Hey 343i, heres how you can improve Halo 4.

Games Other Halo
1

By listening to the community. There have been hundreds of complaint threads so far, and all you’ve done is added SWAT and removed the banshee from CTF Ragnarok. I’ve taken some of my personal dislikes about the game, and added popular community complaints. I will edit in any more brought to my attention. My hope is to condense complaints so that you will pay attention 343.

Edit - I understand those of you who say it has been a week. You’re right. There are server/bug/armor issues that need immediate attention. This thread is about fundamental changes in the game’s ‘core’ that would make it more ‘halo’ like. Most of them are simple. This thread isn’t demanding just because it has a 20+ list, that’s actually rather small when considering patch notes in the gaming world. I never meant to flame 343i, they clearly have put alot of energy into this game, a game that has alot of potential in the long run. This thread is about bringing out that potential.

1. Regicide boosting. Party size is 6, gametype size is 6. 2 ppl with 2 guests each = 2 boosted accounts.
Solution - Patch limiting the party size to 3.

2. KOTH issues. The hill moves much too fast. Spawns are also a bit wacky, particularly on Haven.
Solution - 30 second hill minimum, 45 would be ideal.

3. No UNSC flying machine. No Falcon, Hornet, etc. in matchmaking. Exciting additions to Halo 3 and Reach, huge letdown in Halo 4.
Solution - DLC can and should fix this.

4.a. Joining partially-finished games in matchmaking. I don’t enjoy being paired up with 2 afk’s on a team losing 50-300 on infinity slayer.
Solution - Give us an option to disable this feature (Disable Hotseat), so that we only join “fresh” games.

4.b. Starting a game with imbalanced teams. Horrible concept. Ive started many ‘fresh’ games 3v5, and lost because the system failed to pair us up with 2 at any point during the match. Halo has always had that “lets do this team” feel from the moment you get paired up, but that has dissipated with this new matchmaking system.
Solution- Patch this out completely, no options about it. Noone deserves to start the game with an instant disadvantage. Patch the matchmaking system so that it refuses to start a game unless a full roster has accumulated.

5. Weapon drop. Requests could be a bit more predictable and less random. Sometimes i get the option of needler/speed boost/grenades-i-already-have-2-of, and other times i get sniper, damage boost, grenades-i-have-none-of. The latter makes it very hard to choose while the former feels useless.
Solution - Patterns or increments. First few weapon drops of the game are ‘mild’, needler/SAW/concussion/speed boost. 3rd and beyond weapon drops would increase in value, providing rockets/sniper/laser/damage boost.

6. Carbine. Nice rate of fire with no recoil or bloom, just takes a bit too long to kill with, especially a DMR user from am distance and a BR user from mid/close.
Solution - Reduce shots needed to pop shield by 1 or 2.

7. No ‘party’ theater. This also interferes with Spartan Ops episodes when friends are logged on.
Solution - Party theater.

8.a. Gametypes. THIS IS A BIG ONE! BTB objective, invasion, grifball, snipers, team slayer (not infinity and not pro), multi team, team doubles, 1 flag, assault, and custom playlists. I understand you’ve decided against invasion, but perhaps you could expand upon it, creating a new tier-style objective gametype.
Solution - Give us what we want.

8.b. Forge. Gametypes missing altogether. Zombies severely limited. You removed precision forging for some reason. No option for removing sprint. Blocks and walls have little indents and jaded edges. Should be obvious by now we just want a large blank map with very smooth and ‘standardized’ objects. The lack of energy put into this game’s forge threatens the ‘halo feel’, which is custom user content, creativity, and overall just having fun. For a more detailed analysis, read this.
Solution - Give forge a severe makeover, and accept advice from forge pros and custom game gurus.

9. Invis. Feels near useless when not crouching in a corner with a boltshot/shotgun/scatter shot.
Solution - Should negate Promethian vision (so prometh has a counter besides itself). Reticule should not turn red when hovered over an enemy invis player unless he/she has been damaged, revealing shield. Make radar jam ‘dots’ red instead of blue for enemies, or get rid of radar jam and instead, take invis player off enemy radar.

10. Banshee maneuvers need improvement. The side tricks are slow and leave the pilot vulnerable. The backflip is nonsense. The flip itself is decent, but upon completing the flip, banshee positions itself at random, sometimes facing behind your original direction, down/left, down/right, etc. Its a threat to perform rather than being a valued escape mechanism. This is particularly bothersome considering how feeble the banshee is compared to previous halos.
Solution - Speed up movement of all tricks. Have banshee face the direction it was facing before the flip after completing the flip (like it used to).

