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[Chris1]

Data center selection confirmed?

Cool, hope more games start to make use of that feature. Loved it in Titanfall and hope it becomes standard for all games using Azure.

 

[link1201]

I haven't really played titanfall. How does one select their data center? How many data centers are there?

 

[3DShovel]

Wow, a lot of awesome changes there.

Spoiler

can people stop with the sprint complaints now?

 

[abadguy]

No. I called them perks in that post because a few of those abilities first came to Halo as perks.

I don't consider vehicle jacking and melee as perks, how would one even consider melee as a perk?

But they are not perks now.. Everyone has those abilities, just like vehicle jacking and melee are abilities that everyone has in H5.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

Wow, a lot of awesome changes there.

Spoiler

can people stop with the sprint complaints now?

Until there are dedicated playlists for no sprint (unlikely) than no. People will always complain.

 

[Bolts-n-Rays1109]

Wow, a lot of awesome changes there.

Spoiler

can people stop with the sprint complaints now?

Nope. because of the 11%.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Some firey opinions to be found here.

I'm a bit more ambivalent right now.
I'm happy they're empowering me as a player to make some of the choices that I want to make, especially around the post death camera.

I hope they pull off a great & special game but I feel my relationship with Halo right now is a bit muddled.

 

[Super Stardust]

Data. Center. Selection.

Megaton

 

[RespectThySole]

AW is genuinely good, and Treyarch are working on the next COD, Titanfall is extremely solid and has the potential to be huge, the new Battlefront treads on the toes of Halo with its sic-fi lore, Hardline is solid.

I can't see any Halo Xbox One game outselling the MCC, unless they literally give Halo 5 away to Halo MCC owners. People have been burned, they have alternatives. Sure, none of those are arena shooters, but Halo will need more than superfans of that niche to justify the funding it gets. All this has come too late.

That first part is very subjective and I'm sure that many people would really disagree with that.(including myself apart from Titanfall)

The second half is just laughable. I don't even believe that you actually think that.

-------

Very suprised that they actually added in data center selection. Leyasu will be pleased

 

[ProvenDeadly]

Nope. because of the 11%.

It's already begun.

 

[kosmologi]

These changes look very good and address many of the problems I had with the beta. It's really great that they've listened to the community and acted accordingly. 343 gets a lot of flak (for a reason), but I think they're still on the better side of the triple-a developer spectrum.

 

[Bizazedo]

Nope. because of the 11%.

We need a shirt.

"I am the 11%".

 

[Samurai G0SU]

Until there are dedicated playlists for no sprint (unlikely) than no. People will always complain.

Josh said...

You'll also be able to turn off Halo 5's other Spartan Abilities, such as Ground Pound and Spartan Charge. This, in combination with the sprint toggle, means players will be able to create Halo 5 custom games with an old-school Halo gameplay feel, and opens the door to a "classic Halo" playlist.

He said playlist.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

Josh said...

He said playlist.

I missed that. Thanks.

 

[SatansReverence]

11% my ass.

And who didn't see that one coming anyway?

343, something something self selection bias.

 

[btrboyev]

If like to see getting rid of the bro fists and stuff after matches.

 

[Caayn]

But they are not perks now.. Everyone has those abilities, just like vehicle jacking and melee are abilities that everyone has in H5.

I apologies for daring to call them perks, I was foolish to do that.

 

[ProvenDeadly]

11% my ass.

And who didn't see that one coming anyway?

343, something something self selection bias.

It's actually hilarious that the same person who talked in the blog and seemingly pick and chose stats was the one who tweeted about selection bias when someone tweeted him multiple polls that were heavily in favor of no sprint. I love 343 lol.

 

[Freeser]

Really pleased that they are reaching out and making changes based on community input. Changes look good so far.

 

[Head.spawn]

If like to see getting rid of the bro fists and stuff after matches.

Yeah. That is cheesy as hell.

I left a ton of nice feedback on that, but highly doubtful anything will be changed since they haven't mentioned it. I feel like there are some easy changes they could make, that would make it less cheesy.

 

[EchoChamber]

Only 11%? Wtf I can't simply understand why anyone wants sprint in halo.

 

[link1201]

Yeah. That is cheesy as hell.

I left a ton of nice feedback on that, but highly doubtful anything will be changed since they haven't mentioned it. I feel like there are some easy changes they could make, that would make it less cheesy.

They did mention it didn't they?

Expect the final sequences to feature considerably fewer chest bumps and high fives.

