mkeller25

Not sure how this thread was derailed as bad as it was. Anyone have any concrete statistics (maybe from XBL or something) that shows activity levels over different periods of time? I'd like to see what the activity levels were during the first 2 weeks of launch compared to the last 2 weeks. I bet its night and day. Like someone said previously, the people that have left the game have left it forever most likely. They don't come here and complain and try to get the attention of 343. They just leave. And why would 343 care, they already have those peoples 60$. Sure there's a lot of DLC but by and large, 343 has made their money already. The reason people like myself and Rush and Tony and whoever are here is to hopefully offer a different perspective. I realize the chance for a thread like this to actually trigger a change is just insanely low, but its good to discuss our issues regardless. I'm still clinging to hope that some type of ranking system will be implemented in the near future - something concrete that is visible on the console in every match and so on. Something like the Halo 2 ranking system. But outside of that, Halo is going on the shelf... probably forever. If Halo can't keep the attention of a die-hard fan like myself, I can't help but think how many more people like me there are out there. Not saying we're a majority, but there's gotta be more than just a few of us.

Some good points made in this thread. While I don't agree with everything that Rush said, I agree with the general sentiment that Halo followed the money - the money being the long, long, long lines of CoD players and the type of game they respond to - and by respond to you know what I mean - $$$ I will concede that games need to evolve to stay competitive in the market. I will concede that some people probably even wanted the changes like join in progress and loadouts and perks and all that. What I will not concede: 1) Maps. The new maps are far, far, far and away inferior to previous iterations of the game. Rush said it before but I'll say it again. I miss Midship and Lockout. Those, with the original longest, may be my favorite maps of all time. 2) Unbalanced/unfair matches are good for the franchise. You'll never convince me that people that are level 1205398234 with additional perks is a good experience for the person on the other end of their rifle. You'll never convince me that starting a game 3v4 was the right move. You'll never convince me that players should be thrown into a match that is already in progress and they are losing 220-40. IT IS A WASTE OF TIME. As a matter of fact, I would argue that throwing more players into this sort of situation simply perpetuates the quitting cycle. When I join a game like that, I play for about 2 deaths and I go "oh, I see what you did here Halo. You put me in a position where I simply cannot succeed and I will have zero fun. Thank you for the zero fun experience. Thank you for wasting another 5-10 minutes of my time." When games are unfair, they are not fun for the inferior party. Fair gameplay was always one of the major tenets of the Halo multiplayer formula and they threw that out the window IMO. 3) Ranking system works/exists. I have not been on Halo waypoint to check ranking nor do I care to be to view the ranking - the idea to split the user between two systems and force them to go to Waypoint to even view it is absolutely moronic. The fact of the matter is I'm not going to believe a ranking until its visible in game and I can see an even distribution of ranking in the matches I play. Moreover, a ranking system is absolutely CRITICAL to the longterm viability of the game. When the game is a year old, or 2 years old, or whatever... whats to stop the system from matching up brand new players from grizzled veterans?