Every added content in MCC was free, same with Halo 5, and Halo Infinite is a free multiplayer game. Bungie’s titles and Halo 4 were the only ones to charge for core content DLC (maps and such, not counting announcers)
See THIS is the problem.
People are flocking to this kinda thing complaining about all the little things that make next to no diffrence to the actual gameplay when there are literally at least 16 new threads in the past hour of people BEGGING the devs to fix the crashing.
People the game running is more important than a shiny thing in the shop,
Its more important than adding in a new peice of armor,
Its more important than fixing BTB since their are hundreds of people that cant even get into a game due to the crashes…
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I think players would be more patient/forgiving if there was an indication that 343 (i) knows what they’re doing; (ii) cared; or (iii) took ownership of the problems.
However, much of the feedback being given is the same feedback that was (rather consistently) given during and after the technical flights. 343 just didn’t listen.
As for 343 taking a break, normally I’d be all for the dev teams taking a break. Self-care and time with family are important. However, when you deliver a product this broken (e.g. BTB), I don’t think you get to enjoy the luxury of a break. At that point, having to work through the holidays is your just desserts for doing a bad job.
This isn’t just idle whining. I own a business, and have worked through holidays, weekends, and vacations because someone else did a bad job. Did it suck? Absolutely! But that’s what ownership looks like.
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BTB didn’t launch broken though, it only started having issues just before Christmas.
343 obviously knows what they’re doing if the game itself is the most loved and fun in general opinion since Halo 3 or Halo Reach. They do care, because if they didn’t they would’ve ended the franchise after Halo 4 and shut down the servers for the Halo games. And they do take ownership for the problems as they have already come out publicly and apologized for everything that’s a hot topic right now. Keeping the folks at 343 Industries from having a well-deserved break after crunching for 6 years and then having their publisher release the game as early access on Nov.15th and having the fans basically spit in their face due to relatively minor issues that can and will be fixed in short order or at most in a couple/few months.
Not listening and not being able to create major updates in a matter of days are two different things.
The game’s official launch was December 8. With BTB breaking “just before Christmas”, that’s a delta of 2 weeks. Close enough to be considered broken “at launch”. BTB’s inaccessibility is also not the only thing broken - it was just offered as an example.
I don’t know what source you’re pulling from, but this is quite clearly not the most loved or fun since Reach. Ignoring the volume of negative user feedback on Reddit and Waypoint for the moment, and putting aside the daily player count, even professional ratings have it scoring on-par with Halo 4 (although these ratings are often pay-jobs).
BTB being down is not a minor issue. Game crashes, desyncing, latency issues, game-breaking packet drops, inconsistent user experiences - none of these are minor issues, and even Ske7ch’s “apology” (which was anything but) stated that the fixes will take a decent amount of time because of the programming dependencies. The only things that seems fully functional is the store (go figure).
I don’t think anyone is expecting “major updates” in a matter of days. I think they just expected a AAA, flagship game to be functional upon release - particularly after a year-long delay. Failing that, I think the expectation is that a studio owned and backed by MSFT would have the resources to fix a live service game in a timely manner - not “in a couple/few months”.
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It doesn’t matter what kind of resources you have available. It is going to take a couple weeks at minimum to fix major issues and longer to add things that many are asking for. First you have to code it in, check it, test it, check it again, and it will undoubtedly have bugs or affect other systems so you have to take that into account. Fixing one thing can break three other things, so no matter what your funding is, it will take time. And with BTB our last update on that they said they still weren’t sure what was causing the issue. You have to be realistic here and recognize there are actual people behind this, and not matter what it is, any sort of change has inherent risk and takes time to test and release.
And as for the feedback from Reddit and Waypoint, the people on social media either spewing death threats to employees or asking for the entire franchise to be canceled are hardly opinions that need to be considered. And as for the voices speaking out about solid negative feedback on the game, yes for sure they need to be looked at but that does not mean most of the Halo community is upset. The loudest voices are the angriest, and you won’t here from the people who actually are enjoying the game because they either get shot down and berated the second they post or they’re too busy playing and streaming it to sit here and complain.
I can’t think of a single AAA title that was 100% loved and bug-free on release. It just doesn’t happen. Often times, people either wait for the bugs to get fixed, for updates to come out and for feedback to be acted upon . A great example being MCC. Rough launch, but amazing game now.
Just be patient. It’s fine to be upset with the mistakes and issues, I’m not saying it’s bad to provide feedback. I’m just saying it’s not the end of the world and the more we support 343, the better things will be. Call out their mistakes but understand why they happened and have a more realistic timetable as far as updates and patches go.
In all seriousness, I’ve really enjoyed this exchange (so thanks for engaging - sincerely).
If I’m completely honest, I’m just old and bitter. I remember the days when there were no patches. Games got shipped on cartridges and discs, and if they sucked or had bugs - it was permanent. However, this also meant that most games were complete and functional on release.
