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Halo Wars: Definitive Edition |OT| The Best Marketing This Game Will Get

frontieruk

Member
I'm sorry to those who've yet to receive a code, I know this is a frustrating and frankly, baffling, experience. We all agree it's far from ideal but evidently this is the way it had to be this time out. That said, I'm told that another wave of codes will be going out by tomorrow so I'm hoping those of you that are still without will get yours in time for the weekend. The team here knew going into it that this was far from the ideal scenario but unfortunately had no other real path with this particular offer for reasons I admittedly don't personally understand but are out of our direct control.

To those that are playing, what do you think?


OK runs well on PC and on Xbox one, but baffled about the lack of messaging about the waves until the day of the launch, you guys knew and didnt do anything to temper expectations, even if it was just saying a month out that codes would be sent in waves.
 

mcfrank

Member
I'm sorry to those who've yet to receive a code, I know this is a frustrating and frankly, baffling, experience. We all agree it's far from ideal but evidently this is the way it had to be this time out. That said, I'm told that another wave of codes will be going out by tomorrow so I'm hoping those of you that are still without will get yours in time for the weekend. The team here knew going into it that this was far from the ideal scenario but unfortunately had no other real path with this particular offer for reasons I admittedly don't personally understand but are out of our direct control.

To those that are playing, what do you think?

Can you get someone on your PR team who does understand why things had to be done this way to explain it to us? Hundreds of thousands of games a year are sold on XBL a year and then immediately begin downloading. Please have them tell us why this does not/cannot work that way. South Park managed to do it the right way and they are a 3rd party, yet MS first party games (Gears and now Halo Wars) continue to use this baffling code system. Why have 3rd parties figured it out, but Microsoft has not when using their own platform. Please, have someone explain this to your users. You have been digging yourselves out of the giant hole MCC created and just as you are on the precipice of pulling yourselves out and getting back into Halo fans good graces, you start digging again. Why?
 

Outrun

Member
Can you get someone on your PR team who does understand why things had to be done this way to explain it to us? Hundreds of thousands of games a year are sold on XBL a year and then immediately begin downloading. Please have them tell us why this does not/cannot work that way. South Park managed to do it the right way and they are a 3rd party, yet MS first party games (Gears and now Halo Wars) continue to use this baffling code system. Why have 3rd parties figured it out, but Microsoft has not when using their own platform. Please, have someone explain this to your users. You have been digging yourselves out of the giant hole MCC created and just as you are on the precipice of pulling yourselves out and getting back into Halo fans good graces, you start digging again. Why?



Halo 5 has already brought the franchise back. I am afraid you are not going to get a white paper as to the reason for code use. This is a corporation after all...
 

Hawk269

Member
Just to note; I'm not singling you or anyone out as sole responsible, but the fact that you built good will with things like Halo 5, at least for me when I played it, only to have someone or something constantly tear it all down and only make it worse for you to rebuild, is frustrating to say the least.

Both for me and you, the people who work there I assume.


It sucks for all parties, but its about time you had someone look at how things are managed for the good of the series, the people who work there and us, the customers, so we don't have to deal with this all the damn time.

I am more direct and I will single someone out and that is Dan Ayoub. He is in charge of the project and in any company, there is someone that is accountable and usually that is the person in charge. So to Dan, you fubbed up man. As the guy in charge, he should of ensured his team was communicating properly and that messaging was clear..that is what it means when you are in charge of a project, you ensure all the people working with you are on point and if they are not it is your job to course correct as needed. Again, I go back to Dan's performance on MCC and now with this there is a "CLEAR" issue here.
 

gossi

Member
Plenty of game rewards - in fact, all bar one I believe - have gone in waves. E.g. Gears of War Ultimate Edition.

Microsoft built the system for reward delivery. Once, their community team said they used waves due to prior issues with mass message delivery taking their systems offline (due to the volume of people trying to redeem the codes at same time - the redemption system couldn't cope, so rather than fix it they introduced wave delivery of reward items).
 
