Official Thread: Matchmaking changes!

Games Other Halo
1

I am super worried about Halo 4 and the Halo world. I respect the changes 343 has made since halo reach because I feel that it is a better game than reach ever was. I love how it plays almost on par with Halo 2, but lacks every competitive edge that Halo 2 ever had.

I am worried that the community is becoming less and less set on playing halo because it lost the competition. I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY THESE COMPANIES KEEP CHANGING THE GAME! My reasoning behind this is because of the halo population. Never had an online game have more players than halo 2. This is because they did everything right in that game including the competitive edge, but also having some social playlists for people who don’t care about ranks. We don’t need ranks in every playlist, but there needs to be one present.

I feel that halo keeps losing players to titles such as Call of Duty because they keep coming out with the same game over and over with just a few minor additions to change a few things. The only major difference between every Call of Duty to me are the maps. I think halo should take from this that by drastically changing everything in the game, it has deterred the population that is competitive. In essence, halo is losing players to Call of Duty because halo is becoming like Call of Duty. I am happy 343 saw this in bringing back things such as the battle rife, no bloom, and even introducing ranks. But you can’t stop at just placing an invisible rank in game because that doesn’t cure the problem.

The reason everyone loves Halo 2 is because everything was right. Yeah there may have been cheating, boosting, and account buying/trading, but there were players to play with and they were competitive games. If halo doesn’t go back to how halo was and bring back the competitive edge that Call of Duty games don’t have, then I am worried that halo will end.

Just compare the numbers…when I played halo 2 there was over a million players online sometimes, now with halo 4 there are literally 20,000 on the good nights. It scares me and I love halo! I love playing fun, social games sometimes and that’s why a social playlist should exist, but without a ranking system in game those competitive players won’t be coming back just to have to check their rank through a website.

343 thanks so much for the ranking system, but it’s not going to save halo without putting in game. I hope both the social players and competitive players will see my point and will put our voices together to save the halo world. Please social players, I am not against you, I just want halo to live on and the only way I see that happening is bringing back the old system.

One last thing, 343 MAKE THE RANKING SYSTEM JUST LIKE HALO 2 AND HOW IT LOOKED. Seriously, I love the number system 1-50, but the colors of the ranks made it that much more fun to get a new rank. Bring it back exactly the same and I promise the halo players will start coming back.

Help me to help us save the halo we all love

2

anyone who reads this, please at least like the post. halo 2 and 3 had hundreds of thousands of players for years after their releases, and now halo 4 is nearly gone. we need the competitive side back. 343 needs to see the community screaming for what it wants. please just like the post. not mine. true till deads.

3

That’s not the only reason we don’t play my friend:
•DMR ruining close-mid combat
•PO giving ultimate power weapons
•loadouts allowing 3 plasma nades
•vehicles suck balls
•de-scope replaced by flinch
•Instant respawn for kids with ADD

4

This game is flawed in too many ways, as are the developers.

5

> This game is flawed in too many ways, as are the developers.

This is true. This game is busted and broken, but only in a few ways. The problem at hand is that 343i really just doesn’t seem to care enough to listen to the community.

That said, I agree with OP. I’ve been playing every aspect of this franchise since it’s inception, and I DO NOT want to see it die. All it takes is for 343i to STOP thinking they know what we all want from this game experience and to listen to the knowledgeable part of the community. There are a lot of whiners and complainers out there that have NO IDEA what they are talking about, but conversely there are tried and true Halo players/fans who know what it’s all about. 343i, PLEASE LISTEN UP!! Halo 4 MP could be amazing, all it’s going to take are a few tweaks here and there. The answers are out there, you just have to listen. Let’s not let this franchise die. Please?

6

> This game is flawed in too many ways, as are the developers.

My thoughts exactly . Let’s face it , Spartans , the Halo franchise is no longer our Destiny .

7

Agree Social and Ranked should be part of this game from the beginning and also IN GAME RANK!

