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Halo |OT15| Beta-tested, GAF approved

*internet highfive* :D

opDYWPn.gif


Man, it had been full pages since my last Community/Alison .gif too. Oh well.
 

Duji

Member
What you are doing here is starting with your conclusion and working backwards to find ways to support it. At this point though, it is clear we are at an impasse. You should stop and try to objectively consider the pros and cons of the different ranking systems independently from the games they were contained in. Look at who benefits and who does not and ask yourself where you fit as an individual user.

I will say in closing though that both Bungie with Reach, and 343i with 4 have reached similar conclusions. This de-emphasizing ranks as a global trait for players dovetailed quite nicely in to the player investment systems they started pushing which became popular once Call of Duty usurped the FPS crown back in 2009 with MW2.

again: Why exactly do you think people stopped caring about ranks when Reach came out?
 

Ghazi

Member
WAHRER WINS THE CONTEST!

Enjoy your stuff!



This was the winning image btw, it had me rolling.



This part specifically.
8562936729_49b6535c86_m.jpg

image.php

For a moment I thought that ONI patch said KSI instead of K5 and just lost it. Also, how did you make that connection to Conor? I can't make anything out of that picture.

nvm, mobile sucks. I see it now.
 
I feel for 343, as individual people I like them a ton, but as a studio they frustrate the hell out of me. Between some of their confusing decisions (only symmetrical objective gametypes but not many symmetrical maps), lack of transparency (Bungie was better with this, at least IMO) and their efforts to force their vision upon fans (which would be fine if we had more customizable options). I just wish they would take a step back as a studio, and look at where the angst and disappointment is coming from and make noticeable changes. I have no doubt that the individual members like Frankie and David know these things, so its probably frustrating for them when they are targeted for something that is a studio decision, not a personal one.

But anyways, Forge Island seems awesome in concept, but I want to see the new Forge pieces, etc! Its too bad it looks so much like Ravine, but as of its free Im not too bummed at all.
 

stephen08

Member
again: Why exactly do you think people stopped caring about ranks when Reach came out?

Because the primary method of progression was totally independent from skill ranks. This was a major reason why CoD became so popular. Both good and bad players felt like they were getting somewhere.
 
Well, there's the fact that rank is the most important thing to a good portion of Halo players, past and present. The people who care about rank get to enjoy the bragging rights and those who do not are unaffected. What's the harm in having a visible ranking system?


Yes. And that's because the game sucked and the initial implementation was awful.


Were you alive and on the internet when Halo: Reach came out? Did you not see the insane amount of complaining about how bloom and the individual ranking system were completely ruining the ranking system? And did you not see Reach's rank population dip significantly following the complaints?


Are you seriously still talking about how people didn't care about the W/L system? How many times do I have to explain to you that the population was already low by the time it came out. Why is that so hard to understand? And, Halo 3 had similar issues? I would agree with you if Halo 3 started off with the K/D/A system and transitioned to W/L seven months in, all whilst miraculously maintaining it's ranked population.


I don't quite understand. Why exactly do you think people stopped caring when Reach came out?



I can't stress enough how much you crack me up on these forums.

@juices&heckfu:
Seriously. What is Silly Mikey talking about?


PM me when u figure it out.
 
One thing is for sure. If Destiny is half the success we think it will be nobody will give a shit about Halo 5. I think they really missed an opportunity here in light of the studio who invented Halo coming out with a potentially game changer in the FPS space.

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and a chance to take our H4 feedback to heart for H5. Just because you put 4 talented musicians in a band it doesn't mean they're going to make platinum albums. They need time to get used to each other and work both as a studio and as the company taking over the reigns of one of gaming's most rabid fanbases.

Halo 5 has just as much of [okay they have a bit of cushion with the brandname] a chance of being a hit or miss as Destiny does. Let us not forget that Reach wasn't exactly fine wine either.
 

TCKaos

Member
Why display SR ranks then?

I've never understood this. With 1-50 at least the number itself meant nothing in the game as far as gameplay was concerned, but with SR130 you know that person has access to all of the specializations and weapon skins and armor. Wouldn't that give players a bigger incentive to cheat? Now if they cheat they get the huge number and a bunch of gameplay changing mechanics.

But we've traversed all of these roads before. While I don't really like 1-50 it's better than not having any sort of skill rankings at all. Halo: Reach styled tiers applied globally would be the bomb. Current tier displayed on your little player-card on the menu and previous high and approximate skill percentile on the service record.
 
