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[Poodlestrike]

Good question about the impact of buggy releases. It's worth mentioning that Assassins Creed Syndicate saw an 80+% decline over previous entries. No doubt this was also due to a glitchy release of Unity. So I would say they do have a big impact.

You're right that a bigger picture might help us draw more info from the situation. One possibility is that Halo sells quite well this holiday. It's just that past entries have never sold more than launch in subsequent months.

Yea I'm not really sure what the reaction might be gameplay wise with future entries. The possibility that I feel would be worst case scenario is to expand the implementation of Microtransactions within the game in order to encourage further profits. I don't honk that is too likely though. No doubt 343 knows the sort of reaction that would arise from such X a decision.

Yeah, I was thinking of Syndicate as well, but that's a yearly franchise, so I'm not sure how much of its performance can be blamed on Unity and how much on simple annualization/AC fatigue. I've seen lots of people complaining about specific things in each new Halo title, but not so many complaining about their basic existence. IDK.

And agreed on the microtransactions front. If they're doing as well as they seem to be, I doubt they'd risk pissing people off by pushing them harder. I could see additional modes that feature REQs in the future, though. Firefight seems like a natural pick.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I strongly dislike the looks of the maps and I just honestly hope they can get changed in the next game or dlc packs. They just don't feel right to play on is the point.

I was trying to show the level design of similar styles with the city maps. I wasn't trying to purposely show halo 3 in a good light. If I was doing that I would have compared the better maps like guardian, narrows. Since Halo 5 only has a few distinct styled maps (city, round) I had to compare those.

Comparing fathom and colisuem to narrows, guardian or even 2 or 3 other gray toned maps would be fine though. Some of those halo maps do have a lot of nice texture and geometry work that is missing in Halo 5. I may end up doing that when I have some time to burn

The point is, I am showing maps in halo 3 that do have design issues (color as well), and this only helps illustrate how bad the issues actually are in 343's engine.

See, while H5 maps are definitely more visually busy, they did a really good job of fixing the visibility issues present in the Beta. So I don't think it's actively hurting gameplay at this point. I'd argue that in the comparison you posted, Truth is a little bit easier to read than Midship due to the significantly less busy textures, and that in a real-game context, you don't have any more trouble spotting Spartans in the Halo 5 map than the Halo 3 one. You may feel it looks better, but that's purely a question of personal preference.

 

[Unstable]

Since my post in the "What do you want to see in Halo 6" thread went completely overlooked for whatever reason I figured I'd repost it here to see what you all think and hopefully start a discussion about the future of the franchise and where you see it going from here. Anyway here's the post



So what are y'all's thoughts on these figures? What do you think are the major contributing factors to the sales differential between this and previous releases. Please do keep in mind that digital sales are not included but would likely be somewhere between 15-25% given industry trends and that the XB1 actually has a higher install base than the 360 did when Halo 3 released so install base is likely not a major determining factor.

Do you agree with me that this makes it more likely we would see future Halo titles release day 1 on PC or do you disagree? Do you think this will impact the development budget for future Halo titles? Do you see this impacting the franchises' future?

Generally speaking, I believe the main contributors are A) More competition B) Franchise fatigue C) Paying for MCC's mistakes.


Looking at sales data now, I think we can easily see that, in terms of sales and brand awareness, Halo 3 was the peak. Note that, three years later, Reach only managed to equal H3's first month sales, and two years later, H4 selling slightly less, while having a order of magnitude larger install base of 360s than H3 did.

 

[BraXzy]

So far since launch I've spent $200 on req packs. The thirst is real, but it still a blip on the radar compared to how much I've spent on other games like CSGO or GW2.

Damn.. To be fair, I've probably ended up paying for the game again since I've grabbed a few golds and picked up the Warzone special bundle thing. I'm too weak.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

Yeah remove the fog of war. Lulz

 

[Akai__]

I#m with you Jack, the lightning and filters in the recent Halo games are terrible.

