With yesterdays bulletin came some much need words and future additions that not only I welcome but Im sure many of you do as well. It was nice to hear Frank go in to detail about how hard it was to fill the shoes of Bungie as well as the following quotes…
"The challenge of wrangling that engine, that universe and that community was dizzying, even withering." "We have a lot to learn. We made a lot of mistakes. We can do better. And we know this, and we will."
Im glad they are not afraid to admit these things. But with all that said I do not see how its possible to bring back all of the lost players this time around.
Many of the things listed in the bulletin are things that should have been fixed and or added by now. We were told that the TU would be in January and now we learn that it will come late February. Said TU is what we all needed first and foremost as the core problem of this game cannot be fixed with the simple addition of unlocked specializations and a couple playlists.
Still the game is not a lost cause but a work in progress, again I just do not see the population coming back from such a bad start. I believe it safe to say that Halo 5 has much to be optimistic about. Assuredly that may have a lot to do with how halo 4 pans out in the end when its all said and done.
Maybe I am wrong and the additions that draw near will bring some folks back and Halo 4 can be salvaged. I hope that is the case. Halo 4 has the chance to be the best Halo of them all but it may be too little too late.
I think what’s more important is the fact that they’re admitting the custom, file share and forge options aren’t really going to change, ever.
And playlists are maxed at 10 and always rotational.
These are the most essential things to Halo imo. Campaign has only so much longevity and Spartan Ops can full on FO anyway.
Yet balancing wasn’t even touched on, and while this and glitches come second in my list of ‘wants’, i’d accept them for a taste of playlists and better customs.
Admitting your mistakes is one thing, learning from them is another.
> 7 million+ copies sold.
>
> Any game developer in the world would be overjoyed for those numbers. The game did not fail by any stretch of the hater imagination.
The name sells itself not the game play or its features. Matchmaking is barely getting to 100,000 players if at all and is declining.
I’m more annoyed they don’t concentrate on the lag issues, first.
Sure, it’s a different “Halo” experience, but from the gameplay it’s enjoyable. I personally don’t care if it’s “a real Halo game”, I just want to have fun playing.
But since New Year’s Eve, the lag for European players has been terrible - and constantly. 4 out of 5 games have significant lag. Which might be partly due to the diminishing player numbers, but even European Custom Games now have lag, while before the New Year you could play with people all over the world with almost no lag at all.
I think something went wrong around the New Year, when 343 was on holiday, and they need to acknowledge that and fix it. No matter if you like or dislike the gameplay or the new game mechanics, lag will always drive away more people than simple taste.
After watching “incoming” players come and go for 30mins after Christmas I gave up, games were laggy as -Yoink- anyway and checked everything my end twice - its not me its matchmaking.
i agree. if anything this game distanced itself further away from the fan base. it just doesn’t feel like halo anymore. halo used to be organized, balanced, and had great maps. now its just a giant cluster -Yoink-. random weapon drops, no weapons on map, personal ordnances… i mean, if i want to play call of duty, ill go play it. no need to make both games the same. as a game company, what is the point of making a game that has completely lost its identity and player base along with it?
> > 7 million+ copies sold.
> >
> > Any game developer in the world would be overjoyed for those numbers. The game did not fail by any stretch of the hater imagination.
>
> The name sells itself not the game play or its features. Matchmaking is barely getting to 100,000 players if at all and is declining.
I would be inclined to agree with that statement … IF Halo Wars and Anniversary sold just as much. On top of that, 100K is a PEAK population, meaning ‘people playing at one specific point during the day’, the unique user numbers are much greater, and not every one plays Halo all day, every day, all the time. Even then, there are awesomes games out there that would kill to hit a peak like that.
Halo 2 was a worse game when it started and didn’t have as much of a legacy behind it at that point. As long as the TU is good and good/decent decisions are made, people will come back if not only by word of mouth
> > > 7 million+ copies sold.
> > >
> > > Any game developer in the world would be overjoyed for those numbers. The game did not fail by any stretch of the hater imagination.
> >
> > The name sells itself not the game play or its features. Matchmaking is barely getting to 100,000 players if at all and is declining.
>
> I would be inclined to agree with that statement … IF Halo Wars and Anniversary sold just as much. On top of that, 100K is a PEAK population, meaning ‘people playing at one specific point during the day’, the unique user numbers are much greater, and not every one plays Halo all day, every day, all the time. Even then, there are awesomes games out there that would kill to hit a peak like that.
Im happy to see all the optimism. But on the point of how many copies were sold
I do not think that is proof at all that the game itself and the overall numbers are poor.
By the time this game gets to where it needs to be I think it will just be cutting into production time of Halo 5. Halo 5 is going to have incredible expectations after H4.
I’ve been a Halo fan ever since I saw my first ever halo game case. All I can say is its an improvement from Halo 1 and I loved halo 1… Still do actually.
> > > 7 million+ copies sold.
> > >
> > > Any game developer in the world would be overjoyed for those numbers. The game did not fail by any stretch of the hater imagination.
> >
> > The name sells itself not the game play or its features. Matchmaking is barely getting to 100,000 players if at all and is declining.
>
> I would be inclined to agree with that statement … IF Halo Wars and Anniversary sold just as much. On top of that, 100K is a PEAK population, meaning ‘people playing at one specific point during the day’, the unique user numbers are much greater, and not every one plays Halo all day, every day, all the time. Even then, there are awesomes games out there that would kill to hit a peak like that.
Halo Wars sold like crazy! Had it not had a Halo story and title, but still the same gameplay it would not have sold anything. Anniversary came out on the same day as Assassin’s Creed, plus its a pretty version of a game EVERYONE already owned.
