Warzone Firefight makes me sick, and here is why:
Reason #1. 343 didn’t respect their veteran fan base
Since its introduction in Halo 3:ODST, Firefight’s player base has only grown. People played it and fell in love with it, and then quickly introduced their friends to the mode, who in turn, fell in love with it. There is a large mass of people who can say that they love Firefight, and most of those people would probably shell out a small portion of their bi-weekly paycheck to get their hands on the next iteration of their beloved game mode. It is these people whom 343 are most greatly disappointing with Warzone Firefight’s release. 343 has failed to deliver a Firefight experience that is even remotely similar to the survival, wave-based game mode which had such a supportive fan base. As of now, there is only the five-wave game type, which barely resembles the classic Firefight formula at all. While I’m sure a lot of players, new and old, will come to like this new Firefight experience, it doesn’t change that fact that what 343 has done to the veteran Firefight fan base is unforgivable. As a producer, you NEVER throw your core consumers under the bus in order to attract a new crowd. Yet, this is exactly what 343 has done to the Firefight community with Warzone Firefight. The lack of a refined iteration of the classic Firefight formula as a nod to please long-time fans of the game mode is appalling.
Reason #2. 343 tinged Firefight’s name
Going off of my first point, Warzone Firefight isn’t even remotely similar to the game mode which it took half its name from. Yet it still bears the name, “Firefight”. It is obvious that 343 was not trying to improve off of the tried and true formula beloved by thousands, so why did they elect to use, “Firefight,” as part of the title of their new game mode? The answer is simple. They did it for money. Like I stated earlier, Firefight has a huge group of fans who love the game mode to death. Putting the word, “Firefight,” in the title of their new game mode would bring in old players, while the Warzone elements would be sure to please new ones. The problem with this marketing strategy is that it is unethical, and for this reason: Warzone Firefight and Firefight have about two things in common. They are both round-based modes, and they both pit players up against AI enemies. However even those similarities run thin, as the waves act comparably different, and the player count as well as enemy encounters are considerably different than previous Firefights. Other than those two things, Warzone Firefight is nothing like Firefight from Halo 3:ODST or Reach. 343 knew that their Warzone Firefight wasn’t much like actual Firefight at all, yet they kept the name.
This kind of unethical, deceptive marketing paired with the lack of respect, or even acknowledgement of a veteran fan base for classic Firefight makes me sick.
They’ve done this with the whole game, really. Hate to say it, but I’m becoming very cautious with new things that are being done to the Halo franchise. It’s been letdown after letdown after letdown, and I’m not blaming 343i, because some of the new things that have been added or tweaked are on point. But then there are some things that are (in my opinion) HUGE steps back that just make me sit and scratch my head and wonder what they were thinking. It just doesn’t make much sense to me that some very good ideas can come from the same developers that have incredibly horrible ideas…newest addition to the list is Warzone Firefight. I completely agree with you OP.
You could replace “Firefight” with “Halo 5” and sum up my feelings for this game perfectly. Well said OP.
While I agree with you that my ideal version of Firefight is ODST, and I would LOVE to see that as a gametype. It really isn’t surprising that it is based around this 5 round, 1 set gametype.
Why? Because the ages of halo players are getting older. Those hardcore fans that started playing back in middle school (like myself) are now adult with lives and jobs. We can’t always dedicated 2+ hours to survive 4 or 5 sets of a firefight game. Sure if something comes up in a regular warzone game. We can think, it’s okay. The game will be over in 10 more minutes tops. The situation can usually wait that long.
But if you’re an hour into a firefight with a great team. You’re stuck with do I ignore whatever situation have come up in life, or do I possibly ruin a game for 7 other people? Now if they broke firefight into multiple playlists.
The current one, along with a firefight endless. That would be great. Or just make it a custom gametype would be fine to. I’m sure I could find 7 people on the forums willing to play some custom games without a set cap.
So while I agree that this isn’t the firefight I remember, I can understand their reasons for changing it.
WARZONE Firefight
This isn’t ODST’s or Reaches firefight,it’s WARZONE firefight.
Both modes share things in common but ARE NOT the same.
Personally I like warzone firefight better than firefight.
The sooner you disassociate Warzone Firefight with halo ODST/Reach Firefight, the sooner you can stop being mad.
The two are near completely different and for a good reason, which is why warzone firefight should be easier. It’s an arcade mode, not a survival mode like ODST.
Op. I don’t agree with you.
I absolutely love ODST firefight and yes I miss this game type but that doesn’t change the fact that I or other players can enjoy the WZFF game mode.
I think its fun and done really good.
On your second point, since when firefight is a word exclusive to Halo game type?