11. Regen is near useless. Its basically a 2nd version of Shielding, the Tactical Package upgrade. It doesn’t aid in a 1v1 DMR fight, and it blurs vision/hearing, if anything resulting in a disadvantage.
Solution - Remove the vision/hearing blur when inside ally regen, and speed up shield recharge rate. Even a 5% increase would suffice, so long as you remove the hearing/vision disables.

12. Auto Sentrys weak. Easily spotted by opponents from a distance (due to hover) and provides minimal aid.
Solution - Lower the positioning of the sentry, and slightly buff the fire rate.

13. “On my X”. This was one of the hallmark quotes of halo’s matchmaking system. It was a strategic way of recollecting fallen power weapons, having a scout reveal the enemy’s camp spot, and overall just good for callouts. Also much harder to tell if an ally is shooting/getting shot. Why change what wasn’t broken and was totally useful and awesome?
Solution - Give it back.

14. Instant-grab Objectives. Another classic halo feature that is now extinct; deciding when to grab objectives. Should i try to 2v1 these guys real quick before grabbing the flag, or will it return, meaning i should just run in and grab it even if i die? Well, doesn’t matter any more, because now you’re forced to grab it if you’re within radius.
Solution - Give it back, and ffs let us drop the flag.

15. Difficult/Ugly Menu Navigating. Its difficult navigating through recent films, screenshots, war games menu, even the loadouts/armor menus. Every previous halo had an easy-to-use and easy-on-the-eyes navigation setup. This ones just plain ugly.
Solution - Revert it back to the previous halo’s feel.

Continued below.

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16. Instant Respawn. Needs to go. I understand you guys wanted a ‘faster paced game’, but insta-spawns isn’t so much ‘fast paced’ as it is sloppy and just plain bad for halo. Deaths are to be punished, not shrugged off. I don’t want to see the dude i just killed sprinting back to my location while finishing off his buddy… he should still be dead, forced to watch my multi-kill unfold from his deathcam. Every previous halo has punished players for going in without teamwork and rewarded the careful and coordinated teams.
Solution - Revert to spawn timers. If you still want to keep it ‘fast paced’, than reduce the timers to 2 or 3 seconds.

17. Ranked. I know you’re working on a playlist-specific ranking system. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about a halo2 style ranked playlist, with symbols, numbers, stats, and maybe even an achievement/armor unlock for getting to rank5 (just to get everyone to try it out). Being matched with similarly-skilled players should be a given, not a ‘new feature’. We want a straight up ranked playlist for competition, bragging rights, and nostalgia.
Solution is obvious.

18. Unfriendly/Broken Guest Gameplay. Broken because my guests can use whatever is available for me to purchase, rather than what i have already purchased. My guest account can use the storm rifle, boltshot, etc, simply because i unlocked the ability to purchase them, whereas i cannot even use them because i haven’t purchased them yet. Unfriendly because the screen is incredibly cluttered. You guys paid little to no attention to co-op gameplay it seems, which is one of the biggest attracting features of this game. Objective icons are too large, difficult to tell teammates apart, useless data on HUD (distance from objective), etc. Frame rates drop like crazy also.
Solution - Make it so that guests can only use what i have purchased, not merely unlocked. Drop some of the useless info while paying more attention the useful info when an xbox has more than one user signed in.

19. Medals. Honestly. I’m getting a medal for every kill, but you’ve deleted the most iconic and pursued medals of all. Weapon sprees, vehicle sprees, perfection, etc. Where’d they all go? And why remove something that we all absolutely love and strive for? Deleting familiarities and incentives like these absolutely ruin our relationship 343.
Solution is obvious. Bring them back.

20. Friendly Fire. Friendly fire was a way to encourage more accurate shooting, better decision making, the occasional vengeance betrayal for that guy who intentionally betrayed you and didn’t get booted, and overall better teamwork. Plus, this. Its too mainstream and elementary to discard friendly fire.
Solution is obvious.

21. Campaign. You’ve gotten rid of the point/timer system, which many of us enjoyed, if nothing else simply to bask in killionaires after failing to get them in matchmaking. If someone dies in a vehicle-intensive part of a mission as Batou667 mentioned, they should respawn in a vehicle near the surviving ally. As CHOPSTICKSZ mentioned, why not allow for custom spartan armor for guest play as well? Should also implement campaign/SpOps theater.
Solution - Patch in the aforementioned features.

