NOTE: This is not a message or anything at all to 343i or MS to fix this, as I’m 100% sure this will never be fixed. It’s just to show the die hard fanboys of Reach that think the player counter is accurate, when it’s clearly not.
The player counter in Halo Reach has been broken for some time, but lots of dedicated Reach players seem to think otherwise. Based off my memory it broke at around the 5k mark. It might’ve been broken long before this to but the way it counts players doesn’t seem to match up with how many players are playing in the game itself.
Playlist with 0 players do not show up in each of these 4 test I decided to do.
These numbers were recorded at 1/18th/2020. 2:09PM (CT US)
Halo Reach’s over-all counter = 1,744 players online (supposedly).
Team Slayer = 480
Team Swat = 135
Team Snipers = 29
Living dead = 221
Invasion = 7
Rumble Pit = 1
Double team = 1
BTB = 71
Multi Team = 1
A Classic = 17
A Firefight = 5
MLG = 1
Grifball = 100
Co-op Campaign = 3
S Attack = 18
Firefight = 109
This is only equal to just 1199 players. That’s a difference of 545 players. Where are these extra 545 players coming from? Honestly I have no idea.
Here’s a link to download the screenshots I took with my Elgato HD 60 Pro capture card if you want to fact check and see if my numbers are accurate. This link is just for the above numbers.
The next set of numbers I’ve recorded at 1/18/2020. 3:30PM (CT US)
The current numbers are:
Halo Reach’s over-all counter = 1,914 Players online
Team Slayer = 435
Team Swat = 173
Team Snipers = 34
Living Dead = 199
Invasion = 12
Super Slayer = 2
Team Objective = 12
Rumble Pit = 2
Double Team = 4
BTB = 104
Anniversary Classic = 2
Anniversary Firefight = 8
MLG = 1
Grifball = 117
Co-op Campaign = 6
Score Attack = 13
Firefight = 83
This only adds up to 1207 players. That’s an even bigger difference of 707 players. Once again, where are all these extra players coming from?
Here’s a link to download a bunch of screenshots I took with my Elgato HD 60 Pro capture card if you want to fact check and see if my numbers are accurate. This link is just for the above numbers for this section.
After a single match, the population differences got even stranger. In the span of 20 minutes, Team Slayer changed from showing 435, to 563.
The time of recording these numbers is 1/18/2020. 3:52PM (CT US)
Halo Reach’s over-all population = 1,990 Players Online
Team Slayer = 563 (in just another 20 minutes this dropped to 470 at 4:13PM, really weird.)
Team Swat = 181
Team Snipers = 37
Living Dead = 193
Invasion = 20
Team Objective = 1
Double Team = 8
BTB = 84
Anniversary Classic = 1
Anniversary Firefight = 13
MLG = 2
Grifball = 138
Co-op Campaign = 5
Score Attack = 12
Firefight = 93
This only adds up to 1,351 players. This is also a difference of 639 players vs what the over-all player population counter says. I’m Beginning to wonder if maybe the individual playlist numbers are just as inaccurate as the over-all player counter is.
Here’s a link to download a bunch of screenshots I took with my Elgato HD 60 Pro capture card if you want to fact check and see if my numbers are accurate.
The next set of numbers I recorded at 1/18/2020 at 4:20PM.
Halo Reach’s over-all player counter = 1968 Players online.
Team Slayer = 489
Team Swat = 188
Team Snipers = 34
Living Dead = 186
Invasion = 7
Double Team = 4
BTB = 81
Multi Team = 4
Anniversary Classic = 2
Anniversary Firefight = 14
Grifball = 120
Co-op Campaign = 6
Score Attack = 10
Firefight = 91
This only adds up to 1236 players. That’s a difference of 732 players.
Here’s a link to download a bunch of screenshots I took with my Elgato HD 60 Pro capture card if you want to fact check and see if my numbers are accurate.
Does Halo: Reach’s population counter track everyone playing the game with a connection to Xbox Live? Or does it only show those playing online multiplayer/cooperative modes? Because if it’s the former, even those playing campaign alone would be included in the population counter.
