PLEASE READ
in this post i will be going through the differences in the halo games. more specifically the trends in player activity and social behaviours from experiences playing all of the halo games.
HALO 1
halo 1 was solely driven by the community. what i mean by that is that xbox live did not work with the game so people had to go to each others house and play (unless you had xbox connect or similar programs). what this meant is that people knew how good you were based on playing with you it was a fairly small community based on the local limitations.
HALO 2
Halo 2 had only 1-50 ranks and an average good player would be around level 25-30
yes i said 25-30 seems low but back then the match making system was over run with cheaters from stand byers to bridging host to my personal favourite modding. so if you ever seen a level 50 it was a halo ring back then, he grantee cheated to get it. the match making system was unfortunately broken.
the effect this had on the community at first glance you would assume it would be a bad thing. but in practise is a good thing this meant that people flocked to custom games i personally would run about 20+ games a day of just FFA MLG to 50 kills and even a few 16 player games of FFA to 1000 kills, on top of that there were boxing only customs and zombies and so on and so forth. sounds pretty boring right only playing custom games 70-90% of the time, well it wasn’t and a lot of people will agree it was awesome. widely considered the best halo made.
HALO 3
halo 3 the first halo on a new console. the game consisted of one thing match making wise that drastically changed the way halo played. The exp rank up system. what this system does is it gives you 1 exp for a win, 0 exp for a loss and -1 exp for a quit. this means that you get rewarded for playing match making and winning which is good because it makes people want to win because there is more than just an ego boost on the line, there is also their 1-50 rank and the exp.
the only real negative of the exp system is that people stopped playing custom games due to the fact that there was no reason to the majority of game types were already in a playlist so people had no reason to play customs, it was almost a penalty to yourself to play customs.
Halo: Reach
Halo: Reach is the latest halo to come out. Reach had 2 huge differences(match making format wise) from the other halos. the first was the lack of the 1-50 system what this was replaced by was the iron-onyx system. how this worked is you played 7 days and got rated 3 games in a day then you got your division iron-onyx, but also you were given a percentage to show you how high you are in the division. why this doesn’t work very well is because when you are a top%(10% or lower) of onyx you can still team up with or against a high percent of onyx (70% or higher) to make this more simple imagine in halo 3 if you are a level 50 searching by yourself and you get matched up with team mates that are level 40. the skill gap is too great to have a fun, competitive game. This shows in the population of that playlist. Ultimately an onyx means much less than a 50.
The second difference of Halo: Reach is the modified version of halo 3’s exp rank up systems. the big changes are, that the ranks no longer need wins but credits instead (earned by completing games) what this does to the community is the only reason for winning is an ego boost and even that is not enough because it more fun stat padding and loosing than it is going negative and winning so less people will plug microphones into their xboxes and call out and more people will just quit the first sight of a bad stat game. custom games in a system that rewards you so heavily just for starting up a game, are almost non existent there is simply no reason to play a custom game. ironic due to the fact this game has more options and abilities to modify custom games.
The ranks are no longer accompanied by a level or skill this gives less insight into the players themselves so you don’t know what playlist or game they like, and if they fit your skill range. halo 3 had a genius idea not only give people an overall rank but give them a rank they can modify. by modify i mean a rank that changes based on what they play. example if some one plays mlg more than team snipers there rank will display that information through exp amounts in a playlist. making it easier to see that “hey i play mlg a whole lot and this person does too maybe we can play together” Halo: Reach replaced this system with a pretty little picture that makes it easier to see that this person plays this game period. well i understand that he/ she plays this game i want to know what they play, how much and how good they are at it.
HALO 4
What I want to see in halo 4 is a combination of all the halos. the custom games from halo 1 and 2 where people have a reason to play custom games don’t penalise them for playing custom games. I want to see the aspects of reach that were good like the look of the ranks, the cool armour, the idea of a season which after ranks reset. most importantly I want to know who I am playing with and if they are good because a game filled with ranks and emblems that mean nothing make the game itself mean nothing.
PLEASE POST A RESPONSE ABOUT WHAT I WROTE WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS IF YOU AGREE WITH ME OR NOT
