Halo 6 Matchmaking Guide for 343

Community General Discussion
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Hey everyone(and hopefully 343),

Just wanted to make a forum to really spark discussions on the matchmaking in Halo 6. Wether sprint should stay or go, wether spartan abilities should stay or go, etc. I feel that if we could get 343 to really consider what we are asking for, Halo 6 could actually be a good game that, *Ahem 343, WOULD ALSO BRING IN MORE MONEY. Key word there is MONEY, everyone. Game studios simply won’t change the game after looking at the opinions of a few righteous halo fans, but if we can speak from a financial standpoint, we might actually get somewhere. Try and see why they made a decision that you didn’t like, then rebut it with the reasons you believe it hurt sales, as well as why you believe it hurt gameplay. It’s a stale world out there, I know, but don’t be discouraged the suites up top at 343. They are people as well, and can be persuaded. That being said below I will post my proposal to fix matchmaking. I encourage many others to do the same.

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  1. Dealing with sprint
    Sprint is an interesting one. It is a normal function of everyday life, and people are right to believe that it only makes sense that a 7 foot super-soldier should sprint, and sprint quite fast. But what a lot of people don’t know is that adding sprint to a game forces developers to make the maps much bigger and therefore, more expensive and time consuming to create. On top of that it requires that a sprint feature be programmed in, adding to the cost and time wasting of a game studio. It is 100 percent in the interest of 343 to remove sprint. I understand it is a familiar feature since a vary large portion of games have a sprint feature, most notably Call of Duty and Battlefield. That being said, Halo is not Call of Duty, nor is it Battlefield. Sprint makes sense in Battlefield because the maps are so large, the game would be boring without it. Sprint makes sense in Call of Duty because all of the guns kill the player very quickly, allowing for quick escapes of gunfire. Halo is a game of attrition. The kills are much slower, the shots have to be timed and placed well, the player can jump very high and move side to side quickly to throw off shots. Sprint is an easy way to get out of a situation that doesn’t require much thought, taking away from the competitive elements of Halo. I don’t believe sprint has any place in halo.

  2. Spartan Abilities

Spartan abilities are terrible. I’m just gonna flat out say it. I have spoken to many of my friends who I consider halo fans and they agree that it just isn’t what halo should have. It is almost the same reasoning for the removal of sprint. It is a waste of time and resources to develop spartan abilities. The abilities are just added mobility that takes away from the skill of evading gunfire with only the joysticks, taking away from the competitive part of the game. The spartan abilities were also very hard to get used to, let alone control fluently, taking away from the user friendly simplistic gameplay that made halo so popular back in the day. Another game that tried the dashing abilities was Call of Duty Advanced Warfare, and as a result, the sales for that game were down 27 percent from Call of Duty Ghosts, and Advanced Warfare was literally just Call of Duty Ghosts with the dashing added.

  1. Aim-Assist

Aim assist is in every Halo game, but in Halo 4 and Halo 5, the aim assist was too -Yoink!- high. This I am sure was an attempt to make the payer feel better at the game, thus making them less likely to get frustrated and stop playing. Clever thinking 343, but what 343 forgot was that a majority of classic Halo fans aren’t the typical noob or little kid. The typical classic trilogy halo fan is in their twenties now, and 343 has largely alienated that population of halo fans, which is arguably the largest population of halo fans. In Halo CE, 2, and 3, the aim assist was simply a slight lock on to the target when the reticle turns red, as well as a slight slowing of the reticle. In halo 5 the bullets hit when the full reticle is not touching the character, because the bullets also bend when the reticle turns red. This vastly takes away from the competitive side of the game. It should be possible to miss when the reticle turns red.

  1. Competitive aspect

In all 3 of my points above, I mention the jeopardy of competitiveness within the new halo games as a result of these changes. This is because having the game be competitive is crucial to the main focus of halo multiplayer. Not only would it bring many people to the competitive scene, but it would also bring back the classic halo fans that 343 has had a hard time getting back. Competitive Halo is also free publicity for the halo game, potentially saving costs on marketing. I also believe that if Halo 6 were to return to its true competitive roots, we would see sales rise. Just look at Overwatch, a highly successful game that has highly competitive gameplay.

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I back all your points. The youtuber Fayvn makes extremely strong arguments for all that you just said. Unfortunately, 343 probably isn’t gonna take it out. It’s simply what 343’s investors think is making sales…“oh! COD and BF1 and TITANFALL all have sprint! we wont fund you unless you put it in halo!” Even if 343 wanted to take it out, their investors wouldn’t let them because they think it would cause people to not buy the game.

They’ve royally screwed up Halo SO bad that, while I personally think it would be an improvement, they would be completely flipping a franchise over for the second time and losing all their newer fans. If they flipped it now, there would be no consistency in their trilogy and whatever fanbase they made with Halo 4 and Halo 5, they would most likely lose because those fans would be pissed off… just like we were pissed off when they did a 180 with H4.

While I pray H6 is going to be awesome, I accept that it probably won’t be and there’s not much 343 can really do at this point in salvaging the crap storm they created. I’m just expecting a technically sound game with solid features (just like h5) and it will get decent enough reviews for them to think they should give themselves a pat on the back. When in reality, true hardcore halo fans will continue to see the abomination 343 has turned halo into and we will cry but also breathe a sigh of relief that this cursed trilogy is finally over. and just MAYBE they can start fresh with another Halo game (or series) that appeals to the original trilogy fans (preferably not by designed by 343)

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  • Sprint - 100% disagree. Sprint presents a tactical decision that fits perfectly well within Halo and 343i have provided adequate balances toward it’s inclusion; though, with the new Abilities Tracker perhaps the balance has tipped the scale a bit. - SA - nearly 100% disagree. I think all of the Halo 5 Spartan Abilities are excellent additions to the franchise’s core identity; however, I did feel like the Spartan Charge could become too abusive as an engagement tactic which is a particular reason why I like the new Abilities Tracker. The Spartan Charge is linked to Sprinting and by increasing the radar range and highlighting those who are using Spartan Abilities (which makes use of the thruster such as Sprint) then would-be Spartan Chargers broadcast themselves and their approach tactic to the opposing team. - Aim Assist - I think it’s been relatively similar in all the Halo titles; however, Halo 3’s partial projectile based BR clearly made it seem a lot less and I think I’d agree that Halo 4’s was possibly the highest of all the titles. Side note: I think 343i has done a fantastic job with their sandbox in Halo 5 and have provided the competitive championship series necessary tweaks where needed. - Competitive Aspect - I think Halo 5 is extremely competitive. Sure there are a few tweaks that might improve the game-play on that end (such as tweaking the Tracker), but overall the game is certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves. Do you not watch HCS events? It’s also important to remember that while Halo’s core identity is its’ competition there are many additional aspects that are not solely focused on the HCS that drive it’s popularity.
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> 2775209234672000;4:
> - Sprint - 100% disagree. Sprint is a perfect fit within Halo and 343i have balanced it’s inclusion fairly well; though, with the new Abilities Tracker perhaps the balance has tipped the scale a bit. - SA - nearly 100% disagree. I think all the Spartan Abilities are excellent additions to the franchise’s core identity; however, I did feel like the Spartan Charge could become too abusive as an engagement tactic which is a particular reason why I like the new Abilities Tracker. The Spartan Charge is linked to Sprinting and by increasing the radar range and highlighting those who are using Spartan Abilities that make use of the thruster (such as Sprint) then would-be Spartan Chargers broadcast themselves and their approach tactic to the opposing team. - Aim Assist - I think it’s been relatively similar in all the Halo titles; however, Halo 3’s projectile based weapons clearly made it seem a lot less and I think I’d agree that Halo 4’s was possibly the highest of all the titles. Side note: I think 343i has done a fantastic job with their sandbox in Halo 5 and have provided the competitive championship series necessary tweaks where needed. - Competitive Aspect - I think Halo 5 is extremely competitive. Sure there are a few tweaks that might improve the game-play on that end (such as tweaking the Tracker), but overall the game is certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves. Do you not watch HCS events? It’s also important to remember that while Halo’s core identity is its’ competition there are many additional aspects that are not solely focused on the HCS that drive it’s popularity.

