TiCtaC_x

Basic reading comprehension is required to gain a full understanding of my OP. When I speak of the tyranny of noobs, I am not claiming that their whining was directly related to the removal of hardcore playlists and Halo 4: Call of duty Edition. What I am saying is that the noob culture has created an environment similar to that of a fantasy society from the mind of a bleeding-heart democratic literal. That is to say, there can be no judgements, no acknowledgement of good or bad, better or worse, skill or no skill. That culture is what brought us the current ranking system (if you can even call it that). On the face of it, their reason for creating an experience based leveling system makes since; they don't want cheaters lagging and bridging for wins. It seems legit. However I see a much deeper problem, and that is the developer's aversion and hostility toward highly skilled players who kick *** and talk ish. In my mind, this is an integral part of a competitive FPS and without it, there's little point in playing. The developer's catering to "casuals" who aren't as invested in the game is what is behind most of these changes that we see before us. If you are that much of a simpleton to honestly believe that we needed to take out ranks all-together based on skill because of "cheating", I don't know what to tell you. There will be cheating either way. Madden has a standard ranking system, and they found a way to keep it to a minimum. They didn't get rid of ranks completely in 2006 when people were able to force an opponent out of a match. They figured it out and implemented change.

What exactly are you contending, that Halo had no competition from other games whatsoever? You sound confused I think people want to hop on a game like halo and expect to be on the same skill level as someone who practces and gets better. When said noob gets owned and can't compete, it complains to the developers. The developers cave and poof! No more clans, no more pro-style playlists, and no rankings whatsoever. Notice how in H3, rankings became watered down, and now in H4, they have been completely removed. It's based on play-time now, instead of skill. Nothing separates a good player from a terrible player in terms of rank

It was the only big game because of its merits. It simply drew a larger crowd than most other games, and that is to its credit. Halo did not become a success "by default" as if it was the only FPS on the market...

I understand It was more than a game for me, because I've won money playing it in the past. The way they've made the game now doesn't lend itself to fair competition. Judging from the way the ranking system was completely gutted of any semblance of skill difference representation, the refusal to bring back clans and clan matches, and the overall distaste and hostility the developers continuously show towards the competitive community, I'd say there's no interest. I think we all want the game to be better, but we don't see eye-to-eye on the specific problems or their causes

You can take your "love it or leave it" philosophy elsewhere. If you are so narrow minded to think in such a one-dimensional way, I don't know what to tell you. It's obviously much more complex than that. This is a game that used to be the best console FPS hands down. It now has fallen considerably. The developers have shown a commitment to the all-mighty-dollar that rivals Bernie Madoff. They have trashed the core community of players that made it so great. It can become a great game again but I doubt it, because the profit-motive trumps what the players want

Yea, I didn't realize how long it was until I was done

http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/24259-the-tyranny-of-noobs/

My thread was how I honestly feel and I stand by it.

Disclaimer: I'm new to the forum but have been playing halo since CE. I realize what I will say may have been already said There's a reason why Halo has fallen behind CoD. There are reasons why it is behind Minecraft statistically on XBL. H2 dominated XBL. What has changed? I think this all started way back in H2 when Bungie decided to get rid of Clanmatches all-together. That's when things started to go downhill. The catering to casual fish. The environment became too competitive for those that wished to play once a week and still be seen on the same level as the competitive community which made Halo the international success that it used to be. And starting with H3, we saw the death of competition on this game, with the weird, clunky, unappealing matchmaking ranking system. In this manner, Bungie was acting as a bleeding heart liberal, trying to blur the line and "level" the playing field between the truly skilled and the non-skilled casuals who aren't as invested in the game to begin with. And now with Halo 4, any semblance of a delineation between skill and no skill has been vanquished. We are now all the same, no matter how good any of us are. The current "ranking" system is a complete rip-off of CoD, highlighting how much time is spent playing the game as opposed to how good you actually are. The level goes up to 130 I believe, which is completely arbitrary and shows that 343 made no attempt whatsoever to make it psychologically satisfying in the least Not to mention the actual playlists. Where is double team? Team Snipers? Where is team hardcore? What is a zombie playlist doing there? That belongs in customs. Team Swat? Belongs in customs. But of course, the crap maps don't really lend themselves to good playlists to begin with. The noobs and casuals have killed the Halo community and the game as a whole, by whining and complainging that they were not as good as the high levels in H2. The developers caved and caved until you have what you see before you, which is no representation for actual skill whatsoever. The ranking system is a joke. Their nonsense reason for getting rid of it is even worse; you will have people cheating in this game with or without the ranking system. All you've done at this point is equate a noob with a God, by allowing the noob to play all day and receive the same satisfaction, the same "ranking" as the God. This is what led to the MLG disconnect. They will never come back. Not directly because of the clan and ranking issue, but indirectly. Its the culture. Its the developers acting as fat cats on wall street, thinking only of profit instead of giving the dedicated community what they need to keep interest in the game. I have no interest in ranking to 130; it is meaningless. They of course signed with Virgin, and the first tournament is of the same ilk. Play alot and you win. Doesn't matter if you're any good. I urge 343 to get rid of the flashy armor, the stupid experience points, etc. Bring back a simple, yet appealing, ranking system as seen in H2. Show that you care about the real community, the community that helped make this into an E-sport. Stop catering to noobs. There's no reason not to have Clans or clan matches. If noobs feel as though Clans ostracize them and make the field too competitive, so be it. If they feel its not fair that they can't have a cool rank like the good clans, let them practice more. But the answer is not to get rid of all these things all-together because of so-called "cheating" or so-called "casuals". Back in my day we called them noobs and that's what they are. I swear, the left-wing liberals ideology has made everyone soft. People don't even T-bag as much anymore. I hate what this has become /rant