-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Halo |OT15| Beta-tested, GAF approved
- Thread starter Booties
- Start date
Where'd you get this number from?
Just booted it, it claims 17k. No way that's believable though. Also, it still says <3 days until the launch of Halo 4.
OdysseusVA
Banned
Twilight Gap
Member
At this point I think it's very clear why the population is that low, and I mentioned this in my post on Waypoint and here a few pages back.
Things like a ranking system, file sharing, custom options, and [decent] 4v4 playlists were either absent or not working for months after launch. When the very string that keeps the community tied together is severed, you can't expect people to stay around and wait for it - especially not when we're being regarded as "immature" by the devs.
Come on 343, please realize this sooner than later: the community makes the game What we're seeing now is what's left of the community after those who were unable to carry on have left. They may be small, but they are loyal and they will still play. If even 2000 people play a playlist, that is still 2000 people who are going to be there for 2-3 years.
Things like a ranking system, file sharing, custom options, and [decent] 4v4 playlists were either absent or not working for months after launch. When the very string that keeps the community tied together is severed, you can't expect people to stay around and wait for it - especially not when we're being regarded as "immature" by the devs.
Come on 343, please realize this sooner than later: the community makes the game What we're seeing now is what's left of the community after those who were unable to carry on have left. They may be small, but they are loyal and they will still play. If even 2000 people play a playlist, that is still 2000 people who are going to be there for 2-3 years.
StalkerUKCG
Banned
Team Mythic on Halo 3 had 0 people when I searched the other day
That was a mistake again. I always confuse peak and total. I will edit it. Also, it's 5 AM here.
Twilight Gap
Member
That was a mistake again. I always confuse peak and total. I will edit it. Also, it's 5 AM here.
A low peak could mean that people are playing at any given time are doing so for shorter amounts. Maybe 30-120 minutes on average.
Syphon Filter
Member
Dam at this rate Reach will have more players this fall. Doesn't Halo 3 have 10,000+ playing usually?
Well, that's easily believable since that's the attention span of the audience they catered towards.
I'd laugh my ass off if that happened.
Fewer people playing will also decrease peak.
It's hard to say exactly what's happening without more data.
Two hours is a short amount of time?
...
I don't know what would make me go back to Reach. Maybe if 343i screw up BTB objective (that's coming, right?)
Halo 3 kept bothering me about the Reach beta last time I opened it up. 343i inherited Bungie's lack of tidiness I guess.
Insofar as how much some people play, yeah.
I seriously doubt it's a significant factor, but I'd wager a bet that the demographics of Halo skew older than CoD, meaning that players are on for less due to real-world commitments.
Twilight Gap
Member
Oh, certainly. We really can only speculate, but there is plenty of evidence to support various theories. One doesn't have to look far to understand why less are playing and playing for less.
2 hours can be anywhere from 10-15 MP matches on average, or 2 chapters of Spartan Ops if my math is correct. That doesn't account for search times either.
Many people have the game and many people can play at any given time. Peak is showing the most online players at any given time for that day. Let's say if 500,000 people play Halo 4 daily and only 17% of them are playing online at key hours, that means even less are online throughout the day. That's longer search times and less data for trueskill to work with, as others have said.
Something would need to happen to double that percentage soon, lest the game truly be beyond recovery. Was Reach not peaking at 120k at this time?
math!
xxjuicesxx
Member
That was a mistake again. I always confuse peak and total. I will edit it. Also, it's 5 AM here.
Still I think Peak is most important cause you have to realize that even less than the peak is the number of players you will see when you the individual signs on. This effects everything especially trueskill and matchmaking, playlist population, quality of matches. JIP will be slow, match find length will be high, and so on.
So yes a lot of players may sign on every day and that will put them up on Major Nelsons charts, and theyll be able to make quotes like "11.7 million people have played Halo 4", but the core experience of the game will get worse and worse.
Hydranockz
Member
It's like having a stadium that gets used 24/7. When it was built, you'd be seeing a packed stadium but as time goes on you realise you'd be looking at maybe one full stand where all the cameras are pointing while the rest of the place isn't nearly as used.
lmaoAaaah what's happening?! D:
I don't know. I just signed off. What can I do? Throwdown sucks without a proper team. I was decent for 1-2 matches. Played BTB, got exile and longbow. Complete heavy shit fest. I'm starting to actually despise the sniper rifle now. Something that was a valued power weapon, now feels like 3-4 guys have it all match with Ammo perk.
BTB Infinity just kills my mood. So frustrating, how can any halo fan enjoy it? What's the fun in it?
Extraction 1 site and SWAT are the only thing I enjoyed right now. But it's almost like I'm forcing myself to play this game, which is sad.
BTB Infinity just kills my mood. So frustrating, how can any halo fan enjoy it? What's the fun in it?
Extraction 1 site and SWAT are the only thing I enjoyed right now. But it's almost like I'm forcing myself to play this game, which is sad.
Dude... Action Sack.
At this point it's impossible to recover the community they once had, Halo 4 doesn't matter anymore. There's nothing they can do to bring it up for an extended period of time. Sure they can come out with a new map pack, that'll bring the numbers up for a couple days until everyone gets the achievements, but they'll stop playing just like the rest. Honestly, the only thing 343i can do now is make Halo 5 the monster that Halo 2(map pack)/3 was during the transition to a new console and win people back that way.
