ALL HALO FANS!!!! ANYONE CONCERNED WITH THE CURRENT STATE OF HALO 4.

[ISTRAFED UP0NI]

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I am so frustrated with Halo 4’s Multiplayer…there I said it.

 

Halo 4 as a Game is fantastic, the Campaign, Spartan Ops, Forge, Multiplayer and its overall feature set as a Triple A title are amongst the very best in the Gaming industry and in terms of value for money and what you are getting for your £40 investment you really can’t ask for more. BUT as a Hardcore fan of the series, someone that has been playing Halo now for well over 11 years, someone that has put in years of playtime into the series, and someone that normally doesn’t put down the current Halo title till the next one arises why is it that I haven’t played the game for more than a couple Games since early December?

 

Let me explain.

 

Since Halo 3 this series has not been the same. All of the aspects that made Halo interesting as a Multiplayer title have been ripped from it, and in there place stand half measured, poorly implemented and unnecessary features that do very little to add to the experience and do a lot more to hinder the core Gameplay than anything else.

 

Innovation, new ideas and moving on I am all for. Hell I don’t want to see a carbon copy of a Game I was playing back in 2007 and 2004, but the core basics of those Games, the reason I became a fan of the Multiplayer, the reason I continued to play hour after hour, day after day, week after week was because of the core Gameplay was near perfect.

 

Halo 4’s Multiplayer for me does nothing.

 

Since its launch like Halo Reach before it we have all been waiting, waiting for the time when Halo will finally be good again, finally will not have the issues that we have been mentioning since the launch of Reach. Before Halo 4 launched you didn’t have to look far to see what the fans wanted:

 

Solid Maps and a in Game Ranking System reminiscent of the 1 through 50 system

 

The Game launches with quite possibly the poorest array of Maps in the series to date and on top of that no Ranking System to boot. For the first month this is an issue that can be overlooked, this is an issue that you can put down to launch day or if you are feeling generous, launch window teething problems, but three almost four months into launch and we are still playing Haven? Give me a break…

 

The Map issue is an easy fix and the new Forge Testing playlist is a step in the right direction to remedying that, but why has it taken almost three months for this to be implemented and what was the point in the Game launching with three pre made maps on the disk and then not implementing them into Matchmaking? And why wasn’t or hasn’t forge been implemented at all into the core basics of Matchmaking? Are they scared of the possibility of creating the same mistakes that Reach made?

 

As I mentioned the Map issue is something that hopefully in the near future will be solved, and Map preference changes from one person to the next so I may be being picky/harsh on the Maps that are currently available on disk.

 

But the one thing you simply can not cover up is the lack of Ranking system, which was easily the number 1 most requested feature prior to the launch of Halo 4. Was THE reason Halo Reach, the Game that had 1 Million people playing it at one time was reduced to less than 150,000 recurring players within a couple months from launch.

 

CSR is going to be implemented from April 2013 on Halo Waypoint.

 

Why?…just why?

 

I know very little people that even go on Halo Waypoint at all, I only visit the site to check the weekly bulletin, and I certainly won’t be visiting the site Game after Game to keep checking to see if I have ranked up. For me this is a huge waste of time, effort, resources and is just another of the many things that have stacked up above and beyond as to why Halo 4’s Multiplayer experience is in the sorry state that it is.

The whole point in a Ranking system is to keep you playing

• Its there to encourage you to get better
  
  
• Its there to encourage you to play more to get that next rank
  
  
• its there for bragging rights
  
  
• Its there to correctly match up players based on Skill accurately
  

The system that is being implemented right now from what I can understand is no more than another BPR. The same system that I only realised existed on Halo Reach 3 months before Halo 4 launched.

 

If the Ranking system is not in Game it is pointless and will not offer the community anything, will not benefit the Game in any way and would just be a waste of your time, effort and resources.

