Game

[Stoney Mason]

As long as matchmaking is good and you're able to choose any stage in multiplayer at anytime unlike in Halo 4, I'm there.

You've never been able to choose maps in matchmaking so don't count on that. I can't remember the last console game with a server browser. Killzone 2? Gears 1?

Battlefield consistently has a server browsers on consoles now. 3 and 4 have had it. Hardline will have it.

[Beezy]

As long as matchmaking is good and you're able to choose any stage in multiplayer at anytime unlike in Halo 4, I'm there.

You've never been able to choose maps in matchmaking so don't count on that. I can't remember the last console game with a server browser. Killzone 2? Gears 1?

Shit, I meant match type, not stage. In Halo 4 they changed what was available every week or two. I forget. I just remember being annoyed when a certain match type wasn't available and I'd be forced to play something like DMR only matches or big team battle when I wasn't in the mood for them.

[toku]

[Stoney Mason]

If you are in the preview program you get to try out the halo 5 beta this weekend.

Welcome to the next evolution of Halo combat! As a valued Xbox One Preview participant registered in the program as of this morning, we’re excited to offer you an invitation-only early access opportunity to help us prepare for the public launch of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta that takes place from December 29th – January 18th. This beta is a massive undertaking for everyone at 343 Industries and we’re happy to have you join us for this exclusive event.

This early access period, which begins on December 19th and ends at 11:59PM PST December 21st, will only feature content from Week 1 of the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta, whereas the full beta will feature a total of 7 maps, 3 game types and a host of weapons that are released across the 3-week period. The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta is a true “working beta” and represents a work-in-progress snapshot of a game in production. This is the earliest release for any beta in the history of the Halo franchise. Our focus is on testing the gameplay systems and services for the game so we can then use this data to improve the final release in fall of 2015. You may experience bugs while playing, but this is normal in a beta period and is useful for our development teams. Additionally, the visuals (including resolution) are not fully representative of the final product.

The Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta is only a portion of the epic plans we have for the full multiplayer suite when the game ships next year and we can’t wait to show you what we have in store.



HOW TO PARTICIPATE

On the 19th, you’ll receive a message from Xbox Live on your Xbox profile containing 2 codes you need to redeem to get into the early access for the Beta.

The first code allows you to download the Beta to your console, and the second code is a small download that grants you access. You will need to redeem both tokens on your Xbox One console or on Xbox.com to participate in the early access period for the Halo 5: Guardians Multiplayer Beta. Be aware that redeeming one token will not allow you to participate; both are necessary.

Please note that these tokens are intended solely for your personal use as a Preview participant. Any attempt to sell, give away, or trade these tokens will have consequences, up to and including removal from the Preview program and exclusion from future participation.

Once you’ve downloaded and received access to the game, you can report bugs and issues via the Feedback app.

1. After encountering an issue, hold down the Xbox button on the controller and select Give Feedback from the power menu.
2. Describe the bug or issue you experienced, and submit.

[AdmiralViscen]

So dashboard preview people get special treatment over people who paid $60 for a still-broken pre-alpha. Fuck you Microsoft

[Stoney Mason]

Got my preview code. Should finish downloading in like 10 minutes

[Take My Breh Away]

So dashboard preview people get special treatment over people who paid $60 for a still-broken pre-alpha. Fuck you Microsoft

No they get special treatment too

http://news.xbox.com/2014/12/games-halo-thank-you-to-our-fans?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Month of Live, Relic remastered for H2A and Halo 3: ODST singleplayer

[demi]

People are buying codes on ebay for $50+

Just put mine up there

[Stoney Mason]

Played for about 2 or 3 hours.

The matchmaking sucks. As broken as The Master Chief Collection. At least the ranking system part of it is working but it takes forever to find a match.

The gameplay is fun. Reminds me of a mix of Halo 4 and Halo 2 anniversary with added boosting and mounting. The maps are smallish and feel nice imo.

The boosting and dashing isn't as chaotic as in Advanced warfare.

[Stoney Mason]

whoops wrong thread

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah. I'm in the preview program so anybody in it, got into the beta.

[Stoney Mason]

3 week beta has now started.

[demi]

Sold my weekend demo for $50 to some swede

[Stoney Mason]

I thought the preview dashboard beta was good. The hardcore halo nerds don't like anything that's different from Halo 2 or 3 so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask since I don't fall into that category. It felt like a nice evolution of the series. SMG's and AR's are probably stronger than they've been in prior halo's but the DMR's and BR's are still stronger.