Just watch at his video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZateZiwBH4

From Halo pros and all they said it´s the sad truth

8

Honestly guys, thanks so much for seeing the need to save this game. I really am actually quite pleased with many of the changes that 343 has made because it feels more in the direction of halo 2 and 3. I hope that they will see this need because they need to do something to save it. It’s the only way that I have described above that will accomplish this because all other resources have been spent.

I want to play a halo full of players both social and competitive, but we need to please the competitive nature of halo to get this to happen. Make in-game ranks and I bet the game will gain popularity once more.

Of course there are many things that can be adjusted such as weapon balancing, but that has happened in every halo and is not something drastic enough to bring back those players. We need ranks and they need to be sweet looking to earn just like in halo 2. Not just a number but some flare to the number so you enjoy seeing the progression.

Also one last note, the other thing that would bring back a vast number of players is the implementation of CLANS. Seriously halo 2 had them and it was my favorite thing because it allowed us to be united in a team of players that were connected even if we didn’t know every member we knew they would be great to play with. It was an amazing idea and every person I knew loved them and I never understood why CLANS went away. Bring them back please. Clans help both the social world of halo to keep people together and the competitve players who like to stay together.

Thanks again for all the likes and thank yous. It means a lot to know that many of us want to save the Halo Universe we love so much.

9

> Agree Social and Ranked should be part of this game from the beginning and also IN GAME RANK!
>
> Just watch at his video:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZateZiwBH4
>
> From Halo pros and all they said it´s the sad truth

I completely agree…split rank and social to satisfy both types of halo players

10

Everybody, help post comments if you agree or not and keep dishing out ideas for how we can save our favorite game!

11

Yes, I agree that the developers made flaws but they executed the game to where it is somewhat playable to enjoy but Halo is not dead. There are more people that play than what we see. We see how many are currently playing and the maximum amount of gamers playing the playlists rather than look how many players played for the day.

12

> Everybody, help post comments if you agree or not and keep dishing out ideas for how we can save our favorite game!

Do you mean ideas for the developers or stuff that we can do as a community?

13

The weapon balance update is going to make or break this game, end of story.

14

> This game is flawed in too many ways, as are the developers.

Probably one of the most honest statements I’ve seen on this forum.
-Join in progress during 910-230 point games or when the opposite team is about to score their final objective
-More lag than I’ve ever experienced in Reach
-Starting games with no opposing team(why is this even possible?!)
-Destroying the forge community
-Ignoring the competitive community
-Doing the bare minimum in an effort to use whats left of their community as guinea pigs for their twisted logic

Halo fans are the only ones that can save this game. Try not spending another dime on 343 until their forced to sell off the franchise. Sad, but it’s the only thing I see saving it.

15

There is no hope for Halo 4. 343 needs to abandon Halo 4 as a lost cause and begin development on Halo 5 immediately, and do very little work with an inbetween game, whatever it will be (maybe Halo 2 Anniversary?), if Microsoft is forcing them to make a game between Halo 4 and Halo 5. It would be wise not to though, and devote all those resources and that time to Halo 5 instead.

Halo 5 truly is the last hope for Halo, if there is any hope left because Halo 4 might have been the last hope. We have had FOUR bad games now in Halo, ODST, Reach, CE Anniversary, and Halo 4. Halo CANNOT survive a FIFTH bad game.

Halo 5 must be like 2 and 3. It must.

Halo 2 + Halo 3 = Halo 5

  1. Halo 2/ Halo 3 style Social/ Ranked divided playlists.

  2. Halo 2/ Halo 3 style 1-50 Ranked playlists.

  3. Clans

  4. Weapons On Maps

  5. Halo 3 Equipment or nothing

  6. No armor abilities. The items themselves can possibly be re-introduced implemented as Halo 3 style Equipment instead though. Take the Hologram for example:

Instead of an Armor Ability with these characteristics:

Player starts with it while other players start with other AAs
Infinite Ammo/ Uses
Can’t be swapped for other AAs

Hologram Equipment with these characteristics:

Player starts with no equipment as equipment is on the map
Player must pick up the equipment on map possibly fighting for it
Hologram has 1 shot/ use (perhaps 1-4 if designers feel it should be more)
Hologram Equipment can be swapped for other equipment

  1. No Loadouts

  2. No Perks

  3. No Ordnance Drops

  4. No Damage Boost

  5. No Sprint or possibly but not likely sprint that does not interfere with shooting, throwing grenades, and meleeing. But I am highly doubtful that even sprinting that does not interfere with the Halo triangle would work very well.

