What are issues you have with today’s Halo?

Community General Discussion
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For starters, I originally was going to post my opinion on a post made by another community member in the “ Halo Infinite “ Forums, So here we are in the General Discussion forums .

I realized that what that member was asking from all members was for a serious answer / response.

So I decided to make a post seeing how there are alot of issues I personally had with what they were asking for ; By “ personal issues “ I mean in the context of what I / we as a community have with current Halo and how that can be turned around for better changes.
( I speak for myself on this )

In this post, I heavily speak on the Halo TV Series.

What is it that bothers you with current Halo?

For me… Long post, Here’s your potato :potato: and thank you for reading and giving your opinion on what I have to say and what you have to say…
( Apologies if anyone takes offense to my take or anyone else’s take, the goal is to get feedback not just for us as a community but for 343 Industries.

So Keep it clean please.

Without Bungie, Halo wouldn’t exist, Without 343 Industries, Halo would cease to continue to exist.

What exactly is the Incentive or motive to keep players engaged with the game or engaged with Halo as a whole?

What would help motivate the community to keep them supporting 343 Industries as we did with Bungie?.

Honestly how people can keep pulling excuses out of there ( INSERT OFFENSIVE TRIGGERING WORD HERE ) bottles my mind…

I personally still think Halo 4 is the best Campaign story in the Halo series, Bungie Era - 343 Industries Era and still think Halo Reach isn’t considered canon ( In my books ) ; But still Halo Infinite is the worst game on the market for Xbox.

I don’t think 343 Industries should step down from the Halo TM, but I do think Microsoft needs to step in and re-evaluate how 343 Industries is being managed.

For starters, we know that alot of 343 staff were contracted, which had expiration dates come to an end and why they left.

We know that 343 Industries were against the idea that former Bungie employee’s who worked on the Original series return based on leaks from contractor employee’s who worked on Infinite.

We Know that 343 Industries originally wanted Halo Infinite to play like a “ Hero “ type of game similar to Overwatch and Paladins, but realized late into development that they need to keep the Halo formula ( 1st person shooter ) Intact. - ( This is based on leaks from contract employee’s who worked on infinite stated and what data miners have found.

We know that “ SURE “ the Covid pandemic took a toll on Infinites development, but so did every other gaming studio take a pandemic hit, yet they managed to bust out 10 star games with no issue.

We know that the development cycle for Infinite “WAS SLOW “ - I doubt it, I don’t think 343 Industries knew what direction to take infinite, but it is known and constantly being stated that 343 Industries wants to target a “ BROADER AUDIENCE “, which means ignoring the Halo Community / Fan base of the Halo series ; Who exactly does 343 Industries want to target???

We’ll take a look at customization for Halo MCC and Halo Infinite, Idk about Halo 5, I’ll have to double check this to see if it was updated, but look at how ( Body Types ) is worded now, no 2 genders anymore, but a slider for body types.
This here really shows that 343 Industries is wanting to pander and cater to a more political audience who tend to whine more about how games are played vs just playing them.

Take look at the Halo tv series, the show was not made for Halo fans, game fans or really anyone for that matter… The “ bUt iT,s NoT cAnOn “ excuse isn’t even an argument that those saying can back up with anything but “ Quit whining “

Don’t get me wrong, the show is “ good “ for what it is, but compared to “ ACTUAL TRASH “ - Trash has a more compelling story and world building than the Infinite show does.

If your going to tell a story, utilize the source material for starters, then listen to the fanbase that has been following the lore for 20+ years, they will tell you how to write and construct a story to fit in the current / past timeline of events / canon - to even telling you how to write a non canon story that won’t have a ton of backlash.

The goal is make money right?

The goal is to draw in a broader audience right?

We’ll listen to the fan base who are going to be the first ones tuning in to what your dishing out and can spread the word to have your project grow and blossom.

Paramount - Halo TV Series

The show writers for the Halo TV show stated multiple times that they didn’t bother studying the lore ; They said it was to much and a bit overwhelming, - but opt to nip pick elements to fit the narrative to what they were telling ; Okaay… Fine… Cool, crash and burn then. Don’t start mass blocking people who waited 5-6+ years for this show to drop cause they have issue with it.

