What I hate about this Halo

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Let me give a little perspective here. I’m not a very good player (generally Gold level, sometimes Platinum). In most Halos my favorite playlists were BTB and FFA. After Halo Reach I stuck mainly with Firefight because I wasn’t a huge fan of the AAs for PvP and the older I get the worse I become at FPS games. Halo 4 was mostly Spartan Ops but I enjoyed BTB quite a bit as well. I would call myself a casual gamer. I’m 34 and have been a gaming since childhood. I’m really only playing Halo 5 right now so I can get the Achilles helm. I also like the gameplay and don’t take issue with Spartan abilities or AR magnum starts.

Story:
I was hugely disappointed by the story. It didn’t feel like it had anything to do with the story of Halo 4 (which was by far my favorite). There were so many plot-lines that were resolved in outside materiel or not resolved or addressed at all. The marketing was amazing and had me hyped for a great story that seemed to have loads of depth. MC confronting his emotions and life without Cortana, his going AWOL and possibly being responsible for decimating huge civilian populations by activating the Guardians, Locke being sent off to kill or capture the legend himself, Halsey’s revenge looming in the background, all of this happening while ONI tries desperately to contain the Chief and engaging in a massive cover up. What we got felt shallow and was (in my opinion) very poorly written.

Arena:
The lack of maps and classic game modes at launch (and still) really makes me salty. It is getting better but I was soured early on and rarely play much more than Grifball, some BTB, and my placement games. The RP gained feels like it’s half of what you get for an equally timed game of Warzone. It may be a consequence of the population but the matchmaking has been horrific from my PoV lately. I’m not sure why it’s okay to match Diamond (and sometimes Onyx) players with Gold players in a ranked playlist but it is a fairly common occurrence. I like most of the new maps and the design seems to go well with the new mechanics.

Warzone:
This is the mode I play most often. That said I think it is one of the worst things about Halo 5. I honestly feel like this mode was (and is) pushed to be the meat of the game. In my mind BTB was delayed so those players would spend more time in Warzone. It is designed to be one sided. Nearly all the maps promote getting an armory and the garage then camping the other team at their armory. The winning team gets access to better stuff and the gap continues to grow throughout the game. It is entirely possible to have a game end 1000-600 with one team being confined mostly to their armory. It looks like it may have been a close game, but it was completely one-sided.

Warzone Firefight:
What should have been my respite from near constant -Yoink- whoopings in every other mode instead proves to be even worse. The AI is set to Legendary difficulty with sharp vision and hearing skulls on. Somehow their weapons do twice the damage when they’re holding them only to return to doing 50% damage when Spartans pick them up. Power weapons are mostly a waste of REQ points because they do so little damage and have so little ammo. Vehicles are almost always the way to go but they’re really squishy even with the Wheelman mod. This timed mode requires you to dart out of cover fire a few shots and then hop right back into cover. The bosses always have swarms of lower tier AI guarding them. They take a lot of time to kill and very often respawn the moment you start making some progress. Bosses heal themselves. All of this happening in a timed mode. There is a feedback thread (that got unpinned and then seemingly ignored) that points out all of the flaws in this mode.