While I respect your opinion, I pretty much disagree with most of what you just said. And the fact that games like Truck Simulator are gathering more combined views than Halo 5 on Twitch is flat out embarrassing and more importantly it backs the notion that Halo 5 just isn’t popular with gamers. And that’s the tiniest example I could give at the top of my head. It’s not a coincidence that the player count dropped so significantly the moment 343 took over and in addition added sprint, armor abilities, ADS, no split screen, etc. And before you say “Oh well they’re bringing back split screen” I will counter with that won’t matter too much in the grand scheme. It may make the experience more fun but the core game play will not be as fun for a majority of Halo fans. Adding all these new abilities for no other reason than to match what games like COD and Titanfall are doing is completely ridiculous.

To counter your opinions directly starting with the “competitive aspect”, I will say yes Halo 5 is competitive. Yes, of course adding more abilities and options will create a further skill gap. That’s true in every game though. But I ask you where does adding abilities stop? If you’re adding abilities to a game just to make it more competitive, then where do you stop? I personally think 343 has gone too far. You might say, “too far? how can you go too far in competitiveness? it’s THE most competitive game out there” which actually you kind of said. “certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves” That doesn’t correlate with success and overall enjoyment of the game, though. Games like Battlefield 1 and Overwatch (cough game of the year) doesn’t have as high of a skill gap as Halo 5 does. But it has mass acclaim, dozens of awards, and has a high replay ability. So no, huge skill gap doesn’t mean it’s fun, and that’s coming from an Onyx caliber player. Halo 1-3 was indeed “one of the most competitive shooters on console” but that didn’t mean they threw in every possible gadget they could to keep adding skill gaps and skill gaps. You and 343 listen to these next words carefully… SIMPLICITY isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful thing. I know having no sprint or boost or spartan charge slows you down quite a bit and since we’re all used to it now, it makes playing halo 3 feel like it’s the slowest thing ever. But that’s just simply an adjustment for the better of the game and that’s what halo was BUILT on. How do I know taking those out will be better for the game? Well Halo 1-3 were way more successful than anything 343 ever spit out based on reviews, based on sales, peak playing hours, and longevity. So facts support my side that it is for the better of the franchise as a whole, even if it pisses off 343 fan boys that never have played h1-h3 (btw not calling you one of those people). And you may say “well hey times have changed” but actually BF1, one of the most popular games today on console is incredibly successful and fans stuck around way longer than H5 fans did. and guess what? It’s set in WW1… no armor abilities, no wall climbing, no hovering, nothing. 343 needs to look around them and find that games who are DIFFERENT, not the same as shooters like Cod and titanfall, are doing well in the markets and are winning awards.

I know i didn’t really mention aim assist yet. Honestly I don’t have too much of an issue with it. It was pretty bad at the beginning of H5 but they fixed it for the most part (even though I still hate pistols being the main starting weapon).

Halo 5 simply isn’t tactical as it once was. It’s people with aspergers running around spartan charging and thrusting. The pace is 1,000,000 miles an hour. And yes, it’s competitive in the sense that two people have a chess battle of thrust-strafe shooting vs spartan-charge melee. But in my opinion, this makes it so your stupid mistakes are covered up. Think about any of the first three Halos (if you played them)… someone shoots you from behind. What are you gonna do? Well you can spin around and try to somehow get a reversal kill. You can bounce a grenade off the wall, back up, turn around and hope the grenade hits and then finish em off. You can duck and cover. You can jump in the air or crouch to throw them off and hope to turn around and kill them. But if you execute any of these choices poorly you’re dead. One wrong move and you’re dead because those games rewarded players who caught you by surprise and punished players that weren’t aware of their surroundings. In h5, it’s Oh im getting shot in the back? I had no idea he was there but I’ll just thrust, slide, boost run and spartan charge to safety. It’s completely ridiculous and awards no one for getting the surprise on another player.

I get that you truly like the new additions, but the OVERALL halo fan base doesn’t prefer them and 343’s pockets aren’t nearly as full of money because they have this itch to be hip and trendy with all the other shooters. You can like the way they do things, but it is absolutely killing Halo and you can look up the decline it’s had over the years. You’ll soon see that Halo 6 may be the last main game in the saga cuz most gamers don’t give a crap about it anymore.

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> 2533274808246214;5:
> …the moment 343 took over and in addition added sprint, armor abilities, ADS, no split screen, etc.

First of all, Bungie introduced Deployable Equipment and Armor Abilities to Halo which included Sprint not 343i; in fact, I’d say that 343i have done a good job refining and improving what Bungie introduced. Aiming Down Sight (ADS) is basically the same concept as using the old zoom scope feature only it’s a more authentic implementation. Many complaints are ridiculous reasons to find fault with newer versions of the franchise. Split Screen puts graphical and performance stresses onto the game which is why if it exists in the game it should be limited to the campaign and customs only – not within matchmaking.

> Adding all these new abilities for no other reason than to match what games like COD and Titanfall are doing is completely ridiculous.

This is your opinion and I absoultely disagree with it. Halo’s developers have always had one thing in mind with their games which was to provide an excellent gaming experience and I don’t believe they decided simply to add new abilities for no other reason other than to match other games. They made decisions based on what they felt would provide an enjoyable experience. Some have proven to be good decisions and some have proven to be bad decisions and most are subjective per the perspective of the individual speaking.

> …I will say yes Halo 5 is competitive. Yes, of course adding more abilities and options will create a further skill gap. That’s true in every game though.

First off, I’d argue that Halo 5 hasn’t added more abilities; instead, they SIMPLIFIED as well as STANDARDIZED the abilities offered. I’d also argue that just adding more abilities and options does not necessarily create a further skill gap.

> But I ask you where does adding abilities stop? If you’re adding abilities to a game just to make it more competitive, then where do you stop? I personally think 343 has gone too far. You might say, “too far? how can you go too far in competitiveness? it’s THE most competitive game out there” which actually you kind of said. “certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves”

I like where Halo is at right now regarding the Spartan Abilities, so personally I don’t want to see Halo 6 change much regarding the abilities foundation that Halo 5 put forth. As for improving the competitive environment and game-play experience I do think that the Motion Tracker could use tweaking. If fact, here is a link to a post I made detailing the alterations I’d like to see.

> Games like Battlefield 1 and Overwatch (cough game of the year) doesn’t have as high of a skill gap as Halo 5 does. But it has mass acclaim, dozens of awards, and has a high replay ability. So no, huge skill gap doesn’t mean it’s fun, and that’s coming from an Onyx caliber player.

Different games, different experiences and the fact is that people will find more enjoyment with their preferred experiences. Also worth noting that you listed two newer games (Overwatch & Battlefield 1) in comparison to Halo 5 which has been out well over a year (~18 months). Perhaps it’d be more fair to ask how Halo 5’s popularity is doing in comparison to say other Triple A console FPS titles that have been out since 2015 such as Star Wars Battlefront, CoD Black Ops III, Battlefield Hardline, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Seige, Destiny: The Taken King, Evolve, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. I’d say H5:Guardians is doing fairly well in comparison to SW:Battlefront and RB6:Seige; though, perhaps Destiny which has been out longer than any of them is holding up best thanks to its expansions and its basic 2015 re-release under The Taken King. Of these titles only Seige rivals Halo on the competitive and skill gap scene.

> Halo 1-3 was indeed “one of the most competitive shooters on console” but that didn’t mean they threw in every possible gadget they could to keep adding skill gaps and skill gaps.

Every Halo has basically built upon the previous iteration and typically adds more stuff to the franchise while either removing aspects they didn’t think were great or they refine them to work better.

> You and 343 listen to these next words carefully… SIMPLICITY isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful thing. I know having no sprint or boost or spartan charge slows you down quite a bit and since we’re all used to it now, it makes playing halo 3 feel like it’s the slowest thing ever. But that’s just simply an adjustment for the better of the game and that’s what halo was BUILT on.

All I’ll say to what you wrote here is that it’s all about finding a proper perspective. You know the Halo:MCC collection exists for the exact thing you seem to be fighting for so load up that game and play your hearts desire out. I know I do when I want to play an experience from the past. By the way, I very much am looking forward to playing some Battlefield 1 when that game’s ultimate edition goes on a huge sale later this year.

