Halo 5's Decline...

[Wpns Grade NG]

 

 

 

 

 

I think Halo 5 will die just like Halo 4 did, but NOT for the same reasons. Halo 4 failed because it was trying to be something that it wasn't, while Halo 5 will die because of it's severity in lack of content and shortfall of community features. Halo 5 is also the lowest selling Main halo game of all time, and In all honesty that should not come surprising to you considering it only supports a mediocre campaign, an incomplete multiplayer experience, and Warzone. I think Halo 5 has so much potential, it could have been a great Halo game competing with the classics. Yet again, because of its ignorance of content and lack of community features that is not the case. I know what you are thinking... 343 are releasing the December update and adding more Free DLC so its not big deal. I'd say your entirely wrong, just because content is releasing in the future does not mean players will stick around waiting for it in the present. It's the first impression that counts the most, and Halo 5 completely missed its window of opportunity to impress gamers. Everyone that already left wont come back for an update that contains more content because the damage has already been done and they moved on the other games that set that good first impression.

I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say about this.

[Caboose The Ace]

No kidding there.
 
Halo site populations have gone with considerably after Halo 5 including this site. Instead of a influx of activity we have seen far less. This site is perhaps the deadest it has ever been.
 
Its truly sad but it shows how the Halo franchise is stagnating. The game had an excellent marketing campaign so we were all expecting huge sales and I think I know why.

 

Splitscreen. Its bigger than 343 ever thought it was and its clear that's a heavily desired feature. Until Halo 6 when splitscreen is put back into the series then maybe that game can get decent sales?

 

But I doubt it. Two arguable lacklustre entries in the franchise is enough to turn a lot of people off and with Halo 5 missing a lot of features with a terrible campaign.

 

I seriously feel that this is this the beginning of the end for Halo. Unless a miracle happens the series is forever done.

[Richard John Wilson]

343 killed Halo, that much is certain.  They tried too hard to compete with Call of Duty and other games in the same genre, and they failed badly.
They did not learn from the mistakes from Halo 4, and look what they did to Firefight, err, there is none.  Probably would have saved Halo, probably.
Warzone is far too big, and at time confusing (for me at least), many a time I have gone in tot hat game and got lost, and in some instances had no clue who I was supposed to be fighting.  Got killed by marines, when I thought they were on my side.
Yeah Multiplayer took a hit there with Warzone.  Not had much luck with Arena either, had some Big Team Battles, and was not impressed, and it seems odd I was missing Halo Reach and Halo 3.
Campaign was ok and awful at the same time, stupid story line, which could have been so much better, it also reminded me a little of Destiny, or Destiny reminded me of Halo, not sure which one is really relevant here, but what I did find really annoying was the Spartans you control, it is like playing with marines, the stupid ones in all Halo games.  Oh, and mostly if you play with a friend, who ever is player one gets to control ALL the Spartans, this I find annoying and stupid beyond all belief.  Yes, in single player you will control all Spartans, but even this is retarded in a sense because you really do not have control over them.  In two player mode, you should have a team member each, so you can play in a two by two manoeuver, if you play like that, or just split up.  But no, 343 knows best.  Or is it just sheer laziness, or worse, they rushed the game.
Halo 5 could have been better, it could have been much, much better.  Halo and CoD competing against each other has just killed both games, I do not even like CoD any more, this Advanced Warfare crap is just soldiers with some Halo Tech wearing exo skel braces.  Yay.  What a load of crap.
There are people out there that think Halo should and need to move with the times, well, I do not, moving forward has just killed Halo.  The same thing is happening, or happen to CoD.  (although I may be wrong, because of BlOps III)
My opinion, of course...