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Cross-posting, didn't see this thread before:

Thanks for the write-up, Josh. My favorite part right here^

I know I'm probably the only one that actively cares about this lol, but just pliss help us out because I think most players don't care enough to recognize what significance motion tracker has on all levels of play, especially at higher skill levels. Perhaps removing it once reaching Onyx would be best, and then changing default motion tracker to sound-based so it doesn't gimp movement.

Spoiler

Can't wait to see the Legendary Magnum ;]

 

[Samurai G0SU]

I missed that. Thanks.

No worries, he said a lot and i probably missed some stuff too.

 

[kittens]

The motion tracker needs to be nerfed, at least. It still showed elevation in the Halo 5 beta, right?

 

[LowSignal]

sounds like some good changes, i'm excited.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

If like to see getting rid of the bro fists and stuff after matches.

Meanwhile, 343 has changed elements of the presentation of Halo 5's arena multiplayer. Each match begins with an intro and victory sequence, meant to "reinforce your identity within your team". They've been tweaked to feature considerably fewer chest bumps and high fives. Sorry, Halo bros.

The other improvements made to presentation include:

Post-death replay: this will become an opt-in feature. After death, players will see a traditional follow-cam and have the option to view a replay of their death from the killer's perspective (as long as the feature is enabled within the playlist)
Medals: decrease frequency and number of medals displayed in the medal feed
Spartan chatter: players will have the option to turn this on or off in the settings menu
Adding highlights to placed/dropped weapons to make them easier to see
General tuning for announcer and Spartan chatter to reduce the frequency of events and focus on the information that matters most to players
The Spartan Chatter change is an interesting one. Spartan Chatter adds audio aids for enemy spotting and weapon spawns, among other things, and was designed to help those who don't use mics to communicate with their teammates.

But, according to 343, there was too much "fluffy" chatter. Here's Quinn:

Quinn DelHoyo: We're looking at toning down some of the more fluffy type of stuff, like maybe the guy telling you, hey, you had a good headshot, good job, you're really cool! Those kinds of things we're looking at toning down and keeping it more to the important information stuff, like, hey, I'm taking damage from this location, or, there's a guy I physically shot at this location.
The main goal was to have that for people who don't have mics who want to play multiplayer, so they could get interesting call-outs, and then the game feels really smart. We felt we hit that the game feels smart, but there was a little too much fluffy type of commentary we're looking at.

PRESENTATION
The arena multiplayer experience was designed with a competitive theme. We imagined this to be a place where Spartans would train against one another in preparation for upcoming battles. As such there would be a certain amount of comradery, gamesmanship and fanfare involved. We approached match presentation as though these showdowns might be broadcast within the UNSC to other enlisted military watching intently as the Spartans trained.

Each match includes an intro and a victory sequence. These are meant to reinforce your identity within your team, to show important locations within each map prior to battle and to celebrate the winners of the match. Despite the fact that the intro and victory sequences in particular seemed to be universally loved by Halo bros, we weren’t 100 percent satisfied with the tone of these moments in the game. Expect the final sequences to feature considerably fewer chest bumps and high fives.

These are from the sites that have info regarding the changes 343i has published.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

The motion tracker needs to be nerfed, at least. It still showed elevation in the Halo 5 beta, right?

Everything from weapon placements on maps, to lighting improvements, to rule tweaks in game modes and modifications to the motion tracker to encourage more movement at higher levels of play. Our team constantly looks for ways to improve the game and we’ll continue to do so until launch later this year and beyond.

There you go.

 

[Head.spawn]

They did mention it didn't they?

Ah, missed that.

Bueno. It felt too much like something you'd see thrown into Madden or NFL Blitz. Just completely off-putting.

 

[link1201]

Ah, missed that.

Bueno. It felt too much like something you'd see thrown into Madden or NFL Blitz. Just completely off-putting.

I'm going to have to re read this after work I have missed some stuff too. I'm glad they have more toggles for things than I thought they would. Good on them for that at least.

 

[cooperma]

These sound like good changes. I hope it pleases the Halo fan base.

man and I hate to do it...


20 million matches played in a week? Has MCC had 20 million matches played since launch?

Ok...to the corner I go...

 

[watership]

Not really "oh shit" if you have to gather people to do that. :/ They should make a "Halo classic" playlist with those very things shut off in matchmaking. But they won't because most people would probably flock to those playlists instead of the "normal"/intended Halo 5 playlists.

If only Halo MCC worked great, 343 wouldn't have this big issue with making Halo 5 to the requirements of the old games.

 

[Anung]

But not all games need to follow that route. Look at Counter Strike. CS: GO at this time has 374,000 people playing it today. Early afternoon on a Thursday. It has a higher player count than any of the games you listed except for probably CoD. (granted Evolve isn't out)

Oh I agree. There must be a way for this Halo formula to Evolve without losing its identity.

