Why you want Halo XB1 to be competitive.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

It’s no secret that Halo’s prime existed when it was considered a pinnacle of competitive gaming. Any casual player can argue that they don’t want it, but the truth is? They don’t care either way. And while Halo 3 was a fan favourite and is well known for it’s competitive scene, any veteran can tell you it was riding on the coattails of Halo CE and especially Halo 2’s success, because there were several elements to the game that reduced the overall Halo skill gap. In truth, Halo 3 started the trend of diminishing Halo popularity by starting the trend of dumbing the game down. And what helped to cause this? Well it’s simple, the game became less breakable.

When fighting games were just babies, the concept of combos didn’t exist. In fact if it wasn’t for the accidental find that a glitch allowed you to chain a low-kick into a Hadouken in one of the earliest Street Fighters, Combos may never have existed. They were an accident, the core competitive mechanic of an entire genre of games was an accident. What made fighting games such competitive juggernauts in the early 90’s, to the point where some are still played very competitively to this day? The developers capitalized on this glitch, and started figuring out ways to purposefully integrate the mechanic of combos into the game.

What makes a great game competitive can be defined differently based on the game. What made Halo CE competitive? For starters the difficulty of the base game, the emphasis on teamwork and strategy > simple individual skill. But there were factors more important than that, the ways the game “broke” seriously added to the competitive value of the game, and invented Halo CE’s competitive metagame, allowing players to raise above the skill shelf of mastering their aim, strafe, and map-control based strategy.

Halo CE was capable of being broken in 2 ways known to me, as only a partially competitive natured player. The first was mostly oriented around the use of grenade and map-spawns. A player who takes the time, has the patience, and more importantly the motivation, is able to abuse grenades in several ways in Halo CE. From grenade launching, to power weapon launching, these unintentional bi-products of Halo CE’s limited physics system boosted the skill gap of the game. The map became more dynamic if you mastered your grenade angles, you could learn exactly how to get the Sniper, or the Rockets from any position on some maps, with nothing but a frag grenade. An uncompetitive/untrained player can accuse this of cheating, but it really wasn’t because anyone could learn to do it the uncompetitive player simply didn’t learn how, and their unwillingness to learn in my perfectly valid opinion put them in a position where they deserved to be defeated by players who did practice this.

The second major game break was the spawn system. Players who studied the spawn mechanics of the game could heavily manipulate where their team spawned. This was a very big deal, adding another meta to the game. And more importantly it was difficult to learn how to do. It separated the pros from the bros, it created a more dynamic level of map control than simply taking a position for it’s height/cover/field of view advantage or it’s power weapon spawn.

Possibly the most important thing Halo 2 ever did to maximize it’s success was that it maintained these broken elements. At the time, Bungie understood the benefits this gave the game, they understood that this added depth to the core game, and it helped make the game competitive, so weapon/nade launching made it’s way into Halo 2, and Halo 2’s spawn system was designed more based on friendly positioning, and less on spawning away from enemy threats.

But Halo’s growth wasn’t done there. Halo 2 accidentally included a glitch possibly even more competitively appealing: X Button Cancels, better known to the community as Button Combos. This glitch integrated a means to gain an inarguable upper hand in any combat scenario for a player wielding a BR, and more importantly several of these combos were difficult to perform on a whim in the game while maintaining control of your character’s aim. Some simpler, less powerful cancels became widely popular, such as BxB, and the Reload Cancel. While the more powerful cancels were borderline impossible to do without hours, upon hours of practice in an empty custom lobby, followed by possibly weeks/months of practice integrating it into your in-game strategy with a worthwhile success rate, such as the Quad Shot/Automatic BR combo.

The truth about these combos was that yes, they were an exploitation of a glitch, however any player who took the time and effort required to master it? They DESERVED to exploit it.

So the question is raised “What happened?”