I wished the maps were a little more colorful. Especially maps like Eden/Empire. 343i has at least improved on giving us color coded bases, but the maps itself could really use more colors. Truth is also a good example. I have noticed that people are so confused on that map. Most of the time when you hear callouts it's: "One shot on Car... Uh no that's Pink Tower... Wait no, it's really Carbine..." I can imagine people are confused, because Carbine used to be an open area in H2/H3. Now that it's closed down like Pink Tower it just looks way too similiar on the first impression. You need some visual cue that tells you which position it is. Be it different colors or some random lights on the tower itself. Even some pros had to think twice before making the final and correct callout.

---

Oh and I'm glad Certain Affinity didn't do any of Halo 5's maps, because we would get maps with even more horrible color filters and lighting (see H2A).

 

[Sesuadra]

Totally my fault for miss reading the blog post. I'm just saying I wish they weren't so nebulous when it comes to giving out information. How about a releases date for BTB maps?

Forge is out sometime in December... BTB is out sometime next week? Will we ever get infection, koth, oddball, juggernaut? Will we get non-forged DLC? So many questions.

So many questions.

This and too many human themed maps are one of my biggest issues

343 it would be awesome to know more about what and WHEN to expect it. (Of If at all)

I wished the maps were a little more colorful. Especially maps like Eden/Empire. 343i has at least improved on giving us color coded bases, but the maps itself could really use more colors. Truth is also a good example. I have noticed that people are so confused on that map. Most of the time when you hear callouts it's: "One shot on Car... Uh no that's Pink Tower... Wait no, it's really Carbine..." I can imagine people are confused, because Carbine used to be an open area in H2/H3. Now that it's closed down like Pink Tower it just looks way too similiar on the first impression. You need some visual cue that tells you which position it is. Be it different colors or some random lights on the tower itself. Even some pros had to think twice before making the final and correct callout.

---

Oh and I'm glad Certain Affinity didn't do any of Halo 5's maps, because we would get maps with even more horrible color filters and lighting (see H2A).

Signed!

Also I miss maps that have character. I still now the names of the maps from Halo1-3...but from halo 5? Shit I need to hear them to know what Map I'm talking about >.>..maybe a little strange as an explanation but I hope someone gets what I mean

 

[Twilight Gap]

I wished the maps were a little more colorful. Especially maps like Eden/Empire. 343i has at least improved on giving us color coded bases, but the maps itself could really use more colors. Truth is also a good example. I have noticed that people are so confused on that map. Most of the time when you hear callouts it's: "One shot on Car... Uh no that's Pink Tower... Wait no, it's really Carbine..." I can imagine people are confused, because Carbine used to be an open area in H2/H3. Now that it's closed down like Pink Tower it just looks way too similiar on the first impression. You need some visual cue that tells you which position it is. Be it different colors or some random lights on the tower itself. Even some pros had to think twice before making the final and correct callout.

---

Oh and I'm glad Certain Affinity didn't do any of Halo 5's maps, because we would get maps with even more horrible color filters and lighting (see H2A).

Bingo. Indistinguishable map geometry on top of the excessive bloom lighting effects make that map one of the most unreadable maps I've played on in a Halo game.

 

[inoperativ]

a lot of text and pictures

I agree some of these things would be problems if I ever noticed them in-game, but I never have in Halo 5. I do like the look and feel of the Halo 3 engine like you say but that's what happens when you spend 300 hours playing a game, lol.

Having said that, damn I really want a Ghost Town remake, I think it could work really well with spartan abilities.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Yeah, I was thinking of Syndicate as well, but that's a yearly franchise, so I'm not sure how much of its performance can be blamed on Unity and how much on simple annualization/AC fatigue. I've seen lots of people complaining about specific things in each new Halo title, but not so many complaining about their basic existence. IDK.

And agreed on the microtransactions front. If they're doing as well as they seem to be, I doubt they'd risk pissing people off by pushing them harder. I could see additional modes that feature REQs in the future, though. Firefight seems like a natural pick.



See, while H5 maps are definitely more visually busy, they did a really good job of fixing the visibility issues present in the Beta. So I don't think it's actively hurting gameplay at this point. I'd argue that in the comparison you posted, Truth is a little bit easier to read than Midship due to the significantly less busy textures, and that in a real-game context, you don't have any more trouble spotting Spartans in the Halo 5 map than the Halo 3 one. You may feel it looks better, but that's purely a question of personal preference.

