I could not fit the whole article in one post so here is a link to it on THF:
<mark>http://www.thehaloforum.com/halo-4-news-speculation/396295-open-letter-343i-halo-community.html</mark>
> "I think a lot of people were upset with Reach because it was an obvious copout to the Call of Duty franchise where the credit system was supposed to keep you playing for years. But when people realized that there was no point in gaining Inheritor because it didn’t give players the slightest idea of how good you were; people just gave up. "
>
> If you create a game with a big skill gap and something worth playing for, (even a small virtual number) people will want to play the game. You won’t have to shove content and DLC down our throats.
>
> We don’t want our kills to be decided by luck, rather we out to out-smart and out-skill our opponents.
>
> I think I speak for every hardcore Halo fan when I say that we want to see the books in action.
>
> So please learn from Bungie mistakes.
>
> We hate gray maps.
>
> Please let us skip forward chapters; it’s so annoying to have to hold down the right trigger to see my game winning no scope. A spectator mode would also be nice.
>
> Halo 4 is honestly our last hope
>
> Thanks for reading.
The juicy bits that stuck out to me and that I also agree with. Good read, totally agree.
This idea seems familiar…hmmmm
> I think a lot of people were upset with Reach because it was an obvious copout to the Call of Duty franchise where the credit system was supposed to keep you playing for years.
Why do people think this?
> > "I think a lot of people were upset with Reach because it was an obvious copout to the Call of Duty franchise where the credit system was supposed to keep you playing for years. But when people realized that there was no point in gaining Inheritor because it didn’t give players the slightest idea of how good you were; people just gave up. "
> >
> > If you create a game with a big skill gap and something worth playing for, (even a small virtual number) people will want to play the game. You won’t have to shove content and DLC down our throats.
> >
> > We don’t want our kills to be decided by luck, rather we out to out-smart and out-skill our opponents.
> >
> > I think I speak for every hardcore Halo fan when I say that we want to see the books in action.
> >
> > So please learn from Bungie mistakes.
> >
> > We hate gray maps.
> >
> > Please let us skip forward chapters; it’s so annoying to have to hold down the right trigger to see my game winning no scope. A spectator mode would also be nice.
> >
> > Halo 4 is honestly our last hope
> >
> > Thanks for reading.
>
> The juicy bits that stuck out to me and that I also agree with. Good read, totally agree.
too much logic
> > I think a lot of people were upset with Reach because it was an obvious copout to the Call of Duty franchise where the credit system was supposed to keep you playing for years.
>
> Why do people think this?
bloom
non equal starts
sprint
credit system
literally running around with blades to kill
> And in Reach we were promised “massive battles” with “hordes of enemies”. And of course, we were severely disappointed with the amount of active AI on the battlefield at one time.
Quite a disappointment considering how with a lot of time and effort, one could get over 20 active (in this case, AI that at least shoot at enemies, use vehicles, and dive from things) AI (excluding Flood and Sentinels) in H1, H2, and H3.
In H2,
-IWHBYD Ultra Elites + up to 16 marines
-100+ Johnsons on Great Journey at Tartarus battle
-60+ allied Elites on Great Journey at Tartarus battle
In H3,
-33 Grunts on Sierra 117 + several Brutes and Jackals
-about 20 marines on Tsavo Highway
-56 enemy AI on The Storm at aa gun
-marine island on The Covenant
-marines in Hornets on The Covenant
-up to 45 AI (potentially 60 if the game didn’t kill off the rally point bravo enemies when you went to the Hornets) on The Covenant at rally point bravo area if you bring friendly AI from the third tower and secure the vehicles from the Covenant pilots before they drive them off the level
Furthermore, all three Halos had megabattles (naturally occurring encounters enhanced with additions brought there by goading + scripting). I personally took the time to do it in Halo 2 on The Arbiter, although it did not yield much AI.
> We want to fight the kinds of battles that we read about in the novels. We want ninja-like scenes in the heart of an enemy ship just how we also want literally hundreds of enemies fighting hundreds of marines and Spartans on the other side.
I am tired of these room-to-room encounters. I am also tired of how you can run past enemies and they don’t pursue you and stay (or are confined to) where they are (and how they get deleted when you go far enough).
On The Covenant at the first tower, if you skip the Covies there, they’ll be assembled at the entrance when you come back. I’d like to see more of this.
However, notice how there were convenient equipment (Cloaking, Power Drain, Invincibility from the Chieftain) nearby, allowing the player to engage or get past them. This is a rare thing because the newer Halo games are often fraught with poor balancing (certain death), trapping players in battles of frailty and wit.
