I quit after a month. Halo 4 a year later.

Games Other Halo
#1

So as the title already made clear, I purchased Halo4 and pretty much stopped playing it seriously a month after release. Once in a blue I turned it on to play with a friend, but not often. Now after a year of really not touching it I jumped on expecting some updates, a few changes, some things to make it tolerable. I was again disappointed. Its really as if game developers are clueless as to what made their games fun, competitive, and gave them massive amounts of replay value.

I honestly dont even know where to start, and im sure im not saying anything that hasnt already been spoken about a million times over. Matching making should have just been almost completely redeveloped. I have started multiple games 4v1 4v2, and some of the times nobody loads in for the other team. What 12 people sat in a room together and thought this was a good idea? This wasnt the xbl beta where people were getting their first glimpse of a console playing online for the original xbox. this was a franchise that had been well developed, a system that was proven to work, yet somehow an organization of people who supposedly know gaming went a made these decision. Can the community really wrap their mind around that thought. This wasnt a random choice, people were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and agreed on these things. It boggles my mind to say the least.

Now again we are dealt with no rank applied to match making. You realize the original idea behind a rank wasnt to give players something to work for, it wasnt a prize, or something everyone wasnt supposed to be equal on. Its main purpose was to filter people with players of the same relative skill in order to ensure fun equally matched gameplay, and although some people felt a sense of entitlement, and cried on the Hal2 Bungie forums about how they wanted a level 50 and it wasnt fair, they still continued to play. They played over, and over, and over again because they wanted to get a 50, and it made it competitive. Now a days its not competitive, its not even fun. And yes, I am one of those players who are for a physical rank. Why? Not because I like to boast, because I never did, but because I enjoy competition. I like to know where I stand in the world, as do many of the people I have played with. I dont like beating a team of players and not knowing if they were good, or just terrible. I also HATE matching up against people who arnt as good a player as I. If I wanted to dominate someone all day, I would play Lan with my GF. I go online for consistency, and competition.

As many can agree, the series has been in a huge decline since Halo 2’s release. Halo 2 pretty much nailed the online experience, and its very apparent now that gaming companies have no clue what the formula was that made it so great. I honestly could go in to great detail about what was great about that game compared to others, why its match making system worked, and why the gameplay itself gave it such longevity, but it would be a huge essay that I have written before and already know it goes mostly ignored.

I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.

#2

Wow, +1 internetz for you. I almost completely agree. The only part I find it hard to agree with is where the “huge decline” happened. Halo 3 was even greater than 2. I’m not sure if you were there doing 3’s prime, but it just, like, captivating. Not only that, but the gaming community was bigger than it was during Halo 2’s days, but still, both titles were excellent and it just continued to grow—and I think it’s the latter that matters most of all.

I would have to say that the decline started happening during Reach’s days. Halo: Reach was a very mixed bag, but sadly 343i decided to build-up on Reach’s model and copy many elements from “that game”, which in turn caused this game’s core to be ruined beyond belief.

It’s sad, but all we can do is wait till Halo 5 and see if 343i learned their lesson.

#3

> Wow, +1 internetz for you. I almost completely agree. The only part I find it hard to agree with is where the “huge decline” happened. Halo 3 was even greater than 2. I’m not sure if you were there doing 3’s prime, but it just, like, captivating. Not only that, but the gaming community was bigger than it was during Halo 2’s days, but still, both titles were excellent and it just continued to grow—and I think it’s the latter that matters most of all.
>
> I would have to say that the decline started happening during Reach’s days. Halo: Reach was a very mixed bag, but sadly 343i decided to build-up on Reach’s model and copy many elements from “that game”, which in turn caused this game’s core to be ruined beyond belief.
>
> It’s sad, but all we can do is wait till Halo 5 and see if 343i learned their lesson.

agree 100%.

halo 3 was awesome.

i also feel reach was as far in that direction as we needed to go and 343 could have just refined what was there. instead they took all those ideas and ran with em even further out into the abyss.

