I Hate to Say It But I've Had Enough

Games Other Halo
1

I’ve been an avid Halo fan since Halo 2. Some of my best friends in the world back in middle school were semi-pros and frequented the MLG scene and I’ve been a die hard Halo fan ever since, but the path that Halo is currently on is beyond embarrassing. I doubt 343 will even bother to read this forum, much less this post, given their complete lack of attention to the feedback that they are getting from the competitive community that built this franchise with our loyalty and love for the game.

It’s no coincidence that Halo 4 can barely hit 35k on a weekend. Even Halo Reach absolutely crushed that amount of population and Halo Reach was sub-par at best. Overall, Halo 4 is an absolute embarrassment to the entire franchise. I know it started with Reach, but why in the hell would you continue to implement new things that have never been in Halo before? The basic gun to gun gameplay is what made Halo one of the most successful and popular video game franchises of all time. You don’t see Call of Duty calling in ordinance drops or adding things that take away from the black and white gameplay. 343 absolutely destroyed the Halo fanbase and I personally think that it is beyond repair. When you have the kind of sales that Halo 4 did, and less than 6 months later the game can’t even hit 50,000 players in primetime you know that you seriously F***** UP. I just don’t understand how they could make such a fatal mistake. Apparently they wanted to make the casual campaign players feel like they could hang with the hardcore multiplayer gamers. Well apparently there are only 25k of those “casual” players because the other 80k or so are off playing something else because the game is complete garbage.

-There should not be ordinance drops
-There should not be sprint
-There should not be armor abilities
-There should not be waypoints telling you where weapons are as if you’re completely incapable of finding a consistent spawn point
-There should be a beta before you release one of the most anticipated games in history so you dont s*** the bed like 343 did

Those simple things would have saved this game and this franchise, but now it’s too late. I hold out hope for H2A and I’ll do my research on Halo 5, but until then I am done with Halo. 343 has completely let me down and shattered so many good times of playing XBL with friends or watching a real MLG stream with teams and players I’ve known forever. My memories of Halo 2 and Halo 3 are my fondest and it’s just so sad that I’ll never have those again because some cocky “Halo fans” took over the development studio and ruined my favorite game. So thanks for that 343. Bungie will always have my heart, but you are a joke of a company and I hope you learn your lesson when H4 is dipping below 30k players in a couple of months

2

> -There should not be ordinance drops

The idea of ordnance drops is actually a good idea, it was just implemented badly.

> -There should not be sprint

Agreed

> -There should not be armor abilities

I actually think they should be kept, but as pickups on the maps.

> -There should not be waypoints telling you where weapons are as if you’re completely incapable of finding a consistent spawn point

Well, since I want random ordnance, not in it’s current form though, waypoints are needed for them to work. While static spawns are good, random spawns with waypoints can still be made to work like static spawns. The higher level play is just brought lower down. If you know what I mean.

My solution to the problems

> -There should be a beta before you release one of the most anticipated games in history so you dont s*** the bed like 343 did

No need to be hostile.

Although betas are always good.

3

these are dark days indeed.

4

Sorry to hear that your opinion was not satisfied by 343…
Why not just go find gaming happiness elsewhere?

5

> > -There should not be ordinance drops
>
> The idea of ordnance drops is actually a good idea, it was just implemented badly.

I stopped with this one response from you…

What is good about any implementation of OD?

The randomness in location makes the game shallow.

The randomness in the weapon reduces the skill gap.

The way point over the OD reduces the skill gap.

The way point over the OD indicates when the OD was taken (when the way point goes away).

Tell me if I am missing something here. How could you implement an OD without any of these features? And if you do implement OD with none of these features, you wind up with weapon spawns like in Halo 3 or Reach.

6

> Sorry to hear that your opinion was not satisfied by 343…
> Why not just go find gaming happiness elsewhere?

with all due respect i don’t think you or even 343 for that matter fully appreciate how many people have played and loved this game for ten years. and thats why they are fighting tooth and nail to save this game.

7

> I stopped with this one response from you…

Ok

> What is good about any implementation of OD?

Variance

> The randomness in location makes the game shallow.

The locations are at pre-determined places, but I’m sure you knew that. That is no different than static spawns.

However the difference is that some locations go unused while others doesn’t.

