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> Just heard about this. After reading a few pages of this megathread, is the issue just that there may now be paid cosmetic shaders and not enough detail from the devs on how the acquisition and application system would work? If so, that is entirely normal for something like this (particularly regarding monetization of f2p multiplayer, which anyone up-to-date on current f2p games would know) and lack of impact on gunplay, story, performance specs, etc.
> However, if this is about more than that: if this about community management, then it sounds like we were starved for info on a beloved game delayed at the 11th hour…then given a partial scrap of detail with radio silence afterwards.
Bit of both…
The immediate issue here, is that it’s been revealed (tucked away in the very bottom of a megapost community update) that the basic option of being able to pick the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary (and possibly even Visor) colours for your Spartan are being removed for the first time in what’ll be 20 years when Infinite is supposed to launch next year, in favour of fixed unalterable shaders. For long time Halo fans who’ve been with the series for nearly if not 2 decades and have seen the endless removal of standard at launch modes and features at over the last 8 years in the 3 games 343 have developed, this is the absolute icing on the cake of having basic features stripped out in the name of monetization, even worse is that this very scenario was joked about when Halo 5 launched in the barebones state it was with the armour being locked behind lootboxes, bloated to the gills with filler.
The reason we’re being sold this time is; “it’s quicker and more convenient to create your Spartan this way”. Because simply picking 2 colours out of 30 is too difficult and time consuming for us, according to the lead devs? The technical reason is because the shaders consist of 7 layers which are all baked. Now baking is actually standard for stuff like Normal maps, because if every little detailed crack and scratch in our armour was made of real polygons, good lord the strain that would create. But if every other Halo game has been able to handle base colour layers being picked independently by the player, why can’t Infinite with its purpose built Slipspace Engine?
Now… somehow… there are people defending this, usually resorting to 1 of 3 fallbacks, which if your having to use a fallback to excuse something being taken away from you only to be sold back to you shows how much your willing to be abused as a consumer;
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It’s a Red vs Blue game we don’t see our colours anyway.
There ARE other modes in Halo other than basic team games, an entire FFA section for starters, both Slayer and a list of Objective modes, Infection & other party games, Firefight, etc.
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My colour scheme is basic, I’ll be fine…
So you don’t care if you’re faced with the prospect of having to buy your preferred colour scheme you could wear for free in any other Halo game, so long as it exists, also, way to throw anyone whose colour scheme isn’t implemented under the bus. Real #POSITIVE community. Besides, other than Purple & Gold, and Red, Black & White, we don’t know what colour schemes will be in the game.
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Do you want paid DLC like map packs and armour set bundles?
If the alternative is having basic features that have been in the game since the very first game in 2001 stripped out and in favour of a predatory and restrictive monetization scheme, yes.
Now when it comes to community engagement…
I’ll admit, 2020 has thrown everyone off, even 343, but the problems come from before. 2018, we finally get the announcement & reveal + engine demo trailer, cool. Standard stuff we have our announcement. Following year, we get the Discover Hope trailer/cutscene and a release window of Holiday 2020, okay, we had as much info in that remaining time with Halo 3, but given this is the second trailer a year later, we were kind of expecting gameplay? Where’s that at?
Finally, Summer 2020, with about 6 months to launch, we finally get some basic first level gameplay… and the tech side of things are not looking pretty… to the point it gets memed on. We’re told that what we saw was a build from several months beforehand… okay, could they not show us a slightly more up to date build? After all, the gameplay demo was a single section, not a Halo 3 E3 07 style trailer from various points throughout the game. Then a few Halo Content Creators are told the build we saw was actually only a few weeks old couple days later. Right… so why were we initially told it was months old? Then after the memes have died down, a delay until sometime 2021 gets announced.
Go back to 2015; give it 2-3 years to create the engine, we’re at 2018, cool. Two years later in 2020, all we get to see is a basic gameplay demo with some serious rough edges… If I myself were a multi-million dollar investor, I’m at the point were I’d want serious answers into what the hell is going on behind the scenes. Because as a fan I feel like I’m watching the buildup to the release of another Master Chief Collection.
And the horrifying part is, I’d get called a 343 hater for this mentality of wanting Halo to have the same level of care and quality it had in the late 2000’s. Here’s the thing, I loved Halo 4’s story, multiplayer made the mistake of trying to stand in the shadow of CoD, but hey, first time outing. Then MCC happens, then Halo 5 happens. Then years later Halo MCC is coming to PC after the surge in popularity of something I’m not sure I’m allowed to discuss here, I was away in those days, and there was no way the XB1 version could be left in the condition it was in, especially when this was 343’s opportunity to bring Halo to modern PC gamers… and that was executed brilliantly in the eyes of a very harsh critic, this was indeed them showing care for the Halo franchise, correcting their mistakes while ushering in a new era.
Mere days after Halo 4’s flighting begins, the final stage of the MCC revival; “Yeah, in the next game we’re taking out this staple basic feature that’s been in every other Halo game since 2001 in favour of an obvious microtansaction model, but it’s an RVB game so it’s not like anyone was using it… RIGHT?”