I know we are still in the beta period of things with this game, but the state that everything is in worries me. From the way the Battlepass works, to the core fundamentals of the game.
343 has had experience with Halo since Reach Map pack 2. They have had almost 10 years of experience with Halo. Yet, they somehow have made changes every game that never seem to stick the landing…
Let’s start off with the little things, like the ability to phase through teammates… Phasing through your teammates has never been in a Halo game, and no one has really ever complained about it not being there. It’s one thing that made Halo feel like Halo. Whether that’s Jumping on your teammates head to elevate up to a higher area, or getting your friends to block a door in custom games. It also forced players to be careful, and aim their grenades right, and be mindful of teammates locations. Now with phasing, we can spam grenades forever, and just know we won’t hurt each other. This also causes confusion for those in vehicles. Why can I walk through my teammates and not hurt them with gunshots or blasts, but the slightest tap of a warthog, completely enhilates my teammate…
The Battlepass and the lack of a good solution is another big issue…
There isn’t a good drip of xp just for playing, and 343 seems to be so gung-ho on their ‘challenge’ system that they don’t seem to be considering a steady stream of xp per match either. As announced earlier today, they’re changing some of the challenges to make it easy, and adding a daily play match to earn BP XP as well. What happened to in game unlockables, or even levels for that matter. The Battlepass should include premium customizations, but it also shouldn’t be the only way to get the customizations. When they first said that the first Battlepass will be in rotation until May, it surprised me. Now, after 2 days of playing I understand why, it will take me a whole month to probably even hit level 25… On top of that, I probably won’t even be able to complete the first BP before the second one comes out. I know they last forever, but when you can only level one at a time, people will fall behind quickly, especially with how slow and monotonous it is to level…
I know I touched on customizations, but that’s another big issue I have as well. Why are all the customizations locked behind the battle pass, or premium store? There should be customization options out of the gate, and have exclusive ones for unlock for playing, or even completing their challenges. It really sucks to come off the cusp of Halo Mcc which has been updated to have some of the best customization options out there. Then they threw everything into the garbage and made a whole new system that seems so foreign… it almost reminds me of the feeling of going from endgame Destiny to D2….
The last thing I have is the lack of Playlist, and voting options. I had a challenge to play oddball on the first day. I did not get an oddball match until the day after, about 5 to 6 hours of playing as well that day. Every Halo game had a way to pinpoint some or a specific game mode you want to play.
TLDR
The challenges forces the hands of players to play a certain way. If the player didn’t do the challenges they would be coming out feeling like they wasted their money.
Phasing in multiplayer should have never been a thing, it never was before this, why is it now
The customization options so far are all locked behind a paywall or behind the slow burn of a BP, which has never been Halo, ever… if it’s going to be this way since it’s free to play, I’m not even going to bother with the multiplayer.
There should be a specific Playlist to help pinpoint modes, to complete the mandatory challenges to get xp…
I hate to complain, I’ve always been optimistic about Halo, through the thick and thin. AND DON’T GET ME WRONG, other than these complaints I think the overall gameplay is fun, But I’m perplexed by the fact that 343 dropped a dumpster fire that was Halo MCC, updated it to make the community feel better about it and gain our trust back, just to throw all of its changes out the window like it doesn’t matter.
I don’t know how many times we can flop Halo, but you would think by now 343 would have some sort of idea of what should and shouldn’t be in the game. I really hope this game isn’t going to be the No Man’s sky mentality…
Either way, thanks for letting me rant, I hope for a better multiplayer experience