halo-discussion

[rose gyro]

It’s the coloring that I have a problem with due to Infinite’s artstyle

[wooden briar]

This looks seriously great. Kind of blown away by the improvement from just those color changes.

[civic sundial]

Thanks! It was just one of those spur of the moment things which happened when talking about it with someone else because we both had thoughts about the marine designs in Infinite

Like, the choice of green for the armour plating was based on how my personal favourite marine design is the Halo 3 marines

Honestly might see if I still have the Blender file somewhere on my hard drive because now I'm contemplating using them for my Halo 4 mod

[onyx latch]

The other issue is them being Halo Reach Army BDUs

[ancient sun]

Testing here

[short flower]

I absolutely did not know Frontlines wasn’t 20 tiers. It is 50.

I was like yeah rank 10! The halfway point! Nah… 25 is the actual halfway point.

20 is the dang 40% point.

[river minnow]

is general down lol

[short flower]

I guess my message wouldn’t send so maybe, rip

[cold topaz]

general is down lmaooo

[river minnow]

how does a single channel go down lol

[short flower]

yeah I have no idea

Attempting to search match 3 of firefight tonight

okay finally found

[waxen spire]

Yeah check #hcs-chat for stckrs post

[coarse dagger]

https://discordstatus.com/

[river minnow]

funny

[cold topaz]

in the meantime
im making my halo 3 armor in blender

[waxen spire]

Fire

[cold topaz]

the fall guy stays during battle

[short flower]

I stay having the Xbox as my H3 back accessory.

[cold topaz]

based

[short flower]

And finally a perfection tonight, after 3rd firefight match.

Perfection on the 4th match please.

Launch Site is the map.

[cyan wadi]

Friends?

[short flower]

And got my perfection on the 4th match.

And that had Jega as the final boss, close call.

[short flower]

I wish I could post my halo 3 spartan here but I know there’s the drip channel.

[solid canopy]

Nice

[crystal iron]

The big 25 for halo?!

[solid canopy]

I just noticed that on the Halo 4 laser there is a decal that says "BIG SCARY LASER- DO NOT LOOK INTO BEAM WITH REMAINING EYE"

That made me burst out laughing when I saw it just now

[rugged quartz]

Quarter century

[winged hazel]

damn you need a back accessory? (i'm an elite, for the record lmao)

[plucky flicker]

We need more UNSC dark humour.

[solid canopy]

It feels like one of the easter eggs Bungie would put in

Like the bulletin board on the Pillar Of Autumn

[celest heron]

who at HS is brave enough to show some skin in h7.

[short flower]

I guess today I’ll put my halo 3 Spartan in the drip thread.

Wish there was like a full set of MKV armor for H3.

With Firefight skulls… I always say thunderstorm & mythic are better than having black eye.

[civic sundial]

EOD chestplate is the closest you'll get for the body

[short flower]

I see. I hope I have it… I should.

[civic sundial]

In Halo 3 MCC? You definitely do

[toxic seal]

Is anyone else getting an issue where they're stuck at the loading screen on MCC? Tried everything from verifying the game files, to restarting, fixing logins on credential manager and even uninstalling/reinstalling. Been at it for hours now

[sullen kiln]

You may refer to #1075989764026675210 if you are in need of community based assistance. This is strictly community sourced and operated and is not staffed by any official members of the Support team.

For official support, you'll need to go to the Halo Support site: https://aka.ms/HaloSupport

[solid canopy]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qKkNs0pWli8&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D

I haven't seen a Generalkidd video in what feels like ages, but this served as a good reminder for how MCC still needs a lot of work

I don't even want any new content, I just want them to go through a fix things

Maybe if they finally decide to port MCC to PS5 they'll get back on it.

[short flower]

Okay yeah then or course I do.

[short flower]

I still gotta lock in and get the rest of the halo 4 mark V armor.

[short flower]

Once again, Repulsor is worth picking up in FF, try to keep enemy grenades away. Catch is problematic because of dynamo grenades.

Skimmers might be on another level man.

Also nice to get free SPNKrs from them.

[short flower]

When you join a Firefight match that is already lost…

Why is that a thing…

[solid canopy]

Having just gotten through 9/10 Halo CE levels with a friend in co-op and rewatching some of Campaign Evolved's footage, it has left me a tad worried about how the gameplay will turn out. What specifically concerns me is that Campaign Evolved is very "big" visually, not just in terms of environments, but also in regards to things like the HUD and hit/kill markers

[rugged quartz]

Generally there's this delay between letting you in and stuff going even more catastrophically wrong

[solid canopy]

Halo CE's design lived and died on enemies and encounters being very clear and very readable. Meanwhile, Campaign Evolved's visual fidelity- while impressive- really detracts from this aspect. Stuff like the Jackal shields or the movement of Elites kind of get lost in the shuffle

Looking at old Bungie GDC talks and the like seemed to show that a ton of emphasis was put on making it clear how enemies behaved. I believe that this game really has to build itself off of that foundation and keep things easily readable and focused

But with how much stuff is in an environment at once as well as the changes made with four player co-op in mind, I don't know if the game will be able to keep itself to that standard

[left snow]

To some extent you are describing what you end up with when designing a game within the limitations of a 32 bit pentium with 64MB of RAM.

The whole idea here is to juice this sucker up.

[summer aspen]

The HUD is entirely customizable, you can probably make it like the classic CE hud if you wanted to

[paper estuary]

Should there be petrolhead clans in Halo

A clan for Honda VTEC lovers, a Tesla Owners Halo Clan? For example

[sullen owl]

And that's where graphics diverge from visual design clarity for gameplay. Great graphics, do not a great game make.

[onyx latch]

Oh god, the latter sounds obnoxious as hell.

[stoic sky]

You have an interesting point there, I’ve played both Halo and Star Wars battlefront 2, and Halo has much more distinct enemies that are easier to focus on, unlike SW battlefront 2 where enemies can blend into the environments. Personally I really like very cinematic and immersive games more than ones that focus more on controls and gameplay mechanics at the cost of immersion, overall I think the key is to hit that balance between immersion and still being able to pick out enemies without too much difficulty

[coarse dagger]

@steady cargo please don't call out tags here. You can report players in-game or via the Halo Support site. Details on how to do that are here:

[sullen kiln]

https://aka.ms/HaloSafety

[civic sundial]

Considering what we saw is a work in progress build, I wouldn't take how the Jackal shields look as final. Pretty sure they said that they were going to make the visuals of them more visible for the player as well

[empty pasture]

25th

[still mountain]

hi halo people

what game is best to start with

[empty pasture]

Halo

[still mountain]

the original or master chief remake?

[empty pasture]

You can only play the original, as for now.

[civic sundial]

The remake of Combat Evolved hasn't released yet. Do you mean the version of Combat Evolved in Halo MCC?

[celest heron]

If h7 has clans, then you could almost make whatever you wanted. Whether people join or not is another story.

[short flower]

Clans similar to how they work in Destiny 2 would be interesting.

[still mountain]

yeah

[civic sundial]

MCC features all the older Halo FPS games from the original Xbox and 360. Your best bet is to play through it in release order. So starting with Combat Evolved and ending with Halo 4 within MCC

Reach, while listed first, is only there for chronological order (And because it was the first to release on PC within MCC)

[still mountain]

are the original or improved graphics better?

[civic sundial]

Depends on who you ask. Best you judge yourself

[still mountain]

yeah true, thanks

[civic sundial]

But the anniversary graphics are only a thing for Combat Evolved and Halo 2 in MCC since those are the only two games to ever get remastered graphics

[solid canopy]

Play Halo CE on classic graphics

Anniversary graphics lack a lot of the atmostphere and just generally looks a lot busier

[short flower]

I hope they do learn from anniversary with 2 specific levels in the remake.

Cuz honestly in anniversary, the vibrancy of the 2 levels took away their horror aspects. The classic versions were done perfectly.

I can’t post the differences but yeah I am right on this.

[left snow]

I'm probably on my own here - but I can't shake the feeling that the "horror" aspect of CE is a bit over-rated.

It's like when I showed my kids the Evil Dead movie. It terrified me when I first watched it as a teenager. But my kids pretty much laughed their way through it.

Different time. Different expectation.

I'm not saying the Flood aren't a good enemy. Or not fun to fight. But to expect the new game to capture that same raw experience, 25 years on, is a bit of a reach.

[short flower]

I will say the graphics in Anniv were okay for its time, though to be me I think the darker aesthetic fits more than the vibrant.

12 more xp boosts… frontlines gonna make me almost run out.

I will 100% run out of xp boosts before all my passes are done. I’ll just have to go back to natural grinding without them after.

[short flower]

Repulsor woulda saved me on a match…

Omg they electrocuted me to death again… and then teammate splatters me

[nova basalt]

We need to ban all teammates

[short flower]

Twice I got electrocuted to death by disruptors…

aimbot by plasma pistol omg…

CAN I STAY ALIVE PLEASE

finally thank god…

[left snow]

Over 100 here. 🙂

[short flower]

UGHHHHH I wanted to finish this firefight session with a perfection! Now I gotta play a 5th match…

(So annoyed)

5th match… PLEASE LET ME GET MY PERFECTION (I’m sorry guys)

[short flower]

finally… the pain is healed…

[echo dome]

Emile best boy

[onyx latch]

The best at doing nothing maybe

[eager vine]

Anyone know where I can find a high quality version of this concept art of the Chainbreaker? The main image used.
https://www.halopedia.org/Chainbreaker

[neat vapor]

They're really lazy and clunky too because the halo 3 and reach models aren't meant to be slapped on halo ce Builds

[solid canopy]

I think it is less a case of them being lazy and more them being rushed for time

[neat vapor]

They had two studios working on one remake

[solid canopy]

343i was more preoccupied making Halo 4

[neat vapor]

343 wasn't making it dude

It was made by saber interactive and certain affinity

343 just published it

[solid canopy]

Iirc Certain Affinity's contributions were Reach's Anniversary maps

[neat vapor]

Oh

[neat vapor]

You lowk right

[solid canopy]

The job of remastering the campaign was given to Saber Interactive, who built the technology that allows you to switch between classic and anniversary graphics

From my understanding, they had about a year to get it made

There was also the technical hurdles of getting it to work on the 360, with certain details like the remastered cutscenes and the speed of the change from classic to anniversary graphics being reduced

[solid canopy]

On the bright side, Halo 2 Anniversary is a much better remaster

So at least Saber got a chance to go at it again and do it right

[valid smelt]

I’m still amazed at how seamlessly you can switch between remastered and classic graphics on the fly, even in the middle of combat

[summer aspen]

The improved / anniversary graphics are better definitively, but some people prefer the original style of the older graphics & consider them better instead because of the style, not the graphics.

[cyan forum]

Halo CEA's mark 5 chief design makes me sad

I think i wouldve preferred if they recycled Reach's mark 5 design since many other assets from that game were already recycled anyways

[civic sundial]

You mean like this?

[summer aspen]

I think that would've been a much worse outcome imo.

[stoic sky]

Whoah, Chief’s not a grape anymore!

[civic sundial]

That screenshot is from an earlier version of CEA before they swapped to the unique Mark V they used in the release build of the game

[stoic sky]

It does make the mk 5 look closer to its successor the mk 6

[void rivet]

Making Halo relevant to younger players isn’t about piling new features onto the campaign. Sprint is cool, and staying true to the original designs while enhancing them is the right move, and extra missions are great for longtime fans. But that’s not what’s going to hook a new generation. Younger players want something they can log into every day, grind, compete, and play with their friends. That’s why Halo 2 pushed things forward with dual wielding and vehicle jacking, and Halo 3 Forge was so special, it created endless replayability and social experiences. Halo 5 proved Halo can work as a real competitive multiplayer game. Halo CE never really had that kind of competitive multiplayer identity, and without a strong PvP experience, Halo just feels like a one and done campaign instead of a game people live in with their friends. Bringing Halo to PlayStation is a smart move and will definitely bring in new players, but without a real competitive PvP ecosystem, that growth will only be temporary.

[civic sundial]

I don't think Halo 5 was the one to prove Halo can be competitive, especially when Halo 2 and Halo 3 had major competitive followings back in their prime

And I don't think Campaign Evolved having no PvP multiplayer is going to be a problem. I imagine they have a separate multiplayer project in the works which will be shipping at a later date, no point wasting resources making a multiplayer for Campaign Evolved when there's something else coming which will serve as a multiplayer experience

[sleek hatch]

Halo 5 was competitive in its own way.
A lot of young players like flashy things. Like movement.
They think it is cooler to win a 1v1 with thrust, then it is by using cover and adjusting for projectile speed.

