In Halo: Reach, highlighting a player on your Friends List and selecting Party Details would take you to a screen where you could see what sort of party it was (Open, Friends Only, Invite Only), how many players were in that party, maximum party size, whom the party leader was, and what the party was doing. If your friend was in a Matchmaking game, Party Details would tell you the playlist, the game type (if applicable), the map, match time remaining, and the leading score in addition to the other items.
Halo 4 tells you the party type, party size, party leader, what lobby your friend launched their game from, and match time remaining.
This is totally unacceptable, especially after the phenomenal job Reach did in this regard. Telling us the time remaining in a match is meaningless without a game type to associate it with, and more than a little deceptive considering how few matches in Halo 4 (and Reach…and 3…2…CE) end when the time limit expires. Telling us our friend is currently in Matchmaking, or Campaign, or Spartan Ops is likewise absurd, and might as well be reduced to “TIMMY2K is playing Halo 4” for all the good it does us. I want to know what Campaign level they’re playing on, how long they’ve been at it, and what difficulty they have it set to. These particulars aren’t just fun conversation pieces, they’re time-saving essentials. So why were they removed?
I don’t know, but I seriously hope 343i addresses this problem in a future update. There’s almost nothing I hate more than feeling like someone - or something - is wasting my time, and trying to join a friend in Halo 4 does just that.*
*: I enjoy playing with my friends, but joining them shouldn’t be this annoying.