Some feedback from a Top player in HW1

Games Halo Wars Series
1

I was a very active player for the first 6 months or so in Halo Wars 1 and was ranked consistently as follows,

1v1: #2 worldwide (got to #1 on and off but not for long periods of time usually)
2vs2: #8 worldwide
3v3: #1 worldwide

Other games include Masters at SC2, top 6 in the world for LOTR: BFME2 (console) and highly ranked in a few other smaller RTS games.

Myself and a few of my clan mates from the original game have been playing the beta and have noticed a few things. Some are balance issues, some are gameplay issues.

-Tanks are severely underpowered. They don’t seem to counter anything as they don’t kill infantry effectively, nor air, nor buildings or other vehicles effectively for that matter. They definitely require a buff to be even remotely useful for competitive play. Another issue with them is their canister shell ability does not seem to work that I have seen.

-Y Abilities need to show cool down. I don’t believe they are doing that at the moment.

-Marines are blatantly overpowered. Mass infantry is by far the strongest way to play right now, especially since you can build them straight from your base without the need for a barracks. At minimum, you should require a barracks to be able to direct build them from the bases. Also don’t believe you should be able to build them from mini-bases. Allows you to max out on them extremely quickly with proper macro. I do believe their health should be reduced, damage seems fine however.

-Upgrades. Where are they? It seems so limited. I hope there will be more in the full game…

-Turrets automatically on bases. I really hope this is only for the domination game type… Other game modes better not come with these as being able to rush and put pressure on an opponent is a key strategy in RTS games. And it makes no sense to have to have them for the current game type either since you don’t even have to attack your opponents base. Just control the points on the map and the game is over in 10 minutes.

-Domination game type I believe should have more points to win. Makes tech lvl3 come backs very difficult as it becomes nearly unrecoverable to get the game back under control with tech lvl3 by the time the game is ending. Not a big deal and only ever effected me in 1vs2’s, but something to consider.

-Base and building health. Not sure if its a bug or not in this build of the game, but not being able to see the health of the base you are trying to destroy is a little ridiculous. Also would be nice to see a progress bar or percentage on new firebases being built.

-Bugs. Many times I am unable to see a mac blast or prophets beam animations. Annoying as I watch a bunch of my units die and have no hint as to what killed them. Also all the obvious disconnections and freezing. Another issue is the constant waiting for player blue screen once you are loaded into the map and left guessing as to when the match is going to start. And trying to select my first supply pad to build, the building wont highlight on the wheel for a few seconds and I find myself rolling the joystick in a circle to get it to activate.

-In game chat. Would’ve been nice to have it in the beta, but as long as its in the full game that’s ok.

-Graphics and scale. Not great for a new generation of console. Not even remotely impressed with the look of the factions or map. Those cutscenes by Blur should be amazing though.

These are my thoughts and echo’d by my clan mates who were all some of the best players in the world at several console RTS games. Yes console RTS games are very simple and don’t come close to PC RTS games, but that’s a whole different matter. Halo Wars is at least bringing lots of new people into the genre and making it more well known which is a great thing.

Thoughts and opinions welcome!

2

i Agree with all of these points.

I also think in Domination you should only loss point if the enemy is controlling more nodes than you. If you have the same number of nodes neither you nor the enemy should loss points.

They should add a distance double to long ranged units like snipers and the artillery units to show you how close you need to be to use them.

The game needs to inform you when your units are under attack.

That’s all i can think of that you didn’t mention…

3
  1. the progression flow of the game to tier 3 is completely destroyed. It is the most expensive thing in the game.
  • Power builds to slowly. You need 7ish reactors fully upgraded to even make tier 3 functionally build-able. Even then your 10+ minutes in the game and if you’ve played right by the time you see units from it, they have like 500 points left. - The cost for tier 3 power is too high. 1100 or 1250 power generated max before you can even get it. This is absurd seems how everything else cost like a max of 300.Maybe Death match would smooth this out but honestly you can not bank on anything tier three as long as the infantry units are so readily capable of merking everything.
  1. Infantry are way too strong at the moment.
  • A group of marines is capable of destroying tanks; even without cyclops. - Infantry counter literally everything in the game easier than you can even build tanks. Tier 2 vs Tier 3 in this game is huge. Not only do you counter air, but you counter other infantry (2 different ways), and vehicles. - Covenant should not start with so many more infantry in domination seems how they seem way stronger. - ODST drop is completely worthless, and where is Cutter’s ODST upgrade?3. Air is too weak in the beta to even think about testing
  1. Everything in the command rank tree seems incredibly weak and un-impactful

  • ODST drop is worthless, takes to long to recharge. Also they graphically bug out so you can’t see them and their special ability is a joke. Also LOL 3 pop cost. - Both tier 5 command abilities for humans seem to be unable to be used. - The passive perks are stronger then any of the actives. - Mac cannon rank 3 is the only good variant of the ability. - Besides the prophet’s glassing beam on the brute command tree; it is superior in almost every way imaginable. Both the passives and the unit drop abilities are bounds ahead. Also their command 5 abilities actually work. One Eradication drop will destroy an entire army pretty much 1 shot.5. If you look at this game it is very generic.

