I spent a day at 343

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

A friend and I were lucky enough and had the pleasure of being able to spend a full day at 343 about a month ago. We got a chance to meet many of the developers and check out the new studio. It helped to give me a much better perspective and appreciation for the team. Reading these forums gets pretty frustrating at times. Players come on here, more often than not, to complain about the franchise and games. 343 is ****ing this up, 343 games are ****. Why doesn’t 343 just copy and past X into Y. I have been enjoying Halo 5. 343 started with a vision in Halo 4 as a newly formed team. In Halo 5, they listened to feedback from the community about Halo 4, but they also stuck to their vision. I believe the game and the franchise is all the better for it. It makes me sad reading so many negative comments and pointless posts on here though. 343 is a collection of people. People with families, wants, desires, and most of all, feelings. They put so much time and effort into these games 3 years of development and hard work at the minimum went into Halo 5. Passion, hard work, long nights, tears, frustration, joy, laughs. A collection of people working together towards one vision. I don’t believe you have to love Halo 5 or agree with ever design choice, but understand that they are people that read and hear you, the community. They work hard to give this game everything they can. The arena multiplayer is some of the best and most balanced competitive skill based games available now, with more social experiences on the way. Warzone, while it has it’s flaws, is the most ambitious Halo mode yet. It takes sooooo many resources to run 24 players, vehicles, A.I. different weapons that don’t despawn right away, armors, weapon skins, and huge maps! Like, I’m not a computer programmer, but I have a basic understanding of how it works, and seriously, Warzone is a pretty impressive feat that can only improve from here. They have also given us a huge and expanded forge mode. On top of all of it, they are continuously adding in more and expanding the game through free updates… EVERY MONTH! There is more content in Halo 5, with more coming for the next several months. I’m proud of what the team has made and I support it. I just hope some of you can take a little time and step back. Think about how or what you’re posting. Is it constructive feedback? Is it lashing out because a feature you enjoyed was axed? Are you conveying it in a positive manner that the team could take into consideration and add in? Or are you whining while kicking and screaming?

Edit, My day there:
I have a friend that was granted a make-a-wish, and he invited me on a trip of a lifetime. We spent three days in Seattle and then went to 343 for a day. When we went, we arrived around 10 in the morning on January 20th. BSangel was our point of contact for the studio and she showed us around. So we checked in at the front desk and we got to check out the Master Chief statue that Bravo showed in the community update last month. After that, she gave us a briefing of what we were going to do for the day and gave us a small tour. The offices were still coming together since they had just shifted studios. We walked down to the studios cafeteria, there is a wall with every employee on it. They take mugshots, so my friend and I got our own mugshots taken. It was rad. They had a replica assault rifle or DMR we could use. I obviously went for the classic Halo 3 Chief look with the assault rifle. My friend used the DMR for the precision look. They then took us up to the forge team where we sat down and they showed us some awesome features. They take constant community feedback and are always watching what is created and how they can use that to improve forge. They have a lot of fun just coming with crazy ideas and they also want to really try and open up the sandbox for players. They let my friend brainstorm an idea for a new forge item, we are waiting to hear if it is going to make it in or not. We had a few ideas, so not sure what will happen. From there, they took us down stairs to a trophy room of sorts. It wasn’t set up yet, but they are taking a lot of the drops from the live action commercials and shows and putting them on display. We got to check them out, try on some props and ask a lot of questions! For lunch we were able to sit down with the writers and holders of the canon and ask them questions and BS about the Halo universe. Suffice to say, Orbital Dog Shock Troopers need to be a thing. Flohnson and Florge, flood resurrected fan favorites also need to happen hahaha! After lunch, we checked out the new in studio studio for livestreaming and video production. I’m really excited to see what comes out of there. Then the took us to a play lab, where we played with the team and got to test out the January update and see all the reqs that launched last month. I got to play next to Strongside which was pretty rad! It was a riot and I forgot how great a huge LAN party could be, what better way then with a 24 player LAN with the developers! At the end of the day, we went back to chat with the forge team some more. I don’t know what all I can say, because a few things are what the really want to do but can’t make any promises, but know that all the teams there do hear you! They are constantly working on ways to improve the game for every one. It just takes time. They can’t just whip it together. It’s a process. They have lost sleep and have worked hard to keep adding in great features and bringing back fan favorites!

TL;DR:
Developers are people, 343 does hear you. The trip my friend and I had was a blast.

2

This sounds like a PR post from Bonnie Ross and Company.

