Is 343i detached from the community?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

The main reason why i ask this is because I was playing social playlist for obvious reasons and snipers came up. That is exactly the last game I’d expect to come up seeing as how that is literally the most hardcore gametype in Halo.

Then I started thinking.

Graphics>split screen, ignoring all the elite fans, Warden ETERNAL!, dedicated PvE(aka Firefight) not connecting HTT with H5 and lack of community sharing with forge/forge not taking a huge priority.

I really respect the companies that know their fanbase and has things waiting for them when they start up the game. I.E. MGS V but very few of Halo 5 was 343i innovating but more of us being so upset with Halo 4 that they took fan advice to try and make the best Halo.

I’ve realized this detachment and the only reason I can think of something like this happening is not being a fan of your own product. That’s the only reason I can think of why they wouldn’t know what their fans want.

Example, I’m writing a novel called Legacy of the Fallen Star. I showed many Sci-fi fans several chapters and story details and they’ve loved it. Is that because I’m a nerd like them or because I’m checking a list of what a sci’fi needs?

While I’m sure many 343i members really are passionate about Halo, nothing about it really comes out, neither in story or gameplay. It really does feel like a check list of fan approval so they can get to the next installment.

Halo 6 has to do what 5 did right and not do what it did wrong. (lol as if that’s something that needs to be said.) since I’ve seen this deviation I guess I can only say what I wish for Halo 6 because it doesn’t seem like 343i will be able to do it without our help.

The minimum I’m expecting from Halo 6 is, variety of playable characters outside of Spartans( have some fun with it 343i), a focuses of content instead of graphics, a boss not made to be reused (sigh*), solid PvE outside of campaign, community focus in game and proper following to the lore build up.

2

Editing is a bit funky for me right now but I felt that last part might of needed to be elaborated on a little better so here it is.

Elaborating a bit for better context.

Adding playable Elites, brutes grunts and maybe Hunters and Forerunners in certain gamemodes can’t be a crime.

Make it look pretty but when those looks lead you lack of content, you can do without some of that makeup.

Warden Eternal is going to be in Halo 6 so instead of him being the same one we know now, make it so that there are different variations of wardens like, Cannon Warden, Sword Warden, Battle Broken warden, Power House Warden, Dragon Warden or Cortana buffed Warden.

While Sops and Firefight might not be on your list, forgeable AI would be a great replacement for them. To be honest I’d much rather have that but am totally ok with FF, sops or a 3rd PvE option that is dedicated to itself.

Community focus of forge doesn’t need much explaining.

The follow up with the lore was pretty sad up to Halo 5. If anyone here has seen the OG Star Wars Clone Wars. I’d lie something like that kind of link up. Where hte story ends just as Episode III begins.

3

They aren’t detached from the community half the -Yoink- they add or change are things people were complaining about. You don’t know how hard it could be to add all of those things you want added. I doubt they just have people lying around ready to work on things that people want. They are probably busy with stuff from the January update. If people are wanting something in December, it might take months before they have enough free people to start working on it and then it will take more time to actually do it.

4

> 2533274912317447;3:
> They aren’t detached from the community half the -Yoink- they add or change are things people were complaining about. You don’t know how hard it could be to add all of those things you want added. I doubt they just have people lying around ready to work on things that people want. They are probably busy with stuff from the January update. If people are wanting something in December, it might take months before they have enough free people to start working on it and then it will take more time to actually do it.

Halo reach ang halo 4 managed it so why does 5 get a free pass?

5

I get where you’re coming from with the snipers thing. It came up for me and I quit so fast there was smoke from my xbox. Dumbest game type to include in a Holdiay social list, just lazy of them to not create a separate playlist.

But to answer your question, yeah they are detached on so many levels, because they have this grand vision of their own that they want to play out to separate them from Bungie. Often they ignore old, established rules or customs, and shoving new stuff down old fans throats in an attempt to appeal to the twitch and MLG crowd, along with the younger generation.

It shows incredibly when there is an uproar, and they don’t bother to respond, or include things in updates, or shout out to people having issues, they just keep bulling their way through legions of people until they leave for other games.

Taking out splitscreen was a major example, instead of saying “oh, well sorry, too late now”, they should have asked the community, not just the MLG group who are the major group that really needs the graphical quality. There should have been an apology, not a “maybe next game” statement from the studio.

They make simple little mistakes, like issues with the banhanmer, and for every guy who legitimately intended to quit there are 3 who disconnected, banning those guys is not a recipe for customer loyalty. Games like that will eventually end up with small populations of hardcore players, the guys who don’t get affected by the banhanmer anyway. A better option would have been to include an “MLG Playlist” where the quit penalties are severe and people go to play to win, then have no banhammer ranked for casual competitive, and no banhammer social for game nights with the bros.

That guy who loves competitive BTB? Is now running around in the social playlist slaughtering Christmas noobs because he has no ranked playlist, there needs to be a playlist of each type in both social and ranked categories, otherwise you don’t solve anything.

Story issues are abundant in 343i’s little universe, the Hunt the Truth campaign was the most blatant marketing lie I’ve seen in years. There was zero need to go that far in misrepresenting it, and yet after the uproar over the terrible campaign they still refuse to create campaign DLC, or even extra cutscenes à la Bioware with Mass Effect 3, or Bethesda with Fallout 3.