Not sure how I feel about the scope/ADS. It feels slightly more necessary than it use to be but it wasn't terrible or anything.

[Positive Touch]

halo nerds who whine about any changes made post-3 or who consider halo 4 to be one of the worst travesties in gaming are not to be trusted

[a slime appears]

Been in the beta since the beginning. The game feels great but I'm still sad they keep trying to mold the franchise after CoD and its ilk instead of doubling down on what made Halo unique. It's still Halo though so not all is lost. Trying to find a match was real shit at the beginning though.

halo nerds who whine about any changes made post-3 or who consider halo 4 to be one of the worst travesties in gaming are not to be trusted

I completely agree and I know Halo.

[Stoney Mason]

New game mode (Breakout) and maps added today.

[Stoney Mason]

Been in the beta since the beginning. The game feels great but I'm still sad they keep trying to mold the franchise after CoD and its ilk instead of doubling down on what made Halo unique. It's still Halo though so not all is lost. Trying to find a match was real shit at the beginning though.

My slight gripe that I've noticed with all shooter iterations today is that they all think increasing the pace of the game and lowering the time to kill makes it more intense. I would actually prefer things go the other way but that's not a popular direction currently.

[a slime appears]

Been in the beta since the beginning. The game feels great but I'm still sad they keep trying to mold the franchise after CoD and its ilk instead of doubling down on what made Halo unique. It's still Halo though so not all is lost. Trying to find a match was real shit at the beginning though.

My slight gripe that I've noticed with all shooter iterations today is that they all think increasing the pace of the game and lowering the time to kill makes it more intense. I would actually prefer things go the other way but that's not a popular direction currently.

COMPLETELY AGREE

[AdmiralViscen]

I only like low time to kill if there aren't hitscan weapons.

[Stoney Mason]

Played a lot today on the new mode and the new maps. I legit really like Halo 5 alot.

I just have a lot of fun playing it with friends and the ability to dodge is something that I think adds a lot for me. It seems like a very minor thing but its quickly become a part of my toolbox that I would miss dearly if it was removed.

I also like Breakout. I think maybe the closest comparison would be maybe something like SWAT but I hated that but enjoy this.

[Stoney Mason]

This game really encourages sticking with your teammates and team shooting. You can't just go off on your own and superman it like you could in earlier halos. Some people will like that and some won't.

[Stoney Mason]

Me playing some earlier today having a blast

[Stoney Mason]

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/how-fans-helped-shape-the-multiplayer-of-halo-5-guardians

Nice list of changes.

[Stoney Mason]

[toku]

im a lowkey halo lore special fellow but what

[toku]

Is it already confirmed to be a corporation? Felt like they were painting ONI as out to bury Halsey and everything she did in 4.

[toku]

Uh... refresh my memory what is ONI? Finished H1-4 and I do not recall them/ it?

They're the intelligence branch of UNSC. Halo's CIA basically and iirc they held Halsey for a bit of 4 and were grilling her about spartans and crap? I could be recalling wrong as well though.

[AdmiralViscen]

No, you're right

[kick51]

gets blasted a million times in-game and has a regenerating shield

gets shot once in a cut scene and is depicted as being on the verge of death

[toku]

gets blasted a million times in-game and has a regenerating shield

gets shot once in a cut scene and is depicted as being on the verge of death

Well he's armor is broken, charred and smoking so I'm assuming shields are completely depleted, damaged enough to not be regenerating so...

[Tasty]

gets blasted a million times in-game and has a regenerating shield

gets shot once in a cut scene and is depicted as being on the verge of death

#LudonarrativeDissonance

[Stoney Mason]

[OnlyRegret]

Not much longer now 

[Stoney Mason]

[a slime appears]

Played Warzone and got to try out Hololens. Shit is fucking bananas and genuinely the coolest fucking thing at the show. Warzone is alright, whatever.

[toku]

everythings a moba now

[demi]

Game was aight but I couldnt give two shits for Halo multi.

[OnlyRegret]

Game was aight but I couldnt give two shits for Halo multi.

pleb

[Rahxephon91]

I'd be interested in Warzone if it did'nt have enemy AI. I just don't care about shooting ai characters in multiplayer matches.

What I really want is just Halo 2 online. I just want to play simple Halo CTF or assault on big maps. Without loadouts. Without abilities. Without the crap that has invaded what was a very fun multiplayer. Of course they screwed the one chance to give me that.

[Stoney Mason]

I think the AI stuff looks awesome and the whole mode seems incredibly fun.