So what does “random” locations bring to the game? Well, shifts in where the action happens. If player somehow knew where the weapons will spawn, with random locations.

> The randomness in the weapon reduces the skill gap.

I’m not sure I follow you here.

> The way point over the OD reduces the skill gap.

In what way? High level play in Halo 3 and Halo: Reach you might as well have put a waypoint over weapon spawns because everyone knew when a weapon got picked up and when it’d respawn. The waypoint is a necessary thing if the randomness of map ordnance is to be kept. High level play is brought down.

> The way point over the OD indicates when the OD was taken (when the way point goes away).

I don’t really see an issue with this. Perhaps for stealthy players, but everyone knows that the weapon is there regardless, atleast with the solution I posted.

> Tell me if I am missing something here. How could you implement an OD without any of these features? And if you do implement OD with none of these features, you wind up with weapon spawns like in Halo 3 or Reach.

Here’s a short summary of the thread I linked to:

1: Replace power weapon in personal drops with loadout weapons that would act as ammo refills.

2: Put the waypoints over the incoming drops long before the drop happens, 30 or so seconds before the drop, and show it to everyone on the map.

8

This is my point exactly. I’m not saying my life revolves around Halo, it certainly does not. But I have had some really incredible times playing Halo through my teenage years and it’s deeply saddening and disappointing to see such an incredible series of games turn into something as non-Halo as Halo 4. I would like to play Halo well into my twenties, but if Halo 5 turns out the way that Halo 4 did, I won’t hesitate to trash it.

There is absolutely no logical explanation as to why 343 had to change the basic mechanics of a game that garnered at the very least 100k people online per day (I’m referring to H3 here, but even Halo Reach approached these numbers). I understand that a new game needs to have new features to keep people excited. But how hard is it to do what Halo 3 did? They focused all their energy on making a few new vehicles (for all the casuals that 343 cares oh so much about), a few new cool weapons, a tiny bit of armor customization, and making incredible multiplayer maps. They tweaked the ranking system, but left it in there. They had equipment like power drain etc etc, but it was a pickup thing that could easily be disabled for a certain gametype and were not overpowered. They kept Halo at its very successful roots, upgraded the graphics, and kept the maps, weapons, vehicles, and gametypes fresh. That is literally all 343 needed to do.

I’m sorry if I’m coming off a bit hostile, but it just peeves me that these people claim to be Halo fans and then make a game that doesn’t even have all the basic Halo mechanics. They just seem lost and the community is absolutely crying for a change. We’ve given them the outline for a successful game. What we all want and need in order to buy the game and keep the online Halo community alive, but they continue to ignore us or be extremely vague when they actually do make changes. Bungie was on top of their stuff. They had betas and actually listened to feedback. That’s why H2 and H3 were massive successes. Even post TU Reach felt like Halo. It was playable. I just don’t even know what I’m playing when H4 is in my Xbox.

Any successful game has basic mechanics that never EVER EVER change and features are added with each new release. Look at CoD, Battlefield, any sports game, GoW…of course I have to fall in love with the one game whose producers seem deadset on making their own game that just sucks. I’m sorry it sucks. It’s almost a disgrace to call it Halo.

9

> Sorry to hear that your opinion was not satisfied by 343…
> Why not just go find gaming happiness elsewhere?

The reason why we don’t go away and find “gaming happiness elsewhere” is because there are no games that play like Halo. All we want is a game that plays like Halo 2 or 3 that has no lag, is balanced, has ranks and has no CoD/Battlefield inspired game play; is that too much to ask for? Apparently so. Why does every FPS have to be a carbon copy of CoD, if I wanted to play CoD I would, but guess what? I don’t, I want to play Halo.

