is Halo 5 in trouble?

Hello my fellow spartans and Halo enthusiasts!

Usually I can spend several months on the campaign without getting bored of the game. First beating the campaign on normal, legendary, finding skulls and achievement hunting and finally Mythic/LASO before having nothing left to do but play multiplayer. Considering 343i completely tanked Halo 5’s campaign, the aforementioned is no longer an option.

This leaves us with Halo 5’s multiplayer which is fantastic. Its fun and has the ability to grant Halo 5 longevity but I believe Halo 5 might be in for some dark days if 343i does not change some features of multiplayer around. The population for Halo 5 dropped significantly since the game launched in October. This means match making is no longer a viable option for players who enjoy team based slayer activities. You have teams of match made casuals going against teams of MLG type gamers. Within 3 minutes of the match, the team of casuals is down from 4 to 2, because 2 of the casuals quit and the other 2 are now getting stomped by the other team. Not only is this not fun for the ones getting badly beaten, how can it be fun for the other team of better players? (I finished 2 matches yesterday where my entire team quit and I was left taking on 4 players who are far superior in their respective skill-set… I finished the games at like 7-30).

How is this fun 343i? I love this game, I have been here since 2001 and will keep coming back. But please fix this because if H5’s multiplayer falls apart, your fans will have nothing left until Halo Wars 2 or H6 drops.

It’s been like this since H2. Nothing has really changed in regards to this. People will be matched with people better than them and then people will quit.

> 2533274800383882;2:
> It’s been like this since H2. Nothing has really changed in regards to this. People will be matched with people better than them and then people will quit.

I agree. But the population didn’t drop as rapidly with H2, H3 or Reach. So there was more “casuals v. casuals” and “mlg v. mlg” and less “average Joe’s vs. the pros” that is present in Halo 5.

the only other option ( which i took) is to join a large community of like minded players ive found when playing with fellow ksi members i have much more fun as we are on a similiar level, dont get me wrong we have some excellent players but we play a more relaxed game style and we chat in game and just have fun.

my advice is if your not happy with matchmaking or find you get matched up against MLG to often find a community, i fully recommend KSI as an option we have 3 companies in our division and around 150 players so plenty of folk to team up with and we have great fun… even in warzone. add me on XBL ill happily introduce you to some of the community and give you a taste of KSI life.

and ill also look to bring across your company members aswell.

The lower population isn’t the source of your problems. It’s the rating system that is the culprit.

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> the only other option ( which i took) is to join a large community of like minded players ive found when playing with fellow ksi members i have much more fun as we are on a similiar level, dont get me wrong we have some excellent players but we play a more relaxed game style and we chat in game and just have fun.
>
> my advice is if your not happy with matchmaking or find you get matched up against MLG to often find a community, i fully recommend KSI as an option we have 3 companies in our division and around 150 players so plenty of folk to team up with and we have great fun… even in warzone. add me on XBL ill happily introduce you to some of the community and give you a taste of KSI life.

Thank you!

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> > 2533274852584231;4:
> > the only other option ( which i took) is to join a large community of like minded players ive found when playing with fellow ksi members i have much more fun as we are on a similiar level, dont get me wrong we have some excellent players but we play a more relaxed game style and we chat in game and just have fun.
> >
> > my advice is if your not happy with matchmaking or find you get matched up against MLG to often find a community, i fully recommend KSI as an option we have 3 companies in our division and around 150 players so plenty of folk to team up with and we have great fun… even in warzone. add me on XBL ill happily introduce you to some of the community and give you a taste of KSI life.
>
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> Thank you!