[Yoshi1176]

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Halo 5 will die just like Halo 4 did, but NOT for the same reasons. Halo 4 failed because it was trying to be something that it wasn't, while Halo 5 will die because of it's severity in lack of content and shortfall of community features. Halo 5 is also the lowest selling Main halo game of all time, and In all honesty that should not come surprising to you considering it only supports a mediocre campaign, an incomplete multiplayer experience, and Warzone. I think Halo 5 has so much potential, it could have been a great Halo game competing with the classics. Yet again, because of its ignorance of content and lack of community features that is not the case. I know what you are thinking... 343 are releasing the December update and adding more Free DLC so its not big deal. I'd say your entirely wrong, just because content is releasing in the future does not mean players will stick around waiting for it in the present. It's the first impression that counts the most, and Halo 5 completely missed its window of opportunity to impress gamers. Everyone that already left wont come back for an update that contains more content because the damage has already been done and they moved on the other games that set that good first impression.

I'm interested to hear what you guys have to say about this.

 

Short of content? At launch multiplayer alone had about 600 hours of playtime needed to 100% it. Then you have campaign and customs. Literally no lack of content there. 

 

Whats incomplete about the multiplayer by the way? It has arena and warzone....

 

If someone stopped playing Halo 5 already because of the lack of content they are ridiculous. Halo 5 launched a little more than a month ago, it has already had dlc releases. Not to mention that people who've been playing since day one constantly are still unlocking things. New playlists every week are also a thing that 343 is doing to keep Arena fresh.

 

May I add that Halo 5 had the largest launch in Halo history? Made 400 million at launch AND pushed the franchise to 5 billion dollars. 

 

 

[Azaxx]

Short of content? At launch multiplayer alone had about 600 hours of playtime needed to 100% it. Then you have campaign and customs. Literally no lack of content there. 

 

Whats incomplete about the multiplayer by the way? It has arena and warzone....

 

If someone stopped playing Halo 5 already because of the lack of content they are ridiculous. Halo 5 launched a little more than a month ago, it has already had dlc releases. Not to mention that people who've been playing since day one constantly are still unlocking things. New playlists every week are also a thing that 343 is doing to keep Arena fresh.

 

May I add that Halo 5 had the largest launch in Halo history? Made 400 million at launch AND pushed the franchise to 5 billion dollars. 

 

REQ system is NOT content, regardless if you think it's a good loot system or not, that is not content in any regard to actual gameplay. Playlists and modes are.

At launch there were only 5 modes in Arena; Slayer, CTF, Strongholds, SWAT and Breakout. Then you had one large player mode which was Warzone. If you call that "variety" or "content" then you are objectively wrong in literally every way imaginable by comparison to what any other Halo game provided on launch. Hell, even Halo 4 had more playlists, granted not all of them were actually good, but there was variety in how each of the gametypes play out. In Halo 5 Guardians there are really only 4 modes, because Slayer and SWAT are the same thing in terms of mechanics. That is lack of content, REQ's do not make up for that. So your idea that you need to play "600 hours" to achieve 100% is completely irrelevant and wrong in terms of gameplay.

 

Regarding the incompletion of the multiplayer, may I refer you to the spawn system. Halo 5 Guardians hands down has the worst spawn system and spawn placements in the entire franchise. There is no such thing as weighted spawns, which means you're more likely to spawn with your team. That simply does not exist, also the spawns for SWAT were so infamously bad that the population died so hard in that playlist.

 

New playlists every week is also nothing something unique to 343i, that has existed since the early days of online Halo multiplayer. 343i also cannot grasp that idea that social/casual playlists NEED to be implemented into the game as soon as possible. There is only one casual playlist currently and that's Warzone. BTB is not casual, it's currently a ranked playlists.

 

In addition, Halo 5 Guardians did NOT make 400 million at launch, that was a sneaky statistic Microsoft gave out to the public to make Halo 5 Guardians seem impressive. That statistic included every Xbox One bundle sold, so you now remove the price of the Xbox One from that statistic and you have very low sales in comparison to the rest of the franchise.

[Guts]

 

REQ system is NOT content, regardless if you think it's a good loot system or not, that is not content in any regard to actual gameplay. Playlists and modes are.

