Hello Halo Players ! :D.
Matchmaking has become a huge part of the Halo series, and can even be seen as a contributor to the series’ success. Not only has the matchmaking consistantly delivered fun online gameplay of great quality since day one. From the early PC multiplayer halo 1 to to the ridiculously vibrant custom game communities in halo 3 I think I can speak on behalf of the whole community when i say: Thank you Bungie and 343 industries, for creating the Halo series. What would we all be doing without these wonderful games. Through all these years, Halo games have had their ups and downs. What is important to remember is that it’s been great enough to become what it is now. A great series with a great community.
I am here today to emphasize on the fact that Halo 4 multiplayer is good, but it can be better. What i suggest is not impossible, nor hard but will bring extreme joy to thousands of Halo 4 players around the world. I am obviously referring to the playlists in matchmaking. As a player of many earlier Halo games I am familiar with some of the good ol’ classic game types. I remember the good days when playing Team snipers, Team slayer, Rumble pit, Lone wolves, Team doubles and the crazy Fiesta game type. It is easily proven that these playlists were some of the most popular. To be honest I wouldn’t even think I need statistics to prove these were the favourite game types in the Halo series.
Now, I want us to consider that the Halo community is one unlike any other, it has a tendency to be very loyal. Many players of earlier Halo games have continued to play Halo 4. I have yet to find a player who has not played Halo 3 or Halo Reach prior to Halo 4. This is a wonderful thing but it also means that the community is very vulnerable. Every game will have to be better than the last to attract the community to the new one. Halo 4 without a doubt is a magnificent game with good online gameplay but as i play online and plug in my microphone, there is a grey cloud which soars over matchmaking. I hear many rant about the nostalgic Halo 3 days and how everything was better. In terms of playlists, what are they then referring? They are talking about game types and game types specifically. Halo 4 came with many new playlists, revolutionizing the online Halo gameplay with its Infinity Slayer and Regicide game types. These are good game types. Do not be mistaken. I am referring to the setup and layout of the playlists and their game types. As i go on my Xbox, most people are usually on the Infinity Slayer playlist. However, in Oddball, CTF and King of the Hill, there always seems to be less players by thousands. This tells us that the previously mentioned “less popular” game types are taking up more space than they do. Morphing together objective playlists would thus balance out the playlist populations and release the “waste” of server use. Keep in mind that Halo 4 matchmaking should and needs to be limited when it comes to numbers of playlists.
Now when morphing playlists together we get more space for new playlists, so what do we do with that space? Let’s take a look at the community. Everywhere in the Matchmaking section of the forum i see people shout: " TEAM DOUBLES! TEAM DOUBLES!" and “SLAYER! SLAYER!”. When the Team snipers playlist was added it had many players and what happened when it was replaced by Team Regicide? The community wanted more, they wanted it back. With space for more playlists, why not keep Team snipers as a stationary playlist? The same goes for Team Doubles which will most likely have a large amount of players on it. There are loads of extremely popular game types in Halo 3 and Halo Reach which basically disappeared and never came back.
I say that it is better to have a little bit of every game type instead a load of restricted playlists with one game type. Not only would you attract many more players but most importantly keep the loyal community going instead of slowly torturing them to a retreat. So come on members of the Halo community! Let’s make our voices heard and show 343i that WE WANT THE VARIETY!!!
Comment and answer me please! I am eager to read your opinions on this matter! After all i’m no more than a small percent of the whole community.