Halo 5: Guardians Discussion

[Vodka]

IW is not even out yet. And yes its getting obliterated by BF1. How is that not proof that people prefer BF1?

 

How did Titanfall 1 prove that people "love this kind of shit"? It's population was horrendous as well and it had barely any competition at all.

 

Titanfall receives the same kind of excuses recent Halo games get. At some point people need to stop ignoring the overwhelming evidence that "advanced movement" has not been a successful trend.

 

COD AW was the lowest point in the COD franchise in a decade. Blops 3 had a slight surge upwards but was still part of an overall downwards trend for the franchise. IW is under serious heat and will undoubtedly continue the downwards trend. Titanfall 1 and now 2 cannot hold a population to save Vince Zampella's life. Diddo for H5.

 

The only game that has truly succeed with "advanced movement" is Destiny and Destiny is a totally different beast with all it's RPG/MMO structure.

Titanfall 1 has so far sold over 11 million copies, meaning it was very popular. The only downside to the game was that it didn't reward the players that played it, it basically lacked content.

[Omahhhha]

IW came out today (which also happens to have that movement system that people hate). 

 

Titanfall 2 launched between arguably two of the biggest franchises in gaming to date. It was an unfair release window and was doomed to fail as soon as EA decided to try and compete with Battlefield and Call of Duty. 

 

Gonna re-do this post:

 

Infinite Warfare released today and is probably going to overtake Battlefield 1 and Titanfall 2 before the 24 hour time window passes. Of course there's a huge push for normal shooters like Call of Duty 4, Battlefield 1, etc but there's still a market for the jumpy wumpy parkour stuff that Titanfall offered back in 2013. 

 

You could argue that the only reason anyone picked it up because it was the only title going at the time, but who knows. It still did fairly well at launch and fell off due to poor design choices (regen challenges lmao) and lack of content. 

 

Call of Duty was falling even before the move to advanced movement, starting with Ghosts I think it was? It could be franchise fatigue (look at Assassin's Creed), it could be the advanced movement, it could be both. 

 

Blah blah, Titanfall 2 would have done a lot better if it didn't launch between two juggernaut franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. You've got a shit ton of people who want to play all of them but can only afford to play some of them. If I was in that position, I'd get the most out of my money and spend the one that's going to have a decent population and that's likely going to be Call of Duty and Battlefield because of how known the franchises are.

I really don't think Iw is going to overtake BF1(I would assume it will over take the 22nd placed Titanfal 2 lmao it's behind super dungeon bros).

 

Why do you assume that your assumptions about why Titanfall can't hold a population are true? Especially considering it's failed twice now and you have a different set of excuses for both games? Will you atleast admit that there is a slight chance that people don't continue to play these games because they just don't enjoy the gameplay very much?

 

COD Ghosts resided over a console gen change era. That's a tough spot for a game when peer groups are split and scattered. Blops 2 was a massive success. I think COD, much like Halo jumped the gun on radically changing up the core gameplay far too soon and both franchises have been dealing with the consequences for a while now.

 

There's nothing to suggest that Titanfall would have done well if it launched at a different time. It's currently sitting in the 22 spot. That is mind blowingly horrendous. Like, even unheralded games usually sit up in the top 10 for a week or so. 22nd on launch week is unheard of. Maybe it moves up a little with a different launch window but a bad launch window doesn't knock you down that far. And a lack of a campaign doesn't destroy you like what we saw with Titanfall 1 either. There are much, much deeper issues at play here.

[Omahhhha]

Last year RS Siege came out with no campaign against a COD, a Halo, GTA, etc, etc. That game still, a year later sits in the top 5-10 population spot.

 

It has grounded, simplistic gameplay.

[cookies4you]

Last year RS Siege came out with no campaign against a COD, a Halo, GTA, etc, etc. That game still, a year later sits in the top 5-10 population spot.

 

It has grounded, simplistic gameplay.

What the fuck are you going on about?

 

Siege did horribly at launch, and it's by far one of the most complex shooters on the market.