  6. Normal Radar

  7. No JIP or JIP must be implemented correctly (for example players are only dropped into games that are still scored somewhat closely and that are less than 1/4th of the way finished), and not implemented in 1-50 Ranked playlists at all.

  8. Local Search feature for players who need to find players close to them

  9. Red X over recently killed teammates

  10. Shields need to begin recharging faster like in Halo 2 and 3

  11. Custom Game Options need to not only be restored to Halo 3 and Reach levels, but improved upon from that point.

  12. Music needs to sound like CE/ 2/ 3 music.

  13. Loading screens need to be some rendering of a Halo ring like they always were in CE, 2, and 3.

  14. Matchmaking menus need to be blue and sleek like in 2 and 3. The menus also need to light up player locations on a globe just like in 2 and 3 so that players have a feeling of seeing that this game is popular worldwide with TONS of people. This is an extremely easy way to convince players Halo 5 is THE game everyone is playing.

  15. 16 Multiplayer Maps Minimum to ensure there are enough quality maps that will be enjoyed by players. 18-20 maps would be optimal but might not be practical or realistically possible to do.

  16. 1 Forge World somewhat like a combination of Forge World and Forge Island, and 2 other Forge Environments with distinctly different themes, similar to Impact, Erosion, Ravine, Sandbox, Foundry, Tempest, etc.

  17. Theater Mode compatible with all game modes.

  18. Firefight needs to return as it is more popular than Spartan Ops, or Spartan Ops somehow needs to be merged with Firefight. Perhaps less emphasis on making Spartan Ops like a campaign extension and more emphasis on customizable games like Firefight could produce a hybrid worthy replacing both Firefight and Spartan Ops. This would also please fans of both modes if they both got what they wanted in Halo 5’s Firefight or Spartan Ops mode. (Extended campaign from Spartan Ops and customizable games from Firefight).

  19. Pelican models’ back doors need to be animated correctly like they were in Halo 3. Halo 3 Pelicans are far superior to Halo 4 Pelicans despite being in a game much older than Halo 4, and also have doors that look far more realistic, functional, and logical.

  20. All of Halo 3’s game types + Invasion + possibly Stockpile for forgers (forgers have made lots of interesting custom game maps manipulating the Stockpile game type in Reach).

  21. Flood can still be called Flood, but must be like Halo 3’s Infection game type, with optional Flood models for players from the game type settings. The Flood model must either be compatible with all weapons, or their must be a second Flood model able to use all weapons.

Players must be able to set up their own Flood game where it can use all Spartan models like in Halo 3’s Infection, where they can make the infected spawn as Flood models, or even make all the players Flood models for some reason if they want/ need to for an odd custom game type.

  1. Elite models must return in matchmaking like in Halo 3. Personally I think its stupid but a lot of people enjoy playing as Elites so they should be able to. It doesn’t bother players like me who could care less about it so I see no reason not to let them play as Elites.

  2. Assassinations must be dramatically faster or removed entirely, or not interfere with the player’s ability to move and fight. It is ridiculous to die because you were stuck in an assassination animation.

  3. Commendations need to be removed or completely re-thought/ re-designed. Promoting people to do absurd things in matchmaking such as getting 8,000 Plasma Pistol kills promotes atrocious games where players’ teammates are doing random mess causing their team to lose instead of winning.

If commendations are put back in Halo 5, they must NOT be achievable in 1-50 Ranked Playlists!

  1. Challenges, same as #30. Challenges could be very good for encouraging people to rank up in matchmaking however, or achieve a certain number of points in Firefight/ Spartan Ops.

