The Reason For Lack of Game Modes

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

The reason for the current lack of playlist and game mode variety is

  • Population Size - Warzone - 343’s insistence upon making Warzone the casual experience.Why/how does this make sense? Warzone is essentially a separate, standalone experience from Arena. Most players are not jumping from Warzone to Slayer to SWAT to Warzone Assault to BTB. The primary reasons for this are:

1. 343 created a divide between Warzone and Arena in the game’s UI (menu). Incompetence or intentional…either way, it was not a wise move.

2. Warzone matches last a long time.

3. Warzone matches pay out significantly more, both in terms of XP and RP.

4. At least half of Halo 5’s REQ Rewards are exclusive to Warzone.

5. Warzone matches take 24 human players out of Halo 5’s multiplayer population pool.
5a. Warzone is the only social playlist containing professional, studio-quality maps.
5b. Warzone is fairly popular, and perhaps that reception is well-deserved, but in reality we don’t know because it never has to compete with another legitimately casual experience.

Perhaps #5 wouldn’t have been a big deal when populations were as large as those playing Halo 2, Halo 3, or even Halo Reach. However, given the size of today’s Halo game populations, taking 24 players (per match) away from the Arena population pool means there’s not only a much smaller population pool in general (compared to Halo games prior to H4), but that smaller pool is also being divided…but divided by how much? While we can’t say for sure, the overall online population is likely being divided by at least 1/3, and up to as much as 1/2 (or maybe slightly more).

So, if Halo 5’s daily peak population was 75,000 (XBL Top 10 Most Played list and other games’ player population stats say this is likely a fair estimate) that would mean Team Arena is never hosting more than 50,000 of those players, and it’s more likely that Arena never hosts more than around 37,500. Again, this would be the daily peak population. All other times would be lower…some significantly lower numbers.

I think it’s reasonable to assume that The Master Chief Collection was hosting an overall population of around 35,000 too; at least up to the launch of Halo 5. As you all know, search times in Master Chief Collection were always a problem, and the most recent Community Update (detailing an expansion to the MCC rank ranges when searching) serves as confirmation that population was, and continues to be, the primary culprit after most the major matchmaking bugs were squashed.

Now, ask yourself - What would hurt 343 more at this point . . . Offering Arena playlist variety with MCC-like search times, or withholding Arena variety and ensuring short wait/fast matchmaking times?

The reason for the lack of variety in the Arena part of Halo 5 is low population. Not because Halo 5’s total population is plain miserably low, but because 343 divided Halo 5’s population (seemingly on purpose…even within their very own game’s UI) between Arena and Warzone. As long as all achievements run through the REQ system, whatever population Halo 5 has will always be significantly divided like this. Whether the player is playing or paying for what’s in the REQ packs, this is a problem.

Is there a fix? Probably not. If there is one, it must begin with putting Warzone and Warzone Assault and all Arena modes into one single online multiplayer selection list. Still, the opportunity to actually gauge just how popular and well-received Warzone even is has been lost. The only way 343 could have truly evaluated this was to put Warzone up against Ranked and Social Arena game modes (including a genuine BTB playlist with studio quality, original maps), and let the best modes prevail. Only time that was possible was at launch, when the population was at it’s ultimate peak…perhaps it could’ve been done around Christmas. Regardless, the time and opportunity have both passed 343 by.

Conclusion: Make up your own mind.

TL;DR: Don’t comment on something you don’t care enough to read all the way through.

2

I think it’s also so people are so bored out of their mind that everyone just plays Warzone because there aren’t any other modes, forcing people to possibly buy REQ packs hahaha

3

They didn’t make a legit BTB ON PURPOSE. This was their exact intention: bring back Arena for long time and/or competitive players, and create a microtransaction friendly gamemode for casuals that will make them a -Yoink- ton of money.

I’m sure Social was never a planned thing, due to the execs at -Yoink!-. But with community backlash they had no choice but to use community forge maps and scramble to put together a BTB.