In Halo 3, Weapon Launching was removed. “Dynamic” Spawns became a thing (which everyone hated. We all hated it, we can all admit it), and X Button Cancels were patched completely out of the game. Three of the most beloved accidental features of the franchise, all of which did nothing but add competitive depth and skill to the game, all removed. And you can see it in Halo 3’s podcasts, Bungie professing they wanted to support AR starts so the game is more accessible and fair for noobies. They reworked the ranking system to be easier to max at 50. They even slowed down the pacing of the game and increased the random factor of the staple weapon, the BR, with unnecessary bullet spread.

Halo 3 was the first Halo game designed to be uncompetitive in nature. Everyone bought and played it riding their love of Halo 2 and the hype of the Halo franchise, and the competitive community was all but disappointed. Halo tournaments weren’t as interesting to watch anymore, by the time Halo 3 was 2 years old? We could already see the franchise beginning it’s slow, very painful death.

So when you ask me, how do we make the game popular again? How do we increase the competitive value of the Halo franchise? It’s simple. Look to the past, and bring back what WORKED. You don’t necessarily have to get rid of everything new that doesn’t work, but we need what worked back. Especially what worked by allowing the game to be broken.

We need Power Weapon Launching back. We need spawns focused on friendly team positioning, and not enemy team positioning. We need button combinations turned into a purposeful feature of the game, with developers in control of how difficult they are to perform, how powerful they are, and which instances they can be used in. And for good measure, the insta-sploding mechanic on nades from Halo 3 wouldn’t hurt, that was one of the few things in Halo 3 that had competitive value. These need to be part of the reason Halo is Halo, part of the reason it is NOT every other shooter on the market. The mold needs to be re-broken by this legendary franchise. The Multiplayer Arena is a competitive video game, and needs to be treated as that. It doesn’t need to make sense in the real world, it doesn’t need to follow the fictional limitations of the Campaign. It needs to be treated as a video game, it exists for fun, and competition.

Bring us this, bring us back the accidental successes of the early Halo franchise, and we will give you all our money.

2

I don’t quite understand how secret button combinations added any form of fair competition to Halo 2.
I mean, the ordinary player had likely no idea such combinations even existed.
It’s like you participate in a marathon and a minority takes a secret but “legal” short cut.

Nonetheless, I understand what you are aiming for. You’ve wished that such button combinations would have been added intentionally into the next title (H3) to “increase” the competition.

However, you can play chess just regularly and it is highly competitive but you can also play chess while doing a handstand and add another variable of competition to the game with that.

What I am trying to say with that is that you can add specific competitive features like button combos to the game and potentially add more depth to the game with that but you easily risk to make it overly or rather unnecessarily complicated as well what can discourage people form actual playing it.

Basically, I think all you have to do to create a competitve game is building it around fairness, equality and balance and keep it rather simple (but of course not without thought).

3

> I don’t quite understand how secret button combinations added any form of fair competition to Halo 2.
> I mean, the ordinary player had likely no idea such combinations even existed.
> It’s like you participate in a marathon and a minority takes a secret but “legal” short cut.
>
> Nonetheless, I understand what you are aiming for. You’ve wished that such button combinations would have been added intentionally into the next title (H3) to “increase” the competition.
>
> However, you can play chess just regularly and it is highly competitive but you can also play chess while doing a handstand and add another variable of competition to the game with that.
>
> What I am trying to say with that is that you can add specific competitive features like button combos to the game and potentially add more depth to the game with that but you easily risk to make it overly or rather unnecessarily complicated as well what can discourage people form actual playing it.
>
> Basically, I think all you have to do to create a competitve game is building it around fairness, equality and balance and keep it rather simple (but of course not without thought).

The difference here is in what attracted the crowds to the game to start off. Chess was never a broken game, it always had the same set rules from the time it became popularized, to where it is today. If Halo CE for instance was the only Halo game, Nade tricks, and Spawn exploits would be considered just as much a part of the game as the Queen is in chess. It would exist within the rules and boundaries of the game.

As it stands? Halo 4 is grossly overcomplicated, but by unfair features. Sure anyone can take a Hardlight and Snipe, but not everyone on the map can do that at a time and it’s the chaos created by having far too many different choices that overcomplicates the game.