One thing is for sure. If Destiny is half the success we think it will be nobody will give a shit about Halo 5. I think they really missed an opportunity here in light of the studio who invented Halo coming out with a potentially game changer in the FPS space.

Disagree. Despite my frustrations with Halo and 343 currently, I absolutely love the franchise, fiction and gameplay and have room for more than one awesome game in my life.
 

kylej

Banned
A member of the 343 dev team putting their head in the sand? Certain Affinity employees talking about old maps rehashed to try to milk the fanbase? BS Angel saying nothing?

And here I was thinking PAX might bring something new to Halo 4.
 
I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and a chance to take our H4 feedback to heart for H5. Just because you put 4 talented musicians in a band it doesn't mean they're going to make platinum albums. They need time to get used to each other and work both as a studio and as the company taking over the reigns of one of gaming's most rabid fanbases.

Halo 5 has a chance of being a hit or miss just as much as Destiny does. Let us not forget that Reach wasn't exactly fine wine either.

No but Destiny is coming for 4 different consoles and is going to be pushed to hell by Activision. If there is any kind of competitive MP I think it takes off. Also to your point, Bungie will learn from it's mistakes especially seeing how Halo 4 who built on some of that crap they put in has bombed online.
 
Disagree. Despite my frustrations with Halo and 343 currently, I absolutely love the franchise, fiction and gameplay and have room for more than one awesome game in my life.

I agree with you but a lot of people are not going to blindly go out and purchase Halo 5 in droves. Look how many people bought the LE and won't do that again.

Plus you will be able to play CoD and Destiny on the 360/PS3. Halo 5 is going to require a new console.
 
I don't understand why people are already dick riding Destiny. We've seen what, 12 seconds of actual footage?

Because bungie make the greatest games.

Reach

I will buy Halo 5 and £800 worth of goodies. Despite how much I disagree with the MP in Halo 4 I still love the franchise, I thought the SP was great.
 

Ghazi

Member
I don't understand why people are already dick riding Destiny. We've seen what, 12 seconds of actual footage?

More like 12 seconds of awesomeness, I think it's just the general goodwill towards Bungie and trust in them to make it good is what's assuring people that it'll be good. I mean it is a Bungie game we're talking about here and with a premise that isn't that bad. The only thing I'm worried about is how they may mess up PvP, normally it doesn't take much to satisfy me when it comes to PvE.

Plus you will be able to play CoD and Destiny on the 360/PS3. Halo 5 is going to require a new console.

This is the main thing keeping me from being excited about Halo 5, I'm going Sony next gen at the start (as far as I can tell right now, if MS reveals a console that isn't geared towards casual and isn't as shit as it sounds then I may give it a chance at launch) so I probably won't even be able to play it when it first comes out unless I go to a friend's house or something.

Unless they're going to put "Creators of Halo and Publishers of CoD" before every single trailer...
Dude it's Activision, I seriously wouldn't put it behind them at this point. I don't think they'll ever mention CoD in it's marketing, but I can already tell that they're going to milk the "creators of Halo" phrase.
 
I don't understand why people are already dick riding Destiny. We've seen what, 12 seconds of actual footage?

I'm not "dick riding" I am talking about it potential success. If you don't think Destiny is going to see well you are nuts. They are already pimping this game a year out of launch. This game will sell like hot cakes. IDK how good of a game it will be but to deny that it is a huge threat the Halo 5 is being silly.
 
No but Destiny is coming for 4 different consoles and is going to be pushed to hell by Activision. If there is any kind of competitive MP I think it takes off. Also to your point, Bungie will learn from it's mistakes especially seeing how Halo 4 who built on some of that crap they put in has bombed online.

I don't disagree, but I see tremendous odds against Bungie right now:

• Last game was Reach (a commercial success, but not as much so among the fans).
• Previous games like Myth unknown to most of the current gen, so they're still only "Halo devs" to many people.
• I don't see "Destiny" as a "Halo/CoD killer FPS name" at least, not one kids would be as comfortable saying to their testosterone packed CoD friends.

They're going to have to sell Destiny on pure gameplay alone, because I think both brand and studio recognition is against Bungie this time.

Unless they're going to put "Creators of Halo and Publishers of CoD" before every single trailer...
 

Madness

Member
I don't understand why people are already dick riding Destiny. We've seen what, 12 seconds of actual footage?

Same reason people dick ride Rockstar, Naughty Dog, Valve etc. A quality studio puts out Quality games. It's like saying we shouldn't get excited Martin Scorsese is coming out with a new mafia film, Chevy with a new corvette etc.

