If all the "competitive" players have left...

Games Other Halo
1

…then I must ask, where did they go?

Really, I hear this from all the “chicken littles” on the forums claiming that the “competitive” Halo players have left the game to never return. But where did they go then, or more specifically what are they playing now (on the 360)?

Call of Duty (any of them)? - Highly doubtful since this game has the lowest skill level required of any online shooter on the market. If this is where they went, then they are a bunch of hypocrites since this is what they claim (falsely) that Halo has become.

Battlefield 3 - maybe as it is definitely more skill oriented, but it is definitely not an “arena shooter” that many vocal “competitive” players are calling for in Halo.

Halo: Reach - probably a few, but the hardcores wouldn’t as they can’t adapt to Armor Abilities.

Halo 3 - You would think this would be where they all went by the majority of the whining, but the Live Activity Chart doesn’t indicate it since it isn’t even cracking the top 20.

Gears of War 3 - Also doubtful as it suffers from many of the same issues that they complain about here. Also a third person shooter which is different than a FPS and a lot don’t play both due to preference.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - Also doubtful based on population and gameplay style, yet it is definitely a competitive shooter with more skill required- just not in the vein of Halo and has many of the features bagged on by the “competitives”.

Medal of Honor - LOL, do I really need to comment on this series?

Far Cry 3/Borderlands 2 - Not really competitive online shooters, they may be playing but not for the competitive reasons constantly spouted as what needs to be done to “Save Halo”.

So these are the most logical choices for where the “competitive” Halo players went, yet none of them really makes sense as I have pointed out. We hear on an hourly basis how the lack of competitive options has driven the majority of Halo players away, yet if the “80% population loss” from day one is due to this - what other options do they have and where are they?

Obviously the majority of the “population loss” is NOT the competitive community as is so often claimed on these forums. I am not saying that they didn’t leave, what I am saying is this VOCAL MINORITY are inflating their own self importance and supposed numbers by claiming they are the ones most responsible for the drop in game population while population stats from other games and simple logic would indicate otherwise. If this were the case, you would expect to see a huge spike in the Halo 3 population and that has not happened.

Truth is, we do not know the exact reasons for loss of players. Heck, we do not even accurately know how Halo 4 is comparing to the past Halos during the same time frame as the populations were counted differently - people keep spouting these Halotracker stats that only measure the PEAK in matchmaking while past Halo games measured total users during a day across ALL game modes - big difference there.

And before you guys come in hear trying to bash me as a 343i defender, just stop now. While I do enjoy the game as well as the direction that 343i is taking it, I know the game is far from perfect and still needs some balancing. I am just pointing out that the features (or lack of as in visible CSR) that the “competitive” community are not the biggest causes for the drop in Halo players online as they are claiming and it is highly doubtful that there will be a huge population spike if they get their way.

So once again, if these hordes of competitive players left Halo 4 for something else more competitive, then where did they go and where are the numbers to back it up?

2

From the look of my freinds`s list- Nowhere or COD.

Most of them just dont play xbox at all. Theyre lying in wait for a good Halo game.

Not to mention where the competitive players went is not the problem. The problem is where did the masses go. The answer to that is obvious. Anywhere but H4 because its a train wreck hahah. COD, Minecraft, FIFA. Honestly anywhere thats not H4.

3

Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours

Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.

4

Minecraft

5

Well, all of the pros are no longer playing really because Halo was taken off the Circuit and Bo2 replaced it, so some players went there. Majority of the crowd from Halo 3 is now in college. I’m not saying you can’t play at college but many just give it up by then. Even with CSR in place the crowd will never be back because the crowd is no longer there anymore. It’s upsetting if you ask me.

6

> Halo 3 - You would think this would be where they all went by the majority of the whining, but the Live Activity Chart doesn’t indicate it since it isn’t even cracking the top 20.

Just because Halo 3 is better than H4 doesn’t mean we want to play it. We’ve been playing it for years. Some of us throughout its entire lifespan.

What we want is Halo.

7

They dispersed across the board because the game market is more “saturated” now.

I for one am not nessesarily a competitive player, but I just played halo 3’s campaign the other day. Most fun Ive had on halo in a while. Much more enjoyable than halo 4’s button pressing linear style campaign.

8

A good portion went to CoD since MLG has that on the circuit for the dumbest reason.
(It’s easier to swap perspectives for commentary)

Some went to Gears

others went to different consoles or stopped playing for other reasons.

There are still a decent amount of competitive players on Halo 4.

Don’t listen to the people who say “oh all the competitive kids left! Halo’s done”

9

> Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours
>
> Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.

Common knowledge for one and it is clearly stated on Bungie’s forums if you care look. Halo 3 used a 24 hour counter that included ALL game modes, Reach I believe was a real time counter.

