I would like to share some of my thoughts about the Halo 5 beta. Before I go ahead and do so, I would like to share a little about my halo “resume” if you will. This is so you can understand where my observations and critiques are coming from, not to sound pretentious.
I believe Halo was one of the most successful E-Sport titles of all times and helped shaped what competitive gaming has become. I’ve played every Halo since the first one, whether I liked them or not, because I supported what Bungie was trying to do to revolutionize online multiplayer. I am not an MLG Pro gamer, but I consider myself heavily apart of the competitive scene. I’ve been involved in Gamebattles, online tournaments, and have successfully achieved 50’s in basically every playlist (except SWAT… cause SWAT). I believe in a world of BR starts only and live for teams who love to communicate. With all that being said, here is my critique of Halo 5 beta thus far.
The game overall still surprisingly felt like Halo. I was very pleased at the lack of annoying equipment and spartan abilities, which allowed me to have consistent BR fights. The hit detection was pretty spot on as well. I will say the weapons all felt a little too useable in any situation. I would of liked some of them to be better than others depending on the predicament I was in.
The small jet boost in one direction I didn’t mind too much. I also don’t mind the crouch jump hover. That to me is an example of a Halo “evolution”, not just a random “addition”, because of how players would attempt to “Ghandi Hop” in prior Halo’s to throw off the opponent during a BR fight. While not my favorite feature, it is a step in the direction of being in the right mindset to evolving a game. The ground pound needs to be removed. Period. It’s gimmicky and while it feels badass to do, it doesn’t add anything to the gameplay except rewarding unskilled players with a cheap shot.
My biggest gripe is and forever will be the sprint. Let me elaborate… sprinting is meant for “twitchy” shooters such as COD and Titanfall because it punishes a player who overuses it because they cannot raise their weapon fast enough and die instantly. In a game like Halo where elongated fights and tight accuracy dominate the gameplay, all sprint does is allow opponents who made a poor decision to engage in a fight to escape without any consequence for starting that fight. The spartans are fast and mobile enough on their own, especially now with the small jet boost. Make sprint disappear, please. I cannot say it enough. The mantling also should not be a new feature. This adds to the “over mobile” spartans who can escape anything and also effects map setups. Why try and control a high point on a map when someone can just mantle up behind me and take me out? The flow of a halo game is at risk with this feature.
The weapon respawn timers audio and visuals are not a good addition. I say this from the perspective of preserving the large skill difference between Halo gamers. I understand where the vision was with this feature, to make players play more like the pros who rotate their positions when an important weapon is about to respawn, but that is what makes pros, pros. They are able to do those things on their own and keep track of the map objectives. Do not sacrifice the skill gap for the sake of making your game “easier”. Practicing to master something is what human nature thrives on. The 2 maps I played were pretty Halo-esq. One felt very Lockout-ish while the other felt very Warlock-y. I would say if I had to change something about the maps, they were a bit too cluttered. Games almost ran out of time because of the lack of sightline at times. Have you ever ran out of time on a Lockout or Midship game? Never. Don’t promote the “mercenaries”.
With ALL that being said, I personally am not going to be purchasing Halo 5 regardless on the principle that 343 completely butchered and what seems to be abandoned Halo MCC. I would love to hear your opinions on the above information, whether you agree or disagree. I would have loved to gone into more detail and added more analogies, but I wanted it to be a length that people would actually read. Please keep it productive and detailed.
Saying Sprint harms competitive is a bit of a stretch. It’s been balanced now so that if you sprint your shields don’t recharge and if you hit them within a second of them starting to Sprint they’ll be knocked out of it. I don’t know about you, but a second is a pretty big window to land a bullet and stop them sprinting,
> 2533274842918190;2:
> Saying Sprint harms competitive is a bit of a stretch. It’s been balanced now so that if you sprint your shields don’t recharge and if you hit them within a second of them starting to Sprint they’ll be knocked out of it. I don’t know about you, but a second is a pretty big window to land a bullet and stop them sprinting,
Neither of those things balanced it or improved it, 343 are on the right path by applying changes to sprint so it not used so persistently but they seem unable to come up with anything better than the two things you mentioned there.