 

So on top of that no beta, a poor array of maps, no spectator mode, plenty of glitches, badly implemented features, featherweight playlists, a poor forge Pallet and design capabilities and lacking Custom Game options are just a handful of Halo 4’s problems when it comes to its Multiplayer offering. As you can probably tell this game is not going to fix itself over night and again backs up numerous claims that in the modern era a Public Beta is essential to creating a balanced Multiplayer offering.

 

For Halo 4 to succeed so many features need tuning, features adding and core basics revising for it to truly meet its potential.

 

I want this game to succeed, I really do, I want to be playing this Game till 5 am in the morning, I want this Game to be the success it should have been from launch!

 

There are far too many issues and problems that need amending to make it the Game it should be, but in terms of core mechanics and basics these are my main gripes and issues:

 

1) Map variety - Three months into the Game lifespan and still all you seem to play is Haven. The forge test playlist is a good start but a Map cycle of 8-10 Maps per playlist would greatly improve the Map rotation issue, its not the fact people don’t want to play Haven, its that they don’t want to play it all the time.

 

2) Ranking System - This needs to be implemented in Game, there is no point wasting time and resources implementing it via the web, why? As there is no way of knowing your about to level up in Game, there is no visual representation in Game, will be no ranked playlist, and therefore the system will be pointless.

 

3) Playlists - The playlists right now are a farce if I am honest. We need multi tiered playlists, and where is the playlist for those that do not like Infinity Rules that was promised?

We need to see the return of:

 

Rumble Pit - Slayer, Infinity FFA Slayer, Crazy King, Oddball, Regicide.

- No Instant Respawns

- No personal Ordnance other than Infinity FFA rules.

- Remove Regicide stand alone playlist

 

Team Doubles - Slayer, Infinity Doubles, CTF, Oddball, Crazy King.

 

Team Snipers - Slayer.

 

Team Slayer - Slayer BR’s, Slayer DMR’s, Team Slayer Classic.

- Pure Team Slayer

- No Instant respawn

- No Ordnance

- Set Weapon Spawns

- No AA’s

- AA’s are pick-ups only

 

Team Objective

- Merge CTF, Oddball, KOTH, Dominion and Extraction into one playlist, solves all the population issues that are now becoming present with these playlists.

*If possible bring back Assault

 

Big Team Battle - Big Team Slayer, Big Team Infinity Slayer, CTF, Crazy King, Extraction

 

4) Bug fixes and Balance tweaks

 

- Boltshot and DMR

 

But most importantly we need more COMMUNICATION

 

BS Angel does her damn best, without her this Game would be far worse off and the fans would most likely be rioting right now…

 

There are 300+ members of 343 industries and to my knowledge the only people we ever hear about core Gameplay tweaks fixes and issues is through Jess and sometimes through David Ellis and now Bravo.

 

We need a more constant stream of information, the weekly bulletins are great, the job Jess does is fantastic but she needs help, the community is far far too big and segregated for one person to be able to answer and respond to each of the many communities within Halo.

 

Utilising Halo Council, MLG, Youtube, Twitter, facebook, all aspects of social media and reaching out to the community in the same way David Vonderhaar does for Treyarc would be the perfect model to follow.

 

If the fans know they have a voice and feel like they are getting listened too, even if it is a simple no, or a one word statement, or a witty comment on Twitter to provoke discussion over a proposed Gameplay enhancement/nerf, anything is better than nothing.

 

These are just a handful of the changes I would like to see and would need to see implemented if I want to get back to any state of playing Halo anything like I used to again.

 

I like 343 I really do, for there first Game for the most part the Campaign delivering a unique and personal tale far different from any of the previous Games, Spartan Ops though started slow has shown vast improvement, has been a success. But for me the Multiplayer has been a colossal failure and without these changes being implemented and quick with the overall population of the Game dropping by the day, massive Triple A titles launching such as Gears of War Judgement within a couple months and then the likelihood of the new Xbox come the fall of the year, Halo 4 could be dead and buried within a year, something I do not and can not allow to happen.