Integrating these features would have to make them up-front to the players. We all knew with just a little bit of gameplay in campaign that when you throw nades and there are weapons lying around they fly about. That gave us the knowledge we needed to learn how to control the direction and distance they fly.

Spawns were slightly harder to figure out, but because we all knew we could respawn and were by extension able to recognize trends in the system, we were able to learn exactly how to manipulate it.

When it came to the combos, it is true they were kind of “secret” in Halo 2 at first, but that was true for every player. Once people figured them out, news of combos spread like wildfire and before the end of Halo 2’s first year it was common knowledge that you could BxR.

However, these changes would be INTENTIONAL by the developers, not necessarily hidden. Combos would be made purposeful and visible. They would be mentioned in the game manual, and promoted in Trailers/ViDocs pre-game release. That way everyone has the doorway they need to start learning how to use them, it’s just a matter of actually learning it.

There are two kinds of complexity in a game. Depth, and Chaos. I’d opt to take Depth of complexity over Chaos, Chaos implies that the complexity is out of the player’s hands. In that it’s the complexity caused by every other player on the battlefield having several different abilities and weapons creating circumstances where you don’t know what to expect. Depth implies that the game has added layers you can learn and progress through. By practicing and learning about the game, it allows you to “Level Up” (not as an in-game mechanic, but as a player.)

The point I’m trying to make here, is to have these accidental, but incredible game mechanics be maintained through the series. Make them a part of the chess game. One thing that separates this from the more chaotic features of Halo 4, is that every player on the map has the ability to do it at any point in time. They don’t have to die and respawn to choose the right gear (which probably won’t be as useful because the opportunity to use it already passed). Every single player on the map has the power to use it at any given time.

4

I didn’t have Xbox LIVE until Halo 3.
So my experience with Halo 2 MP is limited.

By weapon launches, do you mean throwing a nade at a weapon and getting it to come to you?
Because I did that in Halo 3.
Most commonly, I’d toss a nade up to Sniper on Construct and have it drop down to me.

I agree that some glitches can be beneficial to competitive play.
For example, in Halo 4, I took the time to master the super-nade throw.
Though it wasn’t very difficult, it took skill to do the trick and aim well.
I used it to stick vehicles from a distance with Plasma Grenades.
So I welcome button combos returning.

5

> I didn’t have Xbox LIVE until Halo 3.
> So my experience with Halo 2 MP is limited.
>
> By weapon launches, do you mean throwing a nade at a weapon and getting it to come to you?
> Because I did that in Halo 3.
> Most commonly, I’d toss a nade up to Sniper spawn on Narrows and have it drop down to me.
>
> I agree that some glitches can be beneficial to competitive play.
> For example, in Halo 4, I took the time to master the super-nade throw.
> Though it wasn’t very difficult, it took skill to do the trick and aim well.
> I used it to stick vehicles from a distance with Plasma Grenades.
> So I welcome button combos returning.

It was still in the game, but it was heavily limited. All the weapons had a lot less weight and travelled far less distance in the air.

Super Nades really was a good thing. It was hard to do and master, but it gave you a clear advantage if you mastered it. And not everyone was able to do it, but the only reason for that was they didn’t practice it. I would probably count that as a Cancel, as it involved using a combo to cancel your sprint animation into the nade throw. It wasn’t easy to do on it’s own, and it was even harder to do in-game to any beneficial effect. You had to know how and when it would benefit you to use it, and not mess up your aim when you do.

6

I definitely agree with what you’re saying–that competitive depth is worth more than randomness/chaos and “stuff”:

> PvP in a competitive, skillful game contains much more replay value and a type of fun that is appropriate for everyone whether they’re casual, competitive, skillful, or immersive.
>
> That is why previous Halo games were so successful: they had just the right combinations of competitive and accessible.

But button combos? The most boring and repetitive gameplay mechanic in the history of video games? I’m hoping you’re just using that as an example.

