I finally gave up on Halo 5. You’d think that after all the free updates this game would’ve gotten better, but it hasn’t, and I’m done holding my breath. I’ve uninstalled Halo 5 from my hard drive to make room for better games.
I want 343i to stop messing around. I want them to give me a real reason to come back to this game. Despite all the updates, there are some major issues with this game that have yet to be addressed despite lots of complaints from the community. If they were to fix these, I would consider reinstalling Halo 5:
1. Increase Motion Tracker Range.
-There’s been a thread on this topic that’s been going practically since the game launched, and 343i hasn’t even acknowledged the issue. The 18m motion tracker range is too short. The motion tracker is essential tool when it comes to strategy, and without it, strategy is non-existent in Halo 5… unless you’re playing with a full party. Obviously, that’s not even an option if you prefer FFA like I do, and at any rate I shouldn’t have to assemble a full party every time I want to play Halo multiplayer.
In Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and even in Halo 4 I was able to just hop into any playlist in matchmaking- Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, Big Team Battle, Ricochet, Capture the Flag- and have a reasonable degree of success without communicating with my teammates so long as I could pull my own weight. Being able to see where my opponents were- thanks to the modest 25m motion tracker range, which has been around since Halo 2- allowed me to outmaneuver and outsmart other players, and more than once carry my team to victory.
In Halo 5, all us lone wolves can do is wing it and hope to get lucky. The problem is made worse by the addition of Spartan Charge, to range of which is greater than the radius of the Motion Tracker, leading to a lot of random and rage-inducing deaths… especially in Free-For-All, where you have no team to watch your back.
Fixing this is as simple as bringing the range back up to 25 meters. That’s how it was for ever Halo game since Halo 2. There was absolutely no reason to change it.
2. Better Armor Customization
-Halo 5: Guardians has the worst customization in all of Halo. Lot’s of ugly brand-new armor types that nobody asked for… Seeker, Buccaneer, Nomad, Foehammer, and about a half-a-dozen reskins of each of these armors. The random unlock system makes it worse, since you have to grind through all the armor you don’t want before you finally get the armor you do want… assuming it’s even in the game.
There are several ways this could be improved. Bringing back some classic armors, for starters; like the Halo 4 versions of Mark V and EOD. Other classic armors that have been missing from the past few games, like CQB armor, or the Halo 3 version of Recon armor.
Aside from that, allowing players to mix-and-match pieces from different armor sets would go a long way towards allowing each player to create their own unique look. Halo 5 players on the PC have discovered that it IS possible to do this Halo 5, despite what 343i has said before about armor customization.
And for God’s sake… give us the option to change our Spartan’s bodysuit color to BLACK. This is something that people have been asking for since Halo 4. Nobody likes running around in colored underwear in Halo.
One last thing… any and all new armors added to Halo 5: Guardians should be left out of the REQ system. Make them tied into Achievements or allow us to unlock them by playing past Halo games, like what was done with the Mark VI and Helioskrill armors in The Master Chief Collection. For example, the Halo 4 version of Mark V; it’s based on the Chief’s armor from Halo: CE Anniversary, right? As a requirement for getting it, have players unlock certain achievements for the Halo 1 Campaign in Halo: MCC.
3. Fix Warzone Firefight.
-Warzone Firefight was the biggest disappointment in Halo 5 for me. Hordes of hyper-lethal bullet-sponge enemies and unreasonable respawn penalties ruin the game for me. Add to that there’s no single-player option or skulls, and no custom games.
Just get rid of the respawn penalties already… may enable the Revive mechanic from Campaign as well, so we don’t have to respawn so far away from the battlefield. Make enemies- specifically Prometheans- easier to kill. Reduce the amount of damage they can take and the amount and they can dish out. And give us the option to play Warzone Firefight in custom games. Let us choose the difficulty (Easy, Normal, Heroic, or Legendary), let us choose the map, let us tweak the settings for the players, the enemies, and the bosses, how long games last, and how many lives the players have.
That’s all I have to say on the subject. What about you guys? What made you quit Halo 5: Guardians, and what will it take to bring you back?