10

> Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours
>
> Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.

I don’t think any of the Halos were real time as that would be stupid to take the time to update every second. It doesn’t matter if it did or not, there were other factors that contributed to the pop. like how other games hadn’t developed yet, the original big halo players have probably gotten older and moved on, etc.

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Majority of Halo 3’s community were 14 year olds. 5 years later they’re in college. Many don’t have time to play Halo.

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> Majority of Halo 3’s community were 14 year olds. 5 years later they’re in college. Many don’t have time to play Halo.

But isn’t this the same argument that when someone brings it up in a general population discussion as a reason for the drop, it gets shouted down by the “competitives” and haters?

13

> > Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours
> >
> > Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.
>
> Common knowledge for one and it is clearly stated on Bungie’s forums if you care look. Halo 3 used a 24 hour counter that included ALL game modes, Reach I believe was a real time counter.

And Halo 4 only shows real time Matchmaking unlike Reach where it showed real time everyone population.

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> > > Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours
> > >
> > > Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.
> >
> > Common knowledge for one and it is clearly stated on Bungie’s forums if you care look. Halo 3 used a 24 hour counter that included ALL game modes, Reach I believe was a real time counter.
>
> And Halo 4 only shows real time Matchmaking unlike Reach where it showed real time everyone population.

Thank You!

15

The masses that left from Day 1 is more due to the fact that any game type that has the word Infinity in it is sooo frustrating. It is enjoyable enough in moderation, but the complete randomness just turns off so many people. They needed to have a more classic slayer mode at the start, and have the Infinity stuff as a variant of it.

Where did everyone go you ask. Anywhere else.

16

> The masses that left from Day 1 is more due to the fact that any game type that has the word Infinity in it is sooo frustrating. It is enjoyable enough in moderation, but the complete randomness just turns off so many people. They needed to have a more classic slayer mode at the start, and have the Infinity stuff as a variant of it.
>
> Where did everyone go you ask. Anywhere else.

No, that is blatantly incorrect. The majority of the initial game loss was due to something common with todays gamers - short attention span. They finished the campaign then traded it in for the next new shiny bauble. Sad commentary on today’s gamers but unfortunately true. The next significant drop can be attributed people running out of their 14 day Live passes, since population on Halotracker only counts peak Wargames numbers. The end of Microsoft’s promotion (which turned out to be a rip off in the end) can also be attributed to further loss of gamers in the first month. Then you have the break and end of Spartan Ops as well as the end of the Halo tournament.

These are all factual things that can be linked to population drops, all else is pure conjecture. A classic slayer mode may have retained some players, but not huge numbers as the “competitives” are claiming.

17

A small percentage of competitive players still play, they have tournaments like AGL on the horizon. A decent a mount went to CoD, because they can make money playing it.

Also, please don’t come on here saying the competitive players complain and shoot everything down. Everytime I come on here I see “casual” players dismissing anything someone who doesn’t like the game says.

I’m sorry, but the proof is in the pudding. Halo 4 has low population numbers, you can try and say the way its counted is different, but the decline in population is steeper than its ever been before. Less and Less people play it everyday, like all the people on my friends list. Seriously, my list was loaded with Halo players, but ever since Reach and now H4, I rarely see them on playing Halo.

18

> Ugh, and where did people come up with this BS that H3 only counted in 24 hours
>
> Let me ask you this. During H3`s era if you got on at 8pm and then got on a 11pm would the population be lower at 11pmÉ Yes it would. That is not a 24 hour counter. 24 hour counters never lower.

Halo 3 switched to a 24 hour counter when Reach came along.

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This post has been edited by a moderator. Please refrain from making non-constructive posts.

*Original post. Click at your own discretion.

> …then I must ask, where did they go?

LMAO!!!

Thank you for this post. Seriously. Thank you sooo much.

What happened was they just left because all the cheap tactics they used in previous Halo games do not work now.

So what they do is come to the forum here and yoink and moan for stuff to be nerfed cause they are getting owned.

Why? Because if this game was soooooo easy like the tryhards keep saying then they would be here destroy people left and right.

But they refuse to change how they play so they get owned and cry.

They will say this and that and give lots of excuses. But it all comes down to this:

If they were good and not getting owned they would not be complaining.

Halo 4 just exposes them. End of story.

They will say no no no no no. Its too easy to get kills in this game.

Ok? Then why aren’t you Mr./Mrs. Tryhard not racking up the kills and owning?

Simple. They aren’t. This game exposes them for the complete and utter n00bs they are.

Do NOT let anyone tell you any different.

20

A big reason that Halo has a smaller population is due to the fact of the increased number of competitors this year.

There wasn’t nearly as many games in 2007 as there is now.

So many choices for the masses. These new games are all different and provide something that we find more fun then others.

It’s basically as simple as that.