Already preordered halo 5 the second I saw the multiplayer reveal about a week ago. But does it concern anyone that 343 is only showing us 4v4 arena? No word on 8v8 and for a next gen game with dedicated servers its more likely than possible we could see a decent amount of 64 player slots! 343 still has to remember halo is evolutionary so evolving the multiplayer into a bigger experience for players would not only be an experience but a NEW bigger and better experience. For those who choose a smaller amount around 8v8 big team and 4v4 slayer will be there by default. Already proven. But what’s the loss of adding more player slots? Nothing its more worth gaining more! Microsoft increased the size of the Xbox one friend list by 10x more in size giving us 1000 friend slots and that friends list will have no use if there’s no game on Xbox one that will have a big multiplayer experience especially the #1 exclusive! 16 players for all 4 halo games in the master chief collection so everyone’s satisfied with that. And voice chat? Well this probably being the biggest problem here but voice chat could be in any way whether its certain chat channels that could go up to 16 players each for 4 channels and having so its party only. But when its a full lobby of microphones I guess that’s up to 343. What do you think? How many player slots could you handle?
I apologize, I made a mistake in the poll title!
128? A bit much.
32 or 64 is fine by me. You know why? Pelicans. We need those beautiful birds.
Since CE we have had large open fields with enemies and vehicles to fight in the campaign. I think it is time to add a playlist in MP for bigger player caps, bigger maps, and bigger toys!
Halo is in dire need of a player cap increase. Well, okay, maybe not that badly, but to some extent. Halo has had its traditional 16-player cap for well over 13 years now. When Halo 2 was in development, its multiplayer was codenamed Warfare, and supported a player-cap greater than 16. However, due to time constraints and getting it to work on OG Xbox, it was scrapped and never picked up again. Halo 5: Guardians would be the perfect to introduce a larger player-cap. With the move to next-gen and a far more powerful game engine, it is completely possible to do while maintaining a crisp 1080p and blistering 60fps. Work that technical magic 343 Industries.
Now, I’m more in favor of an increase to 32 - 36 players. To me, that feels like the sweet spot. Sixteen players at this point seems a tad low, and 24 players is too small an increase. 64 or 128 players is just far too large. Save that for a spin-off title. 32-36 on the other hand seems just right. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right. We get a significant player increase, larger battles with BTB maps to accommodate, and some new vehicles to play around with. It just seems right.
343 wants to focus on 4v4 mainly to get weapon balancing info, and see how players react to what they are given, and how they behave with them. When 4v4 is balanced, it’s easier to balance 8v8 and so on.
If 343 is going to go big, they’ll say so. Just because their beta is 4v4 only doesn’t mean they’re cutting content. I don’t believe they’re that dumb.
If 343i’s going to increase the player count, I don’t want them to go higher than 12v12. Once you get higher than that you begin fragmenting the map distribution and end up shipping the game with smaller amounts of each size of map–which is a lose-lose for everyone.
> I apologize, I made a mistake in the poll title!
I can fix it for you, what do you want it changed to?
I couldn’t imagine Assault and flag games with 16v16, that sounds so insane. An Elite team of 16 players with mics and vehicles would be an awesome experience. 2 flag would almost seem like a suicide mission with how much bigger the maps could be.
It would be really cool to see huge games like this, but there’s quite a few factors you need to take into account before offering up such big matches.
The more people you put on a map, the more things start to complicate:
- There’s now double, perhaps more than double, the amount of information being logged and tracked by servers. Sure we’re on dedicated servers / next gen tech, but you still have to deal with players own networks and the lag that comes with that.
- Map sizes - I’m not sure all current maps could stand up to 16, 32 or 64 players, so increasing map sizes for these playlists would have to be looked at.
- Increasing map sizes, while it fixes the congestion issue, introduces other issues. It’s going to take time to navigate the map, so you’re either going to have to increase base player speed quite a bit or keep sprint. The alternative is spending half the match trying to reach the other side or having all game play in vehicles
If that can be fleshed out and addressed decently then hellz yeah! I’d totally be up for a Spartan Battle 
Poll is biased. I’d vote only for a maximum of 20 players.
I’m not worried at all.
343i have said that the beta will showcase only a fraction of what they’re doing for Halo 5’s multiplayer.
Besides, 343i really needs to show the fans that they’re learning from mistakes and pushing the franchise forward in a meaningful way to a lot of fans who were disappointed with Reach and 4. What better way to do that, than to showcase modern Arena gameplay.
I think 64 players would be fun, but that should definitely be in the minority. We still need smaller team play.
I don’t actually see why people are saying that it shouldn’t go above a certain number. They’re not going to think “Oh, we don’t need Doubles or 4v4 any more!”
The only thing that increasing the cap will do will be increase the number of playlists. We’ll still have ordinary-sized BTB, although it might get renamed, and we’ll still have all the playlists we love. If you don’t like a 128-player battle, then don’t play it. Some other people will.
Fixed the poll to what you wanted, OP. 
As much as I like the idea of 120 (or whatever) players, I imagine years down the road having a hell of a time finding a match. I mean, it’s hard enough getting a Big Team match in Halo 3 right now.
However, if they kept those playlists up for the first few or several years (as long the game keeps a heavy population) they could then always replace them with traditional sized playlists down the road once people move on to Halo 6.
> As much as I like the idea of 120 (or whatever) players, I imagine years down the road having a hell of a time finding a match. I mean, it’s hard enough getting a Big Team match in Halo 3 right now.
>
> However, if they kept those playlists up for the first few or several years (as long the game keeps a heavy population) they could then always replace them with traditional sized playlists down the road once people move on to Halo 6.
Heck, even in Halo 4 (Reach most definitely), it’s hard for playlists to sustain the number required for one or two matches at times. That’s my concern.
I’d like to have the absolute max at 32 players. There was something in the the video of stuff cut from Reach, and one of them was ‘Global Battles’. We could have many more possibilities, and now with dedicated servers, it’ll actually be possible for Halo. Pelicans, water craft, the works.
(The poll captions made me laugh as I read them. I’m ready for war! THE WORLD IS WAR!!!)
Well halo 3 (Xbox 360) is merely populated by 6000 players that rule not only goes for BTB but other playlists as well.
A bigger sandbox indeed! …Imagine how good the forge would be- building bigger maps for more players. Heck we could spawn ELEPHANTS!
I can imagine a 64 player game on a similar scale to a Battlefield match with pelicans dropping players off, banshees flying through the air and a whole bunch of Warthog’s driving along the ground. I believe it would be a great opportunity to have a massive chaotic fight with all the favourite vehicles involved.
> Well halo 3 (Xbox 360) is merely populated by 6000 players that rule not only goes for BTB but other playlists as well.
Last time I checked it is about 10 000 unique players each day (not all on at the same time just in 24 houres.
> A bigger sandbox indeed! …Imagine how good the forge would be- building bigger maps for more players. Heck we could spawn ELEPHANTS!
How to spot fake Halo 3 players.
Step 1: they do not know the elephant created lag when parked atop of downed phantom.
Step 2. They lack Halo 3 stats and will then try to tell you it is not their original account, their original account was a lvl 50 in MLG with a 3.0 KD but they forgot the name (just pulling a prediction here)
Step 3.???
Step 4. Ling Lings head.