Let me start off by saying I think 343 has made a great Halo. Halo 4 is a great game the campaign was extremely fun and had a great story. I like Spartan Ops and I even like multiplayer. Matchmaking is fun; but I have a couple problems with it, which is actually what this post is about. I want to also state that this is merely for constructive criticism. I hope you (343) read it.
I’m not like a lot of the people who say they are going to quit if they don’t get what they want. I’ve been playing Halo since I was ten years old. At the age of ten I played legendary everyday in Halo: CE. Then when I turned twelve or thirteen Halo 2 came out. I played through the campaign on legendary. After a little while of playing the campaign over and over I finally got xboxlive. I remember the first day I played quite vividly. I stayed up until 8am playing the game. After a while, I realized there was a ranking system and began to actually play to get better. In order to succeed I had to make a team, so I did. Strategies came into the game; I sought to play the game smarter and not harder. I’ll never forget how horrible Halo 2 was at the beginning. I guess I fall into the minority of players who take the game too seriously or maybe I’m just a very serious person. Either way it doesn’t matter if one is a competitive player or a casual player. What matters is that the community gets what the community wants.
Matchmaking is fun there is no doubt. In November, when I first started playing the game one of the first things I said was that the game felt a lot like Halo 2. I don’t really have a problem with the AAs. I have three problems that I’ve seen others have as well. I also feel the need to state that I liked this game so much that I ignored the problems for about two months. I have broken the competitive community’s issues into 3 common things.
Problems with Matchmaking and Multiplayer:
- Maps
- Rank System
- Random Ordinance
The maps in the game are horrid. I’m sorry I love Haven, but I’m sick of playing it 5 out of 10 times in infinity slayer. In Halo 2 do you know how many small maps there were with the original disk? 8 (including colossus and Zanzibar which were medium maps, but included in team slayer). We need smaller maps, which 343 has finally started to deal with. I’m glad to see that something is getting done, but there truly needs to be more maps. Even more than Garrote, Shutout, Simplex, Scythe, and Relay. Why wasn’t Relay in the map hopper for Infinity slayer in the first place? I remember the first week someone asked me and I replied with, “Dude they will probably put it in next week.” Man! I was so wrong. The solution to this is simple. Put the maps from the community forge in as you’re planning on doing, but also put in Ravine’s Settler it’s a medium sized map that can be used in infinity slayer.
In Halo 2 and Halo 3 there was the 1-50 ranking system. Halo: Reach has a ranking system no one cares about in Halowaypoint. Halo: Reach wasn’t very successful online. Halo 2 and Halo 3 were extremely successful, because they had good maps and a ranking system in game. Halo 2 was awful before the patches. Please follow Halo 2 and 3’s example; put the ranking system in the game. If people don’t like their level they will either get better or simply ignore the thing. I know plenty of people who played Halo 2 who didn’t care about the rank they just ignored it. So by not putting the rank ingame you only isolate the people who are competitive and rank up. I know you’re concerned with cheating, but there is cheating right now. People cheat big deal. I want something to work for; not a simple 130 rank that I have right now.
Random ordinance is a nuisance. It makes the game completely random. Comparatively speaking it is like a basketball game being played and a fan throwing a freaking shake at you. No one expects that and it ruins the game for everyone. Whenever I’m holding a position and the other team randomly gets rockets jetpacks up to me and blows my brains out I get fairly angry. Not because he killed me, but because it is freaking random as heck. It makes the game uncompetitive.
343 I’m worried about the game, because the population has gone down dramatically. I really really really want the game to succeed. I love Halo so much and you guys did a fantastic job with in the campaign aspect. Now please listen to the community and fix the multiplayer. I beg of you to fix it and make this game the top of everyone’s love list. You guys have the power to make or break Halo. I hope you guys don’t take me as another whiny competitive player, because I’m just offering constructive criticism.