If they added something like where your shot in sprint your gun raising is slower, turn speed reduced, recharge delay increased, momentary bloom increase, more damage taken, slowed down severely if a sprinting punch misses, parried or simply punched whilst sprinting. Instead of what or with amendments to what 343’s done.
I also think more mechanical changes could be applied to melee combat and weapons but that’s for when they’ve fixed something simple like sprint first as I get the feeling that 343 would struggle to change one simple thing for the better nevermind 3 simple things. FOAB!
> 2533274842918190;2:
> Saying Sprint harms competitive is a bit of a stretch. It’s been balanced now so that if you sprint your shields don’t recharge and if you hit them within a second of them starting to Sprint they’ll be knocked out of it. I don’t know about you, but a second is a pretty big window to land a bullet and stop them sprinting,
Sprint has indeed been nerfed (which should in itself questions its presence in the mind of people who say/said that sprint is perfectly right in Halo), but in no manner it implies that sprint is balanced.
I don’t see why 343 can’t implement a toggle in game type settings to allow customisation of Slayer/CTF/Oddball etc. This would not only help the Halo Championship Series allowing them to toggle all of the spartan abilities on or off, increasing player base speed and amongst every other setting. It will also allow forgers to be able to create the right game type for their forged map. Whether that be a competitive, casual, mini-game or race map. This not only allows 343 to keep their sprint, but also allows the audience who doesn’t like it to be able to create their own version of the game. Just like we could in previous Haloes, specifically Halo 3.
> 2533274796316990;5:
> I don’t see why 343 can’t implement a toggle in game type settings to allow customisation of Slayer/CTF/Oddball etc. This would not only help the Halo Championship Series allowing them to toggle all of the spartan abilities on or off, increasing player base speed and amongst every other setting. It will also allow forgers to be able to create the right game type for their forged map. Whether that be a competitive, casual, mini-game or race map. This not only allows 343 to keep their sprint, but also allows the audience who doesn’t like it to be able to create their own version of the game. Just like we could in previous Haloes, specifically Halo 3.
Custom options are absolutely a must. Halo 3 wouldn’t of been as successful as it was without complete customization like it had.
Not to be rude, but your service record would suggest that you’ve kinda sucked in just about every single halo except Halo 3. Your K/D would lead me to think you are not all that competitive. Just because you have play in GB’s and tournaments doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up. Anyway. I agree with most of your points. But just so you don’t get your hopes up, 343 won’t remove sprint. They just won’t. Halo is being catered towards the casuals, because that’s what sells. Halo will never be the same.
> 2621068176001246;1:
> With ALL that being said, I personally am not going to be purchasing Halo 5 regardless on the principle that 343 completely butchered and what seems to be abandoned Halo MCC.
> 2621068176001246;6:
> > 2533274796316990;5:
> > I don’t see why 343 can’t implement a toggle in game type settings to allow customisation of Slayer/CTF/Oddball etc. This would not only help the Halo Championship Series allowing them to toggle all of the spartan abilities on or off, increasing player base speed and amongst every other setting. It will also allow forgers to be able to create the right game type for their forged map. Whether that be a competitive, casual, mini-game or race map. This not only allows 343 to keep their sprint, but also allows the audience who doesn’t like it to be able to create their own version of the game. Just like we could in previous Haloes, specifically Halo 3.
>
>
> Custom options are absolutely a must. Halo 3 wouldn’t of been as successful as it was without complete customization like it had.
That’s right. Halo 3 wouldn’t have been as successful if there weren’t any customisation allowed. There wouldn’t have been MLG, Forgehub or Mini-games.
