If Halo 5 does not return the game to its competitive roots and delivers a multiplayer similiar to Halo 4’s, then we might as well start digging Halo’s grave now. Halo 3’s multiplayer golden age lasted almost 3 years while Halo 4’s lasted about 3 months, when everyone started easily hitting SR130. Reaching SR130 didn’t necessarily even mean you were skilled, it could’ve just meant you played a lot. Halo 3’s ranking system, however, accurately presented your skill. When a player with a rank 5 star general joined the lobby, you immediately knew you were -Yoinked!-. This is because Halo 3’s ranking system wasn’t based on recieving X amount of EXP towards your next level until you reach the cap, but rather leveling you up based on your performance during a match and whether it was a victory or a loss. And yes you could lose your rank as well which meant you could not simply leave a game with the hopes of not receiving a penalty. This system encouraged the player to really practice mastering every weapon and coordinate with their team to ensure victory rather than lone-wolfing and relying on silly overpowered armor abilities and guns.
There really is so much more wrong with the current iteration of Halo multiplayer but I think the major concern is the ranking system. In short, I want Halo multiplayer to last, in the MLG scene and among the community.
Frank and others from 343 have confirmed that they are wanting to focus on a level playing field, no armor abilities, and competitive arena style FPS action like they use to during Halo 1-3 days.
As for what I voted, I voted something totally new. I want it to lean heavily toward Halo 2 and 3, but do something that makes it even MORE competitive. For example I hope that they put in some sort of button combos or something to spice up the boring old “smack the dude till he’s dead” routine we see far too often. CQC was exciting, challenging, and was a risk vs. reward in Halo 2 because of the glitches. I hope we can learn the positives from that experience and make a better Halo game because of it.
That’s great to hear! I think returning to Halo 2/3 style gameplay is the right step in revitalizing the competitive Halo scene. However, I am a little concerned about the newly announced “Spartan Abilities” feature. Hopefully they are balanced and won’t be relied on too much like armor abilities were.
I like all of the Halo games and their multiplayers. Halo 4 multiplayer just didn’t feel like Halo. So I am not sure how to answer this, but I guess I don’t care how they cater it as long as it ‘feels’ like Halo.
I do not understand what people mean when they say competitive. I thought if you fought against other players you were competing to win. So there must be something I’m missing.
To be honest, I think what most players mean when they say competitive is traditional arena-style multiplayer like Unreal Tournament or Quake. This means ditching the loadout system, armor ability feature, ordanance drops, etc. for a fair match where the only thing that matters is skill and team coordination. By getting rid of the loadout system, for example, it encourages players to fight for control of power weapons placed on the map as supposed to already spawning with it. I guess you could argue that it might get boring when there are no interesting features to play with, but in the end its all the more satisfying when you know you beat your friend due to lightning reflexes and mastery of the BR rather than a lucky ordanance drop. Think of it like soccer/football. There’s no form of player enhancements during the game. Its all based on team coordination and skill. Halo 4 is competitive in its own right, however fails to meet the competitive expectations set by 3 and 2.
I see. That makes sense.
I actually miss Unreal Tournament. It didn’t seem to get much attention on the consoles.
I still LOVE HALO, so no worries!
I’d like to see the game based more on Halo 3’s gameplay, but with better weapon balancing and newer stuff with even more custom options to play with.
Halo 4 had a huge amount of missed potential to be a really good game. With dedicated servers, 60fps, AAs dumped for something similar to a thrust pack, and a bigger system to work with, it’s only going to go up.
I want them to go nucking futs on custom features. If they can pack Halo 1-4, with all of its campaign/multiplayer/forge/theater in 1080p and 60fps on ONE disc, what can they do if its just 1 game being the center of attention?
> To be honest, I think what most players mean when they say competitive is traditional arena-style multiplayer like Unreal Tournament or Quake. This means ditching the loadout system, armor ability feature, ordanance drops, etc. for a fair match where the only thing that matters is skill and team coordination. <mark>By getting rid of the loadout system, for example, it encourages players to fight for control of power weapons placed on the map as supposed to already spawning with it.</mark> I guess you could argue that it might get boring when there are no interesting features to play with, but in the end its all the more satisfying when you know you beat your friend due to lightning reflexes and mastery of the BR rather than a lucky ordanance drop. Think of it like soccer/football. There’s no form of player enhancements during the game. Its all based on team coordination and skill. Halo 4 is competitive in its own right, however fails to meet the competitive expectations set by 3 and 2.
I’m not here to start another load out debate and I understand that there are plenty of reasons why load outs can be a potential hazard to the balance of the sandbox and it’s fair enough that you don’t want them gone.
But this isn’t a good reason to want them gone. Load outs don’t make power weapons any less desirable then they’ve been in the past. It doesn’t matter whether you spawn with an AR, BR or DMR, a Rocket launcher is still going to be a desirable weapon that will destroy players that have just spawned and will be fought over just like in every other Halo.
