This article from Forbes by contributor Paul Tassi explains in part why Halo is out of MLG. After the text below, I add my own commentary about a portion of what is stated in the article.
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Today we got word that confirmed what most already knew, with Halo 4 now dropping out of rotation as an eSport in MLG’s Winter season, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 would likely be in.
That is in fact the case, and it’s odd as the two games have generally been featured side-by-side for a while, at least in their past iterations. Halo has been an MLG staple for years now and many are wondering why it would be left out in the cold while Call of Duty stays.
There’s no official comment from Major League Gaming as to why Halo has been dropped, though it’s been mentioned that Microsoft signed an exclusive dealwith Virgin Gaming giving them access to the game over MLG. But that’s likely not the only reason. In reality, competitive Halo just isn’t what it used to be.
Recently, Halo games have become increasingly less viable as a competitive title at the highest levels. Starting with Reach, the inclusion of armor abilities like jetpack and armor lock changed the game in fundamental ways that were too big to ignore.
Halo 4 went a step further. Though they scaled back a few of the armor abilities, they still exist and mess around with pivotaly important parts of competitive Halo like line of sight. At top levels, players used to know where anyone could be on a map, where they could hit them from, and where they were likely to run to, but give them a jetpack and suddenly all that knowledge goes out the window.
The real problem with Halo 4 is that it introduced more randomness than ever into multiplayer gameplay. That might be perfectly fun for regular players, many of whom were proud to announce “Halo was back!” with last year’s new game, but it’s vastly different from how Halo used to function for pros. Everyone formerly had the exact same loadout to start with, and everyone knew exactly where the best weapons were scattered around the map, along with how often they respawned.
All of that is gone in Halo 4. Loadouts are completely customizable with no way of knowing what kit your opponent has. Secondary weapons have proven overpowered with one being the equivalent of a pocket shotgun from the start. But most disruptive has been the fact that now weapon drops only exist in the levels as random occurrences. You cannot predict where and when these items will appear, but they can dramatically swing things in the favor of whichever team is lucky enough to be near them.
The game also introduced killstreaks, not necessarily a bad idea unto itself, but worthless for competitive play as the available weapons you’re allowed to call in are also random. You might get five kills and be offered a plasma grenade or a speed boost, while your opponent might get a one-hit kill sniper rifle or a world-destroying rocket launcher for the same amount of kills.
All of this works fine for normal players, and Halo 4 multiplayer is a decent amount of fun. But at the highest levels of competition, you cannot have that much randomness in a game. And without easy ways to revert things back to the way they used to be, there’s really no getting around this for competitive players. That’s why there really isn’t all the much of a competitive Halo 4 scene period, as its players have moved on to other titles. With all this in mind, it absolutely makes sense for MLG to drop Halo.
Randomness just doesn’t work at the highest level of skill in a game, any game. Imagine if in soccer players were randomly granted a free penalty kick once per game, or if in baseball it sometimes took four strikes to be out. A level playing field with universal rules is necessary, and Halo lost that with a myriad of changes. It still might be a good game, but it’s no longer a viable eSport in its current form.
Why is Call of Duty sticking around? Well, that’s where barely changing over the years works to its benefit. The updates to Call of Duty have largely been cosmetic. There are new guns, levels, killstreaks, perks and so on, but relatively little about core gameplay has changed, at least not to the degree which has happened with Halo. Pro COD players take a month or so to adjust to the new tweaks each year, and don’t miss a beat most of the time. But Halo players found they couldn’t do the same with new iterations of the game.
Black Ops II joins League of Legends and one unannounced title for the Winter MLG season. It’s sad to see Halo go, but perhaps it may someday rise again on the pro circuit.
End Copy/Paste
Now I’m no fan of MLG, however there were some points in the article that struck home with me.
“Everyone formerly had the exact same loadout to start with, and everyone knew exactly where the best weapons were scattered around the map, along with how often they respawned.”
This by and far is the statement that sums up most people’s displeasure with Halo 4. It IS the core of what Halo gameplay is all about. Halo 4 completely changed that. There is now way too much randomness and it hurts not just those MLGers, but even less competitive folks like myself. I absolutely hate getting rocketed out of no where. I’ve said before, power weapons should be a TIMED MAP SPAWN ONLY weapon. This is part is why I don’t play anywhere near as much multiplayer (War Games) as I have in past Halo titles.
Such randomness takes away tactics. Yes, I get that 343 wants even noobs to have a chance. Um, hello, with respect 343 (and I mean that), Halo has never been about noobs. Reach helped noobs with some of the armor abilities. However, power weapons still had specific locations and specific times when they would spawn. This creates tactics. Knowing when and where to be for power weapons sets a team up for a better chance of winning. It creates an atmosphere of teamwork. It brings friends together to play for fun, as a team, use tactics, and win.
Halo 4’s randomness with power weapons, especially as PERSONAL ordnance drops practically kills those things. Is this just something I’ve made up? No way! I’ve been playing Halo for many years now. I’ve played with many friends and gaming groups in a team atmosphere. While I’m just an above average player, I knew when and where power weapons would drop. I’d call them out and as a team we’d descend upon those locations. We had certain tactics for certain maps that worked a vast majority of the time. This enabled us to win.
Okay, so what is 343 doing then address these concerns? They are finally making a ranked playlist with power weapons drops, NO Join-In-Progess and some other important tweaks.
Say um, could you do that to regular matchmaking too? I don’t really want to HAVE to go into Ranked playlists to play Halo in the gameplay style that it’s been known for ALL THESE YEARS. ‘Fess up 343, you kinda screwed up Halo’s gameplay. You have the tools to fix it. DO that across the board and I think you won’t just see the game population decrease, you’ll see people come back. Maybe MLG will care again, maybe they won’t. As for me and my circle of friends, we’d welcome these changes to all of War Games, not just ranked playlists.
Respectfully,
Sal