The constant REQ packs are another thing, a lot of people would prefer they focus on fixing the game, adding game types and maps, instead we get new REQ packs that really could have waited. There people are being asked to pay out more in microtransactions to keep their collections full, and yet they really didn’t need the last update, could have waited a bit longer.

So to sum up, yes they are incredibly disconnected with the community, they listen to a narrow range of people, don’t maintain a presence here on Waypoint Forums, and constantly ignore large groups of people in favor of their own vision.

6

I just a few minutes wrote a post in another thread that echoes exactly the point of this thread. I’ll copy-pasta the relavent portions:

> We have to approach 343 as if they actually do not know what was cool about past Halos. I understand this can be frustrating, but you’re going to have to consider that they actually don’t know why we wanted those UNSC air vehicles back. So rather than say we want a Hornet straight out, explain to them the importance of a co-op air vehicle. Then they can fuse their ‘vision’ for their Halo with that. We may end up with a vehicle that isn’t UNSC, but really that’s all skin anyway. The point is a team oriented air vehicle.
>
> - Forge is awesome, but they didn’t know the importance of truly clear canvases like H3 Sandbox or Forge Island (extremely curious that the Forgers didn’t press that). Their first Forge maps in Halo 4 shows that is a habit.
> - BTB is the undisputed population king of Halo and they interpreted that as players wanted sloppily big battles ala Warzone. They course corrected with a Forge led BTB.
> - They thought we’d trade splitscreen for something we’d play once if that.
> - They underestimated the custom community backlash for severe feature cuts (saying ‘free DLC/update/service’ is not the point, the point is why are we having to tell them these things).
> - They overestimated the hardcore community gain, Halo 5 is the lowest selling in franchise history.
> - Halo 5 was designed to be degradable overall. It dies when they decide to stop servicing it. One does not kill any past Halos simply due to splitscreen and LAN. They don’t understand creating a community product vs ‘burger and fries’.
>
> My point is 343 are stewards of a game while not understanding how exactly it got popular or why people are still playing much older versions. I also believe they don’t know the application of certain features in a ‘Halo-culture’ sense. I don’t mean to be completely dire - they are obviously learning and improving. The Machinima controls must be solid gold to that crowd. But when we make ourselves heard and they read these threads and posts - we have to be as clear and concise as possible. Remember to argue the principle of something versus the most specific incarnation of it (team aerial vehicle vs “Hornet/Falcon plz”). They are slowly learning this community. We have to teach them. We also have to learn what their interpretation is so we can fashion our grievances according to that.

7

> 2533274797640604;6:
> I just a few minutes wrote a post in another thread that echoes exactly the point of this thread. I’ll copy-pasta the relavent portions:
>
>
>
>
> > We have to approach 343 as if they actually do not know what was cool about past Halos. I understand this can be frustrating, but you’re going to have to consider that they actually don’t know why we wanted those UNSC air vehicles back. So rather than say we want a Hornet straight out, explain to them the importance of a co-op air vehicle. Then they can fuse their ‘vision’ for their Halo with that. We may end up with a vehicle that isn’t UNSC, but really that’s all skin anyway. The point is a team oriented air vehicle.
> >
> > - Forge is awesome, but they didn’t know the importance of truly clear canvases like H3 Sandbox or Forge Island (extremely curious that the Forgers didn’t press that). Their first Forge maps in Halo 4 shows that is a habit.
> > - BTB is the undisputed population king of Halo and they interpreted that as players wanted sloppily big battles ala Warzone. They course corrected with a Forge led BTB.
> > - They thought we’d trade splitscreen for something we’d play once if that.
> > - They underestimated the custom community backlash for severe feature cuts (saying ‘free DLC/update/service’ is not the point, the point is why are we having to tell them these things).
> > - They overestimated the hardcore community gain, Halo 5 is the lowest selling in franchise history.
> > - Halo 5 was designed to be degradable overall. It dies when they decide to stop servicing it. One does not kill any past Halos simply due to splitscreen and LAN. They don’t understand creating a community product vs ‘burger and fries’.
> >
> > My point is 343 are stewards of a game while not understanding how exactly it got popular or why people are still playing much older versions. I also believe they don’t know the application of certain features in a ‘Halo-culture’ sense. I don’t mean to be completely dire - they are obviously learning and improving. The Machinima controls must be solid gold to that crowd. But when we make ourselves heard and they read these threads and posts - we have to be as clear and concise as possible. Remember to argue the principle of something versus the most specific incarnation of it (team aerial vehicle vs “Hornet/Falcon plz”). They are slowly learning this community. We have to teach them. We also have to learn what their interpretation is so we can fashion our grievances according to that.

I totally agree. As seen by my post. The detachment is a sad thing to discover but 343i is fully capable of attaching to the community and becoming great.

Again I’m going to say, it feels like they are just crossing off things on a check list rather than creating a piece of fiction.

8

I couldn’t agree more, after all of the issues with Warzone I was expecting Noctus to be the best Warzone map seeing how horrible Open-No-Cover maps like ARC are but the December update comes and goes, Noctus is as some people put it “a br campfest”, there are no gameplay adjustment fixes to Warzone, and I’m supposed to believe that “we are always working on more improvements/updates for Warzone.” I keep wanting to give 343 the benefit of the doubt but it’s really hard when we’re getting screwed over at almost every turn.