[civic sundial]

My point isn't saying Halo 5 wasn't competitive, my point is that it wasn't the first Halo game to prove Halo can work as a competitive shooter

[sleek hatch]

I know, I am just saying the younger generation will never know that. They didn't get to experience Halo 2 or 3. They got Reach, 4 or 5 and thought it was the best. They are biased for things they couldn't control.

[cyan forum]

Yeah. Not a faithful design but far more appealing to the eyes, especially in the chest

[celest heron]

CE isn't their main game, so I doubt they're planning on having people that 'live in it'. I think it's just a ue5 test and to introduce halo to a new audience on ps5 so maybe they will play halo's next main game which should have campaign and mp.

[wooden briar]

Campaign Evolved is Halo's version of GoW Reloaded and FH5: polished introduction of a bigger gaming audience to Xbox Game Studios IPs.

[civic sundial]

You say that as if PvP is required for a game to be "complete"

[wooden briar]

I believe that's the exact intent: create anticipation and thus a ready-to-buy PS audience for more Halo products.

[valid smelt]

lots of rumors going around that H2 & 3’s campaigns are getting the same treatment

obv we’re not gonna know anything for certain until or unless some kind of tangible info comes out, but I’d love to see it happen personally

[civic sundial]

If they do make remakes of Halo 2 and Halo 3, I want HS to approach them similar to how CE's remake has been approached from what we've seen so far. Stuff like expanding the sandboxes with weapons which weren't there originally but make sense. Like, bring over the CEV Assault Rifle to the hypothetical Halo 2 Remake

[sleek hatch]

I would love the dmr in 3.

Or the hammer in 2... battle tartar sauce with a hammer

[civic sundial]

Honestly, when you look at Halo 2's Brute with the knowledge of there being plenty of Brutes armed with hammers during the Fall of Reach, it does come across as odd you don't see any but Tartar's, so you could easily justify its inclusion

Heck, I'd argue you could justify adding the DMR into the Combat Evolved remake since it would make sense for some of the people on board to have hitched a ride and they could've easily brought a few DMRs with them (But I imagine they'll want to not add the DMR to CEV over other things they may add)

[civic sundial]

What do you mean by that?

[vivid onyx]

To evolve the franchise, Halo 7 should feature weather-driven gameplay. Seeing how snow or rain impacts the Master Chief’s armor and movement would create a much more immersive experience for the player.

Hope the Halo Studios listen and implant it in Halo 7

[civic sundial]

It's 2026, the sprint debate is long past even being a thing to even try continuing

[onyx latch]

Eh he's just gonna screech about it in increasingly weird ways the longer the convo goes on, dude loves their strawmans

[left snow]

No universal law. But at some stage you have to decide to either have it or not. HS have clearly revealed which way they are going.

Hopefully there aren't many preaching on that alone.

Doom is slightly different. You go pretty much flat out all the time. Whereas Halo sprint is about providing options to mix up your movement (and be less predictable).

[rancid ibex]

i personally think sprint makes sense in halo from a perspective on how the spartans are

[left snow]

But it's also important to have the perspective that game play trumps expectation / lore etc.

[rancid ibex]

of course, but ive never really felt like it ruined the gameplay

[left snow]

Same here. I think it actually improved the gameplay!

But I think it's important to acknowledge that it CHANGED the gameplay. At it's core. And which you prefer is subjective.

[rancid ibex]

fr

[left snow]

People get bogged down in their arguments of lore and expectations. What other games do. Or that it makes no difference.

The two games, classic and enhanced, play very differently. Requiring some different tactics and skills.

I'm lucky that I've found fun in both - although I have a definite preference for the latter. I think it would be very frustrating to be someone who was all in on one and hated the other.

...
My personal irony is that I think the way I play is acutally more suited to classic Halo. I don't have the reflexes to do well in a game like Halo 5. And my brain doesn't cope all that well with 3D geometry - so I often get a bit disorientated moving around a map quickly. 🙁

But I just love zipping around like a super soldier. 😄

[sleek hatch]

I remember when Legacy Arena came out. It was a fun refresher.
The maps looked good too

[left snow]

I found the throw back lists really frustrating in Halo 5. I think the contrast was just too much with the regular game play.

I did, however, enjoy the step back in Infinite.

But I don't how many times I pressed sprint as a reflex and got frustrated that nothing happened. 😄

And I think that's why they have put sprint in the new CE. To stop that frustration as players move back and forth across the multiple projects (whatever they may entail). Consistency to the Halo experience.

[onyx latch]

Hot take, the mechanics of Section 8 are more in line with how a Spartan works than Halo

[left snow]

Haven't ever played it - but glancing through the wikipedia summary - sounds about right.

[onyx latch]

Even had your supersoldier as sprinting at 50+kmph on demand.

And you respawned by falling from orbit.

[left snow]

"From Orbital Dropships hovering 4,600m from the surface".

Sounds like it would have been a bit of fun.

[onyx latch]

It was pretty fun, I still have my old copy

[celest heron]

they can flip tanks. wdym

[left snow]

Fall through any surface that can't support the 500kg+ weight of a Spartan. Especially when jumping from a height.

Don't drown in 5 seconds.

[celest heron]

one punching everything would get boring.

[short flower]

Match 1: 1940, match 2: 5685, that’s what I like to see.

Finally no deaths on the Behemoth map this time.

Jeez almost 3x the score on M2 over M1.

[short flower]

Extended session…

Since some challenge has me do 8 matches…

Ha, tied with a teammate that’s funny. (4015)

Which firefight map do you like most? Which one can you not stand?

I like: exile or vallaheim
I can’t stand: house of reckoning

[inner prawn]

Can I include Reach?

If I can I have to go with Installation 04 or, for the base game, Outpost.

I'm not really into Infinite firefight.

[short flower]

Yes you can.

Some maps have nice power weapon pickups that really do make firefight better. Volatile skewer on Vallaheim, Cindershot and M41 SPNKr on Exile, M41 Tracker on Rendezvous, and more.

But some maps have very tough hills.

[short flower]

I have an issue with my credits in infinite… they permanently have a “75” in their numbers, which is kind’ve annoying. Wish there was a way to fix it.

[rugged quartz]

you got some of the cheap shoulders right

[short flower]

I do.

Anyway…

Gunnery Sergeant. The next step forward to hero.

Saw somebody that’s onyx general. Godspeed to them in their ascent to hero.

[civic sundial]

I'm getting closer to the Onyx ranks, I'll be able to taste the Hero rank soon

[short flower]

Godspeed!

41/50 on frontlines, I may do another extended firefight session just to finish off that pass.

[civic sundial]

If you have EXP boosts, you won't even need to do an extended session to finish that

[shadow turret]

My favorite one is def Courtyard on FF Classic
Least favorite one is def Forest, even just in PvP

[sleek hatch]

Skirmisher at darkstar

I think thats where Halo has never been bad, firefight.
Well Halo 4 had spartan ops which was cool in a different way.

[short flower]

Holy cow that challenge was TOUGH!!!! (Legendary solo challenge)

Too numerous of enemy counts, enemies being outright unfair.

Spartan Ops solo challenge completed in January 2025.

[short flower]

So many unnecessary enemy waves.

[celest heron]

is that before or after dbl xp?

[short flower]

After.

Spartan Ops on the old Halo 4 copy will be worse than MCC, due to no bandanna.

So I ain’t ready for that. Bleh.

[celest heron]

what are you playing?

[short flower]

Firefight.

[celest heron]

which version? classic, koth, grunt, etc

[short flower]

Fiestafight has been the main.

I always try not to die, perfections/flawless victories have larger bonuses if you have 4 skulls in the match.

Think I had a 975 point boost?

Then +25 extra the hill or 1,000 straight up

That’s gotta be the largest point bonus I’ve ever gotten.

[shadow turret]

I'd offer to play FF with you since I was grinding it a lot
But my laptop won't even let me boot Infinite anymore atm 🥀

[short flower]

Aw :( mean laptop

Yes I’d like to team only if your laptop wasn’t rude.

[shadow turret]

Yeaa
Later this year I should have a new PC, but that's a few months away still

[short flower]

All good!

[shadow turret]

I did somehow cook in FF Classic tho when my laptop did let me play lol

[short flower]

Ha awesome.

[shadow turret]

Ye lol

[short flower]

I would cook in classic only if teammates didn’t end it early.

[shadow turret]

10-15 FPS average, and usually over 10k score a match

[short flower]

10k base? Holy cow lol.

[shadow turret]

Realll
I wish the endzone showed up like at round 3 minimum

[short flower]

And dangit it doesn’t have infinite ammo. Only fiesta apparently.

[shadow turret]

Yea lol
Usually between 9 and 13k ish, mostly depending on the map (if my teammates actually stayed that is)

[shadow turret]

Yeaa
I wish they added Classic Fiestafight and Gruntpoc Fiesta

[shadow turret]

This was also way before 2x Career Rank
So it'd basically be doubled now

[short flower]

So real for that.

You’d get like 24k for a 10k match.

[shadow turret]

Pretty much

[short flower]

Zoom your way to hero.

[shadow turret]

I could prolly hit over 20k base score if I actually had good FPS too lol
So like 40k doubled

[shadow turret]

I'm already so close lol
I could prolly finish the grind in like 3 days

[short flower]

Awesome, what level?

[upper nexus]

anyone wanna play reach?

[short flower]

(I hit gunnery sergeant last night)

[shadow turret]

Onyx Lt. Colonel 1 atm
Kinda where I got stuck at when my laptop decided I couldn't play anymore

Prolly coulda hit Hero by now, but I had like an 8 month burnout lol

[sullen kiln]

If you're looking for other Spartans to join you in battle, check out our LFGs:

#lfg-competitive – For ranked/competitive matchmaking
#lfg-social – For social/casual matchmaking
#lfg-campaign - For campaign co-op
#lfg-forge - For map/mode building and testing
#lfg-customs - For custom games
#lfg-other – For firefight, spartan ops, etc
#lfg-español – Para jugadores hispanohablantes en cualquier categoría de juego
#lfg-hcs-scrims-or-teams – To help you find a team or secure some scrims

Don't forget to check out #lfg-and-voice-chat to learn about the !lfg bot, how to use it, and how to create your own voice channels.

[shadow turret]

Roughly 2 mil score to go iirc

[short flower]

Still feels like a lot at that point.

[shadow turret]

Yeaa

[radiant sundial]

Wasn't like the 2nd rank in onyx halfway or so?

I forget which one exactly

[shadow turret]

Lance Corporal 3 (roughly)

[short flower]

If we could get legendary fiestafight, I could imagine the score bonuses with perfections/flawless victories and 4 skulls.

[shadow turret]

Legendary FF is painful
I've tried it before and it's almost not worth it unless you have a crazy good 4 stack

[short flower]

100%.

Feels harder than legendary campaign. FF don’t play around.

I’d always rather have thunderstorm/mythic over black eye.

[shadow turret]

yeaa

[faint summit]

where should i post a bug with mcc?

[coarse dagger]

If it's something you think the studio should look into, file a bug report on the Halo Support site

[sullen kiln]

Please refer to the Halo Support site for additional information and/or to submit a ticket concerning any issues you may be experiencing.

https://aka.ms/HaloSupport

[faint summit]

aight

thanks

[glacial tartan]

If its a bug preventing you from doing something you can also post to #1075989764026675210, but either way a ticket is a good idea.

There are a lot of known issues / workarounds that arent all published 😄

[lost turret]

Ian 11771 reporting 🫡

[civic sundial]

https://tenor.com/view/who-korath-the-pursuer-marvel-kree-meme-gif-14580500

[lost turret]

(Enter me)

[short flower]

Okay so extended session today… get frontlines done… blue team is next

[civic sundial]

Good luck

[short flower]

Thanks Eon! Progress further through gunnery sergeant for sure, get closer to master sergeant

[upbeat flame]

Hey I just downloaded the MCC collection, doesn’t anyone know how to play a custom game like Valhalla slayer. Really want to mess around with a Ghost and Banshee for nostalgia purposes. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[solid canopy]

Go to where it says multiplayer and then select local or custom games

[solid canopy]

I still don't understand why they decided to do all of Osiris' armors except Tanaka's

The shop image for the bundle gives off a sort of "bro thinks he's on the team" energy

[lost turret]

I really want to find the old mongoose racing maps we used to play in halo reach, halo reach forge is still the best one ever to me

[short flower]

Unable to know where that stinkin grenade was… COME ON OKRO I HATE YOU!

Like how am I able to know there’s a grenade coming out of nowhere.

Stupid sound que… well let me see the grenade first before getting owned by it!

Anyway cindershot acquired…

[pearl pulsar]

yall could you fill this out?

[lost turret]

My Xbox and Bungie are both Slowmanshield42 btw if anyone wants to run games! Kinda slaying in infinite rn

I’m also still learning how to big discord, so pardon my misuse 😂

[maiden plank]

Man, after coming from Reach, Combat Evolved is kicking my ass.

