When did everything start getting boiled down to “do I get a prize”?
It seems like every time I go into a post about what someone thinks would be additive to Halo (whether it is or not , is irrelevant to the point) , it almost always ends up being a discussion about what you can unlock , whether it be armors or skins or whatever else this community thinks is a deserving reward. I understand wanting to feel like your activities/achievements are being noticed ; but can’t we just get a solid game and worry about what unlocks (if anything) after we have confirmed it’s actually good? It is the obsession with unlocks that end up getting us rewards like pizza skins and other pointless crap. Honestly , these are resources that we as a community could and should be finding better ways to utilize ; other than telling 343 “I don’t care how much effort you put in , if it doesn’t unlock X,Y,or Z , I’m not playing”.
Again , I get wanting your time “to be respected” (how a pizza skin or some other frivolous , pointless item tells us this is beyond me) , but wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
These are just my thoughts on this subject , if you are one of the people who gets really excited for all the different unlocks , that’s awesome.(No shade intended , I’m happy you are happy). However , I ask the same question ; Wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
TL/DR : Stop worrying about what unlocks before playing the game. If the game is crap will it matter what unlocks? Will you keep playing a horrible/subpar game because you like the cosmetics? If the game is great , would the lack of cosmetic unlocks (or small amount of them) really ruin your appreciation of the game?
> 2533274847627340;1:
> When did everything start getting boiled down to “do I get a prize”?
>
> It seems like every time I go into a post about what someone thinks would be additive to Halo (whether it is or not , is irrelevant to the point) , it almost always ends up being a discussion about what you can unlock , whether it be armors or skins or whatever else this community thinks is a deserving reward. I understand wanting to feel like your activities/achievements are being noticed ; but can’t we just get a solid game and worry about what unlocks (if anything) after we have confirmed it’s actually good? It is the obsession with unlocks that end up getting us rewards like pizza skins and other pointless crap. Honestly , these are resources that we as a community could and should be finding better ways to utilize ; other than telling 343 “I don’t care how much effort you put in , if it doesn’t unlock X,Y,or Z , I’m not playing”.
>
> Again , I get wanting your time “to be respected” (how a pizza skin or some other frivolous , pointless item tells us this is beyond me) , but wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
>
> These are just my thoughts on this subject , if you are one of the people who gets really excited for all the different unlocks , that’s awesome.(No shade intended , I’m happy you are happy). However , I ask the same question ; Wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
>
> TL/DR : Stop worrying about what unlocks before playing the game. If the game is crap will it matter what unlocks? Will you keep playing a horrible/subpar game because you like the cosmetics? If the game is great , would the lack of cosmetic unlocks (or small amount of them) really ruin your appreciation of the game?
Honestly, I’ve found my self talking about the unlocks before a Halo game comes out, and I can’t really understand why. I agree with you on how we should have a lot less “lower quality” items for customization in Halo. I’ll take 50 or less good armor sets over 250 bad/decent armors any day of the week.
> 2535469888311475;2:
> > 2533274847627340;1:
> > When did everything start getting boiled down to “do I get a prize”?
> >
> > It seems like every time I go into a post about what someone thinks would be additive to Halo (whether it is or not , is irrelevant to the point) , it almost always ends up being a discussion about what you can unlock , whether it be armors or skins or whatever else this community thinks is a deserving reward. I understand wanting to feel like your activities/achievements are being noticed ; but can’t we just get a solid game and worry about what unlocks (if anything) after we have confirmed it’s actually good? It is the obsession with unlocks that end up getting us rewards like pizza skins and other pointless crap. Honestly , these are resources that we as a community could and should be finding better ways to utilize ; other than telling 343 “I don’t care how much effort you put in , if it doesn’t unlock X,Y,or Z , I’m not playing”.
> >
> > Again , I get wanting your time “to be respected” (how a pizza skin or some other frivolous , pointless item tells us this is beyond me) , but wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
> >
> > These are just my thoughts on this subject , if you are one of the people who gets really excited for all the different unlocks , that’s awesome.(No shade intended , I’m happy you are happy). However , I ask the same question ; Wouldn’t you rather have a handful of really great skins and armors , instead of a litany of items you will likely never implement or appreciate?
> >
> > TL/DR : Stop worrying about what unlocks before playing the game. If the game is crap will it matter what unlocks? Will you keep playing a horrible/subpar game because you like the cosmetics? If the game is great , would the lack of cosmetic unlocks (or small amount of them) really ruin your appreciation of the game?