At launch there were only 5 modes in Arena; Slayer, CTF, Strongholds, SWAT and Breakout. Then you had one large player mode which was Warzone. If you call that "variety" or "content" then you are objectively wrong in literally every way imaginable by comparison to what any other Halo game provided on launch. Hell, even Halo 4 had more playlists, granted not all of them were actually good, but there was variety in how each of the gametypes play out. In Halo 5 Guardians there are really only 4 modes, because Slayer and SWAT are the same thing in terms of mechanics. That is lack of content, REQ's do not make up for that. So your idea that you need to play "600 hours" to achieve 100% is completely irrelevant and wrong in terms of gameplay.

 

Regarding the incompletion of the multiplayer, may I refer you to the spawn system. Halo 5 Guardians hands down has the worst spawn system and spawn placements in the entire franchise. There is no such thing as weighted spawns, which means you're more likely to spawn with your team. That simply does not exist, also the spawns for SWAT were so infamously bad that the population died so hard in that playlist.

 

New playlists every week is also nothing something unique to 343i, that has existed since the early days of online Halo multiplayer. 343i also cannot grasp that idea that social/casual playlists NEED to be implemented into the game as soon as possible. There is only one casual playlist currently and that's Warzone. BTB is not casual, it's currently a ranked playlists.

 

In addition, Halo 5 Guardians did NOT make 400 million at launch, that was a sneaky statistic Microsoft gave out to the public to make Halo 5 Guardians seem impressive. That statistic included every Xbox One bundle sold, so you now remove the price of the Xbox One from that statistic and you have very low sales in comparison to the rest of the franchise.

REQS are content in regard to game play. You wear them and use them in Warzone.....how are Scorpions not part of gameplay?

 

It was actually Team Arena, Slayer, SWAT, Breakout and Free for All. If you really think Slayer and SWAT are the same then you really need to play them. They are two unique gametypes. The ranking gives you incentive to play unlike all previous Halos.

 

Spawning the worst? Hahaha, you haven't played CE have you? Spawning beside enemies and in the middle of gun fights happened all the time.

 

It's still 400 million in profit so 343 don't care if you don't like the game, they already have their money.

[Caboose The Ace]

REQ system is NOT content, regardless if you think it's a good loot system or not, that is not content in any regard to actual gameplay. Playlists and modes are.

At launch there were only 5 modes in Arena; Slayer, CTF, Strongholds, SWAT and Breakout. Then you had one large player mode which was Warzone. If you call that "variety" or "content" then you are objectively wrong in literally every way imaginable by comparison to what any other Halo game provided on launch. Hell, even Halo 4 had more playlists, granted not all of them were actually good, but there was variety in how each of the gametypes play out. In Halo 5 Guardians there are really only 4 modes, because Slayer and SWAT are the same thing in terms of mechanics. That is lack of content, REQ's do not make up for that. So your idea that you need to play "600 hours" to achieve 100% is completely irrelevant and wrong in terms of gameplay.

 

Regarding the incompletion of the multiplayer, may I refer you to the spawn system. Halo 5 Guardians hands down has the worst spawn system and spawn placements in the entire franchise. There is no such thing as weighted spawns, which means you're more likely to spawn with your team. That simply does not exist, also the spawns for SWAT were so infamously bad that the population died so hard in that playlist.

 

New playlists every week is also nothing something unique to 343i, that has existed since the early days of online Halo multiplayer. 343i also cannot grasp that idea that social/casual playlists NEED to be implemented into the game as soon as possible. There is only one casual playlist currently and that's Warzone. BTB is not casual, it's currently a ranked playlists.

 

In addition, Halo 5 Guardians did NOT make 400 million at launch, that was a sneaky statistic Microsoft gave out to the public to make Halo 5 Guardians seem impressive. That statistic included every Xbox One bundle sold, so you now remove the price of the Xbox One from that statistic and you have very low sales in comparison to the rest of the franchise.

 

I think its been established by now how Halo Follower can be unreliable at times but for once they were bang on the mark. Here's a bit of info from a Halofollower article.