Its an alt timeline… I don’t like that, personally ( Obviously )

Why? Well now, 343 Industries can easily introduce time travel, the multiverse into the Halo lore and retcon literally ANYTHING, contradicting even there own setup, bringing in a ton of questions with no answers, while ruining what is already established as “ PERFECT “ Story development.

If it’s not broken, don’t fix… In fact, don’t even touch it.

It’s okay to retcon certain elements, both Bungie and 343 Industries have done it to have things make more sense or to have a “ Sense of realism “ to the lore / canon. Same goes for 10x bigger projects such as Marvel or DC, ( Marvel does it better )

i think the straw that broke the camels back with Infinite was 343 Industries approach to a “ Soft reboot “ , I personally think this decision did more damage to story progression and development progression.

343 industries created more issues for themselves on how to go forward, choosing what to keep and leave out, only to realize that the investors they want to impress, ( The Halo Community ) would bring the backlash and question what is going on with Halo TM as a whole.

Our Goal here at 343 Industries is to target a Broader Audience.
- 343 industries

How is that going for you 343 Industries?

Comparing the numbers of how many people play the games ( Halo MCC, Halo 5 and Halo Infinite, - to Views on twitch, That number hasn’t really changed for the “ Greater Good “, Its plummeted actually.
Quite sad really.

The Halo Show on Paramount when comparing the numbers show that you are not bringing in a new audience at all, the audience is the Halo community WHO you should be focusing on first before anyone else.

Were your bread and butter sweetie, don’t go tarnishing our relationship we’ve had for 20+ Years now.

Yes, I know… The show isn’t canon.

GOOD for you to think about voicing that… I know, you know… WE ALL KNOW.

Master Chief is a “ Blessed One “

Da fudge is that suppose too mean, this isn’t Starwars ; Master Chief is not a knock off version of Anakin or rEy Palpatine. He is special because he has a set of skills along with a ton of other Spartans with similar skills, the difference is that he has an AI that narrowed him down to being “ Attuned too luck “ - what does that mean? It means that he is going to go above and beyond based on his calculations to make the best choice for any given situation… Sounds complex and simple huh? Well Bungie recognized that Master Chief is going to be played by a ton of gamers who are going to portray themselves as the “ Hero “ / Main character.

There’d be no reason to characterize him, but to keep his personality “ Simple and straight forward “ - In fact, Bungie summed it up in one line, “ Shoot first and ask questions later “…

Alot of people want to claim, 343 Industries ruined “ Master Chief “ by trying to characterize him in Halo 4, “ Humanize “ him… No, Bungie would of done the same thing, In fact, Bungie had started this process in Halo 2 - Halo 3 and in the books.

343 Industries went and filled the gaps between Halo 3 - Halo 4, catching the player up with how the Halo Universe had changed since Chief was in cryo sleep. Chief, despite being a “ Flawless “ Character would develop “ PTSD “, would have his world view fracture / shattered.
Even Chief / Bungie / 343 industries and anyone with common sense would comprehend that when one chapter ends, a new on begins, the story is never over.

Lore wise, this makes sense, ( In the Halo Universe ) Especially with Halo 3 ODST and Halo Reach, not “ a “ different perspective, but “ Multi perspectives “ from other characters on what is happening in the Universe.

Honestly how 343 industries didn’t bother intervening in the writing process or direction of the show will go baffles me and I know a vast majority of the Halo Community as well.

343 Industries and Microsoft could of Easily brought BLUR STUDIOS aboard to write a show that ties into the canon / lore.

( Blur Studios for those who don’t know, worked on Halo War’s, Halo Wars 2 and Halo 2 Anniversary. )

Imagine if that happened?
That show / series would of blown up with positive reviews, little issues, all while drawing in a massive amount of “ New “ viewers… ( THAT BROADER AUDIENCE ) you want so badly…

When I hear “ We want a broader audience with Halo “ …

I immediately think… Are you targeting the Playstation community? Cause you do realize that PS players play Xbox games too…
You do realize that gamers of PC, Xbox and PlayStation all support other games and genre of other games…

That and I think, This “ Broader Audience “ is a “ Political “ move to Carter to you know who… I’d say it, but “ trigger “ a specific group of people who take offense to anything and everything for no reason.

