Halo 5, and the new Halo Direction

I’m going to say a lot that most of the people in these Forums would disagree with… If you are a hardcore Halo 2 fanboy, hater of Halo 4, or overly Competitive player/member of the Community, I’m warning you now… Don’t read this, and don’t comment. I really don’t want to hear it. You’ve made up your mind, and I’ve made up mine. I’m an avid Halo fan. Playing games, reading books, watching media, whether it’s TV, Animation, etc. That being said, I really, really like where Halo 5 is going.

STORY: I can’t talk to much about story, because honestly, we don’t know too much about it that isn’t speculation. Master Chief has gone AWOL, Locke is going after him, and the Arbiter has retuned. Other then that, we don’t know what Didact is up to, or even alive if you read comics. If Cortana will return, or any lead characters from Halo 4. With this premise, I think the story is shaping up to be interesting. As long as Locke doesn’t disappoint as a protagonist/antagonist, I’m sure I’ll love it like all the other game stories. My one suggestion, drop the “Guardians” subtitle. Halo 5 should just be Halo 5, none of the other main Halo games had subtitles except the first one, which actually makes sense. Just my opinion.

MULTIPLAYER: Here is where I’m sure I’ll lose a lot of “Halo Purists”, “Hardcore Fans”, and even most “Competitive Players”. I like the Multiplayer! It’s good, it’s FUN! People are so ready to sht all over anything that is Halo 4, or Halo 5. If the game is fun, and people enjoy it, don’t tell them they’re wrong, or stupid. They can have fun playing a good game, which is what Halo 5 is. The Master Chief Collection has H:CE, H2, and H3. If you really can’t stand anything that is not one of those games, don’t play it, and better yet, don’t talk sht on it. I’m happy to see you leave the Halo community. Anyways, I like how so far there are two versions of each map, I think that’s really cool. I love Breakout as a new mode, it’s fast, and exciting. It’s also fun to play with your friends as a team.
The Ranking System, to me, makes perfect sense, and it good. You gain a public rank, SR, and then can get rated, promoted and demoted in individual ranks, like Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, etc., etc,. I think that this is a good competitive ranking system. But of course, if it’s not H2 or H3 it’s crap so…
My suggestions. Make better looking armor, brighter menus for Customization, more armor options much like Halo Reach, or H4, and add more Intro/Win animations.

GAMEPLAY: Here it comes, the ultimate sin against humanity, I like Halo 5 gameplay! BOOM! It’s fun, it’s fast, it plays well! I don’t understand how everyone can want slow combat again! I loved Halo 3, it was a great multiplayer game, but I like Halo 4 more for mixing it up. Yep, I like Halo 4, another sin. Sprint? Oh my God! Stop complaining about Sprint! It’s fine, it makes the game better, IT DOES! It’s too slow otherwise. The new Spartan Abilities are good too. Let me tell you something, people say with sprint, dodge, boosts, etc. that people can get away too easily. I call BS! Never once has someone gotten completely away from me, and I’ve never gotten away either. I, or I’m either chased down and killed etc.
The new moves like dodge, clamber, Smart Scope, they really don’t affect the game that much I don’t think. The game still plays great. People complain about Ground Pound too. They say they get killed before hitting the ground. I got something to say, it takes about 1 full second to complete a ground pound, but people think they need to float up there until you ground pound automatically. You don’t, just wait until the second reticule pops up, it’s like 1 second.

In the end, I guess I’m just tired of people talking bad about Halo 5, and even Halo 4, they’re good games. Halo 2 and Halo 3 had their problems, and in my opinion, Halo 2, the forum fan favorite, really isn’t that good/fun. It’s just not, sorry, again my opinion. So people say Halo is becoming more CoD like… If that’s the case, if it is copying too much from Call of Duty, and moving away from Halo 2. Then I’m happy, go for it! Halo needs to evolve to stay relevant, if you do not agree, you’ll have The Master Chief Collection… This is coming from a Halo game, book, media lover. It is my favorite game franchise, and I love every game, I’m just trying to make a better Halo community.

So, did I offend to may people, what do you guys think?

> 2533274852044078;1:
> So people say Halo is becoming more CoD like… If that’s the case, if it is copying too much from Call of Duty, and moving away from Halo 2. Then I’m happy, go for it! Halo needs to evolve to stay relevant, if you do not agree, you’ll have The Master Chief Collection…

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

The one thing I will say to you is that you seem to lack a basic understanding of the kind of FPS that Halo is on a fundamental level. “Evolving” does not mean compromising core gameplay mechanics and turning into just another shooter in an over-saturated market. If your idea of evolution means homogenization, then all the power to you.

But no one can tell you how to have your fun. So enjoy it.

And the greatest thing of all is there is under a year to go until release day. We will see how the community holds up and if homogenization efforts actually improve player retention. Many of the mechanisms being implemented in Halo 5 are to give the player an experience of familiarity. This has been one of 343’s stated goals on record since Halo 4. We will see if it works.

I agree with a lot of what you said.

Everybody and their “opinions.” Everybody and their “expectations.” Everyone thinks they’re a game designer. Everyone thinks they know better than anyone else what Halo “needs.” Everybody thinks Halo needs to return to “core gameplay.” Everyone thinks Halo needs to “evolve.” Sprint-this. ADS-that. Too fast. Too slow. Too easy. Too hard. Too much aim assist. Too little aim assist. AAs are dumb. AAs are awesome. Spartan abilities are dumb. Spartan abilities are awesome. The game is for noobs. The game is for esports wannabes.

I disagree that H5 gameplay is better or worse than any previous Halo. Personally, I didn’t like it. But that’s a beta. Just not enough time to get used to any of the new stuff. I’ll learn it all after launch and then I’ll hate it less, love it more.

Point is, Halo is what Halo is. Stop the wringing of hands and the gnashing of teeth and the furling of brows. Get on with it. You go, OP.

Gameplay forums are a good way for developers to gather information to use towards future content, gameplay updates, and a more balanced game.

A game’s Beta is a test to see what works, what may need improvement, and what is broken.

Construstive critisim is exactly what 343 wants from the Beta, and the forums.