  • Looks like you’ve just reskined a modern RTS with halo almost exactly. Upgrade paths, Special abilities, how bases are built, general units, the command tree. I mean good lord you had an insanely uncommon great base to start from and you just copy pasta a generic RTS. - I don’t know if you were going for some kind of depth, but this is a case where you removed depth and added mindless complexity to an already smooth system.6. The graphics are very not Halo.

  • I’m just going to believe you just don’t have all the units graphics in and even when you do you will have FPS issues guaranteed - You went the dark and edgy route when Halo has always been full of color and bright. Look at Halo wars 1 its bright and has very good color pops. This game is like I’m hit you with some grey, black, and brown.

4

Voice chat is available, most people just play with their mic unplugged.

5

> 2533274846367343;3:
> 4. Everything in the command rank tree seems incredibly weak and un-impactful
>
> - ODST drop is worthless, takes to long to recharge. Also they graphically bug out so you can’t see them and their special ability is a joke. Also LOL 3 pop cost. Agreed
> - Both tier 5 command abilities for humans seem to be unable to be used. I’ve only tested the Mass drop, not the sweeping pelicans, but it seems all tier 5 abilities cost 1500 resources and 1000 power, or something along those lines. The Drop one for Cutter also cost 15 Population as it drops in a lot of units.
> - The passive perks are stronger then any of the actives. Agreed
> - Mac cannon rank 3 is the only good variant of the ability. Haven’t tested

6

> 2533274903481404;4:
> Voice chat is available, most people just play with their mic unplugged.

Ok good to know. We’ve always gone into party chat when playing with each other, whenever we play with randoms, no one has ever spoke.

7

> 2533274795123910;5:
> > 2533274846367343;3:
> > 4. Everything in the command rank tree seems incredibly weak and un-impactful
> >
> > - ODST drop is worthless, takes to long to recharge. Also they graphically bug out so you can’t see them and their special ability is a joke. Also LOL 3 pop cost. Agreed
> > - Both tier 5 command abilities for humans seem to be unable to be used. I’ve only tested the Mass drop, not the sweeping pelicans, but it seems all tier 5 abilities cost 1500 resources and 1000 power, or something along those lines. The Drop one for Cutter also cost 15 Population as it drops in a lot of units.
> > - The passive perks are stronger then any of the actives. Agreed
> > - Mac cannon rank 3 is the only good variant of the ability. Haven’t tested

He’s saying you can’t even select the tier 5 abilities in the tree. I also have the same issue. Never been able to use tier 5 regardless of pop or resources.

8

I love this post, and the comments added as well! Fantastic points all around.

I’ve added my .02 here:

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/forums/38bd6e2ebbb14e5b9b359bb029588800/topics/helpful-master-list-of-feedback-for-ca-343/1e813604-69fe-4645-b949-58a6cc400df5/posts

They’ve got a LOT of work to do on this game before it’s even close to where HW1 is. Let alone taking it to the next level as a sequel should.

9

Whoops. Somehow signed into a different account. Those SpecificFour posts are me as well.

10

> 2533274949941450;6:
> > 2533274903481404;4:
> > Voice chat is available, most people just play with their mic unplugged.
>
>
> Ok good to know. We’ve always gone into party chat when playing with each other, whenever we play with randoms, no one has ever spoke.

Yeah, no one speaks at all, I just assumed it didn’t work as well.

I didn’t see you mention anything about being able to zoom out more, is the distance okay with you from your experience?

11

> 2533274816533026;10:
> > 2533274949941450;6:
> > > 2533274903481404;4:
> > > Voice chat is available, most people just play with their mic unplugged.
> >
> >
> > Ok good to know. We’ve always gone into party chat when playing with each other, whenever we play with randoms, no one has ever spoke.
>
>
> Yeah, no one speaks at all, I just assumed it didn’t work as well.
>
> I didn’t see you mention anything about being able to zoom out more, is the distance okay with you from your experience?

I would prefer to be able to zoom out a bit more. Trying to traverse the map is slow (yes with the left bumper pressed down to go faster) and zooming out a bit more would definitely help.

