The truth about Halo 4 multiplayer.

Games Other Halo
1

As humans we are naturally competitive. In my opinion this explains a lot as to why no one is playing Halo 4 anymore. Halo has always been a game about strategy. You have to place yourselves in a position to win the game. For example on Valhalla in halo 3 you would place people on hill, pelican, and maybe turret. So now since that’s out of the way lets get into the balance of halo 4.

Balance has always been the maker or breaker of multilayer games. With Halo 4 we got a lot of random gimmicks. The first gimmick is Armour abilities. Jet pack destroys map control because this ability can give you height advantage over the people who are controlling the map which might have height advantage. So in Halo 4 map control is just a illusion. Promethean vision slows down game play and takes away the element of surprise from players who might desperately need it in a match. Active camo should be a pickup. If you give a person a DMR an AC you make that a person a deadly sniper who can stop enemies from moving around the map. The rest of the Armour abilities should of just been pickups. I would of been happy to have those as pickups.

Ordnance is probably the most destructive part of this game. Ordnance promotes randomness in a match. There is no point of taking map control because someone can easily just get a couple kills with a ton of deaths an randomly spawn a rocket launcher and get multiple kills. Its very bad in Team Slayer because the goal is kills but if you have evenly skilled teams competing it is based on who gets the best random ordnance.

Load outs destroy the use of vehicles and map control. If you want to snipe people across the map then just use a loadout with a dmr and active camo. If you want to play big team battle and someone has a tank don’t get a rocket launcher get a plasma pistol an two plasmas in your loadout and it won’t move again.

A ranking system benefits people who want to play competitively which I think is everybody. Having a ranking system that is visible in game give s a reason to win every match you play. You play the objective more and communicate more if your rank depends on it. I think its fair to say everyone wants to win the game the play. CSR is not even close to being a ranking system. It is just a optional feature in the mess that is halo way point.

This is my theory of why people do not play this game. I believe this to be the truth of halo 4. Thank you if you read it all.

2

Finally someone who understands

3

I agree with everything you say, but I really think that you’re misusing the word “balance.” A lot of things that you say are not balanced really are somewhat balanced; what you mean is that the extra gimmicks take away from the depth of the game.

4

> As humans we are naturally competitive. In my opinion this explains a lot as to why no one is playing Halo 4 anymore.

I think these two sentences sum up the lack of “replay” Halo 4 MP is seeing a year out compared to previous installments. From what I’ve read, initial sales weren’t that bad and the hype was definitely there. I’m not sure Halo will ever get back to the popularity it had before and during the Halo 3 days, but if 343 made tweaks to Halo 5 that use your two sentences as principles to stand by, then I think it’d reach its “ceiling” and hopefully win a lot of players back.

> With Halo 4 we got a lot of random gimmicks…
>
> …Ordnance is probably the most destructive part of this game. Ordnance promotes randomness in a match…

Right on. If you’re still playing a game online a year after release, then you are likely one of these two: (1) longtime player with a lot invested, or (2) heard about it and picked it up more recently. With Halo, the initial sales are there to suggest there are a LOT of 1’s. By appealing to those 1’s, then you’ll get more 2’s through word-of-mouth.

> Load outs destroy the use of vehicles and map control. If you want to snipe people across the map then just use a loadout with a dmr and active camo. If you want to play big team battle and someone has a tank don’t get a rocket launcher get a plasma pistol an two plasmas in your loadout and it won’t move again.

Totally agree. Let’s make vehicles fun again. I don’t mind seeing more vehicles and allowing “balance” that way, but “balance” is not getting lasered <30 seconds after getting in one.

> A ranking system benefits people who want to play competitively which I think is everybody. Having a ranking system that is visible in game give s a reason to win every match you play.

FANTASTIC point. I remember playing back in the Halo 2/3 days when you would go on a streak and reach your highest ranking ever. I never came that close to a 50 (maxxed around 35 in Halo 2 and around 45 in Halo 3), so I always had the incentive to “one day be a 50” even if deep down I knew that would probably would never happen.

I hope 343 listens and we get a lot of what you’re suggesting in Halo 5. Let’s make Halo the anti-CoD in a “back to the basics” type of Halo game. Halo can pull off a multiplayer “reboot” even if the campaign itself is not a reboot.

5

Yes I think I wrote balance on my bubble chart I made. I agree most of what I pointed out for the mechanics of the game were the gimmicks.