7

> The difference here is in what attracted the crowds to the game to start off. Chess was never a broken game, it always had the same set rules from the time it became popularized, to where it is today. If Halo CE for instance was the only Halo game, Nade tricks, and Spawn exploits would be considered just as much a part of the game as the Queen is in chess. It would exist within the rules and boundaries of the game.
>
> As it stands? Halo 4 is grossly overcomplicated, but by unfair features. Sure anyone can take a Hardlight and Snipe, but not everyone on the map can do that at a time and it’s the chaos created by having far too many different choices that overcomplicates the game.
>
> Integrating these features would have to make them up-front to the players. We all knew with just a little bit of gameplay in campaign that when you throw nades and there are weapons lying around they fly about. That gave us the knowledge we needed to learn how to control the direction and distance they fly.
>
> Spawns were slightly harder to figure out, but because we all knew we could respawn and were by extension able to recognize trends in the system, we were able to learn exactly how to manipulate it.
>
> When it came to the combos, it is true they were kind of “secret” in Halo 2 at first, but that was true for every player. Once people figured them out, news of combos spread like wildfire and before the end of Halo 2’s first year it was common knowledge that you could BxR.
>
> However, these changes would be INTENTIONAL by the developers, not necessarily hidden. Combos would be made purposeful and visible. They would be mentioned in the game manual, and promoted in Trailers/ViDocs pre-game release. That way everyone has the doorway they need to start learning how to use them, it’s just a matter of actually learning it.
>
> There are two kinds of complexity in a game. Depth, and Chaos. I’d opt to take Depth of complexity over Chaos, Chaos implies that the complexity is out of the player’s hands. In that it’s the complexity caused by every other player on the battlefield having several different abilities and weapons creating circumstances where you don’t know what to expect. Depth implies that the game has added layers you can learn and progress through. By practicing and learning about the game, it allows you to “Level Up” (not as an in-game mechanic, but as a player.)
>
> The point I’m trying to make here, is to have these accidental, but incredible game mechanics be maintained through the series. Make them a part of the chess game. One thing that separates this from the more chaotic features of Halo 4, is that every player on the map has the ability to do it at any point in time. They don’t have to die and respawn to choose the right gear (which probably won’t be as useful because the opportunity to use it already passed). Every single player on the map has the power to use it at any given time.

I think “Attraction” and “Learning” are the keywords here. But I get to that later.

I agree that the CE features were “fairly” to learn (hence I did not address them), especially weapon launching, since that is basically the result of mastering aiming and timing.
It is very unlikely though that a player was aware of the secret button combos though, unless he/she or friends of him/her was/were involved in specific communities.

However, once you implement such features intentionally that issue is solved of course.

Now, I am only afraid that when adding too many deciding and complex features the player would have too much to learn aside the basics (aiming, strafing, map knowledge etc.) what can result that the game becomes unattractive to many people because it could become too difficult to pick up and even harder to master it or at least get decent at it (just like math for many people :P).

8

Thumbs up to the OP. I saw someone say it in another thread and I really agreed with it “A competitive game can be played casually, but a casual game cannot be played competitively”. This is so insanely true. Very competitive games like Starcraft, League of Legends, previous Halos, and virtually all sports are designed to be competitively played, but are also enjoyed by people that are not playing them competitively.

One of the great things that was always awesome about Halo to me was how simple it really was and the only way to be good was to be creative in how you played. I felt like it opened up your imagination and forced you to think. This is something that I have very rarely ever felt in other games. Super Smash Bros obtained this feature and so did many of the Halo games. I still believe that all of the Halo games have had this, but it has been slightly diminished with each installment. Each has become more complicated. In Halo 4, we don’t even have enough buttons on the 360 controller for all the commands (try switching grenades while you have an ordinance ready).

I think that all of the Halo games are still great at their cores, but they tend to have more and more crap in the way. Try playing stripped down versions of them for like a week or two and see how much better they are. MLG’s no bloom no sprint version of Halo Reach is literally one of the best versions of Halo in my opinion, but it is basically a completely different game from default Halo Reach. I am pretty sure that if the game would have originally released like that, it would have been much more successful, not have gotten such a bad reputation, and Halo 4 would have ended up moving in a much better direction.