> I get that you truly like the new additions, but the OVERALL halo fan base doesn’t prefer them…

Oh, I didn’t realize you speak on behalf of the majority… oops. Had I only of known I could have recognized my place and what value my opinion holds so that I never would have voiced my disagreement.

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> 2775209234672000;6:
> > 2533274808246214;5:
> > …the moment 343 took over and in addition added sprint, armor abilities, ADS, no split screen, etc.
>
> First of all, Bungie introduced Deployable Equipment and Armor Abilities to Halo which included Sprint not 343i; in fact, I’d say that 343i have done a good job refining and improving what Bungie introduced. Aiming Down Sight (ADS) is basically the same concept as using the old zoom scope feature only it’s a more authentic implementation. Many complaints are ridiculous reasons to find fault with newer versions of the franchise. Split Screen puts graphical and performance stresses onto the game which is why if it exists in the game it should be limited to the campaign and customs only – not within matchmaking.
>
>
> > Adding all these new abilities for no other reason than to match what games like COD and Titanfall are doing is completely ridiculous.
>
> This is your opinion and I absoultely disagree with it. Halo’s developers have always had one thing in mind with their games which was to provide an excellent gaming experience and I don’t believe they decided simply to add new abilities for no other reason other than to match other games. They made decisions based on what they felt would provide an enjoyable experience. Some have proven to be good decisions and some have proven to be bad decisions and most are subjective per the perspective of the individual speaking.
>
>
> > …I will say yes Halo 5 is competitive. Yes, of course adding more abilities and options will create a further skill gap. That’s true in every game though.
>
> First off, I’d argue that Halo 5 hasn’t added more abilities; instead, they SIMPLIFIED as well as STANDARDIZED the abilities offered. I’d also argue that just adding more abilities and options does not necessarily create a further skill gap.
>
>
> > But I ask you where does adding abilities stop? If you’re adding abilities to a game just to make it more competitive, then where do you stop? I personally think 343 has gone too far. You might say, “too far? how can you go too far in competitiveness? it’s THE most competitive game out there” which actually you kind of said. “certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves”
>
> I like where Halo is at right now regarding the Spartan Abilities, so personally I don’t want to see Halo 6 change much regarding the abilities foundation that Halo 5 put forth. As for improving the competitive environment and game-play experience I do think that the Motion Tracker could use tweaking. If fact, here is a link to a post I made detailing the alterations I’d like to see.
>
>
> > Games like Battlefield 1 and Overwatch (cough game of the year) doesn’t have as high of a skill gap as Halo 5 does. But it has mass acclaim, dozens of awards, and has a high replay ability. So no, huge skill gap doesn’t mean it’s fun, and that’s coming from an Onyx caliber player.
>
> Different games, different experiences and the fact is that people will find more enjoyment with their preferred experiences. Also worth noting that you listed two newer games (Overwatch & Battlefield 1) in comparison to Halo 5 which has been out well over a year (~18 months). Perhaps it’d be more fair to ask how Halo 5’s popularity is doing in comparison to say other Triple A console FPS titles that have been out since 2015 such as Star Wars Battlefront, CoD Black Ops III, Battlefield Hardline, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Seige, Destiny: The Taken King, Evolve, and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood. I’d say H5:Guardians is doing fairly well in comparison to SW:Battlefront and RB6:Seige; though, perhaps Destiny which has been out longer than any of them is holding up best thanks to its expansions and its basic 2015 re-release under The Taken King. Of these titles only Seige rivals Halo on the competitive and skill gap scene.
>
>
> > Halo 1-3 was indeed “one of the most competitive shooters on console” but that didn’t mean they threw in every possible gadget they could to keep adding skill gaps and skill gaps.
>
> Every Halo has basically built upon the previous iteration and added more stuff to the franchise or refined previous aspects.

The fact of the matter is that he does speak for the majority of Halo fans. As I can probably assume, you have played the original halo games, and as I can also assume, you enjoyed them. You also speak quite highly of the new titles, and even go as far to say that you like where Halo is currently at. That is a minority opinion of people that played the originals. Halo 2 sold 8 million copies and Halo 3 sold 12 million copies, and that was when the market was smaller for video games. Halo 4 sold 9 million because of the anticipation, but Halo’s long time rival Call of Duty came out with Black Ops 2 that year(2012) and blew it out of the water with 24.2 million copies sold, showing the vast growth of the market from 2007-2012(Halo 3 was the best selling game in the US in 2007, while Black Ops 2 was the highest selling game of 2012). When Halo 3 came out I remember almost everyone I knew buying Halo 3. All of my friends(most I wouldn’t consider regular gamers) bought and played Halo 3 with me, as well as most for Reach. -Yoink- even my old -Yoink- dad bought and played the -Yoink- out of Halo 3, and he had only ever played sports games previously. When Halo 4 came out a small portion of the same people bought it, most of those people stopped playing after a few weeks. Then when Halo 5 came out, not a single of my friends bought the game and it showed in the sales which are 3.5 million. I had to convince people post launch and even then I could only get 4 of them to buy it, and two of them stopped playing after a few weeks. Although I enjoyed the games and it saddened me that most of my friends didn’t like Halo anymore, I understood why they couldn’t play the games anymore. Every single one of them that came over to play 4 or 5 said things like,“Why does everyone have sprint, this is Halo”, “ADS?!, wow they really are trying to make halo into call of duty”, “why does most of the armor look stupid as -Yoink-”, “Why is everyone dashing, this isn’t -Yoinking!- advanced warfare”. I heard my friends say those exact things every time they played either 4 or 5 for the first time. Although their points are conversational and don’t have much but an opinion to them, they have some truth to them. Halo should not ever have sprint, unless they do a system similar to Reach where it is sprint or a different ability and no sprint. Aim down sights in Halo 5 was a horrendous decision. Halo is from the hip and should stay from the hip, and not allow for accuracy buffs on automatic weapons. Zoom for semi auto guns is fine, Halo has always included that. Dashing+spartan charge+ground pound are the #1 reasons competitive is -Yoink- in Halo. There are too many evasive tools that take away from the Immersive as well as more personable feel to vanilla movement. So much more can be controlled by the player and that is what separated good players from the bad ones. Those who had the greatest grasp of the movement and aim were the best in gunfights. Now there isn’t even a best in Halo 5, because everyone can get out of the way without having to plan it out well or put much thought into it. As a result, the competitive scene has dwindled greatly, and has contributed to the lesser sales of Halo 5. I really believe that if Halo found its roots again, we would see a massive growth in sales, as well as overall quality and experience of the game.

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Elantern, I appreciate your response. However, like Two Bone said, your opinion is in the minority and whether you like it or not the sales suck for the game. You brought up good points. Yes, Reach first implemented Sprint. But it was COMPLETELY different. It was very limited and you had to choose it as part of your load out. Halo 5 I’m pretty sure is unlimited sprint and it’s permanent. They are practically two totally opposite things. Sprint has totally changed the design of how maps were made in Halo 5, whereas it had minimal effect in map design for reach. I absolutely disagree with your statement that “Halo 5 hasn’t added more abilities”. That’s just a lie. Spartan Charge, Ground Pound, and hover are all brand new abilities. Notice I left out thrust and sprint as they were implemented in previous titles. You could argue you can technically hover with a jetpack in H4 but it’s not similar enough for me to concede that one.

ADS may be “more authentic” but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t completely destroy the tradition of Halo gameplay. It’s not just some aesthetic addition they added in. It effects how you play and doesn’t feel like Halo at all which is very important to me.

You brought up a good point in that Overwatch and BF1 are newer titles, but that doesn’t give Halo an excuse to not be near the top. Perhaps you didn’t hear me right in my first post…It’s behind TRUCK SIMULATOR in twitch stream views as I’m looking at it now. I encourage to go on twitch and just look at all the games people are viewing more than H5. No one wants to watch Halo 5. Halo 3 was still killing it 18 months in and it had great competition for its time.

