The Decline of Halo

[Porcin3 Proph3t]

I would not say declining that's a very stron word. It is changing though. And the gaming industry is not booming. It is actually suffering. If the industry is not a AAA developer or owned by a big business then they will fail. This year alone over 20 developers closed up shop. video game sales are also on the decline. Why u may ask no one knows for sure. May be because of the constant release of yearly titles that are the same game or maybe people just don't play video games.

[Sova]

I would not say declining that's a very stron word. It is changing though. And the gaming industry is not booming. It is actually suffering. If the industry is not a AAA developer or owned by a big business then they will fail. This year alone over 20 developers closed up shop. video game sales are also on the decline. Why u may ask no one knows for sure. May be because of the constant release of yearly titles that are the same game or maybe people just don't play video games.

 

People are getting smart and learning that the computer offers the best selection of video games. (I'm being sarcastic of course).

 

I think you may be right. Gaming really doesn't hold the revolutionary feel it did when XBL first came out. I think the younger generation is getting into other things like iPads, mobile aps, handheld gaming devices, and all that other junk. At the same time us older people who grew up with a xbox 360 are starting to enter the real world or moving on in life.

 

My guess though is that there will be another boom in the gaming industry as soon as microsoft releases their next generation console. The xbox 360 has been around for a long while now (7 years) and the first microsoft console has been around for over a decade. So it's about time that something knew comes about that will take the gaming community by storm.

[TransientHalo]

This generation of gamers missed the best multiplayer experiance that the halo series had to offer. It's why I get the responses that I do sometimes when I decry things that are or were woefully wrong with the franchise (Armor lock, weapon bloom, melee system, overpowered banshee, and thats all from halo reach).

 

Armor lock, yes very annoying and stupid.

 

Reticle bloom. Well, for starters I think reticle bloom was implemented to nerf out kids with rapid fire controllers from Halo 3. Also, reticle bloom made the game a lot more challenging and forced you to time your shots. This definitely made the game harder and less "noob" friendly.

 

Although the reticle bloom in Reach may have been a tad too much as far as how much it actually bloomed.

 

Banshee, yes, VERY annoying in the hands of a good pilot but still farily easy to take down.

[Superusername2]

Halo 4 is fun but the map variety and the lack of an assualt rifle start only mode is kicking the game in the balls in my opinion. Though I acutally liked reach (i didn't play after they updated it so not sure about now) Likign reach seems to make you a bit of an odd one on this forum it would seem. As an aside I started with Halo CE so it's not some sort of not knowing what real halo is bias.

[ciber 1.0]

I've been playing Halo since day 1 CE, and I'm enjoying 4 more than any game in the series since H2. The game has more stuff now which does make the play a little different, but isn't that a good thing? Otherwise we would just be playing H2 with better graphics every few years. People are overly nostalgic about the past (human nature) but the older games had their share of flaws as well. In CE the only weapon ever used was the magnum. Sure we had a blast at LAN parties and over xbox connect but that's because it was all new to us.

 

A ranked playlist like they had in H2 would be nice. H4 isn't perfect, but nothing is. I agree with others that it get's old hearing MLG guys tell the rest of us that we don't understand what makes a good game. Guess what? These games aren't made for you. They are made for the broad community, and you decide whether or not you want to make it all "professional". I have a real job, so the #1 focus for me is playing a fun game, not on tiny details that make pro competition suffer.

[N1AK]

When the MLG pros are saying this, you know the game is bad. Halo was never more popular than when MLG was having Halo 2 and 3 circuits, and the fact that they took Reach off and cant even decide on settings for Halo 4 is a problem

 

I think you might be mistaking cause and effect. MLG went H2 when H2 was completely dominating online play and actually did very little to change the game. MLG might have raised Halo's profile even more but the game was doing fantastically even before MLG became widely known.