Also, I have always kind of liked the idea of game developers releasing a game with button glitch type things. The first Gears of War had that reloading things where you could reload faster if you were good enough, but made your reload slower if you messed up. That was a little too simplistic I think, but the same basic idea could work. If they looked to old glitches from the Halo universe and tried to purposely implement them… that would be incredible. If they need help knowing which ones because they were not “in the know”, they have employees that will for sure (Bravo, Neighbor, and Dersky). These guys all played Halo at the highest levels and know what could make these game great again, use them to their full potential.

9

I can agree with you on the physics when tossing a grenade in the right way. However, I disagree with you on the spawning issues and the button combos in Halo 2 that I was glad to see gone in Halo 3.

For the Spawning:

Games become more predictable once the spawning groove gets going. When it becomes too simplified, its all a matter of positioning and teamshooting. Should the better player be rewarded with an easier time on the field? Yes. But not this easy.

For the Button Combos:

The button combo in Halo 2 broke any resemblence of weapon balance in Halo 2. Not only that, it broke any real sense of combat that was originally established in Halo 1: Lengthy fights where the better person either was better prepared, or was the better shot.

Button combos broke that idea, and lead to players relying soley on one gun, reducing the game down to a 1-gun show. Why should I want a weapon that takes 2 seconds to kill a player, where I can have this gun that makes it feel like SWAT 24/7, regardless of any playlist I’m in?

Finally, Button Combos broke one big thing about Halo: It was easy to pick up, but hard to master. Button Combos are NOT easy to pick up, and often times frustrating. Can a person eventually learn it? Yes. But then the game loses its identity because of it.

I’m ok with the grenade launching. It’s something everyone can pick up and do, without breaking the game. But the Button Combos and Crappy Spawning is something I draw the line on and disagree with. We got motion sensors to help search for enemies, and button combos simply don’t fit into Halo’s formula at all. I’m much more in favor of a dynamic spawning and a larger viable weapon pool over those two. Halo can be competitive without those two.

10

> > I don’t quite understand how secret button combinations added any form of fair competition to Halo 2.
> > I mean, the ordinary player had likely no idea such combinations even existed.
> > It’s like you participate in a marathon and a minority takes a secret but “legal” short cut.
> >
> > Nonetheless, I understand what you are aiming for. You’ve wished that such button combinations would have been added intentionally into the next title (H3) to “increase” the competition.
> >
> > However, you can play chess just regularly and it is highly competitive but you can also play chess while doing a handstand and add another variable of competition to the game with that.
> >
> > What I am trying to say with that is that you can add specific competitive features like button combos to the game and potentially add more depth to the game with that but you easily risk to make it overly or rather unnecessarily complicated as well what can discourage people form actual playing it.
> >
> > Basically, I think all you have to do to create a competitve game is building it around fairness, equality and balance and keep it rather simple (but of course not without thought).
>
> The difference here is in what attracted the crowds to the game to start off. Chess was never a broken game, it always had the same set rules from the time it became popularized, to where it is today. If Halo CE for instance was the only Halo game, Nade tricks, and Spawn exploits would be considered just as much a part of the game as the Queen is in chess. It would exist within the rules and boundaries of the game.
>
> As it stands? Halo 4 is grossly overcomplicated, but by unfair features. Sure anyone can take a Hardlight and Snipe, but not everyone on the map can do that at a time and <mark>it’s the chaos created by having far too many different choices that overcomplicates the game.</mark>
>
> Integrating these features would have to make them up-front to the players. We all knew with just a little bit of gameplay in campaign that when you throw nades and there are weapons lying around they fly about. That gave us the knowledge we needed to learn how to control the direction and distance they fly.
>
> Spawns were slightly harder to figure out, but because we all knew we could respawn and were by extension able to recognize trends in the system, we were able to learn exactly how to manipulate it.
>
> When it came to the combos, it is true they were kind of “secret” in Halo 2 at first, but that was true for every player. Once people figured them out, news of combos spread like wildfire and before the end of Halo 2’s first year it was common knowledge that you could BxR.
>
> However, these changes would be INTENTIONAL by the developers, not necessarily hidden. Combos would be made purposeful and visible. They would be mentioned in the game manual, and promoted in Trailers/ViDocs pre-game release. That way everyone has the doorway they need to start learning how to use them, it’s just a matter of actually learning it.
>
> There are two kinds of complexity in a game. Depth, and Chaos. I’d opt to take Depth of complexity over Chaos, Chaos implies that the complexity is out of the player’s hands. In that it’s the complexity caused by every other player on the battlefield having several different abilities and weapons creating circumstances where you don’t know what to expect. Depth implies that the game has added layers you can learn and progress through. By practicing and learning about the game, it allows you to “Level Up” (not as an in-game mechanic, but as a player.)
>
> The point I’m trying to make here, is to have these accidental, but incredible game mechanics be maintained through the series. Make them a part of the chess game. One thing that separates this from the more chaotic features of Halo 4, is that every player on the map has the ability to do it at any point in time. They don’t have to die and respawn to choose the right gear (which probably won’t be as useful because the opportunity to use it already passed). Every single player on the map has the power to use it at any given time.

