Why 343's Philosophy/Direction Is Wrong

Games Halo 5: Guardians
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343’s philosophy and direction dealing with Halo is now observable through the initial launch of Halo 4 and now Halo 5. Its important to try and figure out what their thought-process and mentality is so we can understand how Halo 5 actually materialized. Halo 4 had loadouts/weapon drops. Halo 5 doubles down on sprint and adds ADS and clamber, along with many other things. I just wanted to get this out of the way and say that Halo 5 is the best shooter on the new generation of consoles, but that is not good enough. 343 seems to be trying to leave its stamp on Halo, but taking it in the wrong direction. One of genericness.
Halo used to have a purpose on console. People truly had a reason to play Halo and keep Halo, regardless of what games were being newly released. Halo’s gameplay was built on arena principles and provided great variety of gameplay. 1v1, 2v2, 4v4, 8v8 (and customs)…Halo has always had tactical depth so allow any situation to thrive. Halo has always been a shooter that provided casuals tons of variety since it wasn’t a stereotypical military shooter. If you wanted to play Halo then you either played because you subconsciously had a desire for an arena-style shooter or you just wanted a great variety of fun.
So my question is, why did 343 decide to “evolve” Halo by adding very generic elements to the game? This is not beneficial for casuals or dabblers…and of course not to the faithful community that has been with Halo for a while now. When casuals and dabblers play Halo, they are going to get a sense that the general experience is similar to whatever their favorite shooter is. They have less incentive to return to the game and to hold Halo in higher regard like many in the past did. 343 is trying to turn Halo into a jack of all trades, master of none. Halo is losing its purpose and 343 is inadvertently turning away many casuals and dabblers.
Halo was once a console-seller. 343 is reducing Halo’s presence to just a great exclusive for XBox owners and Halo fans. But its becoming less of a console seller. Sony and PC gamers don’t feel the need to play Halo now because they see the game being more and more homogenized and made to play similar to all the alternatives. ADS/Clamber/Ground Pound, etc…its all too familiar. If 343 tried to improve the identity of Halo and worked on truly making a next-gen arena shooter on consoles then player retention would improve
Halo has been Microsoft’s most transcendent franchise. Its going to sell no matter what. The only issue that ever needs to be addressed is player retention. One of the easier ways to improve player retention is make the game community oriented. Improve aspects of social gaming. Example: take a look at Halo 3 with its forge, theater and customs. In Halo 3, you could join theater with party members and watch clips. Why didn’t 343 try to improve social aspects of the game instead of trying to implement generic elements (maybe a Customs browser)?
When you are playing an arena shooter, its bad enough to be running with guns down. But ADS and Clamber mixed in too? It violates how an arena shooter is supposed to be played. All these things hurt the map design as well. Everything becomes larger, wider and the art of the map suffers as well since resources are being taken up from the larger scale. I am sorry but ADS is cringe-worthy.
The way to make Halo a stronger franchise is not to make it more generic so that casuals and dabblers have a sense of familiarity. All that does is inadvertently push them away. There is less incentive for them to stick around if they feel the game is trying to be something that its not. Just give us Halo. Halo is strong enough to stand on its own. Its foundation is like nothing else on console. There is no game on consoles that is like traditional Halo. Nothing. Why change that and make Halo similar to the alternatives?

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What “philosophy/direction”?

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halo need to be halo, not a cod

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> 2533274927548337;3:
> halo need to be halo, not a cod

Well, I sure have some great news!

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> 2533274953123640;2:
> What “philosophy/direction”?

Taking heavy inspiration from other modern shooters instead of building off of classic gameplay.

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> 2533274819302824;5:
> > 2533274953123640;2:
> > What “philosophy/direction”?
>
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> Taking heavy inspiration from other modern shooters instead of branching off of classic gameplay.

Implying mutual exclusivity. Incorrectly, I think.

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I agree that 343’s current direction seems to be following trends rather than set trends as Bungie did during their time. And on top of bizarre presumptions such as the disparity between Arena and Warzone. Tagging variant modes of separate modes. Removing features. Dismissing the community aspect. Things like that are subjects I really want 343 to answer for in an interview. They have to express what they’re going for because it doesn’t make sense.

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> 2533274953123640;2:
> What “philosophy/direction”?