10

> > I stopped with this one response from you…
>
> Ok
>
>
>
> > What is good about any implementation of OD?
>
> Variance
>
>
>
> > The randomness in location makes the game shallow.
>
> The locations are at pre-determined places, but I’m sure you knew that. That is no different than static spawns.
>
> However the difference is that some locations go unused while others doesn’t.
>
> So what does “random” locations bring to the game? Well, shifts in where the action happens. If player somehow knew where the weapons will spawn, with random locations.
>
>
>
> > The randomness in the weapon reduces the skill gap.
>
> I’m not sure I follow you here.
>
>
>
> > The way point over the OD reduces the skill gap.
>
> In what way? High level play in Halo 3 and Halo: Reach you might as well have put a waypoint over weapon spawns because everyone knew when a weapon got picked up and when it’d respawn. The waypoint is a necessary thing if the randomness of map ordnance is to be kept. High level play is brought down.
>
>
>
> > The way point over the OD indicates when the OD was taken (when the way point goes away).
>
> I don’t really see an issue with this. Perhaps for stealthy players, but everyone knows that the weapon is there regardless, atleast with the solution I posted.
>
>
>
> > Tell me if I am missing something here. How could you implement an OD without any of these features? And if you do implement OD with none of these features, you wind up with weapon spawns like in Halo 3 or Reach.
>
> Here’s a short summary of the thread I linked to:
>
> 1: Replace power weapon in personal drops with loadout weapons that would act as ammo refills.
>
> 2: Put the waypoints over the incoming drops long before the drop happens, 30 or so seconds before the drop, and show it to everyone on the map.

Ordinance drops aren’t strategic at all. If people know where weapons are going to spawn statically, then why do ordinance drops even serve a purpose? If you want an ammo refill like you are suggesting, either kill someone and take their ammo or find one of the static spawns and replenish your gun. Personal ordinance drops are absurd as they make the game wildly imbalanced and unfair the second the first person gets one. In theory, someone could throw a random grenade and get a triple kill and then be rewarded with a sniper/overshield/damage boost which put him at a massive advantage over everyone else. Static spawns encourage strategy and timing. Everyone is on the same playing field and if you want that overshield, you better have a better shot, strategy, or timing than me. Map ordinance drops are better, but there is no need for the waypoint. Everyone knows where the weapon is. All that the waypoint does is alert people who otherwise would not have known about it, which is not fair to people who care about timing it, and they basically alert the other team of your location if you pick a gun up.

11

> Ordinance drops aren’t strategic at all. If people know where weapons are going to spawn statically, then why do ordinance drops even serve a purpose?

Wait, where did I say that the waypoint should be on a static spawn? I said that the waypoint is required when weapon drops are random. So people know what dropped and where. Improving the system and making it balanced while retaining the randomness in the map ordnance system requires the waypoints.

The ordnance system makes matches varied, or atleast it’s an attempt to, but the current system is flawed and thus needs and improvement, which I provided.

> If you want an ammo refill like you are suggesting, either kill someone and take their ammo or find one of the static spawns and replenish your gun.

Problem is that people now choose which weapons to start with, and that in itself doesn’t guarantee that I get ammo for my weapon, and as we know, static spawns doesn’t exist in vanilla halo 4.

> Personal ordinance drops are absurd as they make the game wildly imbalanced and unfair the second the first person gets one. In theory, someone could throw a random grenade and get a triple kill and then be rewarded with a sniper/overshield/damage boost which put him at a massive advantage over everyone else.

And I said “replace power weapons with loadout weapons”.

> Static spawns encourage strategy and timing. Everyone is on the same playing field and if you want that overshield, you better have a better shot, strategy, or timing than me.

And random drops everyone knows about doesn’t? Enlighten me how everyone on the map knows that a static weapon will spawn in 20 seconds is any different to everyone knowing that a weapon will drop at a location due to a waypoint in 20 seconds.

You still need to be a better shot, have a better strategy and better timing than your opponent to aquire the weapon.

> Map ordinance drops are better, but there is no need for the waypoint. Everyone knows where the weapon is. All that the waypoint does is alert people who otherwise would not have known about it, which is not fair to people who care about timing it, and they basically alert the other team of your location if you pick a gun up.

No, not everyone knows where it is. The waypoint is only visible if you’re within 80 metres, any further out and it fades away, then there’s no indication that a weapon will drop, if anything, that is absurd. Now remove the waypoint and only those within line of sight will actually see it.

Everyone should see the waypoint, this is like everyone knowing the spawn times before.

The waypoint shows which weapon will spawn, this is like everyone knowing what weapon spawns at what place.

The location as well, this is like everyone knowing where a weapon will spawn.

I’m not talking for the system we have now, I’m talking for an improved system that is rebalanced.