Indeed. 5 needs to have some fat trimmed from 4, but not be as bland as 3.

11

> I can agree with you on the physics when tossing a grenade in the right way. However, I disagree with you on the spawning issues and the button combos in Halo 2 that I was glad to see gone in Halo 3.
>
>
> For the Spawning:
>
> Games become more predictable once the spawning groove gets going. When it becomes too simplified, its all a matter of positioning and teamshooting. Should the better player be rewarded with an easier time on the field? Yes. But not this easy.
>
> For the Button Combos:
>
> The button combo in Halo 2 broke any resemblence of weapon balance in Halo 2. Not only that, it broke any real sense of combat that was originally established in Halo 1: Lengthy fights where the better person either was better prepared, or was the better shot.
>
> Button combos broke that idea, and lead to players relying soley on one gun, reducing the game down to a 1-gun show. Why should I want a weapon that takes 2 seconds to kill a player, where I can have this gun that makes it feel like SWAT 24/7, regardless of any playlist I’m in?
>
>
> Finally, Button Combos broke one big thing about Halo: It was easy to pick up, but hard to master. Button Combos are NOT easy to pick up, and often times frustrating. Can a person eventually learn it? Yes. But then the game loses its identity because of it.
>
>
>
> I’m ok with the grenade launching. It’s something everyone can pick up and do, without breaking the game. But the Button Combos and Crappy Spawning is something I draw the line on and disagree with. We got motion sensors to help search for enemies, and button combos simply don’t fit into Halo’s formula at all. I’m much more in favor of a dynamic spawning and a larger viable weapon pool over those two. Halo can be competitive without those two.

I think that you are overestimating the power of the glitches from H2. It was impossible to ever achieve a one shot kill with the BR even if you BXR’d or quad shot. While those may have deemphasized some guns, it could never replace them. A sniper, rockets, sword, shotgun, etc… were all still FAR more deadly at their intended range because they had the one hit kill ability unlike the BR. The difference with this though is that using those power weapons required more skill because a little mistake meant you were probably done (same went for using the glitches though). This is similar to zero bloom reach. Does it make the DMR become WAY more powerful without bloom? Yes. Does it replace the power weapons? No, but it does require you to be more precise with those power weapons. Also, H1 had glitches like the double melee too btw.

12

> I think that you are overestimating the power of the glitches from H2. It was impossible to ever achieve a one shot kill with the BR even if you BXR’d or quad shot. While those may have deemphasized some guns, it could never replace them. A sniper, rockets, sword, shotgun, etc… were all still FAR more deadly at their intended range because they had the one hit kill ability unlike the BR. The difference with this though is that using those power weapons required more skill because a little mistake meant you were probably done (same went for using the glitches though). This is similar to zero bloom reach. Does it make the DMR become WAY more powerful without bloom? Yes. Does it replace the power weapons? No, but it does require you to be more precise with those power weapons. Also, H1 had glitches like the double melee too btw.