your very welcome

> 2535441488042067;1:
> Hello my fellow spartans and Halo enthusiasts!
>
> Usually I can spend several months on the campaign without getting bored of the game. First beating the campaign on normal, followed by legendary, finding skulls and achievement hunting and finally Mythic/LASO before having nothing left to do but play multiplayer. Considering 343i completely tanked on Halo 5’s campaign, the aforementioned is no longer an option.
>
> This leaves us with Halo 5’s multiplayer which is fantastic. Its fun and has the ability to grant Halo 5 longevity but I believe Halo 5 might be in for some dark days if 343i does not change some features of multiplayer around. The population for Halo 5 dropped significantly since the game launched in October. This means match making is no longer a viable option for players who enjoy team based slayer activities. You have teams of match made casuals going against teams of MLG type gamers. Within 3 minutes of the match, the team of casuals is down from 4 to 2, because 2 of the casuals quit and the other 2 are now getting stomped by the other team. Not only is this not fun for the ones getting badly beaten, how can it be fun for the other team of better players? (I finished 2 matches yesterday where my entire team quit and I was left taking on 4 players who are far superior in their respective skill-set… I finished the games at like 7-30).
>
> How is this fun 343i? I love this game, I have been here since 2001 and will keep coming back. But please fix this because if H5’s multiplayer falls apart, your fans will have nothing left until Halo Wars 2 or H6 drops.

Arena is designed to be competitive so you’re going to most likely face some competitive players. I understand what you are saying, but if this is really big concern for you then go into playlists with a to4 so you don’t have to worry about randoms quitting out. 343 should be releasing a social slayer type playlist hopefully soon too. You could also try Warzone or BTB.

Well, we can’t say that everyone’s favorite title is Halo 5. Everyone has their own unique because you know they moved onto different things. But by adding more gametypes when they are finished would bring back a lot of the players. What else is if they are playing Halo in general, like the MCC, and lets say everyone’s all time favorite gametype infection comes back, then they are for sure going to come back. However another contributing factor is if they like it. So I’m thinking, okay why not have an Infection Evolved and a classic Infection gametype to be released? Something for maybe everyone to like.

This has happened in every halo game. I used to hate it and it feels way harsher in Halo 5 I think because of quicker TTK, smaller maps, faster movement and so on. I do think it is more difficult to survive in a 4 v 1 game but put up a fight try to be sneaky and just put it down to practice, you’ll get better and then less people will quit with you on their team. Maybe there shouldn’t be any banhammering going on if you quit a 4 v 1 match but I don’t like the idea of there being a case where players can quit unpunished.

People say join a party / play with friends - Not everyone does this and I think it’s a crappy response when I see it in the forums. Best option is just to put up with it and hope it doesn’t happen every single match. Unranked 4v4 game types would be good too.

Just hide and sneak around and try and get some kills. Can be quite fun to try find good hiding spots on the map too and watch them walk right by you. I always imagine the enemy team getting angry when they can’t find me.

Another thing is, when they have been playing a game with different mechanics or playstyle, its hard to get back into Halo. I have noticed this when I have been playing Ark Survival for like a month, and when I just got back into Halo 5 for the january update, I struggled for a bit but eventually got used to it.

When it comes down to it, this game rewards tryhards too easily, you know people who play as a good team and are constantly rushing and teamshooting people. After a while people in less fortunate teams, realised the only way they could combat that was to being campy as hell. This is not the halo I know and love. Most people left this game because a majority of them couldnt put up playing one fun competitive game every 10 matches where teams are balanced. No matter how good a player is, if you have a weaklink on your team in this game, you will be punished, other teams also take avantage of this fact.

The way this game is designed, imagine a balance scale where on each side their are 4 rocks each and theyre perfectly balanced. Now remove one of those rocks or chop one in half and the scale will immediatly tilt to one side. This is how I best explain halo’s 5’s balance based on overall gameplay. Games should try a get a nice yin and yang balance. Imagine pebbles instead. remove one pebble and the scale moves abit, which in gamplay terms means if you have one dodgy teammate you still have a fighting chance if the other team arent individually better than you. Its alot easier to matchmake individual skill, so it becomes a match of who can raise their game, you still might lose alot but you enjoy the fight atleast. The best games have a good balance of teamwork and individual skill.

It is in a bit of trouble, yes, but not for the reasons you described.