12

> > Ordinance drops aren’t strategic at all. If people know where weapons are going to spawn statically, then why do ordinance drops even serve a purpose?
>
> Wait, where did I say that the waypoint should be on a static spawn? I said that the waypoint is required when weapon drops are random. So people know what dropped and where. Improving the system and making it balanced while retaining the randomness in the map ordnance system requires the waypoints.
>
> The ordnance system makes matches varied, or atleast it’s an attempt to, but the current system is flawed and thus needs and improvement, which I provided.
>
>
>
> > If you want an ammo refill like you are suggesting, either kill someone and take their ammo or find one of the static spawns and replenish your gun.
>
> Problem is that people now choose which weapons to start with, and that in itself doesn’t guarantee that I get ammo for my weapon, and as we know, static spawns doesn’t exist in vanilla halo 4.
>
>
>
> > Personal ordinance drops are absurd as they make the game wildly imbalanced and unfair the second the first person gets one. In theory, someone could throw a random grenade and get a triple kill and then be rewarded with a sniper/overshield/damage boost which put him at a massive advantage over everyone else.
>
> And I said “replace power weapons with loadout weapons”.
>
>
>
> > Static spawns encourage strategy and timing. Everyone is on the same playing field and if you want that overshield, you better have a better shot, strategy, or timing than me.
>
> And random drops everyone knows about doesn’t? Enlighten me how everyone on the map knows that a static weapon will spawn in 20 seconds is any different to everyone knowing that a weapon will drop at a location due to a waypoint in 20 seconds.
>
> You still need to be a better shot, have a better strategy and better timing than your opponent to aquire the weapon.
>
>
>
> > Map ordinance drops are better, but there is no need for the waypoint. Everyone knows where the weapon is. All that the waypoint does is alert people who otherwise would not have known about it, which is not fair to people who care about timing it, and they basically alert the other team of your location if you pick a gun up.
>
> No, not everyone knows where it is. The waypoint is only visible if you’re within 80 metres, any further out and it fades away, then there’s no indication that a weapon will drop, if anything, that is absurd. Now remove the waypoint and only those within line of sight will actually see it.
>
> Everyone should see the waypoint, this is like everyone knowing the spawn times before.
>
> The waypoint shows which weapon will spawn, this is like everyone knowing what weapon spawns at what place.
>
> The location as well, this is like everyone knowing where a weapon will spawn.
>
> I’m not talking for the system we have now, I’m talking for an improved system that is rebalanced.

What I am saying is why not return to the system that has worked for years and cemented Halo as one of the best game franchises of all time? Why does it even need to be changed? Ordinance drops just do not flow with the game at all. In my opinion, everyone should start with the same weapon and if you kill someone then you take their ammo. If you effectively time a power weapon, you should get it. And it should be in the same exact place every time. That’s Halo. I’m not saying your way wouldn’t work in Halo 4, it’s better than what they have now. But it still isn’t Halo at the core.

Halo is everyone on the same playing field at all times. You start with the same weapon, you walk at the same speed (no sprint/speed boost), you do the same damage with each gun (no damage boost), you have equal opportunity to obtain power weapons (no personal ordinances)

Gosh it’s just frustrating the more I think about how obvious all of this is. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Halo 2 and Halo 3 were not even remotely broken. Probably two of the most revolutionary games of their time that catapulted Xbox live to supremacy. And 343 wont even admit they messed up. Halo 4’s online population is so bad I think Halo Reach is one or two slots below it and there are 2 CoD titles ahead of it.

Here is what you need, it’s really this simple:
-Balance of map selection: several compact arena style COMPETITIVE maps (Midship, Warlock, Sanctuary), some medium size multipurpose maps (Pit), some big maps (Blood Gulch, Valhalla) and change the scenery/color scheme/textures for each one
-Balance of playlists: Ranked and Social. Simple as that. Could not be easier and more effective
-Ranking system: Provides incentive to play to win and not quit when you go down 6-0. Either deal with boosters as they are reported or find a better way to identify them and stop them
-No sprint, armor abilities, equipment, none none none
-Same starting weapons for everyone
-Static weapon and grenade spawns on timers
-Halfway decent forge model (H4 is fine in this sense for the time being)
-Put descope back in the game for pete’s sake

It may be too late for 343 by now, but if they don’t take care of these issues they will never get their fans back and Halo will crash and burn. As much as it pains me to say so. This isn’t Halo anymore. It’s 343 making their own spinoff, which is atrocious