And you are confirming why I hate them. Note that it is now completely limited to Power Weaponry, over having a pool of weapons that can be used to help the player, resulting into a one gun show the majority of the time. Again, what’s the point of the SMG now? The Carbine? The Plasma Rifles and Magnums? We went from needing strafing, positioning, and aiming with a bunch of weapons to a button combination and a BR.

That isn’t the Halo multiplayer I remembered back in 2001. That is a downgrade to me, and one that never made much sense to begin with.

I never had issues in Halo 1. Even if I did find glitches in the game, we wouldn’t be using them to gain an advantage over each other. We played by the rules, unlike enough people on the MM system that got me to quit what was actually a decent game on Xbox Live at the time.

13

One thing that made halo multiplayer great was that it offered competitive and casual play, you don’t want a game to be too competitive focused or you get a train-wreck like call of duty were people use cheap tactics to get the kill and leads to frustrating and not wanting to play the game. Competitive gaming introduces itself into games most of the time anyway because if the game is fun people will want to play more and more and get better at it and that’s why casual gaming is important as well, it helps people take those first few steps into the game :slight_smile:

14

Halo 2 had it fair share of problems. The hitscan weapon system was immensely easier than projectile based systems that halo ce and 3 had. And while you can argue that the random spread of halo 3 lowered the skill gap, it kept combat tight and encouraged map movement. Halo 2 also had High bullet magnetism and more aim assist than halo 3, which made getting kills easier.

You could make the argument that button combos were competitive, but they really didn’t take that much skill. I literally watched a video on how to do it, and was able to replicate it in no time. Although that was me. Point is, it was pressing a sequence of buttons to win, not actually playing the game.

Only certain playlists had ar starts, which were in the social section. The br starts, and generally more competitive settings were located in the competitive section, halo 3 easily had enough or both, and I know for a fact that the competitive community wasn’t disappointed with halo 3. I remember seeing tournaments everywhere, and many current pros started in halo 3. It’s settings only needed slight tweaking, just like halo 2s did.

If anything halo 3 achieved the perfect balance of casual and competitive, it was reach that threw it out of balance, but still accommodated, then halo 4 just said F the competitive players.

Halo 3 is also the most popular halo game to date, being the only one to have over one billion matches played, which was played by pro players I believe.

15

You lay the blame for the decline of Halo solely on the feat of the game being “dumbed down” and that the game was less “breakable” and that it had less button combos to perform. I can’t buy that. I don’t see any evidence for it. At least most of that.

Sure, I can see the dumbing of the game as one of several factors that contributed to Halo’s demise. In my mind Halo’s decline wasn’t due to a singular event. It was due to a multitude of factors. Chief amongst them is the absolute horrible handling of H4. After that? Age. The mechanics are dated and old by current standards and the features that Halo pioneered aren’t bringing any bang for the buck anymore. Not to mention that the franchise is marching towards being two decades old. The players that started with Halo are now into their prime adult years. Forming families, working their jobs.

Sure, bringing back weapon launching and revamping the spawning system is all well and good. But I can’t believe that they and button combos alone are going to pull the franchise along by themselves. It’s just too ridiculous in my mind.

16

> “A competitive game can be played casually, but a casual game cannot be played competitively”

Someone should be hired at 343 to walk around holding a sign with that saying. I’ve made countless threads in the past(dating all the way back to early Halo 3 days) explaining this exact thing. You can’t expect competitive players to stick around with a game offer such small amounts of competitiveness. Casuals won’t even stick around for a casual game either.

Casual is exactly as it sounds. Casually play a game a handful of times and never pick it up again. This is why Halo’s population has been on the decline. When you cater a game to casuals you’re catering your game to a crowd that isn’t going to play the game as often and is going to put it down for any other new casual games. If you make your game competitive players will play it religiously for years on end. Even casual players like to win and have meaning in winning. Most modern games it’s a toss up of who’s going to win and everyone ends up a loser. What is the fun in winning a coin flip?

Halo needs to stop being such a game of chance and more of a game of wits. It has to start with the first Halo on Xbox One and maintain it throughout this gen. I’ve been saying this since late Halo 3. If the next Halo is another step in the casual direction Halo is dead. This time I think I’m sure of it.