ill wait to see how well halo 5 does before i buy it. fool me once…

#4

> So as the title already made clear, I purchased Halo4 and pretty much stopped playing it seriously a month after release. Once in a blue I turned it on to play with a friend, but not often. Now after a year of really not touching it I jumped on expecting some updates, a few changes, some things to make it tolerable. I was again disappointed. Its really as if game developers are clueless as to what made their games fun, competitive, and gave them massive amounts of replay value.
>
> I honestly dont even know where to start, and im sure im not saying anything that hasnt already been spoken about a million times over. Matching making should have just been almost completely redeveloped. I have started multiple games 4v1 4v2, and some of the times nobody loads in for the other team. What 12 people sat in a room together and thought this was a good idea? This wasnt the xbl beta where people were getting their first glimpse of a console playing online for the original xbox. this was a franchise that had been well developed, a system that was proven to work, yet somehow an organization of people who supposedly know gaming went a made these decision. Can the community really wrap their mind around that thought. This wasnt a random choice, people were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and agreed on these things. It boggles my mind to say the least.
>
> Now again we are dealt with no rank applied to match making. You realize the original idea behind a rank wasnt to give players something to work for, it wasnt a prize, or something everyone wasnt supposed to be equal on. Its main purpose was to filter people with players of the same relative skill in order to ensure fun equally matched gameplay, and although some people felt a sense of entitlement, and cried on the Hal2 Bungie forums about how they wanted a level 50 and it wasnt fair, they still continued to play. They played over, and over, and over again because they wanted to get a 50, and it made it competitive. Now a days its not competitive, its not even fun. And yes, I am one of those players who are for a physical rank. Why? Not because I like to boast, because I never did, but because I enjoy competition. I like to know where I stand in the world, as do many of the people I have played with. I dont like beating a team of players and not knowing if they were good, or just terrible. I also HATE matching up against people who arnt as good a player as I. If I wanted to dominate someone all day, I would play Lan with my GF. I go online for consistency, and competition.
>
> As many can agree, the series has been in a huge decline since Halo 2’s release. Halo 2 pretty much nailed the online experience, and its very apparent now that gaming companies have no clue what the formula was that made it so great. I honestly could go in to great detail about what was great about that game compared to others, why its match making system worked, and why the gameplay itself gave it such longevity, but it would be a huge essay that I have written before and already know it goes mostly ignored.
>
> I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.

  1. I don’t think they can prevent someone from dash boarding or ejecting their disk. Players are locked in once a map has been selected. Someone please inform me if this has been different in the previous games.

  2. 343 already stated some things cannot be done to halo 4. This includes changes to the user interface and that involves putting an in game rank in. This was stated before the weapons update.

  3. IMO halo 2 had the worst MP. Button combos, huge hit boxes and aim assist, game was pretty much unplayable for the first 6 months etc. I really think halo 2 was only praised so much because it was the first halo MP for console (not many bought halo CE for the PC.)