What's going on, fellas?
User 73706
Banned
OdysseusVA
Banned
Its time
MaximumFlipFlop
Banned
I honestly don't know what is more approachable than a game where you just select matchmaking and go. You don't deal with loadouts or anything else. Just go in, "hey we all start with the same gun that's fair." "Oh the weapons always spawn in the same places, that's fair." If I want to do better, I have to play better, that's fair."
Why why why why why why why
Why why why why why why why
Stop dropping those f-bombs.
"Hey, he just called down an Inceration Cannon from the sky and all I get is a Needler, that's fair.", "He just insta-spawned two feet behind me a split second after I killed him, that's fair."
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I suck at Terraria.
Halo maps next week right?
Halo maps next week right?
Welcome, Reclaimer.
Dongs Macabre
aka Daedalos42
Yeah. Hopefully they play well.
And CSR, hopefully at least one of the two work properly at launch.
Its less about simplicity, fairness and approachability, and more about, as they put it "Helping new players find success"
When you're new to Halo or just suck at it, its much more fun for you that you will eventually get a ordnance drop with a rocket launcher in it so you can get some easy kills. Or that you can spawn with a plasma pistol and plasma grenades so you don't get rocked by vehicles because you can't control the power weapons or are too stupid to realize your base probably comes stocked with something that can help take it out.
That was their philosphy. Its the same one that caused CoD to take off. Getting a helicopter wasn't too hard. Then comes MW2 and you have everyone and their mom calling in harriers.
Welcome to modern game design. Hand holding sells more than skill. Its not just in multiplayer games either.
Don't think I've ever seen a thread come to such a screeching halt in any forum ever.
I never did get how over complicating things made it more accessable. All it did was alienate Halo fans and new fans. Random weapon drops made the least sense of all the changes. How does a randomly timed, not always dropping weapon, make things less complicated?
I never did get how over complicating things made it more accessable. All it did was alienate Halo fans and new fans. Random weapon drops made the least sense of all the changes. How does a randomly timed, not always dropping weapon, make things less complicated?
Twilight Gap
Member
We saw this with the Ranking System too. It went from "Everyone has to work together to do well" to "Everyone has to do well"
They didn't want people to control weapons; they wanted them to earn their own.
They didn't want people to teamshoot vehicles; they wanted them to spawn with their own anti-vehicle capability.
They didn't want people to control power ups; they wanted their own powerups.
While none of these are inherently bad ideas, they almost all negatively impact the gameplay Halo established itself as (at least to the extent that they're currently being used).
I honestly fear that at this rate it wont be long before you can transform your Spartan into your own personal Scorpion Tank. Selfish play is what ruined Firefight, it's what doomed Arena, and it's what's going to ruin the rest of the game if nothing is changed. That doesn't belong in a game that is 8:1 team-based playlists.
MaximumFlipFlop
Banned
xxjuicesxx
Member
My old college roommate said he liked ordnance and getting lucky and getting cannons.
I had to facepalm and explain to him why its better to earn it, and then he said, dude its a video game!
I had to facepalm and explain to him why its better to earn it, and then he said, dude its a video game!
How is that not believable? The numbers were stuck on 60,000+ for a few months but that's been fixed now and it updates hourly now.
when i throw reach back in the 360 I find games just as quick if not sometimes quicker than i do in halo 4. even in the anni playlist.
Syphon Filter
Member
lmao
StalkerUKCG
Banned
Because casuals care very little about anything.
Twilight Gap
Member
Maybe I should play some CEA then?
I suck at Angry Birds, and people that can 3 star almost every level are pro's in my eyes.
Not only casuals, you reward mediocrity and then they get used to it.
Look at how far call of duty has gone. You get death streaks if you die a lot.
It's why I'm worried for Halo 5, you'll have people saying they've gone backwards if they go back to equal starts and static spawns.
"It was fun when we had equal chance to get a power weapon, now the neckbeards in their moms basement won't ever let me win".
Look at that way point thread where the kid was complaining he kept dying and begging people to ignore him in the match if he's not a threat. It's like people have no skills to cope with adversity or competition.
Twilight Gap
Member
Now that games are mainstream and accessible, they're seen as 'just games'. Back when they were profound and required strategy and thought, you were a nerd if you got into them. But now those same people probably play a game on their mobile phones or even own a console themselves.
It wont be long before being good at Angry Birds makes you a "pro gamer". We're just an old generation at this point.
I suck at it too but I was only trying to say that gaming is being made for a different audience now. That isn't a problem until a game that has absolutely no reason to starts following. The only benefit I've seen to this is that you may be able to play with a friend or family member who is new to it once in a while.
I don't know, the counter seems pretty broken (I haven't signed into Reach in over a month now so I wouldn't know that it's started updating properly), even then I'd put my estimate around 10-12k, no matter how good your game is, being out for over 2 years isn't going to see your population going that strong.
xxjuicesxx
Member
I've 3 starred every Angry Birds Space level.
The Real Napsta
Member
Do how do I use this waypoint shit to download forge maps? Do I just click add file?
Similar threads
- Locked