22. ‘Good Connection’. This filter tied in with the language/region filter ensured us that we would enjoy a smooth matchmaking process (the majority of times). I didn’t think too much of this omission until i ran into a few real laggy players in flag, resulting in a loss and a headache.
Solution is obvious.

23. Scope-out. Pretty easy one. When you’re scoped in and take damage, you scope out. Its realistic, and is a huge part of halo’s competitiveness. No-scoping and staying out of fire is important.
Obvious solution.

24. Bolt-Shot. Yes its powerful. Perhaps it could use a range nerf on the insta-kill aspect. But that’s not what im talking about. This is what im talking about. Instant-reload glitch.
Solution is obvious.

25. Weapon Despawn. Fallen weapons disappear much too quickly, compounding the issue of having little to no map control at any given time.
Solution - Add and extra 3 seconds at least to the despawn rate.

I’m sure im missing some, so be sure to let me know what ive missed you guys. And here’s a detailed, non-emotional analysis of other flaws thus far. Comment you guys, like it or thank it or whatever. We need to get some serious attention and response time here, else i fear this game could end up in a worse spot than Reach, which is looking pretty good right now.

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Bump for Correctness. Awesome thread is awesome. Problem game is problematic

4

applause

A great list. 343 needs to read this.

If I could chip in with moan myself, Campaign and Spartan Ops Co-op need much, much more intelligent spawning. Respawning players often get dumped right in the action, next to live grenades and so on, or else pop up miles away from the others.

The section where you have to escape on a Ghost earns a dishonorable mention for the poorest co-op design I’ve seen in some time - if you lag behind the leader by any appreciable amount you get cut off by rocks (often getting pushed out of the level, or else dying in an arbitrarily-decided cloud of ugly sprites) and often respawn facing in the wrong direction. Was this section even playtested?

5

I agree with a lot of this. Where are my actual “ranked” games? Why are we forced to such a small playlist? Why are half of the armor abilities useless? Can you guys at 343 take a look at this guys posts and put at least some of this in to consideration?

Edit: Also when Co-oping campaign, why is everyone forced to be a Chief clone and how come we get no XP or commendations other than the “Campaign” specific ones? I want my kills in Campaign to count!

6

Thats a good list, but 343 wont make it better because THEIR audience (the cod kids) wont like it, because it will be too hard for them.

7

Its been a week bro calm down…

8

Please 343 listen to us, thanks.

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I support this thread and the ideas mentioned in it.

10

343i’s lack of community involvement is absolutely disgraceful.

Great list here. Also add, “Good Connection Search” option. There’s a 30+ page thread on it.

11

My opinion is that you should make your own game. Seems like you’d do better with your massive list implemented into it.

But seriously, stop complaining. The game has been out for a week. Leave it for next month.

12

Great list. I hope 343 is writing this -Yoink- down.

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great list, but not being a fanboy for 343i i think are a lot more involved than bungie ever were. also, as said, it is still early in the game. i’d also like a classic playlist for halo vets, and perhaps allow instant respawn to stay in infinity slayer for the players who enjoy a more cod-like gametype.

regardless, the earlier these fixes (some of them incredibly easy to accomplish) are implemented, the better it will be for the community.

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They are listening. While I agree with a lot of points and flaws with Halo 4, but it’s been a WEEK. Bungie never fixed anything like the major complaints that fast, or responded any more or less than 343i has.

Right now, most of these issues aren’t their primary focus; fixing issues with the released content is. Bugs, server problems etc. This is how it always is with any major MP release, be it Halo, CoD or BF. They have to make sure this stuff is working as best as possible before they add more stuff. It’s the nature of these games. You know it, I know it.

I know it’s a pain, but hang in there. They are listening, and I know they will do what they can to remedy some of these issues as soon as they can. Might not happen until the DLC TU in December, but that’s how it is. Don’t disharge a game because it’s not perfect.

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> My opinion is that you should make your own game. Seems like you’d do better with your massive list implemented into it.
>
> But seriously, stop complaining. The game has been out for a week. Leave it for next month.

theres no need to be so rude to the OP. i also believe that this game is still quite early in release, and understandable that 343i haven’t bombarded it with TUs, but i find there is never much need to be obnoxious. in the future just respond nicely.