“You know the Halo:MCC collection exists for the exact thing you seem to be fighting for so load up that game and play your hearts desire out. I know I do when I want to play an experience from the past.” This is probably the most ignorant argument you gave me. You know full well MCC is still broken, I searched an hour today looking for a match. Trust me, I’m still trying. But it’s completely ignorant to say “if you like the old halos so much just go play them forever”. You’d be pissed if I said “oh if you like h5 so much you don’t need a h6 so you shouldn’t be in this thread. Just play h5 to your hearts desire”. See? it’s ignorant isn’t it. We all want new maps, new game modes, old game modes to return, and a good new story. But we want it to be halo for christ’s sake. This crap 343 gave us doesn’t feel like halo. Yes, I know. H3 added equipment, Reach added abilities. But it was still different at the time than other games. tbh, I didn’t even like Reach that much because of the armor abilities so you can’t really hide behind Reach because it has abilities…I didn’t want them in that game either but it was a prequel so they could test that stuff out. 343’s abilities they’ve added are interesting… but they don’t feel like Halo.

Of course I don’t speak on the majority’s behalf, but I am one of their voices the same as you are one of the voices of the minority. You can look up and down these threads and on youtube and you will find 90% of the posts consisting of frustration and disappointment at how 343 has created basically an entirely different video game than what halo once was. And that’s not even counting all the old players who gave up on Halo when Bungie left. If they still cared enough you’d see even more upset posts. I’m not saying this game is completely void of fun or it doesn’t have some cool game modes or features. In fact, this probably has the best Forge of any halo before it. But there are dozens of games out there where I can go have fun and play cool game modes. That doesn’t mean they are halo. You have to keep your freaking franchise’s identity and they totally lost it. That is what I’m fighting for. If 343 want to make this kind of stuff they need to slap another name on it. Anything they want, as long as it’s not Halo. Not even the campaign with the infamous master chief was that good.

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OP you make some really good points… I’m not 100% for or against your points , sprint is super controversial and I def see where you’re coming from - however I think the way it’s implemented in h5 is the best iteration so far , and I think that map design suffering from being designed around sprint isn’t the problem, it’s a symptom of the problem. I personally believe that it is possible to make good maps designed for sprint and that 343 (and bungie previously) have just failed to do so. Coliseum is one of the better maps in h5, and countdown from Reach was very good for competitive and social - but most maps haven’t been up to that par in my opinion. The maps need to take more inspiration from greats like Construct, beaver creek, sanctuary - maps that play well for social, for ranked, or for tournaments. Those maps had a lot of skill jumps, but they weren’t so detailed that random pieces cause you to get ‘stuck on walls’ - they were competitive and fun because they took simple designs and were executed very well.

As far as Spartan abilities go, I also see your point - I’m very love/hate with them, but the one that I despise more than anything is Spartan charge. It’s garbage, it always has been, my hatred for it has only grown. However, directional thrust is one of my absolute favorite things about the game, as it literally adds another dimension to strafing. I’m well aware ofrthe arguments against it, but directional thrust is IMO the best ability, and regardless if you love or hate them, thrust and the others have created a ton of skill jumps. I have one more comment to make, but I hate posts where people just vent opinions and don’t propose any new ideas, so I’m going to put a couple things I would change to make the game Halo but with some skillful innovations.

One thing you didn’t mention, and that I think would make the SA and sprint, etc more enjoyable to more fans, is the current lack of iconic Halo game types in matchmaking. I know that the custom browser has made this much more accessible, and while the browser is basically fantastic, it’s not a substitute for classic Halo game types being absent from matchmaking. I’m talking about things competitive and social… Stuff like oddball, MLG team ball, objective multi team, objective in ANYTHING other than Team arena, assault, 2 bomb, king of the hill, one flag, Extraction and Ricochet (original game modes from 343i that are sadly absent from H5). To me, and I think some people might agree even if they haven’t thought about it consciously, having these game types is part of what makes halo, Halo. The lack of these game types and the ridiculous abundance of slayer only playlists, really cheapens the experience. I hate BTB, but I believe that people who like it should expect maps and modes made by the developer for the playlist - it’s part of the same issue. This is something that 343 has completely neglected to even comment on, and it is really close to my heart. It’s a shame too, because possibly the only competitive part of Halo 4 - EXTRACTION - Is completely missing from H5. I’ve made numerous posts to forgers and it doesn’t even seem to be possible with this advanced forge. That is something that is embarrassing and should absolutely be addressed in the next title. The game does get stale, even to those who love the new mechanics, and I really believe that having classic game types in the game would alleviate some of the frustration people have with the new mechanics. Things from classic games that don’t directly relate to game play have an affect on people’s perceptions and I think that counts for something. Consider the recent update where social arena and ranked arena have been split - this is something from Halo 3 that should have never been removed in the first place, and is a really nice thing have. Now, players can get a few warm up games in without having to worry about deranking because they’re rusty, or can play with lower ranked friends and not be concerned with their competitive status. This is the type of thing that makes the experience, as a whole, more complete - and it has nothing to do with game play.

I do have to say, I agree with your stance on aim assist - I think it should ALWAYS be kept to the absolute minimum to promote gun skill and accuracy.

So, here’s my alternative to spartan abilities, and secondsrily sprint. Consider this set up for movement for the next gsme:
Directional thrust remains, and sprint is removed - however, thrust is now more functional. A one time press of the button makes one thrust, but holding the thrust button down “overcharges” the thruster, allowing for a longer boost of speed, at the cost of a significantly higher recharge time and lack of change in direction. The duration of the overcharges would be 3-7 seconds or so, and the cool down would be 10 seconds. The overcharge does not cause damage to enemies and offers limited change in direction (maybe only 15-45 degrees of turn), but overcharging the thruster allows for a boost/slide jump if timed correctly. The Spartans weapon could be up or down during the overcharge, depending on balancing. I think this is a pretty decent middle ground and would allow for maps to be designed differently, as this is not nearly what sprint is. Not sure how this will be received, but I think this is comparatively viable and eliminates things like sprint and spartan charge .

Thanks for reading! Love the discussion :slight_smile:

10

You make some good points dark night, especially the point about game types. They should definitely have social and competitive, allowing for more oddball, ctf, king of the hill, crazy king, etc. I also would love to see the return of Action Sack so community maps and game types become more relevant. I like your the Idea for improving dash, and sprint was done well in Halo 5, but I believe if the spartan abilities were more limited as they were in Reach, the game would have been much more balanced. I believe if they add more armor abilities as well as improve on the old ones, but limit it to one or two at a time similar to Reach, the gameplay would be more interesting in my opinion. Or they have one ability and like you said, they can overcharge it. I would also love to see a return of classic equipment pickups(power drain, bubble shield, regen) and powerups from halo 3. I believe they added a dynamic to the combat that hasn’t been seen since halo 3. The powerups(overshield, invisibility) should also be just walk through pick ups, not ones that are picked up physically by the player.

Another grand Issue that I have with the multiplayer in 5 is the implementation of the Req System with the armor system. I love the new weapons and vehicle variants, but armor was tied into to the Req system. Armor should never be tied to the Req cards, you shouldn’t be able to just buy yourself the best armor in the game. In my opinion armor was done the best in Halo 3, through ranking and achievements, because not did the armor just look good, but it showcased what accomplishments you have completed in the game. The next best thing to me was Reach’s armor system, that rewarded credits for challenges and good games, while still holding some armor pieces to achievements. It also was only possible to get armor through spending credits earned in game, not spending real money. The rest of the Req system is fine and I did enjoy Warzone a lot because of the large pool of interesting and fun Reqs.

11

> 2533274817192439;7:
> The fact of the matter is that he does speak for the majority of Halo fans.

Wrong. The overall Halo player base and community are incredibly diverse and split on their thoughts such that it’s impossible to claim or suggest that one particular person’s perspective on an array of topics is the voice of the majority.

> As I can probably assume, you have played the original halo games, and as I can also assume, you enjoyed them.

Indeed and to verify that I did play them just check out my service record history for each of the titles; also, here is a post I made that highlights some of my experience with Combat Evolved.

> You also speak quite highly of the new titles, and even go as far to say that you like where Halo is currently at. That is a minority opinion of people that played the originals.

I do think Halo 5 is the best Halo title yet, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe improvements can’t be made. I think there are legitimate aspects of the game that warrant providing feedback on. Here are just some of the more recent posts I’ve made regarding changes I’d like to see: Playlists/Modes, Environmental Differences, Matchmaking Feedback, and The Radar/Tracker.