Even if you dislike Reach, this was the studio that made Halo 1-3, the games that made all of us fans. That alone is enough to get hyped when they announce their next big thing.
 
Because literally every game Bungie has made has been amazing.

Even if you believe Reach was a shortcoming to their quality.

I think Reach was more of experimental ideas gone bad. Technically it was a well-built great game packed to the brim with content. And that's coming from the dude who complained about it for almost 2 years ಠ_ಠ
 

Omni

Member
More like 12 seconds of awesomeness, I think it's just the general goodwill towards Bungie and trust in them to make it good is what's assuring people that it'll be good. I mean it is a Bungie game we're talking about here and with a premise that isn't that bad. The only thing I'm worried about is how they may mess up PvP, normally it doesn't take much to satisfy me when it comes to PvE.
Well obviously I'm in the minority here, but what they've shown so far doesn't do anything for me. All the talk about being a game changer means absolutely nothing until you do it.
There's nowhere to go from here but up.
Haha, that's one way of looking at it
Because literally every game Bungie has made has been amazing.

Even if you believe Reach was a shortcoming to their quality.
No doubt that Bungie is a very talented company, it's just that, IMO, it's far too early to be making remarks like "No one is going to care for H5" or "Destiny: The Halo killer" or whatever else.

I'm not "dick riding" I am talking about it potential success. If you don't think Destiny is going to see well you are nuts. They are already pimping this game a year out of launch. This game will sell like hot cakes. IDK how good of a game it will be but to deny that it is a huge threat the Halo 5 is being silly.
Not directed at you in particular. :) Just that every time I see Destiny mentioned everyone starts droning on about how it's going to be the greatest thing since pizza... when all they're doing is setting themselves up for disappointment.

...

Am I excited for Destiny? Yes. Am I expecting it to be one of the greatests games ever and a suitable replacement for a series like Halo? No.
 

Duji

Member
Because the primary method of progression was totally independent from skill ranks. This was a major reason why CoD became so popular. Both good and bad players felt like they were getting somewhere.
Why didn't you mention this earlier? Could've saved me the time and effort of typing that post out. lol

And this surely is an interesting argument. Tying the main progression system with a ranking system definitely brings more people to play the ranking system, yes. But to say that making them independent will drastically reduce the overall incentive to play the ranked playlist(s)... I disagree. The problem is that Reach didn't show your (or your opponent's) Arena rank in non-Arena playlists without forcing you to click through five different menus. I can guarantee you that a lot more people would have played the Arena if people got to flaunt their Onyx badges next to their gamertags. We wouldn't even be having this argument right now if they implemented the Arena properly into the game's UI (Note to Reach UI lovers: Yep, even the beloved Reach UI was not without major faults).

And here I was thinking PAX might bring something new to Halo 4.
You expect us to believe that? lol
 
Not directed at you in particular. :) Just that every time I see Destiny mentioned everyone starts droning on about how it's going to be the greatest thing since pizza... when all they're doing is setting themselves up for disappointment.

Am I excited for Destiny? Yes. Am I expecting it to be one of the greatests games ever and a suitable replacement for a series like Halo? No.

Destiny could either become the next CoD or it could disappear into obscurity after 9 months.
But I really don't think Destiny is going to rival Halo as a franchise, because let's face it - Halo has games, books, video shows, manga, action figures, and a slew of other merchandise that puts it in a league behind Star Wars.

I doubt Bungie can out-Bungie themselves in that department.
 

Blueblur1

Member
I think Reach was more of experimental ideas gone bad. Technically it was a well-built great game packed to the brim with content. And that's coming from the dude who complained about it for almost 2 years ಠ_ಠ

It's a solid game. The problem is the design choices they made ended up being undesirable. IMO, it's still a higher quality product than Halo 4 even though I think Halo 4 plays better. If I could merge the two I'd take Halo 4's base player traits, gunplay and grenade bounce and everything else from Reach and mash them together to make one Firefight-filled, expertly crafted and tested Halo game with beautiful and functional UI.

Oh, and Forge would be better because it would be Reach's Forge mode.
 
Well even if Bungie whimpered out on Halo in the end that's still one blemish in a collection of otherwise really good titles. I don't know what Destiny has in store but it's on my radar at least. 343 have two strikes and one of them was giving an HD paint job to an existing game. I can sympathize with the pains of making a studio from scratch and the concessions made on Halo 4 like lack of campaign theatre, the removal of firefight, and the smaller scale of the campaign levels themselves. What I can't reconcile is something that's entirely their's to burden in the form of various conscious decisions in the MP design.