Plenty of game rewards - in fact, all bar one I believe - have gone in waves. E.g. Gears of War Ultimate Edition.

Microsoft built the system for reward delivery. Once, their community team said they used waves due to prior issues with mass message delivery taking their systems offline.

The thing is that they don't need to message codes. Look at the systems used by other storefronts (Steam, for example) If a game has another game as a reward, the license is automatically added to your account and as soon as the reward is available you can download it without needing an extra code.

Why can't Microsoft do this?

How long does it realistically take to get the code for this if I pre order right now?


No one knows. I preordered on the 3rd and never got a code. What I do know is that you won't get it today, since for some strange reason their code delivery monkeys don't work on Wednesdays.
 

mcfrank

Member
Halo 5 has already brought the franchise back. I am afraid you are not going to get a white paper as to the reason for code use. This is a corporation after all...

Then why have people posting on Neogaf from the company. Why have tweets from the company. If they are going to communicate with us, they should communicate with us honestly. Hastily editing product descriptions, having Frankie and Mancannon and Ske7ch basically saying ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ as to why it is this way is not a good look for them. Having Dan Ayoub tweet, "HALO WARS DE NOW AVAILABLE!" and not putting a giant asterisk on it to explain all of the randomness is not a good look for them. Either don't communicate or communicate with some answers, but this half assed response is the worst possible scenario. This is really really basic PR stuff.

How long does it realistically take to get the code for this if I pre order right now?

No one knows. 7 - 10 days is the PR, but the PR also said anyone who preordered before the 14th would get a code yesterday (note that they told us that yesterday, not before the 14th). That did not end up happening.
 

Outrun

Member
I am more direct and I will single someone out and that is Dan Ayoub. He is in charge of the project and in any company, there is someone that is accountable and usually that is the person in charge. So to Dan, you fubbed up man. As the guy in charge, he should of ensured his team was communicating properly and that messaging was clear..that is what it means when you are in charge of a project, you ensure all the people working with you are on point and if they are not it is your job to course correct as needed. Again, I go back to Dan's performance on MCC and now with this there is a "CLEAR" issue here.

Oh boy, we got the emergence of HR-GAF.

I understand the frustration, but let's not go crazy here.
 

Orca

Member
Wait, so you had to preorder on the 14th if you wanted to play on the 20th?

That's ridiculous.

Also:

https://twitter.com/Danayoub/status/811587212705828864

Supposed to be another drop of codes for HW DE tomorrow. If you pre-ordered and still don't have your code tomorrow, we'll collect tags

Looks like they won't send codes today... because of reasons.

Yeah I'm kind of confused about the whole 'preorder before the 14th' since that wasn't said anywhere. I preordered it on the 17th....that means I don't deserve to get it when the pre-order page said I'd get it? I still haven't gotten a code for it - which was confusing, since when you 'manage game' on HW2 you download the 10Mb file that seems to indicate you have HW just awaiting an update to the full game.

I really like Halo's mainline games and the story, so I want to play HW2 even though real-time strategy isn't really a genre I spend a lot of time with these days...but this kind of makes me want to just cancel the preorder and watch the cutscenes on YouTube/Twitch. I was interested in getting back into HW but there's no shortage of games that I can buy and get to play right now lol
 

Outrun

Member
Then why have people posting on Neogaf from the company. Why have tweets from the company. If they are going to communicate with us, they should communicate with us honestly. Hastily editing product descriptions, having Frankie and Mancannon and Ske7ch basically saying ¯_(ツ)_/¯ as to why it is this way is not a good look for them. Having Dan Ayoub tweet, "HALO WARS DE NOW AVAILABLE!" and not putting a giant asterisk on it to explain all of the randomness is not a good look for them. Either don't communicate or communicate with some answers, but this half assed response is the worst possible scenario. This is really really basic PR stuff.