 

ciber 1.0's view is almost exactly the same as mine. I played Halo, H2 and then basically skipped H3/Reach MP and am having a blast playing H4 online 'out of the box'. Not having some kind of ranking system (or at least a timeline for one) is a big flaw but otherwise the game as it comes is enjoyable to a lot of people.

[The Ninja Style]

I've been playing Halo online since CE over xbconnect. The playlist and maps in H4 need some work, but at least the core mechanics are good. H4 is much better than Reach, the worst Halo ever released. It does piss me off the game has been out a month and they are already releasing map packs without fixing the matchmaking, money whores, try making your game better and more people will buy it, deeerrrrrpppp :/

[Chris Hansen]

Exactly! The core mechanics of this game destroy reach. For many purist halo fans, those who spent most of thier time with halo 1 and 2, 4 is a thousand times better then Reach.

[TransientHalo]

I've been playing Halo online since CE over xbconnect. The playlist and maps in H4 need some work, but at least the core mechanics are good. H4 is much better than Reach, the worst Halo ever released. It does piss me off the game has been out a month and they are already releasing map packs without fixing the matchmaking, money whores, try making your game better and more people will buy it, deeerrrrrpppp :/

 

Would you clarify how the core mechanics are better than Reach? Not that I disagree, I'm just curious to hear what you think is different and why? This game has a lot of facets from Reach still in it. Reticle bloom is still here, though more shallow than it was in Reach. Armor abilities are still present though thank God armor lock didn't make it's way into H4. The # of hits it takes for weapons to kill you is the same, except for assault weapons. Assault weapons are a little beefed up compared to Reach.

 

I mean, other than assault weapons beefed up and a Reticle bloom being more shallow, I don't see much of a difference in game mechanics over Reach. I didn't think Reach was a bad Halo. The worst part of it was armor lock but plenty of playlists existed where you couldn't choose armor lock. Reticle bloom forced you to time your shots and certainly made the game harder and allowed players who had mastered the art of timing their shots rule with a DMR.

 

In some facets Reach was less "noob" friendly and harder to play than H3. Especially on playlists which limited armor abilities to only hologram, sprint, and jetpack. Reach was all about precision. In H4 you can be good with full auto, if you went against a good DMR'r in Reach with the AR, even in close quarters, you were dead. Due to how much Reach prided itself on precision and then threw in a big reticle bloom, I would dare say it was maybe the hardest to play Halo ever made.

[Hᴜᴍᴘsᴛʏʟᴇs]

Sadly, I agree with some things OP said. I just wish 343i went to bed, had an epiphany, woke up and implemented a ranking system into the game. Who cares if it's flawed, that's when they would research, reimplement, and tweak the system.

[Mohammad Khalifah]

i just feel that halo has always had the potential to be the best fps on console, with amazing talent to boot.

the community takes competitive gaming seriously , and it may come as a shock to some people but most

of us consider it a sport(i know, difficult concept)

i felt like all the options halo 4 took from call of crap was a shot at my halo pride

i think ghandi said it all pretty much, and that should be the direction we move toward not taking slayer pro out

of the matchmaking playlist for wtf reason , i dont even know.

campaign for fans and casuals , matchmaking for serious gamers and newcomers, spectator mode for potential mlg fans

it would be amazing for random games in matchmaking to have hundreds of viewers just sayin

 

and .....am i the only one that wants them to bring back deranking?

[Caboose The Ace]

the numbers are in delince becase

 

in halo 3 a tiny cornor of the comminty still want true skill no loadouts etc

 

in reach peaple in there like playing as elites and invastion and its go a decent poplution

 

most of the comminty are in halo 4 becase its the newest 1 and its a meet up oof mlg and caul

[Sova]

the numbers are in delince becase

 

in halo 3 a tiny cornor of the comminty still want true skill no loadouts etc

 

in reach peaple in there like playing as elites and invastion and its go a decent poplution

 

most of the comminty are in halo 4 becase its the newest 1 and its a meet up oof mlg and caul

 

Could that have been any more difficult to read?

