Halo 5 MM Ratings Mixed? Why?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

I’ve wanted to bring this up for a long time, but I didn’t quite know how. I guess I’ll just make it a discussion and see where it goes.

I’m very confused about the reception of Halo 5 MM. I’ve never seen a Halo match-making be praised AND (key word = and, not ‘or’) criticized to the extremes of Halo 5.

I’ve been around Halo forever. I’ve been on multiple forums (usually lurking), read all the books, played all the games, remember hate for (now) loved games when they were new (halo2sucks), the mass opinion that Halo 4 was a mess on multiplayer, etc x 100.

I have heard many podcasts and people in say things like:

“Halo 5 MM is actually really good”
“It’s a shame the story was so bad, because the MM is the best Halo has ever had”
“This is the quite possibly the best Halo 5 MM we’ve seen since Halo 2”
Insert many more here

And I know there is always people of multiple opinions; I totally understand that. However, I hear more or less the VAST majority of people praise it (on websites and gaming podcasts).

HOWEVER

Halo 5 has a staggeringly low population. I’m not one to care about it at all as long as I can find a game and have fun. But… If everyone loves it so much, why is the population so low? (just an honest question, no hate intended, no backhanded point being made).

Twitch viewership is extremely low for Halo. The pros and streamers constantly bash it and say it’s hard to play this game for fun and that ‘Halo is in a bad place’.

I just feel like Halo 5 has great MM. I hear that Halo has great MM. Yet, not many people play and the ones that play at the highest level for the most part don’t like the game.

Is Halo 5 MM considered a success? Something has to give.

Maybe the ultimate question(s) should be this:

Why is there not a larger player base and more crowd interest in Halo 5 if it is considered to have such great multiplayer? WHY is Halo ‘in a bad place’. What needs to change?

I hope we can get more interest in Halo to have the franchise continue to grow.

#2

The multiplayer for H5 is very solid. But sadly first impressions mean A LOT in gaming and their multiplayer at launch was bare bones, no btb or firefight even. So that put some players off. Also the introduction of microtransactions turned people off, even though H5 MT are very non intrusive. Halo has been in a downward spiral since H4. The MAJOR BOTCH of MCC and while it mostly works now it took way to long for them to get it there and that the “apology” content was put in such a small window even though the game wasn’t even stable yet. But anyways H5 plays way way competitive in every mode, since everyone complained how casual H4 was. 343 can’t seem to find that good middle ground. Had H5 had more content at launch, more playlist and game types, and cosmetics that were earned by game play and not RNG of the req system they would have made a way better impression and probably would have had a better population today.

#3

Popularity on Twitch is not indicative of the active player base in Halo 5. Even it’s position on Xbox’s “most played games” list doesn’t tell us much about the active population. We simply don’t have those numbers. “Staggeringly low” sounds like an exaggeration. What is your metric for determining that the population is low?

As for your other questions, it’s the age-old conflict between old and new. Some like the classic feel, and want things to go back to that. Others want the game to grow and evolve with the times. You’ll never be able to please everyone, and if you try too much to go that route, most likely you’ll end up with a half-baked product that no one is happy with.
Halo has it tough. It’s an old franchise, it’s shifted ownership, and it has a lot of competition these days. It’s got fans and developers and publishers who all think it should go this way or that. That doesn’t mean it’s in a “bad” place, though; pretty much every franchise suffers the same divisions of interest that Halo does. It’s a delicate balancing game, developing a video game. You have to provide enough experiences that everyone can find something they like, but at the same time stay true to the identity of preceding entries in the franchise. Not an easy task. What needs to change? Lots, but at the same time, not too much. The next game has to build on what Halo 5 has given us, providing something new that justifies purchasing it as opposed to just sticking with Halo 5. At the same time, it can’t do away with too many things that are considered “core” to the Halo experience. And to make things even tougher, get 2 groups of Halo fans together and I can almost guarantee you that their ideas of what are “core” values to Halo will differ in some way.

Is it possible for Halo 6 to pull a BotW and garner critical and fan acclaim almost across the board? Maybe. I’m not sure how it could be done with Halo; FPS titles in general seem to be more polarizing than other genres. 343i has their work cut out for them with Halo 6. But I think 90% of Halo fans can agree on one thing: Halo 6’s story needs to be better.

#4

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Wow, great replies guys.

LethalQ, I completely agree and that makes perfect sense. That is a very strong point that first impressions are huge.

Chimera, I guess I said staggeringly low because it falls outside the top 20 most played games on Xbox. Some games above them have population counters that don’t reach Halo 4 marks (per time released).

It may not be perfectly accurate, but if the ‘most played’ list is really based on player base, then it is staggeringly low for Halo. If it’s not based on player count (or even total play time?) then I feel that it needs to be made to be a little less ambiguous (:

I understand that Twitch viewers doesn’t directly reflect player count, but it does give a good idea of the games ‘general public interest’ (for a variety of reasons, of course).

