HALO IS DYING: 343i MUST ACT NOW

[PrometheanSigma]

if they had released a BETA of Halo 4 it would of destroyed sales!!!!!!!! The final version of Halo 4 isnt even finished, the Beta would of been picked apart piece by piece and it would of obliterated sales. There now patching it the best they can with TU's. Overall Halo 4 is a good game, and with the time they have had already and the time to come, Halo 5 will be mind blowing,, just you wait and see.

Halo 4 needed the release date knocking back about 6 months to be perfect, but the shackles of Microsoft wouldnt allow that

 

Halo 4 as a game is brillant, but far from perfect, but some people would rather look at the negatives, rather than the positives it brings

 

I agree. Nobody ever looks at the bright side of things. THIS WORLD RUNS OFF OF PESSIMISM!

[Vaulting♥Frog]

if they had released a BETA of Halo 4 it would of destroyed sales!!!!!!!! The final version of Halo 4 isnt even finished, the Beta would of been picked apart piece by piece and it would of obliterated sales. There now patching it the best they can with TU's. Overall Halo 4 is a good game, and with the time they have had already and the time to come, Halo 5 will be mind blowing,, just you wait and see.

Halo 4 needed the release date knocking back about 6 months to be perfect, but the shackles of Microsoft wouldnt allow that

 

Halo 4 as a game is brillant, but far from perfect, but some people would rather look at the negatives, rather than the positives it brings

 

[OutGunnd]

I must disagree with your Spartan Ops arguments, but you make pretty decent points throughout (except for paper vehicles, that's not really true).

fair enough, but the vehicles are really pathetic, now they are useless..

[Connor Mynors]

i can understand people wanting to look at the good points, but we pay money for this game and other halo games so it should be better than before, not worse.

halo 3 had 4 people at one time in TM

now only 1 in halo 4...

 

its going backwards and i wish it actually went to halo 3 days again.

[Halogeek99]

Shortly after Christmas day there was a survey taken to measure how many people played matchmaking each day. This includes both spartan ops and war games matchmaking. According to there findings over a million people were reported to have gone on matchmaking the entire day.

 

Are you sure that wasn't 200k at one time not the entire day?

 

Halo 3 had a current player counter first two+ years. I remember that counter at 700k 2008/9 ..... That puts the epic fail of H4 into proportion

[thehalolover]

The only 3 good parts of Halo 4 -Campaign, Spartan Ops, Grifball

[Cpt Picardo]

Halo 4 is the best game ever made. The only thing i dislike is the Crimsom map pack. Those maps stink!! All of them. Earlier today when i was playing there were 54 people playing crimsom that says it all.

[Mr Biggles]

Halo has been dying since reach.

 

343 need to recognize the basic things they do wrong which takes away halo from halo, and put it back into the game to get their loyal followers back, however, it is much harder now because of the amount of FPS's there are out and the amount of competition there is.

[LordKastle]

I am tired of all these paid informants from Activison spouting propaganda and deceit. Lets talk about the reality of the Halo 4 population instead of living in a fantasy land.

 

When Halo 3 was released it was the most mainstream/trendy FPS game to hit the market. Call of Duty had not penetrated the market completely yet. Although it did start making some real noise as a "competitor" with Call of Duty 4 and Call of Duty World At War. Late in Halo 3's life you could begin to notice the impact of Call of Duty on the masses.

 

Once Halo Reach was released there was still a nostalgic factor that many in the mainstream (beyond the Halo core) but then once the game was played, reality set in. These people were COD'ers at heart now. The ease of gameplay was something that they were hooked on and COD was simple/superficial/in your face action. Halo Reach never could take back the throne that Halo 3 held. This is when Call of Duty was revealed to be the true mainstream/trendiest FPS shooter.

 

Now as Halo 4 is released it enjoys record sales and a strong starting population. Then there was a drop. These people simply went back to Call of Duty for reasons already stated. The population drop doesn't have to do with "pros" leaving. It has to do with Call of Duty simply being the mainstream shooter of its day.

