NIHIL AETERNUM

343i, Let me start by saying that I think the work you've put into the multiplayer has been great. The game mostly feels amazing to play, and when the game launched, my friends and I all had a blast experiencing moments that could be likened the the days of old during a good LAN party. But, I regret to say, those good feelings have really sizzled out over the first season and now into the second and I'd like to explain why. First, and most agregiously, why there is no input matching in anything other than Ranked blows my mind. For clarity, this is coming from the perspective of someone who started playing the original Halo on a console with a controller, and still does to this day. While I do not claim to be a tournament-level player, I have historically played more often than my friends, and I would roughly place myself as above average on the sticks. However, because of this, we are constantly matching players on PC, on keyboard and mouse, who will just wipe the floor with our team. I don't care who you are, I highly doubt anyone will dispute being on the recieving end of that is enjoyable. The ease of use for both inputs is not even remotely comparable; from average-skilled PC players to the top 1%, pairing a 'similarly matched' console player gainst them is almost always a blowout. For gametypes that are not Ranked to feel sweatier than the dedicated playlist itself is incredibly painful. Not only for me, but moreso for my friends who do not have as much time in the game. This has been an ugly stain on what would otherwise be a great experience, and the sad thing is there's already a system in place to fix this. Additionally, similar to the above point, I don't know how the matchmaking is set up, but whatever logic is being used is not working optimally. There seems to be almost no team balancing, where if my friends and I queue up (who have varying skill ranges) we will be queued with teams who seem far outside of our combined skill bracket. To make matters worse, even if the teams ARE balanced, the input issue mentioned before exacerbate this, where we will be matched against an entire team of mouse and keyboard players and does not remotely FEEL balanced. Beyond that, it seems like there is no lobby protection in that we will be matched against the same players that have destroyed us over and over, even if we back out and try to re-queue. This matchmaking, in tandem with the input lopsidedness has driven my friend group apart, where it's preferable for us to play separately so that we don't ruin each other's experiences. Which, may I add, is one of the worst things players could be thinking while playing a multiplayer game. This only reinforces my belief that the implementation of input choice will reduce this significantly. The only alternative I can see would be to create a better way to more accurately weigh the skill ratings depending on the player's input, i.e., PC players are queued in higher skill brackets when matched against console players. As an example, this would ideally put an average PC player against a higher-skilled console player to make matches feel more evenly balanced, but I wouldn't bank on this one, considering there is already a much easier solution available, as previously mentioned. Even if these matchmaking changes would cause us to wait longer, I would much rather have that and enjoy my time with my friends, than really dislike where we are currently and go play something else, leaving behind a game I truly want to love. In regards to the new season and game type, I understand every launch will have it's hiccups, but challenges have been an issue since launch, and that has not changed with this season and the addition of Last Spartan Standing event. It seems as though some progress from some kill challenges may carry over, but from my experience, when the game specifically tells me that I may leave without penalty and I will not lose work I have put into my challenges, only to discover that was not true and I have wasted my time and must re-queue for another match, is aggravating to say the least. Leaving early does not count towards match completion or score, and I don't have the time or patience to find out what other challenge issues still plague the game, which is not a good thing for a returning player, and is even worse for new ones who may come into this without prior experience with this from the previous season. For a new mode, that everyone will want to play, this needs to be addressed ASAP. Beyond this, there is seemingly no spawn protection. I know some maps are smaller and harder to control some of this, but when you're spawned directly in front of an enemy, scoped in on you with a sniper, and that same thing happens multiple times a match, it's hard to understand why. It does not feel great to be matched against someone - or more significantly, a team - who knows exactly where every spawn is and how they can spawn split and farm you the whole match. This is much more noticeable in coordinated teams in Ranked, but the pain is still felt in other playlists. Not much else to comment on here, but bottom line, you should not be able to spawn in line-of-sight, nor should you be as vulnerable off the spawn. Other games have strong spawn overshields or immunity for a short time to punish thise who attempt to force this snowball effect during matches. Food for thought. Furthermore - and credit where credit is due - the weapons across the board are in a pretty decently balanced spot, with a few outliers such as the Pulse Carbine that have been woefully neglected and feels unusable in anything other than exactly medium range. Any further or closer to your target and the weapon is incapable of tracking accurately or dealing enough damage to secure a kill before a player can escape the next burst. A tweak in damage or the aggressiveness of the bolts may help to make enough of a difference to give it a place in the sandbox. Finally, the grenades seem far too plentiful, to the point where they are almost limitless. When every player starts with two, plus the ones picked up from killed players on top of the pickups on the map -- they just become inescapable. While this is felt a bit less outside of quickplay or similar playlists, the frequency of being assaulted by grenades because of how free they are remains. Instead of being a scarce but powerful tool that needs to be used intelligently to outplay an opponent, they have become part of the kit to be spammed at every convenience, which ultimately detracts from how fun the gunplay of the game can be. If players were forced to either start with a single grenade or even without them, it would further incentivize the use of scavenging for them off of other players or making the tactical decision to either grab or bait pickups, giving them more meaningful usage in the game. I know this was a lot of my own personal opinion, and I'm sure there are plenty of other things that could be addressed with content, other weapons, game types, the store, etc., but these specific issues have negatively affected the experience of both myself and the friends that I would love to play this game with. I truly commend the commitment to keeping your staff working normal hours and not crunching, but I have to say that if these things don't get ironed out with the staff and talent you have in a timely manner, myself and others are going to find it very hard to want to come back. Six months each season is an awfully long time and I hope that the game will see meaningful updates within that window, especially on these points. We desperately want you to succeed and to help give us a reason to love Halo, a series that we all have a special place in our hearts for. Thank you for your time and all the hard work you've put in thus far, 343i. Respectfully, - Nihil