I liked equipment more than armor abilities since they were quite plentiful. The Flood levels are the best example of this. Cortana had a lot of deployable covers at parts with Ranged Forms.
Also consider the shotguns on The Storm and the fuel rod gun on the supply case at the third tower on The Covenant. They were both near Hunter encounters. The only Hunter encounter that required improvisation was the Hunter pair at the start of The Ark.
Now look at Reach Legendary. Of course, there was still means of dealing with enemies but often, the player had to come up with something. Unfortunately, that particular something often happened to be the only reliable way. There should be multiple ways to handle an encounter. <mark>Basically, encounters should encourage players to improvise but they should not force players to do so. They should not be so difficult that we have to give up on standard gameplay and resort to things like glitches.</mark> H2 sword cancelling came quite in handy but it was certainly a temptation to use it to bypass some parts.
Also, try going on foot on vehicle levels in the newer Halo games. It’s suicide. That’s why I prefer CE vehicle combat. I could survive while on foot.
> Ever since Halo 2, I feel like no one has bought Halo for its single player or storyline; and that’s a shame because the campaigns have been relatively great and the Halo universe is so rich with back-story.
It was probably because of the story (Covenant side of the story) and difficulty (Jackal snipers, Brutes, enemy damage), both huge changes from CE.
Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming so more people can see this thread.
One thing I forgot to mention was how hard the Halo CE campaign was compared to the rest of the games. Personally I think that single player modes got easier with each installment of Halo, including ODST. I’m not sure if its because I gradually got better at shooters or what but when I bought Halo Anniversary and tried to beat the game on Legendary I still had trouble completing it. Meanwhile I was able to beat Reach solo on Legendary difficulty on my first try.
good read
- this
pretty much just diminished the small hope i had for 343.
ffs. cya, skill gap.
gonna go cry…
had a cry break to find this
> “What we showed today is in some ways really traditional,” O’Connor concluded. “Some of the more revolutionary stuff that we’re going to be doing is going to create more fuss, and I think it’s going to be mostly positive fuss, as it’s all been carefully thought out and considered.”
> One thing I forgot to mention was how hard the Halo CE campaign was compared to the rest of the games. Personally I think that single player modes got easier with each installment of Halo, including ODST. I’m not sure if its because I gradually got better at shooters or what but when I bought Halo Anniversary and tried to beat the game on Legendary I still had trouble completing it. Meanwhile I was able to beat Reach solo on Legendary difficulty on my first try.
Excluding Flood levels, I’m going to have to disagree.
I think Heroic and lower got easier while Legendary got harder.
Reach Normal is a breeze. I might have deceived myself out of bias into believing the enemy damage and health was high on that difficulty.
Reach Heroic is also tolerable if you play it carefully.
But Reach Legendary, that was a hell of an annoying change from H3, and even more compared to CE. CE Legendary was much more easier since you’ve got so many useful weapons at your disposal and the AI didn’t have so many advantages other than a slight damage increase, numbers, and some spawn swaps/changes.
I consider Reach half-Halo because the easier difficulties have (or have the potential for) that CE feel while Legendary is more closer to H2 and H3 (cheap) if not a step up.
This was a pretty good post I came across from one of the links you provided:
> I posted the same points in the official reach discussion but was labelled a troll.
>
> Halo 4 is not going to be designed with balance in mind. Halo 4 is going to be a rushed product, created by developers who are under strict orders from Microsoft to get this game on the shelves for the holiday season in order to make as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
>
> The same formula will be repeated for the release of Halo 5 in 2013. Lets rush the game, find new and interesting ways to make the game even less rewarding and skillfull and make some big bucks in the holiday season of 2013.
>
> The days of balanced, competitive shoot em games on the console platform is dead. I have had too much dissapointment with the likes of Halo 3 and Halo Reach to even bother getting hyped up for Halo 4. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I don’t want to see everyone on this forum get real excited for the release of Halo 4, because I can almost guarantee you that the game is not going to come any where near close to your expectations of a balanced and competitive game.
>
> It’s time to move on to another gaming platform and abandon the console FPS ship, because it’s going to sink when Halo 4 arrives this fall.
> This was a pretty good post I came across from one of the links you provided:
>
>
>
> > I posted the same points in the official reach discussion but was labelled a troll.