#5

> > So as the title already made clear, I purchased Halo4 and pretty much stopped playing it seriously a month after release. Once in a blue I turned it on to play with a friend, but not often. Now after a year of really not touching it I jumped on expecting some updates, a few changes, some things to make it tolerable. I was again disappointed. Its really as if game developers are clueless as to what made their games fun, competitive, and gave them massive amounts of replay value.
> >
> > I honestly dont even know where to start, and im sure im not saying anything that hasnt already been spoken about a million times over. Matching making should have just been almost completely redeveloped. I have started multiple games 4v1 4v2, and some of the times nobody loads in for the other team. What 12 people sat in a room together and thought this was a good idea? This wasnt the xbl beta where people were getting their first glimpse of a console playing online for the original xbox. this was a franchise that had been well developed, a system that was proven to work, yet somehow an organization of people who supposedly know gaming went a made these decision. Can the community really wrap their mind around that thought. This wasnt a random choice, people were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and agreed on these things. It boggles my mind to say the least.
> >
> > Now again we are dealt with no rank applied to match making. You realize the original idea behind a rank wasnt to give players something to work for, it wasnt a prize, or something everyone wasnt supposed to be equal on. Its main purpose was to filter people with players of the same relative skill in order to ensure fun equally matched gameplay, and although some people felt a sense of entitlement, and cried on the Hal2 Bungie forums about how they wanted a level 50 and it wasnt fair, they still continued to play. They played over, and over, and over again because they wanted to get a 50, and it made it competitive. Now a days its not competitive, its not even fun. And yes, I am one of those players who are for a physical rank. Why? Not because I like to boast, because I never did, but because I enjoy competition. I like to know where I stand in the world, as do many of the people I have played with. I dont like beating a team of players and not knowing if they were good, or just terrible. I also HATE matching up against people who arnt as good a player as I. If I wanted to dominate someone all day, I would play Lan with my GF. I go online for consistency, and competition.
> >
> > As many can agree, the series has been in a huge decline since Halo 2’s release. Halo 2 pretty much nailed the online experience, and its very apparent now that gaming companies have no clue what the formula was that made it so great. I honestly could go in to great detail about what was great about that game compared to others, why its match making system worked, and why the gameplay itself gave it such longevity, but it would be a huge essay that I have written before and already know it goes mostly ignored.
> >
> > I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.
>
> 1) I don’t think they can prevent someone from dash boarding or ejecting their disk. Players are locked in once a map has been selected. Someone please inform me if this has been different in the previous games.
>
> 2) 343 already stated some things cannot be done to halo 4. This includes changes to the user interface and that involves putting an in game rank in. This was stated before the weapons update.
>
> 3) IMO halo 2 had the worst MP. Button combos, huge hit boxes and aim assist, game was pretty much unplayable for the first 6 months etc. I really think halo 2 was only praised so much because it was the first halo MP for console (not many bought halo CE for the PC.)

  1. Some people who are programmers claim it would be easy for 343 to add a rank in, and even said where it could easily have been added in, like visual-wise in the interface. I’m not a programmer so I have no idea.

I really think 343 could do it if they chose to, but its probably a bad business choice, or that’s what they and/or Microsoft think at least.

At the very least, it really isn’t practical to make a drastic change like that through a patch, and I would have been ecstatic if they had done it, so I’m not against it at all.

  1. Halo 2 is a much older video game so the quality is naturally lower than newer games. They didn’t know how to beta test a game like that very good yet or look for bugs or whatever, all that technical stuff. I’m sure that’s why BXR’ing got through, but lots of people loved the speed it brought to the game. I think rather than running from it Bungie might have been wise to simply add an animation into it instead, but who knows, Halo 3 turned out great any way!

The aim assist in 4 seems pretty insane to me, at least in campaign. That’s where I’ve noticed it. Sometimes it pulls my aim indicator to enemies I don’t want to shoot, and I’ve never had that happen in any Halo game before. So I find Halo 2 having more aim magnetism than 4 to be hard to believe, but maybe its true in multiplayer. I’m not positive either way on that any where honestly. It doesn’t seem like a huge deal to me though in comparison to all the serious problems Halo 4 has.

Halo 2 is definitely not praised because it was first. CE and 2 were hands down the most quality Halo games with all Halo games put into perspective for their times, with Halo 3 coming in a VERY close 3rd for quality. I think the only reason Halo 3 is edged out by CE and 2 in quality is because Bungie used development time and resources on Theater and Forge, meaning less of their time and resources were available for Campaign and Multiplayer, unlike when they developed CE and 2.

Moving past those points you brought up, I would like to add one here.

I enjoy Forge mode, Firefight a little, and did not like Spartan Ops, but I honestly believe we would see a significant increase in quality in Campaign and Multiplayer if we supported Halo 5 only having Campaign, Multiplayer, and Theater modes. Campaign could be expanded to be customizable to create a Firefight/Spartan Ops/Forge like experience any way if 343 had more time and resources to put into it.