Even then, those people do play Halo games and games in general, SOOO why pander to 1 specific group over the core fan base?

“ mIcRoSoFt cArEs “

Eh, no they don’t, there are other games out that are “ Politically “ driven to pander to 1 group.
In fact, there are games out under Microsofts belt that don’t GIVE 2 ( Insert Offensive Word Here ) about any movement.

This show as stated by MANY other community members is not made for anyone, but a specific group that cant even be mentioned…

That right there is costing 343 Industries and many other companies Money and there Reputation to handle a brand.

“ I ShOuLdN’T hAvE tO rEaD tHe BoOkS tO UnDeRsTaNd tHe lOrE “

Okay… Don’t, just don’t get upset and start asking a ton of questions on how 1 game ends and the sequel picks up a few weeks - months after the last game did…

Halo CE - Halo 2 There is a time gap.

Halo 2 - Halo 3 There is a time gap.

Halo 3 - Halo 4 There is a time gap.

Halo 4 - Halo 5 There is a time gap.

Halo 5 - Halo Infinite There is a time gap.

Between the games are Books, Comics - Paper and Audio form to draw in New and Old / Current fans of the series.

LORE

Halo Infinite - Halo Infinite’s DLC’s There will be a time gap.

Don’t ask questions if you don’t bother following the lore / story unrelated to the video games.

Do what you what, just don’t harp on those who did follow up and support what’s going on.
( Game development - Story building )
This applies to any game studio and there projects.

Again, This was originally going to be a short response to a post, I will not name the post or OP, but it did prompt me to go on this little “ rant “.

I have made past “ post’s “ on my stance with Halo Infinite, Halo titles and 343 Industries.

  • https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/halo-infinite-customization-built-on-a-lie/481435

  • https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/halo-infinite-if-you-got-20-to-spend-then-you-must-have-30-to-spend-343-industries/473369

  • https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/replace-the-halo-infinite-marketplace-store-with-halo-5-s-req-pack-system/34518

  • https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/the-campaign-for-halo-infinite-was-disappointing/42607

  • https://forums.halowaypoint.com/t/accountability-finding-the-similarities-and-respecting-the-differences/37363

^ I have them linked here for those who question where I stand on other issues ^

As long as a Halo game is out, Imma play it, Imma invest my time and money into it.

Why?

Not cause Im a Halo fan, cause I can do what I want with my time and money.

You can to, just keep in mind, we as a community do determine the future of Halo.

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Oh idk, spending 4 HOURS doing 50 last spartan standing kills, 4 matches, 10,000 SCORE, and 10 BACK STABS and got NOTHING FROM MY CHALLENGES and I HATE THE EVENT ARMOUR. 343 Better pay up somehow!

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To be honest, I’d just be happy if my Xbox didn’t think I was a PC. Literally not a scrap of aim assist for days. And please don’t say “get good”, and no, I’m not debating the merits of AA. It’s a function of the game, some people have it, I should, I don’t, and it’s kinda wrecking the experience. Also tired of a jamming battle rifle. It’s unplayable at the moment.

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The lack of actual direction. Granted, I think this was mainly a problem shortly before Halo 5. Say what you will about Halo 4, but it and the universe around it had somewhere to go. Since then it’s been reboots and new directions and I’ve felt lost every since.

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 Im glad you’re a fan of the lore / Halsey like I am. You of all people know the importance of storytelling / what’s been established vs how to go about to change it the right way.

I am curious of what you think of the direction of Halo 4 - 5 and Infinites story ; That and your thoughts on the show from Paramount. 

Especially how Halsey is depicted / treated.

Halo 4 and Halo 5 had beautiful stories in my opinion…

The “ Direction “ they had was on point, that being ; Expanding the universe and introducing new characters and lore, while telling the player that between Halo 3 and Halo 4, Time moved on from Chief. Things had changed, with that change came the aftermath of the war and how it was being felt with.

I agree with the “ Constant Reboots “, to me this is what is killing Halo.

If your a Hardcore fan of the series, then you Spartan Ops, Halo Wars 1 / 2 were stories you praised. Call back to Halo 3 ODST and Reach, you seen the universe in a new light.