Though I can only feel bad for the people who are sticking to it even if they don't like it. Just rip that bandage off. Stop getting excited (and subsequently highly disappointed) with any new piece of info, it's not going to be the series you once knew, it's never going to go back to that. Maybe venting that out in the thread ends up being cathartic, but ultimately the solution is to stop giving it any attention from now on.
 

Madness

Member
Well obviously I'm in the minority here, but what they've shown so far doesn't do anything for me. All the talk about being a game changer means absolutely nothing until you do it.

Am I excited for Destiny? Yes. Am I expecting it to be one of the greatests games ever and a suitable replacement for a series like Halo? No.

It doesn't do much for me either, I'm already dreading the social aspect and playing with friends. It's why I wrote into the mail sack about whether lone wolves like me could play by ourselves and they responded yes.

I don't think it's meant to replace Halo at all, just like Starcraft doesn't replace a Civilization or Saints Row replaces a Grand Theft Auto.

All it is, is a new first person shooter made by the studio that brought you Halo 1-3, ODST and Reach. That alone is enough to get you excited.

Now sure someone expecting a 4v4 slayer with equal starts may be disappointed, but any gamer should be excited at a new game that promises to change the genre and how we play.

I get excited just like I do when seeing a game like Watch Dogs etc. I'm all in favor of new games/experiences.

EDIT: I can easily see it turning into a big series. I mean look at Mass Effect. Came onto the scene in 2007 and already rivals Halo in terms of fans, books, comics, almost even games. It all depends on how it plays. In fact I think I probably know more about the Mass effect franchise than anything about Halo post Reach. I've yet to read any new forerunner books, disliked the Halo 4 story etc.
 

Ghazi

Member
It's a solid game. The problem is the design choices they made ended up being undesirable. IMO, it's still a higher quality product than Halo 4 even though I think Halo 4 plays better. If I could merge the two I'd take Halo 4's base player traits, gunplay and grenade bounce and everything else from Reach and mash them together to make one Firefight-filled, expertly crafted and tested Halo game with beautiful and functional UI.

Oh, and Forge would be better because it would be Reach's Forge mode.

It just feels like Halo 4 was super-rushed, while Reach was something that they took their time with and poured their souls into it until they thought it was perfect (which may have been their downfall on Reach), they only made changes on fan feedback and not on things that they didn't have time to add to development. Honestly I've had more fun with Reach and enjoyed it more, especially with BTB and Invasion. It was just a really fun experience that I felt I could relax in and not go into super competitive mode. With Halo 4 I'm always getting frustrated and I feel like I'm not enjoying my time with it. Yesterday I got frustrated to the point where I calmy ejected the disk from my Xbox, put it in the case, and kicked it into my bathroom. I've never gotten so angry at a game this gen before, so I'm putting it down for now. Granted I was playing Infinity BTB on Meltdown instead of Throwdown for some reason and Throwdown + the TU is the only reason I'm even considering coming back to H4 at all. Even with Halo 3 I knew that if I was getting my ass handed to me that it was either my fault or I was legitimately facing someone better than me, I've gotten totally bodied before in H3 and I was fine with it. It's just now I'm getting losses and deaths because people can call in power weapons from the sky and spawn with annoying ass weapons (Boltshot, PP, DMR, even AR at times), or maybe I was just acting like a child.
 
I don't disagree, but I see tremendous odds against Bungie right now:

• Last game was Reach (a commercial success, but not as much so among the fans).
• Previous games like Myth unknown to most of the current gen, so they're still only "Halo devs" to many people.
• I don't see "Destiny" as a "Halo/CoD killer FPS name" at least, not one kids would be as comfortable saying to their testosterone packed CoD friends.

They're going to have to sell Destiny on pure gameplay alone, because I think both brand and studio recognition is against Bungie this time.

Unless they're going to put "Creators of Halo and Publishers of CoD" before every single trailer...

Totally disagree. Who was the studio Sony brought in to close the show? They made Halo, not Halo 4. Those Bungie guys are going to be all over the community, they know what they are doing.

That said, I think the combination of Destiny and CoD on multiple last gen/next gen platforms puts Halo 5 in a bad place. Yes Reach started the bad trends but Halo is not very popular right now. People are not running out to buy another console for it.

Keep in mind the 360 also had a year ahead of the PS3. This year they will be launching in the same season.
 
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