Halo: Reach Problems

Games Other Halo
#1

I’ve been holding back while trying to maintain optimism, but sometimes its just better to let it out. Reach’s problems:

Campaign

[/li]- LAGIt’s impossible to have an enjoyable experience while off-host during campaign online. Even host has major framerate/lag issues (the shot detection is loads better). If you are off-host, it is hard to even move your reticule sometimes.

[/li]- Framerate

Half of the time I’m playing the game, I’m losing frames. I’m talking about 4-5 frames a second. It becomes impossible to play and is just not fun.

[/li]- Longevity

This might just be me nitpicking considering Halo campaigns have never been known to be very long, but the campaign is still to short. Any campaign that you can beat in around 8 hours alone is too easy. It’s not too compelling of a story either. At some points I was wondering when it was just going to be over. You also can’t skip the cutscenes on the flying mission.

Firefight

[/li]- LAG

It’s the same with campaign. Host usually trumps all players by doubling and sometimes tripling their scores. Off-host is unbearable.

[/li]- Ranking Up

You implemented firefight as an easy way to rank up. I understand that you (Bungie) want people to play firefight because of the time you (Bungie) put into it, but it’s honestly nothing special. We saw horde mode in Gears of War 2 and you (Bungie) implemented a Halo version. By progressing ranks based off of firefight, you have a large population of players that achieve high ranks, but actually have no skill at the game. See more under “Ranking System”.

Forge

[/li]- Options

You taunted us with a forge world vidoc and multiple demonstrations of the time-saving/forge-changing features. When the product was delivered, we were satisfied with the upgrades, but left hungry for more pieces and skins. Forge World maps generally tend to be a lifeless grey. It’s hard to create an enjoyable map because of the framerate issues that come in to play when you incorporate the aesthetics built in.

[/li]- Framerate Lag

When you incorporate these aesthetics, there is screen lag in an overwhelming number of battles, yet again making the game unplayable. Did you (Bungie) even look sniper to sniper on Asylum before you (Bungie) shipped the game?

Theater

[/li]- 1 is the loneliest number

I have no problem with the way theater plays considering I’ve seen vast improvements on file sharing in general, but you left out one major component of theater. This was the reason why people went back to watch their games: To show others. Of course, you can make the excuse that you can fileshare what you want to show them, but that is a tedious and completely unnecessary process considering we had multiple-person theater in Halo 3 with hardly any problems unless you tried fast-forwarding or rewinding too much. You don’t go to the movies alone, so why would you want to watch Halo by yourself. The multi-person theater allowed players to show off their sick plays, point out specific moments in a game, and work on teamwork and overall gameplay through a thorough reviewing process. Theater was the greatest inclusion to H3, and it’s sad to see you (Bungie) ruin it in Reach. Bungie made it almost useless unless you want to save clips for a montage/show a funny moment. Nobody likes being alone in a game that found its success from the multiplayer aspect.

#2

Multiplayer

[/li]- Host Selection

I have no problem with who the host chooses in the majority of my games (due to the improved net-coding), but I have found that host switches a lot more than it should at what seems like random times. Why does the host need to switch when everybody is full green and the game is 5 kills away from being over? It’s hard to keep composure when stuff like that happens.

[/li]- Ranking System

The ranking system in Halo: Reach is meaningless. It rewards players who prioritize playing the game rather than playing the game well. Competition comes with any multiplayer, online experience, so expect there to be players that are better than others. True skill tries to detect these skill gaps, but honestly does a poor job in creating a competitive atmosphere. By having ranks (levels like H2 & H3 - both of which implemented slightly different systems and worked), you give drive to the players to win. Pavlov’s classical conditioning teaches us that veteran players now expect to be rewarded with some sort of indication that they are “x” amount better than another player.
By taking away numerical ranks in Halo: Reach, you have turned every playlist into a social playlist. You did, however, incorporate a failed numeric-based ranking system into the arena playlists. Here, you reward players who do not act as a team. The players with the highest ratings usually are conservative and selfish in play-style. It’s also almost impossible to get a good rating with a good team because the kills are spread out so evenly. Teamwork should be rewarded instead of this lone-wolf concept Bungie thought would suffice.

[/li]- The Bloom

I have no problem with the concept of the bloom, but the bloom that Bungie implemented into this game is stupid. The bloom restricts kill times greatly. Players are forced to make a decision: to time their shots and shoot “correctly” or to spam their shots and eventually get rewarded through aim-magnetism/luck. Counter-intuitive to how the bloom should work in theory, players are rewarded for spamming their shots and literally spraying and praying. You don’t know how many times I’ve taken my time to have good shots and a player will pull off a fully-bloomed 5 shot. I understand that as distance increases, bloom has more impact, but as of now the bloom is only important at long range. Fix the bloom so that spammers are penalized as well as allow for faster kill times and you (Bungie) will have a good bloom system.

