• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Halo 5: Guardians |OT5| Is HaloGAF irrelevant now?

Was on the home stretch of grinding H5 before I put in my Twitch application and my upload speed drops to 3 mbps now for a 2nd day in a row. 135 download, T H R E E upload. Tech won't be here till the 8th, KILL ME.
 

TCKaos

Member

I know, right?

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/TCKaos/video/27681098

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/TCKaos/video/27681133

Anyway, onto slightly less fun things, we're still absolutely taken aback by how inactive the company actually is. Initially, this was in the sense that virtually no players seem to be proactive about anything having to do with leveling the commendations to get Achilles (I'd wager between 6-12 of us killed 1200+ marines in the last week) but now that I'm looking over the stats it just feels that way about playing the game in general.

I've sorted through the first quarter of the company and wholly 19/25 players play so little that I would be surprised if they noticed that we kicked them from the company. I'm saying that they've literally played fewer than 10 games since December in many cases, and in some cases they haven't played since before the New Year.

Other players are clearly more casual players, filling their time with nothing but Heroic Firefight and Super Fiesta, which not only doesn't help with these commendations but also doesn't help them engage with the company at all. Some of us - maybe 12 of us - regularly play together and have Warzone nights or BTB nights and recently have even dabbled in customs or what have you, but what appears to be more and more the case is that there are a bunch of floaters that are wholly separate entities unto themselves that exist within the company. They completely lack engagement with the company because they don't appear to care for that engagement or need it. They aren't enthusiasts, they're casual players. That's not something I think we ought to demonize, but I question what they're getting out of being part of a group they don't interact with for a game that they don't really play that often.

This originally came up because we were discussing exactly how quickly we could be progressing if the rest of the company played the way that we do (which, it should take notice, isn't a level of engagement that I think we'd like to require, but at which would be nice to have). If all 100 people in the company played a single game of Warzone a day, and got 10 marine kills a day, we'd be done with the commendation in just over a week. We have some people getting between 50-100 marine kills in a single day, but others that haven't played a game of Warzone since April 2016. 10 marine kills in a day is like playing two games of Warzone and not even having to try. The fact that we've been at capacity since before launch and still don't have even a fraction of the play time or accomplishments of other, smaller companies that haven't existed for nearly as long can only mean that HaloGAF lacks actual player investment, and it needs to be solved, most likely by purging the company roster.

I'll finish up my analysis in the morning, but it's looking pretty bleak.

tl;dr not enough people in the company actually play the game, and those that do play the game don't play enough to actually help towards unlocking the Achilles helmet
 
Every game in Asia has been solo vs 3+ stacks, ranked or social, or laggy out of region games. The only thing I can play now is firefight. The PvP side is basically dead.
 

Ade

Member
I'll admit that for the past month or so I've been a super fiesta (first strikes at least) and warzone whore.

I also don't interact much with the rest of the company (time zones and kids ftl) and for that im sorry!
 
I'll admit that for the past month or so I've been a super fiesta (first strikes at least) and warzone whore.

I also don't interact much with the rest of the company (time zones and kids ftl) and for that im sorry!

We need more Warzone (non-firefight) whores, not fewer :)
 

BizzyBum

Member
I've definitely been slacking. Haven't really played the past few weeks. I got addicted to ESO again which is always a bad idea to get addicted to any MMO's and now Switch and Zelda coming out Friday... damn.

I'll have to make it a priority to at least start playing again even if it's not 5-6 hours a day like I used to.
 

PNut

Banned
I know, right?


tl;dr not enough people in the company actually play the game, and those that do play the game don't play enough to actually help towards unlocking the Achilles helmet

It's not a fun Halo game overall like the past games. What's so hard to understand about that?

Who wants to grind mindless playlists to unlock a helmet?
 

jem0208

Member
It's not a fun Halo game overall like the past games. What's so hard to understand about that?
Highly debatable.



I haven't been playing much because of other commitments. I've had tonnes of work recently. Should hopefully be able to play more after next week.
 
