As someone who is a long time halo on console player of halo has been playing halo since the CE (all except Halo 5), the player count drop on PC specifically means very little to me even though I now one of those players. Halos fanbase has always been console based. Also when comparing this games player count to halo 3 the community has to remember in 2007 there were really only 2-3 games (Halo 3, COD 4 and Battlefield 2142) vying for the entire console FPS player base and maybe 3-5 for PC (halo 3 not being one of them) and none of these games were competing against each other on their launch days because they launched months apart. In the modern age there are 15+ half decent FPS games released a year or given huge updates to bring them back into the gaming community not including triple A titles. This doesn’t even include the plethora of really good games released from different genres also splitting the player base.
Things brought up by the community include:
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Lack a game modes/maps, I am not worried about this because this is likely caused by Microsoft’s COVID-19 since they were one of the first companies to start working from home, I think ~2 months after the first recorded case in the US which was in Seattle Washington which is the location of one of their offices and just across the Puget sound from their Headquarters in Redmond. This would have been when they were were moving from a PPE to a Production phase, which just like nearly every AAA game studio of the past two years and game releases, threw a massive wrench in development so anything that was Polished made it in with the exception of item 2 which would have no option of being left out.
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Desync, netcode and server connection(ping) because their is no dedicated server browser. This is THE WORST but can be fixed/lessened with geo filtering as a temporary fix until both software and hardware is brought up to speed for the popularity of this game. The problem is the community continues to crucify anyone who does it because of misinformation specifically the incident of a pro player using it in a tournament which is against the TOURNAMENT RULES. However in normal play geo-filtering functions the same exact way as a server browser/matchmaker with a maximum ping filter/region specifier, the only difference is which end (client or server) refuses the connection during the handshake. When you use an in-game filter the server will refuse the connection after checking with the client. When you geo-filter on the your end the client refuses the connection after checking with the server.
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Non-symmetrical maps and random weapon/vehicle/objective spawns that sometimes heavily favor one team or the other depending on the map and RNG, in my opinion this is the largest departure from the halo used to which can ruin the experience this will hopefully be fixed or reworked in the future through a rebalancing of the maps. Every single triple A shooter does this I am pretty sure it will be the same case here.
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Microtransactions/shop… while I agree some of the prices are really up there for digital cosmetics compared to other games, the fact that you pay money and get exactly what you want no gambling/loot-boxes and it is 100% cosmetic and does not truly affect gameplay or give an advantage ( it doesn’t make you harder to hit, doesn’t make your weapon do more damage, doesn’t change hitboxes in any way) then a small adjustment to the price is really all that is needed. Rather than basing the price on the items rarity which is superficial and doesn’t seem to be really be based on anything, instead base it on a flat price/price based on equip region. And at the end of the day the community is not forced to buy the shop items, the community may want to but they are not forced to. Exception to this is the battle pass which is 9.99 to unlock. For a game that is free 9.99 one time purchase that adds value to your experience is not a bad price point. The only thing I would change is maybe make it not progress so fast that people are finishing it in 2 months, instead add goals in between level up award challenge skips or make challenges award the challenge skips. Also not give the option of buying your way through it that way if you saw someone with the best armor which is at the end you wouldn’t think they spent money you would think oh they are a good player putting hours into the game that way people doing the same wouldn’t feel that their progress/achievements were meaningless since you have seen the armor you worked so hard to get thousands of times in the first 3 weeks.
Things they did right:
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The gunplay feels amazing when the connection is good and behaves very similar to halo 2/3 days which is great.
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The campaign… IMO the campaign on legendary/heroic is pretty darn good especially on legendary because it is actually hard to beat. The storyline seems to be going in a way better direction when compared to halo 4/5 and is seems left open so the campaign can receive updates later and be expanded. Tying the campaign into multiplayer with multiplayer rewards just like in halo 3 was a nice touch.
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Listening to the overall community, this game feels much closer to halo 2 and 3 which for long time halo fans, including myself, have been asking for since the launch of halo reach and begging for since halo 4 and 5.
While 343 is being quiet now I am sure everything will pick up at the start of the new year and the game will receive progressively larger updates and fixes to both software and server side hardware. My educated guess is February/March updates will start… common practice at Microsoft (343 is a Microsoft studio), going back to halo 2 days maybe longer, is to work really hard and put in extra hours all year then 3/4 of the company takes 11/24-1/2 as vacation with at most one or two people left per team to fix things in the case of an emergency (IE a service goes down). Communication will likely pick up as well after their return from vacation.
(I am not a 343 employee the above is just an educated guess/speculation based on common knowledge of Microsoft Culture/Business practices and prior experience with games from Microsoft studios)