 

Get over it people. Halo is still a better game than COD. But COD, not Halo, is the mainstream shooter of its day much like Halo 3 was in its day. Stop polluting the boards online crying that Halo is dying. Its not. It has a strong core. Everyone seems to forget that Halo 2 and Halo 3 were the mainstream shooter of their days on and were major factors of XBox Live's growth. We are in a new day now. People like simple stupid.

[Bloody Initiate]

I am tired of all these paid informants from Activison spouting propaganda and deceit.

 

Lol that would be AWESOME to get paid to talk **** about Halo 4. I'd be one of their finest agent provocateurs! Oh man would that be nice! Too bad no one is paying me to do this

 

I also find the idea that Activision would be intimidated by Halo 4 amusing. They are very secure in their throne at the top of console shooters, of course it wouldn't be the first time the people on top were unnecessarily paranoid, good ol' Nixon and many before him taught us that. I think when you see your fellow Titan start doing impressions of you to make money you've pretty much won though, the nastiest blows Halo suffered were dealt by its stewards.

[ProudDrunkIrish]

Haha I too would love some payment from activision, is there a form or something I missed filling out when Buying Halo 4....

 

The sales figures were great then the population a month later is rubbish so I believe that really says it all!!! Actually it even says more than we do.

 

343 made many mistakes to many to reiterate once again and the Halo title has and will pay the price.

 

Oh well whats done is done and to be honest (and i dare say I am not the only one in this situation) it is more the unwillingness to let go of the love I had for Halo 3 that keeps me even playing this game.. but meh.

[Bloody Initiate]

It's almost exactly that for me. I have two things keeping me here:

 

I joined a clan in Halo 3 that has stubbornly focused on Halo ever since, even though Reach and 4 aren't really very good and BF3 would be a better focus for their style of play (Vehicle focus).

 

I also got my brother Halo 4 for Christmas because he asked for it, and I can't stand the idea of getting someone a game and then not being there to play with them when they finally get online. I've been the only guy playing a game too much, and it eventually just drains the fun out of it. If you get someoone a multiplayer game or some Xbox Live for christmas, you're practically taking the gift back if you aren't there to play with them. Sadly his job keeps him from playing a lot, so it's unlikely anyone will be online when he finally gets time anyway.

 

As soon as enough of my clan members give up on Halo and my bro finally plays it and decides it sucks, I don't know what other game I'll play but I have a stack of them ready to go. The frustrating thing is everyone seems both more and less decisive than me, they're more decisive in that they don't get on to play it, but less decisive in their certainty that it won't get any better. They are less prepared to dismiss it entirely, but don't realize that subconsciously they kinda already have.

 

If only I hadn't already played BF3 for a solid 6 months or so alone I'd have more patience for going back to it, but playing alone really drags after awhile, even if you're doing well. I got my other brother BF3 for Christmas, so when he finally decides whether he wants to overcome that game's steep learning curve I'll have a squadmate. Until then nobody is playing games I have other than Halo 4.

 

I end up playing for the Halo that was rather than the Halo that is, because it just isn't a very good game even when I try to look at it objectively.

[HappehNinja]

I see people are still overreacting over Halo 4...

[Bloody Initiate]

I see people are still overreacting over Halo 4...

 

Quite the opposite, I'm completely underwhelmed by the game. It doesn't spark fiery anger in me, it introduces a slump of disappointment. Eventually that disappointment leads to an anger that could be called overreacting, but are you really going to argue for a map where one team gets a Gauss Hog at their spawn and the other one gets... to run?

 

Using Exile just as an example, and assuming you won't be silly enough to argue that it's balanced, are you really going to defend the developer that still hasn't fixed it even though they've taken the time to introduce new playlists, maps, and gametypes? They could put whole new maps in, but they couldn't balance one?