And Halo has a mindbogglingly low viewership (often times over 10 times less than games like Destiny and COD in many cases).

I love Halo, and am very often times 1 of x on the twitch viewership, this has nothing to do with me. I think Halo 5 MM and twitch is #1 by far on my personal interest. Hence my confusion (and ultimately this post).

I think LethalQ nailed it.

#5

Halo 2 is probably the most criticized and praised halo to date

#6

Probably because the majority of people praising H5’s multiplayer are the main people still playing it and they most likely aren’t the majority hence the low numbers. Twitch and the most popular games may not be a very accurate reflection of the population, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless stats because they can give us a ballpark figure of what it’s looking like and it’s not good.

I don’t think you can pinpoint a specific thing as to why it’s not doing great, but there are numerous things in this game that could contribute to it which I’m not gonna get into since it’s kind of pointless at this point.

#7

I love Halo, HALO ADDICT, and I don’t care about population. I won’t care if I am the last guy playing.

#8

H5 multiplayer is a step in the right direction unlike the step they took in H4

#9

Original poster:
I agree with quote 2. I just wish the campaign was even par, which it certainly isn’t. I’ve played all halo multiplayers except Halo Wars, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, Halo 5’s multiplayer is the best while it’s campaign is the worst.

#10

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> I love Halo, HALO ADDICT, and I don’t care about population. I won’t care if I am the last guy playing.

I think everyone should care about it. If people aren’t sticking around to play your game due to not liking it, then that’s potentially less customers for the next game and the cycle will continue repeating if the sequels suck until the sales aren’t worth making it anymore. If H6 flops, then I could definitely see the end getting closer and/or MS cleaning house and getting new people.

#11

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> Halo 2 is probably the most criticized and praised halo to date

I was speaking MM only.

‘Overall’, I would have to agree with you.

Edit: Screwed up multi-quote. Another post below. My bad.

#12

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> Probably because the majority of people praising H5’s multiplayer are the main people still playing it and they most likely aren’t the majority hence the low numbers.

See, I agree with this. However, I hear a ton (like more than usual) amount of podcasts (like Gamespot / IGN / Gamescoop / others) say that H5 MM is amazing (doubt they are still playing it, or, that they are the ones on Waypoint as they are more into other games).

> 2533274816788253;7:
> I love Halo, HALO ADDICT, and I don’t care about population. I won’t care if I am the last guy playing.

Amen brother, me too. I’m just genuinely curious why H5 isn’t building steam. It’s so fun IMO.

> 2533274816788253;8:
> H5 multiplayer is a step in the right direction unlike the step they took in H4

100% agree here too

> 2535440693312185;9:
> Original poster:
> I agree with quote 2. I just wish the campaign was even par, which it certainly isn’t. I’ve played all halo multiplayers except Halo Wars, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, Halo 5’s multiplayer is the best while it’s campaign is the worst.

Exactly. I hear this not just from us Halo fans, but from the entire gaming world (many hardly play Halo compared to other games).

Makes me wonder how more people haven’t gotten into it. Campaign might have put bad taste in mouths and people moved on right away.

Maybe Halo 5 will grow in time leading into Halo 6 being even better. I want to see Halo thrive for years to come.

#13

Im a huge fan of halo but they messed up from the start as usual i bought the collectors edition and i didn’t even get a disc i got a code and jad to wait for a long download time (I could’ve turned in my code and waited a week or two for a disc but i wanted to play asap) smurfing hurt mm a lot the same boring maps over and over again is hurting them now if you want something different you have to play warzone btb or breakout but if you are a arena play and like ranked games you have the same old maps and 2 remade maps now that heavy aim has been addressed having the dedicated servers fixed would be nice because the damage recognition sucks when you hit someone with a rocket and they don’t die something is wrong

#14

On population, I would argue it is low for a Halo game, why else would Microsoft have Halo 5 included in game pass making it completely free? (Assuming you have the membership of course).

#15

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> See, I agree with this. However, I hear a ton (like more than usual) amount of podcasts (like Gamespot / IGN / Gamescoop / others) say that H5 MM is amazing.

My advice is to stop taking their reviews seriously. A lot of the reviews happen before the game even comes out and a lot of the reviewers are bronze level players that have no idea of what makes a decent competitive game. Here are a couple examples of their H4 multiplayer reviews which we all know tanked shortly after release.

IGN:

> No console shooter has a richer, deeper, more revered multiplayer history than Halo. So how does Halo 4’s multiplayer suite live up to the legacy in 343’s hands?
>
> It’s golden.

Gamespot: Notice the bolded which tells you everything you need to know.

> New abilities can help you deal with these variables; Promethean Vision lets you see your enemies’ silhouettes and identify which weapons they’re holding, while a hardlight shield can save you from an imminent explosion. The online battlefields of Halo 4 are more varied than their predecessors, but none of the changes or additions are powerful enough to destabilize the core balance. This plays like a richer version of the competitive Halo that many have come to love over the years, and the new tweaks add a welcome freshness to the action.