#6

Halo 2 only didnt outperform Halo3 because of the fact that so many more people had joined XBL at the time of Halo3’s release. There was noway anything could have prevented Halo3 from topping it on pure player count alone, and it also had Halo’2 reputation to go off of.

Halo 3 was in fact a great game, but it was where Halo gameplay started to decline. Its out performance was for reasons stated above. Halo implemented a vehicle heavy play system that wasnt as appealing, with some mind numbingly dull maps. Aside from being a huge tournament and MLG enthusiast. I was an extremely hardcore BTB n3rd. Halo completely destroyed Big Team battle. Not an ounce of fun was to be had with any of the maps they launched with, or even implemented yars later. They eliminated a gun dynamic Halo 2 had that added diversity to the gameplay experience. Guns like Br’s and carbines where the preferred weapons in Halo 2, but guns like the SMG and Pistol (combinations) were much better against vehicles. So peopl would go for these guns, it made the sandbox actually useful. In Halo3, nobody used dual wielded weapons, they were horrible, and really had no use on a map aside from the maulers. For Halo3 bungie decided to slow down the gameplay by making the run speed 1/4 slower then the previous two titles. This was a huge flaw. This eliminated strafing for the online matchmaking experience. This was a core gameplay mechanic that carried the franchise to where it was today, and they ditched it to make it easier for new people to play, and because the maps lacked complexity.

Halo3 also added a very glitchy bullet spread to the games flagship gun at the time. It just didnt seem to work well with its online programming, and aggravated a lot of players into quitting the game. You wouldnt notice, because so many more people purchased the game off Halo 2’s popularity.

I could seriously keep going, but you wont really care to read.

  1. People are not dash boarding and quiting out. They are starting games 4v2 just to have games to be played. Its why they implemented a system where people could join in the middle of a game. Today I was sitting in a search with 6 players for about 5 minutes, and the game decided to finally just launch. So you would think 3v3, correct? No. It started the game 4v2. Nobody had left, or dashboarded. It just started the match. So you are just wrong with your defense on this game.

2)this is something that should have been done before release. The bungie forums were full of threads and people who were complaining about the lack of a ranking in Reach.

  1. I would prefer Halo2 over any of the later Halo games. It had a different dynamic and balance that made it great. Vehicles werent over powered. The maps were amazing. OS and Camo added elements and tactics to the game that gave it more diversity, and made things more interested. It had ammo boxes and weapons placed on key point of the map that also made the players have to think and consider what was happening around them. All of this adds to longevity. The more things there are to do, and concentrate on at a giving moment makes the game more fun. Once you eliminate all of these things, its just HERP DERP point and shoot. And that lasts about a total of a month, then people get bored.
#7

> 1) I don’t think they can prevent someone from dash boarding or ejecting their disk. Players are locked in once a map has been selected. Someone please inform me if this has been different in the previous games.

It is different. In Halo 3 and Reach, players were locked in as soon as the player matches were finalized. Gametype and map selection occurred after the lock-in, not before.

> CE and 2 were hands down the most quality Halo games with all Halo games put into perspective for their times, with Halo 3 coming in a VERY close 3rd for quality. I think the only reason Halo 3 is edged out by CE and 2 in quality is because Bungie used development time and resources on Theater and Forge, meaning less of their time and resources were available for Campaign and Multiplayer, unlike when they developed CE and 2.

Interesting that you say that, because I considered Halo 3 to be the best Halo game in the series. It was more or less Halo 2 with better graphics, more polish, a better ranking system, and less magnetism (see Halo 2’s ridiculous magnetism here). The BR felt inconsistent at times, but I adapted.

#8

The game is a whole lot better than at launch. 343’s every action has to please the community to the point where I personally believe Halo 4 has the best matchmaking out of any recent game.

> I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.

I’m sorry but the only playlist you tried was Team Throwdown which is pretty much as close to classic Halo as you can get. The gametypes/maps that made it into the playlist were chosen by Ghostayame. If you think the settings are unplayable, Halo isn’t really for you.