No one knows. 7 - 10 days is the PR, but the PR also said anyone who preordered before the 14th would get a code yesterday (note that they told us that yesterday, not before the 14th). That did not end up happening.

They're working on it. I am sure this will be a discussion point on their weekly meetings. Those responsible will feel pressure. Dissatisfied customers will do that.
 

Hawk269

Member
I'm sorry to those who've yet to receive a code, I know this is a frustrating and frankly, baffling, experience. We all agree it's far from ideal but evidently this is the way it had to be this time out. That said, I'm told that another wave of codes will be going out by tomorrow so I'm hoping those of you that are still without will get yours in time for the weekend. The team here knew going into it that this was far from the ideal scenario but unfortunately had no other real path with this particular offer for reasons I admittedly don't personally understand but are out of our direct control.

To those that are playing, what do you think?

You know, with all the noise of the codes, last minute communication of this being an Early Access Title (as in not 100% done game), this OT has become more of a thread about miscommunication and poor communication. I think it is sad that the majority of the posts are about things other than the actual game...but I don't blame people. You have to understand, Frankie, Dan Ayoub, Phil Spencer needs to understand that there are more members in this thread that don't have their code yet versus the few that do have the code. So the conversation is really heavily weighted to the side of people upset about codes. To add to that, you have people that pre-ordered almost the day pre-orders started that do not have codes and then you have others that pre-ordered a week or so ago do have codes.

Anyways, the game itself to me is very good. I love all the added touches. I was expecting a bit more, but I know this is a D.E. not a Re-Master or anything like that. But the improvements I have seen have been very good and love all the little improvements in effects, shadows and detail. I have experienced some weird frame rate in only certain situations on the Xbox One version. On the PC, I have to be blunt, but it probably is the WORST PC game I have played in the last 5 years as far as PC related options. Giving users only 2 resolution options, really in 2016? You get a toggle for high resolution on or off...that's it!

While the game plays great at 4k for me, it is still unimaginable how a PC game, even in early access has so limited options. Thankfully the game seems to run very well, is very smooth and that is the important thing at the end of the day.

I will most likely primarily play on Xbox One since I have more friends that are getting it on the One (well if they ever get a code), so I hope you guys are looking at performance improvements. Again, it is not bad, but a little inconsistent, but not game breaking. Any way to get a list of what is in the plans for the DE version between now and what is now referred to the official release of the DE version at the end of February?
 

Akai__

Member
The thing is that they don't need to message codes. Look at the systems used by other storefronts (Steam, for example) If a game has another game as a reward, the license is automatically added to your account and as soon as the reward is available you can download it without needing an extra code.

Why can't Microsoft do this?

They absolutely can but they somehow don't even know that it's possible. South Park actually does this. If you pre-order South Park: TFBH, you IMMEDIATELY get access to South Park: TSOT. There are no codes. You just search for it on the store, download it and you start to play it.

Funny thing is, I haven't even paid off South Park: TFBH completely and I still got access to the pre-order bonus. Here I fully paid off HW2 and I'm not given access to the game and have to wait 7-10 days. lol
 

mcfrank

Member
They're working on it. I am sure this will be a discussion point on their weekly meetings. Those responsible will feel pressure. Dissatisfied customers will do that.

I lived through months and months and months and months and months of "we're working on it, stay tuned for answers!" on MCC and we never got any answers. Why should I give them slack again?
 

Outrun

Member
Every product this guy touches turns to shit. He has the reverse midas touch. Why shouldn't we call that out?

Because we do not have nearly enough knowledge to conduct a performance review...

Again, I sympathize. But I think it is not a good idea to turn this into a witch hunt.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
Yeah I'm kind of confused about the whole 'preorder before the 14th' since that wasn't said anywhere. I preordered it on the 17th....that means I don't deserve to get it when the pre-order page said I'd get it? I still haven't gotten a code for it - which was confusing, since when you 'manage game' on HW2 you download the 10Mb file that seems to indicate you have HW just awaiting an update to the full game.