[subtle narwhal]

Ngl the maps and modes ppl be putting on reach browser are so mid. The versions I used to see were so much better

[frosty condor]

It’s a different animal for sure.

Wait til you play Halo 2

[pseudo vigil]

Halo 2 is easier then halo ce (to ahead fight me if you want)

[pure drum]

Do yall think Campaing Evolved will Feature Alpha Base?

[civic sundial]

Outside of maybe referencing it via dialogue, I doubt it will be a prominant location in the game

[plucky flicker]

Are there any similar sets already available in the game?

[plucky flicker]

Which is rather defeating. I was hoping the game would be additive and expansive, instead its shaping upto largely be a visual overhaul.

[civic sundial]

We've seen one level, and even then, only part of said level

And we know there's additional weapons and mechanics like boarding, if it was purely just the visuals being changed and nothing else, I doubt they'd be letting us use weapons which weren't in the original game

[wooden briar]

The officially released details have all shown it to be additive and expansive, as well as a total remake: more than just a visual overhaul. They're adding three entire never-before-seen levels as well as in-game weapons and mechanics that were never in CE before. So I think you're in for a good time.

[plucky flicker]

Perhaps my scope of expecting was too expansive than what people generally assume as 'additive'. Three missions are acceptable, but those are prequel stories. I expected the entire story to be broken down and reworked from the beginning, merged with Reach and The Flood, alongside additional material. Reworked mission, rewritten dialogues, added plots, and more. I also understand there will be few new mechanics and weapons, but I don't think they will meaningfully the alter the game from being just Halo: Combat Evolved Remaster.

I digress. There's quite a bit of time, so I will stop making judgements now.

[civic sundial]

Why would you expect parts of Halo Reach added to a remake of Combat Evolved?

[sleek hatch]

Why wouldn't you?
The gravity hammer, energy sword, dmr, maybe a revenant, armor customization in the campaign, although not needed, would be cool(even if it was basic).
I could see things from Reach working very well in CE.

[civic sundial]

They were talking about bringing in the story of Reach, not weapons (Also the energy sword has already been confirmed for the CEmake)

[sleek hatch]

Excited to use the BR and sword.

[short flower]

Finally I’ll get to progress blue team. Dang frontlines was longer than I thought.

[shadow turret]

Gl on the pass grinding :3
I still have a ton left to do lol
I think I've missed the last 6(?) Bc my laptop wouldn't let me play
Plus I have 3 earlier ones from earlier PC issues I missed

[short flower]

Thanks! Finally onto 3 20 tier ones, and 1 of them I left at tier 12.

[shadow turret]

Noice

[short flower]

So reclaimer is the final.

[short flower]

7 more XP boosts… all good!

[celest heron]

wish I still had some battle passes. Then I could get some more spartan points to help with exchange items.

[plucky patrol]

i had a dream i was playing oddball, and like a dozen guys rushed us through a chokepoint (because i guess this was a btb-sized oddball lobby, apparently). so i tried to throw a grenade and threw the oddball at them instead, which of course actually flew like it was a grenade because dream logic

so then i panicked and tried to throw all my actual explosives to try to recover the ball, at which point my pc crashed from trying to render that many enemies on screen at once

this was apparently a ranked match, too. i haven't even played halo in years let alone ranked, and here i am having halo nightmares out of the blue lmao.

[celest heron]

Interesting. I had a dream last night that I was playing assault, but no one was in armor or anything. I was walking over the plant point with a bomb, but it wouldn't arm and then I realized it was on the upper level and the spot I was standing on was just a yellow outline of a square. Then I saw a couple people coming over and I was karate chopping their legs. Don't remember after that.

[pure drum]

I would FREAK OUT if one of those missions involved Supreme Commander Thel 'Vadamee glassing Reach

[civic sundial]

It won't be. They already said the prequel missions are focused on Chief and Johnson and are set before Reach

[solid canopy]

I still have my fingers crossed for a secert special level with you playing as Thel during Halo CE

It probably won't happen

But I can dream, damn it

[short flower]

After all battle passes are completed, Spartan Points can still be earned from completing matches.

I’ve been stacking them, and I occasionally spend them, I’m at like 320k+.

[solid canopy]

Maybe an adaptation of Last Voyage of the Infinite Succor

That'd be awesome

You could even tie it in directly to 343 Guilty Spark with references to the Spirit heading towards the fleet

[solid canopy]

I'd love to see Marcus Lehto get the chance to work on another Halo game

[celest heron]

you have enough for a couple of the armor sets in the exchange or you can keep saving.

[solid canopy]

Normally I wouldn't wanna push so hard for "they need to bring this guy back" when I know people are either, busy, uninterested, or retired from the industry. However, Marcus Lehto does seem to show genuine interest in wanting to return in some capacity and I think it'd be great have the series' co-creator back in some form

Maybe even heading up his own team like he did at EA

Also, I have massive respect for Lehto calling EA out on not giving his team proper credit for BF6

On an additonal note, it sucks that Disintegration game he worked on didn't do so well

The basic gameplay hook of blending a first person squad shooter with an RTS game looked really cool

[onyx latch]

Oh yeah that whole thing

I forgot about that

[solid canopy]

Reviews seemed kind of in the middle, which was a shame

I think the art style was a bit of a detriment. The designs weren't bad, but they didn't really stick out to most people

Especially when you put it next to stuff like Destiny, Anthem, and all the other stuff trying to make it in that style

anybody remember Godfall?

[desert burrow]

That seems to be a problem with a lot of games nowadays where character designs tend to be very safe instead of bold and memorable

[solid canopy]

I think it isn't that bad. Especially if you look towards the indie scene where a ton of bold and creative stuff comes out

AAA development is just too expensive and too corporate

Less space for distinct visions when you have a team in the triple digets

[desert burrow]

By the time it gets to the consumer it's already been through 5 different focus groups who all want different things lol

[solid canopy]

More or less

Sure there are exceptions to the rule

But there is a reason a lot of the bigger titles these past few years have been from smaller teams and not AAA publishers

Balder's Gate III, It Takes Two, Expedition 33, ect.

[violet phoenix]

I need a new halo wars game

[pure drum]

Fr, With the Ferrets in it

[violet phoenix]

The company can make one hell of a halo wars game if they wanted to it wouldn't even take much outside the campaign and they could even make campaign bigger supplying 4 campaigns

[plucky flicker]

Yes, begin the game at the end of Reach/Fall of Reach, and finish off the game by returning to Reach. That way we could also get a Unyealding Hyrophant mission, and the game will come fill circle, much like Halo 2 that has Master Chief's story begin and end on Earth.

[plucky flicker]

Please no... I prefer absolutely no Covenant perspective until Halo 2. We must first see them as 'the evil alien horde' before seeing perspective of their's.

Or if you mean just getting to see Thel 'Vedam' s action and having his name hinted? That'd be a good idea.

[final olive]

so what is the fastest way to level career rank for chief armor

[violet phoenix]

Most command and conquer games have two different campaigns halo could piggy back on that creating a unsc campaign and a covenant campaign solid 12 missions each

Follow up dlc could sell a fighting the flood campaign and a 2nd dlc providing additional multiplayer characters 3rd dlc launching a be the flood campaign or fight the flood campaign as covenant and a fourth and final dlc launching a horde rush defense game mode like halo wars 2 alongside some new commanders

[violet phoenix]

Doubt the halo studio devs are in here but if they are congratulations you got your beginer game template to pitch

[fading field]

Id kill for a covenant campaign

[violet phoenix]

Solid idea no ?

[fading field]

Very solid

[rotund zenith]

think a covvie perspective would be neat around the events of ce. A big theme in ce is mystery and seeing the different perspectives inside the covenant as the big thing of their religion is right in front of them would be neat(thinking a lil bit along the lines of Mechanicus where the main cast are all techpriests but are all radically different). peak would be the perspective of Rtas and his mission aboard the support ship Infinite Succor from that one comic.

[fading field]

Id love to see a covenant campaign, mainly during either battle of harvest or fall of reach

[violet phoenix]

Id kill for a low level job at halo studios just so I can at least throw in my 5cents worth of ideas

[fading field]

Would love to see a covenant side of that

For halo CaE i hope that in one of the 3 new missions (iirc theyre set before the PoA mission) that we finally get to see an ingame view of the Unyeilding Hierophant

Or does that take place after Halo CE? Havent read the books in a few years

[violet phoenix]

From what I understand one of them I think has to do with pillar of autumn while it's on reach or somewhere between that and when he gets in cryo

[fading field]

Ahhh alr

Idm going back to reach in UE5

hoping 343 dont mess up this time

[rotund zenith]

"master chief get in that cryo pod before six shoots down that covvie cruiser"
-keys

[fading field]

Why did my brain decide to read this as sgt foley shouting ramirez and not in keyes voice?

[violet phoenix]

Oh well nvm then lol

[rotund zenith]

"Ramirez get me a moa burger when you get to that burgertown!"

[coarse cargo]

Holy hell I knew Halo two was one of the harder ones, but Jesus Christ. I didn't realize it was round the corner and watch as your shield gets evaporated in 3 seconds by seven brute shots level of bad

Or watch as your energy sword strikes the same enemy five times before finally hitting them

[short flower]

Apparently Regret took me longer than Gravemind on legendary solo.

Those stupid underwater rooms in regret.

Too many snipers!!!

I did some skips on Gravemind, walking above the usual path.

[robust valve]

Snake

[ancient orbit]

Beat Halo 3 ODST on Legendary today

I have never been more aggravated by an AI teammate in my life until I got to Coastal Highway

The Warthog sections were absolute torture
Then things went a little bit smoother after I got into the scorpion

[short flower]

And then there’s a challenging achievement for you to get, which is that level being completed as a team of 4 on legendary, with iron skull, and no hog or scorpion.

Déjà Vu.

Bandanna, Acrophobia can be used to your advantage on that one.

Sweet getting to hear Rock Anthem for Saving the World when going for DV.

[solid canopy]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=65_lBJbAxnk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D

Interesting little deep dive into the work put into H2A multiplayer

Also, I think Certain Affinity's art team did an excellent job with H2A multiplayer when it came to blending new and old. Not perfect, but really good

Also makes sense that Solace, the Halo 4 map whose art direction I love the most, shared the Certain Affinity art team

[solid canopy]

Thinking back to Spartan Ops, I wonder if a mission structure more akin to Mercury Rising would be solid. Designing individual missions with larger environments and multiple missions throughout

Hell, maybe if we wanna take it further, have you return to said locations as the story progresses with new areas open and tasks to complete. Spartan Ops proper already toyed with this idea, albeit to a weaker result

The more I think about it, the more I realize that Halo 4's basic pitch of "The biggest UNSC ship ever built, arrives at the biggest Forerunner artifact ever built" (per Brian Reed) is actually a brilliant set-up for a Live Service game

Like, my opinions of how Spartan Ops kind of screwed with Halo 5's story aside, I do think that it is a solid pitch

Though by 2012 live service infrastructure wasn't where it was today, outside of MMOs ofc, and that is not to mention the fact that such a project would be a mess for a team making their first Halo game

Really, it is a reoccuring issue with all three of 343i's Halo games in that they all wanted to lean into being live service games, but really lacked the "oomf" to get it where it needed to be

5 and Infinite had much grander plans that were unfortunately scrapped. 5 had visions of a proper Infinity hub for the multiplayer to be based around, meanwhile Halo Infinite had the idea of "The Road To The Ring" where the live service would actively build itself up towards the proper release of the campaign

Earlier drafts of the story didn't have Infinity being sent to Zeta Halo initially iirc

It is a pitty Halo Infinite was so heavily compromised (especially after 6 years of waiting)

But ig that is what happens when you have poor leadership paired with a technical nightmare of an engine

[civic sundial]

None of the additional missions are set on Reach. HS has made it clear they're set before Reach and are about Chief and Johnson working together on a mission during the Human-Covenant War

[violet phoenix]

Cas just said that your late

[civic sundial]

There's literally no reason to add those events into the game for that reasoning when you can say the game already does come full circle by having Chief start off in space and the game ends with him in space

[solid canopy]

I have my hopes for Halo Studios being able to pull through, but certain events have made me not want to hold my breath

[solid canopy]

Come to think of it, maybe the "Road To The Ring" idea would've worked well with Halo 4. I mean you already have Infinity going on missions to shutdown and study the other Installations

You can get to know a lot more about the post-war Galaxy as well as spend more time with the crew of Infinity

You have a pretty clear ending with the Science team getting "zapped" and Infinity heading off to Requiem

It goes without saying this is all a total hypothetical. But the idea slipped into my mind and it felt like a lightbulb moment

[plucky flicker]

'There's literally no reason' is not a valid reason, I'm afraid.

