I'll preface this post by saying two things: firstly, halo 5's gameplay is superb and the best MP Halo experience since H3. Secondly, I'm posting under the assumption that the game is performing relatively poorly judging by the tone of the posting in this thread. I haven't personally seen any hard data that H5 has under-performed in sales and player retention.
Reflecting on that Halo-Destiny article, it struck me just how difficult it is to make a single player Halo experience in 2015 particularly worthwhile. Consider other franchises that have been successful enough to thrive beyond a decade:
1) Mario. Same 'story' every game, reinvents platforming every 5-10 years then rests on its laurels for another 5-10.
2) Metal Gear Solid. Games 1 through 5 are connected but you're actually playing as different protagonists through each game (Big Boss, Solid Snake, Raiden). Series arguably peaked with 3.
3) Resident Evil. Relatively sensical storyline throughout the first 3 games then dives into absurdity thereafter.
4) Final Fantasy. Each entry gets to exist within its own universe and doesn't have to worry about continuity.
Having to invent new ways to keep the Halo narrative compelling and worthy of your interest is an unenviable task for 343. The fight was finished at the end of Halo 3 and the only reason it continues is because Halo continues to sell. I said a month or so before Halo 5 launched that the idea of playing through yet another Halo campaign in 2015 filled me with dread. I haven't even finished it yet. Halo campaigns have become so drearily predictable that they're essentially cut and paste jobs at this point. 8-12 levels, covie-forerunner/flood-brute level mix punctuated by the obligatory vehicle slog through the hoards. Separate cutscene for the story in between levels. Halo and its single player needs to do something radical to be even remotely relevant 15 years after its first campaign.
Another point to note about Halo's standing in 2015 is that you simply cannot treat your franchise's fans as poorly as Halo's fans have been since 2012 and not feel the ramifications of that down the line. I've seen so many posts in gaf threads explaining the so-called reasons for MCC's failure as if they are excuses for them. Calls for posters to be banned if they bring up MCC in pre-release Halo 5 threads as if the most recently released game by a studio is somehow not relevant. The fact is, The Master Chief Collection was a failure on a scale never seen before in video gaming history, an insult to consumers so gigantic it bled into the territory of hoodwinking and mass rip-off. That was a game I and many others purchased Microsoft's next generation of console for, not to mention repurchased Gold for, and it took them 6 months post launch to get it into a functional state. The actual in-game playlist and MM support for the game was nothing short of disgraceful for its entire lifespan. That this came after the joke of an affair that was Halo 4's multiplayer just extinguished many consumers faith in the brand from that point forward. If you've had your hands burnt twice taking a Halo game to the store counter in the recent past, you're gonna think twice before doing it again.
Thing is with Halo 5, the MP is actually supremely polished in its base mechanics and I want to see this game thrive for two years now. No supporting for 9 months then basic life support. Really push this fantastic engine and its mechanics into next year's fall like destiny's done with the taken king.
Still, there are elements of Halo 5's multiplayer suite which burningly frustrate. This:
So, 4 different times today I've been matched against 2 teams of 4, and we've gotten thoroughly thrashed in all 4. I also got matched against Scooby's team of 4 the other night.
I don't feel like this was happening much at all a few weeks ago. I need a playlist for solo play.
HAS to be addressed. I posted that the ranking system was essentially worthless whilst teams of four could play four randoms. In all of Bungie's online Halos there was party matching enabled in ranked playlists and the ability to see if the opposite team was partied up. 343 has disabled party matching in Halo 4, TMCC and now Halo 5 and it is a massive unaccounted for deterrent for solo players playing ranked now. 343 repeating the same, easily remedied mistakes. Which leads me to...
The UI. Sometimes, it feels like 343 is contractually obliged to fudge one element of the game for every element it corrects or improves. So they add great new stats like total damage dealt and accuracy rate. They then undermine this good work by inexplicably omitting the medals screen, the killed most/killed most by screen, the tool of destruction stat and the simple +/- KD stat. Not only do they remove these Halo staples but they relegate the post game carnage report to a third of the screen in the bottom right hand corner and force the player to scroll down to see the losing team's stats. Compare that approach with this:
Clear, bold, colourful and instantly readable, it relays all of the vital information immediately then offers a more detailed, personalised report if one clicks on an individual player. I'd urge 343 to be serious and proactive about their commitment to halo and patch the UI. After a match now a third of my screen is taken up by a useless image a spartan, another third is wasted on req/commendation guff and then the all important carnage report is sloping off the edge of the screen down the bottom.
Also, the req pack idea was a decent one in terms of rng addictiveness but I think the whole thing could be presented better. Why not have a Final Fantasy 10 style sphere grid where you earn different rng drops after each game and you unlock spheres as uncommon items on a gargantuan grid which can be zoomed out. Would be more addictive and visually grindy than simply opening packs.