12

> 2533274949941450;7:
> > 2533274795123910;5:
> > > 2533274846367343;3:
> > > 4. Everything in the command rank tree seems incredibly weak and un-impactful
> > >
> > > - ODST drop is worthless, takes to long to recharge. Also they graphically bug out so you can’t see them and their special ability is a joke. Also LOL 3 pop cost. Agreed
> > > - Both tier 5 command abilities for humans seem to be unable to be used. I’ve only tested the Mass drop, not the sweeping pelicans, but it seems all tier 5 abilities cost 1500 resources and 1000 power, or something along those lines. The Drop one for Cutter also cost 15 Population as it drops in a lot of units.
> > > - The passive perks are stronger then any of the actives. Agreed
> > > - Mac cannon rank 3 is the only good variant of the ability. Haven’t tested
>
>
> He’s saying you can’t even select the tier 5 abilities in the tree. I also have the same issue. Never been able to use tier 5 regardless of pop or resources.

Ah, misinterpretation then.

I haven’t had any issues issuing points to either of them (I believe you can only choose one of them).
To use them you need resources though.

13

I agree with almost everyhting you said.

Here is a post I made on Reddit giving my feedback of the beta so far: including what I dislike, like, feel is missing, etc.

"I’ll start off by saying the controls are a bit buggy.

When I try to move around using the left stick, sometimes it takes a while to do so. Other times it seems to keep moving after I have let go. It’s pretty annoying. Another thing is trying to choose bases to build. When I select to build a base I feel the left stick is not very accurate when I try to point to what I want to build and I end up building the wrong thing. Basically, the directions are not very precise. Also, at the beginning of a match I always try to build a supply pad, but when ever I try to push up and to the right where the supply pad is located it glitches out and just highlights the building to the right for like the first 5-10 seconds of the match. A very annoying inconvenience.

Also, I know it’s a new game made by a different company, but why change the controls? All units and local units as the same control is annoying and I often select the wrong group. I feel that leader powers should have stayed with the dpad and quick movement should have stayed with left trigger. Can we get additional options in the future or a choice to map controls in-game?

A few things missing: There are no end-game stats like the first Halo Wars. No units built/lost, buildings, troops destroyed, resources collected, etc. Again, I know this is a beta but I expect it to be there. Plus, you can’t tell if you teammate quit unless you go over to their base and see it’s destroyed. It should either give you a notification or show it on the start menu. And you can’t see where your teammate is looking on the mini map unless they ping somewhere. Again, why is this missing?

One thing I’m pretty disappointed on: the graphics and sounds. Everything just looks cartoony and not even as detailed as the first game. Vehicles don’t make sounds or they are too quite to hear. In the first game you can hear warthogs driving, tanks firing cannons banshees boosting, etc. I hear nothing like that in this game.
I barely see any effects coming from units or on units taking damage. Basically, it’s not very detailed to me and I was expecting more from a next-gen game. I’m a little disappointed that, IMO, it doesn’t even look as good as a game made 7 years before it.

Let’s look at some good things though:
They stayed true to the original Halo Wars style of gameplay. They kept the same art style. They have the same units and additional units not offered in the first game. They have more game modes, along with the returning gamemodes from the first confirmed via the PC demo/interview.

I still think this game has potential, and I will continue to play the beta and give feedback, but honestly I was expecting a little more.

I’m sure these things mentioned above can be fixed, especially since this is just a beta, but these are just some things that grind my gears.

tl/dr: Bads: Controls, missing some basic features, graphics, sounds. Goods: Kept same style of gameplay, art style, new and old units, additional gamemodes. Some things grind my gears, but it is a beta."

14

I agree with all the feedback given and have some of my own to input. To reiterate I have around 2 million xp in the first Halo Wars game and have had it since around when it came out. Some things that I would like to see are as follows:

  1. The ability to zoom out the camera angle more so you can see the battlefield from a broader view.
  2. The buildings need to look more different… so far to me they all look relatively the same and it is kind of bland.
  3. I was hoping Halo Wars 2 would have either bigger bases or more addons and buildings to bases maybe a special building only for that character that does certain things?
  4. Modifying the HUD placement would be nice. Having the map at the bottom right and the resource, energy, and unit pop. At the bottom right makes me wish there was an option to choose where things can be placed.
  5. Is it just me but what happened to enemy held bases? I remember when you used to need to destroy certain bases before you could take them… would be nice.
    Anyways overall the beta is a beta and i am excited there is another halo wars game coming. I just hope certain things are changed… i really hope there is also a forge and possibly some FFA modes. It would also be nice if the playlists aren’t split between party teams and not partys as this creates lower pop in playlists (maybe just prefers pairing a party with a party if there is one and then if not it perfers a 2 person party with a random and then all randoms). In other words I hope you can play 3v3 with a 2 person party partnering up with a random person.
15

