C’mon 343, how many people have posted this same subject over the past year.
There’s gotta be at least one of you there that understands the frustration that those of us still playing Reach feel.
We paid for the map packs, but never get to play them in matchmaking.
It was obviously a cost/server issue that led you to deleting the DLC playlist in the first place. I see an awful lot of new ranks in matchmaking, I’d have to think they would purchase the DLC, even now, if it were a viable option again.
You can’t rip people off and expect to get rewarded down the road. I’ve only bought one of Halo 4’s map packs because of the way you’ve handled DLC in playlists, if I felt you could have been trusted to keep my previous DLC purchases up and running… I would have ‘bought them all’
I have no plans on buying Halo 5… and this is the exact reason.
I’m sure there are thousands of players that feel the same.
When the Halo 5 sales numbers don’t meet any of the prior games totals and you end up losing money because of a smaller player base, you guys at 343 can look back at decisions like this one as part of the explanation.
You can’t foster mistrust and expect anything different.
you know it kinda sucks.
eight… nine months ago this post would have been flooded with replies from like minded reach players.
now there’s only one (thanks geek… I obviously mean that in the kindest way)
if they ignored it back then, they’re probably laughing at it now.
‘move on man, move on’… their saying.
I will.
Destiny comes out soon, at least Bungie genuinely cares about the fanbase… 343 wants to appear that way, but you can see Microsofts money first mentality in every decision they make.
that bottom line’s an evil thing, corporate gaming at it’s finest.
> you know it kinda sucks.
> eight… nine months ago this post would have been flooded with replies from like minded reach players.
> now there’s only one (thanks geek… I obviously mean that in the kindest way)
> if they ignored it back then, they’re probably laughing at it now.
> ‘move on man, move on’… their saying.
> I will.
> Destiny comes out soon, at least Bungie genuinely cares about the fanbase… 343 wants to appear that way, but you can see Microsofts money first mentality in every decision they make.
> that bottom line’s an evil thing, corporate gaming at it’s finest.
I really do not mind that a game company (like Bungie) makes money - but it sticks in my craw when they make a tonne of money (which 343 did on H4), release a terrible game (with no beta either) for multiplayer or co-op play and then refuse to address crippling issues like Lag due to abysmal host selection and lack of regional filters. And then in forums like PAX or E3 tell the players that 343 is “happy” with the H4 network play even when the game is now essentially non playable online over the internet.
I too have been following Destiny on bugie.net, and was overjoyed to see them come out with a public beta on all 4 platforms early on. I’m hoping this will shake out many many bugs this winter and result in a near flawless release in early summer 2014. It will be so refreshing to have a company want the players to enjoy the game and welcome their feedback - versus what 343 brought with H4 - which was basically denial and zero response back to engage the community.
> dude i totally feel you.
>
> i LOVED breakpoint (i think was what it was called) invasion.
'bout a week ago Condemned came up as one of the three votes in slayer… couldn’t believe it, first time I’d seen it in months.
One of my favorite maps and everyone in the room had the DLC… these silly noobs voted up Sword Base instead.
Just sat there shaking my head.
As awesome as I think sword base plays, have you not run this map a hundred times already? Do you really need one more chance to sit in the lift room, sword in hand, waiting for the easy kill?
There’s more there… use it.
It’s pretty much why I take Reach over any other halo game, the diversity; not only in play style, but maps as well. No other Halo game has come close in my opinion to packing in as much stuff to do, different maps to do it on, and different ways to enjoy the game.
People can say what they want about Armor Lock and Reticle Bloom, but when me and the guy right in front of me are going in and out of lock trying to out maneuver each other to get the melee kill… just plain awesome, win or not.
> It was obviously a cost/server issue that led you to deleting the DLC playlist in the first place.
It doesn’t cost 343i anything to have more or add additional playlists.
The Reach Anniversary and DLC playlists were removed because of low populations and in the hope those players would move to other playlists.
I played a lot of Anniversary BTB and I enjoyed its vastly superior maps and better mix of infantry and vehicle warfare much more then standard BTB so I played a lot less Reach after it was removed.
Low population playlists are more likely to have poor latency matches and that’s probably one of the reasons why 343i was so quick to cull playlists. Mexican bridgers were rife in Anniversary BTB.
What I took from Reach’s poor DLC support was that I shouldn’t buy future Bungie/343i DLC as they won’t support it well and will be quick to remove it from matchmaking if playlist numbers are low. Seems like the majority had the same train of though hence Halo 4’s abysmal DLC sales and populations in DLC required playlists.