Genericness. We now see that 343 thinks that Halo needs to emulate the alternatives, instead of building on what made it unique. Look at Halo 4 and Halo 5. Loadouts, weapon drops, ADS, clamber, doubling down on sprint, etc.

Instead of building on its arena foundation and improving social aspects of the game, we have a direction that focuses on homogenization and genericness. Contrary to what some may think, casuals and dabblers are not stupid. They see what is trying to be done in Halo…and its a turn off. We need Halo to be itself. Thats it. Figure that out and improve on it. Not try to be something its not.

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> 2533274953123640;6:
> > 2533274819302824;5:
> > > 2533274953123640;2:
> > > What “philosophy/direction”?
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> > Taking heavy inspiration from other modern shooters instead of branching off of classic gameplay.
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> Implying mutual exclusivity. Incorrectly, I think.

Would indeed be what the OP is implying. Me, I’m not quite ready to jump into this one yet. Still in observer mode.

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Double Post because my Wi-Fi sucks.

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> 2535410387829049;8:
> > 2533274953123640;2:
> > What “philosophy/direction”?
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> Genericness. We now see that 343 thinks that Halo needs to emulate the alternatives, instead of building on what made it unique. Look at Halo 4 and Halo 5. Loadouts, weapon drops, ADS, clamber, doubling down on sprint, etc.
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> Instead of building on its arena foundation and improving social aspects of the game, we have a direction that focuses on homogenization and genericness. Contrary to what some may think, casuals and dabblers are not stupid. They see what is trying to be done in Halo…and its a turn off. We need Halo to be itself. Thats it. Figure that out and improve on it. Not try to be something its not.

I would like to see a greater explanation of what a better alternative would be, and how Halo 5 is not like it.

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The movement feels almost identical to Advanced Warfare, the obvious being thrust and clamber. Clamber is the only thing about the movement I don’t like. It changes the flow of a map, as well as eliminates the need to jump crouch onto objects. It’s cheap. I like the thrust though and like that it’s the only armor ability.

There’s a lot of ‘2 steps forward, 3 steps backward’ with every Halo game. There’s logical enhancements, and then there are things that make you roll your eyes.

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343’s motivation is to listen the fans, that’s why they brought in some “pros” and made Halo overly competitive. Because everyone -Yoinked!- about Halo 4, this is what we get. “Arena” gameplay and nothing else. They’re trying to cater to the community and the community can’t be satisfied, if anything WE are killing Halo by acting like entitled, selfish know-it-alls demanding they change the game to satisfy us.

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> if anything WE are killing Halo by acting like entitled, selfish know-it-alls demanding they change the game to satisfy us.

Honest to God, I can’t tell if this post is serious.

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S 000 DeM,
Its just really a matter of principle that guides the design of a game. 343 has tried things like loadouts, weapon drops, doubling down on sprint, cringe-worthy ADS, clamber, ground pound, etc. You can see what is in Halo 5. Adding generic elements doesn’t help player retention or improve sales. It just turns more people away and gives them less reason to stick around. Its not so much about 1 or 2 things, its just the over-arching philosophy and mentality…Example:

You don’t add ADS just for casuals and expect them to suddenly like Halo. Star Wars Battlefront doesn’t even use ADS. After over 3 years, why did 343 focus more on generic additions rather than adding content and social aspects to the game? Why did Halo 5 launch without forge, without a more inclusive theater for social activity and other things that have been in past Halo games? 343 could have focused on improving the community aspects so that casuals feel a desire to stick around. Just tell me, can you imagine what goes on during a meeting? “Hey. Lets add ADS because we know people are used to it.” Really? ADS is the most cringe-worthy thing in Halo 5, even if its not totally game-breaking. Its just…why?

Halo needs to have its core arena mode developed truly as an arena shooter. Casuals and dabblers will take the time to adapt and learn if they are intrigued. But they will also have a respect for the core arena mode as something legitimately unique on console. That doesn’t mean ADS’ing around the map while you run with guns down and clamber around. I already mentioned how this harms map design and art work. This gives non-Halo fans and non-XBox gamers a reason to take notice of Halo as well. It becomes a console seller because there is nothing like it on console. But you know what casuals and dabblers will play regardless? Fun game modes. Think Big Team Battle (and now War Zone), or things like griffball, oddball infection, etc.