> Halo 2 sold 8 million copies and Halo 3 sold 12 million copies, and that was when the market was smaller for video games. Halo 4 sold 9 million because of the anticipation, but Halo’s long time rival Call of Duty came out with Black Ops 2 that year(2012) and blew it out of the water with 24.2 million copies sold, showing the vast growth of the market from 2007-2012 (Halo 3 was the best selling game in the US in 2007, while Black Ops 2 was the highest selling game of 2012).

You’re taking a very simplistic look at the past to make your argument. Yes, the gaming market wasn’t as vast as it is today, but the competition level of quality products was significantly less at that time too. When Combat Evolved came out there was nothing on consoles that came close to what it offered and its campaign received critical acclaim - it immediately became the gold standard of console First Person Shooters. When Halo 2 came out it piggybacked off the success of its’ predecessor and it basically revolutionized online matchmaking for a console FPS; now, while there was some competition building within the market nothing really could compete with what it offered nor did anything carry the clout that Halo had thanks to its predecessor which all led to it remaining the gold standard console FPS title throughout its life-cycle. When Halo 3 came out it once again piggybacked off the success of it’s predecessors which drove big sales numbers, but it’s also the first Halo title that during it’s life-cycle actually began to face serious competition from quality FPS products that built their own strong clout within the market place. When Reach came out it was initially able to piggyback off the successes of it’s predecessors, but make no mistake that competition within the market place had become very steep; in fact, by the time Reach released Halo wasn’t considered the gold standard console FPS. Side note: In dealing with this topic in the past I researched Xbox Live’s activity numbers (which used to be accessible off of Major Nelson’s site - don’t believe that to be the case any longer though) and the evidence backed exactly what I’m telling you. It’s important to realize that we tend to see things through a prism of our own personal perspective and that perspective can be misleading at times in regards to reality, so it’s imperative to factor for that influence when looking back on the past.

The fact is that gamers had and continue to have many more quality FPS options to spend their money on and time with and Halo’s basic game-play having a higher skill curve than most other FPS titles out there makes it a tougher title to find enjoyment with for the general masses. As I said in my previous post “different games, different experiences and the fact is that people will find more enjoyment with their preferred experiences.” I’m telling you that there’s a psychologically aspect that needs to be accounted for which is that people tend to prefer competitive experiences when it’s easier to find success. Halo being a fairly skill driven FPS title makes it not as easy for most newer gamers to find that enjoyment of success (also part of the reasoning I believe Bungie and 343i with respect to Reach and Halo 4 deviated from some of Halo’s traditional identity) and then you have a mixture of past Halo players who either dislike the evolving of the game or get too busy in their life to spend the time or perhaps the money on the game. Fact is with Halo 5 I see the franchise zeroing in on its niche within the market place and carving out a strong position which is to be one of the best skill-based FPS titles while at the same time continuing to support a strong social environment, including bigger team modes, custom matches, and the creativity that can be released with Forge as these things combined should help maintain a solid enough player base over a title’s life-cycle. I don’t anticipate Halo to ever become the top selling or most populated console FPS on the market, but it should be acknowledged as one of the best skill-based competitive titles available and a game that provides a plethora of offerings geared toward the more casual-based crowd as well as to enable and extend the game’s replay-ability for all.

> Then when Halo 5 came out…

Perhaps the real issue here is that your friends have found other games that simply provide them an experience they like more than Halo. Nothing necessarily wrong with that; in fact, it’s the beauty of the market place. Other developers have created a quality product that your friends simply prefer. When they played Halo 5 they may have had their complaints and directed them towards aspects they felt didn’t belong based on their past experiences with Halo, but if that past experience was as great as it’s made out to be than the Master Chief Collection would be much more populated. Sure the MCC had many, MANY issues when it got released and for some time afterwards too that basically left it broke, but for all practical purposes the title works fairly well now outside of its obvious lack of population. The truth that most people don’t want to realize is that for all the nostalgia that’s related to the past titles those titles had their fair share of issues and going back and playing them isn’t necessarily what everyone wants to do all the time when there are so many fantastic new experiences available.

> I really believe that if Halo found its roots again, we would see a massive growth in sales, as well as overall quality and experience of the game.

I wholeheartedly disagree with what you assume to be the “roots” of Halo as I think Halo 5 has nailed the roots quite well regarding its game-play. If you want to play a newer quality title that reflects many of the past aspects of Halo that you desire I recommend trying out the new Doom game. It’s quite a fun experience and a lot of the things you dislike in Halo 5 are not there, but in my opinion it’s not the type of game I want Halo to become; however, perhaps you’ll see differently and Doom becomes your new favorite title and experience. Ah, the beauty of the Marketplace.

12

> 2533274808246214;8:
> I absolutely disagree with your statement that “Halo 5 hasn’t added more abilities”. That’s just a lie.

By using the term “more” I’m referring to the total amount of abilities.

Halo Reach: - Active Camo - optional - Armor Lock - optional - Drop Shield - optional - Evade - optional - Hologram - optional - Jet Pack - optional - Sprint - optionalHalo 4: - Promethean Vision - selectable - Auto Sentry - selectable - Regeneration Field - selectable - Hardlight Shield - selectable - Jet Pack - selectable - Thruster Pack - selectable - Hologram - selectable - Active Camo - selectable - Sprint - turned into a basic movement optionHalo 5: - Thruster - turned into a type of basic movement option - Ground Pound - standard option - Spartan Charge - standard option off of Sprint - Stabilize - standard option - Sprint - remains a basic movement option (only because the game makes use of the thruster to indicate a boosting of a Spartan’s running speed and therefore track it as Spartan Ability on the new tracker) - Slide - a standard option off of Sprint (not sure its technically classified as a Spartan Ability as it doesn’t show up on the Abilities tracker because it doesn’t involve the thruster; it’s basically just a commons sense transition to crouch from Sprint) - Clamber - a standard option of jumping (again, not sure its technically classified as a Spartan Ability as it too doesn’t show up on the Abilities tracker because it doesn’t involve the thruster; it’s basically just a common sense additional aspect of the jump mechanic)Even if you count Slide and Clamber that’s only 7 which isn’t “more” than either Reach or H4.

> tbh, I didn’t even like Reach that much because of the armor abilities so you can’t really hide behind Reach because it has abilities…I didn’t want them in that game either but it was a prequel so they could test that stuff out. 343’s abilities they’ve added are interesting… but they don’t feel like Halo.

Funny, I too disliked Reach, but mostly because Halo got away from equal starts with selectable loadouts. Also, the Armor Lock ability was near game-breaking in my opinion and the Active Camo and Drop Shield abilities didn’t help game-play much either, I found the significant bloom effects to be irritating, I wasn’t a fan of most of the maps (Forge World being the primary exception), and I couldn’t stand the rampant quitting that plagued matchmaking – it was beyond frustrating (this also became a significant problem in Halo 3 towards the later half of its life-cycle); however, Reach still might be the best title for it’s customs and it was primarily that aspect that kept me coming back to that title throughout it’s life-cycle. The advancements they made with Forge (from H3) paired with the available modes for custom games was absolutely incredible.

Another thing worth noting is that when Reach came out, and during it’s life-cycle, I was also greatly enjoying several other FPS games on my Xbox 360 which did hamper my desire to play Reach or Halo 3 as much as I potentially could have played them. Titles such as: Modern Warfare, World at War, Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3, Borderlands, Borderlands 2, Left4Dead2, Bad Company 2, Battlefield 3, and Crysis 2 were the main ones, but BioShock, BioShock 2, Fallout 3, Aliens vs Predator, Medal of Honor, GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, Brink, and Gotham City Impostors all got a bit of play from me too.