 

You can spend as much energy as you like pretending that those of us criticizing the game are simply a bunch of drama queens, but eventually you have to admit that some of the moves 343 made are stupid to the point of insanity. OR you can NOT admit it and reveal to all of us that you don't actually have the capacity to speak intelligently on the topic.

 

I'm not saying you can't speak intelligently on the topic, I'm saying that certain statements dismiss people from discussions, like saying the world is flat and the holocaust didn't happen. You meet those people and you think quietly: "This guy's a nut." People ignoring the blatant failing that is Exile get a similar reaction, although not nearly as emotional as you might get for denying the holocaust.

 

So using only that map as my example, do you argue that we're just overreacting? Even when you think of all the other updates the game has received? (Btw I never vote for it anymore, and I "play smart" as much as possible. It still comes up sometimes, and sometimes I still get outvoted even with a party, and of course I'm on red team)

[HappehNinja]

Quite the opposite, I'm completely underwhelmed by the game. It doesn't spark fiery anger in me, it introduces a slump of disappointment. Eventually that disappointment leads to an anger that could be called overreacting, but are you really going to argue for a map where one team gets a Gauss Hog at their spawn and the other one gets... to run?

 

Using Exile just as an example, and assuming you won't be silly enough to argue that it's balanced, are you really going to defend the developer that still hasn't fixed it even though they've taken the time to introduce new playlists, maps, and gametypes? They could put whole new maps in, but they couldn't balance one?

 

You can spend as much energy as you like pretending that those of us criticizing the game are simply a bunch of drama queens, but eventually you have to admit that some of the moves 343 made are stupid to the point of insanity. OR you can NOT admit it and reveal to all of us that you don't actually have the capacity to speak intelligently on the topic.

 

I'm not saying you can't speak intelligently on the topic, I'm saying that certain statements dismiss people from discussions, like saying the world is flat and the holocaust didn't happen. You meet those people and you think quietly: "This guy's a nut." People ignoring the blatant failing that is Exile get a similar reaction, although not nearly as emotional as you might get for denying the holocaust.

 

So using only that map as my example, do you argue that we're just overreacting? Even when you think of all the other updates the game has received? (Btw I never vote for it anymore, and I "play smart" as much as possible. It still comes up sometimes, and sometimes I still get outvoted even with a party, and of course I'm on red team)

 

Sure, the game has a few flaws here and there, but the game it's not garbage like some say it is. Now you do have a point. There are some things that should be fixed, like the Gauss Hog, but let us not forget about the Boltshot... Another notable flaw is the covenant carbine, since practically a water gun can create collateral damage compared to it.

[Bloody Initiate]

Well now you've started on the road we're on, you just not as far along. You may be content to never go as far along, and that's fine, everyone is different. Just please don't dismiss other people's thoughts on the matter so comfortably, because while you think the game's problems are but a few flaws, I see a lot of flaws that aren't going to be fixed, ever. Or if they are finally fixed it will be a question of "Why did it take so long to fix that obvious problem? Why when you did all these other things that required more effort, did you not fix this simple thing?" Or finally "Why did you think this was a good idea in the first place?"

 

The Carbine IS garbage, the boltshot IS a bit crazy, and Exile is absolutely absurd. I don't really object to your list, I just have a much bigger one than you do. Everyone is different after all. I just ask that instead of posting pointless jabs that don't really add to the discussion, you make an effort to actually argue a point.

 

Your statement that Halo 4 isn't complete garbage is a broad start to a potentially helpful post. I tend to look at Halo 4 and see a game which sacrificed a lot of its identity to copy gimmicks from other games, and even outside its imitation it fails to make simple gestures of competence, like NOT having a map that's so idiotic as Exile. That's not a problem created by it copying CoD or any other copycat problem, that's a question of basic competence of map design.

 

How could anyone be so stupid as to think a Gauss at spawn for one team is balanced?