4

> 2533274858004001;2:
> I think it’s also so people are so bored out of their mind that everyone just plays Warzone because there aren’t any other modes, forcing people to possibly buy REQ packs hahaha

Yea or there’s this thing called Reach and like the game runs better since the Update that came out for it. Halo 5 is currently failing me and I’m losing faith, if nothing good comes out of Halo 5’s January update I’m going back to reach.

5

Mostly speculation, but logical. I do enjoy Warzone more now then I did at launch, that is likely why they didn’t want to have it compete with other social experiences.

6

> 2533274858004001;2:
> I think it’s also so people are so bored out of their mind that everyone just plays Warzone because there aren’t any other modes, forcing people to possibly buy REQ packs hahaha

Certainly possible, but I think if any actual attempt was made to keep players in Warzone, it’s the separation of Warzone/Arena in the UI, and the lack of casual playlists for Warzone to contend with.

Regardless whether REQ money is or isn’t a driving motive, I find it hard to imagine anyone being able to deny the fact that this division of population is in fact taking place, because it certainly is, and that hurts each side at the end of the day. You can’t have Warzone Variety with half the population playing Arena, and you can’t have Arena variety with half the population playing Warzone.

7

> 2533274902478287;3:
> They didn’t make a legit BTB ON PURPOSE. This was their exact intention: bring back Arena for long time and/or competitive players, and create a microtransaction friendly gamemode for casuals that will make them a -Yoink- ton of money.
>
> I’m sure Social was never a planned thing, due to the execs at -Yoink!-. But with community backlash they had no choice but to use community forge maps and scramble to put together a BTB.

BTB was originally a ranked playlist, in Halo 2, Halo 3, and even Halo 5. I agree that they purposely didn’t make a legit BTB, but I think it’s because they see Warzone as an improvement upon the standard BTB mode. I definitely don’t agree with that whatsoever, but I do think 343 sees it that way. Unfortunately, saying “sees it that way”, meaning still feels this way, is probably true too. Even if it’s not, they’re not going to suddenly turn back now, and the reason for that is where I absolutely have no problem suggesting the dollar sign.

8

> 2533274902478287;3:
> They didn’t make a legit BTB ON PURPOSE. This was their exact intention: bring back Arena for long time and/or competitive players, and create a microtransaction friendly gamemode for casuals that will make them a -Yoink- ton of money.
>
> I’m sure Social was never a planned thing, due to the execs at -Yoink!-. But with community backlash they had no choice but to use community forge maps and scramble to put together a BTB.

Agree 1000%. BTB was purposely sabotaged to drive us to warzone and buy those reqs. Problem with warzone is that once you get most of the reqs, reasonable commendations, and medals, it gets stale quickly. Once you get all commons, uncommons, rares, and get into ultra rares you likely have at least one variant of everything. The whole game is built on earning or buying reqs, but what happens when you got plenty and you are sick of those 4 maps? To me that is the massive flaw in their req idea: once I get 2 or 3 scorpion variations, I really don’t care about that 4th or 5th version. When most players get to that point, will the joy of going for that next win keep them playing the same 4 maps? If not, they are in trouble because all that’s left is the sad arena playlists.

9

> 2535468812026872;8:
> > 2533274902478287;3:
> > They didn’t make a legit BTB ON PURPOSE. This was their exact intention: bring back Arena for long time and/or competitive players, and create a microtransaction friendly gamemode for casuals that will make them a -Yoink- ton of money.
> >
> > I’m sure Social was never a planned thing, due to the execs at -Yoink!-. But with community backlash they had no choice but to use community forge maps and scramble to put together a BTB.
>
>
> Agree 1000%. BTB was purposely sabotaged to drive us to warzone and buy those reqs. Problem with warzone is that once you get most of the reqs, reasonable commendations, and medals, it gets stale quickly.
>
> **Once you get all commons, uncommons, rares, and get into ultra rares you likely have at least one variant of everything.**The whole game is built on earning or buying reqs, but what happens when you got plenty and you are sick of those 4 maps?

Well, I can tell you what no one does - Play Arena modes to get less REQ, less XP, and not a single Social playlist that offers even one professionally crafted, original map.