> 2535441488042067;1:
> Hello my fellow spartans and Halo enthusiasts!
>
> Usually I can spend several months on the campaign without getting bored of the game. First beating the campaign on normal, followed by legendary, finding skulls and achievement hunting and finally Mythic/LASO before having nothing left to do but play multiplayer. Considering 343i completely tanked on Halo 5’s campaign, the aforementioned is no longer an option.
>
> This leaves us with Halo 5’s multiplayer which is fantastic. Its fun and has the ability to grant Halo 5 longevity but I believe Halo 5 might be in for some dark days if 343i does not change some features of multiplayer around. The population for Halo 5 dropped significantly since the game launched in October. This means match making is no longer a viable option for players who enjoy team based slayer activities. You have teams of match made casuals going against teams of MLG type gamers. Within 3 minutes of the match, the team of casuals is down from 4 to 2, because 2 of the casuals quit and the other 2 are now getting stomped by the other team. Not only is this not fun for the ones getting badly beaten, how can it be fun for the other team of better players? (I finished 2 matches yesterday where my entire team quit and I was left taking on 4 players who are far superior in their respective skill-set… I finished the games at like 7-30).
>
> How is this fun 343i? I love this game, I have been here since 2001 and will keep coming back. But please fix this because if H5’s multiplayer falls apart, your fans will have nothing left until Halo Wars 2 or H6 drops.

That was a really long post to state that the issue you’re experiencing is that people are quitting out of games. It has nothing to do with campaign or MLG or anything. Now, just because somebody happens to like and follow MLG does not make them a better player. Hell most “pros” don’t even talk about MLG. What you’re implying here is that people that want to play competitively are beating people who are joining a ranked, PvP queue and that it isn’t fair for those casual players and that is a very flawed argument. The entire idea behind playing ranked games is that sooner or later you will get matched up with people of your own skill level; however, the skill we’re referring to here is the ability of one player to find and kill other players by whatever means necessary.

What you’re suggesting is that no matter how many matches you play you’re always playing against seasoned Halo Professionals and due to that matching, players on your team will sometimes quit. That entire concept is flawed and doesn’t have anything to do with the game because the people you’re getting matched with are approximately within the same skill level as you – within a range of how good and how bad you can feasible be within all 8 players. Players that quit can and will get punished. I sometimes have days where people on my team quit on ~50% of the games I play and it sucks but you can either quit as well (and possibly get banned) or stick it out to the end of the match and get a significant amount of REQ/XP points. It’s a -Yoink- situation to have people quit but it’s nobody’s fault except the people that quit. So, ultimately, the OP should provide actual suggestions on how to better punish quitters and promote people stay in the game (like, a req/xp multiplier for completing multiple consecutive matches in a short period of time) instead of punishing all of the victims involved.

> 2533274821339472;12:
> When it comes down to it, this game rewards tryhards too easily, you know people who play as a good team and are constantly rushing and teamshooting people. After a while people in less fortunate teams, realised the only way they could combat that was to being campy as hell. This is not the halo I know and love. Most people left this game because a majority of them couldnt put up playing one fun competitive game every 10 matches where teams are balanced. No matter how good a player is, if you have a weaklink on your team in this game, you will be punished, other teams also take avantage of this fact.
>
> The way this game is designed, imagine a balance scale where on each side their are 4 rocks each and theyre perfectly balanced. Now remove one of those rocks or chop one in half and the scale will immediatly tilt to one side. This is how I best explain halo’s 5’s balance based on overall gameplay. Games should try a get a nice yin and yang balance. Imagine pebbles instead. remove one pebble and the scale moves abit, which in gamplay terms means if you have one dodgy teammate you still have a fighting chance if the other team arent individually better than you. Its alot easier to matchmake individual skill, so it becomes a match of who can raise their game, you still might lose alot but you enjoy the fight atleast. The best games have a good balance of teamwork and individual skill.