 

For the sake of the series, and the sake of the community please 343 address some of these issues and lets make this Game a success together!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

- Paul

 

My Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/paul0991

My Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/paulb0991

 

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Here is a link to the original post:

http://thechief117.t...o-4-multiplayer

Paul's Blog.

 

Everything this guy Blogged is pure gold, it's golden........

[Real Talk]

"So on top of that no beta, a poor array of maps, no spectator mode, plenty of glitches, badly implemented features, featherweight playlists, a poor forge Pallet and design capabilities and lacking Custom Game options are just a handful of Halo 4’s problems when it comes to its Multiplayer offering. As you can probably tell this game is not going to fix itself over night and again backs up numerous claims that in the modern era a Public Beta is essential to creating a balanced Multiplayer offering."

 

This paragraph stood out for me. It honestly just seems like they needed more time with this game. Most these issues I am sure would be solved if they had more time. Instead we are made to wait for the playlists everyone has asked for from the start. And the CSR update being pushed a few more months just proves that they were not ready. Nice find Strafe.

[TornadoFlame]

a very good read i beleive this game took a few months then this might have been one golden game.

[SuperIntendant]

"So on top of that no beta, a poor array of maps, no spectator mode, plenty of glitches, badly implemented features, featherweight playlists, a poor forge Pallet and design capabilities and lacking Custom Game options are just a handful of Halo 4’s problems when it comes to its Multiplayer offering. As you can probably tell this game is not going to fix itself over night and again backs up numerous claims that in the modern era a Public Beta is essential to creating a balanced Multiplayer offering."

 

This paragraph stood out for me. It honestly just seems like they needed more time with this game. Most these issues I am sure would be solved if they had more time. Instead we are made to wait for the playlists everyone has asked for from the start. And the CSR update being pushed a few more months just proves that they were not ready. Nice find Strafe.

Exactly, the game just feels unfinished in just about every area. I think there is blame everywhere, Microsoft should have learned by now that strict deadlines kill games and 343i should have seen that they only had x amount of time to make the game and with that in mind should have made sure that at least all of the basic features were in the game.

 

The fact that a TU hasn't been put to fix this yet is also really worrying. I think the problem is that the studio is having internal problems, like they don't really know how to work together as a team yet. That would explain why it's taking so long to do what should be pretty simple things.

[Kiing 0f Coffe]

When 343 said ranked playlists were coming in April, it pushed me over the edge, I'm fed up with 343 not fixing ANYTHING in the first 3 months. The only thing they've fixed are a few glitches, they haven't fixed balance, they haven't fixed BS ordinance, they haven't fixed kill cams, they haven't even implemented something that I was looking foward to from day 1, waited for in this recent patch, and didn't release when they first made the game even though it was supposed to come with it, Ranked playlists, now I have to wait 3 MORE MONTHS!?!?!? I'm fed up. 343 has a team of 300, surely a team of 300 can be split into 3 factions. Lore, Halo 4, and Halo 5. Halo 4 should then be split into , campaign, multiplayer. Multiplayer should then be split into multiplayer balance, glitch fixing, and ideal matchmaking. So lets see how many can be put into blance. 300/3= 100-2=50/3= 16.66666666666666666666666666 rounds down to 16. They can have 16 people in weapon balance, they can handpick a variety of balancing thinkers to argue about common debates such as the DMR and the boltshot. Or, they could stretch it a little by then spliting it into debates, how many common debates are going on now? Lets see here, DMR vs BR, Boltshot, Fully automatic weapons having no place in the game, and power weapon balance. That makes 4 people to argue about debates, and to come with a conclusion that the DMR is OP. Or that Full auto weapons do have a place in the game, or that camo is UP or whatever. I'd think that a team of 4 professional game developers could come up with obvious conclusions such as the DMR is OP. If you research the subject, you should recognize its OP immediatly.