There is a reason why games like Counter Strike are so popular. When new iterations come out, it doesn’t change THAT much. It makes changes to some weapon balance, ammo amount, movement speed etc. Some new weapons, recoil patters, and maps are added. However, they ALWAYS keep favorite maps like Dust 2, Dust 1, Inferno, Train and Nuke. In other words, they don’t try to re-invent the wheel each time. They know what works, what could change, and what NEEDS to stay.
343 has a wealth of knowledge on what worked in past Halo’s that made it a truly competitive experience. Since Halo 1, 2 & 3, Halo has been a classic delicious FPS recipe and the “head chef” decided he wanted to be creative and add a bunch of new ingredients to compete with the other recipes out there, but in the end it ruined what made the recipe loved in the first place. The thing is, Halo is already distinguishable as it is–it doesn’t need to cater to other genre’s, other classic games.
Counter strike doesn’t have sprint, you pull out your knife if you want to run faster. Counter strike doesn’t have “loadouts” as traditionally implemented, everyone starts on an even playing field. Although Counter Strike uses modern weapons and settings, it’s refused to conform to everyone else and doesn’t have aiming down sights. Why? It works, continues to work, and provides an extremely satisfying experience.
Halo needs to return to its roots, not just because of nostalgia or unwillingness to move on. Its proven it works, gathers attention, can be played at a competitive level, and can sustain itself over many years. The only reason why I have come back on to Halo forums is because of the Master Chief Collection–can’t way to play competitive Halo again.
Honestly, I don’t think the Halo 3 ranking system was all that great. It wasn’t based off of your personal performance, but used your W/Ls as a basis. You could be the best player ever and have crappy luck with the game and have really crappy teammates.
Friendly AI in MP needs a buff 
Edit: I do like Custom loadouts. I hope we don’t see them go, as I felt they did increase the balance of the game, especially with the AR. Prior to Halo 4, the AR was crap.
i would like to see a more competitive ranking system, but i loved loadouts(i thought they were pretty balanced) and above all else armor abilities. AAs added a new dimension in the aspect of strategy, some of them just need to be tweaked. I believe the thruster pack was under powered and the new hardlight shield mostly made you more vulnerable. The game does need some entirely new aspects in the game.
Halo needs to start with Halo 2/3 and move on from there. It’s possible to implement good change in Halo, but not with stupid things like loadouts and armor abilities.
IMO loadout armor abilities were always a mistake. If you want to throw some limited use armor abilities on the map (Halo 3 equipment style) that’s fine, but the different classes just didn’t work what with the OP/frustrating abilities.
You can innovate plenty, but I would much rather see them progress from Halo 3 instead of following the Halo Reach/4 pathway.
I am confident that having a working beta and the long term failure of Halo 4 matchmaking will force 343 to carefully evaluate what the players want and create game play and game modes that will sufficiently cater to multiple preferences: hard core Halo players, casual players with a competitive bent, and the true casuals that simply play the newest title a few weeks before moving on.
The early comments on what they want to accomplish with the multiplayer are encouraging, but I certainly am not putting the cart ahead of the horse here. I still feel more than a little betrayed after the experience of putting the Halo 4 disc in the tray for the first time.
> I am confident that having a working beta and the long term failure of Halo 4 matchmaking will force 343 to carefully evaluate what the players want and create game play and game modes that will sufficiently cater to multiple preferences: hard core Halo players, casual players with a competitive bent, and the true casuals that simply play the newest title a few weeks before moving on.
That’s the main thing for me; catering for everyone and getting the balance right. I really enjoyed playing the Halo 4 multiplayer, it was the game that got me back into playing online multiplayer. I’m not sure what it was, but I felt like I actually had a chance to do well in those games, I felt like I was accomplishing something; not constantly just taking 4 steps and dying. Not having to listen to the abuse that would get thrown my way every 10 seconds probably also helped.
> If Halo 5 does not return the game to its competitive roots and delivers a multiplayer similiar to Halo 4’s, then we might as well start digging Halo’s grave now. Halo 3’s multiplayer golden age lasted almost 3 years while Halo 4’s lasted about 3 months, when everyone started easily hitting SR130. Reaching SR130 didn’t necessarily even mean you were skilled, it could’ve just meant you played a lot. Halo 3’s ranking system, however, accurately presented your skill. When a player with a rank 5 star general joined the lobby, you immediately knew you were -Yoinked!-. This is because Halo 3’s ranking system wasn’t based on recieving X amount of EXP towards your next level until you reach the cap, but rather leveling you up based on your performance during a match and whether it was a victory or a loss. And yes you could lose your rank as well which meant you could not simply leave a game with the hopes of not receiving a penalty. This system encouraged the player to really practice mastering every weapon and coordinate with their team to ensure victory rather than lone-wolfing and relying on silly overpowered armor abilities and guns.
> There really is so much more wrong with the current iteration of Halo multiplayer but I think the major concern is the ranking system. In short, I want Halo multiplayer to last, in the MLG scene and among the community.