I really like Halo's mainline games and the story, so I want to play HW2 even though real-time strategy isn't really a genre I spend a lot of time with these days...but this kind of makes me want to just cancel the preorder and watch the cutscenes on YouTube/Twitch. I was interested in getting back into HW but there's no shortage of games that I can buy and get to play right now lol
"Codes are rolling out through the coming weeks, but anyone who pre-ordered by December 14 should receive one today, so keep an eye out"

http://news.xbox.com/2016/12/20/halo-wars-definitive-edition-early-access-available-now/
 

Zuzzissm0

Member
OK runs well on PC and on Xbox one, but baffled about the lack of messaging about the waves until the day of the launch, you guys knew and didnt do anything to temper expectations, even if it was just saying a month out that codes would be sent in waves.

the xbox store says 7-10 days starting from dec 20th. this means waves as always
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
You know, with all the noise of the codes, last minute communication of this being an Early Access Title (as in not 100% done game), this OT has become more of a thread about miscommunication and poor communication. I think it is sad that the majority of the posts are about things other than the actual game...but I don't blame people. You have to understand, Frankie, Dan Ayoub, Phil Spencer needs to understand that there are more members in this thread that don't have their code yet versus the few that do have the code. So the conversation is really heavily weighted to the side of people upset about codes. To add to that, you have people that pre-ordered almost the day pre-orders started that do not have codes and then you have others that pre-ordered a week or so ago do have codes.

Yeah, you're right about that; The Best Marketing This Game Will Get..

I wish I could talk about the game, but I have no way to do that, as I can't find anything but a 7 viewer stream to look at.

It's really been clouded by what should have been a cut and dry release.

Maybe next week it settles down and we can all play and enjoy the game and start to put this behind us for a while, until next time..


Also feel free to spam images and such for those who do have it, at least we can ogle it :D

...posted on December 20, 2016

At 9:00AM when the codes started going out at ~12:00PM or whatever.
 

StUnNeR H2K

Member
the xbox store says 7-10 days starting from dec 20th. this means waves as always

Actual that is incorrect it actual says 7 - 10 days from pre-order. So if you pre-order today Dec 21 it would arrive Dec. 28 to 31 based on the exact language. Just those who pre-order before Dec. 14 would have it yesterday which would have been the 7 day mark if you order Dec. 13th. Confusing mess... just give it those who pre-order now. I was ready for the $80 charge on my card and everything, guess they don't want my money that bad.
 

Hawk269

Member
Oh boy, we got the emergence of HR-GAF.

I understand the frustration, but let's not go crazy here.

Not going crazy. Were you not around when MCC launched? It was bad, very bad. Again, I don't know Dan, I am sure he is a nice guy and when I listen to him talk, he comes across as very passionate about Halo Wars/Halo Wars 2, but even people that show a high level of passion can be bad at managing teams and that is what has happened with the MCC and it is happening again with Halo Wars. No HR-GAF or anything like that, if you are the person in charge of a project and 2 of them so far has been flubbed, there is a pattern forming and it may be something Dan is not fully equipped to handle. Not saying he is a bad person, but it was clear the damage that was done to the franchise with MCC and there is always a person that is in charge and that was Dan.

We then have 343i really digging in with Halo 5 and you can say what you want about the Story, the support for the game has been amazing and then they announce Halo Wars 2 and Halo Wars DE which it being a niche title is something that is good for the platform...but then what has transpired over the last 2 days, with things being changed last minute, poor communication and all the other stuff, there is clearly an issue and the only thing that has been certain between MCC and HW is that Dan was/is in charge of MCC and now is Head of RTS Division for MS. I am not suggesting Dan be fired. when I did say that, it was a joke to Frankie, but he clearly needs some support and perhaps some training on being a leader of a team/dev group.