13

> 2775209234672000;11:
> > 2533274817192439;7:
> > You also speak quite highly of the new titles, and even go as far to say that you like where Halo is currently at. That is a minority opinion of people that played the originals.
>
>
>
> >
>
> I do think Halo 5 is the best Halo title yet, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t believe improvements can’t be made. I think there are legitimate aspects of the game that warrant providing feedback on. Here are just some of the more recent posts I’ve made regarding changes I’d like to see: Playlists, Environmental Differences, Matchmaking Feedback, and The Radar/Tracker.
>
>
> > Halo 2 sold 8 million copies and Halo 3 sold 12 million copies, and that was when the market was smaller for video games. Halo 4 sold 9 million because of the anticipation, but Halo’s long time rival Call of Duty came out with Black Ops 2 that year(2012) and blew it out of the water with 24.2 million copies sold, showing the vast growth of the market from 2007-2012 (Halo 3 was the best selling game in the US in 2007, while Black Ops 2 was the highest selling game of 2012).
>
> You’re taking a very simplistic look at the past to make your argument. Yes, the gaming market wasn’t as vast as it is today, but the competition level of quality products was significantly less at that time too. When Combat Evolved came out there was nothing on consoles that came close to what it offered - it immediately became the gold standard of console First Person Shooters. When Halo 2 came out it piggybacked off the success of its’ predecessor and it basically revolutionized online matchmaking for a console FPS; now, while there was some competition building within the market nothing really could compete with what it offered nor did anything carry the clout that Halo had thanks to its predecessor which all led to it remaining the gold standard console FPS title. When Halo 3 came out it once again piggybacked off the success of it’s predecessors which drove big sales numbers, but it’s also the first Halo title that during it’s life cycle actually began to face real serious competition of quality FPS products within the market place. When Reach came out it was able to piggyback off the initial successes of it’s predecessors, but make no mistake that competition within the market place had become very steep; in fact, by the time Reach released Halo wasn’t considered the gold standard console FPS. Side note: In dealing with this topic in the past I researched Xbox Live’s activity numbers (which used to be accessible off of Major Nelson’s site - don’t believe that to be the case any longer though) and the evidence backed exactly what I’m telling you. It’s important to realize that we see things through a prism of our own reality’s perspective. The fact is that gamers had and continue to have many more quality FPS options to spend their money on and time with and Halo’s basic game-play having a higher skill curve than most other FPS titles out there makes it a tougher title to find enjoyment with for the masses. As I said in my previous post “different games, different experiences and the fact is that people will find more enjoyment with their preferred experiences.” I’m telling you that there’s a psychologically aspect that needs to be accounted for which is that people tend to prefer competitive experiences when it’s easier to find success. Halo being a fairly skill driven FPS title makes it not as easy for most newer gamers to find that enjoyment and then you have a mixture of past Halo players who either dislike the evolving of the game or get to busy in their life to spend the time or perhaps money on the game. Fact is I see Halo carving out it’s niche within the market place which is to be one of the best skill-based FPS, but at the same time acknowledging it’s history with social, big team, customs, and forge which also help maintain a solid player base over a lengthy period of time.
>
>
> >

eLantern, as disturbing as it might be to hear that your opinion is the minority opinion, it is the wholehearted truth. You think Halo 5 is the best game in the series. I have actually never heard that opinion ever, from any site or youtube video. The most praise I have heard from Halo 5 is from this site, and even then I’ve never hear anybody go as far as to say it is their best game in the series. I provided the sales numbers to reflect just that with the most facts I could find. I will admit that the numbers bolster my opinion that the originals were better and that it seems biased, but make no such mistake. Numbers do not have opinions my friend. When Halo 5 in the current large market of video games can only sell 3.5 million copies, while Halo sold 12 million copies back then, there is not any other conclusion that can be made. When Reach came out, it suffered because it deviated from the original Halo formula. Although the additions were good and I enjoyed them, I still hate armor lock and the regen bubble shield, as well as the fact that the battle rifle was gone, and about 3 million people felt so strongly about it that they just didn’t even buy the game. Those were the truly competitive players that we lost when Reach mad those decisions. The same goes for Halo 4, 5 and all of their additions. Every new addition pushed more and more people that previously played Halo away from Halo because they knew the game would not be the same with the new features. The game market was plenty solid in 2004 as well as 2007, just google the game titles that came out that year. The game market today is larger, but there are so many -Yoink- games. There is such an opportunity for 343i to return to the greatness of Halo, instead of trying to capture the same audiences as Call of Duty. Just look at the best selling titles in 2015. GTA V sold more copies in 2015 than Halo 5 did, and that game came out in 2013. Black Ops 3 was not a good Call of Duty game by any stretch of the imagination, but it sold way more than Halo 5. Halo used to beat Call of Duty because it was an objectively better game, and the numbers showed it. The fans of Halo cared about the features being added and their impact to the game. For example, Halo 5 has micro transactions, only 3.5 million sold. Call of Duty black ops has micro transactions, but still sold 14.7 million copies. From Halo 4 to Halo 5, Halo lost 2/3 of their fanbase, while Call of duty lost less than half from Black ops 2 to Black ops 3. I used those games because they came out the same year, as did their sequels. This directly shows that Halo fans had a problem with decisions being made for Halo 5, and the sales show it.

14

> 2775209234672000;12:
> > 2533274808246214;8:
> > tbh, I didn’t even like Reach that much because of the armor abilities so you can’t really hide behind Reach because it has abilities…I didn’t want them in that game either but it was a prequel so they could test that stuff out. 343’s abilities they’ve added are interesting… but they don’t feel like Halo.
>
> Funny, I too disliked Reach, but mostly because Halo got away from equal starts with selectable loadouts, the Armor Lock ability was game-breaking in my opinion, I wasn’t a fan of most of the maps (Forge World being the primary exception), and the rampant quitting that plagued matchmaking was beyond frustrating; however, Reach still might be the best title for it’s customs. The advancements they made with Forge (from H3) paired with the available modes for customs was absolutely incredible.

Those changes that took away from the competitiveness in Halo Reach is exactly why the sales dropped 3 million. I loved Reach, but there were many balancing issues with the armor abilities and that was the core problem with them. Also it removed equipment pickups(regen, bubble shield) and allowed players to be good even if they didn’t know the layout of the map(jetpack). Also no BR or smg. Reach was still very Haloish as TheIronMItten points out, and I believe 343 should look to Reach for inspiration on how to make their abilities feel more like halo and less like titan fall or call of duty.

15

> 2533274808246214;5:
> To counter your opinions directly starting with the “competitive aspect”, I will say yes Halo 5 is competitive. Yes, of course adding more abilities and options will create a further skill gap. That’s true in every game though. But I ask you where does adding abilities stop? If you’re adding abilities to a game just to make it more competitive, then where do you stop? I personally think 343 has gone too far. You might say, “too far? how can you go too far in competitiveness? it’s THE most competitive game out there” which actually you kind of said. “certainly one of the most competitive shooters on the console with one of the steepest skill curves” That doesn’t correlate with success and overall enjoyment of the game, though. Games like Battlefield 1 and Overwatch (cough game of the year) doesn’t have as high of a skill gap as Halo 5 does. But it has mass acclaim, dozens of awards, and has a high replay ability. So no, huge skill gap doesn’t mean it’s fun, and that’s coming from an Onyx caliber player. Halo 1-3 was indeed “one of the most competitive shooters on console” but that didn’t mean they threw in every possible gadget they could to keep adding skill gaps and skill gaps. You and 343 listen to these next words carefully… SIMPLICITY isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful thing. I know having no sprint or boost or spartan charge slows you down quite a bit and since we’re all used to it now, it makes playing halo 3 feel like it’s the slowest thing ever. But that’s just simply an adjustment for the better of the game and that’s what halo was BUILT on. How do I know taking those out will be better for the game? Well Halo 1-3 were way more successful than anything 343 ever spit out based on reviews, based on sales, peak playing hours, and longevity. So facts support my side that it is for the better of the franchise as a whole, even if it pisses off 343 fan boys that never have played h1-h3 (btw not calling you one of those people). And you may say “well hey times have changed” but actually BF1, one of the most popular games today on console is incredibly successful and fans stuck around way longer than H5 fans did. and guess what? It’s set in WW1… no armor abilities, no wall climbing, no hovering, nothing. 343 needs to look around them and find that games who are DIFFERENT, not the same as shooters like Cod and titanfall, are doing well in the markets and are winning awards.