[civic sundial]

You're acting like Combat Evolved doesn't tell a complete story and claiming it requires the addition of the events of Halo Reach and Halo First Strike to fix that. The former is already its own game, which is not required playing to understand Combat Evolved, the latter is a novel which is also not required to play Combat Evolved and would need heavy reworking to make work as the ending of Combat Evolved

Like, this would be like asking why Resident Evil 2's remake didn't retell the story of Resident Evil 1

[stoic sky]

You ever wonder if Halo’s ever going to do a game with Elites as the characters for the campaign, I mean, if they ever run out of fresh ideas, I’m sure the community’s got something…

[onyx latch]

Halo's community sure has a lot of ideas.

Not many good ones.

[civic sundial]

I didn't know COD was more than just FPS games with little change every year. Tell me, what genres has COD branched out into

You don't need two separate studios for that. But I imagine that with how things were at 343 just after Infinite, that's why it's taken so long for us to get a new game, not because they don't have a second studio to also make a game

[onyx latch]

I think they made a phone strategy game at some point?

[civic sundial]

This is the first I heard of this

[onyx latch]

I mean there's a reason for that if it's what I remember lmao

[onyx latch]

Blizzard apparently pitched a spin-off RTS

[civic sundial]

Ok that I do remember hearing

[onyx latch]

I might be conflating it with the Titanfall spin-off

[solid canopy]

There was going to be a Call of Duty game centered around Roman Soliders iirc

And a third person shooter set in the Vietnam war

I will say, as somebody who has barely played CoD/just hasn't clicked with the series, I do think there is a bit more variety between releases than some people like to claim

Like a WWII shooter isn't the same as one with a Sci-fi setting

[wooden briar]

They're quality games, with a lot more value than most other shooters simply due to the resources behind them. It's just a common human reflex to see The Popular Thing and proactively declare "I didn't want to be part of it anyway" vs "I play shooters but am not part of one of the biggest ones".

[solid canopy]

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/3vZ57iA2WMY

Looking at this I do really think the Halo Infinite armor for the gold Elite just doesn't work as well for Campaign Evolved

The staging, direction, sound design, and lighting are all great

But the armor doesn't feel as threatening nor does it have that classic design to it

I think Halo Infinite's base design for the Elites is a great and I am totally fine with them using it, but the armor should look like it did in Halo CE

[sleek hatch]

*6 years

H5 to infinite. And this is 4 years technically from infinite to CEvolved

[warm frost]

I'm trying to complete Halo CE LASO playlist on MCC with a friend of mine, but we are continuously getting the "Connection interrupted" error and one of us gets kicked every time. Nothing we do seems to solve it except for one of us launching with EAC disabled. Does anyone know, if we complete the final mission with EAC disabled and then relaunch the game with EAC enabled will we get the achievement? In theory the game should recognize 10/10 on the playlist right?

[glacial tartan]

It doesnt recognize the 10/10, you have to get the final checkpoint with EAC enabled.

[warm frost]

Butts

[glacial tartan]

That being said, with EAC Disabled you very easily can download a trainer, fly to the last checkpoint, save/quit and launch with EAC Enabled and get the achievement.

Since the only thing the achievement cares about is the very last checkpoint, it can be a convenient skip when the game...constantly crashes. Which it does.

[warm frost]

I wish 343 would patch this bug. We really want to play the playlist together. Have tried different graphics settings (low on the slower computer high on the faster one), both on SSDs, both on HDDs. Can't seem to find any work around to get us to actually load the level together.

Yup

[glacial tartan]

Same framerates?

Anything we mention here are simply attempted workarounds.

For your comment regarding the bug, keep your hopes up! It may not be likely, but its possible 343 are hard at work behind the scenes working on MCC related issues. Time will tell, so dont lose faith!

[solid canopy]

Which in all fairness, has been the traditional wait time between games

[coarse dagger]

Halo 5's post-launch support differed from previous titles, as the majority of the team will still building and supporting DLC. Infinite didn't begin development until much later

[warm frost]

Halo 3 for customs, Reach for multiplayer all the way

[stoic sky]

We should be patient for new Halo games being developed. There’s no way you could make a good game in such a short amount of time. (Except Bungie’s og Halo deadlines)

[onyx latch]

🤨

[stoic sky]

It’s not technically impossible, but the more time put into a game gives a lot of room for improvement, I hope Halo Studios is patient in making Campaign Evolved, I don’t think anyone wants a rushed remake

[civic sundial]

I wouldn't be surprised if Campaign Evolved is being made alongside the next multiplayer experience so it's two different teams working in parallel

[warm frost]

I wouldn't be surprised if they rewrite the dialogue in both The Library and Two Betrayals to fit their retcon of Forerunners not being human. 😡

[civic sundial]

My dude... It's not 2007, move on from the fact they're not human

[warm frost]

Well, I mean the dialogue explicitly states they are in the first 3 games.

[civic sundial]

This debate is long over

Like, it genuinely baffles me that there's people who actually think Bungie had this as a locked down detail that 343 changed when not only did Bungie have conflicting ideas internally, but they were the ones who said they were different when it was confirmed in Halo 3's terminals

[warm frost]

I don't believe any of the Halo 3 terminals indicate that the Forerunners are a different species. In fact Terminal 3 implies heavily that the Forerunners are ancestors: "Lineage confirmed"

[stoic sky]

I think it depends on if you like Halo enough to stick with it, nobody’s forced to keep waiting, there are other things out there. I recently started playing Fallout for the first time, gives me something to do while I wait on the next Halo

[warm frost]

I get that 343 didn't like the ancient humans trope, but to change it after 3 games, 3 side project games, and multiple book series also curated by Bungie seems like a weird choice

[civic sundial]

There's literally a terminal where the Forerunners find humans on Earth, not sure how much more of a confirmation you need of them being a different species than that

[onyx latch]

That should honestly be a ban worthy offense

"Whaaaah humans aren't Forerunners no mo-" BAN

[warm lake]

Terminals just got confirmed for campaign evolved

[rose gyro]

Depends on teams really

Canceled Black Panther game had like 8 years of development before being canceled and they weren’t even in the proper development phase if I remember correctly, been a while

[rose gyro]

How is this still a debate. We have literal cutscenes and books of Forerunners and humans interacting and the Didact, a Forerunner, is the main antagonist of 4

Like it’s right there in peoples faces

[onyx latch]

Because these people are children.

Like, genuinely, there's no reason to take them seriously whatsoever.

[warm frost]

I’ve been perfectly calm. I didn’t realize a simple comment would illicit a bunch of emotional responses and render me crying about it. I’ll show myself out then.

[onyx latch]

The only people emotional about it are the people who can't let 15+ year old quasi-canon go, and decide to screech about it the moment they are given the opportunity for hours.

[rose gyro]

Basically Star Wars legends purists

Like yeah Legends have a lot of great things but also a lot of things that feel like fanfiction and just straight up weird or bad stuff because of how it was basically a lot of people making their own projects with their own perspectives and ideologies before George came back in and made new stuff that everyone else then needed to work and write around because obviously, George’s stories and lore trumps everyone else’s when it comes to canon and lore

[onyx latch]

It's stupid to say it's emotional to disagree, because like, the only two emotions I actually feel about the fact that humans being Forerunner was could barely be considered even quasi-canon if we're being generous for two games and never actually hard confirmed are the following;

• Mild Annoyance that they won't stop complaining when the concept is literally old enough to drink alcohol in the US
• Disdain due to the above's constant existence.

It's a meritless and irrelevant argument made by people with nothing going on in their lives. And I say that as someone who likes to dissect the Xenoanthropology of Halo as presented as canon for fun.

It's the vaccine denialism of Halo.

Except, y'know, it doesn't get kids dead.

[rose gyro]

It also kind of logically doesn’t make sense from a basic logic standpoint when talking about the Halo’s and civilizations essentially being reset

[warm frost]

At the risk of sounding like I’m apparently crying about it, it’s a little different with Halo canon though. Bungie made it quite obvious the forerunners were human ancestors, and the books even reflect this. The books in this case were curated by Bungie, where as Star Wars legends wasn’t curated by George Lucas. When 343 took over they didn’t love the human ancestors trope and rewrote the lore. The problem is it’s fairly inconsistent now with the original trilogy and the book series. I acknowledge that the canon is now different, but I’m allowed to not be a fan of that decision. I also don’t like the Star Wars prequels because they create a ton of inconsistencies with the original trilogy.

For that reason I kind of consider Bungie era one timeline and 343 as a completely different timeline. At least then there’s an argument for consistency. They’re not the same universe anymore.

[lost trellis]

Hey heads up, this Trenchbird person is a huge drain. They seem to have a very negative attitude on many things and will fly off the handle bars for even very small stuff. I recommend not talking to them. It's what I do and it makes this place so much more enjoyable.

[rose gyro]

Well the Halo show is its own universe so you got that

[onyx latch]

It's really not worth engaging in this nonsense, man.

[rose gyro]

For me then, the Halo infinite universe is just another universe taking place after 5 where the UNSC downgraded due to poor decision making, causing them to revert back to pre-Halo 4 designs leading to their failure against the Banished

[warm frost]

I haven’t played through 5 or infinite yet. I bought Halo 4 on release and got about half way through it before stopping. It felt… very off. That being said I’m doing LASO runs of all the games on MCC right now and even if the reviews are less than favourable I plan to power through and at least play through 4, 5, and infinite. Been having a blast lately playing through the games and reminiscing about the LAN parties we’d have with Halo CE and Halo 2. So much fun.

[versed spear]

Imo infinite can be fun, I like how fast paced the campaign fights can be. However for an open world, its hella small and empty

Personally I prefer to just play firefight

[rose gyro]

5’s multiplayer, especially Warzone modes, is where its gameplay is at its best

The game that was really a slug for me to get through was CE

And only halfway through 2 and beyond did things get better

It was only with Reach and beyond that I felt the hype was warranted

[warm frost]

CE is definitely sluggish. The jumping is awful in it and the fall damage sucks. But damn that shotgun and magnum are OP

Also lack of boost on the ghost and banshee suck

[rose gyro]

The health system was the worst part honestly when combined with ammo and save locations

The lack of a sprint also just felt terrible to deal with cause I often felt like I should be sprinting but I obviously can’t

[versed spear]

Imo CE has the best weapon balance out of all the games. That's really where it shines for me

[warm frost]

I just completed CE LASO and it was mostly hell. Two betrayals was the worst. Got BOOL down up until we needed to hop out of the banshee the first time and couldn’t get the timing or spacing correct. So we just powered through the old fashioned way.

[rose gyro]

The times I played Infinite, I just felt dissappointing for the most part with only slight bits of enjoyment here and there before dropping it to play something else

[warm frost]

Lack of sprint feels weird for me if I play with keyboard and mouse, just because of how modern games work. But with controller it feels right at home.

[versed spear]

True, I love its firefight modes though

[rose gyro]

The worst part for me was when the Flood became a factor and I needed to go to those sections where my shields were used to like destroy something and I essentially needed to start backtracking

[rose gyro]

It’s firefights feel like a major downgrade when I’ve primarily played Warzone PVE multiplayer

It just feels soulless and cheap in comparison

Especially when I got used to Mythic Warzone

[versed spear]

I haven't had the chance to play any of the Halo 5 multiplayer yet

I really didn't enjoy odst's firefight mode though tbh

[rose gyro]

Mythic Warzone is so easy to die in because of enemy damage output plus their buffed health every round and the fact that your shields won’t recover unless you melee a enemy and they usually work in groups or pairs

All while, there’s always bosses to deal with at the same time and the REQ system making you need to choose which weapons to purchase and use with your REQ points/charge

Which can make high level REQ purchases feel risky cause they’re rare and cost a lot while also needing to account how easy you can die and basically render the purchase pointless

[versed spear]

Sounds way more enjoyable than infinite's. I mean 9/10 I end up with the black eye skull and have to melee for shields but really the only difficulty in Infinite's firefights come from the skulls

[versed spear]

And large groups of enemies, but like. Dynamo grenade

[rose gyro]

Bosses always feel like actual bosses in Warzone, basically requiring everyone to get their hands on power weapons and shooting at them together with the late stage bosses needing everyone to get their hands on tanks, rocket launchers, etc. and fire at them together while also having to deal with single attacks from bosses almost always guaranteeing death when they land, usually ending in shields being lost

All while normal enemies can still be a danger cause they’ve reached the point of being able to destroy shields quickly. Of course though there is the strategy of getting in a vehicle and running them over

[versed spear]

I wish there were were more vehicle supported maps in infinite. There is the odst esque map with a mongoose but that's it.