 

[Madness]

These sound like good changes. I hope it pleases the Halo fan base.

man and I hate to do it...

20 million matches played in a week? Has MCC had 20 million matches played since launch?

Ok...to the corner I go...

I think for all of us, we easily played almost double or triple the amount of matches in Halo 5 that we did in MCC. Even with the random crashes or having one person quit and it taking forever to find a match again H5, it was just infinitely easier to get into a match than in MCC.

 

[Jessie.Bristol]

Allow players to set desired datacenter for matchmaking (may impact matchmaking speed and skill balance)

Aw shit, we did it guys! 100% smooth games confirmed for launch! And overall excellent improvements from Beta. As I said during the Beta, still a Day 1 Digital purchase for me. Thanks 343i, it's going to be a fun Holiday this year.

Fake edit: Now get the Datacenter selection up and running in TMCC !

 

[Figments]

But not all games need to follow that route. Look at Counter Strike. CS: GO at this time has 374,000 people playing it today. Early afternoon on a Thursday. It has a higher player count than any of the games you listed except for probably CoD. (granted Evolve isn't out)

I never understood why CS:GO was used as a counterpoint to the "evolution of gameplay" argument. CS:GO may not have changed much at all of the CS formula, but you can't attribute all its success to that point alone. CS:GO also has a way lower barrier of entry in terms of price, and regularly goes for 75%+ off during Steam sales, which are pretty damn frequent.

Halo remains a $60 entry fee, so people expect /something/ to at least change. If you're just rehashing the same gameplay over and over again and still charging full price, you'd get fatigued fast. An aside: COD manages to still remain popular because it /does change/ between releases, however minimal or huge those changes are, on top of each of the three devs in the CoD cycle having their own spin on the franchise.

In any case: Sure, you can argue that the lack of campaign drastically lowers GO's price, but if we were to cut a typical Halo game in half, it'd still be $30 for the multiplayer (if you assume an even slice).

GO's also got the mod community with it, and player-run servers help with that a lot. Halo has no equivalent beyond Forge, and even that is limited at best in comparison to what a full-on mod can do.

While I won't claim that GO's gameplay isn't what keeps people coming back, I will say that it's only one piece of an even bigger pie.

 

[bishoptl]

Until there are dedicated playlists for no sprint (unlikely) than no. People will always complain.

Let them. I'm fine with sprint and the reduced delta.

My feedback broke down as follows:

BREAKOUT
- Best mode? Best mode.
- Team Slayer is enjoyable, but I can tell that the majority of my time with the final product will be in Breakout. Hoping for a robust selection of maps.
- Grenade spam was an issue during the first day of release, but that dropped significantly as players figured out it’s better to hold on to those game changers – especially if you’re the last man standing and you know the other team is grouped together to chase you down. Pulled off a 1 vs 3 win that way. Incredibly satisfying.

KILLCAM
- The current incarnation is maddening. I get that the aim is to give players insight as to how they died and reduce camping, but it doesn’t fit the sense of immediacy that I’m used to with this franchise. If it’s a mandated feature, it badly needs tweaking.
- Take a page from COD and allow players to skip it ASAP by pressing the B button, please – either triggering an immediate respawn or keeping the player in deathcam mode until a respawn or new round is in play.

TRAVERSAL AND WEAPONS
- I wasn’t sure that I’d like the Thruster in conjunction with sprint, got tired of the similar mechanic in Advanced Warfare really quickly. What I didn’t know at the time was that it made much more sense in Halo than AW, thanks to the focus on melee that AW doesn’t have. Closing quickly with a Plasma Sword (or having it done to you) is an oh-shit moment that AW can’t replicate.
- That said, I’d like to see some sort of training for the newer traversal and melee methods. I never used the ground pound, for example – not for lack of trying, but I could never get the timing down and it was messing with my stats, so I stopped. An opportunity to practice in a safe area before going online would be very welcome.
- I’m happy with the pistol as a close-range weapon.
- Battle Rifle kickback could use a bit of nerfing, but maybe it’s just me. Damage rates are fine.
- Overall, weapon switching feels slow.
- I prefer Magnum/AR starts, just a personal thing. Don’t listen to anybody complaining about overpowered bullet magnets, watching Aidan play the beta was a clear indicator that complaints about it are overblown.
MAPS
- The glare/bloom on Orion is driving me nuts.
- Blue has a significant advantage against the environments of certain darker Slayer maps, like Truth and Eden.