 

"Halo 5 launched on October 27, 2015, and its first week of sales ended on October 31, 2015. In that week, it sold globally 1,457,849 physical copies according to VGChartz numbers. These numbers also included Limited Collector’s Editions and Halo 5 Xbox One bundles sold. In its first week with even less Xbox 360 consoles out in the market than Xbox Ones in the same time period, Halo 3 sold 3,811,047 physical copies. Halo 3: ODST sold 2,214,132 physical copies in its first week, and it was just a spinoff. The first week for Halo: Reach saw 3,698,137 physical copies sold. Halo 4 also sold 3,662,557 physical copies in its first week. While these are just physical copies sold, and digital has been on the rise, digital copies probably only add another 20%-30% to Halo 5‘s sales. This means the game still sold less than half of all the other main entries in the Halo franchise since Halo 3."

 

Its obvious Halo 5 has underperformed as Ms did not actually come out with individual sales numbersfor copies sold, only everything together to make it seem like Halo is not in the decline it is. (Even Gamestop said it underperformed)

 

So if you do compare the amount of copies sold with previous Halo records the result is the worst in recent franchise history and I think we can all guess the reasons why.

Edited December 14, 2015 by JXZAW

[Azaxx]

REQS are content in regard to game play. You wear them and use them in Warzone.....how are Scorpions not part of gameplay?

 

It was actually Team Arena, Slayer, SWAT, Breakout and Free for All. If you really think Slayer and SWAT are the same then you really need to play them. They are two unique gametypes. The ranking gives you incentive to play unlike all previous Halos.

 

Spawning the worst? Hahaha, you haven't played CE have you? Spawning beside enemies and in the middle of gun fights happened all the time.

 

It's still 400 million in profit so 343 don't care if you don't like the game, they already have their money.

 

Because the REQ system can only affect one playlist, that is not overall content, infact it's more like an add-on to the game in the first place.

 

Team Slayer and Slayer are the same thing, one just has the other gametypes included in it, you're splitting hairs there. SWAT is also practically identical to Slayer, name one mechanic that is different between them two. And no, lack of shields is not a mechanic, so you cannot name a thing.

 

Halo CE's spawns were also vastly superior to Halo 5 Guardians', in H5G you will spawn directly infront of an enemy, constantly. In Halo CE it was just considered bad luck that happened time to time. Additionally Halo CE is taken with a grain of salt, the coding was new and didn't have much testing, H5G did thus is worse due to the huge amount of failed testing involved.

 

400 million is not the profit from Halo 5 Guardians, did you even read what I said?

[Guts]

Because the REQ system can only affect one playlist, that is not overall content, infact it's more like an add-on to the game in the first place.

 

Team Slayer and Slayer are the same thing, one just has the other gametypes included in it, you're splitting hairs there. SWAT is also practically identical to Slayer, name one mechanic that is different between them two. And no, lack of shields is not a mechanic, so you cannot name a thing.

 

Halo CE's spawns were also vastly superior to Halo 5 Guardians', in H5G you will spawn directly infront of an enemy, constantly. In Halo CE it was just considered bad luck that happened time to time. Additionally Halo CE is taken with a grain of salt, the coding was new and didn't have much testing, H5G did thus is worse due to the huge amount of failed testing involved.

 

400 million is not the profit from Halo 5 Guardians, did you even read what I said?

It affects every playlist by skins and armor, ask any pro player. Armor is a major factor in deaths. And it can't be an add-on, it was in the game at launch.

 

Senseless extermination and Objective gameplay are two different things. If you really don't think there is then you're one of those people who just go for kills then. No, there may be no game mechanic but no radar and no shields is what makes SWAT what it is. They don't need game mechanics, its great as it is.

 

As for spawns, nope. CE you spawn IN and ON grenades not two seconds to react. Two seconds is enough to hightail it.

 

Yes I did, they still have your money.

[Azaxx]

It affects every playlist by skins and armor, ask any pro player. Armor is a major factor in deaths. And it can't be an add-on, it was in the game at launch.

 

Senseless extermination and Objective gameplay are two different things. If you really don't think there is then you're one of those people who just go for kills then. No, there may be no game mechanic but no radar and no shields is what makes SWAT what it is. They don't need game mechanics, its great as it is.