 

Are you randomly pulling up games that you have zero knowledge about and hoping that the actual players wouldn't notice?

[wow]

I'd like to see you try. 

 

H3 BR's got nothing on Reaches bloom

 

[NavG123]

Titanfall 1 has so far sold over 11 million copies, meaning it was very popular. The only downside to the game was that it didn't reward the players that played it, it basically lacked content.

The game was generic gunplay with robot gimmicks.

 

And lets not use sales to justify the quality of a game's multiplayer.

[shad5000]

The Vegas event will be streamed on the Halo channel right?

[Hard Way]

Millions played Halo 3. A couple dozen play Halo 5, lol.

 

Millions purchased Halo 3. If you're trying to imply that millions were online in Halo 3, concurrently, for 3 years, you are fucking high and you need to educate yourself. At it's best it had around 100,000 people online at any given point, which is really good, but it's not millions like you keep saying. That's sales, not active population. You sound ridiculous when you keep saying millions like they're all online at once, especially when in the same sentence you reference Halo 5's current population.

 

Sometimes I feel like you're so used to speaking in hyperbole, that you don't realize you're doing it anymore.

[Edain]

Millions purchased Halo 3. If you're trying to imply that millions were online in Halo 3, concurrently, for 3 years, you are fucking high and you need to educate yourself. At it's best it had around 100,000 people online at any given point, which is really good, but it's not millions like you keep saying. That's sales, not active population. You sound ridiculous when you keep saying millions like they're all online at once, especially when in the same sentence you reference Halo 5's current population.

 

Sometimes I feel like you're so used to speaking in hyperbole, that you don't realize you're doing it anymore.

I think he means a million unique users because there were either a million or just shy of a million unique users at any given time 2008-2009. I remember always seeing the unique users on bungie.net when I would go to check my stats.

[cookies4you]

I think he means a million unique users because there were either a million or just shy of a million unique users at any given time 2008-2009. I remember always seeing the unique users on bungie.net when I would go to check my stats.

Do you really believe that Halo 5 has less than a thousand unique users?

 

Because that would be mindbogglingly stupid.

[Scarecrow]

A few days late but why the hell didnt we get a Halloween pack with like a pumpkin emblem or something?

[xSociety]

A few days late but why the hell didnt we get a Halloween pack with like a pumpkin emblem or something?

Because they only care about Halo 6 now. I bet the team still working on any kind of content for Halo 5 is insanely small. 

[EagleBurn]

Because they only care about Halo 6 now. I bet the team still working on any kind of content fro Halo 5 is insanely small. 

 

What are you talking about? Their team is working hard on fixing MCC. Haven't you read their tweets?

[Toa Axis]

New community update is out with Ske7ch back at the helm. He did a pretty extensive Q&A, and was surprisingly open about everything. Some choice quotes:

 

Many people asked some variation of “will the Halo 5 servers be fixed?”

 

 

I think there are a few different underlying issues that parts of the player base have experienced that have been lumped into “fix the servers!” Overall the online experience for Halo 5 is pretty great but the team is aware of a few specific issues that seem to be increasing in prominence. As a commitment to sustaining a fun and enjoyable online experience along with a consistent and fair competitive landscape, the team is actively investigating these reports. In fact, I’m told there will be a very small update pushed out tentatively as early as next week that’s strictly under-the-hood work to further assist in identifying the root causes of reported instances of higher than usual latency, disconnects as well as melee registration to help facilitate a fix. I expect to be able to share more on this front in the coming days.

 

“Will Action Sack get any sort of regular updates going forward?”

Earlier this week I was in a regular weekly recurring Halo 5 multiplayer experience meeting and refreshing Action Sack was an agenda item! So the short answer is yes, Action Sack will definitely get updates. As to when and how regularly, I can’t say for certain yet but Uny and others are passionate about it and will make sure it gets the loving it needs. As I’m getting up to speed with many facets of Halo 5 ongoing sustain and operations I think it might be interesting to pull back the curtain on that process in a future update. Stay tuned.