Fixing issues in a beta and not actually fixing the whole issue isn't good enough to me.

If they can take out the fog lights, and fog around the maps it would help a lot.


But even with those issues removed you still have badly shaped geometry , bad sight lights in maps, bad overall designs in the overall map designs and bad shaders in the graphics engine.

 

[Ryouji Gunblade]

Oh and I'm glad Certain Affinity didn't do any of Halo 5's maps, because we would get maps with even more horrible color filters and lighting (see H2A).

Yeah, they remade Zanzibar fine, but I had coloring and lighting issues with the others. Particularly the reddish Lockout remake.

 

[Doffen]

I did it.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

I agree some of these things would be problems if I ever noticed them in-game, but I never have in Halo 5. I do like the look and feel of the Halo 3 engine like you say but that's what happens when you spend 300 hours playing a game, lol.

Having said that, damn I really want a Ghost Town remake, I think it could work really well with spartan abilities.

noticed all these issues in like 2 seconds in that truth preview they had before the beta



damn, i think my halo 5 gs is like 300 or less lol

 

[Madness]

I did it.

Some of them seem so dumb on solo. Help the Elite charge the hill etc. But on solo, my moron AI fights him and gets his shields down and then soldiers and crawlers do him in.

I tried to do the hunter one as well. But no matter how far I sent my teammates they'd catch up and the hunters would rather fuel rod me then try and charge and swing and fall.

Impressive though, most impressive!

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Bingo. Indistinguishable map geometry on top of the excessive bloom lighting effects make that map one of the most unreadable maps I've played on in a Halo game.

Which is funny cause the midship remake in halo 3 actually needs some color swaps and geometry color swaps to split the purple up more, but it was never bad enough to create confusion as to where you are or where you go. I still get a little confused on the rig when i spawn in red's base cause there is no direct color or geometry changes for me to take notice quickly to. I guess after another 30 games there I may get better at it, but I still run the wrong way.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Is there some sort of trick for beating the fucking Warden? I'm on the first fight in legendary and what the fuck? Is it even fucking possible?

 

[Doffen]

Is there some sort of trick for beating the fucking Warden? I'm on the first fight in legendary and what the fuck? Is it even fucking possible?

There should be a incineration cannon on one of the platforms above him.

 

[matthieuC]

Is there some sort of trick for beating the fucking Warden? I'm on the first fight in legendary and what the fuck? Is it even fucking possible?

Nope. It's a pretty serious bug. 343i is well aware of it though.

 

[op_ivy]

Is there some sort of trick for beating the fucking Warden? I'm on the first fight in legendary and what the fuck? Is it even fucking possible?

After trying to take out all the spawned in bad guys and beat him the same way i did on heroic (waiting for my team to distract and hitting him in the back) i just grabbed the scattershot, boosted behind him and unloaded at point blank range. Once you stagger him this way you can finish him quick.

 

[RobNBanks]

There should be a incineration cannon on one of the platforms above him.

I wish I would have known that you didn't need to shoot his back with the IC. I kept trying to hit his back with it..

I made that fight ten times harder than it had any right to be

 

[Twilight Gap]

Supressor on Warden >>>

Fight him like a Hunter. Dies like a bitch.

 

[Gwyn]

All of these certainly contributed. Is this the what you feel is the order of importance? It's interesting you mention Destiny. Do you think the fact that it's a Bungie developed title may have played a big role in any sort of player migration from Halo?

It's worth mentioning that past releases saw CoD releasing shortly after Halo (within a month of Halo's release). Id say it's more likely that the holiday sales rush had a bigger impact than other bug releases. I think MS may have set a damning precedent for themselves last year that saw the majority of consumers waiting for those crazy discounts they saw last year. This is why I'm not 100% positive Halo will be a massive seller this holiday as so far it has not been a part of any holiday discounts or bundles.

I'm curious about what you mean when you say casual friendly. Could you perhaps elaborate a bit?