 

As for spawns, nope. CE you spawn IN and ON grenades not two seconds to react. Two seconds is enough to hightail it.

 

Yes I did, they still have your money.

 

I can compete with pro players, that's not a factor, trust me. Anyone who thinks that armour makes a difference in a gun fight is just flat out wrong with no real experience, and that's not being bias either, it literally makes no difference to skill. If you blame armour on making a difference to gameplay, then you lack skill to backup your game.

 

SWAT - no shields/radar, first to 50 wins. Slayer - shields/radar/weapon pickup, first to 50 wins. Sorry, but they're the same game in terms of mechanics and objective gameplay. You can win SWAT and regular Slayer with the exact same play style, you cannot do that with something like CTF which is a completely different beast.

 

Games do not recognise where a grenade is for spawn points, bad spawns are defined by how they place you in comparison to other people and the maps geometry. Not from someone through a grenade or fired a rocket. That's called spawn controlling, and is a completely different scenario.

 

Evidently not, you don't understand anything on how H5G was sold. It's the worst selling game in the franchise. That was the whole point to the argument, no one cares if 343i got money or not, it's about the amount. Their "profit" was very low in comparison to any other Halo game sold, especially seeing as this is the first standalone game on the Xbox One.

[Twinreaper]

It affects every playlist by skins and armor, ask any pro player. Armor is a major factor in deaths. And it can't be an add-on, it was in the game at launch.

 

Senseless extermination and Objective gameplay are two different things. If you really don't think there is then you're one of those people who just go for kills then. No, there may be no game mechanic but no radar and no shields is what makes SWAT what it is. They don't need game mechanics, its great as it is.

 

As for spawns, nope. CE you spawn IN and ON grenades not two seconds to react. Two seconds is enough to hightail it.

 

Yes I did, they still have your money.

 

Please explain how armor effects death, or kill please?  The hitoxes for both collision and physics detection are not altered by what armor you wear.  Nor does wearing or displaying a specific armor piece make you more visible.

 

Before ANYONE starts talking about spawns and or the spawn placements/zones/respawn zones, first perhaps create an ACTUAL map with real spawns, and not the Forge wanna be system.  Grenades, or any other projectiles DO NOT effect the weight or probability of a spawn that is selected for you.   Only other players positions effect where you spawn, and judging from the amount of spawn complaints, I can only surmise that the spawn zones and respawn locations are inherently flawed and or not properly weighted.

 

343i and Microsoft have inflated the numbers to go as high as $400 M in sales.  The actual sales of the game CANNOT be calculated unless every single retailer in the world has properly reported how many units they have sold.  The sales Microsoft can accurately track, are those that come direct from digital download/store purchases and the actual units sold from supply to retailer.  More so, yes they may have sold $400 million to retailers around the world, but how many of those units were actual bought?  The answer is likely half, as many retail outlets and game news outlets have all agreed that Halo 5 is the WORST selling game in the franchise.

 

To add to this real quick, let's also look at cost for the titles.  Halo has had a multitude of price gaps and price points ranging from title to title.  Calling a game a success on the sole $$$ factor is NOT how you determine success.  Success in terms of gaming because of pricing and content can only really be defined and reported by actual UNITS SOLD AT RETAIL and POPULATION.

 

Also to add to the content discussion....REQ packs are NOT content.  Content in the scheme of things refers to NEW items or additional aquired/purchased/usable items that are NOT usually used or available in the game as a whole.  Aquiring a silly card that allows you to spawn a vehicle that is NOT new, or NOT LOCKED or otherwise NOT A NEW ITEM...is NOT content.  A good example of actual content, would be Foundation from Halo 2.  You had to beat the game in order to play on it and unlock it.  It offered a NEW map to play on.  All req packs do is allow you to spawn items that should be usable from the start.

 

Halo needs to go back to it's pure Halo CE - 3 roots.  Seeing as how the latest 2 titles taughting all sorts of innovation and features has NOT worked at all, ranging from actual gameplay to networking.......it is clear that the "NEW" plan and thought of keeping Halo fresh by emulating other franchises is NOT working in Microsoft's favor.

