Hello! I’ve been playing Halo since Halo: Combat Evolved and here are all of my thoughts on the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta!
Sprint - I like what 343i did with this. I feel it’s fairly balanced now. However, a cool idea I think would be that you can get shot out of sprint even if you’re fully sprinting because there’s still many running away. Also, if you start sprinting when your shields are recharging, your shields should stop recharging.
Thruster Pack - Absolutely love this! However, I feel it should impact your shields recharging as well. Also, people should be able to tell when the enemy is able to thrust again. Increase the cool down from 4 to 7 seconds. Now some people say that this ability totally cancels out grenades because you can dodge them, but I still see many dying by grenades so I think it’s fine.
Grenades - Blast radius needs to be toned down a bit or something because you can get hit markers with grenades when it only affects their shields a tiny tiny bit. This results in players rushing them thinking they are weak when they aren’t and losing battles. Also, grenades make you bounce at certain times like you have the sputnik skull on; this needs to be toned down.
Clamber - This is 50/50 for me because although it’s a really cool idea, I feel it gets rid of skill jumps. If 343 can somehow incorporate skill jumps with clamber, I will be fine with this ability. Maybe add some ledges that you CAN’T clamber to, you can only get to it by skill jumping.
Ground Pound - I hardly use this ability and I’d be fine without it. When I have used it, I felt it needs to be buffed.
Spartan Charge - Love it! Cool addition.
Sliding - Could do without it. Doesn’t feel right in the game.
Flinch - Absolutely needs to go. However, they’ve already stated that they’re taking this out.
Smart Scope & Stabilizer - I find myself actually liking this, however, I’d much prefer the old scope. The stabilizer is a cool idea, but should go if smart scope is scrapped.
New Weapon Balance - Love the pistol. I love how it’s completely amazing if you’re good at aiming because there’s low aim assist. I love how the AR is now relevant, but it needs to be nerfed a bit. I feel I lose most battles when I have the BR to AR in H5 which shouldn’t happen; this could be me missing because of flinch though, however. The sniper rifle needs a rate of fire increase (like H3) and needs to be able to be scoped in slightly faster. Also, just add vertical recoil to it just like H3’s. The DMR needs to have less vertical recoil and the scope needs to be smaller just a tad. The SMG is pretty solid, but seems a bit OP at close range.
Spartan Chatter - I like this but feel it still can be lowered a bit. Take out “I grabbed a DMR” and add more like “One shot on that X” or something.
Game Announcer & Medals - Way too many medals in the game. There’s some really cool medals they added, and there’s some pointless ones as well.
- Cool New Medals: Perfect kill, Halo Combat Evolved, BXR- Pointless Medals: Airborne Snapshot, Hard Target, Hat Trick, and Last ShotI feel like the game announcer should just say “Slayer” and “Game Over” and that’s it. No reason for him to describe every little thing you do.
For Competitive Pro Players and Such - I’ve heard some pro players complaining about sprint and all that. Well here’s a really cool idea that I haven’t seen many bring up. Add a classic competitive playlist(s) that disables all the abilities (sprint, thruster, ground pound, etc.) and also have them disabled for H5 tournaments. Then increase the movement speed to 110%. So far from playing Truth and Empire, sprint disabled would work fine.
Ranking System - Display other players SR on the side by their competitive ranking. So for example it shows: semi pro rank, your gamertag, and then say a 50 for SR. Also, I don’t totally agree with how the tier ranks are based off win/loss. It should also calculate K.D. because I keep losing because I have teammates that are deemed “Onyx 3+” with a horrible K.D. Also, don’t let singles and doubles match with parties of 3 and 4.
Custom Button Mapping - Let people map their own controls for their controller please!
Maps (Slayer & Strongholds) – From the beta, Truth is definitely my favorite map. It has some of that classic Midship feel to it while also adding in new spots and weapons. The map is STILL ALL about map control which is great for Halo. Empire was the second map I played and I feel like the map is great for slayer, but not that great for objective games. For Strongholds, move the B control to bottom center or so instead of Turbine. Regret was the next map I played and I loved this map so much for Strongholds. It is decent for slayer, however. The next map to come along would be Eden and this is my second favorite behind Truth. Once the lighting is fixed for blue team and such, it may become my favorite. The nighttime with the high bridge sections on the map make it very good for a slayer game. Weapon placement is really good too. My third favorite map would be Pegasus. This map plays so well for slayer and in my opinion, doesn’t need much change at all. The last map would be Orion which I wasn’t fond of. It’s still a decent map but I just don’t consider it a good “Halo” map.
Maps (Breakout) – I love both maps (Crossfire and Trench) for Breakout that were introduced in the beta. Each side I feel is equally balanced.
New Gametypes – At first, I didn’t really know what Breakout was going to play like. However, I instantly fell in love with it. It adds something new to Halo and it’s very cool how one person can wipe out a whole team. It relies so much on communication which I feel is great. However, I’d have to agree with everyone else that said that it needs an objective to it. I don’t know what this objective would be, but it needs something. I also feel like grenades shouldn’t kill you one hit. The third week introduced Strongholds which was more like territories. However, it mixed things up with only one team scoring by holding two territories. I honestly loved every second of this gametype on Regret. Good work!
Other Feedback - Hit registration on the head needs some work. Love the dedicated servers! The lighting on the maps, Prophets Bane, and Energy Sword need to be toned down a bit. Love the weapon placement of the BR’s, DMR’s, and Light Rifles on the maps. However, add in some more covenant weapons. I think the sound file for the BR needs to be changed a bit to make it sound more like a 3 shot weapon. Other than that, I’ve really been enjoying the beta and can’t wait for the real game! Thanks 343i for giving us the opportunity to play a beta and give feedback!
- EM TEE KAY