Anyways yeah, I really should try out Halo 5. I've been meaning to

[rose gyro]

The REQ system being microtransaction based is a pain but the thing with mythic warzone is that you basically can almost always get about close to 5,000 req points each game with silver packs costing 5,000 and bronze costing less with you also getting a free pack per day as well as packs for your first daily win and each time you level up.

When it comes to req packs and unlocks, it’s kind of known that you should stick to the bronze pack until you start getting permanent unlocks again which just gives you req points back, basically saying that you’ve gotten everything the bronze pack can offer which is where you then move on to silver packs and do the same thing

It’s hit or miss really but one thing I do think plays in the games favor from this is how it forces players to manage their purchases mid game based on what items they have available and their quantity as well as what REQ level they’re at knowing that each purchase essentially puts it on recharge

[versed spear]

Huh, sounds awesome actually. Having to manage your resources is what makes firefight fun for me.

Altough its hard to be running low on resources in infinite because they are literally everywhere

[rose gyro]

You still can pick up weapon in the middle of fights btw so it’s not just purchasing

[versed spear]

Yeah I'd figured, I just meant that in infinite there are ammo dumps and SO many jackals. So running out of ammo on guns (even with the famine skull) is very difficult. I've only ever run out of kinetic ammo because the enemies dont typically carry unsc weapons

[rose gyro]

There’s also boosters you can purchase which is kind of in place of armor abilities like one booster increases movement speed, another increases damage, there’s camouflage, etc. and some permanent armor upgrades like being able to hold more grenades or deal more grenade damage, or a increase in movement speed and jump height, or increased shield defense and health, etc. which are permanent unlocks

Among the vehicles you can get from REQ packs are different levels to the vehicles as well like the Tanks having the normal Scorpion but then there’s a higher level version with like a MAC gun installed instead and better armor

[versed spear]

and on some maps you'll get a free rpg every wave

[rose gyro]

UNSC weapons are part of the req packs but ones like the auto rifle, pistol, etc. are permanent unlocks that have different variations with different bonuses and scopes you can unlock that you can change mid game for your loadout but the loadout always is initially a normal auto rifle and pistol

[versed spear]

Y'know this is like the sole reason I'm considering buying H5 tbfr.

[rose gyro]

Just remember that the boosters are consumables you get from REQ packs while the permanent armor upgrades are permanent unlocks that then both require you to get to a certain REQ level during the match to be able to use. The REQ system basically works like a level up system as the higher REQ level you get, the better quality stuff you can use

[versed spear]

Like the system is set up to actually reward you for surviving longer?

or is it from kills

[rose gyro]

And of course they always start off at level 0 each match with how good you do determining how high a level you get as those that play really well get to level 9 pretty quick while those that constantly die and not get many kills may only get to level 7 at the end

Your level increase is determined by how many kills you get as enemies are all worth points with high tier enemies like mini bosses and bosses being worth more points to both your score and level and simply just contributing a good amount in taking them down will be added to your score and increase your level so you don’t have to worry too too much about getting the kill yourself

[versed spear]

Ohh okay that makes sense, its just the normal points system but significantly better

[rose gyro]

As the stages progress though, the respawn timer takes longer which means deaths are more costly in later stages and they may mean less points for your score or to increase your level so surviving to take out more enemies becomes more important

Like the final stage of the match have the respawn timer go up to 30 seconds last I checked

[versed spear]

Oh damn

And if all the members of the party are dead at once its a loss?

Or is there an individual lives system

[rose gyro]

And the final stage is usually composed of taking down two bosses before taking on the mythic boss but each match is randomized when it comes to what the final stage boss setups will look like

[rose gyro]

Not a loss. A loss only occurs when the timer runs out

[versed spear]

Oh so you have to beat everything quickly?

[rose gyro]

And like I said, the more everyone in the party dies as the stages progress means less time to beat the bosses because everyone is waiting on longer and longer timers

[versed spear]

Honestly I prefer that to the lives systems of the other firefights

[rose gyro]

Btw, like other Halo games you can change the announcer between people like Buck and a Grunt character

[versed spear]

Oh dope

[rose gyro]

It’s an announcer pack though so whether you think it’s worth buying that is up to you

Games always on sale though with real cheap prices so you can always just wait for that

[versed spear]

Yeah I swear I see it on sale for like $5 every other weekend

[rose gyro]

Certainly a price that feels like a steal honestly when it comes to 5’s multiplayer whether it be warzone or the custom stuff

Cause custom can also be real fun

[versed spear]

I hear a lot of good about its multiplayer and really want to try it out.

I hear the campaign isnt all that though

[rose gyro]

Yeah the campaign is just something I tuned out when I played through it cause at the time, I was only just getting into Halo cause 5’s artstyle and multiplayer was what got me interested

I’m still working to get Locke’s armor in multiplayer

[versed spear]

Fair enough, 343 has honestly done really well graphically for all of their games. Though I typically find their stories to be lackluster

Also like, the multiplayer in H4 was good too

[rose gyro]

4 honestly was a strong start in terms of character writing when I got around to it

I’ve never seen Master Chief have actual proper character development or exploration as a person

Halo 3 like kind of started to do that but the plot took importance like always

[versed spear]

True the main things I didn't like about 4 was how they kinda just ditched its storyline instead of expanding on it.

Also I didn't like the look of H4 chief's armor

It was quite good, but I didn't like how it turned out to be a one off type plot

[rose gyro]

I am disappointed with how they abandoned what was sort of set up there but I’m more pissed off with Infinite completely abandoning the Created storyline and Prometheans in favor of basically a repeat of the Covenant and Flood while also ditching 343’s original art style

I also much prefer Chiefs 4 and 5 armor over the others

Especially the helmet and back thrusters designs

[versed spear]

I know right? Like we just pretending the great schism never happened now? I do like that the ending of infinite seems to open up possibility for more forerunner involvement in the story.

[rose gyro]

I’m still not happy that the Created and Prometheans were pretty much just thrown out offscreen

[versed spear]

Honestly I'd say the main thing I dont like about it is the helmet. I just don't like how it doesn't look as angular/sharp

[rose gyro]

Especially since a conflict like that is more relevant today than ever but whatever let’s deal with the Covenant under a new coat of paint and our Flood stand ins while making everything look old school

[versed spear]

Yeah, would have been the best setting for premethians and forerunner enemies too.

Seeing as it takes place on a broken ring literally rebuilding itself.

[rose gyro]

I don’t like the previous and current helmet because of how… unserious it looks

The 4/5 helmet looks metal and serious especially with that bit around the mouthpiece

[versed spear]

I mean that is a far point. They do look kinda goofy

[rose gyro]

The visor being a little more narrow helps with it because it’s not like going from his forehead down to like his lips or something. The 4/5 looks like the visor stops at around his nose or so

[versed spear]

Maybe its just the fact that I grew up playing H3

[rose gyro]

Like idk, the classic helmets from CE to 3 and Infinite just look more “friendly” than serious in comparison to the 4/5 helmet

[versed spear]

Like the H4 helmet looks like an actual combat helmet and the H3 and prior ones seem to be designed more so with giving the character visible persobality

[versed spear]

They definitely look less threatening

[rose gyro]

Maybe cause they don’t look as sharp of have like as many edges as the 4/5 design

They come off as more rounded

[versed spear]

I would have honestly preferred if infinites armor went for a more battle damaged look.

Seeing as its lore says the chief got thrown around like a rag by Atriox prior

[versed spear]

Probably yeah,

[rose gyro]

The armor looks more toy like to me

[versed spear]

Yeah, I feel like its sole goal was to show off the graphics and not to actually independantly look good

[rose gyro]

It also kind of looks like old designs

Like one of the designs from Halo legends but just without some white stripes

[versed spear]

Yeah it was definitely made with the intention of being able to nostalgia bait people into buying the campaign

I really dislike Infinite's armor even though I like the older Halo games looks

[rose gyro]

Part of my issue with it is how clean it sort of comes off. Like the paint job for it is new and unblemished or however you call it

[versed spear]

Yeah especially because he was in such a large fight on the infinity too.

Like the only dirtyness on his armor is a single small burn spot?

[rose gyro]

And I think some dirt on the feet

[solid canopy]

For the record, Bungie had no "grand plan" for the series' lore/narrative. Half of them didn't even want to make Halo 2. Their involvement with the books was done more so out of obligation than anything else.

What really bugs me about this whole tired debate is the fact that the supposed change (that 343i didn't even make) doesn't actually alter that much?

Humanity's status as "reclaimers" hasn't changed, nor has their presence in the galaxy's past

They just added an extra layer of mythos to it. The Forerunner's failed and died out and because of it Humanity, who is a sibling species to the Forerunners and were most likely once were the same species, was given a chance to atone for the Forerunners' sins

The story they are (hopefully) building towards actually makes a ton of sense. With Epitaph making the nature of the Mantle clear, the story of Halo really becomes one of humanity being able to shed the hubris and failings that once caused all life in the Galaxy to die, and build a better a future

Not one where humanity rules alone as imperialists like the Forerunners did but in common cause with the rest of the Galaxy. To not make the same mistake the Forerunners did and try to cease the Mantle for themselves

I have many issues with 343i's handling of the series' narrative, but their Forerunner lore isn't one of them.

And once again, to be clear that was not a change 343i made to begin with. Bungie had multiple different visions of what the nature of the Forerunners was going to be, 343i just settled on one that was already established.

People seem to have this narrative that some how Frank O'Conner was opperating from the shadows and secertly subverting Bungie's sacred vision (which there wasn't), but that is total nonsense. It isn't like Halo 3's terminals were just thrown into the game without any oversight. Bungie had final say on what did or didn't go into their game, including the terminals that they wrote

Anyway, read Greg Bear's Forerunner Trilogy. Damn good sci-fi

[civic sundial]

If I didn't have a literal mountain of books to read already, I would pick up the Forerunner trilogy

[solid canopy]

Also I feel like it is worth mentioning how the fact that Chief having Bornsteller/the Iso-Didact's genesong is a very likely possiblity and one that adds a whole other layer of depth to Guilty Spark's ramblings in the original trilogy

[gray crag]

I think a lot of the issue i have with 343 story telling vs bungie is that with 343 it gets very confusing but with bungie its straight forward and you can understand it just by playing. This is especially bad when you take into account that these are now T rated games coming out of 343 and the younger audience playing these games definitely wont know whats happening. So, no its not inherintely bad but you gotta do a lot more work and even look stuff up and be a huge halo book fan to understand 343 campaigns. This is what i think makes people mad about them. I remember my first run through H4 I was confused as heck. Also in halo 4 the librarian scene the librarian states that forerunners and humans are completely distinct and that the forerunners put a gene in humanity to make them able to use forerunner tech, and be immune to the composure I think. That all comes as a huge hit after playing the first 3 stories your almost left feeling weird like where did that come from lol. Imo the way 343 went about explaining humans and the forerunners also takes away from the grit and the luck and intensity of the halo 1-3 campaigns and just makes it about fate like chief just being an inheritor which i felt was bad when the first 3 emphasized luck so much.

[solid canopy]

Also it is worth mentioning that George Lucas wasn't entirely hands off from the EU. He still held final say/veto power over what could or couldn't be told in the books/comics/games. One example is Greg Bear, writer of Halo's Forerunner Trilogy, wanting a scene of Darth Vader's spirit or force ghost to appear before young Anakin Skywalker before Lucas told Bear that Sith Force Ghosts were against the rules (paraphrasing)

[solid canopy]

The issue is ultimately a matter of what is being told where. I firmly believe that Halo 4 needed two or three more missions to really let the story breathe and more naturally introduce elements of the Forerunner lore they had been setting out

Also FTR the connection between Humanity and the Forerunners is strongly hinted at, if not outright stated in the Forerunner trilogy

Really, I think the Didact was a great villain who just needed more time to let players understand him. Beyond being a really well written character, the basic pitch of him in Halo 4 as "a lone surviving fragment of the Forerunners; representing the very dogma that caused their fall. A warrior who had spent centuries battling with humanity at it's peak before facing the Flood at its most dangerous, his mind twisted and warped by the Gravemind" is pretty good stuff

[civic sundial]

I wonder where additional missions would make the most sense within Halo 4

Like, maybe split Reclaimer into two missions, one focused on the UNSC going for the Gravity Well and another about Chief finding the Librarian entity?

[gray crag]

i just wish they didnt go from bungie hinting heavily and building with some ambiguity that humans are forerunners in the original trilogy into a complete 180 lore dump in a single cutscene saying they arent linked or related at all. This was a bad move and i agree they should have spread it out because it completely uprooted one of the most unknown and mysterious plots that has been building for multiple games basically all at once. This made a bunch of fans feel negatively about the plot when in reality its not bad. They state all in one cutscene that the forerunners just chose humans to inherit the mantle because of their failure. Humans were never forerunners just chosen. That is a lot of important info just thrown out there lol. I just think 343's execution of the plot felt pretty rushed and its unfortunately because I agree it couldve been good if they went about it slower and maybe built it up a little better.

