The 3 biggest issues with the game right now imo are: lack of content/stuff to do, performance issues, problems with/lack of progression/rank systems.
Lack of content:
New maps are a given. We will be seeing new maps over time so thats not the big problem. The BIG problem is lack of modes. Here’s how I would reorganize Social and Ranked Playlists:
After clicking on the Multiplayer Tab on the Main Menu, you would see a new screen with 3 options: Social, Ranked and Customs.
Social playlists:
Arena (4v4): Oddball, King of the Hill, Strongholds, Capture the Flag
Team Slayer (4v4)
Team Party (4v4): Fiesta/Snipers only/Snipers and Shottys/Shock Rifles only/Swords and Hammers/etc.
Party of One (FFA): Snipers only/Snipers and Shottys/Shock Rifles only/Fiesta/Swords and Hammers/etc.
FFA Slayer
Team Doubles (2v2 Team Slayer)
Tactical Slayer (4v4)
Big Team Battle (12v12)
Ranked Playlists:
Team Arena (4v4 Strongholds/Oddball/Capture the Flag/King of the Hill)
Team Slayer (4v4)
Team Doubles (2v2 Team Slayer)
Lone Wolves (6 Player FFA Slayer)
Team Attrition (4v4 Attrition)
Seasonally or Monthly rotating playlist: FFA Snipers, 1v1 Slayer, 4v4 Snipers, 4v4 SWAT, etc.
Then I would also add Customs Browser for Infection, Grifball and other custom modes (plus all the Forge modes) for hosting/joining custom lobbies.
Performance Issues:
Pretty self explanatory, we need Desync, Lag, Crashing, etc. sorted out ASAP. The game doesn’t feel fun or competitive to play when these performance issues consistently plague the game.
Progression/Rank Systems:
This is important because it has been massively overlooked in Infinite.
We need an overall progression rank which basically tracks how much time you put into the game. This could be the cool names from Halo Reach (Inheritor, etc.), it could be the simpler SR152 system from Halo 5, could be Military ranks. It really isn’t that important WHAT it is, it’s just important that we do get one.
Ranked systems needs an overhaul:
The ranked modes need to matchmake based on your VISIBLE rank, not hidden stats. Makes the rank you have actually matter.
Highest placement point should be Gold 1 imo. The low skill people should place in Bronze, the lowest rank. The middle skill players should place in Silver. The high skill players should place in Gold 1 and then EVERYONE will need to progress further if they can. Being able to instantly place in the top ranks removes any incentive to keep playing.
Winning/Losing should be what dictates if you gain or lose points. Winning should earn you a certain amount of CSR, losing should lose you a certain amount of CSR. Maybe playing well could earn you a small amount of extra CSR for a win, and could make you lose a little bit less CSR on a loss. But the PRIORITY should be WINNING at all times, not K/D farming and not caring if you win or lose. And at the higher levels, winning should not be as stingy with the CSR points and losing should not be so overly punishing with the CSR.
I dont think it will ever happen, there will never be a pure ranked team slayer. In fact I dont think they will add or remove the current playlits, its stuck in the menu and they cant change it becuase of the dedicated servers.
Its like 343 has thrown the towel already, they dont even know what playlists we want, or wont listen to any customer feedback and like I said its impossible to remove/add playlists without taking the whole server system down completely.
The performance is actually getting worse for each month, today it was unplayable desync, the worst I have yet experienced.
In Social I would get rid of the 4v4 and try to move to multi-team (eg. 3v3v3). It’s the quickest way to remove the sweaty mentality of ranked (especially if you are going to use the same maps / sandbox).
That would require a rethink on some of the Objective games as well.
I’m actually enjoying Slayer being in Arena. Previously I would have just played Slayer!
And does Team Attrition need it’s own playlist? Couldn’t that just be absorbed into Team Arena.
I’m all for keeping the playlists lean. The lower popularity ones should rotate on specific week nights or for weekends.
And Hell yes for the Custom’s browser. It needs to be A-grade.
Fingers crossed S2 brings a big peformance fix - particularly the crashes and desync.
With the desync they at least need to fix the inconsistent damage from 'nades, hammers, and rockets. That seems the most frustrating for people. And obviously there is the melee, but I understand if that may be trickier - tied in with the collision mechanics.
XP rank is a must.
Ranking needs an overhaul in terms of not displaying your CSR numbers (it’s not accurate enough at that scale - and because there are so many influences that control it’s movement it get confusing at a game by game level).
Not fussed by visible vs invisible ranks. By the time you have a dozen or more games under your belt your MMR curve is narrow enough and your CSR and MMR pretty much match.
And not a fan of hiding your skill with an artificially low ranking (eg. starting in Bronze). You already said you want to rank on your CSR not your “invisible” MMR and now you want the system to lie to about your CSR.
The game can work out your skill quickly. Do it and get on with match-making. Leave the “progress” to XP or some other accumulation of points.
Nah. Social needs some sort of SBMM to underpin even and fair games. Obviously not as strict as ranked - and more based around even teams. But random clearly doesn’t work.
The biggest problem with social vs ranked is that they are played in the same sandbox. And of course people tend to play them the same. You are going to naturally run the same routes, fight for the same chokepoints, and hit up the same spawn points.
3v3v3 instantly breaks all that. You are always outnumbered 2v1. You can’t establish the same types of map or weapon control. It’s more chaotic and therefore far less sweaty.
I thought the multi-team playlist in Halo 5 was a blast. And whenever we have 9 players (not often) in our custom nights we always default to 3v3v3.
But even things like changing up the way they distribute power weapons and equipment could make a huge difference in Social.
And ultimately, I would love if Social was more of a handicapping system. Adding some buffs to poor players and nerfs to good players. It could even be dynamic (linked to your live K/D). And this way you could actually abandon SBMM altogether!
Most people would equate fair and balanced with fun.
“Sweating” is a state of mind. You can muck around and have fun. You can try hard and have fun. It’s up to you.
It only becomes toxic when you equate social to stomping lower ranked players for fun. Remembering that if you are in the top 5-10% of players then “random” doesn’t really equate to even games.
Social has never been worse. It’s not even enjoyable.
No social features exist in this game. You can’t party up, chat with the opposing team, no pre-game or post game lobby.
The matches themselves are sloppy due to 343’s own doing. Challenge chasers in game, quitters, no re-join option, people sandbagging to lower MMR (I’ve seen your thoughts on this one, that doesn’t really change that people are still having a go at it anyway).
Idk. To me these problems supersede the matches being “fair”.
I think the key to this is not to just have a good browser… but also to specifically showcase popular maps and game-types.
It could easily be based on community voting or participation. But put the popular maps and game-types into some sort of weekly rotation.
Seasonal rewards… eg. the best community Infection map this Season will go into rotation. You could even have some 343 input on the better ones to help make them even more playable.
Have competitions for scripting / game-types. Eg. the theme for this season is Juggernaut - who can come up with the best version / twist on this?
I agree with ranked systems, playlists and content being an issue but for me, Halo infinite just isn’t halo. I’m an ‘old timer’ in regards to halo though. I’ve been playing since 2001 when H:CE first came out and was in the heart of H2 and H3 days from launch so my opinion is obsolete. 343 only cares about the broader audience.
Besides, Infinite is literally H5 engine modified so that tells you everything right there