We all know that Reach is pretty much a failure, especially when in comparison to previous Halo’s. Matchmaking is a shell of what it used to be, each playlist can barely support itself and Reach hasn’t even been out for 2 years yet. At this point in both Halo 2 & 3, the population was still booming, almost every playlist had tons of players and the world was in love with Halo. The community was generally on the same page, and all of the different fans were generally happy. The same cannot be said with Reach.
I am not going to explain in depth each of what I consider the main issues, because the forum has been on fire with these issues since day one, instead I will just list them.
Armor Abilities
Bloom
Terrible Maps (that shipped with the game and added as map packs)
Bad Physics (slow player speed, low jump height)
Lack of Any Viable Ranked Playlists
Non-Existant TrueSkill Matchups
Now, none of these issues are 343’s fault, this is all Bungie’s doing, so don’t be mad at 343. However, I am disappointed at how little the TU did to address these issues AND at how slowly they have been to implement the TU in general.
Now, I understand why 343 has been so reluctant to make more drastic changes, and to implement the changes they have made. By creating such a mess of a game, Bungie alienated one of its main customer demographics, the ‘hardcore’. Seeing as this demographic is no longer a big portion of the players of Reach, 343 tried to slightly appease them, while not alienating the rest of their players.
The true problem in Reach now lies in the player demographics, it is too late at this point, but the problem can be avoided for Halo 4. These different groups are important because this is who 343 will think about when creating Halo 4. These groups are what I believe to be the main player types that make up the population of a Halo title, and in these examples, Reach.
The ‘Competitive’
These players are why Halo 2 & 3 was a success and a large reason how Bungie was able to change console FPS for the better. These players prefer a ranked playlist, but also enjoy some social with friends. Generally, these players understand the game mechanics more than other types of players, and have mastered (or are at least very good) with all of the weapons available to them in the sandbox, especially precision weaponry. These players are not just ‘mlgpros’, they are anybody who is above average and plays to win. Most of these players have left Reach, because there is no legitimate ranked playlist, and they simply cannot cope with the ridiculous additions that Bungie put into Reach. That is not to say they couldn’t adapt, because they probably have higher k/d and win ratio’s than the people who are telling them to adapt. They simply just don’t like the way the game plays. Because these players are now a minority in Reach (see Reach’s poor population), 343 did not drastically change the game to suit their playstyle because they did not want to further alienate the remaining player base. The changes in Reach that they would need to see would lead to a higher skill gap. This change would only increase everybody’s enjoyment of the game, because it would give everybody a chance to increase their skills.
The ‘Noob’
This player is just happy to be playing a video game. Reach might be their first Halo title, or they may have played them all. This player generally doesn’t understand game mechanics, or at least not in halo. They simply just have fun whether they are winning or losing. They are not seeking to do better, they just want to hop into a social playlist with their friends, and AR and AL all night long. They were also happy dual wielding SMG’s in Halo 2 and Jim Dandy ripping turrets off of the sniper tower on The Pit and running around in Halo 3. The bottom line is, they don’t care whether the game is balanced or not, because they don’t think into it that much. If Reach was balanced and fair and had a real ranking system, it would make no difference to them. Pleasing the ‘hardcore’ crowd would only make them happier, because they would have more people to play with and they would get matched up with other casuals more often, instead of getting matched up with the ‘hardcore’ and getting destroyed.
The ‘Fanboy’
I don’t really like this term, but it’s the best I can think of. These players can be considered the ‘HaloReachDefenseForce”. They hate the TU, not because it somewhat balanced the game out more, but because it is different than what Bungie originally released. They will blindly and adamantly defend Vanilla Reach to their death, only because that is the way Bungie intended the game to be played. In their eyes, the creator of the game can do no wrong, unless they change the original game. These people don’t really see too much into the game mechanics. They may say they do, but their general lack of skill speaks more volumes into their understanding of the mechanics of the game then any of their words could ever do. The ‘Tryhard’ has even convinced themselves that bloom was a good idea because precision weapons should not shoot precisely. They will say, “I don’t want 343 to re-release Halo 2/3 and call it Halo 4”. I don’t really want them to either, but I damn sure don’t want them to release Halo Reach 2 and call it Halo 4. The bottom line is this, whatever Halo 4 is, be it Halo 3.5 or Halo Reach 2 or even a really good title that stands on its own feet, they will blindly defend it anyway. If Halo 4 is made to appease the ‘hardcore’ crowd, then the ‘tryhard’ crowd will be happy too.
In conclusion, I would just like to say I hope that Halo 4 is a well balanced, truly fun and complete Halo. I hope we can all have the opportunity to play a ranked game and a social game and that everyone can enjoy it. I hope Halo 4 will re-uinite the community and we can all find something new to hate each other for.
TL:DR – Bungie alienated most of their gamer population with Reach, and 343 didn’t want to drastically change anything out of fear of alienating the remaining players. These are the mistakes they made, and above is the solution to make everybody happy.