Okay firstly these kind of copy paste threads are a dead horse. We don’t need more of them. Secondly Halo 3’s ranking was not accurate at all. It was about winning. You could do the worst on your team and still go up because your team won. It also was not perfect. I have actually lost ranks in lone wolf even though i placed first. The only systems in halo so far that actually judged you on your performance was reach and 4. Granted both were progressive. But you still got more for the more you did.
Lastly halo 5 has spartan abilities and most likely no loadouts. So it’s already more classic then halo 4 was. Just as a note halo doesn’t need to go classic to be competitive again.
you are going to end up destroying progress because some horrid attempt to cling to a golden age of the bungie fanboy. you fail to adapt to different circumstances and claim it is unfair because not everyone loves the OP BR. because you choose not to press a button that may save you in a situation. remove all additional elements from a game so its no longer as technical or complicated. we might as well all be playing some generic shooter were you run headfirst into the enemy praying you can press the trigger button faster than they can. lets fight over control of power weapons so we can camp a weapon spawn and force an unfair advantage in a grueling spawn rape competition. I choose to play a game in which I face opponents that must use what I am good with and must either get better with what is given or get off my game.
here is an idea for the bungie fanboy. think about it. what happens if the AR is the base weapon? what happens it elites base is the carbine or the storm? you gonna get off my game and cry foul play after you have already created enough havoc to force an game to regress to a post dated golden age.
I pray they bring Ragnarok back in H5…that way I can buy all the dlc and play vanilla with the ppl that will not support and game unless its free and the developers make every necessary change to suit their bleating woes. its far to much stress to pick armor, guns, colors, emblems and press buttons in one game…LETS SIMPLIFY
im sorry we have differing opinions. maybe one day I will see the light as others have
I’m not the biggest fan of reach, but I’ll give to bungie that they changed things enough.
So what you’re saying is it needs to change by going back to exactly how it was before. Call my cynical, but that doesn’t seem like a real change.
Them taking the feedback from the player base, paying attention to playlist decline and popularity and building from what previous successful games did will be a much better solution.
TOTAL PLAY TIME
ColorMeSexy-4D 8H 8M
Sir Fahzgoolin-0D 0H 0M
Skorch D62-10D 22H 25M
PainRelief1-6D 11H 52M
Mega066-0D 0H 0M
Blazer1474-8D 17H 2M
TacticulBacon-1D 3H 55M
RavensHal0JPH-8D 10H 43M
OneSeventyOut-2D 23H 27M
EyeOfMorality-0D 0H 0M
Sparr0w83-23D 2H 18M
taken straight from all of your service records. why are the people that DO NOT even play the game having more say so than the players that do. this is why forums are a waste. maybe “I” should write a forum post on what 343i should put in a game that I plan on playing and not complaining about it after I actually put time into.
> TOTAL PLAY TIME
> ColorMeSexy-4D 8H 8M
> Sir Fahzgoolin-0D 0H 0M
> Skorch D62-10D 22H 25M
> PainRelief1-6D 11H 52M
> Mega066-0D 0H 0M
> Blazer1474-8D 17H 2M
> TacticulBacon-1D 3H 55M
> RavensHal0JPH-8D 10H 43M
> OneSeventyOut-2D 23H 27M
> EyeOfMorality-0D 0H 0M
> Sparr0w83-23D 2H 18M
>
> taken straight from all of your service records. why are the people that DO NOT even play the game having more say so than the players that do. this is why forums are a waste. maybe “I” should write a forum post on what 343i should put in a game that I plan on playing and not complaining about it after I actually put time into.
I IZ CAB0OSE: 37D 12H 19M
Thus, by your own criteria, what I say should go. And what I want is:
Matchmaking Infrastructure:
-
A real ranking system that works . . . as opposed to H4’s, which does not. Using TrueSkill for the calculation is fine, as long as the information fed to TrueSkill is accurate.
-
Predominantly ranked lists, with unranked limited to Action-Sack-type games.
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A warmup mode for all games that allows play without stat recording against other users also selecting warmup (removing the need for social lists).
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The ability to search in multiple lists simultaneously, and the ability to exclude/include specific gametypes in the search.
-
Locked lobbies with gametype / map predetermined (#4 above is a prerequisite).
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No guests except in warmup mode or unranked.
-
Party sizes limited to team sizes. No more AFK’s for boosting.
-
Physics engine that actually follows the laws of conservation of momentum.
Game Settings:
-
Equal (or at least equitable) starts. If custom loadouts remain, they should be functionally identical to selecting from standard loadouts.
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No PoD.
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No user-selectable AAs (on-map equipment is fine).
-
No perks.
-
No locked gameplay items (locked aesthetic items are good).
-
No sprint. Boost (which allows combat actions) is okay, but not ideal.
-
Descope instead of flinch.
-
Moar ahsummer assassinations.
-
Moar ahsummer melee animations.
-
Moar ahsummer death animations for kinetic weapons kills. Looking at you, railgun.
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New mechanics / features that are fully evaluated for their ability to be used in a competitive setting.
-
Significantly enhanced Forge and Customs options.
So . . . i can haz?