> >
> > Halo 4 is not going to be designed with balance in mind. Halo 4 is going to be a rushed product, created by developers who are under strict orders from Microsoft to get this game on the shelves for the holiday season in order to make as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
> >
> > The same formula will be repeated for the release of Halo 5 in 2013. Lets rush the game, find new and interesting ways to make the game even less rewarding and skillfull and make some big bucks in the holiday season of 2013.
> >
> > The days of balanced, competitive shoot em games on the console platform is dead. I have had too much dissapointment with the likes of Halo 3 and Halo Reach to even bother getting hyped up for Halo 4. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I don’t want to see everyone on this forum get real excited for the release of Halo 4, because I can almost guarantee you that the game is not going to come any where near close to your expectations of a balanced and competitive game.
> >
> > It’s time to move on to another gaming platform and abandon the console FPS ship, because it’s going to sink when Halo 4 arrives this fall.
No -Yoink- you were labelled a troll, because your post is so full of troll garbage it’s not funny.
halo games take 3 years to make at the least. Halo 4 has been in development since 2009. And Halo 5 is NOT coming out a year later - prove me wrong.
And Halo 4 is being built PURELY for balance and competitive gameplay, and i find it cute that you think otherwise, it shows how stupid you are. All your whining and -Yoinking!- only proves how much you don’t understand about Halo, or MS for that matter. Halo is MS’s flagship title, why would they -Yoink- that up for all the loyal fans? Because if they do, they KNOW that we’ll convert to Playstation…
Gem them facts straight boy! And to the person who posted this…Cute name you have.
> > One thing I forgot to mention was how hard the Halo CE campaign was compared to the rest of the games. Personally I think that single player modes got easier with each installment of Halo, including ODST. I’m not sure if its because I gradually got better at shooters or what but when I bought Halo Anniversary and tried to beat the game on Legendary I still had trouble completing it. Meanwhile I was able to beat Reach solo on Legendary difficulty on my first try.
>
> Excluding Flood levels, I’m going to have to disagree.
>
> I think Heroic and lower got easier while Legendary got harder.
>
> Reach <mark>legendary</mark> is a breeze. I might have deceived myself out of bias into believing the enemy damage and health was high on that difficulty.
>
> Reach Heroic is also tolerable if you play it carefully.
>
> But Reach Legendary, that was a hell of an annoying change from H3, and even more compared to CE. CE Legendary was much more easier since you’ve got so many useful weapons at your disposal and the AI didn’t have so many advantages other than a slight damage increase, numbers, and some spawn swaps/changes.
>
> I consider Reach half-Halo because the easier difficulties have (or have the potential for) that CE feel while Legendary is more closer to H2 and H3 (cheap) if not a step up.
fixed 
> > This was a pretty good post I came across from one of the links you provided:
> >
> >
> >
> > > I posted the same points in the official reach discussion but was labelled a troll.
> > >
> > > Halo 4 is not going to be designed with balance in mind. Halo 4 is going to be a rushed product, created by developers who are under strict orders from Microsoft to get this game on the shelves for the holiday season in order to make as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
> > >
> > > The same formula will be repeated for the release of Halo 5 in 2013. Lets rush the game, find new and interesting ways to make the game even less rewarding and skillfull and make some big bucks in the holiday season of 2013.
> > >
> > > The days of balanced, competitive shoot em games on the console platform is dead. I have had too much dissapointment with the likes of Halo 3 and Halo Reach to even bother getting hyped up for Halo 4. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I don’t want to see everyone on this forum get real excited for the release of Halo 4, because I can almost guarantee you that the game is not going to come any where near close to your expectations of a balanced and competitive game.
> > >
> > > It’s time to move on to another gaming platform and abandon the console FPS ship, because it’s going to sink when Halo 4 arrives this fall.
>
> No Yoink! you were labelled a troll, because your post is so full of troll garbage it’s not funny.
>
> halo games take 3 years to make at the least. Halo 4 has been in development since 2009. And Halo 5 is NOT coming out a year later - prove me wrong.
>
> And Halo 4 is being built PURELY for balance and competitive gameplay, and i find it cute that you think otherwise, it shows how stupid you are. All your whining and -Yoinking!- only proves how much you don’t understand about Halo, or MS for that matter. Halo is MS’s flagship title, why would they -Yoink!- that up for all the loyal fans? Because if they do, they KNOW that we’ll convert to Playstation…
>
> Gem them facts straight boy! And to the person who posted this…Cute name you have.
Deep breaths man…
> fixed
Care to elaborate? What about Reach’s Legendary makes it easy to you?
The weapons? The AI?
Or is because you kept your distance and didn’t rush?