[Kamen Rider Kiva]

Ghandi is right in many ways on how halo really has declined in E-sports and popularity in general, especially with competitive community. But I think there is more to it than just a ranking system and playlists. Halo really has evolved into a game filled with a bunch of extra stuff that you equip to give you an edge in battle and I honestly think this hurts the competitiveness. The addition of new weapons and how they operate (bloom, no hitscan, general physics, grenade power) has really made gameplay not as streamlined as it used to be and maybe even unexciting and chaotic. I feel more than ever that Halo is now just a jumbled mess of explosions, bullets, and bodies. There's no real flow to a game and how it's going and I never get a real good sense on what is happening on a map like I did in the original series. It's a shame that it's gotten to this but I think it's not the developers fault necessarily.

 

Most of what's happened with Halo has resulted from a combination of development choices, game competition with other FPS's, and new capabilities of software and design.

 

That's my two cents on the matter, I just long for a near replica of Halo 2 gameplay again. Best moments of XBL happened then.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that statement. I do in fact believe that Halo 4 is the best installment to the franchise. Halo 2 and Halo 3 being runners-up. You see, your belief system is an embodiment of retro-purism and your personal desire to "re-live the glory days." Now, let's take that mindset and apply it to a hypothetical.

 

Say that Halo 4 is the first installment, and the series development [aside from graphical capacity] now runs in reverse-chronological order. Halo 4 being the first and Halo CE being the current. [Let's exclude Reach. It just wasn't fun.] Halo 4 would be developed in 2000, CE in 2012, and so forth. Do you see where I'm going with this? As the franchise "advances," each "new" installment would outrage parts of the fan-base much like how things work today. However, in this instance, the complaints would be much more legitimate, as the series would be undergoing an actual devolution in gameplay. [The only evolution would be in graphical capacity.] More and more things would end up being removed from the game, and the franchise would probably die in the eyes of the fans who "miss" their armor-abilities, sprint, bloom, load-outs, and other various perks that are being stripped away from them with each "new" installment. New installments of which said players would most likely deem "too simple" or perhaps "too easy."

 

You see, it isn't about which era of the franchise is better or more competitive. It all comes down to what the fan-base is "familiar with." Either way, you're gonna have the nostalgia-tards longing for "the good ol' days" and the "newbie kiddies" who favor only the most recent installments. Halo 4 is not a sign of the devolution of Halo. Quite the contrary. It's simply a different game from what it was before. People tend to flock around the games that they had the fondest memories with early on, and they hold spite towards any real changes to their beloved "childhood" franchise.

 

I do admit that 343 took "two steps forward and one step back" in many instances, however I do recognize Halo 4 as the best installment for many other reasons. Besides, when the game is patched, the DMR and Boltshot will no longer pain the asses of skilled players, and Halo 4 will finally become a well-balanced and competitive game.

[Kamen Rider Kiva]

Would you clarify how the core mechanics are better than Reach? Not that I disagree, I'm just curious to hear what you think is different and why? This game has a lot of facets from Reach still in it. Reticle bloom is still here, though more shallow than it was in Reach. Armor abilities are still present though thank God armor lock didn't make it's way into H4. The # of hits it takes for weapons to kill you is the same, except for assault weapons. Assault weapons are a little beefed up compared to Reach.

 

I mean, other than assault weapons beefed up and a Reticle bloom being more shallow, I don't see much of a difference in game mechanics over Reach. I didn't think Reach was a bad Halo. The worst part of it was armor lock but plenty of playlists existed where you couldn't choose armor lock. Reticle bloom forced you to time your shots and certainly made the game harder and allowed players who had mastered the art of timing their shots rule with a DMR.

 

In some facets Reach was less "noob" friendly and harder to play than H3. Especially on playlists which limited armor abilities to only hologram, sprint, and jetpack. Reach was all about precision. In H4 you can be good with full auto, if you went against a good DMR'r in Reach with the AR, even in close quarters, you were dead. Due to how much Reach prided itself on precision and then threw in a big reticle bloom, I would dare say it was maybe the hardest to play Halo ever made.