3

Did they give you any hint on if we would get any maps that are not forge? Did you ask them if they read the comments here or the comments on Reddit? I will gladly GLADLY spend real money on REQs if they give us some real content. I have come to the conclusion that they spent most of their time working on the matchmaking process which badly needed to be overhauled. They have done an excellent job with that. So Kudos to them. Now all the have to do is give us some maps and gametypes. I would think that part would be easy as it already part of the game as customs. IF they need help they should allow players to use forge and post maps in one area for public review and vote. IF they get enough votes, they get added to the game. The game could EASILY have 20 to 25 maps that cost 343 next to nothing in money or time and be maps that most people would want to play. I for one love the game. I would just like a little more content and I’ll be satisfied.

4

your title is misleading. You share no details of your day at 343.

Which has since been edited.

5

I agree with OP, glad you said it, I speak form personal experience when I say I know how hard it is to make a game, give them some slack, it is a million times harder than you could ever expect it to be.

6

I wouldn’t go there if they offered to fly me out and put me up in a hotel for free.

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> 2717573882290994;6:
> I wouldn’t go there if they offered to fly me out and put me up in a hotel for free.

I agree, I would rather be home playing Halo 5 too instead of taking flights. Good point

8

> 2717573882290994;6:
> I wouldn’t go there if they offered to fly me out and put me up in a hotel for free.

Really lol you wouldn’t spend a day in Seattle for free? And see a gaming studio in the flesh as a result (given you’re even a gaming fan to begin with but given this comment I’m having my doubts)

9

And why should I care?

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> 2535464169630092;9:
> And why should I care?

You’re not obligated to, but you did care enough to click on the post and comment on it lol

11

I completely agree with what you are saying. 343 works their assess off to bring us updates and new content each month. That’s why I keep everything I say monitored and I have a lot of respect for 343.

12

Disgusting way to camouflage a PR post…

13

Well said. I agree, people can get so mindlessly angry at 343i. I don’t necessarily agree with some of the choices they made for Halo 5 but, they did some things right. One example, the controversial “Sprint” topic. In Halo 4, that seemed to be the only thing people could talk about. Some liked it, while others did not. 343i decided to have Sprint stop your shield’s from recharging while you’re sprinting. They did the best they could do to make both sides happy. And the Spartan Abilities, great idea! They turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the game.

Some people need to remember that the people at 343i are humans, too. They make mistakes, sure. But they are trying to do the best they can with this MASSIVE franchise they’ve been given. You don’t have to agree with the choices they make, however, be civil when you suggest that they should do something different. With all the time and effort they have poured into this game, we owe them that much.

14

Try using paragraphs. People generally stay away from walls of text.

Anyways, don’t be fooled by the special treatment and VIP tour. All 343I cares about is keeping their shareholders happy. That’s why they adopted the freemium model; they’re raking in millions for content that shouldn’t have been monetized in the first place. Imagine if you unlocked an armor set with experience, or req points. Then you could level up and do commendations to unlock other variants of the armor?

Same with weapon loadouts. People seem to forget that the game could have been designed a lot better if it weren’t made with the intent just to take your money.

Why so you think they keep releasing “free content” every month? It should have been in the original release, along with all the game modes. Just like all other halo titles had. Obviously some game types and maps could come out with map packs.

Don’t fool yourself by thinking its all to keep the player base the same for ease of update and matchmaking. It’s designed to keep you buying reqs, and to keep coming back because of the trickle feed of “free content”.

15

Owe them much? you sound like 343 is an indie developer who creates halo just for fun. oO
Dude, they get paid for. what they are doing…

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> 2533274806844209;1:
> A friend and I were lucky enough and had the pleasure of being able to spend a full day at 343 about a month ago. We got a chance to meet many of the developers and check out the new studio. It helped to give me a much better perspective and appreciation for the team. Reading these forums gets pretty frustrating at times. Players come on here, more often than not, to complain about the franchise and games. 343 is ****ing this up, 343 games are ****. Why doesn’t 343 just copy and past X into Y. I have been enjoying Halo 5. 343 started with a vision in Halo 4 as a newly formed team. In Halo 5, they listened to feedback from the community about Halo 4, but they also stuck to their vision. I believe the game and the franchise is all the better for it. It makes me sad reading so many negative comments and pointless posts on here though. 343 is a collection of people. People with families, wants, desires, and most of all, feelings. They put so much time and effort into these games 3 years of development and hard work at the minimum went into Halo 5. Passion, hard work, long nights, tears, frustration, joy, laughs. A collection of people working together towards one vision. I don’t believe you have to love Halo 5 or agree with ever design choice, but understand that they are people that read and hear you, the community. They work hard to give this game everything they can. The arena multiplayer is some of the best and most balanced competitive skill based games available now, with more social experiences on the way. Warzone, while it has it’s flaws, is the most ambitious Halo mode yet. It takes sooooo many resources to run 24 players, vehicles, A.I. different weapons that don’t despawn right away, armors, weapon skins, and huge maps! Like, I’m not a computer programmer, but I have a basic understanding of how it works, and seriously, Warzone is a pretty impressive feat that can only improve from here. They have also given us a huge and expanded forge mode. On top of all of it, they are continuously adding in more and expanding the game through free updates… EVERY MONTH! There is more content in Halo 5, with more coming for the next several months. I’m proud of what the team has made and I support it. I just hope some of you can take a little time and step back. Think about how or what you’re posting. Is it constructive feedback? Is it lashing out because a feature you enjoyed was axed? Are you conveying it in a positive manner that the team could take into consideration and add in? Or are you whining while kicking and screaming?