#16

Why is it mixed? It has artificial difficulty by a -Yoink- rank system so it fools people into thinking it’s a competitive game when it’s simply unbalanced. Same applies to social being he they just hide the ranks from sight. Then there’s the issue of dedicated servers being so chaotic and randomly banning people or causing extreme lag for foreign players. In short, it’s competitive frustration because it’s not done right, it’s why so many people like to foolishly assume E-sports is ruining the game rather than looking into how the game is actually setup, if E-sports was in control it’d be an entirely different game than it is now.

ill believe the “this is the best multiplayer” montra when it actually grows a player base rather than shrinks it.

#17

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> If everyone loves it so much, why is the population so low?

I am only one person, but I can at least tell you the reason why I’m not playing it, despite loving it. It’s because…my Xbox Live Gold subscription expired yesterday…

This is most likely not the main reason why Halo 5 has a low population. Maybe my response to this question isn’t even helpful to you. But I can’t be alone in this. If I paid to bring my Gold subscription back online, then I’d feel like I’m wasting money if I played a different game. I don’t want that kind of pressure.

But the whole industry is doing this “pay to play online and we’ll give you free games to justify it” nonsense, nowadays, even Nintendo soon. I don’t want free games! That doesn’t make it worth it to me. I already have the games I want, and I have no interest in trying new ones outside of the few franchises that I care about. I just want to play them online and not feel like I’m wasting money if I don’t. It’s so annoying.

I might renew my Xbox Live Gold to play Halo 5, eventually. It’s tempting, and I enjoy playing it, but I just figured I’d throw in my own personal reason for not playing it despite loving it, since you seemed to be asking why people are doing that. But like I said, I doubt that’s the main reason why most people stopped playing it.

#18

> 2533274923562209;16:
> Why is it mixed? It has artificial difficulty by a -Yoink- rank system so it fools people into thinking it’s a competitive game when it’s simply unbalanced. Same applies to social being he they just hide the ranks from sight. Then there’s the issue of dedicated servers being so chaotic and randomly banning people or causing extreme lag for foreign players. In short, it’s competitive frustration because it’s not done right, it’s why so many people like to foolishly assume E-sports is ruining the game rather than looking into how the game is actually setup, if E-sports was in control it’d be an entirely different game than it is now.
>
> ill believe the “this is the best multiplayer” montra when it actually grows a player base rather than shrinks it.

As much as I love Halo, I completely agree with your last sentence.

#19

> 2533274804898926;12:
> > 2727626560040591;6:
> > Probably because the majority of people praising H5’s multiplayer are the main people still playing it and they most likely aren’t the majority hence the low numbers.
>
> See, I agree with this. However, I hear a ton (like more than usual) amount of podcasts (like Gamespot / IGN / Gamescoop / others) say that H5 MM is amazing (doubt they are still playing it, or, that they are the ones on Waypoint as they are more into other games).
>
>
> > 2533274816788253;7:
> > I love Halo, HALO ADDICT, and I don’t care about population. I won’t care if I am the last guy playing.
>
> Amen brother, me too. I’m just genuinely curious why H5 isn’t building steam. It’s so fun IMO.
>
>
> > 2533274816788253;8:
> > H5 multiplayer is a step in the right direction unlike the step they took in H4
>
> 100% agree here too
>
>
>
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> > 2535440693312185;9:
> > Original poster:
> > I agree with quote 2. I just wish the campaign was even par, which it certainly isn’t. I’ve played all halo multiplayers except Halo Wars, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, in my opinion, Halo 5’s multiplayer is the best while it’s campaign is the worst.
>
> Exactly. I hear this not just from us Halo fans, but from the entire gaming world (many hardly play Halo compared to other games).
>
> Makes me wonder how more people haven’t gotten into it. Campaign might have put bad taste in mouths and people moved on right away.
>
> Maybe Halo 5 will grow in time leading into Halo 6 being even better. I want to see Halo thrive for years to come.

Something being fun is very subjective though because its your opinion,personally I haven’t touched halo 5 in over 2 months because I just don’t enjoy playing it…I realize my Sr Level says otherwise,but majority of that is just wzff.And you kind of answered your own question indirectly,it’s fun to you and some others but if it was as enjoyable or fun as previous halo games then more people would be playing it

#20

> 2727626560040591;10:
> > 2533274816788253;7:
> > I love Halo, HALO ADDICT, and I don’t care about population. I won’t care if I am the last guy playing.
>
> I think everyone should care about it. If people aren’t sticking around to play your game due to not liking it, then that’s potentially less customers for the next game and the cycle will continue repeating if the sequels suck until the sales aren’t worth making it anymore. If H6 flops, then I could definitely see the end getting closer and/or MS cleaning house and getting new people.

I agree with your statement one hundred percent,I can’t stand when I see people saying i don’t care if it has a low population or its not well liked because at least I can find a game…we should all be concerned and not brush off criticisms just