> literally losing their s***
I stopped reading there.
If you don’t know what a word means, don’t use it.
> > fixed
>
> Care to elaborate? What about Reach’s Legendary makes it easy to you?
>
> The weapons? The AI?
>
> Or is because you kept your distance and didn’t rush?
Because my 15+ year FPS gaming history has told me how games play. I can easily say how “hard” a game is, on it’s hardest settings. Halo: Reach used cheap tactics to make it hard. They gave enemy A.I.: infinite AA, infinite ammo, near limitless ROF, 100% accuracy, eyes in the back of their head and compared to lower difficulties, double health and double damage resistance…It’s cheap and distasteful, and it isn’t difficult at all if you pull that out. The A.I. is also highly predictable and if you play this game long enough, it’ll become a simple walk in the park.
> > > fixed
> >
> > Care to elaborate? What about Reach’s Legendary makes it easy to you?
> >
> > The weapons? The AI?
> >
> > Or is because you kept your distance and didn’t rush?
>
> Because my 15+ year FPS gaming history has told me how games play. I can easily say how “hard” a game is, on it’s hardest settings. Halo: Reach used cheap tactics to make it hard. They gave enemy A.I.: infinite AA, infinite ammo, near limitless ROF, 100% accuracy, eyes in the back of their head and compared to lower difficulties, double health and double damage resistance…It’s cheap and distasteful, and it isn’t difficult at all if you pull that out. The A.I. is also highly predictable and if you play this game long enough, it’ll become a simple walk in the park.
Oh so you mean that it’s not true difficulty. Then we’re in agreement.
> > > This was a pretty good post I came across from one of the links you provided:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > I posted the same points in the official reach discussion but was labelled a troll.
> > > >
> > > > Halo 4 is not going to be designed with balance in mind. Halo 4 is going to be a rushed product, created by developers who are under strict orders from Microsoft to get this game on the shelves for the holiday season in order to make as much $$$$$$$$$ as possible.
> > > >
> > > > The same formula will be repeated for the release of Halo 5 in 2013. Lets rush the game, find new and interesting ways to make the game even less rewarding and skillfull and make some big bucks in the holiday season of 2013.
> > > >
> > > > The days of balanced, competitive shoot em games on the console platform is dead. I have had too much dissapointment with the likes of Halo 3 and Halo Reach to even bother getting hyped up for Halo 4. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I don’t want to see everyone on this forum get real excited for the release of Halo 4, because I can almost guarantee you that the game is not going to come any where near close to your expectations of a balanced and competitive game.
> > > >
> > > > It’s time to move on to another gaming platform and abandon the console FPS ship, because it’s going to sink when Halo 4 arrives this fall.
> >
> > No Yoink! you were labelled a troll, because your post is so full of troll garbage it’s not funny.
> >
> > halo games take 3 years to make at the least. Halo 4 has been in development since 2009. And Halo 5 is NOT coming out a year later - prove me wrong.
> >
> > And Halo 4 is being built PURELY for balance and competitive gameplay, and i find it cute that you think otherwise, it shows how stupid you are. All your whining and -Yoinking!- only proves how much you don’t understand about Halo, or MS for that matter. Halo is MS’s flagship title, why would they -Yoink!- that up for all the loyal fans? Because if they do, they KNOW that we’ll convert to Playstation…
> >
> > Gem them facts straight boy! And to the person who posted this…Cute name you have.
>
> <mark>Deep breaths man…</mark>
Cute, do you not realise that I used these things called “paragraphs”, but that’d be an unknown word in your limited vocabulary, now wouldn’t it? Also, if you’re going to reply to me, at least give it reason, not show me how audacious you are.
> > > > fixed
> > >
> > > Care to elaborate? What about Reach’s Legendary makes it easy to you?
> > >
> > > The weapons? The AI?
> > >
> > > Or is because you kept your distance and didn’t rush?
> >
> > Because my 15+ year FPS gaming history has told me how games play. I can easily say how “hard” a game is, on it’s hardest settings. Halo: Reach used cheap tactics to make it hard. They gave enemy A.I.: infinite AA, infinite ammo, near limitless ROF, 100% accuracy, eyes in the back of their head and compared to lower difficulties, double health and double damage resistance…It’s cheap and distasteful, and it isn’t difficult at all if you pull that out. The A.I. is also highly predictable and if you play this game long enough, it’ll become a simple walk in the park.
>
> Oh so you mean that it’s not true difficulty. Then we’re in agreement.
Yes we are, sir!