WZFF to compare with old FF is like Mass effect 3 multiplayer vs Gears of war 3 horde game mode.
In one you need to complete missions and in second you need to survive as long as you can.
Both are fun and what would satisfy most of people is both of the game types in the same title HALO5
yeah, all previous versions were super boring
this is actually kind of fun now that it’s a bit difficult with randoms
Blah Blah Bungie Blah blah good old days blah blah…your posts make me sick. If you don’t like 343 ideas , there is Destiny. This is called “Warzone Firefight” for a reason , it’s different.
> 2533274858805297;7:
> Op. I don’t agree with you.
> I absolutely love ODST firefight and yes I miss this game type but that doesn’t change the fact that I or other players can enjoy the WZFF game mode.
> I think its fun and done really good.
> On your second point, since when firefight is a word exclusive to Halo game type?
My point too.
I haven’t play a lot of ODST but I spent days on reach firefight, but in the end it was always the same, 25 enemies poping and only weapons, rarely vehicules.
Now I can call in a tank and wreak havok on dozens of covenants in a single wave. This is really fun, and yet sometimes hard.
I agree with you, this is not the ODST firefight. But THIS firefight suits me well.
> 2533274858805297;7:
> Op. I don’t agree with you.
> I absolutely love ODST firefight and yes I miss this game type but that doesn’t change the fact that I or other players can enjoy the WZFF game mode.
> I think its fun and done really good.
> On your second point, since when firefight is a word exclusive to Halo game type?
>
> WZFF to compare with old FF is like Mass effect 3 multiplayer vs Gears of war 3 horde game mode.
> In one you need to complete missions and in second you need to survive as long as you can.
> Both are fun and what would satisfy most of people is both of the game types in the same title HALO5
I think you’re confusing ‘fun’ with actual working game design.
Sure it’s fun and it’s certainly is challenging sometimes…but that’s mainly because 343i just want to spam units but in some cases the units too often spammed so much that it can make some waves nearly impossible to complete.
After a while things start to make no sense like no ability to instant kill unit’s from the back when the AI is unaware or the inability to hijack vehicles…
Firefight is meant to be about surviving but instead we’re forced to have caps on how many vehicles we can spawn and give severe penalties on spawns when we die, the spawning is pretty bad too like spawning me across the map…which would be nowhere the objective or instantly spawning the AI right next to an object that we’re supposed to get before the AI destroy it and in some cases spawning an enemy right behind a team-mate to instant kill him with barely any time to dodge. In it’s current state it feels more like a mess.
Firefight was meant to be about seeing how long the players can survive with limited lives but instead we have to be more concerned about overpowered AI that can instant kill you and home in on your location while dealing with weird spawns of the AI that can literally spawn behind you with no way to dodge before being instant killed then there’s unit’s like the Phaeton that go so far up that it can be impossible to target due to 343i’s poor programming that force the player below the enemy target due to the restriction of the players movement.
Firefight should be about seeing how long the players can survive like reaching a high score like 1+ million.
I enjoyed past FF, I enjoy this FF. Are they different? Yes. Does it change my enjoyment? No. I can go and play past FF when i want to with friends.
But I already played ODST’s Firefight. And I still can. I already grinded hours and hours for 200,000 points for those stupid achievements. And I still can. Why on Earth would I want a completely different game to do the exact same thing? People cried and moaned for the same reason with Reach’s Firefight for being different than ODST’s. Fire up your damn 360 and have at it! I don’t want 3 different versions of the exact same thing!!! If you don’t have your 360, they’re cheaper than a new game is now.
> 2533274829873463;11:
> > 2533274858805297;7:
> > Op. I don’t agree with you.
> > I absolutely love ODST firefight and yes I miss this game type but that doesn’t change the fact that I or other players can enjoy the WZFF game mode.
> > I think its fun and done really good.
> > On your second point, since when firefight is a word exclusive to Halo game type?
> >
> > WZFF to compare with old FF is like Mass effect 3 multiplayer vs Gears of war 3 horde game mode.
> > In one you need to complete missions and in second you need to survive as long as you can.
> > Both are fun and what would satisfy most of people is both of the game types in the same title HALO5
>
>
> I think you’re confusing ‘fun’ with actual working game design.
> Sure it’s fun and it’s certainly is challenging sometimes…but that’s mainly because 343i just want to spam units but in some cases the units too often spammed so much that it can make some waves nearly impossible to complete.