[cyan forum]

Tbh i dont really see why it was necessary to make forerunners a completely different species to begin with. Id argue keeping the forerunners as humans like intended wouldve made characters like the didact far more intriguing

Think about it, a hypothetical ancient big bad that looks down on his own race after waking up thousands of years later? Call it subjective if you like but i think thats a lot more interesting than yet ANOTHER alien character in this franchise that hates humans like the previous alien characters we had 🤷‍♀️

[civic sundial]

"Like intended" is dependant on who you asked, people inside Bungie had different thoughts on whether or not humanity and Forerunners were the same or not. Ultimately, they decided they should be different

This isn't a case of a retcon being made in Halo 4, this is 343 taking what was already established in Halo 3 via the Terminals and expanding upon it

To paraphrase what Otto said earlier, Bungie had no "grand plan" for the Forerunner lore, they were making much of it up as they went along

[cyan forum]

I mean they literally call chief a forerunner in H3 but my point stands either way

Making didact into a vampire dude really doesnt add anything to his character

Or even the lore itself

And as i just said previously, id argue it takes away from it. It makes things more derivative

[civic sundial]

Halo 3 also confirmed humanity and Forerunners are different

So like, you can't just use Spark, in a moment where he is clearly not thinking clearly, and take what he says as gospel, especially when there is stuff in the very same game which disproves the very thing you're claiming

Also, we got an entire trilogy of novels thanks to the Forerunners not being human, which expanded upon them as a civilisation, I'd say that is adding to the lore

[cyan forum]

Except this argument doesnt really work because spark had never been wrong or dishonest about anything

And lore of the books aside, again the 343 forerunners (or the didact by himself) just end up being another alien faction with an anti-human agenda IN THE GAME, the actual content that matters like it or not

[onyx latch]

Thinking Forerunners are Human and being incredibly outspoken about it should be considered a bad-faith trolling attempt tbh.

It's been litigated, delitigated, and relitigated so many times that the conversation is just a bad faith attempt to derail and bait people.

[stoic sky]

I wish the Forerunners were more mysterious, they were really cool when you knew nothing about them, and the only remnants of their civilization were they’re structures and monitors

I understand why they wanted to make a ton of lore and stuff for them, but they just lost that mysterious vibe once 4 and 5 came out, they were still good games though

[civic sundial]

The curtain was gonna have to be pulled back sooner than later. Only so many times you can play the "The Forerunners are mysterious and made this ancient structure" before you have to start giving more info about them

[versed spear]

Opinion on the banished?

I don't usually go into the books or outside sources for lore. So they don't make all that much sense to me.

I thought after the great schism that all the elites formed their own faction.

[civic sundial]

The Elites aren't a hivemind, division happened because different Elites had different ideas for how things should go going forward, some wanted to try and exist peacefully with humans, such as Arbiter, others wanted to continue the war, such as Jul and his followers, some didn't care for the bickering and saw the Banished as their best option

[solid canopy]

This and more time spent on requiem before awakening the didact

[solid canopy]

I think that the Banished are pretty cool. The TL;DR on them is that they were started by Brutes who were done fighting for a religion they didn't even believe in

As for the Elites, like Eon said, they aren't a collective

[versed spear]

Glad I asked the question, they make more sense now.

Honestly yeah idk why I originally thought that all the elites did the same thing.

I wish the games had a bit more detail

[solid canopy]

When you have a superpower as massive and powerful as the Covenant shatter, lots of different groups will rise up. Not every Elite shared the Arbiter's alliance with humanity nor did they have the chance to be told directly that the Prophets were liars

[compact marlin]

The Banished also accept Humans, even though some don't like the UNSC for what they did to the Brute Homeworld, they still accept Humans like Ilsa Zane and plenty of other Banished Humans, like rogue Marines, ODST, Captains, engineering or even Spartans-IV that betrayed the UNSC, some Insurrection are also joining like the NCA or some of they're colonies to help make Banished Spartans and Banished Spartan Armor

[solid canopy]

Grunts didn't have the means to go their own way, Jackals are pirates and mercenaries, and Hunters- I'm not entirely sure how their alligences work

[versed spear]

Oh dam that's actually hella cool

[compact marlin]

Yeah

[versed spear]

Honestly the grunts just get the short end of the stick for the entire series

[compact marlin]

You can even make you're MP Spartan look like a Banished Spartan and pledge yourself to The Banished if you wish, but I think that would be a head-canon

[solid canopy]

Soon the Galaxy will know the might of Yap-Yap the Destroyer

[versed spear]

Honestly that is pretty awesome.

I'm just using a pack to look like h3 master chief

[compact marlin]

Cool

[versed spear]

Peak storytelling btw

[cyan forum]

They really shouldve just expanded on that to begin with

[solid canopy]

All shall knell before Pax-Gruntius

[cyan forum]

Im still baffled we didnt get brutes in H4 even though they were the most loyal to the covenant

[solid canopy]

Elites made sense

[cyan forum]

No it didnt

[solid canopy]

Let me explain

[cyan forum]

Book lore?

[nova basalt]

Just think critically
Covenant run by elites
Elites hate brutes
No brutes

[cyan forum]

Yet they still hate humans?

And attack master chief without a second thought?

[solid canopy]

You fight a war for hald a century

[nova basalt]

They’re still the covenant

[cyan forum]

They fought this war because of the prophets

[solid canopy]

You are going to have people who hold grudges or don't want to put fown their guns

[cyan forum]

Not because humanity had wronged them

[solid canopy]

That doesn't mean that
A) they like humanity, the species they've been trained to hate and slaughter
B) stopped believing the Forerunners were gods

[cyan forum]

Youd have to make several leaps in logic and huge assumptions to understand why the elites are hostile again. I mean, Cortana said it herself iirc, "a lot can happen in 4 years". Translation: "we (the writers) dont know either"

[solid canopy]

The writers did know

[cyan forum]

They eventually came up with an answer but too little too late

Now we have the banished

[solid canopy]

And earlier drafts of the game seemed to put more empahsis on the Covenant

[solid canopy]

Glasslands came out before Halo 4

[cyan forum]

Earlier drafts that didnt make it in the final cut 🤷‍♀️

That is a shame

[solid canopy]

That still doesn't mean the writers didn't know

[cyan forum]

Lots of more concrete human/forerunner stuff was also conceptualized and cut so im just using your logic here

It was cut

Actually are the storm covenant just dead for good right now?

I dont really remember anything definitive from 5

[solid canopy]

They were one Covenant splinter faction

Their leader is dead, their last attempt at securing victory failed dramatically

[compact marlin]

Not all Elites became buddy, buddy with Humanity after Halo 2. This is shown in Halo 3 that the truce was fragile before the mission of either The Ark or The Covenant. It is even shown in Halo 2.

In Halo 2, you fight, and work with Grunts, Jackals and Hunters. In that mission, you're Elites choose to save the Humans instead of attack them, but in the mission with Chief the Elites attack you

[cyan forum]

Halo 2 continued having hostile elites in the end because lorewise the idea had not reached them that chief was an ally

[solid canopy]

The intent was to use the Elites, the most iconic and well known faction of the Covenant, and show a more twisted and warped version of them. Noblity turned to a monsterous violence, devotion transforming into an blind zealotry. It also helps that having a faction of Elites very easily ties into the Arbiter and the Swords of Sanghelios

[cyan forum]

Completely different circumstances from the ones in H4, 4 years later

[compact marlin]

My point still stands, not everyone is gonna want to forgive Humanity and you completely ignored the Grunt, Jackal and Hunters part

[solid canopy]

Especially with an empire as massive as the Covenant

[compact marlin]

Exactly

[cyan forum]

Because theres nothing to forgive humanity for? They were the sole victims of the entire conflict with the elites siding with them when suddenly they were being targeted too

[solid canopy]

As I said above, not every member had the Arbiter's exprience

[nova basalt]

Forgive meaning not holding a genocidal hatred

[cyan forum]

To be honest this is a copeout

"Why are these bad guys still around?"

One of two answers. Either "that faction was massive" or "time passed". In this case its kinda funny that we went with both in this case cuz of previous events like the schism

We didnt see hostile elites in all of H3 so its not like any seeds were being planted either

[nova basalt]

It’s always just a broken record in this channel

[cyan forum]

Elites are cool bruh

[compact marlin]

Not when they first met. When the Covenant first encountered Humanity they tried to talk with them and sent out two scout ships to contact them, a Grunt accidentally got excited and fired his weapons at the UNSC which caused the UNSC to think they were being attacked so they fired back, causing a battle and days later, the Prophets figured out Humanity were the chosen species and that's when the genocide was ordered causing the war to officially begin

[solid canopy]

Idk I think humanity killed a ton of Elites, blew up their ships, attacked their bases, ect. You expect all of them to put down their guns and not harbor grudges? You think every German who lost the war suddenly put aside all the years of propaganda and stopped harboring hate?

[cyan forum]

I thought the covenant was immediately hostile? I mean, 343 reiterated this on the fall of reach animated adaptation. Im ngl, if this is some sort of new bit of info, thats REALLY bad

[solid canopy]

This is from Contact Harvest in 2008

[cyan forum]

Humanity defended themselves you mean, after having already lost planets like reach to the elite lead covenant fleets that were glassing them

[solid canopy]

The Elites who were in Jul's Covenant did not care

[compact marlin]

Cause you're looking at it from the UNSC POV, not the Covenant. The message from Truth happened after the first encounter.

[solid canopy]

They still viewed their existance as blasphomy

Or harbered hate/held grudges

[cyan forum]

Point being i dont really see how the logic of "well the humans also hurt them" fits into the elites continuing to be hostile when they were actively winning the "war" previously. Especially when again, the prophets began targeting their race as well

[solid canopy]

Or just thought humanity sucked and didn't want to ally with them

Once again, not every Elite shared the Arbiter's exprience

[cyan forum]

Okay well this is info that the movie chose to redact, so yeah, thats bad

[compact marlin]

Oh my god, you're not listening

[solid canopy]

No

[cyan forum]

Wasnt Jul M'dama literally in the covenant?

[solid canopy]

Yes?

[cyan forum]

Like in its army?

[solid canopy]

The massive Empire made up of millions of different individuals

[cyan forum]

So how could he possibly have not experienced being betrayed?

See now we have to make yet ANOTHER assumption here

And this is really what people have a problem with as a whole

[solid canopy]

Just because the Prophet's betrayed the Elites doesn't mean that Elites will stop worshiping the Forerunners

People didn't stop being Christain because they had issues with the Pope

[cyan forum]

Okay well that info isnt in the game

This is the problem im trying to convey to you

[solid canopy]

I agree

But that doesn't mean the writers had no idea or that none of it makes any sense

[compact marlin]

...That was totally shown in the games, play Spartan Ops

[cyan forum]

Like i said, it wouldve been cool if that actually got expanded upon. Maybe even be the center conflict

[cyan forum]

😂

[compact marlin]

Really mature

[civic sundial]

Because the Covenant splinter group within Halo 4 does not like Brutes. With the fall of the Covenant, new lines were drawn, new factions vying for power in the vacuum left from the fall of the empire. Some factions wanted to carry on fighting against Brutes and humanity, others saw value in allying with others

[cyan forum]

I wouldve liked to see a splinter group that allied with brutes

[compact marlin]

And then you have The Banished that would accept all

[compact marlin]

The Banished

[cyan forum]

I meant for H4, right after H3

[compact marlin]

The Banished were active at the time of Halo 3 an 4, we just didn't see any

[cyan forum]

I know the banished exists, but they came into the main story way too long after H4 had started its own plot

In a perfect timeline, we couldve gotten such a faction for H4, instead of the more generic covwnant successor we got

[compact marlin]

Sometimes it's good to come late to the party

[cyan forum]

Its not in this case tbh

[compact marlin]

Not to you

[cyan forum]

Yeah

[compact marlin]

That's you're opinion

[cyan forum]

You have yours, i have mine

[civic sundial]

A lack of Brutes is not a problem with Halo 4. Like, just because we fought Brutes in Halo 3 and Halo Reach, that does not mean that every time a Covenant splinter group shows up, it is required to have Brutes as part of them

[compact marlin]

Arbiter had no Brutes in his fleet, it's why they weren't there in Halo 1, Jul was probably the same

[celest heron]

we already had the prometheans and regular covenant. It would've been too much going on to add another faction. They couldn't even add the entire story in h4 and had to use spartan ops.