I strongly dislike the new base economy. It takes way too long to build an army or do anything. Not to mention that the fact that half the units are absolute trash, and that the UI is absolutely abysmal. Look I know it’s a Beta, but Halo Wars 2 does not feel like a good game right now. The reason Halo Wars was successful was because it was simple. It was easy to learn, yet difficult to truly master. But Halo Wars 2 feels like a generic hardcore RTS that was skinned to look like Halo. Hell, I bet it was optimized for Windows 10 instead of Console.

16

> 2615706747871073;1:
> -Y Abilities need to show cool down. I don’t believe they are doing that at the moment.
>
> -Upgrades. Where are they? It seems so limited. I hope there will be more in the full game…
>
> -Turrets automatically on bases. I really hope this is only for the domination game type… Other game modes better not come with these as being able to rush and put pressure on an opponent is a key strategy in RTS games. And it makes no sense to have to have them for the current game type either since you don’t even have to attack your opponents base. Just control the points on the map and the game is over in 10 minutes.
>
> -Domination game type I believe should have more points to win. Makes tech lvl3 come backs very difficult as it becomes nearly unrecoverable to get the game back under control with tech lvl3 by the time the game is ending. Not a big deal and only ever effected me in 1vs2’s, but something to consider.
>
> -Base and building health. Not sure if its a bug or not in this build of the game, but not being able to see the health of the base you are trying to destroy is a little ridiculous. Also would be nice to see a progress bar or percentage on new firebases being built.
>
> -In game chat. Would’ve been nice to have it in the beta, but as long as its in the full game that’s ok.
>
> -Graphics and scale. Not great for a new generation of console. Not even remotely impressed with the look of the factions or map. Those cutscenes by Blur should be amazing though.
>
> These are my thoughts and echo’d by my clan mates who were all some of the best players in the world at several console RTS games. Yes console RTS games are very simple and don’t come close to PC RTS games, but that’s a whole different matter. Halo Wars is at least bringing lots of new people into the genre and making it more well known which is a great thing.
>
> Thoughts and opinions welcome!

-Y abilities show cooldown on SOME units (marines at least) but only above the unit, not in the hotbar, and its not very intuituve.

-they will add more upgrades, its an early beta. they have multiple upgrades for some units (flamethrower, marine, sniper, wraith, etc) they just haven’t finished yet.

-The turrets are easily destroyed with even a small army. Rushing is to put pressure on them, but doesnt always need to be a 5 minute win. Slow them down, take out a generator and a turret and they’ll be behind for the next 10 minutes.

-Agreed more domination flags are desperately needed.

-The building health is there, and the base health BAR is there, but its greyed out, which makes me think its just a graphical error

-Theres an ingame chat, just get out of your party.

-If you’ll look at all the screenshots there are from the developers you’d see that the game actually looks significantly better than it does in the beta. Why they didnt put on the textures for the beta im not sure but the graphics and color are all there. Maybe this is super-low texture for -Yoink- laptops or something or they havnt fully optimized the prettier looking version of the game.

This seems to be a pretty misinformed complaint post from a notorious braggart about how an early beta isnt as good as the finished product, if you had been paying attention instead of talking to your friends in party chat about how great you are you could have answered most of these yourself to some degree. This is a beta, its not even close to how the game will be. And i bet you got such high rankings by rushing, prophet abusing and using a scarab with 20 engineers. Not impressed

17

Wow I think mr.self proclaimed halo master is butthurt that scorpions dont beat everything anymore.

Y abilities do show cooldown, its a little blue circle above units heads.

Tanks are ok, its air units that need a buff. I sent 26 fully upgraded banshees to a player base with 2 wolverines and 4 turrets, losing all of them while only killing a wolverine and a turret. WTF?!?

Infantry is fine, but being able to build them out of each mini base is definitely overkill.

Covy turrets seem to suck, got attacked by 4 marines and my 4 turrets could 't beat them. They wrecked 2 buildings until my force came back to defend.