I don't believe that Reach is anywhere near being the hardest Halo. It's simply the most uncomfortable to play. In Reach, you could go full auto and do well much more so than Halo 4. In Halo 4, you're almost FORCED to use the DMR due to the fact that it's so grossly overpowered. If anything, Halo 4 is the one priding itself on precision weapons. Notably though, in the patch the DMR might get a nerf, so we'll see.

 

I just got on halo reach and saw steady numbers a few less than halo 4

 

all in all i think halo has not dropped in numbers but increased

 

when you have more games, more people spread out over those games.

 

Halo 2 appeared to have more because it was the first halo with xbl matchmaking

That is a VERY solid point. Never really thought about that until now.

[vStealthYx]

its about opinion

[ItsMrDeath2You]

Stripping the game down would be massively welcome. Have a playlist that has fixed weapon spawns on the map and fixed loadouts, a precision weapon and an assault rifle. Remove armor abilities as those only remind me of halo reach. Somehow remove sprint and make spartans as fast as they were in halo 2 & 3. Increase the amount of normal weapons on the map like DMR's battle rifles and Carbines, along with the 3 assault weapons and secondaries.

 

I would play this playlist.

 

 

agree with you except that thing about sprint. sprint is the only thing i would keep as long as everyone got it. spartans were slow as h*ll in halo 3! play 1 game of reach then play halo3. you will see.

 

i just want to through out there that halo 2 was the best shooter ever!!!!!!, and it had the best maps!!!!!!

 

Exactly! The core mechanics of this game destroy reach. For many purist halo fans, those who spent most of thier time with halo 1 and 2, 4 is a thousand times better then Reach.

 

true statment! reach was the worst halo games ever! its story line completely contradictory to the other halos, and mutiplayer fun, but still some what disappointing that anyone could get inheritor. a true skill system is a must. why 343 made the same mistake as bungie boggles my mind! im not saying make the game for the pro's and not the majority, im just saying that dumbing down a game for the brand spanking new noobs, is not right! being competitve only makes a game better, why play if you don;t care about preformence.is it really fun to run at people shoot while missing die without getting a kill(unless their as bad as you) then rinse and repete. thats like saying i like being beat up everyday at school. people should want to get better and be incuraged to do so! no be happy with being mediocer or even dare i say it bad.

[Luminous]

What story line in Reach contradicted the other Halo games? Please be specific if you can.

 

 

I started playing Halo on 11/15/01 - Xbox and Halo:CE launch day. Being an old man there were no "childhood favorites" when it comes to Halo. I played very little Halo:CE multiplayer. Only a handful of games over XBConnect. I wasn't able to get to any real big LAN parties unfortunately. I played countless matches and hours of Halo 2 and yes the ranking system was very good in it, if you really cared about that. For it's time it was (and is) a spectacular game. I loved a lot of the maps, loved the vehicles, etc. However after playing Halo 3 for a couple of years and going back to Halo 2 (right before they shut down the OG Xbox servers) it felt very outdated.

 

Halo 3's MP was spectacular. Again great maps, I loved the equipment addition, it never unbalanced the game, IMO. I am new to this forum, but I don't understand all the hatred towards Reach. I assume it has a lot to do with Armor Lock and the lack of any real ranking system, but I enjoyed the campaign immensely and really had a good time in Firefight and multiplayer. I guess it's because I am an average player and play to have fun. Yes I like to win my matches, but it doesn't keep me up at night when I lose. I do get heated when I play, but at the end of the day it's just a game.

 

So far I am really enjoying Halo 4. I wasn't happy with the COD additions (loadouts, scoring in MP), but the gameplay is Halo. Is it my favorite Halo? Not sure, I love all the games (including ODST).

