I don’t know if this will be read. I’m sure it’s been covered multiple times already, and if it needs to be deleted, ignored, blocked, or banned, please feel free. I just need to rant for a moment where someone may have a slight chance of hearing me, and possibly feeling my pain.
343i is slowly destroying Halo.
Now, I know what you’re saying. “This is one of the best Halo’s so far!” “The gameplay is amazing!” “Warzone is so fun though!” I’m not here to dispute any of that. I agree completely.
Spartan Charge isn’t my favorite, but I won’t lie that it’s come in handy a few times. Ground pound kills are annoying on he receiving end, but equally enjoyable on the execution end. Warzone IS a blast, and the gameplay and hit markers have never felt smoother. For that, I commend them.
Everyone is upset about the story, so I will get to that in a moment. For now, multiplayer.
The new rating system is horrible. It flat out punishes gamers that play alone instead of in a full party of 4. In multiple recent games of SWAT, I have put up the most kills on my randomized team. I know, i know “This guy is just about BS fluff that he’s the greatest.” I’m not. I will willingly accept defeat when I am beat. I am no pro gamer, and I do not get mad at losing. I get mad at carrying a randomized team with a KD of 19-12 when the next closest to me is 7-15. I’ve taken pictures and screenshots, and my service record is available for anyone who wants to verify my facts. Recently, I’ve stopped trying. I can’t enjoy Halo multiplayer with the hopes of moving up because I either carry the team and lose, or don’t and get placed in a lobby of lower golds and upper silvers. Currently, I am Gold 3. I have been trapped between Gold 2 and Gold 6 since the game was released. My most recent match at Gold 3, I was teamed up with a Gold 1, a Silver 3 and a player who hadn’t been ranked yet. The opposing team was 1 unranked player (I will give them that), a Gold 6, and 2 Diamond ranked players whose levels I don’t remember.
How is this a fair rating system to me? I am now not playing based on my skill, but the skill of other players. It does not matter how well I do, or whether I care or not about moving up, it matters only on a luck of the draw that I maybe get placed on a better team. 343i has taken all of my skill that I’ve learned and earned from Halo over the years of playing every game, and thrown it all away based on chance, and it’s all solely because I refuse to add 3 random people whom I don’t know to fake a better Fireteam. That is wrong.
Now the story. As I write, don’t even know if I want to bother. How many topics must there be on this? Angry tweets, upset Facebookers, the internet has heard my plight and cares little. But I’m committed and still angry, and I don’t feel I’ve vented enough. Forgive me.
Where was what the media showed us? The wounded Chief below a crumbling statue with Locke holding him at gunpoint, and the inverse of the same scene? Where in the game did ONI announce that Master Chief is dead, as shown not 2 weeks ago with the launch of the game? Where did Blue Team come from after being gone for at least 4 games (10+ years if I’ve done my math right, but I’m not afraid to be wrong on that fact)? In what way shape or form has the past year of listening to Hunt the Truth religiously led me to the story I witnessed? Where was the Master Chief that was cloaked, walking alone through the desert before finding a Guardian? (Wait, I suppose the Guardians were in it… You know they sell a toy based on Cloaked Master Chief? An option that isn’t even an Armor to be unlocked for the Arena?) I feel exploited and lied to! I feel as though I’ve been sold a story that A: Was not what I was shown or “promised”, and B: Was half finished. How are Dr. Halsey and Jul M’dama (sp?) just casually having a conversation when he’s the reason she lost her arm? How are Dr. Halsey and Palmer not trying to kill each other? Why does Cortana give Chief a random vision (also How?) that apparently tells him exactly where she is? Why is Blue Team perfectly fine with just following Chief despite how much of a jerk he is to them? Why do they bother setting up an Armor Locking Device for 5 minutes that Chief somehow immediately knows what it is before turning it around and using it on Locke, only to never mention it again? Why is Chief so ok with joining up with Locke? The only other time the two met, Locke wanted Chief brought in. How does Chief know it isn’t a trap? I have thousands more questions, but it won’t matter.
I think I’ve gotten it out of my system. Feel free to tear me to shreds, talk about how I’m just another whiner, how I hate everything 343i does. Ignore my words, destroy my image. I’ve vented, I feel slightly better, and I suppose that’s all that mattered.
TL;DR, 343i lied to us, exploited us months in advance, shoved marketing, podcasts, movies and interviews down our throats all to lead us astray. They made us all look left and walk left, and punished us when we didn’t move to the right. Perhaps 343i did it on purpose. Perhaps they misled us the same as ONI and UNSC lead humanity astray.
Perhaps that was the Truth we were supposed to Hunt.