Saying 343 has done nothing to the game is just down right ignorant. Here is just a small list off the back of my head
-Global Championship
-Massive weapon tuning: 4SK BR, Boltshot nerf, Warthog buff ect
-Added Extraction into matchmaking which is a brilliant, competitive gametype
-Alternate Slayer variants including a classic gametype
-Free Forge Island DLC
-Bullseye map pack including Pitfall
-Majestic and Castle map packs were some of the best to any Halo yet
-Added cool gametypes into matchmaking like Mini Slayer
-Made BTIS into BTB (added objectives)
-Added great new weapon skins and stances
-Added Ricochet
-Birthday/Halloween playlists

I swear there are major things I forgot.

#9

> For Halo3 bungie decided to slow down the gameplay by making the run speed 1/4 slower then the previous two titles. This was a huge flaw.

Really? You honestly think that the base running speed is 25% slower in Halo 3 than it is in CE and 2?

Wow, just wow.

#10

> The game is a whole lot better than at launch. 343’s every action has to please the community to the point where I personally believe Halo 4 has the best matchmaking out of any recent game.
>
>
>
> > I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.
>
> I’m sorry but the only playlist you tried was Team Throwdown which is pretty much as close to classic Halo as you can get. The gametypes/maps that made it into the playlist were chosen by Ghostayame. If you think the settings are unplayable, Halo isn’t really for you.
>
> Saying 343 has done nothing to the game is just down right ignorant. Here is just a small list off the back of my head
> -Global Championship
> -Massive weapon tuning: 4SK BR, Boltshot nerf, Warthog buff ect
> -Added Extraction into matchmaking which is a brilliant, competitive gametype
> -Alternate Slayer variants including a classic gametype
> -Free Forge Island DLC
> -Bullseye map pack including Pitfall
> -Majestic and Castle map packs were some of the best to any Halo yet
> -Added cool gametypes into matchmaking like Mini Slayer
> -Made BTIS into BTB (added objectives)
> -Added great new weapon skins and stances
> -Added Ricochet
> -Birthday/Halloween playlists
>
> I swear there are major things I forgot.

Lol what? I think you have it backwards. If you think that IS PLAYABLE then halo isnt for you.

If i wanted sprint/flinch/giantmaps/loadouts i would turn my PC on and play bf4.

#11

> Lol what? I think you have it backwards. If you think that IS PLAYABLE then halo isnt for you.
>
> If i wanted sprint/flinch/giantmaps/loadouts i would turn my PC on and play bf4.

Had Halo CE started with Flinch, larger maps and loadouts, sprint ect I don’t think people would have been complaining. People would have continued to play with the series despite these factors that somehow make the game “unplayable”.

The fact is de-scope plays better however a lack of de-scope doesn’t make it unplayable. I mean it doesn’t make other games unplayable, right?

There are plenty of small maps in the game so don’t give me that crap. If your playing a big map, then your playing in BTB. The biggest map in Team Slayer is Solace. Adrift, Haven, Abandon, Vertigo, Pitfall, Skyline, Monolith, Landfall and all forge maps in the playlist fit 4v4 just fine, even if Sprint was disabled.

Loadouts barely make a game unplayable. Granted, loadouts were executed poorly in Halo 4, as with any game, however the primary weapons are balanced very well and the only problems I can see with loadouts are the perks/AAs. If you don’t want to play the more casual gametypes with loadouts, there are plenty of alternatives so quit pretending like they are not.

I’m not saying any of the above factors have improved the game, personally I hate Flinch and am not a fan on Sprint. However they are not as terribly bad as people make them out to be. I mean if Sprint was that game breaking it would have been removed yet its not because it doesn’t really harm gameplay that much. Nor does it make the game “unplayable”.

#12

> Had Halo CE started with Flinch, larger maps and loadouts, sprint ect I don’t think people would have been complaining. People would have continued to play with the series despite these factors that somehow make the game “unplayable”.