Seriously those who say that Sprint is not balanced now, are so full of it lol. Sorry I understand i suck i’m not a great player but even i can Obviously see the sprint is balance in Halo 5 in Penalizes those who abuse it,it is no long a get out of jail free card which is the whole issue with sprint in the first place. You people do realize they were going to add this into halo 2 right? Sprint doesn’t break they game is adds a NEW skill to the game in which people refuse to master. IF your really skilled then you can learn to use these features to your advantage. Person sprints out maneuver them. If you’re so skilled then you can figure it out. Just saying
Heck They are using pros to help build this multiplayer do you think the these pro would support and help build this halo if the thought that it was broken. Do you think 343 doesn’t care. its ridiculous.
it is in no way a harm to the halo franchise. If you sprint you DIE. simple as that. Especially with the awesome new “No shield regen while sprinting”
Sprinting was obnoxious in halo reach because people could just get away from death and regain shields. That has been fixed and now if you get caught sprinting in the middle of a firefight you will lose. So why complain? Are you dying too much? STop sprinting. Are you getting a ton of kills from sprinting noobs? Ok then enjoy it and quit complaining… wtf people
> 2533274803041687;3:
> > 2533274842918190;2:
> > Saying Sprint harms competitive is a bit of a stretch. It’s been balanced now so that if you sprint your shields don’t recharge and if you hit them within a second of them starting to Sprint they’ll be knocked out of it. I don’t know about you, but a second is a pretty big window to land a bullet and stop them sprinting,
>
>
> Neither of those things balanced it or improved it, 343 are on the right path by applying changes to sprint so it not used so persistently but they seem unable to come up with anything better than the two things you mentioned there.
>
> If they added something like where your shot in sprint your gun raising is slower, turn speed reduced, recharge delay increased, momentary bloom increase, more damage taken, slowed down severely if a sprinting punch misses, parried or simply punched whilst sprinting. Instead of what or with amendments to what 343’s done.
>
> I also think more mechanical changes could be applied to melee combat and weapons but that’s for when they’ve fixed something simple like sprint first as I get the feeling that 343 would struggle to change one simple thing for the better nevermind 3 simple things. FOAB!
Josh Holmes said they tried that stoppage of Sprint when shot and it made for a really bad awkward feeling/ gameplay experience.
> 2765826735450354;12:
> why the heck is everybody hung up on sprint!?
>
> it is in no way a harm to the halo franchise. If you sprint you DIE. simple as that. Especially with the awesome new “No shield regen while sprinting”
>
> Sprinting was obnoxious in halo reach because people could just get away from death and regain shields. That has been fixed and now if you get caught sprinting in the middle of a firefight you will lose. So why complain? Are you dying too much? STop sprinting. Are you getting a ton of kills from sprinting noobs? Ok then enjoy it and quit complaining… wtf people
Reach never should’ve introduced it. It’s killing the franchise ever since.
> 2621068176001246;1:
> I would like to share some of my thoughts about the Halo 5 beta. Before I go ahead and do so, I would like to share a little about my halo “resume” if you will. This is so you can understand where my observations and critiques are coming from, not to sound pretentious.
>
> I believe Halo was one of the most successful E-Sport titles of all times and helped shaped what competitive gaming has become. I’ve played every Halo since the first one, whether I liked them or not, because I supported what Bungie was trying to do to revolutionize online multiplayer. I am not an MLG Pro gamer, but I consider myself heavily apart of the competitive scene. I’ve been involved in Gamebattles, online tournaments, and have successfully achieved 50’s in basically every playlist (except SWAT… cause SWAT). I believe in a world of BR starts only and live for teams who love to communicate. With all that being said, here is my critique of Halo 5 beta thus far.
>
> The game overall still surprisingly felt like Halo. I was very pleased at the lack of annoying equipment and spartan abilities, which allowed me to have consistent BR fights. The hit detection was pretty spot on as well. I will say the weapons all felt a little too useable in any situation. I would of liked some of them to be better than others depending on the predicament I was in.