Ofc it played a big role that it is a bungie game i agree on that, plus the fact that it's a kinda MMO-ish game with expansions+ endless loot farming etc.

I also agree that some people wait for deals but i doubt it will a "massive" seller, i wish i am wrong on that since it's the best(imo) multiplayer FPS game out there and it will definitely get better with upcoming updates.

As for the "not casual friendly" i didn't mean that casuals won't have fun at all.
Some people complained about aiming the first days that it felt "weird/different" but it was the fact that it has less aim assist than previous halo games and other FPS and the fact that it requires better aiming skills than the usual pray n spray shooters.
If you play anything other than warzone it requires teamwork for stuff like map control / power weapon spawns or power ups (camo).

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Supressor on Warden >>>

Fight him like a Hunter. Dies like a bitch.

The warden isn't the problem on legendary. The underlings are.

 

[Doffen]

I wish I would have known that you didn't need to shoot his back with the IC. I kept trying to hit his back with it..

I made that fight ten times harder than it had any right to be

One shot to get him "down". Then shoot the core.

 

[SicSemperTyrannis]

The bloom lighting on Truth was complained about a lot during the beta and I wouldn't be so daft as to assume the issue has been resolved completely, especially when it exists in various other places in the multiplayer maps.

Having complaints about the bloom on lighting is one thing, but claiming that it is seriously impacting your ability to play or see enemies is an exaggeration at best. The only issue I had in the beta was seeing certain team colors on Truth and Empire and that was definitely fixed with final release. I understand not liking the new aesthetic that has come with the new engine, but I personally think they've walked the line between simple design and attractive levels better than any other fps developer I can think of. Look at the new CoD for example, it is over complicated in its design and is a mess visually because of it.

 

[NameGenerated]

What is the chirp sound effect that happens a bunch?

 

[Twilight Gap]

Having complaints about the bloom on lighting is one thing, but claiming that it is seriously impacting your ability to play or see enemies is an exaggeration at best. The only issue I had in the beta was seeing certain team colors on Truth and Empire and that was definitely fixed with final release. I understand not liking the new aesthetic that has come with the new engine, but I personally think they've walked the line between simple design and attractive levels better than any other fps developer I can think of. Look at the new CoD for example, it is over complicated in its design and is a mess visually because of it.

Not necessarily, but it may not be entirely the map's problem. I literally could not play on Complex or Ragnarok in Halo 4 because of the lighting, but it was fine when i switched TVs.

 

[RobNBanks]

One shot to get him "down". Then shoot the core.

yeah eventually I figured out how to beat him but that first time was the worst.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

What is the chirp sound effect that happens a bunch?

Your sheilds recharging.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

This team AI is beyond fucking useless on Legendary.

 

[NOKYARD]

What is the chirp sound effect that happens a bunch?

Also, enemy taking damage/dying.

 

[NameGenerated]

Your sheilds recharging.

I don't think it's this, this is more of a clicky sound.

Also, enemy taking damage/dying.

I think it's this one, seems to happen a lot when I hit someone with a grenade.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

This team AI is beyond fucking useless on Legendary.

Also, enemy taking damage/dying.

Anymore secret fogre stuff incoming in thedecember release? Like a map youre making right now gearing up for the december release. December release. Release. .hehe

 

[Trup1aya]

Fixing issues in a beta and not actually fixing the whole issue isn't good enough to me.

If they can take out the fog lights, and fog around the maps it would help a lot.


But even with those issues removed you still have badly shaped geometry , bad sight lights in maps, bad overall designs in the overall map designs and bad shaders in the graphics engine.

What do you mean by bad sight lines?
And generally i think the maps play well.

Can't say I'm a fan of the lighting. And the geometry is wierd in truth and regret. Beyond that, I'm generally ok with that too.

 

[RexNovis]

Generally speaking, I believe the main contributors are A) More competition B) Franchise fatigue C) Paying for MCC's mistakes.


Looking at sales data now, I think we can easily see that, in terms of sales and brand awareness, Halo 3 was the peak. Note that, three years later, Reach only managed to equal H3's first month sales, and two years later, H4 selling slightly less, while having a order of magnitude larger install base of 360s than H3 did.