The only problem I see is the fanbase. They really don't work well together in large scale battles. Which is why big team battle is always mostly a clusterfuck.

[OnlyRegret]

The rest of the multiplayer, arena+customs is there for a reason.

The only problem I see is the fanbase. They really don't work well together in large scale battles. Which is why big team battle is always mostly a clusterfuck.

That is the best part.
Sixteen people doing whatever the fuck they want and letting the match run from there is great.

I should go play some BtB later.

[Stoney Mason]

The rest of the multiplayer, arena+customs is there for a reason.

The only problem I see is the fanbase. They really don't work well together in large scale battles. Which is why big team battle is always mostly a clusterfuck.

That is the best part.
Sixteen people doing whatever the fuck they want and letting the match run from there is great.

I should go play some BtB later.

I don't know. I'll use battlefield as an example. It's fun to have lots of people playing in a chaotic crazy situation but if no one is actually doing anything that is actually useful or co-ordinating it can easily tilt to the annoying side. I think Big Team battles already tend to have this problem in Halo. So potentially adding lots of shit that hinders that co-ordinatation could also be annoying. It all depends on the playerbase. You can design the most interesting game in the world. But if all the player base wants to do is go hide a million miles away with sniper rifles, its wasted. That's how I feel about the big team player base in Halo.

[Rahxephon91]

The rest of the multiplayer, arena+customs is there for a reason.

Well then they should finally allow for a way to search for player hosted matches alongside optimatch.

[toku]

[Stoney Mason]

[toku]

everything is dota

[toku]

[Stoney Mason]

I was gonna wait for a sale price. But I kinda want it on launch. 

[Stoney Mason]

https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/community/blog-posts/enter-the-arena

I love this kind of shit.

Finding a balanced, low-ping match is of the utmost importance when playing Arena. Halo 5 is designed to have a high skill ceiling, and we know how frustrating it can be to play with or against players who aren’t at your skill level. We prioritize match quality above all else when finding matches in Arena. We begin by trying to find other players that are at your exact CSR. If we can’t find enough players, we very slowly open up this limitation and look for players that are around your same skill.

You don't know how refreshing this is after grinding Battlefield and COD in the past few years where no one really wants an even playing field and everybody just wants to pub-stomp. The fan base of COD goes nuts if there is even any hint of skill based matchmaking. Idiots.

[toku]

In the same boat as you stoney. I'm really really fighting temptation now since im for sure getting BLOPS3 but this is looking better than I expected. Love how they're just leaning hard on the pro angle in an almost CS:GO style approach.

[Stoney Mason]

In the same boat as you stoney. I'm really really fighting temptation now since im for sure getting BLOPS3 but this is looking better than I expected. Love how they're just leaning hard on the pro angle in an almost CS:GO style approach.

Yeah that's the stupid thing. I know what happens when I get multiple shooters. I end up not playing all them as much as I want and I'm already getting blops 3 and Star Wars. But the game looks cool and I love how they are handling it with the free DLC and such. I'm also intrigued by that Warzones mode.

[Positive Touch]

gotta admit I am vv jealous of xb1 owners right now

[brawndolicious]

Not having split screen sucks but yeah otherwise this game looks properly epic. I hope the REQs are abundant without paying for them.

[Stoney Mason]

Went ahead and bought it digitally even though that is incredibly stupid since I'm buying 2 more shooters in the next few weeks. 


I remember when I bought Halo 3 and COD 4 at the same time. Played Halo 3 for like two weeks and then never stopped playing COD 4.

[Stoney Mason]

Played the first two campaign levels. Seems fun enough. I mean its Halo. It's the same as its ever been on that front.

Warzone I really dig. It's like this mix of Battlefield and Planetside. It's always the direction I wanted the big team battle to go which always just felt like a complete mess of people just running around without doing anything.

I'll put significant hours into the game tomorrow to have some more impressions.

[toku]

Claiming headshots in arena you can call me John Wick

[Rahxephon91]

Warzone seems pretty good. Did'nt know there was a non AI version, though I wish (though maybe it is) that the non AI version still had the multiple bases to capture at the same time.

[demi]

Finally a reason to own this X B O X

Gonna pick it up at Target for the cute toy you can get. Freebies~

[Take My Breh Away]

Dicked around with it earlier. Clicked into Warzone to check my REQ packs. Suddenly it matched me with other people and I was in game within 10 seconds. So no problems with the match making. 

Only played that one game but Warzone's fun as well.