6

I don’t play halo as much as i used to because i play a lot of different games. during 1-3 all i played was halo because i never forced myself to try new things. I really don’t see why people have to think that people don’t play halo much these days because halo 4 was a horrible game.

I think people are deluting themselves if they think over simplifying the game and stripping it to be more like a 1-3 experience will “save” halo. There are plenty of outside reasons why halo as a whole isn’t as popular as it used to be. I’m not denying that people got turned off by the changes. But i really think people are blowing that particular reason up.

TBH the people that disliked a majority of the changes left after reach. I’m a long time fan and even with 4’s changes and downsides it is still enjoyable and it still feels like halo to me. People need to stop reading deep into this.

7

What are the outside reasons for people not playing Halo 4?

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>

And people like you will probably play each subsequent game regardless of how it plays. So for the people who do care, why not let them care?

9

“Humans are naturally competitive” is a generalization. It doesn’t really explain why competitive gametypes tend to be the least popular ones either.

Even Halo 3, the “golden age Halo”, is casual compared to the games that came before it.

> People need to stop reading deep into this.

Game has the same population as a title that is at least five years older, as well as the same population of a title that is three years older.

Not really reading deep into anything making a statement like that. Even from face value it’s apparent that something drove people away from Halo fairly recently.

> What are the outside reasons for people not playing Halo 4?

Irrelevant is what they are, as most can be applied to any game ever made. There were economic problems, poor children, other competition, school, etc. in the 90’s and 00’s as well. None of that is exclusive to this year.

The problem is inarguably with the game itself. Whether that’s lag, hype or lack of hype, gameplay changes, or lack of gameplay changes is the debatable thing.

Maybe 400,000 players left solely because they hate the color of the UI and got tired of looking at it. That theory has just as much evidence behind it as any other theory tossed around here (that is to say, it has no evidence behind it).

10

OP nailed it. I agree with everything.

The competitive ranking system is great for all skill levels. I’m not very good but I love the feeling of improving. It’s something to play for.

All of the random stuff you mentioned ruins the increasing skill / progression feel even if the game had a good ranking system.

My best friend said “I will not buy Halo 5 if it has POD”.

He is a huge Halo fan just like I am. He’s a 30 year old ER doctor with top 95% board scores and a psychology degree on the side. He’s one of the most even keel people I know. My point is not to brag about my bro… however, it’s just to make the point that he doesn’t just say stuff when he’s mad like that (like idiots such as myself tend to do).

I kinda laughed. My first thought was that it is unreasonable. We’ve spammed every Halo together and loved them all (well, didn’t enjoy Reach buy still played it). We’re pretty casual gamers and I always just assumed we’d play them by default.

After thinking about the comment for awhile… it makes sense. I can realistically say that if Halo 5 has POD drops I will not buy it. It’s funny how something ‘that little’ can break the game so bad.

If 343 doesn’t have the competence to clean that up then I have no reason to continue to support them. They have already stolen 35 dollars from me, which is an entire different animal… but at least that is ‘fixable’ in the future.

I will admit that this is a ‘cool story bro’ type post. I guess my main point, besides to tell the OP great post and that I agree 100%, is me wondering how many other ‘Halo faithfuls’ are in the balance right now if 343 doesn’t figure it out.

I hope H5 is awesome but have a feeling it can be a HUGE let down. I honestly have no proof but can’t help but to think that the gimmicks will be MORE if anything. Look at gaming sequel trends (even use Halo as an example)… RARELY are games ‘scaled back’.

I really worry ):

PS: I do think Halo 4 is a good game. SO was something to dabble with, the campaign was pretty solid and MM is even fun in its own way. It just has HORRIBLE reply or ‘improvement in play’ to it. I play but it just doesn’t have that ‘it’ like H3 (b/c of it’s problems mentioned in OP). I think the pace / ‘feel’ / hit registration are great at the core. Graphics and engine are legit. Toss POD, loadouts, AAs (pick only) and you would have, EASILY, my favorite Halo.

11

> >
>
> And people like you will probably play each subsequent game regardless of how it plays. So for the people who do care, why not let them care?

Not really. There can be changes made to a halo game to make me not want to play the MP. They are allowed to care. Please don’t put words in my mouth. I am merely stating i think people are being over dramatic and looking too deep into it. COD ghosts is probably the best COD to date some of the best maps in the series and weapons are actually balanced and unique. Yet Ghosts itself isn’t doing so well. COD as a whole even though still on top has been crumbling over the years. It’s becoming a tired series just like halo.