Ok getting back into warzone for marine kills, still going to need my fiesta fix though.

Edit- stormbreak is great for marine kills when the enemy has the middle base, heaps of angles to take them out... Just got 25 in 1 game
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Ok getting back into warzone for marine kills, still going to need my fiesta fix though.

Edit- stormbreak is great for marine kills when the enemy has the middle base, heaps of angles to take them out... Just got 25 in 1 game

Yeah I think that's overall the best map for them. Most others you're going to have to run through their lines and hope you don't get killed going for armory or garage, and then when you're sitting on top you're highly exposed to air fire. Stormbreak you can pop the heads off marines when they show up and can still remain in the fight with other enemies as well.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
I am guilty of playing WZFF over vanilla Warzone but I start my sessions off with BTB matches (although the last time or two I played I don't know that I did). Hopping onto a WZ match now (taking forever to match the last two or so spots though, so who knows when it will start); expecting to thoroughly get thrashed if the five or so people with the same uncommon emblem are on the other team.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Halo 5 is the only game i play. But i don't get to play nearly as much as i want. Been working like a slave since the new year, and my household keeps getting hit with the various bugs going around this year. And my infant has anxiety issues that affect his sleep...and everyone else's.

But when i do play, i try like hell to focus on achilles commendations.
 
It's not a fun Halo game overall like the past games. What's so hard to understand about that?

Who wants to grind mindless playlists to unlock a helmet?

Hey, let's conveniently forget that we're talking about voluntary members of a "clan" for a game that they don't play so we can make a non-sequitor edgy comment about how shitty the game is that we also don't play/enjoy.

Spoilers: Some of us enjoy the game. Some of us like working together towards a common goal. We get it. You/others don't like the game. What does that have to do with people that requested to join the company and don't play with others or contribute to the common goal?
 
It's not a fun Halo game overall like the past games. What's so hard to understand about that?

Who wants to grind mindless playlists to unlock a helmet?

I feel like 'as a halo game', the MP gameplay is the best that its ever been. Other than maybe a better progression system and better MP maps, im not sure what they could do if you dont already find this gameplay 'fun'. You might just not like Halo anymore.
 

BizzyBum

Member
I was honestly hoping we would get more active players from that reddit thread. I think Gringo said we added about 7 from there.

Maybe once we reach 95% for comms I'll make a new thread again. I don't think there's any way to bump the old thread and update the info.
 

TCKaos

Member
I was honestly hoping we would get more active players from that reddit thread. I think Gringo said we added about 7 from there.

Maybe once we reach 95% for comms I'll make a new thread again. I don't think there's any way to bump the old thread and update the info.

I'm done surveying the activity of the first 50 players in the company roster and of them there are 23 that I would call inactive (very VERY few games played in MONTHS) and 9 that I would say are borderline (sporadically active with short gameplay sessions that, nonetheless, seem to play every once in a while).

I'm not looking at a quantitative analysis of medal counts for the commendations, or singling out people that don't "grind" as it were, but rather I'm just looking at whether or not these people even play the game. I'm talking 23 people with around 20 games in two months and some who haven't played since April or September or November.

Of the profiles I have surveyed I would argue that maybe 15 of them are what one would consider regular players (plays multiple nights a week, several games in a sitting).

I would argue that if one would like to be considered inclusive to HaloGAF but isn't what one would consider to be a regular or an enthusiast that they partake in the HaloGAF Xbox Club rather than the Spartan Company.

I'd argue that of the aforementioned regular players, only 5-6 are actively attempting to complete the commendations for the company. If we make a liberal estimate and assume that roughly 12% of the company is responsible for the majority of our commendation progress then just doubling that amount would mean that we get Achilles in late April instead of June. Hell, the presumed number of inactive players (46%) would mean that we'd get Achilles by the end of next week.
 

Madness

Member
And this is retrospective reason #1 why tying an armor unlock to Company commendations is a bad idea.

