343i 17th Weekly Community Poll

[BeckoningZebra1]

Hello everyone, and welcome to the 17th 343i Weekly Community Poll!

 

Now I was going to have this up last week, but I like many of you I'm sure, was very busy. While I did have the chance to put it up mid-week, I didn't want to throw it off schedule. I'm sorry for this inconvienence and I will try not to let it happen again. 

 

Now to the poll from way back when...Oh yes, I asked you all what the most difficult level for you to beat in Halo was. Here are the results: 

The mission from Halo 3, Cortana!  

 

On to this week's Community Poll question! This question is one that I myself have trouble answering. Mostly because each of them were fun and special in they're own way, but we there can only be one winner. Here's your  new poll question:

 

Which is Better, Firefight or Spartan Ops?

 

 

Please list your thoughts, and be sure to summarize with a clear voting opinion below. 

The voting deadline is 8:00 AM EST, on February 3, 2014. 

 

Thank You all for particpating and I'd like to encourage you to submit your suggestions for the weekly poll to me. It'd be a great help if I could get some feedback on some questions you'd like to be asked.

-Thanks, 

BZ1

[lilsilmarillion]

I personally have always liked spartan ops because Firefight got VERY repetitive and boring.

I once did Firefight with my friend on legendary for 2 hours at his house

Spartan ops you can do over and over again and not get bored because the same mission you can do differently more than once

But thats my opinion! I would love to hear others

[Mr Kittens and Gibberish]

FIRE FIGHT FTW! I only played it once, but it was very FUN! I am not really a big fan of Spartan Ops, the Main reason is that 343i put Dr.Halsey in it, when she would have had a HUGE role in the Main Campaign Missions! Which would have made the Campaign 10 Thousand times better! The Second reason everyone would probably disagree with me and there would probably be a Big discussion on it, so I am not going to mention it.

[Drizzy_Dan]

Spartan Ops. There was nothing like me and my buddy running a two man cell killing everything in sight on Legendary like the two greatest Spartan IVs ever trained. If it had another season I would've gotten it in a heartbeat. Firefight was cool and fun and endless but Spartan Ops just gave you that accomplished feeling because you didn't die in the end. You killed. And you killed real good.

[RedStarRocket91]

Overall, I'd have to say Firefight edges it for me, although it's very close.

 

Spartan Ops tends to be a lot more varied than Firefight: I particularly enjoyed the missions set during the invasion of the Infinity in Week 7, as the setting and objectives felt quite different and fresh compared to the rest of the Halo co-op experience. I also liked the way that some missions focused very heavily on the use of vehicles and heavy weapons, rather than just sticking those found in loadouts with the occasional power weapon dropped in every 5-10 minutes. The weapons made a really big difference there, as I find Halo 4's arsenal to be significantly more satisfying to use than the one found in Reach.

 

The downside is, of course, that once you've played a mission, that's the extent of its replay value: if you start it up again you can choose a different loadout, but that's basically it. You can't alter player settings or even set non-standard weapon and equipment loadouts, activate regular or custom skulls, customise enemy types and traits, switch hazards on and off, adjust the objectives or play as part of the opposing team - all of which can be done in Firefight, providing a potentially massive increase in replay value. You want to have 10% HP, take 300% damage from all sources and fight nothing but Hunters without any respawns and while defending a generator? You clearly need professional help, but while you're waiting for your straightjacket Firefight will keep you occupied. With Spartan Ops, Mission X will always be Mission X - and if 343i have set skulls up in a way that you don't like, there's nothing you can do about it. While Firefight's maps can be very repetitive, at least you can customise them in almost any way you want. It's also nice to know that you can actually lose a game of Firefight, rather than just respawning infinitely until the level is over: use of checkpoints or a life pool would have definitely enhanced things, as being the last player alive in Firefight added a tension that just isn't present in Spartan Ops.

 

For me at least, another issue is that I don't particularly enjoy fighting against the Prometheans, as their low number of unit types and, frankly, cheap tactics and abilities makes me dread any mission that contains them, especially on the higher difficulties where I tend to play. This is a problem specific to Halo 4 and of course there are players out there who no doubt prefer fighting them over the Covenant, so it's a highly subjective complaint, but it's enough of an issue for me to warrant a mention.

 

The very last thing is perhaps my biggest issue of all: Xbox LIVE. For very long periods of my Xbox career I've found myself unable to access the internet, and Firefight provided many hours of entertainment during the periods where I couldn't jump into matchmaking - precisely the time where I'd particularly want something to be able to do that didn't involve other players. An online requirement for Spartan Ops means that there have been times where I've been forced to ditch Halo 4 altogether in favour of other games, and for players who don't have access to XBL it must be particularly galling to know that part of their game's price specifically includes access to a game mode that can quite easily be played solo (and indeed, is often more fun as a solo experience) but which they can't access arbitrarily. As a long-time offline gamer, this alone is enough to push me in Firefight's favour.