> The small jet boost in one direction I didn’t mind too much. I also don’t mind the crouch jump hover. That to me is an example of a Halo “evolution”, not just a random “addition”, because of how players would attempt to “Ghandi Hop” in prior Halo’s to throw off the opponent during a BR fight. While not my favorite feature, it is a step in the direction of being in the right mindset to evolving a game. The ground pound needs to be removed. Period. It’s gimmicky and while it feels badass to do, it doesn’t add anything to the gameplay except rewarding unskilled players with a cheap shot.
> My biggest gripe is and forever will be the sprint. Let me elaborate… sprinting is meant for “twitchy” shooters such as COD and Titanfall because it punishes a player who overuses it because they cannot raise their weapon fast enough and die instantly. In a game like Halo where elongated fights and tight accuracy dominate the gameplay, all sprint does is allow opponents who made a poor decision to engage in a fight to escape without any consequence for starting that fight. The spartans are fast and mobile enough on their own, especially now with the small jet boost. Make sprint disappear, please. I cannot say it enough. The mantling also should not be a new feature. This adds to the “over mobile” spartans who can escape anything and also effects map setups. Why try and control a high point on a map when someone can just mantle up behind me and take me out? The flow of a halo game is at risk with this feature.
> The weapon respawn timers audio and visuals are not a good addition. I say this from the perspective of preserving the large skill difference between Halo gamers. I understand where the vision was with this feature, to make players play more like the pros who rotate their positions when an important weapon is about to respawn, but that is what makes pros, pros. They are able to do those things on their own and keep track of the map objectives. Do not sacrifice the skill gap for the sake of making your game “easier”. Practicing to master something is what human nature thrives on. The 2 maps I played were pretty Halo-esq. One felt very Lockout-ish while the other felt very Warlock-y. I would say if I had to change something about the maps, they were a bit too cluttered. Games almost ran out of time because of the lack of sightline at times. Have you ever ran out of time on a Lockout or Midship game? Never. Don’t promote the “mercenaries”.
>
> With ALL that being said, I personally am not going to be purchasing Halo 5 regardless on the principle that 343 completely butchered and what seems to be abandoned Halo MCC. I would love to hear your opinions on the above information, whether you agree or disagree. I would have loved to gone into more detail and added more analogies, but I wanted it to be a length that people would actually read. Please keep it productive and detailed.
>
> Thank you for reading.
Your H2/3 commitment is commendable but how little you played reach or 4. Shows that you really didn’t give either game a chance to fully say they are subpar or bad.
Now onto your critique. Does H5 need sprint or thrust? absolutely not. But, is it breaking the game? No, not by a long shot. Sure, you can sprint away from the final shot of a BR but, also as you stated this game is founded on solid teamwork. Which is were having a team mate pick up that annoying sprinter who is one shot away from death(as sprinting will disable shield charge). Teamshooting and flanking in this game are moreso than ever emphasized in H5.
Mantling. I get that the crouch jumpers are upset by this because it takes their “skill” jumps away. But I ask again, is this game break? No,
I think a problem a lot of people are having is they forget this game was made side by side with the Halo pros who have been playing since CE. The skill gap is still there you can’t go in as a twitch shooter by yourself and run into a team of halo vets and out BR them. You will only die tired from running away and being picked up.
Does this game need tweaking? Absolutely. And I agree it does feel like they abandoned MCC and that should have been a priority of theirs and if they don’t correct it I as well will not pick up Halo 5 because you can still see so many matchmaking and network errors in this beta.
> 2533274796136423;13:
> As a consumer, my only power against the awful launch of MCC and my mistake to pre-order, will be to not buy H5. I pray it is not good…
You’re absolutely right, as a consumer we have only ourselves to blame if we purchase Halo 5 after the abomination that was and still is MCC.
> 2533274842918190;2:
> Saying Sprint harms competitive is a bit of a stretch. It’s been balanced now so that if you sprint your shields don’t recharge and if you hit them within a second of them starting to Sprint they’ll be knocked out of it. I don’t know about you, but a second is a pretty big window to land a bullet and stop them sprinting,
Even though that sprint is “balanced” you can still get away.