Almost as much as tying achievements to things like camping on a map without moving, etc.

So dumb because by the time the helmet will be achieved, there would probably be 100+ HaloGAF regulars cut who contributed a lot (maybe not as much in the final stretch) and yet we could have some Reddit randoms who recently got the game or just joined and will be awarded the helmet. Already I try and look at the SC company list and don't really recognize that many who still post or interact here. The basis for the company was people from HaloGAF.

Yeah if those who don't play shouldn't really matter if they're cut but I still say those who are DYING to get the helmet, there was still the option to join a poopsocking SC a long time ago.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
And this is retrospective reason #1 why tying an armor unlock to Company commendations is a bad idea.

I mean, what is the exact point of the company though aside from stuff like this? Especially with Xbox clubs I'm not sure what the point of using slots for people who rarely play does, especially since in-game that means fewer possible people you see online via the company tab.
 

Madness

Member
Even worse is, how much Achilles effed up Warzone for everyone else. Does no one remember the farming and how brutal it became? Anyone could easily see the issues coming but no. It is why the awarding of the Timmy Helmet is so much better than Achilles.
 

Trup1aya

Member
And this is retrospective reason #1 why tying an armor unlock to Company commendations is a bad idea.

I think the execution is worse than the idea. The required commendation totals are so high that they require 100 people to play the game all the time and/or exhibit behaviors that wouldnt be typical had the challenge not existed.

It's the exact same issue they had woth H4s achievements, amplified by a communal element.
 

Karl2177

Member
damn fukin right Karl! i agree.
Oh shit. Gosu agrees with me. I change my position! (Okay, maybe I stick with my original thought)

Almost as much as tying achievements to things like camping on a map without moving, etc.
I don't think it's the same line of thought, but your next post is more along the lines of it.

I mean, what is the exact point of the company though aside from stuff like this? Especially with Xbox clubs I'm not sure what the point of using slots for people who rarely play does, especially since in-game that means fewer possible people you see online via the company tab.
Honestly, I'd like companies to be more of a community stat collection thing. I also wonder if companies were supposed to be a trial run for communities. It'd make more sense if the UI could look towards the Xbox live services and pull from the communities data, but 343 and UI/UX is like oil and water.

I think the execution is worse than the idea. The required commendation totals are so high that they require 100 people to play the game all the time and/or exhibit behaviors that wouldnt be typical had the challenge not existed.

It's the exact same issue they had woth H4s achievements, amplified by a communal element.
Definitely. But you can't have the values be incredibly low, because then there's no challenge to them. You can't have them be too specific because then you create farming situations like we have now. It happened in Reach and 4 when people went for daily challenges. "Compete a game with 8 sticks.", "Complete a game without any deaths", "Get 15 sniper rifle kills in one game." There's a level of vagueness in commendations that still hasn't been obtained 7 years after they were introduced.
 

TCKaos

Member
Almost as much as tying achievements to things like camping on a map without moving, etc.

So dumb because by the time the helmet will be achieved, there would probably be 100+ HaloGAF regulars cut who contributed a lot (maybe not as much in the final stretch) and yet we could have some Reddit randoms who recently got the game or just joined and will be awarded the helmet. Already I try and look at the SC company list and don't really recognize that many who still post or interact here. The basis for the company was people from HaloGAF.

Yeah if those who don't play shouldn't really matter if they're cut but I still say those who are DYING to get the helmet, there was still the option to join a poopsocking SC a long time ago.

We don't have anywhere near 100 regulars, in the thread or in the game. Their overall contributions have been minimal, as can be gleamed from their low SR levels and their inactivity. While, yes, the helmet is certainly a factor in this, that's only a symptom of the actual problem at hand: A total lack of community engagement on the behalf of a majority of the members of the Spartan Company. We're looking at a situation where potentially wholly one third to one half of the Spartan Company doesn't play Halo 5: Guardians at all.