Here is something from an earlier post where I talk about ways to cater to casuals/dabblers:

In Halo 2/3, there was always the occasional silly option thrown into the voting process to choose from. Here is an example from Halo CE on PC: Prisoner | Halo Alpha | Fandom
“Some players make a 16 person CTF servers with only rocket launcher, fuel rod cannon and the flamethrower. This creates a fast paced, chaotic but balanced game where players never survive for more than over a minute.”

In Halo 2 and 3 there were game types like Rockets-only, Snipers-only, Rockets/Lasers only, Heavies, etc. H4 had Gungoose CTF in Big Team Battle, which shows that the concept has been on their mind in recent times. What about matches with Swords/Hammer-only? Covenant-only weapons? etc etc.

Variety is a big key for dabblers and casuals. It allows them to play with a variety of weapons and game modes. Its just silly fun. Sometimes silly fun can go a long way in player retention. You could have modes like this in a mixed playlist or a customs browser. But 343 doesn’t seem interested enough in the social aspects of the game. They have been more concerned about developing a REQ system and implementing generic elements. It just doesn’t make sense.

If you added running with guns down and ADS to all weapons in Counter-Strike, do you think the community would become stronger? No. Halo just needs to be itself and evolve within its means. Not try to be something its not.

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> 2728966917079826;13:
> 343’s motivation is to listen the fans, that’s why they brought in some “pros” and made Halo overly competitive. Because everyone -Yoinked!- about Halo 4, this is what we get. “Arena” gameplay and nothing else. They’re trying to cater to the community and the community can’t be satisfied, if anything WE are killing Halo by acting like entitled, selfish know-it-alls demanding they change the game to satisfy us.

We are killing the game?
If a company makes a product that consumers don’t want to play, is it the consumer’s fault?

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> 2533274797640604;7:
> I agree that 343’s current direction seems to be following trends rather than set trends as Bungie did during their time. And on top of bizarre presumptions such as the disparity between Arena and Warzone. Tagging variant modes of separate modes. Removing features. Dismissing the community aspect. Things like that are subjects I really want 343 to answer for in an interview. They have to express what they’re going for because it doesn’t make sense.

Actually… they don’t.
I find it hysterical that people seem to think that 343 has some sort of responsibility to each individual person. And that if something is not made to their individual expectations that 343 must apologize and make it right. This is the definition of entitlement.
Just because you’ve played the game for whatever long doesn’t mean its “your” game. ITs 343’S period. Unless you put any of your own money into its development. This game is an experience that they are trying to make. Making their mark on this series as it evolves. Every game of the series has moved forward in a logical fashion.
What I see from the OP is something I’ve seen for a while now and it basically comes down to this: You only want Halo 2. In your mind that’s the pinnacle of everything. You don’t like change because it frightens you. Because you had that game play and style down and dominated and how dare someone take that from you.
The funny part here is that, had they just done that, repackaged Halo 2 with nee graphics every year, you would still be upset. Because every other game surpassed Halo.
So basically you don’t know what you want. You don’t know the direction it should go. Thankfully people who know what they are doing are in charge. You just want to complain, as those who feel entitled do. But you will continue to play and continue to buy new games because secretly you love it. Its just “cooler” to be negative.

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> The funny part here is that, had they just done that, repackaged Halo 2 with nee graphics every year, you would still be upset. Because every other game surpassed Halo.

Actually, they did that once. It’s called Halo 3 and it was the peak of the series’ success in just about every way.

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Actually no. We don’t want a Halo 2.5. We want them to innovate in something else other than enhanced mobility and ads.

Why not try to balance out the weaponset that had useless weapons in H3?
Why not think of some creative ideas for equipment like a smoke generator or whatever?
Why in the living hell did they not try to do something with VISR?

You know why? Because it’s 343 being too afraid trying something new. So instead of trying to be creative, they try to cater to a community that would probably have bought Halo already either way but failed and in the mean time having alienated the already strong going community.

We don’t want a Halo 2.5 or a Halo 3.5. What we want is that they take Halo 3 and continue to build from there and give it a gradual evolution like between H1-H2 and H2-H3.

You know why people keep mentioning the older games? It’s not about nostalgia no. It’s about those games being freaking unique, setting trends and giving people a reason to buy an Xbox in the first place.

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I don’t get why people b¡tch about smart link. It’s been In the game since literally -Yoink- halo ce, only not on all guns and it was called scoping instead. It’s moronic.