Agreed on all accounts. The sales definitely paint the picture that Halo 3 was the peak for the series. Do you feel like the drop off for Halo 4 and 5 was the passing of development off from Bungie to 343? Another poster mentioned that they felt like a lot of Halo players migrated to Destiny this gen. I agree but it begs the question of why that is. Destiny has surely had its problems since release but maintains an impressive level of popularity and mindshare. Something that 343 hasn't really been able to accomplish with Halo 4 or 5 (at least yet). I can't help but wonder why that is.

 

[cleansock]

Anyone want to play some warzone?

 

[RedSparrows]

Bingo. Indistinguishable map geometry on top of the excessive bloom lighting effects make that map one of the most unreadable maps I've played on in a Halo game.

Top of pink, top of small, camo, sword, top-mid/bottom, blue top/bottom, red top/bottom, combination of the above. Not ideal, I agree - the towers are too similar, but these are my callouts with my friends for it.

I think an AI only Warzone would be a great idea for many reasons. REQs would match it really well, too, provided the enemy count was high enough to cope with tanks and shit. Perhaps 4-6 player teams, moving around the Warzone maps to defend positions.

 

[Double Donut]

This team AI is beyond fucking useless on Legendary.

When it comes to killing enemies, sure. But as long as you hang back and don't charge in, they will revive you again and again. Made legendary a breeze. Reviving should have been turned off on legendary tbh.

Another poster mentioned that they felt like a lot of Halo players migrated to Destiny this gen. I agree but it begs the question of why that is. Destiny has surely had its problems since release but maintains an impressive level of popularity and mindshare. Something that 343 hasn't really been able to accomplish with Halo 4 or 5 (at least yet). I can't help but wonder why that is.

Destiny maintains popularity and tons of players because it has great core gameplay and then has a demanding quality to the players. The game revolves around carrots on sticks, giving players a never ending list of chores to do so that they never want to play anything else. I can speak from experience because I was heavily addicted to Destiny for its first year, sank 800 hours into it.

 

[Monocle]

What is the chirp sound effect that happens a bunch?

In multiplayer? Death by headshot, maybe?

 

[tuna_love]

Wen does the old BTB go live?

 

[backflip10019]

How do you banshee bomb in bumper jumper?

 

[NOKYARD]

Anymore secret fogre stuff incoming in thedecember release? Like a map youre making right now gearing up for the december release. December release. Release. .hehe

I made 2 maps while i was at 343i which you may or may not see prior to the Forge release. So there's that.

I do not have Forge at home but wish i did so i could stream previews and tutorials for everyone.

 

[Zeta Oni]

Agreed on all accounts. The sales definitely paint the picture that Halo 3 was the peak for the series. Do you feel like the drop off for Halo 4 and 5 was the passing of development off from Bungie to 343? Another poster mentioned that they felt like a lot of Halo players migrated to Destiny this gen. I agree but it begs the question of why that is. Destiny has surely had its problems since release but maintains an impressive level of popularity and mindshare. Something that 343 hasn't really been able to accomplish with Halo 4 or 5 (at least yet). I can't help but wonder why that is.

Its the social experience. Its really that simple.

343i have yet to match it, but they have all the tools at their disposal to do so.

Why are spartan companies not featured in game like we had in Halo 2?
Why do we have to rely on the Xbox OS for a decent fileshare? Halo 3 was miles beyond 4 and 5 in this regard, and it shows.
No more firefight?
Not even spartan ops?

Theres nothing for casual players who dont wanna go against other people. Theres nothing thats bringing people together the way Destiny does. And it sucks that 343 continue to ignore this aspect in favor of more competitive gameplay. I like that and all, but the poster earlier had a point. Its the 5th entry in a 14 year franchise on the weaker home console with previous entries disappointing a lot.

 

[RedSparrows]

Destiny maintains popularity and tons of players because it has great core gameplay and then has a demanding quality to the players. The game revolves around carrots on sticks, giving players a never ending list of chores to do so that they never want to play anything else. I can speak from experience because I was heavily addicted to Destiny for its first year, sank 800 hours into it.