Maybe if it wasn't for the fact that the Spartan Company has a hard limit on players, or that it has a reward of a sort tied to it, we wouldn't necessarily be having this potentially difficult conversation to address why there are so many members of HaloGAF that don't play Halo with anything remotely resembling regularity.

This isn't a 343i problem, this isn't a Halo problem, this is a HaloGAF problem. If we had had active players since launch we wouldn't be having to grind now, we'd have Achilles like everyone else.

This isn't about the helmet, this is about fostering a community that participates in the hobby that they bullshit about - playing once or twice a week, for maybe two or three games at a time. Sometimes more, sometimes less. You've got some members going on vacation, or on their honeymoons, with kids and family and jobs, and they still enjoy this game and the community around it that they find the time to sit down every once in a while and play for an hour or two. Sometimes people fall out of love with the game, and that's okay. That shit happens to everyone, and it's understandable. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about making grinding for commendations a 9-5, or about shitting on everyone who isn't playing literally every day.

When you've got people who post in this thread all the time with fewer than 25 games under their belt for 2017, or who have played for exactly one sitting in three months, or who haven't played since September of 2016, or haven't played since April 28th 2016, and those people outnumber the people who actually fucking play the game by a factor of nearly 4 to 1, there's a massive issue on the communal level that needs to be addressed.

I'm not even talking about "poopsocking" or about "grinding" or what have you - this is barebones participation on the most cursory level. Like, shit, there are people I've mulled over in the survey that are bad at Halo, or do nothing but play casual gametypes like Infection or Grifball or Super Fiesta (in at least one case literally over one hundred games of Super Fiesta in the last seven days) but I didn't label them as inactive or attempt to single them out because they're actually playing the game.
 

Karl2177

Member
Yo takos

Chill_OutPC.JPG
 
Shit sucks, my dudes. That's about all I have to contribute to the situation.

The sad fact of the matter is we don't have anywhere close to a high number of participating members. Those that we can get can only do so much. I do think having group sessions would help, since playing solo isn't something most people seem to want to do. That said, I know ExWife and co play on the regular, so it's as simple as making the choice of playing. I do what else we can do at this point.
 

Trup1aya

Member
Oh shit. Gosu agrees with me. I change my position! (Okay, maybe I stick with my original thought)

I don't think it's the same line of thought, but your next post is more along the lines of it.

Honestly, I'd like companies to be more of a community stat collection thing. I also wonder if companies were supposed to be a trial run for communities. It'd make more sense if the UI could look towards the Xbox live services and pull from the communities data, but 343 and UI/UX is like oil and water.


Definitely. But you can't have the values be incredibly low, because then there's no challenge to them. You can't have them be too specific because then you create farming situations like we have now. It happened in Reach and 4 when people went for daily challenges. "Compete a game with 8 sticks.", "Complete a game without any deaths", "Get 15 sniper rifle kills in one game." There's a level of vagueness in commendations that still hasn't been obtained 7 years after they were introduced.

For this specific concept they should have emphasised playing the game (the way it's meant to be played) with members of one's company, rather than encouraging people to arbitrarily group with people committed to adjusting their behavior to accomplish tasks as individuals.

There's nothing social about someone getting their share of spartan charge kills. In fact, I'm guilty of ignoring the objective in favor getting spartan charges: an anti-social behavior.

Better goals would be things like: get X number of Team Arena wins. Play x number of games with Company members. Achieve X number ranks beyond platinum, etc.

The benefit of such an approach would be that the rate of achievement would increase anytime Company members play together. A win with a TO4 would mean 4 wins towards the company. The rank commendation would encourage player to help each other git gud.

Not saying youd have to be good to get the armor- simply playing halo would do the trick. But playing well and with your company would expedite the process, without encouraging farming.

I'd also throw in a plenty of less skill focused commendations and even some kill commendations, but it would all be logical and less of a grind and more a reward from playing as usual.
 
Shit sucks, my dudes. That's about all I have to contribute to the situation.