> > It was obviously a cost/server issue that led you to deleting the DLC playlist in the first place.
>
> It doesn’t cost 343i anything to have more or add additional playlists.
>
> The Reach Anniversary and DLC playlists were removed because of low populations and in the hope those players would move to other playlists.
>
> I played a lot of Anniversary BTB and I enjoyed its vastly superior maps and better mix of infantry and vehicle warfare much more then standard BTB so I played a lot less Reach after it was removed.
>
> Low population playlists are more likely to have poor latency matches and that’s probably one of the reasons why 343i was so quick to cull playlists. Mexican bridgers were rife in Anniversary BTB.
>
> What I took from Reach’s poor DLC support was that I shouldn’t buy future Bungie/343i DLC as they won’t support it well and will be quick to remove it from matchmaking if playlist numbers are low. Seems like the majority had the same train of though hence Halo 4’s abysmal DLC sales and populations in DLC required playlists.
I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I would have to think there’s a cost issue there someplace when it comes to playlists and the number of servers a game requires for matchmaking.
the points you brought up; reasons why certain playlists were removed, all make sense and I’m sure are just as valid.
but I honestly think money had more to do with 343 trimming out certain playlists than just a low population. look at some of the numbers in both reach and 4, if population were the main reason for removal… there should be quite a few to get the ad immediately.
props on not buying the DLC, if more people put the power of their money to use instead of obliviously parting with it, gamers might be in a better spot with issues like DLC and fragmented player bases.
If you search as a random player without a team you 99% of the time <mark>NEVER SEE IT</mark>/ on the flip side, in the days of the DLC playlist if you searched as a random without a team you would 90% of the time be matched against a full team and have a miserable time any way. With or without a DLC playlist, you can only enjoy The DLC Experience if you put a team together.
Put a full team together and you well see DLC maps pretty often. Put a full <mark>PARTY</mark> together and only DLC voting options will be available in all Playlist. (ignoring double team and arena where you can only bring 1 full team)
Point is the maps are there, the players however… y’all need to organize that yourselves. It is a pain in the butt, but it really is all you can do. With such a low population, the chances of you being online at the same exact time, searching at the same time as 7 other DLC owners that are of similar skill level as you… it is just not likely. You better your chances by adding DLC owners on your friends list, teamming up and matching against 1 other team of DLC owners who are of similar skill. (try to match 8 people vs trying to match two teams)
The system sucks, work with it or rail against it. Your choice.
That is a list of all the Playlists and all the gametypes/maps in every playlist. DLC IS IN EVERY PLAYLIST.
Best tips I can give to building a DLC Team is:
Step 1) find 1 other DLC owner here on waypoint or anywhere.
Step 2) Take that DLC owner into Double Team ( you have a higher chance at finding <mark>TWO</mark> other DLC owners. Keep adding new DLC owner friends till you have a <mark>Team of FOUR</mark>
Step 3) you have a full team of DLC owners and are more likely to match against other teams of DLC owners. Keep adding DLC Owning Friends, after you have a full list of DLC owners… hopefully you will never be without players that will help you vote for the map you wanted and you wont be a random fighting against a whole team, unable to enjoy the map/game
Full Team = Much more likely to find another team of DLC owners, and thus play DLC in EVERY PLAYLIST
Full Party = Will see almost only DLC maps as voting options in EVERY PLAYLIST
I would like 343 to do something that Bungie did to Halo3. Make certain playlists DLC required to play. Namely BTB, Invasion, Living dead and Team Slayer. That way the 4 most popular playlists will be filled with DLC players, it covers both original and TU gametypes and provideds players with the ability to get all DCL required achievments as well. Sure we may lose some players but they will go and improve the population in the other less populated playlists as they will only be able to play those gametypes that have no DLC requirements. It will aslo reward all of us that invested in the maps too.
Microsoft will never give DLC away for free as it has achievements tied to it so that will never be an option.
Just an Note too on TimZaRObs excellent post above. You could also try the recruiting forums to find DLC owners. I helped out a few folks about 4 months ago looking to get DLC owning players for acheivement lobbies and it worked quite well.
What made me confused was the August playlist update they did the year Halo 4 was released. They removed Anniversary BTB, saying it had low population numbers when well over 1000 players played it each day. That’s more than half the playlist numbers on Halo 4 right now.
That playlist was awesome. It had both classic and TU options. The maps were fun too. Hemorrhage gets really boring after everyone picks it each game.
Though I don’t think 343 even looks at this forum anymore.
seems like it’s impossible.