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> Does Halo: Reach’s population counter track everyone playing the game with a connection to Xbox Live? Or does it only show those playing online multiplayer/cooperative modes? Because if it’s the former, even those playing campaign alone would be included in the population counter.
You really expect 700+ people to be playing campaign, in custom games, and in custom firefight games all at once when this number randomly changes all the time (as shown by the results I’ve provided above)…?
Not to mention when MCC-Reach has been released as well? That’s a huge step in the wrong direction with those assumptions if I’m being honest.
The population went from 707 players not present in matchmaking, to 639 players in around 20 minutes. 68 players just randomly leaving Reach entirely wouldn’t make any sense in the span of 20 minutes, especially when it somehow “regained” and added even more people to these numbers in just under a hour tops.
Another thing you should be paying attention to is the individual playlist population, it’s huge differences in the over-all population for each playlist, whether it’s a increase or decrease in over-all player count. In one instance it doesn’t change at all, in another a single playlist loses 100 players for no real reason. Notably Team Slayer.
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> > 2535425271455392;2:
> > Does Halo: Reach’s population counter track everyone playing the game with a connection to Xbox Live? Or does it only show those playing online multiplayer/cooperative modes? Because if it’s the former, even those playing campaign alone would be included in the population counter.
>
> You really expect 700+ people to be playing campaign, in custom games, and in custom firefight games all at once when this number randomly changes all the time (as shown by the results I’ve provided above)…?
> Not to mention when MCC-Reach has been released as well? That’s a huge step in the wrong direction with those assumptions if I’m being honest.
>
> The population went from 707 players not present in matchmaking, to 639 players in around 20 minutes. 68 players just randomly leaving Reach entirely wouldn’t make any sense in the span of 20 minutes, especially when it somehow “regained” and added even more people to these numbers in just under a hour tops.
There are entire countries where an Xbox One or a sufficient gaming PC are too out of reach from a financial standpoint, so you see consoles like the Xbox 360 still being the main gaming platform for many. It isn’t too big of a stretch to assume that there are under a thousand people out of the seven billion on this planet playing an old game on an old console. I’m not saying that the system isn’t broken as I’ve seen proof of Halo 3’s showing identical numbers in specific playlists (like Lone Wolves always having 117), but to what extent is it broken?
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> There are entire countries where an Xbox One or a sufficient gaming PC are too out of reach from a financial standpoint, so you see consoles like the Xbox 360 still being the main gaming platform for many. It isn’t too big of a stretch to assume that there are under a thousand people out of the seven billion on this planet playing an old game on an old console. I’m not saying that the system isn’t broken as I’ve seen proof of Halo 3’s showing identical numbers in specific playlists (like Lone Wolves always having 117), but to what extent is it broken?
At this point I’m confused if you even read what I said, or are paying attention to the numbers shown above. Idk anything about H3-Love Wolves constantly showing 117 as I’ve seen different numbers as well for that playlist along with all the others, but it’s basically known that H3’s over-all player counter is massively broken.
Halo Reach’s player counter by extent is less broken, it seems far more accurate then H3’s definitely was, just still broken.
I think it is incredibly likely that 700 players are playing campaign, idle, in custom games with friends, or messing around in forge mode.
Maybe even the number of people queueing for games doesn’t contribute to the totals for each playlist. That would make some sense, however, some playlists will have only 1 current player, so this might not be likely.
Personally I think this counter can be more or less trusted, and I think it is very reasonable for these differences to simply be players not actively in a playlist. Yes, there are probably plenty of fluctuations, so there’s a margin of error, but your post assumes that the counter is so incredibly broken that it knows 1700 people are online but can’t figure out where 700 of them are. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
And before anyone gets onto me for post necromancy: I don’t care. Forum posts come up in google searches and can still be relevant years down the line.
> 2533275010966707;6:
> And before anyone gets onto me for post necromancy: I don’t care. Forum posts come up in google searches and can still be relevant years down the line.
We have rules here about reviving old topics, in future please don’t do that. Thanks