>
> Honestly, I’ve found my self talking about the unlocks before a Halo game comes out, and I can’t really understand why. I agree with you on how we should have a lot less “lower quality” items for customization in Halo. I’ll take 50 or less good armor sets over 250 bad/decent armors any day of the week.
I wasn’t trying to call any one out in particular. I myself have fallen into this trap/trope/bad habit. Really , it is just a product of anticipation and hope , but I really feel we , as a community , need to grow up/evolve ; not really sure the best term to use. All I know is , looking at the current state of Halo , I can’t help but think we should be helping 343 figure out what is wrong , not worrying about what we get.
There has been a pernicious growth of this future entitlement attitude for longtime players of this series. I commend you for calling it out, OP. You’re right, it isn’t about anyone in particular. A lot of us just feel like we’re owed something for our loyalty to the series, especially through the “rough patch” of the past handful of years with it. It’s a bad attitude, though, and it excludes newcomers.
What many of us need to realize is that Infinite really needs to be a game that brings together old and lapsed players as well as brand new ones; Halo, as a franchise, can’t go on forever with the lingering remnant of us diehards. We shouldn’t want to exclude or diminish the experience of new players, either. They should have equal access in a brand new Halo game to unlock any and everything that any other player can.
If we’ve been playing Halo for so many years and sunk so much time and loyalty into it, that should be its own reward. If it isn’t, why keep playing?
I just want the armor in Infinite to be unlocked through skill and completing task, that way I get what I’m after and I feel like I earned it.
> 2533274861158694;4:
> There has been a pernicious growth of this future entitlement attitude for longtime players of this series. I commend you for calling it out, OP. You’re right, it isn’t about anyone in particular. A lot of us just feel like we’re owed something for our loyalty to the series, especially through the “rough patch” of the past handful of years with it. It’s a bad attitude, though, and it excludes newcomers.
>
> What many of us need to realize is that Infinite really needs to be a game that brings together old and lapsed players as well as brand new ones; Halo, as a franchise, can’t go on forever with the lingering remnant of us diehards. We shouldn’t want to exclude or diminish the experience of new players, either. They should have equal access in a brand new Halo game to unlock any and everything that any other player can.
>
> If we’ve been playing Halo for so many years and sunk so much time and loyalty into it, that should be its own reward. If it isn’t, why keep playing?
I could be reading OPs comment wrong, but this seems to be more aimed at unlocks for the sake of unlocks and not players who feel entitled to a prize because of the time they put into the series. I actually feel like the rise in unlocks, especially the way it was handled in H5 was to draw new players in with constant rewards. This was/is the industry standard of throwing meaningless random progression unlocks at you to try and keep you engaged. The problem was that all of the armors and skins barely had any variance and were earned randomly.
I agree with you that Halo Infinite needs to be for both new and long time players and each player should have equal opportunity to each unlock. Going back to what OP was stating. Gameplay should always be king, but I think that unlocks when handled properly give a game a fun meta to participate in that is absolutely optional. I always think back to the armor unlocks in Halo 3 where certain activities had to be completed to earn specific armors. To me this is the most entertaining way to handle dishing out rewards. You want that EVA armor? Better put some time in getting banshee kills. Tracker armor? Better start hunting down those skulls. I’m sure you guys can think of more clever scenarios on how unlocks could be earned. To OPs point this would result in a more tightly controlled reward system and therefore the rewards could be of high quality since there would be less of them.
For Halo specifically , I was speaking in terms of a single game , however Kenobi brings up great points as a legacy player that I hadn’t thought of and might as well be included in the post.
The point is , whether it be legacy players feeling their years of loyalty should be rewarded , or a first time player feeling his hours of game-time should be respected , both are who I’m talking about. Anyone who is more concerned with what random armor or skins they are going to be able to get than the mechanics of the game.
And I don’t disagree that unlocks are a popular and fun little distraction from the game , but as Bowmanater said above Gameplay is King and should always be the primary focus of the developer. Not trying to create some piece of eye candy.
I also understand that having serious conversations about what Halo has been , is , and should be moving forward will be painstaking. It will be quarrelsome from time to time, but remember , it is a debate , not an argument , we are all here for the game , and even if we disagree on what that looks like or where it will go, none of us are enemies. Let’s try to be as civil as possible. Keep it clean.