I would like to first state that the reason why I am voicing my opinion is because quite frankly, there are many that share my view points.First off we have to look into what halo is and why it is in the state it is in right now;I recently got a few hours of gaming some H4, and sadly shook my head when I saw the sparse online population for the day.I have to secondly steal a quote, "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."Halo 2 and halo 3 never, ever, had the dwindling population numbers, that H4 and reach have right now. I never played H2 online, but had a blast lanning with friends learning how to bxr, bxb, quad shot etc.I always used to hear about how much fun H2 online was, and how the ranking system was ridiculously tough, but added to the intensity of wanting to rank up and get better; the ranking system was so hard that people didn’t believe someone if they said they had a 50 in H2, because it was damn near impossible.Moving along H3 comes out and I believe bungie makes the staple weapons of halo, the br and sniper, a little more difficult to use, making it a little more skillful since all the bxr glitches etc, were taken out. Now let me make one thing clear, I was the biggest noob starting out in halo, and I am not saying I am the “-Yoink-” in halo now, but I definitely have made growth as a player.I remember when I started playing H3 online, and how much fun the game was. Also before I go any further, the easier in game ranking system in H3, was one major factors of the games success. Anyway, when I started out playing H3, I noticed right away that the br was different, not bad, but harder to use. I remember playing with a friend online and I would complain a lot about spartans eating shots and not dying for me .My friends response was, “Just aim for the damn head.” I immediately wanted to get better at this game and hone my skills with the br, and try to attain the coveted level 50. Halo 3 is in a different league of its own when it comes to fps games, and reach and h4 do not nearly come close to it. What made Halo so fun, was the sheer unique aspect that made it different from all other games. It was a simple formula: there was a in game ranking system, and it was a pretty simple game, which made it fun at the same time. There were no “Call of Duty” load out systems with a zillion different guns for people to choose from. There were set gametypes, which were usually either assault rifles or battle rifles, and usually the battle rifles gametype was picked 9/10 times. Now these gametypes were in the “casual playlists” like Team Slayer, Team Double, etc. What I hear so often now is the need to cater to the casual gamer. First off, someone who plays videogames online in multiplayer settings where there is a clear loser and winner, is not a casual gamer; sorry to break it to you kids, but those who say their casual gamers playing online games like Halo and Call of duty are lying to themselves. People who play role playing games, like Final Fantasy are casual gamers;I am not trying to bash rpg’s because I play them too. Moving forward, halo 3 had the casual playlists, like Team Slayer and Big Team Battle, and the population of people playing those game types triples halo 4’s entire recent population. That being said, even the so called casual gamers don’t play halo anymore. I don’t know why Halo has taken on the form of Call of Duty nowadays, and feels the need to change its formula that has worked so well in the past. It is quite simple math, H2 and H3 had way bigger populations than reach and H4. The reason for it was the ranking system, and the simplicity that H2 and H3 had.
Reach was a huge fail when Bungie added on so many unnecessary attributes to the game, and took out the ranking system; needless to say the population plummeted because of this. Now fast forward a little, everyone is excited for H4, master chief is back in action and the battle rifle is back in the mix, and everyone is stoked that bungie is not making the game, but a new industry, 343, is going to try to resurrect Halo and all of its glory. Sadly, 343, halo 4 was yet again another let down. You have chosen to follow the same path that bungie did, and thought adding more to the sand box was the best way to go. Do not get me wrong, halo 4 does have potential to be the best halo thus far. Here are some things that could be tweaked to make the game more enjoyable. I understand that sprint is going nowhere and I now have come to accept that, but almost all the playlists with the exceptions of maybe throwdown and snipers, have a an action sack, Call of Duty feel to it; Advent halo lovers, loved halo for being halo, not because it was like Call of Duty where you can customize loadouts. I understand the need for growth as a game but respectfully, you are doing it all wrong. Another good example of a bad add on is the bolt shot. The bolt shot is essentially a power weapon and you saw fit to allow people to use it as a secondary weapon. Now whenever I go into the playlists I feel the chaotic gameplay that is similar to Call of Duty: you got a kid spamming his over powered DMR from across the map while three kids are jumping up and down towards me with their assault rifles, “spraying and praying.” Again I understand there is another population to cater to, but this population is nothing compared to what H2 and H3 was. If you want to do that Infinity Slayer, Call of Duty, playlists, you should think about making a more competitive gametype option in the Infinity Slayer playlists to serve as the “segue playlist” for competitive gaming. Halo 3 did this in team slayer and had seen success. Team slayer brs in Halo 3 was my segue for MLG. I used to think that team slayer brs was the competitive playlist until I played against people who frequented the MLG playlist; needless to say, I got “raped,” and wanted to know how those players were so good.My friend told me that all the good players play MLG and if I wanted to get better, I have to play MLG.Now all I play is competitive gametypes, with the occasional rumble pit and regicide until I get fed up with people abusing boltshots and storm rifles and everything else under the sun.If you thought of doing what halo 3 did with team slayer I think you will see some success. Now I also have to bring up the whole staying scoped in even when your being shot at; another Call of Duty attribute that halo felt needed to copy.I know “descoping” is not going to happen, but you could possibly look into giving people more flinch when they are being shot at; this in turn would make players require more skill when shooting and in turn make it more competitive. Halo 4 sniper = broke, cheap weapon. It does not make any sense why the sniper has no flinch when fired upon, but if a sniper connects a body shot into me, my br soars into the heavens.If the sniper got a nerf: maybe giving the sniper a ton of flinch,would also make the game more competitive.Also,if you want to keep the little competitive population you have left, I beg you, do not change the formula for throwdown, and keep it all brs.I would like to go into what ultimately attracted people to Halo, the in game ranking system. Honestly, I could care less about my rank, and I used to think ranking systems did not matter.Having played Reach, and Halo 4, I have learned that it does matter to people.Lastly, 343, I guarantee if u follow the old halo formula,people will flood back faster than they have left
Ok, I’m not even going to attempt to read that until you’ve edited the post and added paragraphs and spacing.
Sorry dude i had to do it. I ran out of characters . What can I say, I had a lot to say and I know a lot of people will agree with what I stated
> Sorry dude i had to do it. I ran out of characters . What can I say, I had a lot to say and I know a lot of people will agree with what I stated
You can easily re-write certain sentences to be shorter or leave out redundant or repetitive points. You can also just as easily reserve the second post for the rest of the thread.
Understandable, but at the same time this is the first time I have posted anything like this, on this forum. I just miss the old halo population; throwdown = 700 players on a good day is just a joke.