I wish 343 Industries would stop catering to one specific group of fans ; Nostalgia is fine and all, but to much of it tells me that a certain group haven’t changed there life style much.

The Halo show is fine for what it is, BUUUUT, YO, It really showed what audience 343 Is pandering too ; Again, Change is good, but the Core aspect about Halo should not be touched. Its been established how the Halo Universe is, what it is and how it flows.

Rebooting it in the main canon or separate canon will kill / ruin what has been in place for the last 20+ years.

I don’t think 343 Is bad or needs to be replaced. I do think they need to stop letting the fan base push them around and dictate the story.

Bungie told Halo and didn’t let the fans tell them how to tell the story. In fact every game studio does this, 343 Industries seems to be the only one that lets the fans dictate them.
I don’t like that.
There are more variables to it, but this one really shows who 343 is as a company in my opinion.

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Desync and hit registration. Absolutely not acceptable for a FPS game let alone a competitive FPS. Can’t find games later in the night in Aus. Takes 10-15 mins. I wonder why.

This game is incredibly fun when it works but after not playing since the Rank reset and returning to the game, being shot behind cover and dying seconds after running behind a wall is absolutely pathetic. All one simply has to do to observe this is play another FPS for a couple of days and see how blatantly obvious the desync is when you return to Infinite. Not acceptable at all…

Where is our career level?
Why are challenges still a thing, let those who purchased the BP level it by just playing and enjoying the game. (I’ve yet to purchase the season 2 BP because desync is a thing and subsequently refuse to support a developer who doesn’t care about their product.) Sure the MP is free, but so is Apex and Respawn are doing a much better job of taking care of their playerbase. I don’t say this because I hate 343 but rather I just want Infinite to explode but with the way it’s going, I may aswell just play 2042.

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Can we address the worst music I have ever heard that is the Halo Infinite menu music?

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Ranked play is awful, MMR is so flawed. How do I have a higher MMR of like 1544 when I have a D6 D4 D1 and D5 against Onyx 1550, Onyx 1650, D6 and D4 who has MMR of like 1523? What planet is this? A 10 yr old can call this match up. I’m tired of losing 10 games in a row. Just put me in Platinum 1 and make it so I never rank up so I can actually enjoy the game and get fair matches. Stop teasing me with Onyx when its impossible. I can’t even spawn in I get instant killed or get double/triple teamed almost every single life. Not to mention the 3v4s I kept getting and god forbid I leave or I get banned. I even DC time to time and theres no option to join back.

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Well., with Infinite specifically, my issue is mostly centered around what the problems others have already raised as major issues - desync and hit reg. It’s gotten a little bit better on my end since the start of Season 2, but I still get those odd moments that just don’t happen in other games.

Then there are issues that I personally have with the game. Sprint, Clamber and Slide do nothing for the sandbox and the former two arguably damage it (Slide is utterly useless with this level of aim assist). Sprint just doesn’t need to be here, it’s a marginal speed boost that’s just fast enough to get someone out of dodge on the smaller maps and deny a kill. It’s like a get out of jail free card so someone can just disengage with a fight, run around some corners or towards allies, and either cost you a kill or kill you in return. It just isn’t engaging and it isn’t fun, at least not for me.

Clamber makes every area a non-safe zone. Rather than Halo 3’s high jumps, players are allowed to monkey-gym their way around the environment, and I dislike this because someone who was formerly below you is now on the same level as you (either through skill jumps or just clamber) and are now shooting you in the back. It really takes away from multiplayer’s down time, and makes every area non-safe and susceptible to attack. Slide doesn’t take much discussion - I have never seen it give someone a decisive advantage in a match. With this level of aim assist, you’re better off jumping around corners rather than sliding, as well as better positioning rather than relying on Slide to carry you to a safe zone.