 

At the end of the day, comparing Halo 4 and 5 to Halo 3 and Reach, 4 and 5 fall massively short in content and population.  The reason i don't compare them to CE -3 is because of market saturation and comparative titles.  Halo needs to change, but not in the direction that everyone has been talking about.

 

It's funny how all of us who had been saying from the beginning, that halo needs to be more like the old titles...are being proved right.  Ads I said, the new plan and mechanic innovations are NOT selling and have made the last 2 games horrible.

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Twinreaper

[Chucky 089]

I had an idea today for dcl wile playing the campaign.

Extra level

Opens with the mc in a empty corridor. He's confused with only a pistol. As me moves down the hallway he starts seeing flashes of previous halo games. Halo CE. Then halo2. The flashes get faster as he comes to a door. Just as he's about to open it it slides open. And a dying Johnson lands in his arms. "I tried to stop them chief" he's says then dies in the mc's arms. Master chief pushes through the door way to find every version of himself dead on the floor. Blood everywhere. Far side of the room the is another door with a light underneath. The chief approaches the door cautiously. He starts to hear voices and pushes the door open. The his horror he sees inside. At the center of the room is Locke on a platform slowly turning in bright spot light. Around him is the 343,design team jerking of furiously. White hot rage flashes through the master chief. As he sprints into the room and begins murdering the 343,staff. He shoots them.in the head. He rips limbs off of the guy who decided looking down the sights was relevant. He castrated the writing staff. He severs the directors trachea. Then.he turns to Locke. With fear in his voice Locke timidly asked. "but why chief?". The chief calmly removes he's helmet and gaultles. And with a speed unparalleled he lunges for Locke's thoat. With his hands slowly choking the life out of Locke he very calmly very softly whispers. "You ******* suck"

 

Fade to black

[Richard John Wilson]

Short of content? At launch multiplayer alone had about 600 hours of playtime needed to 100% it. Then you have campaign and customs. Literally no lack of content there. 

 

Whats incomplete about the multiplayer by the way? It has arena and warzone....

 

If someone stopped playing Halo 5 already because of the lack of content they are ridiculous. Halo 5 launched a little more than a month ago, it has already had dlc releases. Not to mention that people who've been playing since day one constantly are still unlocking things. New playlists every week are also a thing that 343 is doing to keep Arena fresh.

 

May I add that Halo 5 had the largest launch in Halo history? Made 400 million at launch AND pushed the franchise to 5 billion dollars. 

 

This game is the lowest selling game from the entire series of Halo, 400 million at launch, I wonder how that truly effects the status as I just noted above.  I do think that say, Halo Reach made so much more that this 400 million, maybe four times as much if not more.  In comparison it is bleak comparing it to other Halo games.

Arena, Warzone and the Campaign is enough for you is it.  To me it is lacking, almost like Spartan Ops was.  Warzone is not the great game 343 were expecting it to be, I for one am disappointed with it.  it is far too big, you spend more time running to find the enemy than you do in engaging, it sort of reminds me of Team Doubles on a Big Team Battle Map.  In fact when I first played it, it reminded me of a game I once played on Sidewinder, just me and a friend.  Campaign wise, I got to ask, do you find it replayable over and over again.  I have already completed Halo 5 on Legendary and on Normal for the fun of it, it is not quite as fun as replaying Halo Reach or even Halo CE.

Halo 5 like Halo 4 is missing Firefight, to me, it is the only thing that can save it, otherwise I am more than happy to lay it to one side and go back to Destiny.  Even Elder Scrolls Online is more exciting than Halo 5

[DieHardHaloGamer]

I loved halo as a kid it was my favourite game. The first 3 were amazing. It used to have such a good campaign mode and the story line was the main reason I played the game. That was at least until 343 took over the series and ruined what was the best video game series of this generation. I was disgusted when I played halo 5 it's garbage and the online is almost identical to call of duty. I really hope this is not the end for halo it was built up so high. Instead of learning from halo 4 problems and issues halo 5 is even worse. I. Hope 343 industries do something to save this amazing game before its to late.