Regardless whether 343 intentionally sabotaged BTB for money spent on REQ or not, there’s no denying that 343 didn’t give BTB a fighting chance against Warzone in terms of popularity. Halo 5 BTB was introduced into the game late, has never had a single professionally made map, and has either been ranked or unranked…in other words, there’s no option to play BTB the way one wants. You either prefer ranked/unranked, or you just deal with it as it is.

That said, I agree with you that they sabotaged BTB. As far as I can tell, that’s a fact. The motive, on the other hand, is debatable. Not saying you’re wrong saying the motive is about the REQ pack profits. I can definitely see that being the case, but I can’t prove that.

10

Warzone could be a legitimate replacement for BtB if the maps were more varied in number and overall structure (2 cores, 2 side bases, 2 central base, and a bunch of side stuff you only use when the game spawns bullet sponge bosses).

Objectives other than holding bases and killing bosses would be a great boon to the mode. We have all this architecture that could be used to house ctf or assault type objectives. More dynamic maps too. All of this could possibly used to open up map based reqs- satisfy an objective and earn a weapon or vehicle.

11

> 2533274883271288;4:
> > 2533274858004001;2:
> > I think it’s also so people are so bored out of their mind that everyone just plays Warzone because there aren’t any other modes, forcing people to possibly buy REQ packs hahaha
>
>
> Yea or there’s this thing called Reach and like the game runs better since the Update that came out for it. Halo 5 is currently failing me and I’m losing faith, if nothing good comes out of Halo 5’s January update I’m going back to reach.

Wait, the Halo Reach framerate got fixed?:smiley:

12

> 2533274855279867;10:
> Warzone could be a legitimate replacement for BtB if the maps were more varied in number and overall structure (2 cores, 2 side bases, 2 central base, and a bunch of side stuff you only use when the game spawns bullet sponge bosses).
>
> Objectives other than holding bases and killing bosses would be a great boon to the mode. We have all this architecture that could be used to house ctf or assault type objectives. More dynamic maps too. All of this could possibly used to open up map based reqs- satisfy an objective and earn a weapon or vehicle.

In order for Warzone to be a replacement for BTB, there must be Warzone variants that are essentially 12v12 BTB (Slayer, KoTH, Assault, CTF, etc.) played out on Warzone sized maps.

13

I just played 3 games of warzone then jumped into arena for a couple more. I think lots of people do this. Jump back and forth that is.

14

> 2535473635314008;13:
> I just played 3 games of warzone then jumped into arena for a couple more. I think lots of people do this. Jump back and forth that is.

That means you played Warzone for about 1hour - 1 hour 15 minutes, then played arena for half an hour or a little more. That’s more so what you expect to see from someone switching between two entirely different game titles.

That’s not a knock against Warzone or Arena. It’s just one of the main points I tried to get across in my OP…it’s just the nature of having two entirely separate and different online multiplayer options. Especially when Warzone has the only two fully dev supported social (unranked) playlists.

15

Warzone gives the most rp and xp because it takes a long time to finish one game. It balances out with how long an arena match takes to finish.

16

The only point I don’t fully agree with is as to population. Did low population cause a lack of game modes, or did a lack of game modes cause a low population? The former assumes that MS/343 predicted that Halo 5 would flop and so that they decided not to bother, while the latter follows logically as a possible explanation.

17

If you move Warzone into arena as a new playlist, how would it make things any better? Do you mean add it into arena rotations? If it’s a seperate playlist, it won’t change anything.

18

> 2533274823519895;16:
> The only point I don’t fully agree with is as to population. Did low population cause a lack of game modes, or did a lack of game modes cause a low population? The former assumes that MS/343 predicted that Halo 5 would flop and so that they decided not to bother, while the latter follows logically as a possible explanation.

Actually, I tried to avoid going into that topic altogether in my OP. I think the sales numbers tell us Halo 5’s ultimate peak population was lower than the previous titles. Regardless what factor(s) have caused it, a fairly low population is the reality with Halo 5. My intent was to simply point out to folks that Halo 5’s mediocre to poor online population is actually worse than what it seems, simply because Warzone and Arena are likely splitting whatever population there is in half.

