What’s the deal with the par scoring and par time achievements?
I play ‘The Pillar of Autumn’ on Legendary with an assortment of skulls I come to find out, if you go past the 15:00 mark, the game lowers your score every second until the mission is complete. What’s the intended purpose in this? This wasn’t in Halo: Anniversary. Also, time doesn’t reset with each checkpoint, which again wasn’t in Halo: Anniversary. After hours of frustration I finally finished the level in under fifteen minutes with a score of roughly 6700, with multipliers gave me 28,600. Granting me the 25,000 scoring achievement.
Now…after reaching the ridiculous second level of not only having to deal with the insane time counter (keep in mind, many of the speed run glitches/exploits have been patched with invisible walls as well as pistol aim being wonky) of 20:00 and having a score of 25,000 as well. I luckily completed the mission in 21:04 with a score of 8,647 and upon mission completion I was given multipliers, but the summary says my score was only 1743? With 11.16x multipliers… that STILL doesn’t add up to 8,647.
I’m horribly frustrated and not understanding why I’m being forced to par the mission time with world record holders and kill more than enough AI and to top it off, in order to match that score, make it harder than normal thanks to skulls.
Why? What’s the purpose? Is this a glitch? I surely hope so.
Edit: Also, time doesn’t reset with each checkpoint upon death, which again wasn’t in Halo: Anniversary
Bump
If I understand you correctly, you actually lost points for going over par time? I know that the time based multiplier goes down once you pass that time (this is essentially the Halo 3, ODST, Reach scoring system), but I didn’t think it took away points. If it does, this is a glitch. As for the time not resetting after death, this is operating as it should, and it will count total time spent in the mission, including deaths, outside of cutscenes.
I am unsure, however, why you got only 8647 points within the mission with 11.16x multipliers. Even if you got only 1743, that would add up to 19,000 or so points. In fact, the 8647 would indicate you obtained only about 775 points. Strange.
I’ll look into the issue and see if I can find a solution. The only other thing I’ll ask is whether you installed the latest Content Update or not. 
I second this. I 'm waiting to see if this gets fixed before I waste time trying to hit the par score. To clarify, I too am experiencing the following:
- On any difficulty (using any scoreboard), points steadily decline each second after hitting par time.- Upon death, timer continues running and does not restart to checkpoint time.The latter I’m indifferent about, it does add a bit more challenge (perhaps necessary challenge). For example, running through levels on Easy doesn’t allow you to completely ignore all enemies when running through. The former however makes it insanely difficult to play the game at higher difficulties with skulls added.
> 2533274983431281;4:
> If I understand you correctly, you actually lost points for going over par time? I know that the time based multiplier goes down once you pass that time (this is essentially the Halo 3, ODST, Reach scoring system), but I didn’t think it took away points. If it does, this is a glitch. As for the time not resetting after death, this is operating as it should, and it will count total time spent in the mission, including deaths, outside of cutscenes.
>
> I am unsure, however, why you got only 8647 points within the mission with 11.16x multipliers. Even if you got only 1743, that would add up to 19,000 or so points. In fact, the 8647 would indicate you obtained only about 775 points. Strange.
>
> I’ll look into the issue and see if I can find a solution. The only other thing I’ll ask is whether you installed the latest Content Update or not.
Yeah that’s what boggles my mind. After the Par Time is met, the score drops roughly 6 points a second until mission is completed, and yes the multiplier with the points did NOT add up…it was very strange not having this issue with Pillar of Autumn and then having it with Halo… and yes I’ve had the latest Content Update.
> 2533274799470434;5:
> I second this. I 'm waiting to see if this gets fixed before I waste time trying to hit the par score. To clarify, I too am experiencing the following:
>
> - On any difficulty (using any scoreboard), points steadily decline each second after hitting par time.
> - Upon death, timer continues running and does not restart to checkpoint time.
> The latter I’m indifferent about, it does add a bit more challenge (perhaps necessary challenge). For example, running through levels on Easy doesn’t allow you to completely ignore all enemies when running through. The former however makes it insanely difficult to play the game at higher difficulties with skulls added.