To the OP out side reasons being: Gaming market has changed, what kind of game the market wants, gaming in the house hold has changed, the franchise is over a decade old, other small franchises growing into popularity…

@Rami. wrong on both accounts bud. I said in my first post that the changes made to the game is a viable and real reason for population drop. But where you and seemingly everyone else who brings up population seems to forget is that it’s not the only reason. Nor is it the only important one. And you really can’t possibly prove it was the biggest reason.

12

> But where you and seemingly everyone else who brings up population seems to forget is that it’s not the only reason. Nor is it the only important one. And you really can’t possibly prove it was the biggest reason.

The game doesn’t go from 400k to 20k in a manner of a few months just because “the game’s old bro”. If such was the case I doubt 400k would have even touched multiplayer to begin with. It only took a matter of days for it to drop from 400k to 200k.

It’s the only significant reason because every other factor is more or less the same as it was in 2010 and 2007. People still have jobs, people are still “growing up”, the economy is still -Yoink-, the competition is still the same, etc. The next gen has nothing to do with it simply because the game was dead long before the new consoles were even released.

Any reason why the game is dead now is due to the game itself and not outside factors. Sure, maybe people will switch to CoD Ghosts or Cod Black Ops 2 on the day it releases. But if they truly liked Halo 4 anywhere near as much as those games they would eventually start playing both after the “new smell” has worn off instead of sticking to one and abandoning the other. A new competitor release should cause a temporary drop in population, not a permanent one.

Throw as many “outside reasons” that you want at me, they are all trivial and universal.

13

I quit playing H4 months ago after about 1,600 war games. For my Halo fix, I play Reach or H3 (I have all the Halo FPS games for Xbox and Halo CE for Mac - so I’m a long time fan). The only way I will buy H5 is when it’s on sale and likely only for Campaign - assuming that isn’t terrible.

  1. H4 is the laggiest game I play. Please don’t tell me it’s my connection, it isn’t and BF4, COD II, Gears of War, GTA IV, Sonic, Halo Reach etc. etc. never lag as bad as H4 does and so consistently. Playing Campaign Co-Op or Spartan Ops is a complete joke for lag. Halo reach Never ever plays as bad as H4 does.

  2. The way it selects host is completely broken as it only uses host history (i.e. new players get host, the more you play the less likely your ever host). And the host is usually on the wrong continent from me.

  3. Matching of players has no filtering options. I was continually thrown into games where people are scattered across the globe, and some guy in the Mexico or Venezula was host. Most games have some options to try and address these issues.

  4. Vehicles are neutered because of the Plasma Pistol or 2 Plasma grenades. The “Wart Hog” should have been re-named “double kill hog”. With the grenade perk and a second team mate, you can kill any vehicle in the map, including a Scorpion. Without vehicles, Halo 4 is “COD in Space” but COD never lags as bad as H4 does.

  5. 343 continued to add more “gimmicks” rather than fixing basic playability issues. Reminds of Nero Fiddling while Rome burns…

  6. No air vehicles besides the Banshee. Halo Reach at least has the Falcon and loading it up with one or two gunners is still a riot to POWN the opposing team.

  7. DLC was completely mismanaged by 343 & Microsoft. People don’t buy DLC if they can’t play it, compounding issues with it. Even when they had 80,000+ people playing online, they would never have DLC only Playlists so that I could play it.

  8. 343 was excruciatingly slow at fixing issues. They spent months “Tuning Weapons” and then left network play and host selection unacceptably broken.

I could go on, but H4 is done and there really is no point in flogging a dead horse. Destiny, Titan Fall and other multi player games will be competing against it for your game dollars.

14

> I could go on, but H4 is done and there really is no point in flogging a dead horse. Destiny, Titan Fall and other multi player games will be competing against it for your game dollars.

Though not so impressive when taking the year of release into consideration, Halo 4 still has the biggest population out of any Halo. It’s far from dead so quit being ignorant and get your facts correct.

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…is that it’s the best halo game ever!

Strategy? The strategic value of this game is like NONE OTHER!

There are so many different strategies you can utilize that weren’t possible in the past. I’ll name a few of mine!

-using sensor, mobility, and an automatic I can know where enemies are before they know where I am, and start sprinting as hard as I can at them for a surprise attack!