FE/HUD
- Watching my CSR go up and down can be strangely demoralizing. One, I’m apprehensive about messing up and dropping from Silver to Bronze and two, on the rare occasion where I’ve carried my team with a decent K/D ratio and still dropped CSR, seeing that negative number is another kick to the balls. Is pulling back the curtain that much really necessary?
- I noticed that I spent a lot of time flickering my gaze between the mainscreen and motion tracker. Not a huge issue, especially if I’m working duo with a teammate who knows how to push forward and pull back as we move through the map, but noticeable nonetheless.

GENERAL
- This feels like Halo, but refreshed. Yeah, there are some COD elements but I can’t take that playstyle wholesale to the H5 beta and succeed, I still need to keep those core principles front and foremost. Sprint (finally) only when necessary with the requisite penalty to shields, hipfire with ADS as a last resort, the clambering element (very cool), shield recharge, etc. This is definitely the upgrade to compete with other FPS titles that Halo needed without losing its identity. I feel fast, but with noticeable weight, just as you’d expect from a Spartan. My weight vs traversal benchmark is still pre-patch Killzone 2, but this version brings an immediacy that was missing in previous Halo titles. It’s fun, it’s accessible to a guy like me who loves FPS but doesn’t have the time to stay on it like I used to. This is the game that I’ll pony up the money for Live Gold for on release.
- Love the chatter between Spartans. Even besides receiving regular updates on where people are, etc., it gives the match more life, especially when playing with teammates who don’t use mics. Nice touch.

I see enough of my concerns addressed that I'll be comfortable picking this up at launch.

 

[VinFTW]

Let them. I'm fine with sprint and the reduced delta.

My feedback broke down as follows:

I see enough of my concerns addressed that I'll be comfortable picking this up at launch.

Wow, no idea you were such a Halo enthusiast. This is some good feedback here. Especially the part about Killzone 2. Felt the same way, honestly.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

That's not true at all. That's like saying a race car should only go one speed despite curves. There's a reason to go slow, and there's reasons to sprint. This insane clinging to the notion that just because the old games did it one way that it should only be that way is nuts. Props to 343 for being bright enough to acknowledge that.

You're trying to find logic in what a science fiction super solider can and can't do, think about that for a minute


Anyway, these changes sound great, hopefully this gets a summer release

 

[Mdot]

Reduction of Smart scope rewards and the DMR scope visibility were two of my majors beefs with the beta, so glad to see they're specifically being addressed.

Would be nice if the classic options that can be toggled in custom games make it to a "classic" playlist as well.

Overall, some good changes.

 

[PROh1bited]

Does anyone not realize what the biggest news of the day is? Teabagging! Now my enemies have the option of seeing how I killed them, or they can suffer some nice baggage. #teabag

 

[Sojgat]

•Increase base speed (faster base movement)
•Increase strafe acceleration (faster, more responsive strafing)
•Reduce top sprint speed (narrow the delta between base movement and sprint)

Why not just take out sprint?

 

[Welfare]

Why not just take out sprint?

"Evolution" and "feels" and "Call of Duty".

 

[kittens]

Does anyone not realize what the biggest news of the day is? Teabagging! Now my enemies have the option of seeing how I killed them, or they can suffer some nice baggage. #teabag

thank u stinkles

 

[Ol No Bones]

I'm glad the killcam is optional. I really really really want a slow mo killcam of the game winning kill. That is the only thing about killcams I liked in COD.

 

[Derpyduck]

You're trying to find logic in what a science fiction super solider can and can't do, think about that for a minute


Anyway, these changes sound great, hopefully this gets a summer release

I thought about it for a minute. Your argument is still awful. I don't think it's beyond the realm of realism to expect that a super soldier, either real or make believe can run, slow down, and then run again.

"Evolution" and "feels" and "Call of Duty".

Anyone that played the beta as if it were COD failed miserably. It's still Halo and needs to be played as such.

 

[Samurai G0SU]

I'm glad the killcam is optional. I really really really want a slow mo killcam of the game winning kill. That is the only thing about killcams I liked in COD.

Especially when it showed the guy get that one bullet hitting their crotch, winning the game with a crotch shot. some of those kills cams made me laugh. lol

 

[Remark]

89% of the halo community are idiots, confirmed.

Not idiots at all. Sprint was good in Halo: Reach. It just felt like you got TO much of boost in Halo 4 and Halo 5 and it wasn't just an armor ability like it was in Reach.

 

[Eoin]

So ADS and Sprint remain. Think i'll just rent this for the campaign then.

 

[TheOddOne]

Let them. I'm fine with sprint and the reduced delta.

My feedback broke down as follows:

I see enough of my concerns addressed that I'll be comfortable picking this up at launch.

You know your stuff, Bish. I'm impressed to say the least.