Adding more mechanics to a game definitely doesn’t guarantee that the game will be more competitive. More mechanics don’t automatically create deeper gameplay and can, in fact, make the gameplay shallower. What makes a challenging game challenging is the fact that the player has to overcome a set of limitations imposed by the rules of the game and learn to work inside that limited system of rules. Fpr example, chess is a challenging game because the movement of the pieces on the board is limited in such a way that any major goal is usually behind many moves. If the pieces were able to move too freely the game would lose its depth because moves from the opponent would be easier to counter, and strategies would become simpler. More mechanics does not make a more competitive game.

It is debatable how competitive Halo 5 actually is. It could possibly be “one of the most competitive shooters on the console”, but then again, that isn’t saying much because most console shooters aren’t very deep to begin with. When comparing to previous games, believing that Spartan Abilities have added a significant amount of depth to gameplay is significantly overestimating the amount of depth they actually have to offer. Halo 5 certainly isn’t an extraordinarily competitive game by any stretch of the imagination.

What you are right about is that simplicity is beautiful. There is something extremely elegant in a system where incredible complexity of behavior arises from a very limited set of rules and elements. It is also practical, because understanding a complicated and long book of rules can be extremely daunting to a newcomer, and even if that rule book contains great depth, it’s buried so deep that only few will ever bother to find it. And at that point who’s best at the game is not as much about who is best at working with the rules of the game as it is about who has read the rules the best.

16

There’s lots of good discussion here and as a skrubby player who struggles at times to enjoy Halo 5 because it’s so hyper competitive (but is able to enjoy myself to a much greater degree in the older games), I have my feelings about it - but in the final estimation all that really matters is what 343 thinks, and like Favyn says in one of his recent videos, I tend to think Halo 5’s multiplayer has gotten enough positive reviews and feedback both from those inside the community and out, that we shouldn’t expect to see much change in Halo 6. I have a feeling Halo 6’s multiplayer will be mostly copy-and-paste of Halo 5’s, with the SA’s refined and massaged and tweaked a bit, and obviously adjustments to the playlists and of course new maps. If I had to bet, my money is on that.

17

> 2533274961806222;16:
> There’s lots of good discussion here and as a skrubby player who struggles at times to enjoy Halo 5 because it’s so hyper competitive (but is able to enjoy myself to a much greater degree in the older games), I have my feelings about it - but in the final estimation all that really matters is what 343 thinks, and like Favyn says in one of his recent videos, I tend to think Halo 5’s multiplayer has gotten enough positive reviews and feedback both from those inside the community and out, that we shouldn’t expect to see much change in Halo 6. I have a feeling Halo 6’s multiplayer will be mostly copy-and-paste of Halo 5’s, with the SA’s refined and massaged and tweaked a bit, and obviously adjustments to the playlists and of course new maps. If I had to bet, my money is on that.

As much positive feedback it has received(hell, I even enjoyed Halo 5 MP), I hope that they switch it up and removed some of the armor abilities. I am not a fan of sprint, but I think it worked well in Halo Reach, especially since Spartan charge was not in the game, and it was a limited burst of speed that had a cooldown rate. It was also not available when using other armor abilities in its stead. Obviously they will most likely keep the concept of all armor abilities being available to players at all times. That being said, if the sprint had a similar cooldown system to Reach, I think it would help the flow of the game. I do really like the clamber, but I hope it were a little more similar to Genji’s climb ability in Overwatch, but a shorter climb distance, or just a more fluent clamber function in general. I would love the return of grenade jumps, which consists of tweaking the explosive physics and the gravity physics. I think ground pound should be removed, as well as the hover and ADS. Spartan charge should also be removed, I don’t think I have to explain this one. The only guns that should only ever have a zoom are semi auto guns. I don’t wanna be killed at medium to long range by assault rifles or smgs anymore(unless it’s warzone), this ain’t call of duty. I like the dash in Halo 5, but I loved evade from Reach. If they replaced dash with a quick tactical roll, I would be all for it. Or if they just allowed shooting while dashing and made it a little slower. I also don’t really love the aesthetic or idea of Spartans having jets in their suits to help them out. I prefer the raw super human abilities that Spartans possess being translated into the gameplay. Maybe if something like a stamina bar was added and a certain amount of evades could be done as well as a certain sprint time, but both took from the same stamina, as well as climb time perhaps(all just ideas). No Jets could also mean no crappy looking armor, from a lore perspective. The smart-link zoom also added to the melee combat with swords and hammers and I would be fine if it was left in for those weapons as well. the slide is nice and coincides with sprint, and could also possibly be added to list of abilities that cost power/stamina. I actually would really love if the evade took place of dash now that I think about it. Dash just didn’t work for me in terms of evading attacks and making opponents miss. Dash almost always got me killed in a gunfight unless it was used for escape. Evade had a much more practical use in gunfights and could be a great replacement for dash in Halo 6. They should also add useable equipment that can be picked up similar to Halo 3, adding more to the benefit of knowing where they spawn.

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> 2533274817192439;1:
> Hey everyone(and hopefully 343),
>
> Just wanted to make a forum to really spark discussions on the matchmaking in Halo 6. Wether sprint should stay or go, wether spartan abilities should stay or go, etc. I feel that if we could get 343 to really consider what we are asking for, Halo 6 could actually be a good game that, *Ahem 343, WOULD ALSO BRING IN MORE MONEY. Key word there is MONEY, everyone. Game studios simply won’t change the game after looking at the opinions of a few righteous halo fans, but if we can speak from a financial standpoint, we might actually get somewhere. Try and see why they made a decision that you didn’t like, then rebut it with the reasons you believe it hurt sales, as well as why you believe it hurt gameplay. It’s a stale world out there, I know, but don’t be discouraged the suites up top at 343. They are people as well, and can be persuaded. That being said below I will post my proposal to fix matchmaking. I encourage many others to do the same.

OP, answering your first post. What could bring in more money to 343 and Microsoft. I’ll try to be as logical as possible:

  • In the two points about sprint and spartan abilities, you said something about economising time and resources. I disagree, if Halo 6 really wants to succeed in a financial standpoint, 343 shouldn’t economise resources. They need to use all the budget necessary and invest it in quality. I know money not necessarily means quality, but, in theory, we can do more with more money. Invest in a good campaign, a good multiplayer for everyone, etc. A high quality game, simplistically speaking, is the best way to keep the player base alive and bring newcomers to the franchise.

  • As for removing sprint and spartan abilities. In a business looking, it is not a good thing. First, these features are popular in the FPS genre and to the average gamer, so he/she can found familiarized with Halo if it his first contact with the game. Second, the player who enjoyed Halo 5 will not like to see them removed, and can quit. I understand that has a portion of the Halo fans who’d prefer them gone, but, removing them could cause more damage than benefits, IMO.

  • You mentioned aim assist and the lack of competitiveness it causes. I think, the aim assist can be hard to calibrate sometimes, but don’t forget that Halo is for everyone, if someone is a newcomer or an old fan who just want to play casual, the aim assist should be friendly, fun and not frustrating. As for the competitive side, however, I am not the kind of competitive, so I can’t have an opinion if the aim assist is okay or not.

  • The last point about competitive Halo: From what I see Halo 5, is doing an incredible job in the competitive scene. The Halo Championship Series is very entertaining, fun to watch, intense, I love it. I cannot imagine if a reformulation on the Halo gameplay (like you said in the previous points, the new halo gameplay is not as competitive as it used to be) would make the competitive Halo better like with a snap of the finger. Again, from my perspective, Halo 5 competitiveness are great, the rewards are high, it’s healthy, alive and well.

Hope I made sense, have a good day!