Pretty much, although I really do have to wonder about how the hell some people can play it that long. I played it for about 100 hours, including TTK. That's a lot, and I have 0 desire to play it again until the next big release. In that time I got lots of stuff, saw everything, had a good time. My mind boggles at what the hell you spend your time doing beyond that, and I played WoW for unhealthy amounts of time. There's just not enough there to keep me coming back for anywhere near that long.

But, apparently, this is true for many. It puzzles me, meh.

I'd also contest the idea that Halo 'needs' to be like Destiny in terms of player retention/obsession. It's great if the game has that, but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't. It's going for a different audience, and whilst it could easily snag more with a Firefight-esque thing (plz 343), it's still not going to be as carrot/stick as Destiny is. Frankly, for me, that's fine, but then I play Halo for the MP, and it's so far beyond Destiny in that respect.

 

[RexNovis]

Ofc it played a big role that it is a bungie game i agree on that, plus the fact that it's a kinda MMO-ish game with expansions+ endless loot farming etc.

I also agree that some people wait for deals but i doubt it will a "massive" seller, i wish i am wrong on that since it's the best(imo) multiplayer FPS game out there and it will definitely get better with upcoming updates.

As for the "not casual friendly" i didn't mean that casuals won't have fun at all.
Some people complained about aiming the first days that it felt "weird/different" but it was the fact that it has less aim assist than previous halo games and other FPS and the fact that it requires better aiming skills than the usual pray n spray shooters.
If you play anything other than warzone it requires teamwork for stuff like map control / power weapon spawns or power ups (camo).

Ah ok. I had heard they were planning to introduce independent sensitivity tweaks for the different axis in this upcoming patch. Are they making any adjustments to the base aiming settings as well or is it staying as is? It's interesting that you point out that it feels less forgiving this time around as there was a very pronounced push for the game to become an esports title. Do you see Halo 5 being a major title in the esports scene? It didn't really seem to draw much attention on twitch so I'm not sold on it's success there.

I agree on the holiday sales in that it isnt particularly likely that it will see massive numbers but it is possible that it will offset some of the 70% decline we saw for debut sales. I'll be curious to see how the legs turn out for the game. I think theres a small possibility that many were deterred from day 1 purchases because of MCC so we could see more pronounced legs for the title than previous entries now that people are aware it doesnt suffer the same issues that MCC did.

On Destiny: why do you feel that the MMOish qualities of Destiny are such a contributing factor to the migration of Halo players? Its not like Halo was ever an MMO game. Is it just the addictive/grindy qualities that MMO style gameplay entails? I'm not sure I follow how that would draw players away form Halo.

 

[RedSparrows]

On Destiny: why do you feel that the MMOish qualities of Destiny are such a contributing factor to the migration of Halo players? Its not like Halo was ever an MMO game. Is it just the addictive/grindy qualities that MMO style gameplay entails? I'm not sure I follow how that would draw players away form Halo.

I'm not sure there is a direct causal link, it's more a big combination of things that people seem to sling together contingent on their own viewpoint. PS4 success, Halo not being as big as it once was for numerous reasons, CoD, MCC failings, etc. One games gets smaller, a new game gets massive, must be linked. In some ways, perhaps. In others, not necessarily.

 

[Double Donut]

On Destiny: why do you feel that the MMOish qualities of Destiny are such a contributing factor to the migration of Halo players? Its not like Halo was ever an MMO game. Is it just the addictive/grindy qualities that MMO style gameplay entails? I'm not sure I follow how that would draw players away form Halo.

Not the guy you're replying to, but Destiny is similar to Halo in the fact that they are both space sci-fi shooters. Destiny's universe is interesting and expansive, like Halo's, plus the game has the signature, absolutely gorgeous, Bungie art style.

Stuff like this is why the game could definitely feel familiar and welcoming to Halo players.