Precision Weapons are way too accurate at range. Halo 3’s Battle Rifle had one shot fire exactly down range, with the other two shots from a burst having varying degrees of spread. This made cross mapping substantially harder, because only the first shot will reliably land down range, and encouraged more frantic and dangerous engagements in CQB. Here, game modes like Team BRs turns it into a long-range sniping match, as players slide into and out of cover like ducks at an arcade. On PC, I’ve also noticed that it’s really hard to properly aim Precision weapons - this is likely due to 343’s insistence on removing red reticle, but shooting a weapon on PC like the Battle Rifle just doesn’t feel right in Halo Infinite. My performance with the BR is all together miserable, and I don’t enjoy using it. It’s odd that Halo 2, 3, and 4’s Battle Rifle all feel way more response and tight than Infinite’s.

343 is a company that strikes me as one that doesn’t know what they want to do with a major franchise, and just copies whatever else is around that’s popular in an attempt to capture a little bit of market share from the broader audience as opposed to focusing on long-time fans who love Halo. The people sticking with Halo Infinite, who haven’t left for greener pastures, are the long-time fans who love Halo, or at least that’s the impression that I get. I mean, come on, they’re incredibly transparent about it - now that Call of Duty has abandoned their movement systems, 343 abandoned them too for Halo Infinite, except the ones that Call of Duty kept around like Clamber, Sprint, and Slide.

Halo 1, 2 and 3 were all iterative on each other without radically altering the core of what made Halo fun to play. Halo 4, 5 and Infinite are all radically different, and they’re almost like different games from different subgenres of shooters made by different companies. This seeps into every aspect of the game too, from story to multiplayer. A clear direction that wasn’t just copying Call of Duty and whatever is popular was needed for Halo, but 343 just never delivered. It’s sad. I used to love Halo, and I would play Halo 3’s campaign repeatedly when I was younger. These days, I have to fight with myself to even bother opening Halo Infinite.

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Multiplayer is a complete mess, I truly have no idea if I’m winning (when I do) because of skill or because the person I was fighting was dealing with the same nonsense I do during the endless times I lose a fight. Desync, lag, server issues, collision mechanics, I don’t care about the right way to describe them or what to call it. I’m not a programmer, a software engineer, a network engineer, but 343, they are those things. The simple reality is the hit detection is absurdly bad, the delays, the desync, cause this game to virtually be unplayable, melees and explosions are so buggy and inconsistent that they can’t be relied on to work properly even half the time (if I rocket someone’s body or the ground next to them inches away one more time, and have them not die, not even a shield break, I will have to quit out of principal alone). The game mechanics and playability are buggy at best, at worst, it’s simply the most inconsistent and poorly playing halo ever released by a massive margin. These are core aspects of an FPS game, these things worked beautifully in Halo 2, which came out almost 2 decades ago at this point. Technology has improved immensely, how is it this game has regressed and is having major issues with foundational online FPS elements like this?? 343, I hope you listen, I hope someone is there who isn’t a corporate lackey who only cares about the revenue generated from the battle passes and the store. I hope there is someone there who cares about the universe of halo, a true fan and proponent, that has the sway and authority to right these issues and win back the trust of the fan base. There are people like myself who have invested themselves, and not just financially, to this universe for 20 years now. True fans, who deserve to not have their loyalty discarded for a cash grab. At the core of all of this is a wonderful game, which took care and thought to design, anyone looking past their anger and disgust will see that, but if the foundation is cracked then everything comes down. Right now, it’s all crumbling, and all of the explaining why something is occurring and how and what needs to be done and is possibly being worked on, it means nothing. Actions, not words, are meaningful. Words sound like excuses and the vitriol amongst the fan base is because there are countless games, many of a much lower caliber and with much less powerful companies behind them, that work near flawlessly online. Every halo game before this, including the ones you designed, has worked so much better than this. At this point, there is no excuse that could reasonably be accepted by the fan base, because what needs to be done hasn’t been done yet, and it should have happened long before now. Don’t ruin Halo, it’s certainly within your capabilities to correct these issues, promptly and effectively. Any other outcome is apathy, and I hope this series doesn’t die because you didn’t care enough to keep it alive. I want this game to succeed, I want the halo universe to thrive, I bought the game, the battle passes, so that it can and I’m doing my part, even though I couldn’t care less about cosmetics and multiplayer is primarily the mode I care about (which was free, but I bought the whole game regardless). Please do the right thing, be a responsible shepherd of the universe you were given. You see people are leaving, you have to be more than aware of these issues at this point, no one wants to play only to be frustrated by endless issues and a game that is broken much more than it functions.