The ability to patch games has led to a “Eh, we’ll fix it later” sentiment among Devs.
Again, I’m just old and bitter, and had hoped that with MSFTs resources, they’d be (and do) better than this.
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I remember those days too, man. Going to Gamestop or Blockbuster and getting a game that i’ve wanted to play for a while and just having the game in it’s 100% form immediately available. The only DLC we got back then were new maps, but even just having that was enough. I miss those days, but the whole gaming industry has changed since then. It’s a whole new mindset with not just 343 but every dev, especially on Live-service games. It’s more of a “more over-time” than a “all of it right now” situation. There’s pros and cons to both sides but I think alot of us who have been playing for a while just aren’t used to the change, some of us adapt and accept faster than others.
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no. games should work on release. full stop. this BS around BTB is unacceptable. we shouldn’t have to be patient for something so basic.
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BTB was working fine until like last week my dude.
no, it’s been like 3 weeks at least. my dude.
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BTB went down just before Christmas when 343 was going on break. They’re back now so any fixes and updates should be coming pretty soon
No.
Here’s 20 characters.
If that is true then 343i is setting goals that are out of their reach. They were too ambitious and couldn’t keep up.
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Halo Infinite isn’t the one-and-done arena shooter that alot of the older games were, this game is a “platform for the future of Halo” and as such, a live-service model is the best way to go about things. Look at games like Call of Duty Warzone, Fortnite, free-to-play games that use alot of monetization and because of that model are able to pump out constant content over the course of months and years. When CoD Warzone first started it was nothing but a Battle Royale with an okay amount of content, but look at it now. Fortnite too. I’m not saying Halo needs to copy those games, but Halo Infinite whether we like it or not is in the same boat with those games, the difference being Halo is an arena shooter not a battle-royale.
When you compare the amount of content long-term that a game like that has, vs the games we got in 2007-era, it’s a colossal difference. I mean just look at the original Modern Warfare 2 vs the franchise now, it’s a night and day difference of content and Halo Infinite is going to be the same way.
The hard part about that isn’t that 343 is incapable of making it happen, the difficult part is all the OG fans who are having to deal with this change of eras. We’re used to going to our local gamestore, spending $60 on a game, maybe getting a map pack or two, and three years later buying a new game, over and over. Things have changed since then, bro. And the OG Halo fans aren’t even the main ones being marketed to, Halo Infinite is all about getting more people to play the game, not the same old guys since CE with no new fans coming in.
Halo Infinite is going to do great, but unfortunately for some, the game it will be won’t match certain visions for what it should be.
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Absolutely not going to be patient.
They have had their holidays. Now they need to get back to work.
If this was a construction job. Let’s take for example… Laying a new floor in your kitchen. Then they botch the job. Sure you can walk there, but they have maybe the wrong tiles. Or maybe there’s a few cracks. Or maybe it’s just badly placed. Then they go on holiday all of December. Would you be patient then?
I wouldn’t. And if the shoe was on the other foot, I’d be embarrassed to go on holiday.
They likely are back at work. Do you expect these changes to happen overnight?
Comparing a video game to house construction is a bit silly, too. It’s not like our lives are greatly affected by this. Also, I recommend you read up on the actual processes of video game coding so you can have a more realistic idea of how long and/fast certain things are when it comes to this. It’s not just a “gonna sit in my office and add a career progression today”, it’s not that simple. It runs through multipler departments, ideas are drawn up, assets are made, then they have to code in an entirely new xp system which will most likely create multiple bugs in the game which will need to be hunted and removed/fixed before they release it. Then they have to test that new system in-game on multiple platforms and accounts, over and over. If something isn’t good, the whole process starts over again from the beginning. Then they finally do create a system that works and doesn’t break the game, they have to run it through Microsoft to make sure the update gets the green light which can take a couple weeks just in itself. Then they release it and even at that point, players will likely complain and they will need to change things all over again.
It’s not a quick and simple button press and it does not happen overnight. Not to mention the studio is working on multiple projects and ideas all at once, DLC, Expansions, fixes and patches for multiple platforms, BTB, everything.
now @PawCakez if you understand that and still choose not to be patient, that’s entirely your fault. Just like I can’t design and build a car in 5 hours, 343 can’t bring us all of these fixes in the time we’ve given them.
Original Post: click at your own discretion
Summary
Yeah that paywall bought you:
The whole -Yoink!- game, including:
-Single player and all of its features.
AND
-Multiplayer and all of its features, including cosmetics
A 60(Sixty[6×10]) American dollar paywall in Halo infinite buys you:
-Singleplayer
OR
- Literally 3 cosmetics.
Youre such a ____ing smooth brained corporate -Yoink!-. Just stop, get yourself some help.
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That’s a thread from 12/14 after having dealt with it for over a week already. it’s been longer than christmas eve.
edit, had to break link for some reason. but it’s in my history.
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