Challenges should only be achievable in 1-50 Ranked if they are something that will contribute to encouraging players to help their teams win, such as a challenge to rank up by 1 rank for example.

  1. The Halo 3 military rank titles gained through EXP should return. Its a good idea to have an experience/ time based progression rank system alongside everything else. I’m not sure if people playing in the Social play lists would want this displayed or not, but I think they would want their EXP progression based rank displayed.

At the very least, the way Halo 3 was set up in 1-50 Ranked with it also showing an EXP progression based military title rank was good.

16

From what I see it’s actually opposite: Halo 4 doesn’t have this “competitive edge” because franchise isn’t as popular amongst the masses.

Kids nowadays have their own “Halo” (it’s called CoD) so there is no fresh blood in the multiplayer. These who left are getting old and they’re just keep complaining that grass isn’t as green as it was in the days of their youth. While CoD’s competitive community is having joy comparing pros and cons of each item in their loadouts, Halo’s competitive community complain that there is such thing as loadouts, which in their mind deters people from the franchise.

With that kind of attitude, there is no future for “competitive” Halo. After few years it’ll be even lesser than Quake/UT hardcore community and will be limited to few grounching nerds who live so much in the past, they don’t remember that in their holy, “competitive” game you could made a headshot while aiming into enemy’s genitals.

There is still hope. Unlike with past multiplayer juggernauts (like mentioned Quake and UT) campaign community is still buying the game. Also maybe with next gen of Xbox there will be such hype as it were with Halo CE or Halo 3, so kids will once again start playing Halo. But can 343i can do anything more to attract more people to Halo 4? No. I’ve played whole tons of games and I’ve never seen developer who changes it’s game so fast based on community’s opinion. Yet, still, there are those who complains about custom options, about loadouts, about jip, about sprint and about whole lot of small stuff (look above).

17

> > Agree Social and Ranked should be part of this game from the beginning and also IN GAME RANK!
> >
> > Just watch at his video:
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZateZiwBH4
> >
> > From Halo pros and all they said it´s the sad truth
>
> I completely agree…split rank and social to satisfy both types of halo players

This would be a step in the right direction

18
  1. Players unable to back out of games once they see other players, like in 2, 3, and Reach. It makes no sense for players to be put into a game but still be able to back out. This undoubtedly makes setting up games take much longer than it should.

Finding games should take less than 1 minute like Halo 3 usually did at least during its first 1-2 years during its prime.

  1. Muting players needs to be made the way it was in 2 and 3 because it was FAST. It is difficult to mute obnoxious players in Halo 4, and problematic.

  2. 2 Weapon Icons need to return so that you don’t have to switch your weapons to remember what other weapon you have, like in Halo 3. Halo 3 had two icons to show both of your weapons. There were many times I glanced at that icon to see what my secondary was even though I had become a 37 in Halo 3, its a nice confirmation.