19

> 2533275010793662;18:
> > 2533274817192439;1:
> > Hey everyone(and hopefully 343),
> >
> > Just wanted to make a forum to really spark discussions on the matchmaking in Halo 6. Wether sprint should stay or go, wether spartan abilities should stay or go, etc. I feel that if we could get 343 to really consider what we are asking for, Halo 6 could actually be a good game that, *Ahem 343, WOULD ALSO BRING IN MORE MONEY. Key word there is MONEY, everyone. Game studios simply won’t change the game after looking at the opinions of a few righteous halo fans, but if we can speak from a financial standpoint, we might actually get somewhere. Try and see why they made a decision that you didn’t like, then rebut it with the reasons you believe it hurt sales, as well as why you believe it hurt gameplay. It’s a stale world out there, I know, but don’t be discouraged the suites up top at 343. They are people as well, and can be persuaded. That being said below I will post my proposal to fix matchmaking. I encourage many others to do the same.
>
> OP, answering your first post. What could bring in more money to 343 and Microsoft. I’ll try to be as logical as possible:
>
> - In the two points about sprint and spartan abilities, you said something about economising time and resources. I disagree, if Halo 6 really wants to succeed in a financial standpoint, 343 shouldn’t economise resources. They need to use all the budget necessary and invest it in quality. I know money not necessarily means quality, but, in theory, we can do more with more money. Invest in a good campaign, a good multiplayer for everyone, etc. A high quality game, simplistically speaking, is the best way to keep the player base alive and bring newcomers to the franchise.
>
> - As for removing sprint and spartan abilities. In a business looking, it is not a good thing. First, these features are popular in the FPS genre and to the average gamer, so he/she can found familiarized with Halo if it his first contact with the game. Second, the player who enjoyed Halo 5 will not like to see them removed, and can quit. I understand that has a portion of the Halo fans who’d prefer them gone, but, removing them could cause more damage than benefits, IMO.
>
> - You mentioned aim assist and the lack of competitiveness it causes. I think, the aim assist can be hard to calibrate sometimes, but don’t forget that Halo is for everyone, if someone is a newcomer or an old fan who just want to play casual, the aim assist should be friendly, fun and not frustrating. As for the competitive side, however, I am not the kind of competitive, so I can’t have an opinion if the aim assist is okay or not.
>
> - The last point about competitive Halo: From what I see Halo 5, is doing an incredible job in the competitive scene. The Halo Championship Series is very entertaining, fun to watch, intense, I love it. I cannot imagine if a reformulation on the Halo gameplay (like you said in the previous points, the new halo gameplay is not as competitive as it used to be) would make the competitive Halo better like with a snap of the finger. Again, from my perspective, Halo 5 competitiveness are great, the rewards are high, it’s healthy, alive and well.
>
> Hope I made sense, have a good day!

Through hearing the feedback on this forum, I have changed my opinion on a few things. Although I am a classic Halo fan through and through, and would love to see the games just basically be Halo 3 with better graphics and slightly different weapons/equipment, I know that this view is very unrealistic. That being said, I also believe that 343i should really take into account the decisions Bungie made that allowed those games to be so great. Part of that was the simplicity of the gameplay, as well as the very balanced gameplay. I don’t really like armor abilities in their current state, but I believe some iterations could work very well in Halo, while pleasing both new fans of the series and old fans of the series. I think the main reason people dislike the Halo 5 abilities is because they are too fast-twitch compared to the long, sustained gunfights one would experience in the Halos of old. I also feel that they are not very Halo-like, in the sense that I would rather my supersolider use his own athletic body to maneuver him, rather than some thruster jets(for the aesthetic as well). If sprint were similar to the way it worked in Reach, I believe it would work better because it would not be infinite, it would be limited(the shield recharge delay could stay or go). I also like the slide when you crouch while sprinting. If dash was replaced with an evade-like tactical roll, it would make the ability more liable in combat compared to dash because of the physical lowering of the character to crouch height, as well as the quick strafe movement in any direction. The spartan charge was not a good decision, I found that it was either an assassination that was way too easy, or a frontal assault that I regretted. It also took away from the quick sprint beatdown and one shot to the head combo from Reach. Ground pound is unnecessary for a Halo game and should be regarded as a fun novelty that I don’t wanna see return in Halo 6. I think some of the decisions Bungie made were to preserve the balanced aspect of Halo, such as ADS. In all the Bungie Halos, only semi automatic guns had the ability to zoom. This was an intentional decision by Bungie because they knew increased accuracy for automatic weapons would throw off the whole balance of the game. As well, the hover ability should not exist because it tricks noobs into being stand-still noobs and getting their dome rocked because they think the ability is liable. The aim-assist was fixed a little while after Halo 5 launched, and I think they have it down pretty solid now. Halo 4 aim assist was atrocious though lol. The thrusters also allow players to use movement abilities that aren’t effected by that player’s skill and knowledge of the movement. It is a less personal feeling when dashing instead of strafing the bullets classic style. The spartan charge really removes the player from the consequences someone might face if they don’t land their melee attack well. The armor abilities are what drove most of the competitive scene away from Halo even back in the Reach days, so it is a hard problem to face for sure. It does make me happy to see that Halo 5 competitive is alive and well, but I believe it could be so much better and so much more popular. I also would love to see a return of equipment pickups similar to how they would be used in Halo 3. Powerups such as overshield and active camo should return in glorious orb form, with damage boost speed boost orbs. I love the concept of clamber, but it should be much smoother and faster, or it should allow for climbing a certain height up walls. If 343i really refined and balanced the armor abilities for a smooth gameflow, Halo 6 could be the game fans from both sides want. Just imagine if you could sprint, roll, slide, melee while sprinting, climb walls, zoom in with only semi-autos, pickup equipment, and walk through powerup orbs. I think I might be falling in love with my hypothetical Halo 6 already, how sad and naive of me. Anyway, I hope this painted a better picture of what Halo could be, and that we should never stop trying to make Halo great, and lets face it 3.5 million copies is not good for a Halo game at all. Halo 5 had a series low since the very first Halo game, and I think changes have to be made if 343i wants to have better sales.

20

> 2533275010793662;18:
> > 2533274817192439;1:
> > Hey everyone(and hopefully 343),
> >
> > Just wanted to make a forum to really spark discussions on the matchmaking in Halo 6. Wether sprint should stay or go, wether spartan abilities should stay or go, etc. I feel that if we could get 343 to really consider what we are asking for, Halo 6 could actually be a good game that, *Ahem 343, WOULD ALSO BRING IN MORE MONEY. Key word there is MONEY, everyone. Game studios simply won’t change the game after looking at the opinions of a few righteous halo fans, but if we can speak from a financial standpoint, we might actually get somewhere. Try and see why they made a decision that you didn’t like, then rebut it with the reasons you believe it hurt sales, as well as why you believe it hurt gameplay. It’s a stale world out there, I know, but don’t be discouraged the suites up top at 343. They are people as well, and can be persuaded. That being said below I will post my proposal to fix matchmaking. I encourage many others to do the same.
>
> OP, answering your first post. What could bring in more money to 343 and Microsoft.

That is the golden question that I’m sure 343i devs and investors have been fighting over throughout the dev cycles of the first two installments of the 343i trilogy. I believe that it is a hard situation to understand for the investors, especially since they don’t play these games, and the new games are so different from the old games. The Halo community was split back in 2010 when Reach came out because it was so different from the previous games, and was slightly less competitive. Although 3 million less people bought Reach than bought Halo 3, Reach still had 9 million copies sold. That loss of 3 million was a substantial hit to Halo sales, but they could have bounced back from it. Instead, they made Halo 4 way less competitive than Reach, but because of the anticipation for the story and curiosity for 343i’s first installment, the numbers were 9 million. Not bad, right, wrong. It was possibly the worst thing for 343i devs and especially investors to hear that Halo 4 had mirrored the sales of Reach. Not only did they make the game much less competitive, but it didn’t even hurt the sales, and that is what the investors took into consideration, not the content of the game. Then 343i kept getting negative feedback from the community that the game was too easy and unbalanced. What they didn’t realize was that they lost a lot of Halo fans from the decisions they made in Halo 4(about 5.5 million). They would have lost more fans if Halo 5 wasn’t the more competitive game that it was. I just strongly believe that if Halo 3 got 12 million people to buy Halo, it can be done again. They have to try and reach all the fans they lost if they want Halo to be as successful as it once was. Many people who once loved Halo are not on this site spreading opinions, are not playing the games anymore, because they think that the game they once loved is long gone. They think it was just a beautiful moment in the past that only a great developer like bungie could ever capture, and maybe they’re right. Or maybe they don’t know that things can change. Just look at Bungie’s abomination of a video game known as destiny. That game is bereft of all the things that made Halo great, and arguably everything Bungie stood for, because of the intervention from Activision investors. All I know is that investors can really muck games up by watering them down, and they can also really help games by giving the developers free range. At the end of the day, video games are art and should be treated as such(no rushing or boxing in ideas), or you’re gonna end up with a bad video game that doesn’t sell well.