[/li]- The Sniper

The sniper is the easiest weapon to use in the game. Even my sister can pick it up and blain me now and that disturbs me. In H2, you had a hit-scan battle rifle to counteract the sniper rifle’s accuracy. In H3, you had a sniper that was difficult to master and hard to wield consistently. In Reach, I have around a 3:1 blain ratio (meaning I hit headshots 75% of the time). I know I’m not that good and I know the players that I’m playing against aren’t getting ridiculous back of the head triples on three kids strongsiding to cap a flag. A sniper should take skill and should be hard to use. Rewarding users with blains just to have them play your game devalues the sniper’s fun/skill factor.

[/li]- The Rockets

These are rockets, not nuclear explosions. If the jump height is shorter and the player speed is slower, how would increasing rocket splash damage make them any fairer? Go back to Halo 3 rockets (I think they were the best of the three previous titles - it’s OK to disagree). I understand they are a power weapon and should be treated as such, but they shouldn’t be so easy to use.

[/li]- The Grenades

Where did the splash damage go? Unless you’re right on top of a grenade, the grenade hardly affects your shields. If you are on top of it, they become as strong as the unbalanced H1 grenades. Your spartan also throws grenades too quickly in my opinion (it’s OK to disagree). I think H3/Post-Patch H2 had it right with the grenades.

[/li]- The Movement

I’m a spartan. I might have a lot of armor on, but I’m strong as hell and the armor amplifies my strength. The problem is that I can’t clear a high school regulation hurdle because Bungie increased player gravity. This seemingly meaningless change has a big affect on gameplay. Jump height affects map development which affects height advantage, which affects map control. Jumping was a simple and sometimes skillful way to outplay your opponent whether it be in battles while gandhi hopping or whether it be to obtain a power position on a map. Now that the jump height has been reduced, you may notice how maps have less unique jumps and tend to be shorter unless they include some type of lift. I can’t say go back and change the jump height because that is how Reach is just going to be, but know in the future that in 2252, super-soldiers should be able to jump higher than Javier Sotomayor.

[/li]- The Armor Abilities

Equipment didn’t work well in H3. Most players thought of it as gimmicky and it never really added a strategic level of depth to gameplay. Why would spawning players with loadouts make it any better? Every armor ability in Reach is broken if it is a loadout. Armor lock: I’ve said enough. Evade: You look stupid using it, you roll too quickly while using it, and you make it near impossible to headshot mid-roll. Sprint: When each player starts with this ability, you really get to see the flaws with the no bleed through beatdown system as well as game mechanics in general. It’s hard to counter somebody sprinting at you when they can sword you right out of sprint. That’s just one example of a multitude of broken scenarios. Jetpack: Jetpacks break maps without specific kill barriers. Camo: Camo and a radar jammer anytime you want? I don’t need to say anymore. Drop Shield: A portable, spawn-abled bubble shield that restores your health. It’s cool that you can “pop” the bubble shield by shooting it, but unless you have 2 rockets and 6 grenades to spare, don’t waste your time (estimates may be slightly exxagerated). Hologram: Generally useless (my opinion), but it can be used to outplay other players.
These armor abilities are great pick ups, much like the overshield and camo from previous games. They can be strewn across the map as power ups. These abilities change the way the game flows, creates diversity, and allows balance because players are not all abusing these perks.

#3

[/li]- No Incentive

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve quit out of Reach games because of the gametype. The voting system is great, but the gametype selection is poor. Go play customs, you say? I would, but I honestly don’t care enough to go through the tedious process of finding players, keeping players, and not having problems. I’ve played 5500+ H3 customs, so I know how much waiting is involved. I’m already going to hurry up and wait enough in the Navy. My free time should be spent doing something I enjoy. Waiting isn’t one of them. Back to the incentives: I quit out of games because there is no real consequence. Sure, you can get temporarily banned if you do it enough, but players have no reason to stay in the game unless they believe there is somebody up above watching them play Reach. Winning should be the incentive, but winning is not enough. There is no satisfying reward for winning unless you match up against somebody you don’t like/somebody you know. Then your pride is on the line and it’s up to you to give them the business. There needs to be something other than the worthless cR to keep players in the game. I’m tired of destroying in Team Objective only to have kids quit out before we can cap once. H3 had it right by taking away experience and potentially costing you a rank. With this system, players tend to stick through until the end of the game even when they are getting dominated.