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The ranking system seems to have changed for the worst. I go down so much for a loss, even if I’m playing people that are ranked way higher than me. Then I go up barely anything for wins against onyx players, and I’m outperforming the onyx players on my team. Since I’m currently diamond 5 and outplaying onyx players, shouldn’t I be ranking up fast? I just played a match and I had horrific teammates, I went +20 and we still lost at oddball and I dropped a quarter of my rank. It seems broken.

I’ve heard about some players getting something reset by the devs because something was wrong with their CSR or MMR or whatever. Anyone had this same experience?

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I’m gonna gonna make mine short with less effort, sorry.

My biggest issue with story: Character-assassination of Cortana.
My biggest issue with multiplayer: F2P.
My biggest issue with the TV show: The TV show.
But the books are still decent.

I’m honestly getting weary of caring about Halo, but I do care. Halo’s current direction(s) gives me wrinkles.
I don’t wish to be hard on the devs, I would defend 343 til my dying breath regarding Halo 4. But it’s difficult to defend them right now.
Sorry for being grumpy, and for being way less constructive than op (and others).

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The biggest issue with halo 5 remains connectivity and the servers. At least 2-3 server disconnects a night. Losing all the points I gain due to server drops. It really takes away from the competitive experience. The IT department at 343 should be able to create stable servers as were present in Halo 3. Get some of the Bungie employees back or at least see what they did to create stable Halo 3 servers this is getting old.

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I feel like the ranked matchmaking is no fun from the perspective of a new player.

You’re frequently matched with obviously not new players and people leave at which point then you and the one other person in the group are penalized for staying in the match. Nobody else gets put in the match to compensate.

These flaws make the game a poor experience for new people.

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I just want more maps and game types…
I wouldn’t mind if the playlists were set up like MCC as well.

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No ranked Slayer playlist.

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That I see the potential and how far they missed the mark with the release. It’s like the standout young amateur prospect, who chokes when making it to the Pros, and you realize they needed more development time at the Am level.

I’m going to Rip Van Winkle this BS and come back in 6 months to see if anything has changed.

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I’m currently competing in Infinite and by spending so many hours on the game, you learn to deal with the things you hate about the game. Such things include desync, terrible maps, bugged gametypes, MM system, etc.

Desync is my number one problem and it makes the game so enraging. The fact that this hasn’t been fixed but they continue to update the game amuses me. Why continue to color coat the game when it can’t even operate correctly? Funny.

The maps that we’ve gotten are pretty mid. Lack of snipers makes sense because the maps are so odd rounded and nothing compared to the previous halos. Then we got Catalyst and nobody wants that in ranked rotation. Slayer on that map is unbearable. Bazaar is absolutely a mess to ranked play.

Lastly, the MM system is a laughing joke. At Onyx, I’m matching with or against low plat, gold, or even silver players sometimes. Me (Onyx) and my two friends, (D5, D6) both matched with a player who went 2-31 in our oddball game. Everyone started harping on him for not carrying his own weight but after we the carnage report, he was only a silver player and it wasn’t even his fault. Why are we being matched with new players at a higher level?

So yeah, 343 has some work to do both for social and competitive sides if they want this game to last 10 YEARS.

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Movement
Stale maps
Terrible story
Sniper is bad
No 2v2 playlist
No br starts in btb
No ranked team slayer playlist
Desync
Greedy monetization
Lack of content
Terrible ranking system/matchmaking

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MCC:
I don’t remember halo reaches amor lock being broken by grenades.
I remember amor lock being in breakable.
All it takes is one good grenade and you get taken out of the mode even if you’re still holding the button :pensive:
Am I wrong or has this always been like this since the legacy game? Was it modified for MCC?

Infinite:
Slow content release.
Other than that I love the game.

I wish you could change more UA/Hud options like taking off specific things like that the campaign fog skull would have something missing, but be able to choose what goes or stays.
Like if I didn’t want radar or what not.

Also I would like to change UA/Hud colors, like instead of having blue all the time I could have yellow, green, purple, red, etc…