“Can we expect a classic playlist anytime soon? There are some amazing remakes on the Waypoint Classic Remake Submission Forum.”

No kidding! Uny has already shown me some incredible remakes that really nail the Halo: CE feel. I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder but it’s safe to say you can expect a classic playlist relatively soon and which point I fully expect “Why isn’t X, Y or Z in the classic playlist!? and when will the classic playlist be updated!?”

“What’s going on with the Master Chief Collection?” 

That’s a great question and something I’ve been working to better understand during my first two weeks at the studio. What I do know is that nobody here has forgotten the launch issues and how it impacted the Halo community. It’s something that everyone in this studio lives through every day.

MCC continues to be played and enjoyed by a lot of people to this day, and while its been greatly improved since release…it’s not perfect.  I know some people still experience oddities and inconsistent behaviors that hamper their enjoyment, while others play and enjoy it just fine. 

Many of you just want to know what’s going on and if you can expect further patches and updates in the future.  While I can’t definitively commit to specific fixes as this exact moment, rest assured that MCC continues to be discussed and researched internally as part of the broader “Halo sustain” plans and priorities, including the potential of playlist refreshes. 

The studio as a whole shares my own personal desire to improve transparency with fans, so our community team will continue to help facilitate that dialog and share any and all news, even if it might not be what (or when!) the community ideally wants to hear, as soon as we have something to share. 

“I’m noticing your Twitter feed is a little..er, inactive. Are you planning on continuing to use Twitter as a platform for Community interaction? Bravo was always fairly responsive on there.”

I admit that I haven’t had much need for Twitter over the past few years and even though I maintained an account I seldom ever used it. That’s all changed now. When I was introduced last Friday I had less than 200 followers. Now I’m closing in on 1,000! I can feel my self-worth rising. But jokes aside, I absolutely am embracing Twitter as a great vehicle for two-way community engagement and will hopefully continue to get better at doing the Twitter under the tutelage of Bravo.

 

“What are your personal goals regarding the community?”

This is a great question that I think warrants a lot more thought and space than I can give it in this already dense Q&A. This is something I am and will be thinking a lot about in my first weeks here in this new role though. At a minimum I intend to carry forward the great work this team has already done (and continues to do) and for me Halo has always been synonymous with a passionate community and a close relationship with the developer. I really believe in transparency, honesty and consistency, even when we know it’s not what fans want to hear. I believe in fostering long term relationships, supporting awesome community efforts and acting as a critical conduit between the fan community and the development teams. I want to help do everything in my power to foster the existing community, empower fans to participate and have fun and hopefully draw even more people into this giant family we’re all a part of.

 

“I’m just curious if 343 understands how unreliable and annoying the theater system is and if it plans on fixing that issue. I know our community montage creators would love that.”

The team is aware of the feedback from parts of the community with regards to the theater system. I'm not aware of any current plans to release theater updates to Halo 5 but I know it’s on people’s minds as they think about the future.

 

“will there ever be a solo Firefight mode in Halo 5 (like in Halo Reach), if not, will there be one in Halo 6?”

 

There are currently no plans to add a new “Reach-style” Firefight mode to Halo 5. As for the future, who knows, I haven’t been here long enough to rank up my security clearance to know all the cool things the team is working on…. Yet. 

 

Already doing well in my eyes.

 

EDIT: Link- https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/back-in-the-saddle

[Edain]

Do you really believe that Halo 5 has less than a thousand unique users?

 

Because that would be mindbogglingly stupid.

Mindbogglingly stupid question you asked since I never even implied that I thought that. I've never claimed to know how many people play Halo 5 because there is no way to know. I can only guess it's low on how consistently I match the same players.

[EagleBurn]

His MCC response is the same response we've been hearing since a few months after launch. Talk is cheap at this point for 343 on MCC. Just fix it. I'm not sure why I care because I've sold my Xbox One but 343 going back to fix, arguably, the worst launch game in history sure would be appreciated.