[cyan forum]

I never said this was a problem with H4, i just said i wouldve liked to see them and i think it wouldve made more sense considering they were still loyal to the covenant by the end of H3

They were an interesting enemy idea that just got cut and i think that sucks

[compact marlin]

All Elites were banned from The Covenant, they were a kill on sight for the Brutes

[cyan forum]

Im glad we got the banished though. I really like the brutes in Infinite

Gameplay wise i think theyre the best the brutes have ever been to fight against

[civic sundial]

The Covenant we fight in Halo 4 was not the same Covenant we fight in Halo 3, it was a splinter group which formed in the wake of the Covenant's fall. I'm pretty sure I already told you this

[cyan forum]

A lot of people give crap to the H3 brutes but i really think just a couple simple adjustments wouldve made them really fun and distinct from the elites

Wouldve been nice to see that for H4 but better late than never i guess

[celest heron]

h4 was also 343's first game. I imagine it was already a lot on their plate with what we got.

[civic sundial]

Aye, especially when they were adding a new group of enemy combatants

[cyan forum]

Yeah theyre terrible

But i guess i do understand why the covenant roster needed to be shrunk

Cuz they had to make space for the prometheans

[solid canopy]

Knowing the work that went into the Prometheans, I don't blame them for wanting to keep the Covenant a lot more simplified

Cutting the faction down from six classes to three, the numerious design hurdles the Knights went through, not to mention all the issues they faced with balancing the Watcher

They were so cut for time that they had to ship the game knowing that the Watcher still needed work

Oh there was also them having to dramatically alter the Forerunner weapons to something players could more easily understand/were more familiar with

[rose gyro]

It was 343’s first attempt without being allowed to really get any help or insight from Bungie. They were basically just handed all the assets to told to make a game and to not consult with Bungie on how to do it (likely cause of the whole Bungie leaving thing)

Eh, I see it as them trying to make themselves stand out and not just copy what Bungie did

If I was basically told to handle the future of franchise I honestly just wouldn’t want to be stuck trying to make it like what came before and basically be stuck trying to imitate other people and their vision, I’d want to do it my own way with my own vision

Well yeah, they wanted to do their own thing then basically be stuck trying to imitate and be like Bungie, they wanted their own spin on Halo. And it was frankly better cause the artstyle was a improvement

But now we’re stuck chasing the past because it was made clear to 343 that people only want nostalgia and old Bungie designs

That’s because 5 had such a disastrous launch and the situation with Infinite’s development basically forced them to try and do as much nostalgia bait as they can

Hopefully that awful Infinite artstyle will be gone with Halo 7

[cyan forum]

Yeah thats been the most overused defense and it just doesnt work when you remember just how reactive the reclaimer trilogy has been for years

People didnt like the didact? Kill him off in a comic book. People didnt like spartan ops? Cancel it. People didnt like Locke? Kill him off. People didnt like the prometheans? Say hello to the Banished

Oh and before anyone tries to throw in whataboutisms, im completely aware Bungie were somewhat like this as well

[compact marlin]

Exactly, so you have no argument if everything is still kind of the same, people are just now complaining cause it's not Bungie. Also, Locke is M.I.A, not dead. No body? He's MIA. Need a body in order to confim death

[cyan forum]

The argument was the "vocal minority" excuse isnt valid

Halo fans have always made their displeasure with anything heard and its almost always addressed eventually

Tho in the case 343/HS, its been way more extreme than anything Bungie has done before. For comparison, Arbiter was not killed off for H3 because of his mixed reception. Meanwhile the entire reclaimer trilogy cast are just gone from Infinite

[onyx latch]

I think the biggest issue 343i had is that they severely underestimated exactly how spoon-fed basic information the average Halo fan apparently needed to be.

"Surely they'll know that not all elites are a hivemind, right?"

[compact marlin]

Even I knew not all the Elites would join Arbiter, but I know a lot did

[onyx latch]

I didn't even really get into the Halo books until after 4 and I still figured out why the Elites were not on your side by the second damn mission.

Because it is painfully obvious that they were religious fanatics, and if you had played exactly two freaking levels of Halo 2 and nothing else, you would be able to figure out that two seperate elites could have a seperate take on organized religion regarding Forerunners.

[compact marlin]

Captain Lasky is in the Audio Files, S-IV's are from the Reclaimer Saga, I believe Palmer was even mentioned, the Infinity is from the Reclaimer Saga and so are probably most of it's crew

[onyx latch]

(I'll give you a hint; It's when you fight the first boss of the game, who is an elite who has disavowed the Covenant Religion fighting an Elite that has not disavowed the Covenant Religion yet.)

[compact marlin]

Exactly. Some people will just believe in a religion even when they've seen or been told the truth because it's all they have left or believed in they're whole life. Tartarus (Tarter Sauce) from Halo 2 is a perfect example

[onyx latch]

Like, buddy, if you're confused by that, your mind is gonna be blown when you figure out athiests and born-again Christians exist.

[cyan forum]

None of this actually disproves what we're saying

[compact marlin]

I just did

[cyan forum]

Theyre not in the game. They are effectively absent. Even the spartan 4s we see are all just dead and not actively doing anything

[compact marlin]

Okay, I am done arguing with you

[onyx latch]

I kinda wish Discord's block button was as nuclear as bluesky's.

[cyan forum]

We went from Halo 5's back and forth cinematic cutscenes showing all the characters doing something in the plot to Infinite's in game cutscenes showing only the chief and no one else except the bad guys sometimes

[onyx latch]

Honestly that's the whole selling point of that site, when you block somebody, they might as well not exist.

[cyan forum]

Irony

[compact marlin]

Yeah, you what? I like you. Is it cool to shoot you a friend request?

[cyan forum]

Like i said, its been ultra reactive. As a kid, i never noticed that Arbiter's role in H3's story was actually downplayed. It just felt kinda "natural" at the time

[modern obsidian]

Guys where halo is played most so I can find match by using VPN to there ig

[cyan forum]

Obviously thats not the case anymore now that im more aware, but with the reclaimer trilogy its EXTREMELY obvious

[modern obsidian]

Halo Infinite*

But USA 🇺🇸 is big

Need something more specific mate

[onyx latch]

Really useful when someone can't take a hint that you know they're arguing in bad faith, especially when their best counter argument is either misinfo or 'you get mad easy'.

[onyx latch]

Uh, no.

Sorry.

[compact marlin]

K, just thought I'd ask

[cyan forum]

😂

[modern obsidian]

Even without vpn I mostly find matches with 150 ms ping xD

Better just make bots fill games so it’s not so laggy

And Battle royale 100 Spartans mode would be awesome

[cyan forum]

Complete side tangent but i never really disliked palmer and i kinda wish she filled in lasky's role for H4's story

[compact marlin]

Did anyone else have full faith in Truth and The Great Journey when they first played Halo 2?

[civic sundial]

Battle Royales have long passed being the big hot trend, and Halo doesn't really have anything it can bring to the genre that's truly unique. Everything it could've brought has been done already

[cyan forum]

Imagine she's the one you communicate with first through the radio, the player would immediately assume "oh cool a marine" but when you meet them and they turn out to be a spartan, it wouldve been cool. It also wouldve made the infamous "i thought youd be taller" quote more endearing rather than cocky

[civic sundial]

She really wasn't being cocky in that moment

And I don't think building up to a reveal of Palmer being a Spartan was needed

[onyx latch]

I feel like the only people who think she was being cocky are people who are desperately insecure.

[cyan forum]

I know but a lot of people interpreted it that way

[onyx latch]

So like... Elon Musk types, just broke.

[cyan forum]

Im saying my hypothetical way wouldve been a lot more cute 🤷‍♀️

[compact marlin]

I thought she was complimenting him

[civic sundial]

Your phrasing conveys that you found her cocky, not others

[cyan forum]

Others very much did

[compact marlin]

A real insult to Chief would be: "You're shorter then I expected."

[cyan forum]

Yeah

I believe the intention with that quote was basically her saying "thought id be shorter?" or something like that

[gray crag]

and hows that going? Halo 4 population dipped immediately and fell out of the top 15 in games within a year, halo5 didnt hold up that well either. That also doesnt make sense because they didnt really shy away from tkaing notes from any other games like cod, titanfall, and just chasing trends. They had a base foundation. You dont completely level that foundation and restart from scratch. I think building upon one of the strongest foundations in gaming history would have been smart no?

[civic sundial]

How is Palmer quipping in a friendly way "I thought you'd be taller" somehow meaning that Palmer thought she should be shorter?

[compact marlin]

Yeah, cause when everyone describes Chief, they describe him as a giant but since he's been missing for four years, new recruits never got to meet him as Marines or ODST, they met him as Spartan-IV's, so that's why she said it.

[cyan forum]

Because no player expected to see new gen spartans up to that point. My hypothetical version of the scene would make that a little more obvious

Cuz again, if we hear her voice assisting us, we'd just assume she was marine

[compact marlin]

Yeah

[civic sundial]

Ok, again, what you're saying is that Palmer should've said something that implies she thought she herself should be shorter. "thought id be shorter?" does not make sense as something to say

[compact marlin]

And now people that hated Halo 5 are starting to love the Warzone Mode and wished it was back

Even people miss Spartan Ops

[onyx latch]

There's a bleeding ignorance of reality when it comes to retroactive criticism.

[compact marlin]

I know there is, cause one of the people that liked Spartan Ops

[gray crag]

warzone was pretty fun i liked warzone but spartan ops atleast for me didnt feel that engaging

[onyx latch]

Spartan Ops was a good idea, but I think they'd have been better off adopting something like the Hivebusters mode in Gears.

[cyan forum]

That other quote was a reinterpretation, not the literal alternative i was suggesting

I was suggesting keeping the quote but improving the context

[compact marlin]

For me it did, I just wished we got dialogue options and the option to name our Fireteam

[cyan forum]

I wouldve rather they expanded on firefight

For the pve experience

Kinda have this sad theory that the failure of spartan ops is why theyre too afraid to do spin offs, especially those with a different protagonist

[compact marlin]

Fair, the reason I liked Spartan Ops was because I never saw Chief as a stand in for the player for a few reasons. He had a voice, a name, a personality and an armor color that was not my choice. If I am going to imprint on a character, then I got to be the one to design the character in armor and he needs to be mute. Hence why I always imprinted on my MP Spartan, Six was close until I learned he dies and that he had a voice

[civic sundial]

Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike and Halo Wars 2 disprove this

[compact marlin]

Exactly

[civic sundial]

The only reason we haven't had spin-offs since is because of factors beyond their control

[cyan forum]

I mean, to be fair 2 of these are mobile games and the other was an already existing subseries by another studio

[civic sundial]

They still count as spin-offs

[cyan forum]

Id REALLY like it for a spin off to go hard into the silent mysterious protag route

No lore whatsoever about this hypothetical protag. They have to have even less of an identity than 6 and the rookie

[viral rose]

just beat 2, should i start 3 or odst first?

[compact marlin]

ODST

[viral rose]

even though i already finished 2?

i did reach first, but that was mostly just cause its my fav so idk

[zealous cloak]

agree tbh, buuut i don't think it matters too much with odst and 3 since both are so similar in gameplay

[versed spear]

The lore it presented was okay, but I found the actual missiins themselves boring

[viral rose]

im doing odst, ive been curious abt it for a while now so might as well

what style of bloom does odst have?

is it like the legacy or closer to reach with the increased accuracy while still?

[versed spear]

So odst is a "prequel" of sorts?

[near blade]

Technically it takes places the day after the earth missions in Halo 2, so at the same time as the first few post earth missions in halo 2.

The elites in ODST don't make sense though chronologically, but that is more of a stupid fanboy gripe

[shut pilot]

does foundation have a sniper rifle?

[solid canopy]

Didn't the slipspace travel between Earth and Delta Halo take one or two weeks?

[ashen rune]

so uh... all of the prometheans on the mission Midnight, ||they're created using the data of the dead scientists in the other mission, yeah?||

[foggy thistle]

Yep.

[ashen rune]

so they're basically digital flood lol

anyway... halo 4 was okay

I hope 5 has a warthog run at the end

[solid canopy]

Ehhhh not quite

[foggy thistle]

How do you figure?

[ashen rune]

their will is taken away by 1 centralized will

and they have a new life created for them as soldiers for that will

[solid canopy]

Anyway, I like the design of the Halo 5 Ghost quite a bit. I do have two gripes with it though; the color of the guns being purple and not silver/metalic feels off and I don't care for the removal of the big power generator thing on its left side

[ashen rune]

although the knights are a lot more elite lol

[ashen rune]

but does it have a warthog run? I'll probably never get to play it until they release halo 5 on pc as part of the master chief campaign

in 20 years

[solid canopy]

There are a few Warthog sections but the final level doesn't have one

Though there is a vehicle setpiece before the final room

[ashen rune]

:(

anyway I beat the whole thing on heroic... probably will do it again on legendary at some point

[viral rose]

Started playing odst today, I'm now onto the 6th mission lol, safe to say im liking it

[pseudo vigil]

How do you feel about the main protagonist master chief?