[/li]- Loading…

I’ve never seen so many loading screens in my life (scratch that, mass effect 1 elevators). If I remember correctly, the lobby loads after it finds the players. The players then vote and load the map. Once the map is loaded, the game begins. Only to be shown a spiderweb-like light show. Once that is done you see another load screen configuring the game. After that you finally see the map and you wait ten seconds to respawn. To finish the game you have to do two more loads which are usually slowed down by host quiting halfway through the load. There’s probably no efficient way to change the loading without redoing the entire game, but I’d like to let you (Bungie) know you did a measly job.

[/li]- Lack of Good/Original Maps

I’m not sure why developers think it’s acceptable to delay content release only to make a profit, but there is a noticeable lack of original maps that work. Zealot is only playable after a handful of major tweaks, but still is not up to par with H2/H3 maps. Reflection just doesn’t work for Reach. Countdown, even though it is the cream of the crop for original Reach maps, is honestly not that good either. We need maps that are fun for 4v4 games that don’t all look gray and empty.

[/li]- No Bleed-Through

Every Halo has had bleed-through damage and by disabling bleed-through in Reach, you reward players who make mistakes/charge for beatdowns. Having somebody who you’ve shot 3 times come in and double tap you is frustrating. Players should be rewarded for dealing more damage, not blindly rushing.

#4

[/li]- Assists

Why is it so hard to get one? While looking at the stats, players are often not rewarded for the help they are giving in game. The new assist system only reinforces this problem by making the stats completely irrelevant to how the players were playing.

[/li]- Aiming

Aiming in general is too easy. It should require a certain level of aim-consistency to get a kill, but it feels as if anybody can land impossible shots now-a-day. Players aren’t rewarded for ducking their heads and maneuvering themselves away like they were in the 3 previous titles further decreasing the skill gap.

[/li]- Objective Indicator

This feature that was was an easy way to learn the status of the objective during hectic situations. In all honesty, players aren’t always listening for the audio keys “flag stolen” or “flag taken”. The indicator beside the score allowed players to get an immediate idea of the status of the objective.

[/li]- Aim-Assist

It’s incredibly annoying to have your reticule move on itsown, and I understand why it’s in the game, but players should have the ability to remove the aim-assist to a degree. Having players walk in front of each causing you to miss shots when you’re actually trying to aim is incredibly frustrating and shows how easy it is to aim in the game. A feature like the setting in the guide menu where you can toggle whether you would like aim-assist to be on as the default or aim-assist to be off as the default would be great. This doesn’t mean that you have to remove aim-assist completely from the game. The ability to toggle or remove aim-assist could be used in some playlists, competitive play, and even for the gamer looking for an extra challenge.

[/li]- Revenant Auto-Aim Glitch

I’ve seen videos (like this) where it’s way too easy to no-scope people from the side. I’m not sure how many people this glitch affects, but it’s another flaw.

[/li]- The Pistol

The pistol is terribly inaccurate and shoots too slowly to kill effectively. You are going into a coin toss when you use the pistol each time you fight a player. The pistol should be a reliable side arm.

General

[/li]- Guide Menu

I’ve had issues with guide button lag. It’s impossible to type more than 10 letters a minute because the cursor doesn’t move when you tell it to. The guide menu in general is a lag fest that makes playing Reach and having a social experience unpleasant. Also, I have had issues with the game skipping when players enter/leave a party.

Dare, if you don’t like the game, then don’t play it. I’ve already taken that action, but my love for Halo is still there. I would love to see this game reach its potential (get it?), but drastic changes need to occur. Bungie, you are losing your fan base and you are losing the faith of the community. Don’t believe me? Please, patch Reach. Please.

If you have anything to add and it is a problem that inhibits a FUN experience, post and I’ll be sure to add it to the list. Get the word out there about the problems of Reach (POST!). It’s the only way that we can expect to get a playable game.

#5

I agree completely. Reach has been my new beer coaster since Nov. I’m going to continue to play and enjoy Halo3 till another game worthy of the Halo name is released.

#6

I agree with the majority of this post, however since you covered such a vast majority of topics I want to point out what I - and many halo players I know - are concerned with:

  1. Bloom: The mechanic of the DMR is not quite right, we don’t feel that this weapon has tapped its full potential in its ability (maybe its increasing bullet damage or changing around the whole bloom affect). I feel that the way the DMR feels while crouching should be a base trait with it.