There is no witch hunt. Dan is a professional and I am sure he knows what it means to be in charge of a division, execution is an entirely different thing though. As consumers, we know he is in charge, we know he was in charge with MCC, it is not a witch hunt to call that out. I just think that Phil needs to sit the guy down and have a come to Jesus talk with him, right the ship and move on. Dan and his team has about 2 months before Halo Wars 2 comes out, so there is time for him and his team to ensure that communication and execution is done at a very high level. If Halo Wars 2 is jacked up as well and things go bad, that would be 3 projects this guy has been in charge of and I don't know anyone that thinks clearly can't deny there is a problem. I am wishing for the best and hope things go well and they continue to improve the DE version and give HW2 the support it deserves.
 

gossi

Member
Because we do not have nearly enough knowledge to conduct a performance review...

Again, I sympathize. But I think it is not a good idea to turn this into a witch hunt.

Yes. I agree. The reward system is built and managed by Microsoft. It has absolutely nothing to do 343i. People here are performing HR reviews of named staff who have nothing to do with anything.
 

Hawk269

Member
Yes. I agree. The reward system is built and managed by Microsoft. It has absolutely nothing to do 343i. People here are performing HR reviews of named staff who have nothing to do with anything.

You clearly are just focusing on the code issue, not all the other issues that has transpired. You say it has noting to do with 343i, then why would Frankie come into the thread and say what he said and that he would work on the messaging etc? Clearly, there are a multitude of issues, from the way codes are distributed, to the messaging and details of the game being changed the morning the DE version is to come out. I guess we can agree that it is a cluster fuck and maybe my personal messaging of Dan Ayoub (even though he is the guy in charge over the game) should be changed to MS instead of Dan. Maybe..,lol,

It sure would be nice if eventually this thread turns into the O/T it was meant to be...which is talking about the game itself, not it's struggling birth.
 

DocSeuss

Member
I'm sorry to those who've yet to receive a code, I know this is a frustrating and frankly, baffling, experience. We all agree it's far from ideal but evidently this is the way it had to be this time out. That said, I'm told that another wave of codes will be going out by tomorrow so I'm hoping those of you that are still without will get yours in time for the weekend. The team here knew going into it that this was far from the ideal scenario but unfortunately had no other real path with this particular offer for reasons I admittedly don't personally understand but are out of our direct control.

To those that are playing, what do you think?

I get that you're trying to be diplomatic, but why the fuck weren't we informed prior to release? I preordered this game with the full expectation I would be receiving Halo Wars on the 20th. I did not preorder this game with the understanding that I would be receiving an "early access" test version at an undetermined time after the 20th.

I have limited funds. I have to be choosy about what I buy, and I chose to buy this. Microsoft wasted my fucking money by not being transparent.

What next? Are we going to find out that Halo Wars 2 is coming out in waves on its apparent release day, or that we actually paid for a beta, or that it's now Kinect only, or some other crazy shit like that? Fuck. I'm one of those folks who got it on time. Still don't have my code.

Normally, I'm extremely understanding about this sort of thing, but the absolutely galling nature of the messaging really has me worked up. I cannot fathom a situation where this information could not have been shared prior to the release date. I don't know how to interpret this as anything other than "hey let's sucker a bunch of people into giving us money."
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
You clearly are just focusing on the code issue, not all the other issues that has transpired. You say it has noting to do with 343i, then why would Frankie come into the thread and say what he said and that he would work on the messaging etc? Clearly, there are a multitude of issues, from the way codes are distributed, to the messaging and details of the game being changed the morning the DE version is to come out. I guess we can agree that it is a cluster fuck and maybe my personal messaging of Dan Ayoub (even though he is the guy in charge over the game) should be changed to MS instead of Dan. Maybe..,lol,

It sure would be nice if eventually this thread turns into the O/T it was meant to be...which is talking about the game itself, not it's struggling birth.

I tried finding images and stuff to post and talk about but I failed.

I can't find anything :(

I hope by next week or over the weekend we all have keys and some game discussion and LFG can happen, until that point and probably going forward it will still be somewhat clouded by the unnecessary issues that arose.

