How I've come to appreciate the genius of 343

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

I’ve come to appreciate the genius that is 343 (and you should too). After playing other “blockbuster” games like The Division, Call of Duty and Destiny–the absolute brilliance of what 343 has done with Halo is much more apparent.

Let me explain…

I was browsing Reddit today and saw a post that highlighted every free piece of DLC 343 has given us. The list was massive and totally unexpected. My curiosity got the best of me, so I did some research on what other “big” developers have done for their player base. Bungie, Massive and Tryeyarch don’t even come close! Bungie has locked out players that haven’t paid for DLC, Massive has a game absolutely ridden with bugs and exploits and Treyarch nickels and dimes players until the cows come home. No thanks!

343 has not only made a game that is solid, relatively free of bugs and exploits (no other company comes close here), but they offer FREE content every single month… Yes, EVERY MONTH.

No other developer does this. Not one.

So, stop these trite “I hate 343 because I don’t like the weapon sounds” threads. Stop complaining about how region lock has “ruined the game”, or that BTB community maps suck. Get over yourself. Seriously.

Let’s start focusing on constructive feedback to make this game better (yes, 343 actually listens to the community–yes, they really do care). Let’s enjoy Halo for what it is: an amazing franchise that has been supported by one of the absolute best developers in the industry. Let’s just play some Halo and stop taking what we have for granted.

#2

I agree. While I do think much of the content SHOULD have been here at launch, I’m glad it’s coming back. At least 343 adds in content based on what the community wants.

#3

<mark>Do not flame/attack others or make nonconstructive posts.</mark>

I’m reporting you for being full of crap.
“(yes, 343 actually listens to the community–yes, they really do care)”
You have forgotten what 343 has done to the MCC. It’s still broken after 2 years.
Don’t make an oblivious fanboy post if you haven’t taken record of the recent history of 343. They always like to highlight that they are listening to the Halo fans, but you are fooling yourself. 343 is listening to the fans when they know it is profitable.
When is 343 going to fix Halo MCC? It’s broken on so many levels it is unprecedented.
I’ve been playing games since the 90s, and Halo 5 is by far the most unfinished and most content-less game I have ever played. They called Halo 5 “a service” because they know they shipped out a game that was worth $20max of content. Combine that with the utter destruction of the Halo MCC and unkept promises and deliberate sweeping under the rug tactics to silence the original Halo fans, they are desperately trying to prove that they are “listening to the gamer.” It is a pile of garbage and you are purchasing something founded on lies and profits.
343 has proven themselves that they aren’t listening to the fans by deliberately avoiding talking about Halo MCC and not fixing it.

#4

Free content that so far has consisted of:

Game modes that should have been at launch, as they were at launch on previous game modes.

Maps that again should have been at launch, and for the most part consist of either Forged or Remixed maps.

A whole bunch of REQs. Like seriously, did we really need another variant of Athlon with two white stripes instead of 3? And did we really need the Pizza AR skin, or the Eh, Ar skin?

And surprisingly, a lot of bugs. Like seriously, people are criticizing the updates for bringing bugs into the game. For instance, this guy and his melodramatic title, saying that the updates have made it such that he has to wait 3 minutes before playing Warzone after he loads up the game, or else he cannot use his REQs, AT ALL.

But yeah, let’s thank 343i for giving us content that no other developer would give us, probably because no other developer, outside of new Bungie, would release a game with less game modes than its predecessors.

#5

I also do agree except that the way they are slowly releasing things has turned away players already. Hopefully they come back.
Also with the players leaving or not playing at all finding online games that aren’t WZ has been difficult in AUS.
Other than that the game is great. Just question the slow release of content of things Halo fans want at launch.

#6

The free DLC is mostly delayed launch content with a few sprinkles of REQ candy here and there, with the occasional rehashed map.

I can think of several developers that, while not on a monthly basis, still release actual content for their games, for free. An almost completely alien concept to console gamers.

Don’t pretend 343I doesn’t nickel and dime like everyone else either. Microtransactions do exist in this game.

#7

> 2533274915643658;4:
> Free content that so far has consisted of:
>
> Game modes that should have been at launch, as they were at launch on previous game modes.
>
> Maps that again should have been at launch, and for the most part consist of either Forged or Remixed maps.
>
> A whole bunch of REQs. Like seriously, did we really need another variant of Athlon with two white stripes instead of 3? And did we really need the Pizza AR skin, or the Eh, Ar skin?
>
> And surprisingly, a lot of bugs. Like seriously, people are criticizing the updates for bringing bugs into the game. For instance, this guy and his melodramatic title, saying that the updates have made it such that he has to wait 3 minutes before playing Warzone after he loads up the game, or else he cannot use his REQs, AT ALL.
>
> But yeah, let’s thank 343i for giving us content that no other developer would give us, probably because no other developer, outside of new Bungie, would release a game with less game modes than its predecessors.