 

The question, and more importantly the feeling and thinking behind it, generally sum up my feelings about Halo 4. How could anyone be so stupid as to think they can make a good game by _________, _________, ________, and _________? Fill in the blanks with Halo 4 design decisions, and you have the question that's hounded me for months now. You don't just have a question, you have a whole video game created on flawed thinking.

 

Just so we're clear I don't want to be this negative, I don't enjoy complaining this much, and I don't like feeling the way I do about Halo 4. I just wanted to have a game I could enjoy playing online for awhile, and it ran out of juice almost as soon as the new-game smell went away.

[Chris Hansen]

People need to understand, the faults and differences we bring up on these forums aren't complaints.

 

They are concerns. I get on the forums and go on about shield recharge delay, ordnance, and other things that annoy me because I LOVE the halo franchise. After playing each title since the series' inception, for multiple years of competitive devotion to each title, you start to notice when somethings are just...off or clearly shouldn't be as they are. I could start rattling off the things done wrong in this game, but I could also do that just as much for halo reach.

 

And maybe, just maybe someone from 343i frequents these forums just for the hell of it, and will see one of bloody initiates posts or others and be like:

 

"oh my god! What have we done?!" and try to address some really no brainier issues effecting the game right now. Initiates Exile point is one such thing, it should require very little to alter what spawns where on a map.

 

Another thing that's been really bugging me, they go with a perk system in halo 4, but it's not nearly as good as the games it copies. They copy custom classes, but once again not nearly as in depth as the main custom class game. They copy instant re-spawning in slayer, but it just feels out of place. 343i Had a chance to go back to what made halo a industry leader in the first place, I swear to god the most successful halo will be one that returns to it's series roots, as Halo reach and Halo 4 have both lost the spirit of halo in my eyes with their WORSE game-play ideas implemented. Armor abilities anyone?

[Bloody Initiate]

I'm flattered you think my posts would be the ones to see.

 

For actually getting things done I advise going over to Halo waypoint every now and then and putting a word in for this or that. That forum is a nightmare and most of the best material gets pushed down into oblivion, but I hang my hope on quantity.

 

Good point differentiating between complaints and concerns btw, I have some very deep concerns about Halo, and not nearly as many complaints (Complaints include: The hammer sounds incredibly stupid in Grifball. Concerns include: Did you guys notice how ordnance in BTB decides matches as much if not more than player behavior?)

[Chris Hansen]

Precisely. I'll leave at that to avoid rehashing.

[FleshBack]

It's almost exactly that for me. I have two things keeping me here:

 

I joined a clan in Halo 3 that has stubbornly focused on Halo ever since, even though Reach and 4 aren't really very good and BF3 would be a better focus for their style of play (Vehicle focus).

 

I also got my brother Halo 4 for Christmas because he asked for it, and I can't stand the idea of getting someone a game and then not being there to play with them when they finally get online. I've been the only guy playing a game too much, and it eventually just drains the fun out of it. If you get someoone a multiplayer game or some Xbox Live for christmas, you're practically taking the gift back if you aren't there to play with them. Sadly his job keeps him from playing a lot, so it's unlikely anyone will be online when he finally gets time anyway.

 

As soon as enough of my clan members give up on Halo and my bro finally plays it and decides it sucks, I don't know what other game I'll play but I have a stack of them ready to go. The frustrating thing is everyone seems both more and less decisive than me, they're more decisive in that they don't get on to play it, but less decisive in their certainty that it won't get any better. They are less prepared to dismiss it entirely, but don't realize that subconsciously they kinda already have.

 

If only I hadn't already played BF3 for a solid 6 months or so alone I'd have more patience for going back to it, but playing alone really drags after awhile, even if you're doing well. I got my other brother BF3 for Christmas, so when he finally decides whether he wants to overcome that game's steep learning curve I'll have a squadmate. Until then nobody is playing games I have other than Halo 4.

 

I end up playing for the Halo that was rather than the Halo that is, because it just isn't a very good game even when I try to look at it objectively.

