I am pretty disappointed in how barebones multiplayer has been so far.
Lack of a pure slayer playlist is very discouraging and increasingly making it so I don’t want to play this game. I do not like objective games, plain and simple. This is core to the Halo experience and just so shocking that it would launch without it. The recent dev statement on the lack of a slayer playlist mentioned that less people would join objective games if this was there. That acknowledgement is concerning since it directly references that the team knows that people want this, but aren’t offering it anyway.
Lack of other game modes is disappointing as well. In addition to a pure slayer playlist, we are missing SWAT, snipers, doubles, FFA etc. Again, hallmarks of the Halo series and baffling that they were not included.
**I feel like I play the same maps over and over. ** I was surprised to look up how many maps were in the game and see that it was on par with other Halo releases. I feel like I am constantly in Bazaar or Aquarius. I also feel like maps are tied to specific game types like capture the flag… idk maybe the maps all just feel the same as I do feel monotony as I play more and more.
There is no voting system. I would like to vote on game type and maps to avoid a lot of the other pain points I just mentioned.
Default controls are whack. I had to do A LOT of tweaking to my controls to get to what felt like a normal Halo experience. Primarily button mapping (recon is best), changing the hold to crouch, reducing look sensitivity a ton (usually I increase a ton) etc.
Outlines on enemies with white armor is much harder to see. I find it difficult to identify enemies with specific customizations as ally or enemy when the are close. Since we are moving away from the red/blue armor I would like an option to increase saturation so I don’t get constantly Mercd because I can’t identify allies up close.
I want master chief helmet default and elites playable. Doesn’t feel like halo without these and grinding to unlock them/locking behind premium will de-incentivize me to play this game.
No co-op campaign. I know there is already awareness and this is coming ~May. However, this is why I play these games. I will not be touching campaign until this comes out. I have gamepass so I don’t have to worry about spending 60 bucks on this, but it feels like that will hurt other people who don’t know better. My soul was crushed when I bought halo 5 and there was no split screen anything. Threw it in the garbage after that.
I want dual wielding & other weapons back. I get it that dual welding is tough and not included in the past 2 titles so that is a nice to have. However, I hate that all starts outside of ranked are assault rifle and that there doesn’t really seem to be diversity of guns when I play (they are there in some circumstances, but the actual # of other guns is seriously reduced from other halo games). Also give me a pistol in ranked with my BR start please.
I know a lot of hard work has gone into this game, but I feel like the vision around key features and what makes this a Halo experience was a big miss… especially with MCC being such a fun experience. I will say the gameplay controls are fun so the work going into that experience and balance was not in vein. Maybe you all are waiting to trickle these updates over time, which I am not going to wait for. Co-op campaign and lack of slayer playlists are turning me away very very quickly. I’ll probably tune in now and then, but I don’t expect to play this game much until more stuff is added, if at all.