Halo is not the leviathan it once was. · 11:38am Jan 21st, 2016
You nailed it, Greenskull.
Halo 4 did not last long in my Xbox. I played the Campaign, 70 games of multiplayer, then co-oped Legendary with Brady. But that was it. It was the very first Halo game where I did not purchase any DLC, partly due to the incredibly laughable "14 Day, Buy and Play" bogus PR stunt that people could see through with half a brain.
Come Halo 5, I thought it was different, but no. It was just slower to take effect. After about 200 games, I have effectively dropped Halo 5 in favor of my PC. Even my $150 Elite controller sees 100% of its use on my PC. Brady continues to play, but not every single night like he used to.
I remember fucking around on split-screen with friends in Halo 1 and 2 all night, making a pyramid of empty soda cans as we gave ourselves sugar rushes. I remember playing Infection, SWAT, and Grifball in Halo 3 until 5 am. I played Halo Reach in the bunk of my tractor while my co-driver went 60 mph down the interstate.
So what's missing? Variety.
Infection. Grifball. Oddball. Double XP weekends. These Halo staples are not present.
343 has been incredibly slow on the uptake. 2XP weekends should have been there on the FIRST weekend. Social playlists are still scarce, not to mention it took them more than a month to patch the armory glitch in Warzone Assault. What the hell happened to hot patching?
Yeah, we're older. We're in college, have jobs, or familes. But if we enjoy a hobby enough, we'll make time for it. Halo simply hasn't been worth our time for awhile.
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug.
Also the 300 pieces of armor locked behind microtransaction paywalls.
I used to love the Halo series, it was one of the games I used to constantly play on my xbox. Halo Reach was the pinnacle of the franchise in my opinion, and it should be considering it was Bungie's final send-off to the fan's.
When I first started playing Halo 4, I was hesitant. It didn't feel like a Halo game, it played more like Call of Duty and I hated it that. I gave the story a chance and it just pissed me off. Then Multiplayer was even worse, the only 'fun' I had was playing Spartan Ops, as that was the only creative gametype I found, but even that was glorified Horde mode.
I have not bought, nor shall I buy, Halo 5. I don't like where 343 is going with the series and I feel as though they don't give a crap about the older fans, instead focusing on the CoD 10 year olds who just love DLC.
I could go into a huge rant about this, but this poorly written comment will have to do.