 

I notice plenty of things I don't like while playing, but the overall package of the games outweighs all the problems. I am a huge Halo fan. I have just about all the books, graphic novels, special edition controllers and consoles. I eat it up, but I guess I never took the multiplayer that seriously. Again it could be that I am an average and older player.

 

Bah.....that was all rambling. Bottom line I love the Halo series and I don't think it is in decline. Now I could be wrong and the next two games might be the end, but I highly doubt it.

[ItsMrDeath2You]

What story line in Reach contradicted the other Halo games? Please be specific if you can.

 

 

I started playing Halo on 11/15/01 - Xbox and Halo:CE launch day. Being an old man there were no "childhood favorites" when it comes to Halo. I played very little Halo:CE multiplayer. Only a handful of games over XBConnect. I wasn't able to get to any real big LAN parties unfortunately. I played countless matches and hours of Halo 2 and yes the ranking system was very good in it, if you really cared about that. For it's time it was (and is) a spectacular game. I loved a lot of the maps, loved the vehicles, etc. However after playing Halo 3 for a couple of years and going back to Halo 2 (right before they shut down the OG Xbox servers) it felt very outdated.

 

Halo 3's MP was spectacular. Again great maps, I loved the equipment addition, it never unbalanced the game, IMO. I am new to this forum, but I don't understand all the hatred towards Reach. I assume it has a lot to do with Armor Lock and the lack of any real ranking system, but I enjoyed the campaign immensely and really had a good time in Firefight and multiplayer. I guess it's because I am an average player and play to have fun. Yes I like to win my matches, but it doesn't keep me up at night when I lose. I do get heated when I play, but at the end of the day it's just a game.

 

So far I am really enjoying Halo 4. I wasn't happy with the COD additions (loadouts, scoring in MP), but the gameplay is Halo. Is it my favorite Halo? Not sure, I love all the games (including ODST).

 

I notice plenty of things I don't like while playing, but the overall package of the games outweighs all the problems. I am a huge Halo fan. I have just about all the books, graphic novels, special edition controllers and consoles. I eat it up, but I guess I never took the multiplayer that seriously. Again it could be that I am an average and older player.

 

Bah.....that was all rambling. Bottom line I love the Halo series and I don't think it is in decline. Now I could be wrong and the next two games might be the end, but I highly doubt it.

 

 

 

your right in that h3 had as good of maps and playlists and ranking system as h2 in my opinoin thoses games are both fine. the hatred of reach for me comes from the contraditions to the other halos storylines, and contraditctions to the books which make the other games better. h4 did a wonderful job of have no contradictions and tying in with the new books. i did like reaches multiplayer except for the facts of, banning paying customers for quitting(that will always be BS in my mind, and sadly now h4 is doing that too).and armor lock.

 

as far as banning people for quitting, no other game dose that! not cod, not halo wars, not left4dead, of MoH, i dare you to find one other game that punishes players for not wanting to play a specific match or play with specific teammates.

[Cpt Picardo]

Why dont you just go play some Halo 2 then? Or maybe some commodore 64 games? Those where the days right? The older the better. When will all old idiots realize that the games weren't better ten years ago. Its you who was younger and therefore enjoyed it more. Im 30 myself and started playing Halo with CE. Was Halo CE better than Halo 4? Off course not! Halo 2? In its day it was great but to compare it to Halo 4 is like comparing a 90's cellphone to a iPhone 5. Sure you loved your Nokia 5110 but compared to a iPhone 5 its a brick you can call with.

[HappehNinja]

If you can't move on from previous tittle then why not just play that instead of Halo 4?

[Nick Fuller]

Could care-less what others do/play. My decline in playing has yet to start and that's all that matters

[FleshBack]

I play for the thrill of the hunt.

[Pbrabbit]

Decline? More like an Incline with Halo 4!(kinda)

[TornadoFlame]

are people still replying to the op post or are people just upset about halo's population going down?