  2. Game maneuverability: Base player speed and jump height. This game feels very restrictive on your movement.

  3. Grenade damage and physics: H3 grenades were perfect in their damage, bouncing off surfaces (except snowbound). Now every grenade in reach feels like snowbound (there’s no control and they do too much damage)

#7

Got to agree with you :slight_smile:

Lag/Host/blackscreen?
All fixed if they would use “dedicated servers”. No host and if someone lags, it will only be to their own disadvantage.
Sure, it costs a bit but if a upcoming studios like Kaos can afford it, and Gears, MS/343/Bungie sure has the found if they want to…
Please 343!
Let the next Halo have dedicated servers so we won’t have host and lag problems ever present, please!
I could even pay a small monthly fee to play on ded-servers, standard costs for a private person to hire is 1$/slot and month, so 80Ms Points/month for dedicated servers?

#8

I literally had about 35 of my friends come read this post, when you put it on MLG, and we ALL agreed with pretty much EVERYTHING you just said. Everyone misses the golden ages of Halo of what actually made Halo fun.

All Reach has done is cater to the minority of CASUAL gamers and completely ruin what people have grown to love about Halo in the first place; Competitive and Casual Gamers alike. PLEASE 343… Go back to the roots of what drew the original fanbase of Halo CE, Halo 2, and even Halo 3.

#9

I agree 100%. A competitive game can be played casually, but a casual game cannot be played compettivly.

#10

> I literally had about 35 of my friends come read this post, when you put it on MLG, and we ALL agreed with pretty much EVERYTHING you just said. Everyone misses the golden ages of Halo of what actually made Halo fun.
>
> All Reach has done is cater to the minority of CASUAL gamers and completely ruin what people have grown to love about Halo in the first place; Competitive and Casual Gamers alike. PLEASE 343… Go back to the roots of what drew the original fanbase of Halo CE, Halo 2, and even Halo 3.

Statistically speaking, I’d say the casual community is the majority. A lot more people play a game for fun and don’t care if they win or lose, than someone who takes it seriously and wants to win all the time.

#11

> > I literally had about 35 of my friends come read this post, when you put it on MLG, and we ALL agreed with pretty much EVERYTHING you just said. Everyone misses the golden ages of Halo of what actually made Halo fun.
> >
> > All Reach has done is cater to the minority of CASUAL gamers and completely ruin what people have grown to love about Halo in the first place; Competitive and Casual Gamers alike. PLEASE 343… Go back to the roots of what drew the original fanbase of Halo CE, Halo 2, and even Halo 3.
>
> Statistically speaking, I’d say the casual community is the majority. A lot more people play a game for fun and don’t care if they win or lose, than someone who takes it seriously and wants to win all the time.

Lol I apologize I probably should have made it more clear, I thought by bolding “minority” and “casual” I was clarifying the minority of the casual majority. In which this Minority wants a game for the sake of having a game, not for actual gamePLAY; and just accept garbage as is. This Video better explains my meaning on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7VAhzPcZ-s&feature=related

#12

> > > I literally had about 35 of my friends come read this post, when you put it on MLG, and we ALL agreed with pretty much EVERYTHING you just said. Everyone misses the golden ages of Halo of what actually made Halo fun.
> > >
> > > All Reach has done is cater to the minority of CASUAL gamers and completely ruin what people have grown to love about Halo in the first place; Competitive and Casual Gamers alike. PLEASE 343… Go back to the roots of what drew the original fanbase of Halo CE, Halo 2, and even Halo 3.
> >
> > Statistically speaking, I’d say the casual community is the majority. A lot more people play a game for fun and don’t care if they win or lose, than someone who takes it seriously and wants to win all the time.
>
> Lol I apologize I probably should have made it more clear, I thought by bolding “minority” and “casual” I was clarifying the minority of the casual majority. In which this Minority wants a game for the sake of having a game, not for actual gamePLAY; and just accept garbage as is. This Video better explains my meaning on this:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7VAhzPcZ-s&feature=related

Oh, alright gotcha. Sorry for the misunderstanding my kind sir. I consider myself a casual player, however I can get quite competitive. I want Reach to have a title update though, and I’m all for making it more competitive to make the competitive community happy.

#13

And the irony never stops from my perspective.

And here I thought the nOObs were the ones complaining about the supposedly imbalanced and broken gameplay of Reach. Funny that that should not be linked to video because of language says that the nOObs are the complainers…

Did you see his take on Halo3?