I agree with the original post but remember from the Sprint episodes, they pretty much remade the Halo engine from scratch to remove the old bulk from the original games that were lurking in the code and update the engine to the Xbox One standard. Working on this and making/balancing the new thruster movement probably took a lot of time for the early development as skimping on either would break the game later and make the problem much harder to fix. I agree with the OP that Halo 5 was probably given a rushed deadline for the ‘Best Year for Xbox’
This would explain the campaign’s lack of story.They would have had less time to get voice work recorded and models/animations made to relay the story between missions bar the few cutscenes that are present the game. The kind of cutscenes that 343i wanted to do and the kind of epic moments seen in Halo games prior take a lot of time, effort and money to make look good for today and they probably had to scrap a lot of storyboards for essential moments of the campaign.
The rushed deadline would also explain the lack of game modes. As shown in the Sprint, everything Multiplayer is strenuously stress tested by their Pro Team and testing staff. Every weapon, game mechanic, map and mode is played to death in a variety of ways. So they had to make the bare minimum of modes for release, so Slayer, FFA, CTF and their two modes that were heavily showcased in advertising as unique selling points, Breakout and Warzone. I imagine that around 50% of the MP testing went of Warzone, not just because it is huge and balancing the map layouts, REQ points system and the weapons/vehicles themselves would have been a colossal task but because Microsoft probably said that Warzone needed to be the most polished mode as a huge portion of their advertisement both at press events and at game release would be on that mode.
I know the content has been lacking, but as someone who has developed very small games and the process it takes to make something good and polished on the tiniest level, I can only imagine the amount of time and effort everyone has put into the game at 343i and they are trying their upmost to deliver in post game content. Just because the game’s out, I don’t think any of them are twiddling their thumbs. I don’t support 343i blindly just because they’re 343i, I support them as I feel they have tried. Developers have to work on these projects for years of their lives, it becomes their lives. I wouldn’t be surprised if they still see Halo when they close their eyes.
I believe the sparse content that we get as monthly free updates is also something Microsoft outlined during development. 343 have been adamant since the beginning of Halo 5’s development that wanted all new content for the game to free to everybody rather than splinter the community with paid DLC. 343i also wanted dedicated servers to game more convenient to play than relying P2P and other connection types. Microsoft as a business needed a way to sustain profits from their biggest exclusive to justify not only the cost of the dedicated servers but paying staff wages so that they could develop the new content and the answer to these problems were microtransactions. As all of the DLC would be free in the game, the content can’t be anything large monthly as that would cost too much money for the post game money that they would earn. This is why the monthly content is a map, a few armour sets, a few visors, emblems and weapon skins. This content takes less time to develop (with exception to the new map as that needs to be stress tested) which costs less. The other reason most of this content is what it is, is because most of it is REQ content, you have to get the content in a pack which could result in more money for the content from impatient players. That was probably where the REQ system became what it is now.
The REQ system was probably just originally used for weapon and vehicle acquisition in Warzone. You would have most likely bought the in game packs with points gained from playing matches and armour, weapon skins, emblems and other customisations would have probably earned via ranks and/or challenges in game. (For example, Level 2 SMG Challenge grants the SMG Fade skin). The deal with current REQ system would have been to make everything acquirable via this system. This would force players to have to rely this system for anything that they want in the game, regardless of whether they want to play Warzone for the weapons. The valuable packs (Silver and Gold) can then be sold for cash as well as in game packs so that impatient players can get what they want quicker. For the players that would rather play to unlock packs, they would have to take a lot longer to gather the points for packs which would result on higher sales of Xbox Live Subscription to be able to keep playing across the months.
Even with all of the microtransactions, I enjoy playing the game a bunch. I don’t play everyday, but I put a few hours in every few days. I don’t pay for REQs, I like earning points for a couple REQ packs a session and what I get is what I get. I would have enjoyed earning my customisations via challenges or ranks a little more than the random chance I put myself through with each pack opening, but there’s a core reason I enjoy this game, why I keep coming back that I don’t hear a lot on these forums.
I keep playing Halo 5 because I love it’s gameplay, I have fun playing it. That’s why I support 343i, I like playing Halo 5 and a fun game is all that matters to me.