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If any of you guys are (or were) as hyped for Halo 5 as I am, you’ve been following a lot of news, videos, forum posts, etc. on upcoming features. A lot of the news has furthered my hype for Halo 5 while a lot of it has kind of… derailed it. That’s why I’ve made a post detailing all we know from Halo 5, along with appropriate sources for the fact checker in you (down at the bottom). Some of this is opinionated, but I believe my opinions extend to that of the public - I also tried to put public opinion into mind while making this. Without further ado, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly about Halo 5.
The Good:
+ Classic Halo gameplay and more modernized Halo gameplay are both mixed and available on their own. The Halo community is kind of at a divide on this topic. Many prefer sprint while many dislike it and would prefer gameplay without it. Most people also liked Halo 3’s more tactical, slow-paced gameplay while several are also embracing a new fast-paced era of Halo. Thankfully, 343i will be mixing these experiences in Halo 5. We can expect to see a larger focus on competitive, strategic gameplay along with newer, “modernized” features such as Ground Pound or Clamber, for example. For players who want the best of one side, players can turn on or off features in custom games, so those who dislike sprint can create custom games without it. For those who want the no-sprint experience to extend to matchmaking, it is rumored that there may be one or two no-sprint playlists.
+ Arena multiplayer will indeed be important. For more competitive players, Arena multiplayer will have a larger focus than it did in Halo 4. I’ll try to leave too much of my own opinion out of it, but Halo 4’s arena multiplayer seemed to be very different and not as preferred as arena multiplayer in the previous games. It had too many changes and many players didn’t find it fun (not all players - if you enjoyed it, that’s fine too). It also seemed to be the primary source of Halo 4’s entertainment, with Halo 4’s BTB mode rocking twice as many players than the Team Slayer playlist during Halo 4’s lifespan. Thankfully, arena multiplayer will indeed be important, as shown by 343’s dedication to their arena beta and listening to player feedback. (Note: No source for this one - anyone who’s been paying attention to H5 knows this one).
+ Halo 5 will begin with 20 base maps, and it will have 15 free DLC maps in the future. This is a lot of maps to begin with. In fact, it’s been the highest base map count any Halo game has ever started with. Along with these 20 maps, we can expect 15 more to be release by June 2016. These free map packs are to prevent creating a rift between the community, with those who have the maps playing together while those who don’t play elsewhere. However, this actually has a very bad side effect, which I’ll put in detail in the “ugly” section (hint: micro-transactions).
+ Large emphasis on making campaign better than ever before. 343 is going all out on the campaign this time - they want to have extra replayability, more fun**,** more choices… hopefully, we’ll get all this. This isn’t an overview of the whole campaign, but all of these following things will definitely help enrich it: squads/reviving system/command system, multiple paths to one objective, more colorful and open maps, deep insight to at least 8 characters, more variation in enemies, English-speaking Covenant (well, at least grunts/elites), etc. Look any of those up if you want more information on Halo 5’s campaign. Overall, we can expect an amazing campaign experience.
+ Warzone… I’m actually going to have bullet points for Warzone in each section, but this is what’s good about it. Warzone will offer a 12 versus 12, player versus player versus environment experience. In other words, there’ll be giant battles between two teams as well as AI. This does seem like a very fun experience, with huge battles being the focus of the experience. Players will be able to kill AI leaders, capture points, kill each other, and blow up the opposing team’s “core” to ensure victory. In my opinion, this seems fun, but there are some downsides with Warzone as well, which are listed below.
+ Requisition packs. I wasn’t sure where to put this one, but as far as I can tell, the community hasn’t really been mad about this one, so I’ll place it here. Requisition packs will be used to gain customization options in most modes (although they will provide an edge in Warzone) and can be gained by leveling up, performing well in matches, or through micro-transactions. I’m not really sure what my opinion on this one is, but I do think these have potential. Hopefully, they will play out well.
+ Dedicated servers. If 343 isn’t lying about the potential of their dedicated servers, then this could be a good step up for Halo in general. Better servers will negate lag, remove host migration and other problems associated with P2P servers, and will be pretty much necessary to run a mode on the scale of Warzone. Dedicated servers are becoming a must in the world of gaming, and as gaming expands, the amount of dedicated servers will need to expand as well. Many companies already employ lots of these servers (i.e. Valve). It’d be nice if they did for Halo as well.
The Bad:
~ Warzone will be very limited. While the Warzone experience itself will be fun, don’t expect to do anything outside of it than online multiplayer. Warzone cannot be played offline, cannot be played in Custom Games, and none of its maps can be used in Forge. This means the only Warzone experiences that we’ll have are the ones that 343 give to us. We better hope they do this right.
~ About those base maps… I could be wrong on this one, and I don’t have a source for it. In fact, this is the only bullet point that isn’t proven but rather speculation. However, it is noteworthy speculation. We are unaware what the 20 base maps will be. For instance, do Eden/Empire count as 2 different maps, or 1? What about Forge canvases/maps made on them? Are Warzone maps factored into there, along with BTB, which won’t even be released at launch? Still, 20 base maps is nice, but let’s hope it really is 20 maps, and not 10 with slight remodeling.
~ BTB won’t be released at launch. This stinks. To many players such as myself, BTB is just as much of a core multiplayer experience as arena multiplayer is. However, this one isn’t a huge deal for two reasons: A - 343 promises to release it only weeks after the game has been out. B - This is to focus on the Warzone experience.
~ Several split-screen limitations. 4 player customs, as well as running Legendary with a friend has always been an essential part of Halo for me. Sadly, due to focus on a pure 60 FPS experience, the split-screen we once loved and knew will be shriveling in size. For one, campaign split-screen is gone. You’ll only be able to play campaign with your friends if they have their Xbox on as well. Second, multiplayer split-screen is reduced to 2 people per console, rather than 4. Expect less guests in the future.
~ Going against general design. This one is more based on opinion, so I think this one is debatable. What I mean with this is that 343 is replacing iconic items (i.e. the SPNKR rocket launcher/new launcher) with more generic items that have been generally unfavorable. The same thing goes with the new Wraith (once again, general opinion - many people may prefer new designs).
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