Hello Halo Wars followers and community, I am xLEGITxREAPERx (Yeah my name is cringeworthy. I do not like my name either. Made it when I was like 12…fast forward like 9 years lewl) and I have been reading comments and have made just a few short posts on discussions. I am going to finally start a conversation of my own and hopefully contribute to the Halo Wars community. So like most of you, I am very excited for Halo Wars 2. Halo Wars has always and will always be one of my favorite video games. This game intrigued me because of its ingenious design. Ensemble Studios was up against a losing fight in an up hill battle, but even with all the difficulties and constraints, they still were able to make a fun and unique game that in my opinion rivals other RTS games. Halo Wars is usually seen as a more casual game in the RTS genre which that is completely true, but in my opinion, what makes Halo Wars unique is the fact that Ensemble Studios was still able to make a very competitive RTS game for the Xbox 360. Halo Wars did not need to focus on micro gameplay to make a satisfying RTS game (but higher skilled players know that micro will make a difference in skirmishes). The game focused on strategy and built itself around that while having micro management as the next obstacle to tackle on its priority list. I also think that what also made Halo Wars distinctive was the base building system. Many people may disagree with me, but building wherever you want does not automatically mean that the concept is better. Bigger is not always better. The game might be simpler, but it still can be competitive and fun while having its own distinct gameplay that is unlike any other RTS games which is just as important. In League of Legends, that game does not require a lot of APM (Actions Per Minute) compared to Starcraft 2 and is still a very competitive game.
Finally I can get to the discussion at hand. I am going to start the discussion on the balance issues that plagued the game, but for what its worth, the game was still outstanding for having so many issues which says quite a bit about the game. Also to gauge my perspective on the game, I obtained general on two accounts and played around 2000 matches (50% standard 1v1s, 35% standard 2v2s, 15% every other gamemode). I would like to consider myself competitive at the game (aka. try hard). I am not trying to brag in any way, and honestly, I wouldn’t even consider myself that great at the game. I am just trying to explain my thoughts on the game.
With all my experience with Halo Wars, I did enjoy standard 1v1s, but I felt like Ensemble Studios did not spend enough time on 1v1s as much as it deserved. Unfortunately, the time period when this game was released was when game updates/patches were not as common, so the game hardly received any patches that I can recall. When I think of competitive RTS games, the main selling point and foundation of that game has to be the standard 1v1 gamemode. In this next installment of Halo Wars, I want to task Creative Assembly to build this game up from standard 1v1s and then move forward and expand the game. Personally, I do not really care about new factions, space battles, or customization (no offense to anyone). What I want is a competitive experience for the multiplayer that is balanced and has depth and a healthy skill gap {knowledge and mechanics (Avoid point and click/press abilities. Try to aim for skillshots or timing abilities like blinks/flashes and shields for skill)}. I strongly believe that if they do 1v1s the right way, then every other gamemode will fall in place and be good. The multiplayer deserves a lot of attention because it is the very reason why the game lasted this long.
I will end off with asking a question. If you would like to reply that would be great. I will read all responses and try to respond to them all.
If you could only choose one aspect of the multiplayer, what is the biggest flaw in Halo Wars multiplayer and why.
It could be the pathfinding, base building, balance between units, or the overall flow of the match (Early Game, Mid Game, and Late Game).
Mine is the statistics of the game. I want to know all the health, damage, shield, cooldown, multiplier, and experience values of the game, so I can study it even more and bring my game to the next level.