 

[Nori Chan]

I did it.

congrats! too many coop achievements for me. nobody wants to play with me in coop

 

[Doffen]

Agreed on all accounts. The sales definitely paint the picture that Halo 3 was the peak for the series. Do you feel like the drop off for Halo 4 and 5 was the passing of development off from Bungie to 343? Another poster mentioned that they felt like a lot of Halo players migrated to Destiny this gen. I agree but it begs the question of why that is. Destiny has surely had its problems since release but maintains an impressive level of popularity and mindshare. Something that 343 hasn't really been able to accomplish with Halo 4 or 5 (at least yet). I can't help but wonder why that is.

Destiny is a good example of games as a service. Constant evolving and updated to maintain a solid player base. It also borrows systems used in other genres to keep the gamer playing; leveling, loot, etc.

Destiny also had a larger global marketing campaign. Dat Activision/Sony push.

 

[RexNovis]

Not the guy you're replying to, but Destiny is similar to Halo in the fact that they are both space sci-fi shooters. Destiny's universe is interesting and expansive, like Halo's, plus the game has the signature, absolutely gorgeous, Bungie art style.

Stuff like this is why the game could definitely feel familiar and welcoming to Halo players.

All excellent points and I think youre right about these. But that aside Destiny is a very different gameplay archetype than Halo it just seems odd to me that such a radically different game would capture the audience of a more by the books FPS style title. But some others have brought up some good points on this as well. like the posts below

Destiny maintains popularity and tons of players because it has great core gameplay and then has a demanding quality to the players. The game revolves around carrots on sticks, giving players a never ending list of chores to do so that they never want to play anything else. I can speak from experience because I was heavily addicted to Destiny for its first year, sank 800 hours into it.

Hah yea I can see that being that the case. MMO game design is basically predicated on the idea of being addictive and time consuming. So it makes sense in that regard that these elements in Destiny would lead to prolonged player retention. I guess I just figured players would inevitably migrate to the new thing when it came (new thing being Halo 5) but that hasn't seemed to have been the case this far.

Its the social experience. Its really that simple.

343i have yet to match it, but they have all the tools at their disposal to do so.

Why are spartan companies not featured in game like we had in Halo 2?
Why do we have to rely on the Xbox OS for a decent fileshare? Halo 3 was miles beyond 4 and 5 in this regard, and it shows.
No more firefight?
Not even spartan ops?

Theres nothing for casual players who dont wanna go against other people. Theres nothing thats bringing people together the way Destiny does. And it sucks that 343 continue to ignore this aspect in favor of more competitive gameplay. I like that and all, but the poster earlier had a point. Its the 5th entry in a 14 year franchise on the weaker home console with previous entries disappointing a lot.

Wow excellent point. I hadn't really thought about it that way before. No doubt that Destiny owes much of it's success to the social aspects of the game. It was a really odd thing for me to see 343 push so hard for esports instead of the wider more casual market in the advertising leading up to release. I think that push is also reflected in the game itself. That said Warzone seems to be their "casual"/ social focused gameplay mode.

The lack of splitscreen really seems to have soured a lot of people on the game as well. Which is odd since so few games include it these days. I mean look at Destiny it doesn't have splitscreen and afaik nobody complained or asked for it yet it is a similar gameplay style FPS. I suppose the precedent of splitscreen with the franchise plays a big role in this. I guess I never realized how highly people seemed to value that particular feature. How big of a role do you guys feel like of split screen has played in the apparent decline in popularity?

 

[Ramirez]

I wished the maps were a little more colorful. Especially maps like Eden/Empire. 343i has at least improved on giving us color coded bases, but the maps itself could really use more colors. Truth is also a good example. I have noticed that people are so confused on that map. Most of the time when you hear callouts it's: "One shot on Car... Uh no that's Pink Tower... Wait no, it's really Carbine..." I can imagine people are confused, because Carbine used to be an open area in H2/H3. Now that it's closed down like Pink Tower it just looks way too similiar on the first impression. You need some visual cue that tells you which position it is. Be it different colors or some random lights on the tower itself. Even some pros had to think twice before making the final and correct callout.

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Oh and I'm glad Certain Affinity didn't do any of Halo 5's maps, because we would get maps with even more horrible color filters and lighting (see H2A).

This could all be avoided if people would stop calling it Car, and just go with top & bottom lift. Carbines spawn at both sides, so it's a silly call out to begin with.