-with a lightrifle, hardlight shield, mobility and sensor I can play a vicious long ranged style, being alerted when someone may get to close for comfort and reposition, and using the hardlight shield against other ranged attacks.

-if I’m not having the best of games but someone else on my team is, I’ll use regeneration field and AA effeciency and follow that player around the whole game with it.

This is not to mention all the team combinations possible when players are tactically coordinating with different styles. The skill, strategy, depth, and entertainment of halo 4 is far above and beyond any other in the series and it keeps me coming back for more.

16

I honestly used to think Halo 4 needed to return to it’s roots as well before I got an Xbox One and played Battlefield 4. Being an exclusive Halo player since the first game, I really didn’t try any other shooters. Now after trying the new BF4 and going back to Halo 4 I have to say Halo feels pretty shallow compared to BF4. I’m not saying it should become more like BF4, but I think Halo needs more, not less for multiplayer.

I think a lot of people have left because these other shooters offer something more immersive with even more depth. I just think Halo should get back to it’s roots and be Combat Evolved. Now it just feels like old combat. I think if it goes back to being simple like Halo 1-3 it will truly be the death of Halo. And that’s not something I thought a few months ago.

17

> I don’t play halo as much as i used to because i play a lot of different games. during 1-3 all i played was halo because i never forced myself to try new things. <mark>I really don’t see why people have to think that people don’t play halo much these days because halo 4 was a horrible game.</mark>
>
> I think people are deluting themselves if they think over simplifying the game and stripping it to be more like a 1-3 experience will “save” halo. There are plenty of outside reasons why halo as a whole isn’t as popular as it used to be. I’m not denying that people got turned off by the changes. But i really think people are blowing that particular reason up.
>
> TBH the people that disliked a majority of the changes left after reach. I’m a long time fan and even with 4’s changes and downsides it is still enjoyable and it still feels like halo to me. People need to stop reading deep into this.

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Maybe people think that way because the reason they and everyone they know don’t play Halo 4 is because it’s a horrible multi-player game.

My friends and I are some of those 10-20 thousand people that migrated back to Halo 3. And it is AWESOME!

I win games when I play well. And when I make mistakes and make bad moves I get smoked. There is no randomness. No ordnance. If you want that rocket launcher, you have to fight for it.

18

> I honestly used to think Halo 4 needed to return to it’s roots as well before I got an Xbox One and played Battlefield 4. Being an exclusive Halo player since the first game, I really didn’t try any other shooters. Now after trying the new BF4 and going back to Halo 4 I have to say Halo feels pretty shallow compared to BF4. <mark>I’m not saying it should become more like BF4, but I think Halo needs more, not less for multiplayer.</mark>
>
> I think a lot of people have left because these other shooters offer something more immersive with even more depth. <mark>I just think Halo should get back to it’s roots and be Combat Evolved.</mark> Now it just feels like old combat. I think if it goes back to being simple like Halo 1-3 it will truly be the death of Halo. And that’s not something I thought a few months ago.

You directly contradict yourself with these two statements.
Which is it? You want Halo to be more full of gimmicks or get back to it’s simpler play-style?

I think your dead wrong. The reason Halo 4 sucks is because it did not stick closer to it’s roots with game elements closer to Halo 1-3.

Battlefield is an immense FPS shooter with 3-4 as many max players on a level as Halo at any given time. It’s always been that way.

I’m telling you this now and most people know it to be true: halo 4 tried to imitate certain aspects of COD and it didn’t sit well with most of the fans, if Halo 5 tries to do the same thing or instead copies another popular game like B4 then it will fail as well.

19

> > I could go on, but H4 is done and there really is no point in flogging a dead horse. Destiny, Titan Fall and other multi player games will be competing against it for your game dollars.
>
> Though not so impressive when taking the year of release into consideration, Halo 4 still has the biggest population out of any Halo. It’s far from dead so quit being ignorant and get your facts correct.

Not by much. The online population of Reach and Halo 3 at times approach that of Halo 4. That right there should be a signal of how people feel about the new game.

ANd I’m excited for both Titanfall and Destiny.

20

> I think its fair to say everyone wants to win the game the play.

Wait, you kinda contradict yourself there. You say everybody wants to win, but in the same paragraph indicate that people only want to win if it’s part of a ranking system.

Anyways, my theory as to why people don’t play Halo 4 is because of the lack of a local only search option. I know it’s the reason why I stopped playing the game day one and I also know many other Halo players who stopped paying the game for this very reason.