 

My problem with 343 right now is that it seems that they're not taking advantage of their studio. Are 250 game developers on vacation or something? Because it seems like their whole studio except like 2 people are working on Halo 5. This is the reason I'm not happy.

[ISTRAFED UP0NI]

they haven't even implemented something that I was looking foward to from day 1, waited for in this recent patch, and didn't release when they first made the game even though it was supposed to come with it, Ranked playlists, now I have to wait 3 MORE MONTHS!?!?!? I'm not happy.

 

That ranking system has EVERY fan twisted.. The game needs it, plain and simple. Now they say its coming out early April, I hope it's a sick April fools joke and the ranking system is exactly what we've been asking for / needing and it ends up releasing in February like they originally hinted at... Please.

[Halogeek99]

Launch maps of Halo 4 is ten times better than the in-game **** maps of Reach. (One map excluded; Powerhouse)

 

Just saying.

 

Regarding noone working on H4; I think Microsoft said "what the **** are you doing with our money?" some months ago. Canceled things. So to speak.

 

Last thing the employees saw as they left for Xmas leave was Balmer making a brief visit to publicly T-bag Frank OConnor.

[Delpen9]

Launch maps of Halo 4 is ten times better than the in-game **** maps of Reach. (One map excluded; Powerhouse)

 

Just saying.

 

Regarding noone working on H4; I think Microsoft said "what the **** are you doing with our money?" some months ago. Canceled things. So to speak.

 

Last thing the employees saw as they left for Xmas leave was Balmer making a brief visit to publicly T-bag Frank OConnor.

I think the problem arises in corperate wealth and greed. Microsoft is running the direction of this franchise, using this as a money hog. That's where the problem arises with everything these days and I wouldn't be suprised if the stock market and the governmetn functioned off of powerful industries. Halo 4 was probably rushed to preserve money and time while in case attempting to do the bare minimum to please fans.

I doubt that 343's lack of "teamwork" has much to do with the speed the franchise is running at. For all of 343's 300 people they have an average work time in the gaming industry of 12 years. Their experiance should negate the fact that they have recently been assembled.

 

Yet again, i will say that the problem probably arises in the funding of the game and corperate wealth.

[Halogeek99]

Microsoft is busy trying to dish out bleek copies of surf pads and useless smart phones to the end consumer market instead of focusing on core it infrastructure services at the corporate level, so don't worry, they're handling their doom pretty well I'd say.

 

Oh. We were talking about Halo. Yah

 

Don't forget the XBox is also dead now man. That affects a release like Halo quite a lot. Bo2 doing **** now too. Everything is.

[HappehNinja]

Well, I don't seem to find any problems with the game... I mean it's no Halo 2, but the game seems to be like a good choice to pick from the shelves today. Sure, it might be different form said game, but it doesn't mean that it will be the same or it will be as good.

[OutGunnd]

343 don't give a ****.

[Delpen9]

Microsoft is busy trying to dish out bleek copies of surf pads and useless smart phones to the end consumer market instead of focusing on core it infrastructure services at the corporate level, so don't worry, they're handling their doom pretty well I'd say.

 

Oh. We were talking about Halo. Yah

 

Don't forget the XBox is also dead now man. That affects a release like Halo quite a lot. Bo2 doing **** now too. Everything is.

Yah, when people talk about the population of these games they don't even take into account how many of those gamers even use the xbox anymore.

[Caboose The Ace]

just wait 343 are realy tring their best with there first big halo game and theve done a great job they have big plans for 2013

 

improved team snipers

 

improved grifball

 

true skill on waypoint

 

improved team doublbles

 

improved lone wolves

 

forge maps in war games

they have so many big plans and rember halo 2 was not halo 2 when it came out was itso just wait it out adn u will not be disapointed

[Halogeek99]

Caboose. Nobody CARES. Games STONE DEAD. 343i and Microsoft should focus on next platform. If anything they could give away all map packs for free for all Halo games just to keep interest up in the franchise. I'm not sure it even has life at next level at current state to be honest.