19

> There is no hope for Halo 4. 343 needs to abandon Halo 4 as a lost cause and begin development on Halo 5 immediately, and do very little work with an inbetween game, whatever it will be (maybe Halo 2 Anniversary?), if Microsoft is forcing them to make a game between Halo 4 and Halo 5. It would be wise not to though, and devote all those resources and that time to Halo 5 instead.
>
>
> Halo 5 truly is the last hope for Halo, if there is any hope left because Halo 4 might have been the last hope. We have had FOUR bad games now in Halo, ODST, Reach, CE Anniversary, and Halo 4. Halo CANNOT survive a FIFTH bad game.
>
>
> Halo 5 must be like 2 and 3. It must.
>
>
>
>
> Halo 2 + Halo 3 = Halo 5
>
>
>
> 1. Halo 2/ Halo 3 style Social/ Ranked divided playlists.
>
> 2. Halo 2/ Halo 3 style 1-50 Ranked playlists.
>
> 3. Clans
>
> 4. Weapons On Maps
>
> 5. Halo 3 Equipment or nothing
>
> 6. No armor abilities. The items themselves can possibly be re-introduced implemented as Halo 3 style Equipment instead though. Take the Hologram for example:
>
> Instead of an Armor Ability with these characteristics:
>
> Player starts with it while other players start with other AAs
> Infinite Ammo/ Uses
> Can’t be swapped for other AAs
>
> Hologram Equipment with these characteristics:
>
> Player starts with no equipment as equipment is on the map
> Player must pick up the equipment on map possibly fighting for it
> Hologram has 1 shot/ use (perhaps 1-4 if designers feel it should be more)
> Hologram Equipment can be swapped for other equipment
>
> 7. No Loadouts
>
> 8. No Perks
>
> 9. No Ordnance Drops
>
> 10. No Damage Boost
>
> 11. No Sprint or possibly but not likely sprint that does not interfere with shooting, throwing grenades, and meleeing. But I am highly doubtful that even sprinting that does not interfere with the Halo triangle would work very well.
>
> 12. Normal Radar
>
> 13. No JIP or JIP must be implemented correctly (for example players are only dropped into games that are still scored somewhat closely and that are less than 1/4th of the way finished), and not implemented in 1-50 Ranked playlists at all.
>
> 14. Local Search feature for players who need to find players close to them
>
> 15. Red X over recently killed teammates
>
> 16. Shields need to begin recharging faster like in Halo 2 and 3
>
> 17. Custom Game Options need to not only be restored to Halo 3 and Reach levels, but improved upon from that point.
>
> 18. Music needs to sound like CE/ 2/ 3 music.
>
> 19. Loading screens need to be some rendering of a Halo ring like they always were in CE, 2, and 3.
>
> 20. Matchmaking menus need to be blue and sleek like in 2 and 3. The menus also need to light up player locations on a globe just like in 2 and 3 so that players have a feeling of seeing that this game is popular worldwide with TONS of people. This is an extremely easy way to convince players Halo 5 is THE game everyone is playing.
>
> 21. 16 Multiplayer Maps Minimum to ensure there are enough quality maps that will be enjoyed by players. 18-20 maps would be optimal but might not be practical or realistically possible to do.
>
> 22. 1 Forge World somewhat like a combination of Forge World and Forge Island, and 2 other Forge Environments with distinctly different themes, similar to Impact, Erosion, Ravine, Sandbox, Foundry, Tempest, etc.
>
> 23. Theater Mode compatible with all game modes.
>
> 24. Firefight needs to return as it is more popular than Spartan Ops, or Spartan Ops somehow needs to be merged with Firefight. Perhaps less emphasis on making Spartan Ops like a campaign extension and more emphasis on customizable games like Firefight could produce a hybrid worthy replacing both Firefight and Spartan Ops. This would also please fans of both modes if they both got what they wanted in Halo 5’s Firefight or Spartan Ops mode. (Extended campaign from Spartan Ops and customizable games from Firefight).
>
> 25. Pelican models’ back doors need to be animated correctly like they were in Halo 3. Halo 3 Pelicans are far superior to Halo 4 Pelicans despite being in a game much older than Halo 4, and also have doors that look far more realistic, functional, and logical.
>
> 26. All of Halo 3’s game types + Invasion + possibly Stockpile for forgers (forgers have made lots of interesting custom game maps manipulating the Stockpile game type in Reach).
>
> 27. Flood can still be called Flood, but must be like Halo 3’s Infection game type, with optional Flood models for players from the game type settings. The Flood model must either be compatible with all weapons, or their must be a second Flood model able to use all weapons.
>
> Players must be able to set up their own Flood game where it can use all Spartan models like in Halo 3’s Infection, where they can make the infected spawn as Flood models, or even make all the players Flood models for some reason if they want/ need to for an odd custom game type.
>
> 28. Elite models must return in matchmaking like in Halo 3. Personally I think its stupid but a lot of people enjoy playing as Elites so they should be able to. It doesn’t bother players like me who could care less about it so I see no reason not to let them play as Elites.
>
> 29. Assassinations must be dramatically faster or removed entirely, or not interfere with the player’s ability to move and fight. It is ridiculous to die because you were stuck in an assassination animation.
>
> 30. Commendations need to be removed or completely re-thought/ re-designed. Promoting people to do absurd things in matchmaking such as getting 8,000 Plasma Pistol kills promotes atrocious games where players’ teammates are doing random mess causing their team to lose instead of winning.
>
> If commendations are put back in Halo 5, they must NOT be achievable in 1-50 Ranked Playlists!
>
> 31. Challenges, same as #30. Challenges could be very good for encouraging people to rank up in matchmaking however, or achieve a certain number of points in Firefight/ Spartan Ops.
>
> Challenges should only be achievable in 1-50 Ranked if they are something that will contribute to encouraging players to help their teams win, such as a challenge to rank up by 1 rank for example.
>
> 32. The Halo 3 military rank titles gained through EXP should return. Its a good idea to have an experience/ time based progression rank system alongside everything else. I’m not sure if people playing in the Social play lists would want this displayed or not, but I think they would want their EXP progression based rank displayed.
>
> At the very least, the way Halo 3 was set up in 1-50 Ranked with it also showing an EXP progression based military title rank was good.