The resetting time on checkpoint was a thing in Halo: Anniversary and made some of the rather difficult achievements tolerable, I’ve obtained every single Halo achievement in history (excluding 2 from Defiant Map pack) so I’m no pushover you can verify it yourself. I rarely complain and just feel an achievement of a feat with perfect timing and killing numerous AI is just…too strict.
Bump!
You must be using the Score - Competitive tracker. If you complete the mission under par time then your score is multiplied by a further 3x. However with the Competitive tracker it adds the 3x during the game whilst you play. So when you take longer than par time that multiplier decreases from 3x to 1x. Thus showing the decrease in score as that multiplier slowly decreases over time. Lets say you get 9000 points in ten minutes (under par time), the Competitive score tracker will show 27000, because it is multiplying your score by the time multiplier which in this case is 3x for under par. Now let say you stop earning points for some time so it’s not under par time anymore, and lets say the multiplier had decreased to 2.5x. The score shown would be 22500, which is less than the previous score of 27000. So your base score has not decreased, just that the time multiplier has and that the Competitive tracker takes into account the end mission time multiplier.
tl;dr
Competitive Scoring tracker shows the score you would get if you ended the mission, right then and there, and takes into account the post game time multiplier.
(I have noticed that for mission with a par time of 15 minutes, you stop earning points at the 40 minute mark.)
@Anti Champ
I’ll try again, thank you for verifying my question! You rock!
> 2533274808950591;8:
> You must be using the Score - Competitive tracker. If you complete the mission under par time then your score is multiplied by a further 3x. However with the Competitive tracker it adds the 3x during the game whilst you play. So when you take longer than par time that multiplier decreases from 3x to 1x. Thus showing the decrease in score as that multiplier slowly decreases over time. Lets say you get 9000 points in ten minutes (under par time), the Competitive score tracker will show 27000, because it is multiplying your score by the time multiplier which in this case is 3x for under par. Now let say you stop earning points for some time so it’s not under par time anymore, and lets say the multiplier had decreased to 2.5x. The score shown would be 22500, which is less than the previous score of 27000. So your base score has not decreased, just that the time multiplier has and that the Competitive tracker takes into account the end mission time multiplier.
>
> tl;dr
> Competitive Scoring tracker shows the score you would get if you ended the mission, right then and there, and takes into account the post game time multiplier.
>
> (I have noticed that for mission with a par time of 15 minutes, you stop earning points at the 40 minute mark.)
Ah that makes so much more sense!! I thought it was really strange that i kept loosing point for going over the unrealistic par times on a normal playthrough.
> 2533274808950591;8:
> You must be using the Score - Competitive tracker. If you complete the mission under par time then your score is multiplied by a further 3x. However with the Competitive tracker it adds the 3x during the game whilst you play. So when you take longer than par time that multiplier decreases from 3x to 1x. Thus showing the decrease in score as that multiplier slowly decreases over time. Lets say you get 9000 points in ten minutes (under par time), the Competitive score tracker will show 27000, because it is multiplying your score by the time multiplier which in this case is 3x for under par. Now let say you stop earning points for some time so it’s not under par time anymore, and lets say the multiplier had decreased to 2.5x. The score shown would be 22500, which is less than the previous score of 27000. So your base score has not decreased, just that the time multiplier has and that the Competitive tracker takes into account the end mission time multiplier.
>
> tl;dr
> Competitive Scoring tracker shows the score you would get if you ended the mission, right then and there, and takes into account the post game time multiplier.
>
> (I have noticed that for mission with a par time of 15 minutes, you stop earning points at the 40 minute mark.)
Thank you so much, Anti Champ. I’m supposed to be helpful, but my abilities are relatively limited without first-hand experience. 
For this, I appreciate your help. This is definitely good information to know.
Also, having watched many streams of Campaign, I have also noticed that players suddenly earn 0 points after 40 minutes. Perhaps this is a glitch, but it may have been intentional.