It also needs to start off good at launch. Patching/fixing the game to be more competitive isn’t the answer. Most people base their opinions on launch feedback. Ship a game in bad quality and it’s population is going to stay bad. If 343 wants their game to be strong and stay strong it needs to start strong. I don’t want Halo to die so I really hope they don’t botch this one…

17

> Casual is exactly as it sounds. Casually play a game a handful of times and never pick it up again.

Were these types of players even a substantial part of the population? Are they relevant to the conversation?

They would have left early on and they seemingly did as the population started to drop early on. But I’m hesitant to call the people leaving after a week casuals, or the ones leaving a month later.

> If you make your game competitive players will play it religiously for years on end.

That seems inaccurate given how even with dropping critic reviews and growing hatred from now former players, CoD is still the juggernaught of FPS MPs. It’s about as far removed from competitive as you can get.

18

> > Casual is exactly as it sounds. Casually play a game a handful of times and never pick it up again.
>
> Were these types of players even a substantial part of the population?

Nope, which is why it was a bad idea to design a game for them.

19

> > > Casual is exactly as it sounds. Casually play a game a handful of times and never pick it up again.
> >
> > Were these types of players even a substantial part of the population?
>
> Nope, which is why it was a bad idea to design a game for them.

They wanted to bring in MORE players by making it more casual, it backfired horribly though.

20

I will admit that for there are plenty of very casual players that will pretty much just play each game a little bit then move on to the next one. Those are not the people that you should cater to because they will likely buy the game anyway and then move on.

There are plenty of casual people that do stick around and play games frequently as well. Halo has always had those. However, they will not stick around and play a game that they don’t like, and that is what happened with H4. There was a blatant copy of things from other games that are just not implemented well into Halo and drive it away from its’ core. It cannot walk this line and be successful. Halo 4 is that proof.

Competitive people will not stick around for a game that is not balanced, and they are the ones that will literally sink years of playing time into a game because they want to be the best they can in a game that is difficult to master.

One of the key things that went wrong in H4 was the obvious movement away from the core gameplay, but I think that this caused a removal of creativity in gameplay. I felt like there were so many more scenarios that promoted creativity in your gameplay that arose in past Halo games. Things like sprint, no flag dropping, constant flag indicator, throwing the oddball an incredible distance, slow base movement speed, perks, AAs, etc… All of these things limit how much creativity have to be used in game. Many of them may sound like they open up options for creativity like the perks or AAs or ball throwing or sprint, but really don’t.

One of the things that is great about even starts is that everyone literally has the same things to work with in front of them and the only way to separate yourself from the rest is through creativity and knowledge of the game. Perks, loadouts, and AAs (aside from not being balanced) literally remove the creativity required to do things in game. If I have a JetPack, why do I need to be creative to get back to the guy I just fought when I can shoot straight up into the sky and finish him off? If I have Camo, why I do I need to be creative in getting to the other team’s setup when I can just turn that on and walk straight over? If I have Explosives perk on, why do I need to be creative to throw my grenade on a guy that is hiding in a tricky spot when that extra damage will kill him? If I have Dexterity, why do I need to be creative to be able to reload my rocket launcher while I am one shot and being chased, when they will reload in a split second? I never have the option to creatively sneaky run the flag because there is an indicator above my head at all times. If a person is running my flag, I don’t need to use my brain or teamwork to figure out where they are, I can always see them. If I am in a confrontation that I am losing or get caught in a bad position, why would I ever need to be that creative and use my map knowledge to get away when I can just sprint away? Then, the only things that he can do is sprint after me while not being able to shoot so I get my shields back or attempt to shoot while I get away.

All of these things and more really remove the creativity of how a person must play. That is why people in sports and other great games have to be creative. They all begin with essentially the same things and must use only their skill and creativity to outshine the rest. That is what used to make Halo so great. It forced you to think all the time and made you want to get good because you were either seeking a rank to show off to your friends or just had internal challenges.

That is why Halo needs to be competitive.