The sad fact of the matter is we don't have anywhere close to a high number of participating members. Those that we can get can only do so much. I do think having group sessions would help, since playing solo isn't something most people seem to want to do. That said, I know ExWife and co play on the regular, so it's as simple as making the choice of playing. I do what else we can do at this point.

I mean, to this point, we regularly invite folks online from the in-game company roster to join us, in arena and warzone both, when they're online and maybe one night in a dozen someone will actually come play with the group. It's getting to the point I just don't send invites anymore because fuck it.
 

EYEL1NER

Member
I'm probably someone that would be considered barely active and I guess I wouldn't dispute it much but I just checked Waypoint and was really surprised by how many games I have played since the beginning of the year. For a second I got panicky reading that a large portion of the first 50 players hadn't played more than 25 games since the beginning of the year and I thought "Oh no, is that going to be the story for when he gets around to me?" I've played a lot more than I thought though, closing in soon on 100 Arena matches since Jan 1. I actually played a ton in January and at the beginning of Feb but then I got really caught up in Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate and have put in several days worth of playtime in that over the last month. I didn't even think I had played any regular WZ matches this year yet but I see a couple in my history, meaning I partied up with ExWife and he booted up some WZ matches in between BTB matches.

Not trying to make an argument that I am super-important to the company, just saying I that I looked and found out that I'm not as worthless as I feared. I've pulled a tiny bit of weight. I'll try to get back into a routine if hopping on at midnight or so every night again.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
I need to join the group more often. I try to party up with my brother when i can as well.

Edit: Want to have a Halo weekend with HCS Vegas coming up.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
I'm done surveying the activity of the first 50 players in the company roster and of them there are 23 that I would call inactive (very VERY few games played in MONTHS) and 9 that I would say are borderline (sporadically active with short gameplay sessions that, nonetheless, seem to play every once in a while).

I'm not looking at a quantitative analysis of medal counts for the commendations, or singling out people that don't "grind" as it were, but rather I'm just looking at whether or not these people even play the game. I'm talking 23 people with around 20 games in two months and some who haven't played since April or September or November.

Of the profiles I have surveyed I would argue that maybe 15 of them are what one would consider regular players (plays multiple nights a week, several games in a sitting).

I would argue that if one would like to be considered inclusive to HaloGAF but isn't what one would consider to be a regular or an enthusiast that they partake in the HaloGAF Xbox Club rather than the Spartan Company.

I'd argue that of the aforementioned regular players, only 5-6 are actively attempting to complete the commendations for the company. If we make a liberal estimate and assume that roughly 12% of the company is responsible for the majority of our commendation progress then just doubling that amount would mean that we get Achilles in late April instead of June. Hell, the presumed number of inactive players (46%) would mean that we'd get Achilles by the end of next week.





everybody else, shit or get off the pot!
i say this as someone who avoids btb and warzone, has assassinations off, and generally doesnt care all that much about a shiny trinket.
 
I mean, to this point, we regularly invite folks online from the in-game company roster to join us, in arena and warzone both, when they're online and maybe one night in a dozen someone will actually come play with the group. It's getting to the point I just don't send invites anymore because fuck it.

Like I said, its not like we aren't being inclusive, its just no one is biting. Nothing we can do.
 
I'd love to team up with Company people more often but being in Europe definitely makes that harder...

I'm on vacation right now, but I've been enjoying H5 a lot recently. I'm already itching to hop back in when I get back this weekend. I'm probably gonna get a ton of games in this Saturday night (again, in Europe). I'd love to team up with anyone!
 
Put me in company coach, I still play H5 most weeknights. Happy to push into Warzone in place of FF and play for stats as needed. Shit most of my IRL friends don't even play anything but H5 customs these days
I can only play Zombies so much

@Jizz, we've played before, wanna party up for some WZ action late tonight?
 

mo60

Member
Been playing warzone a bit more since the fireteam limit restriction was implemented. I usually play a few arena matches, a few warzone matches and then warzone firefight daily.
 
Top Bottom