It's a real shame, as I really liked the OG one and was looking at my old LE for like an hour waiting :3
 

Lom1lo

Member
So No crossplay between Xbox and PC ? Not even campaign ?

And did someone try this on a surface pro 2 ? How does it Run?
 

Orca

Member
At 9:00AM when the codes started going out at ~12:00PM or whatever.

You realize you responded to me saying there was confusion because there was no notice of the 'by the 14th' thing on the 17th when I preordered with a post showing them saying it...on the 20th. Was I supposed to have seen that three days before it was posted?

If they'd said 'preorder by the 14th to get the game on the 20th' I probably WOULD have preordered by the 14th.
 

Lee

Member
Anyone get a code today?

Nope, they announced no codes today, a wave coming tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

Plenty of game rewards - in fact, all bar one I believe - have gone in waves. E.g. Gears of War Ultimate Edition.

Microsoft built the system for reward delivery. Once, their community team said they used waves due to prior issues with mass message delivery taking their systems offline (due to the volume of people trying to redeem the codes at same time - the redemption system couldn't cope, so rather than fix it they introduced wave delivery of reward items).

Baffling how well the Live network works while the website, app, and redemption seem to get overwhelmed so easily. I remember the day they released a million old gamertags and it was just a giant cluster of errors all day for everyone. Surely they could change the policy on a game by game basis if the numbers aren't overwhelming? Also, they probably would have gotten a nice uptick in preorders had they come out a few weeks ago and said 'Preorder by the 14th to play on the 20th'. Could've turned this whole situation into a boost for preorders...
 

frontieruk

Member
Nope, they announced no codes today, a wave coming tomorrow. Cross your fingers.



Baffling how well the Live network works while the website, app, and redemption seem to get overwhelmed so easily. I remember the day they released a million old gamertags and it was just a giant cluster of errors all day for everyone. Surely they could change the policy on a game by game basis if the numbers aren't overwhelming? Also, they probably would have gotten a nice uptick in preorders had they come out a few weeks ago and said 'Preorder by the 14th to play on the 20th'. Could've turned this whole situation into a boost for preorders...

Or you know allowed pre-loads, but I guess being in-house they were working on it until the day before adding to the DL servers.

Or they could of had it added to peoples games to be installed but randomised DL speeds, so many things that they could of done, but this is what we got.
 

Timeless

Member
Even the people who have the game aren't much better off -- it's almost impossible to find a game and I've never seen more than one lobby open or more than 3 people including myself online at once.
 

Cranster

Banned
They're working on it. I am sure this will be a discussion point on their weekly meetings. Those responsible will feel pressure. Dissatisfied customers will do that.
They have had 8 years for their PR department to get their shit together.
 

Hawk269

Member
Even the people who have the game aren't much better off -- it's almost impossible to find a game and I've never seen more than one lobby open or more than 3 people including myself online at once.

Yeah, there is also no where to see the on-line population like in the original game as well. But I have been trying to find some on-line games yesterday to no avail and today after checking every once in a while I got into a 3vs3 game, but it is pretty much a ghost town.

What is even WORSE is the fact they REMOVED Matchmaking and Ranking/Leaderboards. This is a RTS, one of the points of playing a RTS online is to have a score/rank and then be matched with other players of similar ranking and that is now gone with the new set up. It truly is mind-boggling that they have taken out features of the original game.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
Yeah, there is also no where to see the on-line population like in the original game as well. But I have been trying to find some on-line games yesterday to no avail and today after checking every once in a while I got into a 3vs3 game, but it is pretty much a ghost town.

What is even WORSE is the fact they REMOVED Matchmaking and Ranking/Leaderboards. This is a RTS, one of the points of playing a RTS online is to have a score/rank and then be matched with other players of similar ranking and that is now gone with the new set up. It truly is mind-boggling that they have taken out features of the original game.
So is it just a game browser at this point?
 
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