[viral rose]

ive yet to see him, but he seems cool

[pseudo vigil]

And buck ?

[viral rose]

He's alright, looks like that one guy from the rookie lmao

[pseudo vigil]

Lmao he looks like green lantern from new superman movie

[viral rose]

whos gonna tell him?

[pseudo vigil]

Tell what lol

[viral rose]

its the same actor lol

[pseudo vigil]

Nah you lying fr

[viral rose]

lookitup

[pseudo vigil]

😱

It's the rookie from rookie show omg wtf

[civic sundial]

Back in my day, we referred to him as that guy from Firefly

Or Castle

[viral rose]

sorry ur old lol

[pseudo vigil]

Movies or tv shows

[civic sundial]

Both are TV shows but Firefly does also have a film sequel called Serenity

[civic sundial]

I'm not that old, I remember when Halo 4 released

[viral rose]

I wasn't old enough to form memories when halo 4 came out lmao

[pseudo vigil]

Me too

Halo 4 released like in 2016

[soft mauve]

It was 2012 close tho

[viral rose]

Late 2012, yeah

[pseudo vigil]

Halo 5 then released in 2018 I think

[viral rose]

2015 lol

[soft mauve]

2015

[pseudo vigil]

Oh yeah my bad

[civic sundial]

And I thought my memory was bad /j

[viral rose]

i googled it...

[civic sundial]

You were getting the years right

[pseudo vigil]

Thanks

[civic sundial]

You weren't

[viral rose]

That's a lot of hashtags

[pseudo vigil]

I know I know

[final python]

Hello, is there a way that bots uses vehicles in custom games ? I am trying to look for it thanks

[frosty condor]

Try asking in #forge-chat 🙂

[short flower]

Was off on fri/yesterday so extended session today

2 xp boosts

(Firefight obviously)

[solid canopy]

Maybe this is a nitpick, but I really hope that the Campaign Evolved has the classic Warthog vehicle destruction

While I dig 343i's Warthog redesign, the destruction effects are really lacking. The 2-Reach destruction had this excellent way of it being torn apart chunk by chunk

At least they did make the Warthog look more like it did in Halo CE than just using the Halo Infinite model

[left snow]

It's been 100* days since the Halo CE reveal - and we haven't really learnt anything else about it.

Or any of the other projects.

We'll probably have to wait for the old E3 weekend in June. 🙁

• Technically not quite - I'm not allowing for time zones.

[short flower]

Dying to grenades that I don’t get to see is dumb. So unpredictable and annoying.

5905, but no perfection. Wish I was allowed enough time to see the stupid grenade.

Is it really the catch skull that makes enemy grenades so unpredictable?

[solid canopy]

I just finished replaying Mercury Rising, it is easily one of the best Halo mods I've ever played. A lot of that praise goes to Mercury Rising 2, which is a lot more well designed, open, and visually focused. Driving into the plains in MR2 was the closest I've ever gotten to that feeling of walking out of the cave on Requiem and seeing those spires

Also on this playthough, I found the easter egg with the dude on the island which got me to burst out laughing (twice)

[short flower]

Skimmers might just be extremely broken in Firefight. Their grenades DO NOT NEED TO ELECTROCUTE ME TO DEATH!!!!

Most frustrating, most broken enemy in the whole mode. I hate that they exist.

Commando skimmers, grenade spam skimmers, STOP MAN.

[cyan forum]

Ironically i actually like how less erratic and obnoxious the skimmers are compared to the drones but their arsenal kinda ruins it

Also i dont like their design, the drones look way cooler

[spark cedar]

I’m not sure if this is the right channel to talk about my Spartan character’s name? I was hoping to get some input lol.

[solid canopy]

Quick question if anybody can recall, did Halo 4 only have the two loading screens? The one with the Didact's Cryptum and the one with the UNSC Eagle rotating?

[dire onyx]

@bitter sparrow did you hear about halo 2

[solid canopy]

As far as I can remember/find those are the only two.

Correct me if I am forgetting one-
Halo CE had the bright blue "loading", Halo 2 just had it's logo, Halo 3 had the forming Halo ring, ODST was the superintendent, Reach was Dot, 4 was those two, 5 was concept art, and Infinite had the rift in Zeta Halo

[bitter sparrow]

[keen lake]

European halo infinite servers are down or cut off, ranked with EU players 130-160ms ping, even on customs game 100+
MS trying to kill halo before highgurad will be shut down:

[radiant sundial]

I highly doubt that they're trying to kill it

[keen lake]

With such a low population it is ridiculous to often have those issues.

Even on customs you are supposed to have an option to have a local host, most people have fiber now.

[lost trellis]

You know what, I don't want to get political but Truth should've never replaced the elites for the brutes. I get it, Regret died under the elites watch, but Truth ordered our forces to retreat before the demon and to instead glass the holy Ring! Just saying, the Covenant would still stand if the Elites were forced into radical ideals with their expulsion.

[solid canopy]

I should preface this by saying that I do like a lot of Halo 4's art style, but I do think there is something to be said about certain environments color pallet being kind of unappealing

Certain areas just look overly muted or have colors that don't blend well with each other. Part of this may have to do with the environment design of certain levels

[short flower]

Time to finish off blue team…

[short flower]

I haven’t lost a firefight in a while…

Teammates come on…

[solid canopy]

Making all Grunts able to charge their Plasma Pistols and allowing enemies to supercombine with the needler in Halo 4 is just total BS

I don't know if it was a conscious choice to make things more challenging or if it was a case of something being lost in translation between Bungie and 343i, but I can safely say that it makes encounters tedious

Grunts especially become annoying when you have three of them around you and they all fire their needlers/charge their plasma pistols at you

[short flower]

So I used my hammer on an enemy and I just 100% straight up die… I guess I’m gonna have to review…

Blue Team is finished anyway now.

[solid canopy]

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/13DBL

A while ago I was looking through Halo concept art again and I saw that Eric Will, a really cool former artist at 343i had a comment complementing the work. Under the reply there was a coment from Eddie Smith, the original concept artist, lamenting the fact that he was never asked to come back/work at 343i. Learning that kind of made me do a double take because I had always thought that Eddie Smith would've been a fantastic pick for an artist to keep on board during the Reclaimer-era to provide a sense of continuity between old and new. So learning that he was game just left me feeling disapointed

At least 343i contacted him to do some concept art for Halo CE Anniversary and the menu for Halo Online

Smith's artwork really is exceptional stuff. Ik he did some Battletech stuff on top of working on Halo CE, 2, and the unmade movie

[solid canopy]

I get it, game development is complicated and you don't want to mess with the team or get in the way of building your own vision. But man, seeing him say that just made me think it was a missed oppurtunity

[keen lake]

10 years plan for halo infinite...oh wait.

[left snow]

Was never a thing.

[coarse dagger]

^ yep

It was "the start of the next 10 years of Halo", but that didn't mean support for the game for 10 years or that it would be the only thing for 10 years

Things also shifted internally since that was first mentioned - Bonnie had to step down early due to family health reasons, so some restructuring went on. There was also mass layoffs at Microsoft that affected how things were going to work moving forward

[civic sundial]

I feel like the only people who use that whole "10 year plan for Infinite" line are people who didn't pay attention to any of the stuff which has happened at HS

[tardy flame]

Idk if this is the right place for this, but if any devs see this. PLEASE make vetoing an option again for Halo 3 in the MC collection. NOBODY LIKES Orbital, Icebox, or waterfall, and yet those are the same dumb maps we get the most. Give us Guardian, pit, standoff, last resort, high ground, etc. OG maps. Thats what we want

[keen lake]

If you don't give a F to fix game, work properly constants server and add content, the game doesn't die in 5 year's.

[onyx latch]

Halo fans? Pay attention?

[civic sundial]

Let me try and separate the ones who do listen from the people who don't ever listen

[celest heron]

I'd be great if a big studio had dedicated devs to work on a game forever, but that's not how things work.

[unborn salmon]

Hello?

[glad rune]

Hello

[left snow]

In general I didn't like veto.

You just ended up playing on the same map / modes over and over.

It would be nice if we could prioritise what we want to play in the match composer.

Something like adding a heart to what you would prefer to play next.

Priority to who has waited the longest for their preference.

No votes for anyone who quits.

[onyx latch]

Mechwarrior Online has my single favorite solution to that problem, actually.

Every match would offer two seperate votes; Four choices of map, two choices of game mode. Each time your vote failed, meaning you didn't get the map you wanted, your votes would be multiplied, same with game mode.

So if you kept queueing and voting for, say, Snowbound KOTH, but never got it, your votes would count for more each time you voted, until finally, you could 'force' (Usually needing some help even at max multiplier) a match to play on a certain map.

MWO also heavily penalized you for quitting (Your mech was locked until you rejoined or the game ended) so it encouraged you to stick around if some goober voted for a god-awful map and mode combo.

I think that sort of system would work pretty well in Halo, with some modification.

[glacial tartan]

I’m cool with not doing further development in terms of adding new features, but fixing major bugs would be nice. Particularly if your late term development causes those bugs. (I’m talking about the rejoin feature added in I think Dec 2022, broken in the Feb28 2025 patch)

Rejoin being added was a huge win for Halo (which I’m surprised was never added to infinite tbh, ESPECIALLY with how much it crashed initially), it being broken for so long is disheartening. But maybe they are working on it

This was a notable fix a couple of years ago.

I thought so, lots of years of patch notes to go through I’ll look for it

It still happening and them releasing a fix for it are two different things. I just mentioned a feature added in December 2022 that has been broken for over a year. So it wouldn’t surprise me to hear this is causing issues again.

My notes I wrote to myself were late 2021 was when this Xbox crashing bc of the news skins issue was being discussed / fixed.

[left snow]

That sounds pretty much perfect.

[onyx latch]

Yeah, I'm genuinely surprised it's not a thing in more games.

[digital crag]

hey guys if i have mcc but someone has combat evolved can i still play with them

[solid canopy]

Hmm, that sounds fairly decent

[digital crag]

oh

so the player has to have mcc for me to play with them

alr ty

[unborn salmon]

Hello?

[frosty condor]

[short flower]

SEVEN THOUSAND POINTS HAPPENED!!! (I died but still got it!!!)

[round urchin]

Wsp

[carmine moss]

"who said you cant bring snipers to a battle"-odst

hmmm

i guess #1075989764026675210

[gilded pivot]

[mortal frost]

Hi

[short flower]

So hyped to get reclaimer done this week. After that, it’s just ascending to hero. Well still the last thing will be co-op achievements.

I will still come back at times after all that.

[uncut oasis]

Halo parasites wake cover is lore accurate, the remake's marines and different tech is just the Infinity spartan wargames simulation of the event which is why some weapons and equipment appears more advanced than the original stuff.

same thing will apply to the halo 2 and 3 remakes, they are just infinitr wargame simulations that any spartan on board can plug into and play themselves like videogames

change my mind

[civic sundial]

I think you're overthinking things

And no remakes for Halo 2 or 3 have been confirmed to be coming

[pseudo vigil]

They potentially could be coming if Halo Campaign Evolved will be a success as a video game alone

Since that would motivate them to further expand on other Halo Titles if you get what I mean by that

[left snow]

I would think that is pretty much a given.

Assuming the game is successful in breaking into the PS5 market - there is no way HS (or MS) are going to leave that low hanging fruit just sitting there.

Especially when all the hard work will have already been done on the hybrid engine.

Plus, you also have the bonus that each subsequent game they progress through will require less and less work to bring it up to modern standards.

[pseudo vigil]

Good response damn

[fiery perch]

🚨 HELP: Missing Onyx Ranked Signum Emblem & Nameplate? 🚨

I recently hit Onyx after a lot of grinding, but I didn’t receive the Onyx Signum emblem or nameplate. I have every other ranked emblem/nameplate from Bronze through Diamond, so it feels strange that the highest rank suddenly gives nothing visible.

Has this been removed from the game? If so, that’s really disappointing. A backdrop doesn’t stand out the same way, and it feels like there’s nothing meaningful to show for reaching the top rank. It honestly came across like a bug or missing reward at first.

I reached out to Halo Support, but the response wasn’t very clear. The main thing they said was:

“Halo Support is dedicated to tracking and assisting with in‑game bugs and technical issues. We are not able to grant or distribute items, which means we cannot provide previous rewards such as the Onyx Signum.”

This makes it sound like the emblem/nameplate might not exist anymore, but that seems odd considering it’s been part of the ranked reward structure since the beginning. If it has been removed, it feels like a step backwards — especially for players who put in the time to reach Onyx.

If anyone has info, clarification, or advice, I’d really appreciate it ❤️