[arglactable]

Honestly, I'm worried about his response to the classic playlist question. If they half-ass those settings on a bunch of remakes (like the description they posted in the thread about it on Waypoint), it's going to be awful. I don't want that to be used as an excuse to write off actual Halo gameplay in the future.

[xSociety]

@HossSauced asks “If you were stranded on Delta Halo for 7 days and could only have one UNSC weapon what would it be?”

 

"It’s admittedly a bit of a cop out but I’d probably have to go with the Halo: CE magnum for the sheer sake of its ridiculously unbalanced and overpowered lethality. (And yes, I know that Delta Halo was in Halo 2, not Halo: CE)."

 

 

 

 

Halo is dead as fuck. 

[PolyG]

Honestly, I'm worried about his response to the classic playlist question. If they half-ass those settings on a bunch of remakes (like the description they posted in the thread about it on Waypoint), it's going to be awful. I don't want that to be used as an excuse to write off actual Halo gameplay in the future.

Waypoint must really be off their game for you to forget they absolutely would.  :bman:

[Mr Grim]

same shit different day when it comes to 343, or more applicably same bullshit responses, different mouthpiece.

[Stephander]

It should be required to be pretty darn good at games in general to be a game dev. Too many noobs making games, I know that's ridiculous but it would still be better...

 

I remember seeing a post on the math of how the "rando-ness" affects a br fight assuming both players are bad as hell and are out in the open fouring each other- I don't remember the exact numbers but I do know that if you honestly feel like killing with the gun is a dice roll. Like actually a dice roll, you are the problem and nothing else.

 

The h3 br debate is amazing. I find it simply fascinating how many times the same heads can regurgitate the same "arguments" they've been posting for years-each and every time as if they're writing it for the first time and as if everyone on the forum is reading these argumebts for the first time. Simply fascinating.

[Basu]

Halo is dead as fuck.

I don't even know who this new community manager is, but I already hate him based on that quote.

[DoxGhost]

I don't even know who this new community manager is, but I already hate him based on that quote.

I think he used to be a CM during the Bungie days.

[Snipe Three]

 

 

 

Halo is dead as fuck. 

 

Lol.

 

Nah but really when I hear someone say that I almost get triggered into explaining exactly why it wasn't OP but I have to stop myself. I'm not even sure if hes being serious

[Omn1science]

So I can proudly say I pretty much haven't touched H5 since launch week. But, last night my cousin and I who haven't had the chance to talk in quite a few months had our free evenings line up, so we decided to play some Xbox together. After browsing both our game libraries, the only game we shared was H5.

 

I throw us into Warzone, because I figure its the most casual playlist where we'll be able to just mess around and have some fun getting used to the game. What follows was 20 minutes of us being trapped in the base while the other team bombarded us with vehicles, specialty REQ weapons, etc etc etc. We finally lost with a score of around 500-1000, and both of us promptly laughed, quit the game, and I went to go buy the new COD game.

 

This is why your games never hold a casual audience, 343. For one, the game is just too fucking complicated now. I haven't played this game in ages and while I can aim fine, I'm not caught up on the all the ridiculous tricks that come with thruster, slide, ground pound, etc. Then you have the insane cascading advantages that come just with someone being able to spawn in with a BR, rather than the pistol and AR I was stuck attempting to ping people across map with. And of course, the ranking system may as well not even exist at this point. This was my first game in literally months and I don't think my cousin had ever even played the game. We got absolutely trashed our first game back. In Halo 3, I would have just thrown us into BTB, and while we probably still would have lost and not gotten too many kills, at least we would have been able to have a good time messing around with vehicles and stuff, and not had Mr. Warzone Hero thrusting around us using insane REQs.

 

Part of it is just that Halo used to have a lot more people playing, but in Halo 3 if I had a friend over who wasn't very familiar with the game, we could go into social and have a good time. There would usually be at least one person in the game who was good and would get a lot of kills, but the rest of the players would typically be around that person's level.

 

You could at least have some fun with the game, which just doesn't seem to be possible for "casual" players in H5.