Had Halo started with flinch, larger maps, loadouts, sprint, and etc., it would have gathered an entirely different following. The fanbase would have been made up of different players–players who liked those mechanics. The players who were drawn to Halo liked it for the gameplay it had, not for the name on the box.

> I’m not saying any of the above factors have improved the game, personally I hate Flinch and am not a fan on Sprint. However they are not as terribly bad as people make them out to be. I mean if Sprint was that game breaking it would have been removed yet its not because it doesn’t really harm gameplay that much. Nor does it make the game “unplayable”.

Agree to an extent. I agree that people should use descriptive words to describe what they think instead of exaggerating with vague words like “unplayable,” “garbage,” etc. However, these mechanics have driven some players away, so in that way, they do make the game “unplayable” to them.

#13

> The game is a whole lot better than at launch. 343’s every action has to please the community to the point where I personally believe Halo 4 has the best matchmaking out of any recent game.
>
>
>
> > I am just disappointed that I spent the money on this game, and that even after a year its unplayable.
>
> I’m sorry but the only playlist you tried was Team Throwdown which is pretty much as close to classic Halo as you can get. The gametypes/maps that made it into the playlist were chosen by Ghostayame. If you think the settings are unplayable, Halo isn’t really for you.
>
> Saying 343 has done nothing to the game is just down right ignorant. Here is just a small list off the back of my head
> -Global Championship
> -Massive weapon tuning: 4SK BR, Boltshot nerf, Warthog buff ect
> -Added Extraction into matchmaking which is a brilliant, competitive gametype
> -Alternate Slayer variants including a classic gametype
> -Free Forge Island DLC
> -Bullseye map pack including Pitfall
> -Majestic and Castle map packs were some of the best to any Halo yet
> -Added cool gametypes into matchmaking like Mini Slayer
> -Made BTIS into BTB (added objectives)
> -Added great new weapon skins and stances
> -Added Ricochet
> -Birthday/Halloween playlists
>
> <mark>I swear there are major things I forgot</mark>.

I’m sure there are, but I agree with all you said.

#14

I reached 130 not even a Month after it was released.

#15

Haven’t been on Halo 4 in 2 months due to the stupid bugs with the champions bundle DLC. Now that I got some games that aren’t Halo I don’t plan on going on and experiencing the same issues I found before like 343 catering to the majority of the crowd and the neglect of some of the simple issues that can be fixed, one of which theater not being in campaign because they can’t do it then later saying that it can be but they don’t have the resources even though now they do and they won’t.

I really am hoping that Halo 5 will resemble Halo, and not Titanfall.

#16

> I reached 130 not even a Month after it was released.

Few months for me, way too soon, even for a decent player.

#17

I don’t want to get banned again but all I’m going to say is: Halo 4 is not Halo, and that’s why you, me and other 380,000 people stopped from playing it in less than two months after release.

I really hope 343i decides to return our Halo for the next installment. If not, goodbye forever.

#18

I don’t know why I have so much patience with this game. I play it because I love the Halo series but it’s seriously not fun most of the time. Most of the time the game is just plain frustrating.

#19

> Haven’t been on Halo 4 in 2 months due to the stupid bugs with the champions bundle DLC. Now that I got some games that aren’t Halo I don’t plan on going on and experiencing the same issues I found before like 343 catering to the majority of the crowd and the neglect of some of the simple issues that can be fixed, one of which theater not being in campaign because they can’t do it then later saying that it can be but they don’t have the resources even though now they do and they won’t.
>
> I really am hoping that Halo 5 will resemble Halo, <mark>and not Titanfall.</mark>

That would be scary if that happened, because Halo 4 resembles CoD greatly.

#20

I agree apart from that the series has been in decline since Halo 2, Halo 3 and Reach were awesome.

I hold out hope that 343 have learnt from their mistakes and will make Halo 5 an epic game. The campaign will no doubt be awesome, like Halo 4’s, but multiplayer is what needs their attention more.