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1)Is very agreeable and should be addressed.

2)Is fairly agreeable too

3)Seems a bit pointless to me. Halo reach utilized the Falcon very well on overly large maps. These maps are a bit too small for that. The hornet… yeah no.

  1. The jip system should be altered to be better about players joining. Its a really nice feature.

5)I use to think that the weapons should be customized the same way it is in custom games and you had to buy the weapons. Then I realized that every one would set it to like the incineration cannon and binary rifle. I like the system as is, it just needs to randomize a bit better.

6)Couldn’t agree more

  1. I am personally more concerned how the theater does not pick up the dynamic lighting. Makes my forge maps look weird.

8a)Invasion wont work or feel the same anymore because elites are gone. No more annoying dinos. Hopefully, no playable Prometheans in the future if invasion does return. Rest of those game types can easily be made already in custom games save 1, assault. I hope that one does return.

8b)… Ok, I can agree on wondering why precision forging is somewhat gone (the magnets really help) A second forge world is disgusting. While I love the idea of three forge maps, I could agree on making them larger. Its less repetitive in the long run

  1. Sounds like you want camping to return

  2. Agreed because its to easy to hit them now. I do think that the maneuvers should have a cool down timer so they aren’t annoyingly spammed the way they are in halo 2-reach

11)I agree. Buff the regen shield

12)I personally think it just needs more health and a slightly faster fire rate. Getting 4 on you is actually deadly.

13)I miss the X!

14)Yeah no. The new feel is much more amazing. No more noobtube flag combos. Custom game option, sure, but not in war games

15)Its mostly under the start menu. Its fairly identical to the xbox dash bored in some ways. It just takes time to get use to but its fairly better.

16)Maybe in non infinity game modes but over all, I for one prefer the new spawn system. Makes it easier to kill the tbagging -yoinks-

  1. That will create a whole new brand of whining. Either way it goes, it just can’t win. I’d say get rid of any form of ranking system and just bring back those old school stats leader boards but we all know how effective those are when it comes to telling high scores.

18)Guests should just use the default loadouts. If they want the extra stuff, buy an xbox and buy halo 4 or just halo 4 if they already have an xbox. Its literally a free user! Should not get all the extra stuff. I can agree on less cluttered screens

19)I agree though it seems a tad pointless.

20)Normally, I would disagree but I am sick and tired of my team stealing my weapon drops. I don’t like it but I do agree that friendly fire should return.

21)No comment. I only play campaign on single player. I let others in my house play it on co-op so I really do not know the issue.

Overall, I would say you make valid points but some are arguably better as they are now.

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Another thing is that if you try to play four player local splitscreen co-op, you can’t. Only two could play on one console.

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It’s been a week and just because the only thing they updated so far was adding SWAT doesn’t mean they haven’t been working on the game, again it’s been A WEEK fixing issues with the game an adding things doesn’t happen over night it actually requires time and work. 343 made it clear there was going to be much more added down the stretch and whats been released so far is for this reason to look at what people want and don’t want and go from there. while giving suggestions is smart raging about whats wrong after a week is ridiculous. At least give the game a month. None the less great game from what I’ve experienced.

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Wow, I agree with virtually everything you’ve listed. I wanted to highlight some of the issues that are particularly more important to me than the others.

> 4.a. Joining partially-finished games in matchmaking. I don’t enjoy being paired up with 2 afk’s on a team losing 50-300 on infinity slayer.
> Solution - Give us an option to disable this feature (Disable Hotseat), so that we only join “fresh” games.
>
>
> 4.b. Starting a game with imbalanced teams. Horrible concept. Ive started many ‘fresh’ games 3v5, and lost because the system failed to pair us up with 2 at any point during the match. Halo has always had that “lets do this team” feel from the moment you get paired up, but that has dissipated with this new matchmaking system.
> Solution- Patch this out completely, no options about it. No one deserves to start the game with an instant disadvantage. Patch the matchmaking system so that it refuses to start a game unless a full roster has accumulated.

This is one of the biggest issues I have with the game. I’m SO sick of joining in the middle of someone’s game and getting stuck on a losing team. I always end up quitting and looking for a new game.

Another solution is that there needs to be a 30 second buffer in between the end of a game and the next game. The way it’s currently set up, you end a game, and then you’re right back in the voting screen to vote for the next map. There’s no time to back out to the lobby for those who wish to stop playing. So, if someone wants to leave, they leave during the voting screen, AFTER the game has supposedly searched for more players. Then, the game ends up starting out uneven.