Let’s say Halo 5’s population is currently half of what Reach’s was at this point in its respective life-cycle. If one wants to try to determine how many Arena playlists Halo 5’s population can feasibly support (without severely impacting search times), the first thing they should do is cut that population (which is half of what Reach’s was at this point) in half again. Its only reasonable that they do this, because they must account for Warzone (ranked #1 of all Halo 5 game modes in terms of unique players).

As I said in my OP - this might not have been a problem during Halo 2, 3, or Reach, but it’s hard to imagine 343 having reliable data suggesting to them that Halo 5 would see a resurgence of online player population, and retention of that population, when they decided to introduce their brand new (24 player required) Warzone into Halo. It’s hard to believe they didn’t understand that if they were to implement Warzone into Halo 5 as they did (making it the social section of multiplayer), that they might not have population numbers, in either Warzone or Arena, necessary to simply offer most of or all Halo’s staple game modes – such as, Doubles, Snipers, KoTH, Oddball, Assault, Invasion, Action Sack, Griffball, and more.

If you want my opinion on the topic you bring up though… I think the low population started with the lower than usual sales, and that was caused by a severely diminished level of brand recognition. Plenty of people say Halo 5 has excellent gameplay, and even if that is the case, the gameplay is still nothing like any previous Halo…including Halo 4. If you ask me, Halo 5 was not the time for 343 to re-re-reinvent the wheel (if such a time should ever even exist at all). Now, combine unfamiliar gameplay with total absence of favorite familiar gametypes, and you have a game that’s titled “Halo”, a fanbase filled with “Halo” fans, and a game that may be good or even better than good…but you still end up with a game that is not what its established fanbase expected/expects. That’s a recipe for failure when you’re in the shoes of a studio such as 343…a studio that inherited an established brand and franchise. We can speculate what’s driving the population down even lower, but the population was lower than it ever should have been to begin with.

Lack of game modes is a product of Warzone’s introduction into Halo coming at it’s all-time lowest level of popularity. Halo multiplayer cannot be “Halo” multiplayer as long as 343 insists upon both changing the fundamental makeup of the gameplay, an**d dividing it’s online population between two entirely separate and different game modes. There simply are not enough people playing this game to have it both ways.

19

> 2533274896721990;17:
> If you move Warzone into arena as a new playlist, how would it make things any better? Do you mean add it into arena rotations? If it’s a seperate playlist, it won’t change anything.

You’re missing my point. I don’t mean change anything about Warzone or Warzone Assault. I am simply saying 343 should have (and still needs to) have all multiplayer game modes/playlists in one single menu. Having them separated from one another in the game’s UI begs a subconscious response suggesting the modes are two distinctly different experiences, and they are not to be hopped in out and between each other.

You don’t have to believe that is the case, but 343 knows it is, and I know they know it is, because they wanted it like that. They certainly didn’t make them separate from each other because either’s list was hogging all the space on the screen, did they? Of course not. They want you to perceive them as totally separate experiences. Some speculate that’s to do with money, and while I definitely can’t say they’re wrong…I also can’t prove they’re right.

It would certainly change things. It would be easy for players to quickly pick BTB after the conclusion of a Warzone match. If you think people’s minds don’t simply select what is only right in front of their eyes, you are mistaken. You’re probably thinking “It takes 15 seconds to get out of one menu and into the other”, and you’re right about that. Still, that doesn’t mean most people will simply let Warzone keep searching, because let’s not forget – 343’s Halo 5 UI makes it a pain in the butt to back out of whatever you’re currently in.

People choose sides in Halo 5…not between Locke and Chief (as 343 advertised), but between Warzone and Arena. That’s a problem, and it all starts at the home screen.

20

How is having the Warzone and Arean gamemodes under one menu going to change how people feel about them enought to may more of the other?
I suppose you could say convenience, but its not exactly hard to back out one more menu to get to either one.