Mixed Feelings gameplay vs. battle pass

Games Halo Infinite
1

I"ve been playing halo for twenty years. I’ve read a handful of the books. I even tried Halo Wars.

On the one hand, 343 Nailed the gameplay. I’ve never had so much fun playing halo before. On the other hand, this progression system is a naked money grab. Supporting this franchise for twenty years and I have to shell out extra coin for a battlepass to allow me to use anything other than stock armor? That’s disappointing for a loyal customer. Very much reconsidering whether I’ll purchase the full game at launch, and very glad I didn’t preorder it. I’ve got the MCC to tide me over until you guys sort this out.

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2

I’m actually fine with battle pass just not the progression system which they’ve already acknowledged and are addressing, hopefully they make good on that

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Maybe I’m just old, but I remember the days when you shelled out $60 for a game, and you got the whole game. Again, the gameplay is most important for me, and if I continue to have fun on the free multiplayer, maybe it’s not worth paying full price and waiting for the campaign to go on sale on steam. Also, maybe I’m just an old grump who dislikes the continued growth of the subscription model into every single facet of my life.

4

A healthy amount of armor to unlock would be nice with the Reach armor a being additional only.
Seeing stuff unlock that you cannot access is a terrible feeling. Personally giving us the Reach armors would have earned a lot of good will. I unlocked most of those armors already, 10 years ago. I didn’t want to grind them out in MCC and now they want us to pay to grind out those armors.

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5

I hate the F2P and the realization that we now have to pay $30-40 per year to play Halo, but that’s the way the industry is going. I feel like trying to resist it is like trying to shout into a hurricane, so I’m not going to devote too much energy to complaining about it.

What I do find really disappointing though is the dearth of basic cosmetic options when you’re just starting out, whether you plan to grind for a lot of gear or not or pay or not. They should have had at least five options for the major things to start with: helmets, visor colors, and armor cores, and stances. It’s really annoying to see so matches start and end with everyone looking the same. I suppose this problem will go away after a few months though.

The other thing I’m worried about with this F2P model is the ridiculous, silly cosmetics that these F2P games use to get people to grind or spend money on. I’m not looking forward to a year from now when people will be shooting rainbows out of their guns and everyone is sparkling or someone is driving a solid gold Scorpion and Warthogs with Monster Energy logos plastered all over it and crap. Our eyes afe already being assaulted by these extremely stupid death animation with the giant fire skull that people have unlocked already.

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6

Things like this is why games today have gone to -Yoink!-.

The items paid for should should always have the option to be earnable in-game.

It goes to show companies don’t know how to make games anymore that sells itself. Looking back how the original Halo franchise made 5 billion without a shop, it shows that it’s not the game, it’s the company that is the problem and Microsoft/Activision can stick it where the sun don’t shine.

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I’ve been a fan of this series for nearly two decades as well. I have ZERO problem paying for a battlepass every three months as long as the quality is there. I know money to pay devs doesn’t grow on trees, and this is a much better alternative than paying for map and weapon packs that split up the community.

What I do have a problem with is this horrible XP system that makes me want to QUIT PLAYING THE GAME because I feel like I’m not making any progress towards the thing that I paid extra for. The challenge system alone should have never made it past the design phase, but 343 knows exactly what they’re doing. Launch with a horrible system of gaining XP, frustrating their playerbase so they’ll pay extra for double xp, challenge skips, and level skips, patch in a proper system later. This is extremely exploitative and needs to stop.

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In theory, I like the challenge system, but it should give you that feeling of, “Wow, I performed these extra cool feats in the game, and so I earned extra progress!” Instead of the way it is now, where people feel like they have limited opportunity to make progress, and they have to play in bizarre, and even detrimental ways to earn progress. I’m not saying anything new, obviously. I think what everyone wants to see is that you earn XP for match participation, kills, and scoring points (objective). These challenges would be really fun if they were extra on top. Instead, they feel like intentionally cruel assignments by a boss who doesn’t like you and wants you to be miserable or make yoh look bad.

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9

The Battle Pass itself, is fine, but only getting the odd .png and a handful of Challenge Swaps for the free players is a bit of a joke.

Like I said, The Battle Pass is fine, but the progression system and also the armour customisation needs a huge -Yoink!- overhaul. Challenges need to compliment your progression, not be the primary (and in this case the only) source of progression. Customisation is also tied to progression, because if you don’t progress, you don’t get to customise, they both go hand in hand that lead you to the in-game store, and even then, the armour coatings you get restrict you to certain Armour Cores and attachments, Remember when they said we wouldn’t see a Spartan that looks the same? Yeah that was a full faced lie, because even with the options available in the in-game store, 99% of players all look the same.

The progression system is entirely anti-consumer/anti-player whatever you want to call it, it’s against you, the Exp boosters being timed also is a huge red flag, considering it can take longer than the duration of a booster to complete even one challenge, what can you do? Well, they expect you to buy more. I had a 2 hour session today, I didn’t complete a single challenge, so I made zero progress, that’s a few wasted EXP Boosters for me, and potentially more money for them. It’s a joke.

I want to give 343 the benefit of the doubt here, as the game itse;lf is -Yoink!- great, I love the gameplay, I like the maps (for the most part) sometimes the controls feel fiddly, but I know that’s down to it being new and my own need for adaption.

BUT, if or when they change the progression system, the multiplayer will flourish, if they don’t I don’t see many people playing after 3 months, they’ll migrate to other games that actually reward you for your efforts. and respect you as a consumer.

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10

Yeah, I’ve been bored to tears in CTF and Oddball games where I’m the only person on both teams playing the objective. Literally everyone else is camping weapons so they can get their challenges in and get their skins. It’s not fun at all.

I remember the magic that was Halo 1 LAN, and Halo 2 and 3 online matches. Yes, there were some challenge grinders, but for the most part, everyone just enjoyed the game and no one really gave too much of a heck about the cosmetic stuff. But the battle pass and the cosmetic grinding have broken what made those games great.

I guess as an owner of the MCC I can just go back to those, but it’s disappointing.

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11

Yeah, I don’t get who decided on the content of the challenges either. The challenges could be crafted to encourage gameplay the way it’s supposed to be played. Off the top of my head, within just slayer, have challenges in increasing numbers of kills per match; 10, 25, 50 for the real go-hards.

Have challenges for scoring with the flag on CTF, or defending it. Have challenges for maxing out time with the oddball, or on point control. Challenges for KDR. Challenges for killstreaks, number of killstreak per match. Challenges that incentivize the game to be played properly.

It would be a fundamentally different experience if players were rewarded not for x rocket kills per match, but instead for x flag captures per match.

Edit: spelling

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