If you’re going to try and beat the score, don’t do it on legendary with skulls on as you clearly cannot handle the time limit they set. Whose fault is that? Theirs? I’ve beaten the par time and par score on many levels, and to do so sometimes you have to purposely do speed runs through certain areas. If you’re going to play the game legendary with skulls and such, focus on beating it and enjoying it, who cares about your score? I didn’t complain when I saw how crazy the times they set were - I accepted the challenge and made a strategy to beat them.
Try harder, complain less.
> 2533274855727984;12:
> If you’re going to try and beat the score, don’t do it on legendary with skulls on as you clearly cannot handle the time limit they set. Whose fault is that? Theirs? I’ve beaten the par time and par score on many levels, and to do so sometimes you have to purposely do speed runs through certain areas. If you’re going to play the game legendary with skulls and such, focus on beating it and enjoying it, who cares about your score? I didn’t complain when I saw how crazy the times they set were - I accepted the challenge and made a strategy to beat them.
>
> Try harder, complain less.
I don’t exactly understand why you’re coming off onto us that way…and from your service record, you’ve yet to beat a single missions’ par-time or score…
Next time, provide evidence to your claims.
Thanks!
Source: https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection/xbox-one/service-records/players/ubapook2
THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN
8025 (25,000 Par Score)
00:16:35 (15:00 Par Time)
HALO
0
00:00:00
THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
10118 (25,000 Par Score)
00:34:12 (25:00 Par Time)
THE SILENT CARTOGRAPHER
0
00:00:00
ASSAULT ON THE CONTROL ROOM
0
00:00:00
343 GUILTY SPARK
0
00:00:00
THE LIBRARY
20775 (25,000 Par Score)
00:33:03 (25:00 Par Time)
TWO BETRAYALS
0
00:00:00
KEYES
0
00:00:00
THE MAW
0
00:00:00
I’m about 99% sure the timer continuing on death is intentional. It was that way in 3, Reach, ODST, etc if I recall correctly. I never played CE anniversary on 360 so I can’t speak to that, but it does make sense to work this way. If you could die without time penalty then a lot of the time achievements would be way to easy (I got just about all of them by setting difficulty to easy and just running on every level so they really aren’t hard to begin with.
The par score removing points has been answered already, but to speak to that, you either need to turn on enough skulls/difficulty to negate the time bonus and still finish under the 40 minute mark (or get the par score before the 40 minute mark) or turn down the difficulty to nab the time bonus. Chances are you won’t have it both ways. So far every par score I’ve manged has been over par time (Pillar of Autumn at 17 minutes and 29k points (legendary no skulls); The Library at 43 minutes, 35k points (legendary, no skulls). I know one of my favorite tricks to to turn on skulls like Jacked on missions there are no vehicles, or family + foreign on missions where there are a ton of ammo crates. I never just blanket all skulls since that makes it way more difficult and every death will make you lose more points.
TL;DR, don’t cookie cutter every mission, pick your difficulty and skulls based on mission length, the type of mission, the mobs in the mission, etc.
About me: I have already done par times on every level (I did them on easy running past everything) and am currently working on the halo 4 legendary speed run in < 3 hours (since its the easiest might as well warm up on it) The par scores I haven’t really put to much thought into, but I have nabbed a couple just by keeping tempo on normal and getting lots of kills + finishing near par. The two I mentioned above I actually got accidentally. The Library was on my first play through on Co-Op no less, and The Pillar of Autumn was when I was doing the health pack achievement, so I was actually being super careful to not take damage and just used noob combo the whole time (plasma pistol + pistol)
The timer acts how it should. In real speed running, if you die you don’t get to take back time. That’s how it should be. Run the games on easy for all the par times, and then do it again for the scores.
The scoring was done intentionally that when you die it doesn’t reset but with that being said once you think you have that area down save a quit then resume playthrough and the timer will be at the time it was when you first originally hit that check point.