Keep in mind that every developer is cutting content and releasing it as DLC these days, well aside from Bethesda who announced a season pass before even knowing what to create… anyway, Bungie, Ubisoft, DICE, all of them and more have and continue to cut content from the game before launch and make it paid DLC. Hell DICE had a map pack ready to go on the day Battlefield 4 launched! At least 343i is giving it to us for free.

Only other developers I’ve seen release content for their fans that wasn’t cut was Respawn and Popcap in recent years. Everything else has been overpriced content cut from launch.

#8

> 2533274911609913;3:
> I’m reporting you for being full of crap.
>
> You have forgotten what 343 has done to the MCC. It’s still broken after 2 years.

Lol. Nah the game works fine. Must have bad internet. I never have troubles, like ever. And I play everyday…but I will say to the OP. We just feel the content even though amazing, should be released at launch and if it had been. Would we still be getting free updates? Or paid DLC?

#9

> 2533274912168474;8:
> > 2533274911609913;3:
> > I’m reporting you for being full of crap.
> > You have forgotten what 343 has done to the MCC. It’s still broken after 2 years.
>
>
> Lol. Nah the game works fine. Must have bad internet. I never have troubles, like ever. And I play everyday…but I will say to the OP. We just feel the content even though amazing, should be released at launch and if it had been. Would we still be getting free updates? Or paid DLC?

Go to the Halo MCC thread, buddy. The bugs lists are enormous. Just because you ate today doesn’t mean world hunger doesn’t exist.

#10

Brilliant is a strong word but yea, I’m generally pleased with Halo 5 and how it’s DLC it’s being handled.

#11

> 2533274883849234;7:
> > 2533274915643658;4:
> > Free content that so far has consisted of:
> >
> > Game modes that should have been at launch, as they were at launch on previous game modes.
> >
> > Maps that again should have been at launch, and for the most part consist of either Forged or Remixed maps.
> >
> > A whole bunch of REQs. Like seriously, did we really need another variant of Athlon with two white stripes instead of 3? And did we really need the Pizza AR skin, or the Eh, Ar skin?
> >
> > And surprisingly, a lot of bugs. Like seriously, people are criticizing the updates for bringing bugs into the game. For instance, this guy and his melodramatic title, saying that the updates have made it such that he has to wait 3 minutes before playing Warzone after he loads up the game, or else he cannot use his REQs, AT ALL.
> >
> > But yeah, let’s thank 343i for giving us content that no other developer would give us, probably because no other developer, outside of new Bungie, would release a game with less game modes than its predecessors.
>
>
> Keep in mind that every developer is cutting content and releasing it as DLC these days, well aside from Bethesda who announced a season pass before even knowing what to create… anyway, Bungie, Ubisoft, DICE, all of them and more have and continue to cut content from the game before launch and make it paid DLC. Hell DICE had a map pack ready to go on the day Battlefield 4 launched! At least 343i is giving it to us for free.

But again, the content that 343i is giving is stuff that should never count as DLC. In fact, they should count as something that is a given, something that a developer would give for ABSOLUTELY free, with no strings attached. As it is, 343i is counting Grifball and Assault and the various Forged maps as part of the however many updates that they are going to do. DICE would never cut Rush out of Battlefield and release it later, Paid DLC or otherwise.

And your DICE comparison doesn’t hold up since, at launch, Battlefield 4 had, what, 12 maps? All of which could be used on all of the game modes that shipped with the game, at launch. Halo 5 had like 8 Arena Maps on launch, not including the Forged Breakout maps, because of the aforementioned Forged nature of those maps, and 3 Warzone maps. Oh, and as I stated before, because various game modes were not included, you couldn’t play all of those maps on modes like Assault or Grifball on launch, whereas, because BF4 released with Conqest, TDM, Rush, and a lot of other game modes, you could play all of those maps on all of the game modes on launch.

I don’t mind it when developers cut content out of games, I mind it when they either delay content that we have been able to use in other games since Halo 3, and then call it an update that counts towards the update goal. It reminds me of Bungie’s attitude when Microsoft told them that they had 2 more Halo games to make, and so they turned what should have been a small Campaign DLC, H3: ODST, to Halo 3, and called it a full blown game.

