I can honestly say that I have never seen a game with such a poorly designed challenge system.
The challenge system consists of approximately 15 normal challenges which is then followed by an ‘Ultimate’ Challenge. Not only does this often take multiple hours to complete, this weeks ‘Ultimate’ challenge is Win 3 Ranked matches of CTF. (Which is basically impossible)
Let’s do the maths quickly.
There’s about a 1 in 4 chance of getting CTF selected as a gamemode, however it’s actually much lower as only about two maps have CTF as an option. Let’s be generous and say it’s a 1 in 8 chance.
So there’s just less than a 50% chance that you’ll win in CTF due to the possibility of a Tie, so that’s a 1 in 16 chance.
So by all probability, you’ll need to get that 1 in 16 chance about 3 times. That means on average this challenge will take you 48 games.
48 GAMES FOR AN ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
I thought 343i said they wouldn’t be doing these ridiculous challenges anymore? What the heck gives with this?
Whilst the reward is pretty bad in all honesty, it sucks that it’ll forever be locked behind this wall now.
I think I’m pretty much done with this game now. I grinded to 152 and 343i basically gave all that stuff away recently. I’ve supported the company since Halo 4, but they’ve lost another Halo fan (not that they care)
What’s everyone else’s thoughts on another broken promise by 343i?
While it is poorly designed, ill conceived, and part of a fundamental problem of Xbox Division knowing diddly-squat about how to gauge user retention, “basically impossible” it is not. Out of the three ranked Capture the Flag (CTF) games I played, all three were victories. I’d like to say I’m the proud owner of a flag backdrop, but as hard fought as those victories were, I’m not in the slightest bit pleased.
I like a good grind, I have the “Insane” title in World of Warcraft, and this is the thing I find exhausting to accomplish due to the variables you go on to mention.
I’m grateful I was spared this many matches. I think it took me about 20-25. I have to stress this isn’t me saying the challenge is fine; that’s still 22 matches more than I would like to have spent in Ranked, where most of those games consisted of players who didn’t really want to be there.
My feedback for this is thus:
- Give Ranked players their own exclusive challenges and rewards, that can only be contributed toward until the player has met a minimum requirement so they don’t lose the serious players’ ranking.
- Challenges should be very much like the limited time events of before, where the requirements and rewards are based around that particular mode. If you want me to do a CTF challenge, please may we have a seperate CTF listing?
- Or better yet, let us choose our Ultimate. If the criteria is to win something, let us choose the mode to win (in its own seperate mode to join rather than Quick Play). If the criteria is to score, or get objectives, or kills, let us choose the mode to do that in.
None of the aggrevation caused by this event was necessary. I’d like to say hindsight is 20:20 but this is straight off the back of “Get 3 Killjoy medals in Fiesta,” and it’s not like Halo: Infinite is the first game to do weekly challenges. It’s not even 343i’s first rodeo.
The challenge system needs an overhaul, but that’s not going to happen until 343i and Xbox get their heads together about a real long-term strategy for this game, which includes user retention, such as that which comes from challenges. The phrase “10 year plan” for a game is a meme; it has as much credibility as saying I’ve got a 10 year plan, and I don’t even have a game. No game has ever stayed its course for 10 years, because the industry changes too much to allow it.
Hey mate,
I agree with everything you said, only thing I’d like to amend is the “Basically impossible” claim I made.
What I meant was, it was basically impossible for me due to the amount of time I spend working. I have Wednesdays as my weekend, that’s basically it.
For people who have jobs, the demand of completing 20 challenges (+1 ultimate) is a big ask, especially when the game likes to disconnect and ban me from ranked games, or give me impossible desync.
My challenges on some days have been to win 4 Slayer Matches. Seems reasonable, until I go into a match and my teammates are so unreasonably bad because I made the mistake of entering the Wasp in BTB and getting a few Demon medals. My MMR just forces me to have gold team mates, and often forces me to play against Onyx to Champion level players in Ranked or even casual play. This would be maybe acceptable, if it wasn’t for the fact that my aim assist has been broken since launch.
I seriously have either very minimal aim assist, or straight up no aim assist at points. I’m also somewhat annoyed they gave away my 152 rewards for watching a hour of a Twitch stream.
But anyways, thank you for the response!