First off thank you so much 343 for the great job you have done with Halo 4. Let me also thank you so much for doing what Bungie never did, and that is actually care about the competitive aspect of the game. I was very impressed when I saw that you had the MLG pros testing Halo 4 and I was even more impressed when representatives from 343 were present at the first MLG Halo 4 tournament. Quite frankly I was sure the days of competitive Halo were over once Reach was released, but I see there is hope yet. It is good to know that Halo is in good hands. I could go on about all of the things 343 is doing that I love, but this thread asks for matchmaking deficiencies and that's what I'm going to give. Please understand that I'm not trying to whine about how everything isn't the way I want it, but just where I think improvements should be made and some suggestions of how to do so. I apologize for what is sure to be one of the, if not the longest post on this thread, but I want to optimize the Halo experince and make sure Halo reaches its former glory.
#1 Joining games that have already begun:
This is a terrible problem. I understand that you probably incorporated it into the game to solve the issue of teammates quitting out and having to face a team alone. One of the main perks Halo had over Call of Duty was that you always started a fresh game. You never entered into a game where you got stuck with a team that's already down by 30 kills and destined to lose. As I'm typing this I joined a game where the whole team had already quit, leaving me to play 1v4 with only about 30 seconds remaining, and another where the team was 0-150. To put it simple, even though the goal is to make it fair for players who have been abandoned by their teammates, it really makes it unfair for people who are just trying to find a fresh game. This negatively affects win percentage and K/D.
An idea of how to fix this issue is to make it optional. Incorporate search options into matchmaking. This way we can select whether or not we'd be willing to enter into a game that has already been started as well as search for players with good connections and all of the other filters we were able to apply back in previous Halo games such as Halo 3.
#2 Limited Competitive Maps
While Halo 4 runs really well, it doesn't have the maps to make it a balanced, competitive game. So far Haven and Adrift seem to be the only maps that are symmetrical and have good spawns. Abandon is too one sided where the team that spawns on the high ground is given a huge advantage, given that those players understand how to do so. Whenever you die on Complex you spawn on the outskirts of the map and are completely open to spawn killing by any opponent(s) that see(s) you. Most of the other maps are too big for competitive play or just aren't suited for it. Please include more competitive maps in later DLC. An EXACT replica of Lockout or The Pit would be appreciated
#3 No Ranked Playlists
I know that this is something that is already being worked on, but it is something that needs to be solved asap. I'm tired of playing with people that don't really know what they're doing. I understand that we all have to start somewhere and that it really isn't their fault, but that is why we need to be divided by skill rank. It really isn't fair to lose because you have teammates that are new and it isn't fair to them to have to play against people with a lot of experience with Halo and can easily get 30 kills on them. It's discouraging for everyone, so please incorporate the ranked playlists as soon as you can. Among those I would definately like to see ranked Team Slayer, MLG, Doubles, and Sniper playlists.
#4 Melee/Assasinations
I've seen multiple occations where someone is in the middle of assassinating an opponent and out of nowhere the assassination is cancelled and the opposing player isn't even damaged, so that's an issue.
Personally I'm not a fan of the assassination animiations. I think that they're cool but I don't think that the psychological impact outweighs the amount of time that it takes to perform. However a lot of the time that I try to just go for the classic back smack it activates the assassination animation and it throws me off and sometime gets me killed, especially when I see the opportunity for multiple back smacks. Please fix.
The range of the lunge is much shorter than in previous Halo's. You practically have to be right in someone's face to hit them. A lot of times players find themselves playing air boxing with an opponent thinking that they're going to hit them, but don't. It really throws off the flow of the game. This is just personal preference but I would like to see the lunge put back to normal. I've heard many other people complain about this and I think it would be best if the lunge were modified.
The last issue with the melee aspect is the amount of damage melee attacks do along with the amount of time it takes to recover from a melee attack to perform a consecutive melee attack. I know this is going to sound like it contradicts my last point, but hear me out. There are a lot of times where you are in a confined area where reaching into that small lunge range is easily possible. A lot of times when players are in this type of situation they will wait for an opponent to approach and then sprint 2 or 3 paces and quickly melee him twice for a kill. That's not skill that's just dirty gameplay that defeats the point of the game being a SHOOTER in the first place. This was also an issue in Reach, but was quickly fixed. Though it was a bigger problem in the previous title due to the larger lunge range, it is still a problem in Halo 4. We've seen two very successful melee mechanics in Halo 2 and Halo 3. Halo 2 had less melee damage, requiring 3 melee strikes for a successful kill, but a quick recovery time. Halo 3 had more melee damage, requiring only 2 melee strikes for a kill, but longer recovery time which made it more effective to punch and then finish the kill with a shot to the head. Both mechanics were very popular and very successful. If the range of the lunge were to be increased a bit and the melee either did less damage or had a longer recovery time, the melee system would be smooth, consistent, and a heck of a lot less annoying.
#5 Trading kills
This is probably the most annoying bug in the game so far. What I mean by trading kills is when two players kill each other when one of them should've survived. Players frequently find themselves trading kills, whether its double headshots (especially in SWAT), double melees (less frequent, but it happens), or even trading bullets with non precisions weapons (ex: Assault Rifle vs Assault Rifle, Scatter Shot vs Shotgun, Scatter Shot vs Storm Rifle etc.) This completely destroys multiplayer, let alone any competitive play. Please fix this ASAP.
#6 Death Cam
Not really important, but the death cam never actually shows what happens. If you get killed by someone long distance with DMR it shows the DMR taking turns firing shots 10 feet away from your spartan and then you just drop dead. Doesn't affect gameplay, but I thought I'd bring it up.
#7 Instant Respawns
It just throws off the flow of the game completely. Yes it make it faster paced, but it just makes it chaotic. It's hard to encourage teamwork and control a map if you've got a constant horde coming after you. And it's more than frustrating when you when a 1v1 battle and the guy just spawns instantly and finishes you off. The kill loses all satisfaction. Games should be about working together to establish control and earn a win by being a team, not by who can get the most lucky kills in the chaos of constant spartan rushes. If players were to die as fast as they do in Call of Duty, then maybe it would work (for slayer gametypes) but that just isn't the case with Halo; and in my opinion is another reason why Halo will always be better than COD. It has that element of control. It's not just crazy, random killing.
Also, not related but if you could add more objects and scenery to work with in Forge, that would be most appreciated