 

So overall: Spartan Ops is very good, and I've had a lot of fun with it, but as a concept Firefight just wins out!

[Caboose The Ace]

Firefight gets the edge because it has more replayabilty though I did like Spartan Ops I would rather have something with more replay value as it adds more value to my purchase.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Ranger447

[MCPO Mayh3m]

Firefight. Who doesn't like playing a couple of marines outmatched by all odds and still coming out on top?

[Ranger Intel]

I personally preferred Firefight for a range of reasons. Mainly because I had more fun on it overall. I played it for a longer period of time and did not get bored. Spartan Ops was great for the story, but didn't have the enjoyment of firefight in my opinion. My vote goes to Firefight.

[Vitamin Pwn]

I prefer Firefight better, while spartan ops was good and had a good story, i liked firefight better because i tend to play by myself most of the time and firefight is way more fun when your by yourself compared to playing spartan ops by yourself.

[Axilus Prime]

Firefight, easily. Spartan Ops always bugged me with the whole infinite lives thing. If you can't lose, what's the risk? Not much point in trying, an idiot could win every Spartan Ops mission on Legendary if they played long enough.

 

Plus the objectives were really...bland. And the missions themselves had nearly no story contribution. The videos were good, but the missions? Nope.

 

The only parts of Spartan Ops that were really...cool...were that cutscene where the Hunter betrayed the Grunt, and that scripted breakout scene.

 

Meanwhile Firefight has lives, so your actions matter, and not only does it demand teamwork by sending greater numbers of enemies (unless it's Score Attack, but I also love that because it allows you a chance to prove you're better at killing Covenant than your friends are) it also gives you the same pool of lives, so you have to cover each other and think strategically as well.

 

Spartan Ops doesn't have so much as a Score Attack-ish setup, so the only possible reason to put in any effort at all is to beat your friends' scores during the session you're playing with them in.

[Sadly Just AL]

Oh, decisions, decisions. Personally Spartan Ops was okay in the sense that there was more of a story in the game to be seen outside the campaign, but none of the options could be toggled like firefight. So I'm going with firefight, as nothing is more fun than mismatching random attributes and gameplay physics to make every game much more versatile than the first. So Firefight is my choice. :3

[VinWarrior]

Firefight in ODST and Reach was a dream come true, I even remember being back against the wall in Halo 3: ODST facing hordes of chieftains on that ONE FINAL WAVE, DEAR GOD! Spartan Ops was nice too... But it was lacking in variety and content. Firefight was fresh every time you played, and in Reach, being able to change settings, you could jump in with three friends and just start slaughtering grunts with gravity hammers... Tell me that's not fun. Spartan Ops got me excited at a few times, but I kept being thrust back into that usual "shoot this, press a button" rinse and repeat style it had. It showed one SINGLE glimmer of hope though, the beginning of the second half of season one. You are actually chained against the wall, turn around, look at your buddies, they look at you, explosion, one of you jumps out and the others watch as you assassinate a Zealot, THAT WAS AWESOME! But that was the only glimmer of hope it had, besides the cutscenes which were phenomenal. All in all, Firefight takes my vote.

[Zelda]

Spartan Ops was a blast my first play through. Buuuuuutttttt........ For the first season, it was all the same maps. And that got pretty boring. I am an adventure type, so naturally it kept me interested due to the idea that maybe we would see a different area. Which really didn't happen, until the second season. Spartan Ops was one of the two things I did like about Halo 4. However, 343i never kept their promise that a 3rd season was coming. So, I lost interest, and out Halo 4 is now sitting on the shelf collecting dust. 

 

As for FireFight, I have played that probably a half million times. (Reach). I do love fire fight, even if I get bored from it very easy. But there is just something about those goofy little grunts and playing jump rope with the hunters. I love to toy with Hunters.

 

But they both offer something I love, but I too, will have to go with FireFight.

[Yoshi1176]

Spartan Ops because there was a real objective. Sure Firefight had generator defense but it is not the same as rescuing other soldiers or fighting your way through the Infinity. Firefight was okay for a little bit after a few sets it was very repetitive. I can see Spartan Ops going a lot farther than what firefight did. Also they story that it told was great.

[Snipe MD]

Firefight, because it gave you a sense of acomplishment when you give a brute a face full of the fist of rukt.