 

 

They could put a little more effort caring about the playlists (and players coming in because of the free maps) aswell. That's all.

 

Any FakeSkill system coming up won't change a thing. Remember who said it.

[Delpen9]

Caboose. Nobody CARES. Games STONE DEAD. 343i and Microsoft should focus on next platform. If anything they could give away all map packs for free for all Halo games just to keep interest up in the franchise. I'm not sure it even has life at next level at current state to be honest.

 

 

They could put a little more effort caring about the playlists (and players coming in because of the free maps) aswell. That's all.

 

Any FakeSkill system coming up won't change a thing. Remember who said it.

I don't think you have the right to say,"no one cares" when you are only one person. I don't like people expressing an opinion for me. "No one cares," lol, get back to 6th grade

[Victory Element]

yes the game does have numerous flaws, but look on the bright side..... it can only get better now that 343i has had some criticism. It was their first halo game, and now that the major defects are pointed out, they can work to fix those and make halo 5 much more enjoyable. 343 has a lot of potential, and this was an excellent learning experience for them. Just stay positive

[Halogeek99]

Last time I checked 30k was on. No one cares. Period.

[Delpen9]

Last time I checked 30k was on. No one cares. Period.

The reason you don't like this game is because your running along with the negative hype. Every game in the market now doesn't compare to halo 4. There are normally around 85k on at a time with it lowering to 30k at late night. The game might have multiple flaws but so did halo 2. Halo 2 was going to fail until it was fixed after a series of important updates. I care so your "no one cares" is a lie....

[Halo Pony]

I think Halo 4 could have done better than this including the conditions it is in that just makes it highly worse. Great post I agree with all you say have a nice day.

[Pbrabbit]

A lot of good info and stuff here, but I do think Halo 4 is doing fine. Updates every week makes it great! and The fact that they are working on adding more playlists is awesome. 343 just has to find out what people like and what they don't like. Trial and error.

[Real Talk]

Last time I checked 30k was on. No one cares. Period.

 

30k is no one? It may be a low population but it still ranks 4th on Xbox Live so it is still a considerable size considering the amount of Xbox Live games that are popular today. The game has its faults and there is reason to be annoyed with 343i. Because trust me I am. But pronouncing the game dead is an exageration, a big one at that.

[Delpen9]

The change in multiplayer population between halo games can really be linked to the economy AND decrease in overall xbox users. That and people who have converted to Call of Duty, a thriving minecraft, and may have also disliked the game in general; I say that even if Halo 4 had been above everybodies imagining that the game's population wouldn't have changed that much from what it is now. The xbox is no longer in its prime and since this is a consol game and not a pc game, this game will probablty be dead by the time everybody buys the next gen consols.

 

Also,the daily average of people on war games matchmaking at a time is set within the 60k range.

[Halogeek99]

30k is a bloody JOKE. Theres 30/k online in Reach right now.

 

Any AAA title should easily rack up a mil players these days. There's like 25 mil consoles sold ffs.

[Real Talk]

30k is a bloody JOKE. Theres 30/k online in Reach right now.

 

Any AAA title should easily rack up a mil players these days. There's like 25 mil consoles sold ffs.

 

First of all it is not 30K its more inbetween 60K-40K.

 

As for consoles

 

A. Consoles brake, and are bought used (not at retailers)

 

B. Not everyone has Live

[Delpen9]

30k is a bloody JOKE. Theres 30/k online in Reach right now.

 

Any AAA title should easily rack up a mil players these days. There's like 25 mil consoles sold ffs.

Your wrong dude, this generation of the xbox is quickly dying out and if reach has the same number of people online then why is halo 4th in matchmaking population and reach is the 9th?