Many people have probably seen that I’m not liking the fact that Halo 4 is slowly dying, but that’s not to say that I hate it as a game. I think Halo 4 could be truly amazing and I’d love nothing more to see it prosper. The problem is more the direction the game’s been taken in and what needs to be done to rectify this, below is just one of the biggest problems.
A big reason many people enjoy the Halo series’ matchmaking is due to the fact that it is balanced, fair and competitive to the core. No random elements to cause a slip of the balanced game play being the basic modifier here.
This is my biggest grip with Halo 4, Ordnance. A common mistake many people take when arguing for Ordnance is saying “It’s random for everyone , therefore its skill-based”, but ultimately that argument falls flat on it’s face because I could say the same thing about a flipped a coin, it may be random for both players of the coin flip but it’s not skill-based.
Google defines Skill as: “The ability to do something well; expertise.”
But I can tell you right now, no matter how many times you flip a coin and no matter how many years of experience you get calling and flipping it, you will never improve your chances of winning through superior experience, a two year old calling a coin flip for their first time is just as likely to win as a sixty year old who’s calling and flipping it for the ten billionth time.
So if the Ordnance isn’t skill based, what is it?
Google defines Luck as: “Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions.”
It is luck, or in other words, the ability to win or lose without any insight, experience or ability affecting the outcome. Many people are probably thinking, “But something being luck-based doesn’t affect the competitiveness of a game!” and that’s where I need to step in again.
Unfortunately, Luck or Random Elements are the biggest problems in competitive gaming, what’s the point of spending time learning a map, weapons and strategies when the opposing team flips a coin, gets lucky and calls in a Power Weapon? Why do it when you don’t get lucky and are given the choice between a Regular Weapon, Powerup and Grenades?
This applies on both a level on Personal and Map Ordnance too, having weapons drop, even if only a little randomly when, means a team cannot anticipate a weapon’s location, the enemy team’s movement patterns or even their own next move.
The game goes from ‘Map Control’ to ‘Run And Gun’.
This is not what the Halo series is renowned for, the series has always been the pinnacle of fair and even game play (connection issues aside for a second) and as a result I propose that Ordnance is restricted to Infinity Playlists, with regular playlists for Team Slayer and BTB.
And for God’s sake, throw in some Objective Gametypes into BTB already.
