Edit: I had not seen there was a Halo Xbox One board, my mistake. If a moderator could please move this thread there I would greatly appreciate it.
Ok, I’m creating a thread on here after a few months of leaving the site due to what I believe was 343’s incompetence to address certain concerns. I want to believe that has changed. I stated I was not returning to Halo 4, and that still stands. However, I do love the franchise and I hate seeing it so dead in the water.
Given the AGL10 cancellation it is now imperative that Halo 5 turns out right, and that it FEELS like a Halo game. Yes, this is another one of those threads. As usual, if you don’t like it then I suggest you close the tab and move on with your life. Flaming helps no one.
As such, here is a list of things I am recommending for Halo 5. I think we can all agree on all, if not most of them, independently of the type of player (casual, competitive, professional, etc).
Things that need to come back from previous titles:
[/li]- IN GAME ranks
- Descoping
- No sprint (Or have it as a toggle option like it was in Reach. 343 won’t ax it, so at least let us disable it)
- Seperation of ranked/social playlists
- Slow social ranks. Have it take a few months for even the most dedicated players to reach max social rank (exp points in H3, exp in Reach). SR130 in H4 was achieved like a month post-release. If players can’t get max competitive rank (50, for example) then give them something social to strive for.
- Theater throughout all game modes
- CUSTOMIZATION. Halo 3 offered tons of customizeable aspects for gameplay, ranging from map settings to weapons settings to user settings. There is no need to force a color on the zombies, for example. Give us the customization back and we will love you for it.
Things that should be brought in as new aspects/innovations:
[/li]- In game streaming
- Dedicated servers (With XBOne this is already a done deal)
- Some sort of league, similar to Reach but done better. Have the current user league rank visible next to the in game rank, similar to how Black Ops 2 does it with their league
- Custom games lobby, where the host can choose to display his game in the public lists or keep it private. This would be incredible
Things that should be removed:
[/li]- Promethean Vision. Even if its not included in ranked play it is a game wrecking ability.
- Camo as an armor mod. Camo should be a game item, as it was in Halo 3.
- Boltshot-type weapons. Players shouldn’t be able to spawn with a 1sk weapon, no matter its range.
- Flinching. This goes hand in hand with descoping.
- Random Ordnance. Fine, keep the loadouts and classes (restrict them to social), but the random ordnance is flawed at its core and has no place in the Halo universe, social or ranked.
Listen 343, there’s a reason Halo 3 currently has a larger population than Halo 4, and it isn’t only because of Halo 3 being free on Games for Gold. Your players want a Halo experience when they play a Halo game, that’s the bottom line. You guys, as a company, stepped into some pretty big shoes that you know you failed to fill, because you had to cater not only to legacy players, but also to newcomers. Your techniques didn’t work, and here’s the result, a failure of a product.
Now, Halo 5 will sell because it’s a Halo game, the name still sells itself, plus I assume you guys and Microsoft will put a lot of money into advertising/marketing. However, what’s needed isn’t initial sales, it’s longevity. A game that is still interesting 2-3 years after it’s release. You wanted the communities feedback and we’ve given you ample quantities of it. It’s way past time you guys started listening instead of doing it the Apple “We know what the users want, and they’re wrong if they think otherwise” way.
So there’s that, a list of suggestions from a legacy player, do with it what you will, but in this thread are the voices of many players, and ignoring it wouldn’t be wise.
Sincerely, A Halo fan.