> After a while things start to make no sense like no ability to instant kill unit’s from the back when the AI is unaware or the inability to hijack vehicles…
>
> Firefight is meant to be about surviving but instead we’re forced to have caps on how many vehicles we can spawn and give severe penalties on spawns when we die, the spawning is pretty bad too like spawning me across the map…which would be nowhere the objective or instantly spawning the AI right next to an object that we’re supposed to get before the AI destroy it and in some cases spawning an enemy right behind a team-mate to instant kill him with barely any time to dodge. In it’s current state it feels more like a mess.
>
> Firefight was meant to be about seeing how long the players can survive with limited lives but instead we have to be more concerned about overpowered AI that can instant kill you and home in on your location while dealing with weird spawns of the AI that can literally spawn behind you with no way to dodge before being instant killed then there’s unit’s like the Phaeton that go so far up that it can be impossible to target due to 343i’s poor programming that force the player below the enemy target due to the restriction of the players movement.
>
> Firefight should be about seeing how long the players can survive like reaching a high score like 1+ million.
Is the issue with the name? Would this be an issue for you if it wasn’t called fire fight? Genuine question.
> 2533274883669557;13:
> But I already played ODST’s Firefight. And I still can. I already grinded hours and hours for 200,000 points for those stupid achievements. And I still can. Why on Earth would I want a completely different game to do the exact same thing? People cried and moaned for the same reason with Reach’s Firefight for being different than ODST’s. Fire up your damn 360 and have at it! I don’t want 3 different versions of the exact same thing!!! If you don’t have your 360, they’re cheaper than a new game is now.
Exactly
> 2533274829873463;11:
> > 2533274858805297;7:
> > Op. I don’t agree with you.
> > I absolutely love ODST firefight and yes I miss this game type but that doesn’t change the fact that I or other players can enjoy the WZFF game mode.
> > I think its fun and done really good.
> > On your second point, since when firefight is a word exclusive to Halo game type?
> >
> > WZFF to compare with old FF is like Mass effect 3 multiplayer vs Gears of war 3 horde game mode.
> > In one you need to complete missions and in second you need to survive as long as you can.
> > Both are fun and what would satisfy most of people is both of the game types in the same title HALO5
>
>
> I think you’re confusing ‘fun’ with actual working game design.
> Sure it’s fun and it’s certainly is challenging sometimes…but that’s mainly because 343i just want to spam units but in some cases the units too often spammed so much that it can make some waves nearly impossible to complete.
> After a while things start to make no sense like no ability to instant kill unit’s from the back when the AI is unaware or the inability to hijack vehicles…
>
> Firefight is meant to be about surviving but instead we’re forced to have caps on how many vehicles we can spawn and give severe penalties on spawns when we die, the spawning is pretty bad too like spawning me across the map…which would be nowhere the objective or instantly spawning the AI right next to an object that we’re supposed to get before the AI destroy it and in some cases spawning an enemy right behind a team-mate to instant kill him with barely any time to dodge. In it’s current state it feels more like a mess.
>
> Firefight was meant to be about seeing how long the players can survive with limited lives but instead we have to be more concerned about overpowered AI that can instant kill you and home in on your location while dealing with weird spawns of the AI that can literally spawn behind you with no way to dodge before being instant killed then there’s unit’s like the Phaeton that go so far up that it can be impossible to target due to 343i’s poor programming that force the player below the enemy target due to the restriction of the players movement.
>
> Firefight should be about seeing how long the players can survive like reaching a high score like 1+ million.
I am sorry you didn’t received what you were expecting but it shouldn’t be a reason for such a huge rant.
WZFF has its problems that sooner or later will be addressed and probably corrected but it doesn’t change the fact that people enjoy it. Not only new Halo players but old ones as well.
Here is what I don’t understand about some Halo players why do they expect the SAME thing repackaged and sold to them? Remind me again which two Halo games were the same? Which games or playlist didn’t have any changes? If you are so in love with past modes break out the Xbox 360 and play them. EVERY Halo brought changes to stuff. Some have been good and some have been bad. Halo is different game to game.
Frankly, the problem is 343’s obsessions with bosses, especially the Warden. Im also not a big fan of the soldiers (hate that annoying teleport).
If we had a much higher percentage of rounds fighting large mobs of enemies instead of bosses the whole experience would be much better.
If you like the old firefight, why not go play it? The new and the old are absolutely different, and there’s nothing stopping you from playing the version you like.
This is Warzone Firefight, not Firefight. 343 never said this will be the same Firefight. It still has the same basic concept, fight hordes of enemies in a big arena with your teammates with other Warzone-likes changes to it. In the end, it’s still a very fun game mode. You’re just another sick Bungie fanboy. If you don’t like the mode don’t play it. It was clear from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be the same Firefight we had in Halo 3: ODST or Halo: Reach.