> 8.a. Gametypes. THIS IS A BIG ONE! BTB objective, invasion, grifball, snipers, team slayer (not infinity and not pro), multi team, team doubles, 1 flag, assault, and custom playlists. I understand you’ve decided against invasion, but perhaps you could expand upon it, creating a new tier-style objective gametype.
> Solution - Give us what we want.

Just want to give a thumbs up to this. I would particularly like it if Race gametypes came back. I also miss the gametype variations. For example, there were multiple ways to play CTF (1 flag, multi-flag, etc). There were multiple ways to play Assault (1 bomb, neutral, etc). When I jump into a playlist, it’d be nice to have game variation as well as map variation.

> 13. “On my X”. This was one of the hallmark quotes of halo’s matchmaking system. It was a strategic way of recollecting fallen power weapons, having a scout reveal the enemy’s camp spot, and overall just good for callouts. Also much harder to tell if an ally is shooting/getting shot. Why change what wasn’t broken and was totally useful and awesome?
> Solution - Give it back.

I don’t have much to add, but this is something I really agree with.

> 15. Difficult/Ugly Menu Navigating. Its difficult navigating through recent films, screenshots, war games menu, even the loadouts/armor menus. Every previous halo had an easy-to-use and easy-on-the-eyes navigation setup. This ones just plain ugly.
> Solution - Revert it back to the previous halo’s feel.

Another HUGE problem for me. This menu system is VERY difficult to navigate as well as quickly see what you want to see. These giant, huge blocky squares take up too much room. Whatever happened to simply having a list of players that you could easily scroll through and see all at once? Instead we have these giant “cards” everywhere.

I also hate how you can’t tell who’s partied up with who while you’re sitting in the voting screen. Why did you remove this? I like to know when I’m playing against giant parties or bunches or randoms, and there’s no way to tell with the current UI.

> 19. Medals. Honestly. I’m getting a medal for every kill, but you’ve deleted the most iconic and pursued medals of all. Weapon sprees, vehicle sprees, perfection, etc. Where’d they all go? And why remove something that we all absolutely love and strive for? Deleting familiarities and incentives like these absolutely ruin our relationship 343.
> Solution is obvious. Bring them back.

I have an issue with the medals, but a different one. My issue is that there is not enough differentiation between the way the medals look. They all have a similar grey, 4-pointed shape background with a blue circle encircling the symbol for any given medal. When you’re playing a game and have the tiny icons whizzing by on your screen, it’s VERY difficult to tell what medal you just got. They all look too similar.

I’ve studied graphic design, and learned that when people see things, the first visual cue that stands out is color, followed by shape. Your medals are all similar in color (with slight variations in some of them) AND shape. Bungie did a good job of making the medals very bold/bright in color so that they were easy to see and distinguish when passing by quickly on the screen and when very tiny in size.

> 21. Campaign. You’ve gotten rid of the point/timer system, which many of us enjoyed, if nothing else simply to bask in killionaires after failing to get them in matchmaking. Spawn systems are horrible. If someone dies in a vehicle-intensive part of a mission as Batou667 mentioned, they should respawn in a vehicle in close proximity to the surviving ally. As CHOPSTICKSZ mentioned, why not allow for custom spartan armor for guest play as well?
> Solution - Patch in the aforementioned features.

I noticed this one right away as well. Why is there no scoring/medal system for campaign? I very much enjoyed that system, but now it’s simply gone.

Other things I wish were changed that weren’t listed are the following issues:

Why is there no firefight? Firefight has become an iconic way to play Halo since ODST. I love going through multiple runs of endlessly blowing up grunts with rocket launchers.

I HATE that you have to use a specialization thing to pick up other players’ grenades after you kill them. Please make the game so that everyone picks up grenades automatically. This new grenade system is ridiculous.

I also HATE that maps don’t have weapon spawns in the same way that all previous Halo games did. Before, weapons would always respawn on the same parts of the maps after certain periods of time. They always respawned in a consistent location. Now the weapon spawns seem sporadic and inconsistent. The same weapons always start out on the map at the beginning, but they never spawn again throughout the whole match. Also, there used to be tons of weapons littered throughout the maps, now there’s only 2 or 3 it seems.

20

i almost forgot! laggy killcams!