REQ system:
Where to even begin? I’ll admit I love the weapon and vehicle variants. My biggest issues are with the system being completely RNG and the REQ system taking precedent over everything but Forge. The REQ system is pushed insanely hard whether people choose to see it or not.
Those who play only Arena get it the worst. You get 200 RP from a daily login pack and for WZ victory. You get 100 RP for an Arena victory. Hmmm 200 for logging in, 100 for winning an Arena match. Makes sense… Since the entire system is RNG these players who have zero interest in Warzone often get a lot of crap that they will never use. They’re getting lower RP per game to begin with, the only unlocks they care about are the cosmetics and because there isn’t an Armor REQ pack they’re forced to acquire all of the loadout weapons, power weapons, vehicles, and armor mods along with the cosmetic pieces they actually want.
The REQ inventory is bloated by: nonsense paint splashed on otherwise identical armors and helms, vehicle variants that differ only by camo, far too many visors, emblems (which really shouldn’t need to be unlocked) and weapon skins and attachments. The majority of the weapon skins are gaudy (though the new art style is too) and I hate nearly all of them. Things like long barrels and different scopes should be unlocked as attachments but instead they are their own separate REQs in order to swell the numbers.
People like to say that it isn’t a P2W system but I have to disagree. Think about when the game launched. Those people who spent money early on had a significant advantage over those who did not. Even the loadout weapon variants can make for a nice advantage. Throw armor mods into the mix with the vehicle and power weapon REQs that they can pull out and you have a very distinct advantage when you paid real money. Even those people got bent over because they weren’t selling the Gold Pack Bundles then. I also feel like the $ to RP prices are very one sided. There is no option to buy bundles with RP only with $. Want that Nornfang pack? Cool give us $10, or you could spend 100,00 RP. Wait wtf? Shouldn’t it be something like 30,000 RP? I mean if a Gold pack costs $3 or 10,000 RP why would something that costs $10 be 100,000 RP? The point is the people who spend money do have an advantage both in how many REQs they can get for the price and the advantage of having those items in game. The advantage in game may not be huge (depending on the time it happened) and it may be somewhat balanced by the REQ levels but it is an advantage all the same. An advantage that was bought. That sure sounds like P2W to me.

Bugs:

There are still far too many issues with this AAA title nearly a year after launch. The UI is bad. The REQ menus are still laggy and poorly organized. Retrieving Data, Losing connection to the server (but nothing else), Warzone framerate issues, and a host of in game glitches and bugs. Most of these issues have been present and persistent since launch.

So there you go. I think I covered most of the stuff I was thinking about. If you read it all, good on you let me know how you feel. I’m sure I missed plenty along the way and I’m probably wrong about some things.

TL:DR
The game’s built around the REQ system, the story wasn’t what I was expecting at all and was poorly written, Warzone is designed to be a snowball game, Arena players get shafted by the REQ system, and Warzone Firefight is too hard to be a fun relaxing casual mode.
EDIT: Updated title

2

I’d like to point out the things I do like about this game too. The weapons are the most balanced of any Halo game from what I can tell. The music is great if underutilized. Forge is the best yet and is constantly improving. It is good to see Halo in the competitive scene. The new abilities really add to the game imo. They change up the gameplay in a good way as far as I’m concerned. I’m glad we’re still getting content releases.

3

Still Hunting the Truth…

4

Great points I agree on all fronts. My biggest gripe being the “story” and WZFF. Hell Warzone in general I like the concept but not it’s snowball effect the battles should never have an ever increasing gap. I can only imagine the story we would’ve got if it was as advertised it would have been epic and legendary, I’m sure it would’ve given more character to Locke as well. Like Osiris and Blue Team being established in canon and in game Locke being given the mission yet telling blue team he must revert to his ONI days and this type ofor mission requires him to be solo. While chief lies to blue team and goes AWOL when they won’t notice cause he knows they love him and will follow him where ever. They could even do cutscenes of blue and Osiris hell they could’ve even given them missions to build character there while also giving a different aspect to in game combat. Idk like the classic “you’re on your own” combat of old Halo and with the Blue and Osiris mission the team based bigger battles. H5 could’ve been legendary in story as well as pvp what we got feels so shallow even when chief and Locke fought the fight was very slow and too short.

5

I like how your points were well thought out, however I enjoy this Halo in every single one of its flaws

6

I read every word. First, we’re the same guy: Halo vets who are fine (mostly) with modern Halo, and who prefer BTB, warzone, and PvE modes to arena. Second, there wasn’t much in your criticisms with which I would overtly disagree except your opinion on the campaign.

On the subject of the one-sidedness of warzone matches, I sort of see this, but I sort of don’t. Yes, capping two bases early on is a likely path to victory, but that isn’t because it’s impossible to take them back. It’s because warzone is populated by people like me who don’t care if they get any of them back, who don’t care whether or not their team “wins” or “loses” (quotes intentional) because they’re lazy and/or capable of finding entertainment outside the strictures of “victory or defeat” thinking. There is ample fun to be had whether my team is owning or choking, and I will find that fun, and I’ll find it without ever calling in a single power weapon or a single vehicle. Which is part of the reason I’m less inclined to buy into the “pay to win” theory of reqs. On the rare occasions when I use a power weapon I often get killed before I’ve fired a single shot. On the rare occasions when I call in a vehicle I often get vaporized after, if I’m lucky, a single kill. If this is my experience then it’s probably also the experience of everyone else. Which leads me to believe that “pay to win” is really more like “pay to be an idiot while some kid half my age hijacks my ONI scorpion and gets me to rage quit.” Just my perspective, but there you have it.

On the subject of WZFF, near and dear to my heart, I agree 100% with every single thing you said. I think WZFF is a great idea… that has thousands of hours of fine tuning ahead of it if it’s ever going to be even a tenth as great as I know it could be.

Apart from those few differences I could easily have written your post myself. Except I would have titled it, “The things that I love this Halo in spite of.”

7

Even though your post was well thought out, there’s probably at least 1000000 of these type of posts already. 343 probably has realized that they made a poorly designed game.

8

I don’t hate Halo, I will always love it, I hate Microsoft for turning Halo the way it is now (god, if they turn Halo 5 in a pay to win after this stupid “month of mythic” this will be the end of Halo to turn in just another generic shooter without creativity and uniqness), also the “remove sprint” and “we want a falcon” community, they’re just cancer for Halo.

9

You’ve said a lot of things that I strongly agree with.

> 2533274804649077;1:
> In my mind BTB was delayed so those players would spend more time in Warzone.

This is true, and very sad. I think the recent refresh was a step in the right direction, though. And regarding warzone:

> 2533274804649077;1:
> It is designed to be one sided.

I wouldn’t say warzone was designed to be one-sided, but it turned out that way just because of how the req system works and causes a snowball effect. Like you mentioned, the winning team gets better stuff. Matches are usually decided in the first few minutes. They should really bring back Turbo… And regarding WZFF:

> 2533274804649077;1:
> Power weapons are mostly a waste of REQ points because they do so little damage and have so little ammo. Vehicles are almost always the way to go but they’re really squishy even with the Wheelman mod.

Yes this is my biggest issue with firefight. Not necessarily because the vehicles are squishy, but anyone who plays WZFF regularly will simply run out of them. I’m still struggling to maintain a steady supply of wraiths and ghosts, meanwhile my weapons continue to pile up to the point where I have like 70 beam rifles.

I’m almost finished with my gold pack grind, at which point they will cost me only 4000 points because of the refunds, but I’m sure 99% of players haven’t gotten to that point and simply don’t have enough vehicles to use. I almost feel like WZFF is designed to maximize req consumption at the expense of balance…

However, it is the one gamtype I play more than any other, and I still think it’s a lot of fun despite its flaws. I suggest you keep trying to give it a chance.

> 2533274804649077;1:
> The REQ inventory is bloated by: nonsense paint splashed on otherwise identical armors and helms, vehicle variants that differ only by camo, far too many visors, emblems (which really shouldn’t need to be unlocked) and weapon skins and attachments.

This is one of my biggest problems with Halo 5 in general. The req pool is mostly pointless garbage, by design, and I would love it if they removed all of the ugly armors and duplicate visors. I completely agree with this.

> 2533274804649077;1:
> The majority of the weapon skins are gaudy (though the new art style is too) and I hate nearly all of them.

This is one thing I disagree with, I like most of the weapon skins (not all of them).

> 2533274804649077;1:
> Things like long barrels and different scopes should be unlocked as attachments but instead they are their own separate REQs in order to swell the numbers.

EXACTLY! I’ve been saying this for so long, the loadout unlock system NEEDS to be streamlined. Thank you.

> 2533274804649077;1:
> I also feel like the $ to RP prices are very one sided. There is no option to buy bundles with RP only with $. Want that Nornfang pack? Cool give us $10, or you could spend 100,00 RP. Wait wtf? Shouldn’t it be something like 30,000 RP? I mean if a Gold pack costs $3 or 10,000 RP why would something that costs $10 be 100,000 RP?

Yeah, I’ve been saying this for a while, too. Couldn’t agree more, it’s ridiculous.

> 2533274804649077;1:
> Bugs:
>
> There are still far too many issues with this AAA title nearly a year after launch. The UI is bad. The REQ menus are still laggy and poorly organized. Retrieving Data, Losing connection to the server (but nothing else), Warzone framerate issues, and a host of in game glitches and bugs. Most of these issues have been present and persistent since launch.

You forgot theater mode.

> 2535413996242118;7:
> Even though your post was well thought out, there’s probably at least 1000000 of these type of posts already. 343 probably has realized that they made a poorly designed game.

While people often make threads like this, in which they outline their various complaints, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to start discussions about them. Besides, yeah maybe 343 knows but you can never be too sure…

10

> 2535411548517898;8:
> I don’t hate Halo, I will always love it, I hate Microsoft for turning Halo the way it is now (god, if they turn Halo 5 in a pay to win after this stupid “month of mythic” this will be the end of Halo to turn in just another generic shooter without creativity and uniqness), also the “remove sprint” and “we want a falcon” community, they’re just cancer for Halo.

i wish there was a thumbs down

the main thing i miss about halo is the sense of fun it had, now everything is so restricted and if it doesn’t push for immersion and the universe in multiplayer then it gets swept aside. I also miss the simplicity of halo and how such simple mechanics could have such a high skill ceiling. It’s something i’ve sort of refound with overwatch, but even that’s nothing compared to what halo offered in the past.

all the feathers in its cap such as great human - vehicle interaction, medals, names and announcer, wide variety of gametypes and playlists, big focus on communities (not highlighting them like 343 but actually making a game that supports community growth / creation), unique take on map design, subtle (and not so subtle) use of physics, controlled chaos, custom games, simplicity and a game that could be goofy and serious simultaneously aren’t really there any more, at least to a halo standard. It leaves a void that no other game has filled since.

11

> 2535413996242118;7:
> Even though your post was well thought out, there’s probably at least 1000000 of these type of posts already. 343 probably has realized that they made a poorly designed game.

Very true.

> 2533274873843883;6:
> I read every word. First, we’re the same guy: Halo vets who are fine (mostly) with modern Halo, and who prefer BTB, warzone, and PvE modes to arena. Second, there wasn’t much in your criticisms with which I would overtly disagree except your opinion on the campaign.
>
> On the subject of the one-sidedness of warzone matches, I sort of see this, but I sort of don’t. Yes, capping two bases early on is a likely path to victory, but that isn’t because it’s impossible to take them back. It’s because warzone is populated by people like me who don’t care if they get any of them back, who don’t care whether or not their team “wins” or “loses” (quotes intentional) because they’re lazy and/or capable of finding entertainment outside the strictures of “victory or defeat” thinking. There is ample fun to be had whether my team is owning or choking, and I will find that fun, and I’ll find it without ever calling in a single power weapon or a single vehicle. Which is part of the reason I’m less inclined to buy into the “pay to win” theory of reqs. On the rare occasions when I use a power weapon I often get killed before I’ve fired a single shot. On the rare occasions when I call in a vehicle I often get vaporized after, if I’m lucky, a single kill. If this is my experience then it’s probably also the experience of everyone else. Which leads me to believe that “pay to win” is really more like “pay to be an idiot while some kid half my age hijacks my ONI scorpion and gets me to rage quit.” Just my perspective, but there you have it.
>
> On the subject of WZFF, near and dear to my heart, I agree 100% with every single thing you said. I think WZFF is a great idea… that has thousands of hours of fine tuning ahead of it if it’s ever going to be even a tenth as great as I know it could be.
>
> Apart from those few differences I could easily have written your post myself. Except I would have titled it, “The things that I love this Halo in spite of.”

Updated title to something more accurate and a little less spiteful.

12

From the few matches I made in the normal Warzone, the thing I hated the most are the spawning points when the enemies hold all the bases, it’s too easy for them to spawnkill you and your teammates, it’s like the first turn of the Invasion mode from Halo: Reach, where there were just two spawn locations with two spawn points each, so the defenders could easily get inside them and spawnkill the attackers, I really hated this when it happened.

13

How is there a lack of maps? Also, the population is fine right now. Not great, but it’s fine.

Why do you think a mode is bad if you play it the most? I really like warzone and it’s fun when you aren’t getting REQ’d.

I mostly agree with the req system…except the part where you say it’s pay2win. Warzone is definitely not Pay2win. The advantage is non-existent. You can play more than a guy who bought reqs and still outgun him. Where’s the advantage there? There isn’t one, because it’s non-existent.

There aren’t as many bugs as people claim. Maybe more than average, but definitely not something worth a reason as to why you hate this game.

People over exaggerate how bad the campaign was, but I more or less agree on it.

Firefight I also agree on.

14

> 2535455681930574;13:
> There aren’t as many bugs as people claim.

Would you like me to show over a hundred bugs in firefight alone?

> 2535455681930574;13:
> People over exaggerate how bad the campaign was

Nonchalant whistling

15

Still seeing people who are claiming Warzone is not pay to win… Pay to win is theoretical statement and Warzone falls into that area like other games.

16

I played a lot over the weekend. Most of my games had platinums playing against silvers. Which would not be so bad but the team balance is non-existent. At least 2/3 of my matches in Arena and Warzone are completely unbalanced. Social gametypes are even worse. Even in social gametypes such as covenant slayer teams need to be balanced. This is not happening at all. there was one match of covenant slayerwhere Me, some platinums and diamonds were matched against 2Onyx and 2 CHAMPION players. Needless to say we got destroyed. We should have never been matched against them. Yes it was a social gametype , but even in social there needs to be balance between the teams. If there had been a onyx and champion on both teams with platinums and golds filling the rest that would have been fine. Warzone is just as bad. I’ve had more than my fair share going up against a team that has 5 or more Onyx or higher level players against my team that is lucky to have 2. As of now H5 is only filling a gap until Battlefield 1 and Gears4 are released. Once they are out H5 will become a distant memory as I don’t see this problem if unbalanced teams getting addressed.

17

I do enjoy halo 5 i think they did overall a good job mostly with the gameplay design, but yes there are many small–>semi large things they should tweak/fix surrounding that gameplay in order to make it a truly amazing game

Story: I dont care about this aspect, havent played the campaign yet and theres a decent chance i never will. To me theres no point in fps games i dont bother with single player unless thats the main focus rather than the add on (like in far cry). I would rather them make pvp better than make a slightly better story

Arena: I agree with you, there are way too few maps especially in team arena ive only played it for like 20-25 hours already super bored of the maps. They have a ton of forge maps from the community just going to waste: so pick a bunch and ADD THEM. And yes rp gain is way too low compared to warzone. Also match making is pretty bad and often unfair.
Honestly they should balance teams based on kda which is a pretty reliable indicator of skill, or maybe even factor in peoples winning percentages. But right now so many games are lopsided beatdowns its often not fun or fair. I would win so much more if teams were even because im almost always the best on my loser team

Warzone firefight: yeah its way too hard to kill enemies and they kill us way too fast its a horrible design choice. This mode is supposed to be more casual and fun not that it should be too easy but right now the ai is just punishing theyre way too deadly, so many quick deaths with no chance to react or escape.

I think they should decrease enemy damage by a lot, lower enemy health, but increase the number of enemies to keep things from being too easy
Also how bout having the ai not be ONE HUNDRED PERCENT ACCURATE all the time? They should miss some shots too like come on

18

> 2533274879407634;14:
> > 2535455681930574;13:
> > There aren’t as many bugs as people claim.
>
>
> Would you like me to show over a hundred bugs in firefight alone?
>
>
> > 2535455681930574;13:
> > People over exaggerate how bad the campaign was
>
>
> Nonchalant whistling

I’ve seen all those videos. The warzone firefight one is a compilation of everyone’s bugs, so it’s not like every person constantly experiences each one of those. Most probably just recorded it the one time it happened.

The campaign is bad, but it’s still over exaggerated how bad it is. If The Act Man did what he’s doing with halo 5’s campaign to halo CE’s, or 2’s, or 3’s, there’d still be a lot to errors to nitpick.