Hello everyone,
343i said they wanted to hear feedback from the community to help improve the game so here it goes:
I just want to start off by saying that I think Halo: Master Chief Collection shows a lot of promise, but due to serious bugs, it’s pretty far off when considering the online matchmaking component.
After playing the Team Slayer playlist for about 10 hours in Halo: Master Chief Collection, I’ve noticed quite a few issues. I’ve focused more on issues related to Halo 1 because that’s the reason I bought the Masterchief Collection in the first place to play the original Halo 1 multiplayer on Xbox Live. Currently with the way Halo 1 is playing right now, the best version of Halo 1 is still on the original Xbox which is pretty sad seeing as how that game came out about 13 years ago. Even with the lag of Xbox Connect, it’s a superior experience regarding gameplay and networking. I really do hope that 343 can still get it right, but I’ve honestly never seen an online matchmaking system with so many issues. Adding the PC version of Halo 1 also wasn’t the best decision even with the extra maps, weapons like the flame thrower and fuel rod cannon, and built-in networking. It was cheaper for them to do this, but not the best for the true fans of Halo 1.
General
-Map Voting System
The maps are listed in this order: Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 1. If there is a tie between any of these maps, it means Halo 1 will always have the lowest chance of being picked. My suggestion is to randomly select a map that has a tie instead of always selecting the map that is furthest to the left. I know it’s been this way in previous Halo games where if there is a tie between voted maps, always choose the map on top, but I think my idea is fair so that people that want to play Halo 3 or Halo 1 don’t always get shafted on the map vote for Halo 2 maps. After all, it’s Halo: Master Chief Collection, not Halo 2: Master Chief Collection.
-Where are the Halo 1 and Halo 4 playlists?
The only way to play Halo 1 in online matchmaking currently is through the Team Slayer playlist, hence being the only playlist I’ve focused on.
-Please add an option to play in the original frame rate for all 4 Halo games.
The 60 FPS in 1080P looks nice, but it messes with the original feel and pacing of all the Halo games and negatively affects the gameplay imo. Bungie had a nice smooth and consistent slower framerate in the Halo games that allowed them to play so well and keep the pacing a little slower while still retaining really great looking graphics.
-Joining Friends
You can join friends easy enough, but the real issue is that if the friend you’ve joined leaves a matchmaking search, it causes you to be dropped from their game. What should happen is that you should go back to the matchmaking lobby with that friend. These problems have already been solved in all of the original versions of Halo games with an online matchmaking component since Halo 2. Why doesn’t it function this way in Halo: MCC?
-Matchmaking Search
The matchmaking search should try to find even numbered player counts. Often times, it will find 8 players, I’ll get excited, but then find one more and then start the game. Games with odd player counts aren’t the best for Team Slayer or any objective type really.
-If I’m playing with a friend, matchmaking should guarantee that I will end up on my friend’s team.
I’ve found so far about 50% of the time, I’ll end up playing against my friend and it’s not as much fun as playing cooperatively on their team. The whole point of being in a party and joining a game of a friend is so that you can play on their team when in competitive matchmaking and strategize and communicate to defeat the opposition. This has been the convention since Halo 2 in 2004.
-Current Team Slayer Playlist should have a max of 8 players instead of 10 players
With more than 8 players in the Team Slayer maps, it’s pure chaos and isn’t very fun, especially in Halo 1, it’s just madness.
When the Halo 1 playlist finally arrives, I hope they’ll limit it to 4 players or at least have a 2 v 2 Slayer playlist and also have a regular Team Slayer playlist.
-Odd team player count issues with an even number of players in the match
Often times, a match has been set up with an even number of players, but then it puts unbalanced player counts on each team. For instance, if there is a 6 player game in the matchmaking search, it will put 4 players on one team, and 2 players on another team.
Where is System Link?
-I’m not sure if this is possible already in the game, but I’d like to have the option to LAN Halo Master Chief Collection without having to connect through Xbox Live.
Halo 1:
Gameplay Issues:
-You can drop a weapon that has no ammo and players can pick it up with no ammo in it. When you run out of ammo for a weapon and swap for a new weapon from the level, it should delete the weapon that has no ammo to avoid this issue.
-Plasma Rifle doesn’t stun other players like it did in the Xbox version of Halo CE.
Is this something they removed from Halo CE on PC? The stun actually made the Plasma Rifle worth using in Halo 1. It also made the player feel awesome if they could kill a player that’s plasma rifling them to death by out shooting them with the pistol.
-Rat Race Fall Damage issues
When you jump from the slanted ramp down to the floor below overshield, it can lead to severe fall damage and even death. It’s pretty strange and inconsistent with fall damage in other levels especially considering this isn’t a very great fall distance. For instance, in Chill Out, when you fall off of broken bridge down to the floor below, you take no fall damage. That’s a much greater fall distance than the one I’ve described in Rat Race.
-Prisoner, Hang Em High, Chill Out, and Damnation are rarely chosen as the Halo 1 map in the Team Slayer playlist.
They’re easily 4 of the best maps ever developed in the entirety of the Halo franchise imo. I’d increase their chances and lower the chances for Wizard, Derelict, Battle Creek, and Rat Race.
-Team balancing in the middle of a game
I was playing a game in Damnation and my team was wrecking the other team, and so what happened was that it moved someone off of my team onto the other team. Is this a Halo PC feature? If so, it’s not the best for competitive gaming. Let’s keep the player count the same from the beginning of a match to the end of a match please.
-By default the Halo CE game should be using the original Xbox sound effects but instead it’s using the sound effects from Halo CE: Anniversary while running around in the original Halo CE engine.
If the original sound effects can be added, then we could still get the updated Anniversary sound effects as an added option in settings. All of the other Halos got their original sound effects. Why not do this for Halo 1 as well for consistency and for players who prefer the original sounds?
Halo 2:
-Aiming Systems: Magnetism, Friction, Adhesion, Arcing feel like they are all disabled.
This makes aiming incredibly difficult with analog sticks on a console. These mechanics were all part of the aiming systems from the original Halo 2.
Halo 3:
-Aiming Systems: Magnetism, Friction, Adhesion, Arcing feel like they are all disabled.
This makes aiming incredibly difficult with analog sticks on a console. These mechanics were all part of the aiming systems from the original Halo 3.
Halo 4:
-It’s not in online matchmaking at all.