Even when you try to be a voice of reason and calmly explain your opinion, you still get more salt than the Dead Sea. Don’t bother with half these people, man.

While I did want to hear about your day at 343, I agree with you that people need to stop tching and accept that a new studio means a new vision. Bungie didn’t leave them in charge. They gave them FULL CONTROL. And that meant that Bungie trusted them. (Almost) Everybody’s complaining about all the stuff “343 did wrong”, and frankly, it’s bullit. They are trying to give you a new Halo game that you can enjoy, and you’re flipping them off. I HATED the fact that these genetically modified super soldiers were capping their speed at 12 mph. I can run faster than that IRL. Not sprint, run. I love the new stuff because it adds a layer of skill. You need to expect these guys to try to jet into cover, clamber over the terrain to ambush you, or even ground pound from the top of the map. I’ve been playing Halo for almost 8 years, and I still get caught off guard by a ground pound. I don’t get angry, because I knew I should have been prepared for it. You have the resources to take new approaches to combat, to outsmart your enemy, but half the people I see are just sprinting down the field, and then they try to run when they come under fire. I’ve picked off far too many people who try to strafe into cover when they have a thruster pack.

Forge provides much more detailed creation, even though it takes longer to make a map. They even gave you guys sound FX and placeable fire! And you still **tch about Forge being changed!

I have loved every single Halo game I’ve played, because I know they’re not gonna be great out of the gate. Halo has always been a game that changes over time. The whole reason we have half the good stuff we do is because Halo innovated! Forge was introduced in 3, and nobody hated that idea! Dual Wielding in 2, most people loved it! And just watch, I’m going to get the argument of “well, those improved the gameplay” HOW? Dual Wielding doubled your firepower to nearly OP levels. I could never kill my neighbor when he was dual wielding anything. Never. These changes are good for the franchise. With games like CoD who barely innovate, but make the game slightly faster and more chaotic, they are taking the cake before Halo can even grab a plate. Halo upped the mobility to keep itself alive. It’s evolution. We evolve to survive, or we die. Cold, hard fact of life.

And if you want Halo to die out before it changes, you aren’t a Halo fan. A Halo fan is going to give each installment a fair chance, and appreciate what it brings to the table. If you really like the old games, PLAY THOSE ONES. 343 can’t go back and change those games, so they’ll always be there to enjoy! They even REMASTERED them for you on the Xbox One! They are genuinely trying to make us happy, and we’re just calling them failures in return.

Think about this from their perspective. Halo is a multi-million dollar game to make. Imagine if you are spending that kind of money to give people something fun and unique to play. Then, when you send it out into the populace, people start saying that you ***ked up. You FAILED. You’ve spent millions of dollars, and THREE WHOLE YEARS working on a project, and all you hear is how much people hate it. I’ll be honest, if I got that response, I wouldn’t make another game. I wouldn’t want to be remembered for the game that I poured my life and soul into being called terrible. I would resign, and I’d tell everyone why. “Because nobody liked our game.”

I know a few of you would jump for joy if 343 did this. And you can go sit in your own corner. But you can leave us true fans alone.

343, keep making Halo. You’ve got some work to do, but you’ve made a great game.

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> 2533274812819411;10:
> > 2535464169630092;9:
> > And why should I care?
>
>
> You’re not obligated to, but you did care enough to click on the post and comment on it lol

I meant 343. Why should I care about family or personal feeling to employers on 343?

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> 2533274812819411;8:
> > 2717573882290994;6:
> > I wouldn’t go there if they offered to fly me out and put me up in a hotel for free.
>
>
> Really lol you wouldn’t spend a day in Seattle for free? And see a gaming studio in the flesh as a result (given you’re even a gaming fan to begin with but given this comment I’m having my doubts)

Every time I see him post he seems to say something negative and unconstructive. that’s my experience though.

if you really did get to spend a day there then lucky you! It would be so cool to do so!

19

You act as if their hardwork gave us a complete game.

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> 2533274970658419;19:
> You act as if their hardwork gave us a complete game.

I mean it did though. Technically it was complete. It might not have been as full as other Halo titles at launch but it undoubtedly is complete.