18

> 2533274824480464;16:
> > 2615706747871073;1:
> > -Y Abilities need to show cool down. I don’t believe they are doing that at the moment.
> > -Upgrades. Where are they? It seems so limited. I hope there will be more in the full game…
> > -Turrets automatically on bases. I really hope this is only for the domination game type… Other game modes better not come with these as being able to rush and put pressure on an opponent is a key strategy in RTS games. And it makes no sense to have to have them for the current game type either since you don’t even have to attack your opponents base. Just control the points on the map and the game is over in 10 minutes.
> > -Domination game type I believe should have more points to win. Makes tech lvl3 come backs very difficult as it becomes nearly unrecoverable to get the game back under control with tech lvl3 by the time the game is ending. Not a big deal and only ever effected me in 1vs2’s, but something to consider.
> > -Base and building health. Not sure if its a bug or not in this build of the game, but not being able to see the health of the base you are trying to destroy is a little ridiculous. Also would be nice to see a progress bar or percentage on new firebases being built.
> > -In game chat. Would’ve been nice to have it in the beta, but as long as its in the full game that’s ok.
> > -Graphics and scale. Not great for a new generation of console. Not even remotely impressed with the look of the factions or map. Those cutscenes by Blur should be amazing though.
> > These are my thoughts and echo’d by my clan mates who were all some of the best players in the world at several console RTS games. Yes console RTS games are very simple and don’t come close to PC RTS games, but that’s a whole different matter. Halo Wars is at least bringing lots of new people into the genre and making it more well known which is a great thing.
> > Thoughts and opinions welcome!
>
>
> -Y abilities show cooldown on SOME units (marines at least) but only above the unit, not in the hotbar, and its not very intuituve.
> -they will add more upgrades, its an early beta. they have multiple upgrades for some units (flamethrower, marine, sniper, wraith, etc) they just haven’t finished yet.
> -The turrets are easily destroyed with even a small army. Rushing is to put pressure on them, but doesnt always need to be a 5 minute win. Slow them down, take out a generator and a turret and they’ll be behind for the next 10 minutes.
> -Agreed more domination flags are desperately needed.
> -The building health is there, and the base health BAR is there, but its greyed out, which makes me think its just a graphical error
> -Theres an ingame chat, just get out of your party.
> -If you’ll look at all the screenshots there are from the developers you’d see that the game actually looks significantly better than it does in the beta. Why they didnt put on the textures for the beta im not sure but the graphics and color are all there. Maybe this is super-low texture for -Yoink- laptops or something or they havnt fully optimized the prettier looking version of the game.
> This seems to be a pretty misinformed complaint post from a notorious braggart about how an early beta isnt as good as the finished product, if you had been paying attention instead of talking to your friends in party chat about how great you are you could have answered most of these yourself to some degree. This is a beta, its not even close to how the game will be. And i bet you got such high rankings by rushing, prophet abusing and using a scarab with 20 engineers. Not impressed

This is DeadZone, other account is only letting me post 5 times a day??-Y Ability cool downs pretty much only show up for marines. Not warthogs or tanks or most other units. I’m sure they will have it in the full game, it is just missing in the beta and is very much needed.
-Thats an assumption that isnt necessarily true. The developer really could drop the ball and we have all the upgrades for the given units.
-Domination games don’t last 15 minutes or more unless both teams are really slow… Turrets are fine in domination, but your base shouldnt come pre-defended in say the deathmatch mode.
-We agree
-There is a bar there yes, but it doesnt show the bases health or how close it is to dying… Again, I’m sure it will be fixed for the main game, but still something that needs to be addressed.
-Wouldn’t know it when no one else plays with a mic, yes we have found out that there is in-game chat in this thread.
Screenshots from developers mean nothing. Look at E3… How many games look incredible at E3 and then the retail version is significantly downgraded. Happens all the time… Yes it is a reason to be hopeful, but they are quite bad as it is.
My claims are not baseless at all and are echo’d by many people. This is one of the worst and most unfinished beta’s I’ve ever seen. Any other beta I have participated in, open and closed, have had more polish than this game. This game isn’t even close to being done and they clearly rushed it to have this poor version released in time for E3.
And no I did not become highly ranked by prophet rushing and using Scarabs… I mostly played Anders and Brute actually. Prophet rush got fixed pretty early into the game… Don’t make baseless assumptions about things you know nothing about.

19

Oh please People still use just the prophet with maybe a sarab or engineers during entire matches and the games been out for years. And this beta is also released earlier than many others. They wanted to give a teaser with what they had so far, not give you early access to play the finished product. There was a long gap between the first game and this one and they want to rekindle interest, and its working. And If you dont want to be mocked dont start a thread talking about how great you are. A simple “I played halo wars a lot and heres a list of bugs I saw” is perfectly sufficient, no one needs your stats or game history

20

> 2533274824480464;19:
> no one needs your stats or game history

All information is good information. Short term or long term players may decide if they bother with DLC.