Short reply here:
What you’re describing is literally every team game ever. Have you played a lot of competitive multiplayer in any other games/genres? All team games require the better players to “pick up the slack” for the players that are doing worse it’s a term called “carrying” and used to be a point of a lot of discussion and trolling back in Halo 3. You can argue that it’s not fair for better players to have to “carry” worse players but that’s literally the nature of the game. At least back in Halo 2/Halo 3 it was default for everyone to have a mic and chat in game then invite the good players to play with you after the game and I’m seeing that happen in Halo 5.

Okay. I see some good replies here and this appears to be common problem/theme with every Halo title and is not exclusive to guardians.

But.

Every Halo title had something else to fall back on (campaign, splitscreen, even simple social playlists that could keep players coming back).

Halo 5 does not have this luxury. Which is why I asked the question “is Halo 5 in trouble”? I believe the answer is yes unless 343i does something to correct the multiplayer issues (and it will require more than adding infection and a couple of playlists).

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> > 2535441488042067;1:
> > east. The best games have a good balance of teamwork and individual skill.
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> Short reply here:
> What you’re describing is literally every team game ever. Have you played a lot of competitive multiplayer in any other games/genres? All team games require the better players to “pick up the slack” for the players that are doing worse it’s a term called “carrying” and used to be a point of a lot of discussion and trolling back in Halo 3. You can argue that it’s not fair for better players to have to “carry” worse players but that’s literally the nature of the game. At least back in Halo 2/Halo 3 it was default for everyone to have a mic and chat in game then invite the good players to play with you after the game and I’m seeing that happen in Halo 5.

Its really hard to team carry in this game. thats my point. and the only way to carry is to be the campiest person ever. in my opinion games theses dayss are heading in this direction. gow1 and 2 were the last games that had a good balance and both played very differently. gears ultimate edition has a good balance but the matchmaking cant really do its job with a small population. on my own, half my games are still fun. with friends almost every game is fun but we do get those games were the other team are no where near our level and im basically in 1st gear playing bad on purpose. im only a tryhard when its competively balanced. i go up a gear if my team is suffering from me not trying.

> 2533274805169228;14:
> > 2535441488042067;1:
> >
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> That was a really long post to state that the issue you’re experiencing is that people are quitting out of games. It has nothing to do with campaign or MLG or anything. Now, just because somebody happens to like and follow MLG does not make them a better player. Hell most “pros” don’t even talk about MLG. What you’re implying here is that people that want to play competitively are beating people who are joining a ranked, PvP queue and that it isn’t fair for those casual players and that is a very flawed argument. The entire idea behind playing ranked games is that sooner or later you will get matched up with people of your own skill level; however, the skill we’re referring to here is the ability of one player to find and kill other players by whatever means necessary.
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I did a bad job at explaining the argument clearly enough, my bad.

The post is not about people quitting, match making, and MLG gaming (those are only examples to support my issues with H5’s multiplayer ). It’s about 343i’s decision to focus their efforts in Halo 5 on the multiplayer aspect of the game and allowed other areas of the game to suffer (campaign).

In games past, players had other alternatives to find enjoyment with the game besides multiplayer. 343i took that away from us in halo 5, and in return, gave us an excellent multiplayer.

But as it stands now, even multiplayer has a large amount of issues that must be addressed. If the areas are not corrected, I believe Halo 5 is in trouble.

> 2533274895603860;13:
> It is in a bit of trouble, yes, but not for the reasons you described.

Okay, what are the reasons?

Bacon Gaming is the future.

I’ve been gaming since PONG. Until around 2012 I only played single player type games or games I could play offline. for this reason , when I would get a really good game I would play it over and over and over. I probably went thru Halo CE at least 40 times maybe more. I went thru Reach the same or more. Then I took the dive into shooters and MP shooters online. My gaming is now changed for the foreseeable future. Now I’ll play thru the campaign once and thats it. Then its MP as long as the game has a population. So to your post. I will say the campaign is short. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. Really don’t get some of the complaints. The game can be played taking multiple routes. and you can set your own pace. Its plenty for me. But I’m also not one to go looking for Easter eggs and skulls and such.