Also about the skull multipliers, how the skull scoring works is that it’s already added to the total points when you get a kill. For example on easy with no skulls on you kill a grunt for let’s say 10 pts (not actual scoring) but then you play again on easy with 3 skulls active you’d now get 15 points, the only multiplier that is applied at the end is the time bonus which effectively triples your original score if you get under par time, ofcourse if you’re using the competitive score tracker the time bonus is already applied and will not triple/double once you complete the mission.
Another thing i’ve noticed is that the way the campaign registers your times and scores is a tad big buggy, i.e i’ve completed par score/time on pillar of autumn, halo & the library and i have unlocked the achievements that go with them (pillar of autumn & the library par score/time were both done in one play through) but on my halo waypoint it says they haven’t been met but you can clearly look at the achievements to see they were.
I made a post and got ignored is it a glitch that when you restart a level in the playlist that the time keeps going for some odd reason. I restarted Metropolis and the score kept going for some reason.
> 2533274805780920;16:
> The scoring was done intentionally that when you die it doesn’t reset but with that being said once you think you have that area down save a quit then resume playthrough and the timer will be at the time it was when you first originally hit that check point.
>
> Also about the skull multipliers, how the skull scoring works is that it’s already added to the total points when you get a kill. For example on easy with no skulls on you kill a grunt for let’s say 10 pts (not actual scoring) but then you play again on easy with 3 skulls active you’d now get 15 points, the only multiplier that is applied at the end is the time bonus which effectively triples your original score if you get under par time, ofcourse if you’re using the competitive score tracker the time bonus is already applied and will not triple/double once you complete the mission.
>
> Another thing i’ve noticed is that the way the campaign registers your times and scores is a tad big buggy, i.e i’ve completed par score/time on pillar of autumn, halo & the library and i have unlocked the achievements that go with them (pillar of autumn & the library par score/time were both done in one play through) but on my halo waypoint it says they haven’t been met but you can clearly look at the achievements to see they were.
>
> https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/games/halo-the-master-chief-collection/xbox-one/service-records/players/ll%20benno%20ll
Is it possible to get most of the par score achievements on easy (plus skulls)?
I don’t know if the developers of this game actually read these comments but to put it in plain English I will never ever ever ever buy another halo game in fact ill go that far that I will make this game that bad over the internet ill start my own campaign against this. The multiplayer don’t work in not sence and when it does work its for one match only then you back to square one.
Co op play is an even bigger joke as I recall when I use to play on 360 the final score on the end of each mission counts towards both player and not just one. I received a score of 9600 while my co op partner had a score of -2400 neither of us died and he even had more kills then me how do you work that out. Same if we swap host same crap happen. Then you read that some people do it with their eyes shut. Well please do share how cause my points don’t stop when the timer runs out no it runs back wards. Now they ask people to be patient with the updates as halo 5 is soon to be released and everything will be fixed but will take up to next year. Sure ill wait cause this is the only game on the planet. There is so many achievement hunters that are fuming about this it is not even funny anymore. I think anyone smart enough to hack their servers should go ahead and do it they might fix the game for the producers and we can then start playing it.
IF YOU CANT RUN A GAME DONT RELEASE IT. TEST IT LIKE EVERY OTHER COMPONY DO THEN RE TEST IT THEN RELEASE IT. WE RATHER HAVE A GAME THAT WORKS AND WAIT FOR IT THEN HAVE A GAME THAT DONT AND KEEP GET WORKED UP ABOUT IT WHILE YOU ALREADY TOOK OUR HARD EARNED MONEY. IF YOU DONT HAVE A CURE FOR THIS HOW MANY COPIES OF HALO 5 DO YOU THINK YOU WILL SELL. FOR SOME REOSON SOME PEOPLE SEEMS TO WORK FINE AND SOME DONT WHY IS THAT IS THE UPDATES SPLIT.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME DIRECTLY WITH YOUR EXCUSES AS I NEED THE INFORMATION TO PUBLISH ON MY TWITTER AND TWITCH CHANNEL.
Well multiplying after beating par score is not working. I’ve just finished Delta Halo and my time was 11:30 but I didnt get multiplier for some reason. My score around 9k…