistic. They’re going to try their best to walk the difficult tightrope between pleasing people like you, people like me, and people that have a more casual interest in the game, without making anyone feel like they can’t progress or get some reward for their investment.

I do believe, and have always believed, that there should be a classic mode and a transparent trueskill ranking that can be seen by everyone, for those who demand it. That was a longstanding part of what many people loved in Halo 3, and should be present imo.

> I feel insulted as a core Halo player for many years, to have this game called Halo when almost no element of the game resembles Halo. ]THIS IS HALO[/color], whatever Halo 4 is it is not. The beautiful simplicity and strategic flow of the game has been replaced by flash with no substance

Well, this is the nature of subjectivity. This is my favorite Halo game since CE, so there you go. I will not begrudge you your criticisms though, and I encourage you to continue voicing them. Maybe they will listen, and give us a game closer to one you and I can both enjoy. You have the right to complain when disappointed by the state of something you love.

Peace.