This x 32

20

> From what I see it’s actually opposite: Halo 4 doesn’t have this “competitive edge” because franchise isn’t as popular amongst the masses.
>
> Kids nowadays have their own “Halo” (it’s called CoD) so there is no fresh blood in the multiplayer. These who left are getting old and they’re just keep complaining that grass isn’t as green as it was in the days of their youth. While CoD’s competitive community is having joy comparing pros and cons of each item in their loadouts, Halo’s competitive community complain that there is such thing as loadouts, which in their mind deters people from the franchise.
>
> With that kind of attitude, there is no future for “competitive” Halo. After few years it’ll be even lesser than Quake/UT hardcore community and will be limited to few grounching nerds who live so much in the past, they don’t remember that in their holy, “competitive” game you could made a headshot while aiming into enemy’s genitals.
>
> There is still hope. Unlike with past multiplayer juggernauts (like mentioned Quake and UT) campaign community is still buying the game. Also maybe with next gen of Xbox there will be such hype as it were with Halo CE or Halo 3, so kids will once again start playing Halo. But can 343i can do anything more to attract more people to Halo 4? No. I’ve played whole tons of games and I’ve never seen developer who changes it’s game so fast based on community’s opinion. Yet, still, there are those who complains about custom options, about loadouts, about jip, about sprint and about whole lot of small stuff (look above).

Why is Halo 4 not popular? It is not popular because it is not competitive like Halo 2 and 3 were.

Halo = Fair Competition
CoD = Hyper Realistic

They are not the same game. Not even close. Halo is fictional so it will never be hyper-realistic like CoD, no matter how hard any designer tries to make it that way. Halo’s niche has always been fair competition. It was always the most competitive video game around.

Halo 3 beat out CoD for a looooong time into its life, even with the CoDs at the time launching after Halo 3 launched. Had Halo Reach stuck to being Halo, it too would have beat CoD until a newer CoD game came out after it.

Halo 2 and 3 had online player populations just as big as CoD has.

CoD is not a “Halo of the next generation” because they are NOT the same thing. CoD fans are interested in hyper realism. Halo fans are interested in a competitive sci-fi video game.

Loadouts are not competitive and therefore they DO deter Halo fans from playing Halo. If we want an even starting field, and there are loadouts in Halo preventing that, why would we want to keep playing Halo? CoD fans want that because it fits in with a hyper realistic shooter, but Halo fans do not want loadouts because they destroy an even starting playing field.

These complaints are NOT “small stuff.” It is obvious you have no idea what makes Halo Halo. All it would take to fool you into thinking CoD is Halo is to give it a sci-fi space setting, shields on the players, and the name Halo, because you have no idea what makes Halo Halo, except for the most basic things such as the name Halo on the box, shields on the players, and a sci-fi space setting.

The ultimate proof is the fact that CoD is still doing good while Halo is hurting. What did each do?

Halo changed. CoD stayed CoD.

We’re trying to make Halo Halo again, which is what will make it succeed again, not Halo being some not as good CoD knock-off.