I think part of the reason why some people are iffy on this is because it could give rise to the possibility that players will just use bot matches for easy experience points and challenge completions (at least, that’s my understanding of one of the consequences).
So, with respect to that concern, maybe implement a reduced payout for experience points and no spartan points for PvP challenges. And even then, it might not be the best idea.
However, on the flip side, having enemy AI as another editing tool would be incredibly beneficial for MCC in my opinion. Imagine having enemy AI like the Covenant, Flood, Prometheans, heck even Human AI as enemies in Forge. In that regard I would say that there is an incredible opportunity to allowing players to be able to tinker with enemy AI to create fun and unique game modes.
Like, I imagine that someone could create a kind of Super High Mobility Low Gravity Firefight mode for things like Custom Games Browser and Custom Multiplayer without having to go into the mod tools.
Which doesn’t apply to MCC as that game was released like 6 years before they made that promise. I’m all for calling 343 out when they screw up big, but not at the expense of the actual facts.
CE and H2C (barring stability issues in the latter case) are the most simple with static weapon and vehicle spawns: there are no in-game map editing features outside of literal map creation within the mod tools, of which would logically have the necessary tools included after reworking the game to actually support the feature. However once you throw Forge into the mix, alongside considering the existing multiplayer AI that handles certain map effects (and can already be overloaded with the existing Forge), things get screwy real fast in the same way additional cosmetic toggles do for Theatre mode (which is also somewhat 343’s answer as to why they didn’t make the cosmetic toggles like the medal toggles).
Except that Infinites implementation of bots and nav meshes required a significant rework of how forge works in engine. The complexity of this feature is probably why it was released almost a year after Infinites initial launch. Any attempt to back port that work would fundamentally change the experience of the older games.
i don’t think the mcc necessarily NEEDS bots, and i highly doubt the team dedicated to the mcc right now has the capabilities to add them into the game. that being said, if they do somehow get added into the game, i would be happy to see it
Who cares? What’s important is that we have access to bots in Custom Games so we can, oh, I don’t know… actually play the game?
Player counts in multiplayer are abysmally low right now for MCC. It’s impossible to find matches for most gametypes in the Match Composer outside of 4v4 and 8v8. We need bots so that we can play MCC multiplayer on our own terms, whenever we want, however we want.
This is my stance on the issue: a game with crappy bots is better than a game with no bots at all. Beggars can’t be choosers.
Also, if the bots are subpar, you need to call out the devs for not taking the time or effort to craft a suitable gaming experience using the bots.