 

Playing with family an close friends is the single biggest factor that got me playing Halo in the first place. Now, 10+ year later I feel like I am in too deep. My brother doesn't play games like he used to and my cousins are just terrible. A lot of my friends have moved on to other games (namely CoD).

 

If I knew ahead of time that the series would end up being like this however, I doubt that would have changed my mind. It has been one heck of a ride along the way and the experiences with my family and friends have been priceless. Also, I am not one to live with regrets.

 

But that doesn't stop me from voicing my concerns with the series.

 

Btw, how do you post on waypoint and keep your sanity? I have tried reading posts there but most of it looks like garbage. I don't think I could muster up the will to actually post.

 

Granted, it isn't NEARLY as bad as GameFAQs Halo board, but still...

[Bloody Initiate]

Btw, how do you post on waypoint and keep your sanity? I have tried reading posts there but most of it looks like garbage. I don't think I could muster up the will to actually post.

 

Granted, it isn't NEARLY as bad as GameFAQs Halo board, but still...

 

Oh it's no picnic, and I haven't posted nearly as much over there. The sheer volume of threads makes it hard to keep one good discussion going, so there's a lot more repetition. You end up condensing your message and just posting it every time a thread concerning the topic comes up, hoping one of them will survive.

 

Combine the volume of posters with the volume of people just making new threads instead of discussing threads that are already present and it can be really frustrating. You end up finding more than 90% of the threads you post in didn't survive long after you posted, and there's barely any real discussion at all (people try for it, but you get 1-2 responses in and the thread is gone).

 

Also for some reason waypoint works about a well as Halo 4, so you get on sometimes to find the server down. I wouldn't wish Halowaypoint on anyone, that site is a nightmare. I just can't help but hope that eventually through the quantity of certain threads certain things will be changed, but the problem is you don't get complete thoughts or discussions, so I expect any change that comes from waypoint to be of extremely mixed quality.

 

343 eventually DOES listen and nerf things, but if they took a survey of waypoint people and made decisions on that alone we'd end up with weird changes to problems that don't address the issue at all. So for example I hate how imbalanced Exile is, but you see a lot more complaints about its weight on waypoint than its imbalance. If 343 just did what waypoint people complained about most, you'd get less Exile in BTB but when you did it would be just as stupid.

 

I don't think 343 will do that, but the point is to illustrate the narrow focus of ideas that gain momentum in a mob like that. I wouldn't expect anyone to sift through all that stuff, so I have no idea how 343 could ever use the forums as a way to accurately gain info. If they look at it at all I expect they do it by thread titles or something, because you just can't pull many solid thoughts from that writhing mass. You'd have to have a computer program sort through them for you.

[outvintus]

Dont worry its not dying, true that theres bugs and backdraw to work out but all in all its an awesome game, Ive met alot of people who actually bought the game Halo 4" not knowing or cared to play 1-3 reach etc. they loved it. as for 343 fixing things lets just wait abit more, They Just got one of the best or THY Best Game on Xbox and Im sure theyre listening and learning from his Hardcore fans like us to make the game even better so yea instead of complaining we should cheer on 343 indus.

[TornadoFlame]

this chart is really funny it keeps going lower and lower. halo is slowing dying i wouldn't be surpized if the game got down to 20k people in a few months.

 

http://halocharts.com/2012/chart/totalpopulation/all

[jCoze]

If halo does go **** up, 343 should just stop making games and keep making books shorts and movies about the halo universe. All of the above are awesome when it comes to halo.

[Yummiestparrot]

Halo for me is very much alive (i literally have not played anything on my xbox apart from halo4 since novermber 6th, aint touched my ps3 in about 2 months!) but alot needs to happen for the next game which im guessing will be on the nextbox. For me spartan ops is the weakest part of the game, seriously that needs some serious changing. Why not just have one focuessed level instead of 5 small pieces of crap each week, and have it actually linked to the cinematic. The ability to lose, having a scoreing system and making it so people cant just exp ***** would be a good start.