#12

Technically the “free content” isn’t free it’s paid for by the millions of dollars the get from people buying req packs. You know what H5 has yet to sell 2 million copies. But along with that small bit of money they got over 7 million dollars in the first month from just people buying reqs. And those millions of dollars are used to fix holes in an incomplete game. So while it may be free it’s not actually free.

#13

> 2533274879407634;12:
> Technically the “free content” isn’t free it’s paid for by the millions of dollars the get from people buying req packs. You know what H5 has yet to sell 2 million copies. But along with that small bit of money they got over 7 million dollars in the first month from just people buying reqs. And those millions of dollars are used to fix holes in an incomplete game. So while it may be free it’s not actually free.

Actually, nobody knows the official count of copies sold. VGChartz has it at just above 3 million, but that hasn’t been updated since like early 2016. Microsoft just does not want to tell us how many copies have been sold. Makes me wonder if Halo 5 sold abysmally.

#14

Nah I definitely agree with Monkey on one thing, DICE/EA are horrendous.

Battlefield 4 had first day DLC, and premium membership, AND battlepack microtransactions, AND paid DLC after that.

#15

> 2533274915643658;13:
> > 2533274879407634;12:
> > Technically the “free content” isn’t free it’s paid for by the millions of dollars the get from people buying req packs. You know what H5 has yet to sell 2 million copies. But along with that small bit of money they got over 7 million dollars in the first month from just people buying reqs. And those millions of dollars are used to fix holes in an incomplete game. So while it may be free it’s not actually free.
>
>
> Actually, nobody knows the official count of copies sold. VGChartz has it at just above 3 million, but that hasn’t been updated since like early 2016. Microsoft just does not want to tell us how many copies have been sold. Makes me wonder if Halo 5 sold abysmally.

But still my main point is that the free updates aren’t free it’s paid for by people who fell into the micro transaction trap

#16

> 2533274819302824;14:
> Nah I definitely agree with Monkey on one thing, DICE/EA are horrendous.
>
> Battlefield 4 had first day DLC, and premium membership, AND battlepack microtransactions, AND paid DLC after that.

I’m not arguing otherwise. I’m stating that DICE would never cut staple content out of their future releases, then release it in an update as a part of their own free update system. Mostly because EA wouldn’t let them, but that is besides the point. From the countless hours that I’ve played of BF4, the Battlepacks are very easy to obtain until you get to very high levels, and the content inside of them can be earned by using the weapons. And I’m guilty of the premium membership, mostly because I liked the content from BF3 and thought that the content for BF4 would be similar. For the most part, I was right, a good portion of the DLC map packs had pretty decent maps. But those were from the later packs.

#17

I’d like to add that I will personally never call them monthly DLC. They are simply updates, in the sense that they are bringing back things that were meant to be in the game, based on what people want. It’s that second part I appreciate.

#18

> 2533274879407634;15:
> > 2533274915643658;13:
> > > 2533274879407634;12:
> > > Technically the “free content” isn’t free it’s paid for by the millions of dollars the get from people buying req packs. You know what H5 has yet to sell 2 million copies. But along with that small bit of money they got over 7 million dollars in the first month from just people buying reqs. And those millions of dollars are used to fix holes in an incomplete game. So while it may be free it’s not actually free.
> >
> >
> > Actually, nobody knows the official count of copies sold. VGChartz has it at just above 3 million, but that hasn’t been updated since like early 2016. Microsoft just does not want to tell us how many copies have been sold. Makes me wonder if Halo 5 sold abysmally.
>
>
> But still my main point is that the free updates aren’t free it’s paid for by people who fell into the micro transaction trap

Okay? What developer is doing it better right now? You complain about this stuff, yet it’s been given to you free of charge!

#19

I’m pretty sure Smite brings out a new god or beast monthly, for free, in free to play game.

I’d take one playable character a month to 200 different armor and weapon skins a month.

More content does not mean it’s good.
Seriously, Quality over Quantity.

#20

> 2625759425622793;1:
> 343 has not only made a game that is solid, relatively free of bugs and exploits (no other company comes close here), but they offer FREE content every single month… Yes, EVERY MONTH.
> No other developer does this. Not one.

CD Projekt RED
Digital Extremes
Nintendo EAD
Psyonix
… just to name a few. I’m sure there are plenty of other examples that people can list. What Microsoft and 343i are doing is not particularly new. They, like many other devs and publishers, have been attempting to capitalize on the success of the games that studios like this produce. Unfortunately, they have only copied the parts that make money (microtransactions, mainly), and have stopped short when it comes to copying what makes these games and their devs successful, namely a quality base game and tons of free content developed post launch.

But, hey, if they’re geniuses to you, then I salute you. Ignorance is bliss. (-: