I don’t think I’ve really played since the first few months of launch.
If I download the game now, would I be able to get games? Is the ranking system populated enough to be balanced? Easy to find games? Still season based? Are there many gametypes? Are there any “silly” gametypes like rocket race or fiesta available?
Is breakout still a thing? I liked that game type.
Is everyone really good, will I get destroyed?
Is Warzone still pay to win?
Yes, you will find games fairly quickly depending on your location and time you play.
I think the ranking system is good, but there is no clear in-game explanation of how it works. Once you understand how it works, I think you will appreciate it. Yes, there are still seasons.
Silly gametypes are the norm now. Super Fiesta Party and Big Team Super Fiesta dominate. Action Sack is a rotational playlist, meaning it comes around every so often. The core modes are not enjoyable in the slightest because of the Overtime update from 2017 which changed up the way weapons behave, completely throwing off all balance and feel that the original sandbox had done so incredibly well.
Breakout is a thing, but it is not the same Breakout as the one available at launch. The Breakout playlist also has Elimination in it, a game mode where every member of the other team must be dead at the same time in order for you to win the round.
WZ is still borderline pay-to-win. However, each Spartan kill gives 2 points now instead of 1, a change designed to reduce farming. WZ Turbo comes around every so often and that is pay-to-win.
I hope that covered everything!
EDIT: Forgot to mention Warzone Firefight. Not sure if you played that back when the game was new, but it might be worth checking out. It’s Warzone, but with only the PVE elements and it’s round-based.
> 2533274801036271;1:
> I don’t think I’ve really played since the first few months of launch.
>
> Is everyone really good, will I get destroyed?
tuhin94 does a pretty excellent job answering your inquires.
I’ll say that yes most of the people playing are going to be capable players, but with a pretty wide array of skills which helps the matchmaker at least create fairly balanced matches depending on time of day.
As someone who’s trying to shake rust off and get back into it don’t be surprised to struggle a bit at first, but if you stick with it and pick up on some of the game’s mobility skills you’ll be doing just fine even if you’re not capable of becoming a Champ.
I do want to rebut a bit on a couple of tuhin94’s points.
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> The core modes are not enjoyable in the slightest because of the Overtime update from 2017 which changed up the way weapons behave, completely throwing off all balance and feel that the original sandbox had done so incredibly well.
^this is a subjective perspective.
Personally I think the full Arena environment (including the core modes) were much improved by the Overtime Update that retuned the sandbox. Now, this is not to say it was perfect, but the vast majority of the sandbox was improved for the Arena environment.
Previously, most of the weapons within the sandbox were a direct upgrade over the Standard Magnum and overlapped heavily into it supposed niche range and role. Post update it can be argued that the Magnum has sufficient trade-offs with much of the sandbox; however, the default Recon Battle Rifle was left in a pretty poor state matched up to it. Yet, the changes to the BR do manage to work acceptably well within Warzone’s environment when viewed as an in between precision weapon option to the AR and Mag.
Another weapon that wasn’t left in a good spot would be the SMG. It’s still got a slight niche, but it should’ve been given a bit more lethality to fill its niche role amongst the sandbox.
> WZ is still borderline pay-to-win. However, each Spartan kill gives 2 points now instead of 1, a change designed to reduce farming. WZ Turbo comes around every so often and that is pay-to-win.
The primary reasons Warzone is borderline P2W instead of actual P2W is because of how the REQ system is integrated to limit REQ pool access and ensure matches essentially start balanced.
Now, does access to items make a difference? Sure.
But, as long as individuals have access to something useful in their inventory it’s not necessary to have spent gobs of money to build a massive inventory of the best items. It’s not a foolproof way to win matches, but more of a way to dictate how often you should bother to attempt playing the mode.
My personal recommendation is to simply avoid the mode unless you have some inventory items to make use of. It’s not too super hard to build enough of an inventory to get a competitive match in; especially, with the amount of REQ points that are rewarded from any type of WZ match. But, you’ll likely have to put some time into the game before you’re awarded opportunities to earn high value REQ items often enough to make consistently playing the regular WZ mode something enjoyable.
Of course, investing real money can assist toward speeding that processes up which is how the P2W connotation best fits. WZ Turbo is the closest to P2W, but buying REQ packs still doesn’t assure victory. That’s probably because there’s little incentive to play the mode if you don’t have access to good items, so it’s more like you’re paying to play if you bother to spend money.
Much appreciated peeps, I feel much more informed ahead of playing tomorrow, thanks for the detailed replies. Looking forward to seeing how it’s all changed and having a look at the maps, I remember next to nothing other than the midship remake and that one that feels a bit like Narrows.
I was a Diamond/Onyx player back in the day but those days are long behind me.
Breakout was probably my favourite. Not sure I’ll be very good at that gametype but it sounds intriguing.
Never played Warzone Firefight, that sounds about more my speed. Will definitely be giving it a go and I’m really glad to be seeing a Fiesta playlist, it was my favourite double exp weekend on Halo 3.
> 2533274801036271;1:
> I don’t think I’ve really played since the first few months of launch.
>
> If I download the game now, would I be able to get games? Is the ranking system populated enough to be balanced? Easy to find games? Still season based? Are there many gametypes? Are there any “silly” gametypes like rocket race or fiesta available?
>
> Is breakout still a thing? I liked that game type.
>
> Is everyone really good, will I get destroyed?
>
> Is Warzone still pay to win?
The game will match you where you left off. So if you were onyx it will give you matches with other high players. The populations low enough for a garbage player like me to face champs when I’m nowhere near that tier. It’s the main frustrating thing for me. That and I think daimond 3 is the highest you can place in the set of 10 still. So average players (high plat low daimond) get stuck facing daimond players that are potential onyx-champ tier despite the rank stating daimond. It’s probably the most frustrating thing about the matchmaking to me now. I used to never quit matches but now I just don’t care. Idc about the rank in this game anymore at all. I just want fun even matches. Sometimes they’re there but more often than not it’s usually lopsided as heck in favor of 1 team.
Gameplay is still fun…if you can hang with the bad sets you may get initially. Unless you just got magic thumbs and your skill never degraded. I took time off and my skill greatly diminished. Also getting old sucks. Lol so that’s a big factor for these useless thumbs in agony after playing these days.
You definitely will still find games though.
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I was in this same boat back in February, wanting to get my “sea legs” back before infinite comes out, and things were coming along nicely… untill that gameplay trailer a few days ago. Now 2-3 games for every 5 are straight lagged the f*** out: ghost bullets, aim assist will be nonexistent, 1 shotted by primary weapons, crossmapped by snipers through walls, players blipping in and out of existence, ect.
Best I can figure is, infinite’s gameplay trailer peeked oeoples interest enough to incite a large surge in the player population (which should be a good thing) but 343i didn’t account for it’s effect on the servers (that’ve been drastically scaled back over the years) very well and/or is to busy to address it. Either way, trying to play over the last few days has been just… thinking I might hang it up for now and wait on infinite to drop.
Halo5 Multiplayer is pretty much all I play. It’s solid. You’ll definitely be able to find a game.
Ranking system is pretty good, so you should be able to hold your own - but be prepared to be annihilated from time to time.
343 periodically switch things up with the game types.