BS Angel posted this yesterday. While much of the news is good there are some things that caught my attention that are slightly disappointing.

Not having your matchmaking rank clearly visible IN-GAME is not just annoying, it makes it much more difficult to check your progression through the competitive ranks. Having to check Waypoint for this is a huge step back. I know they have an app for this. Really? While I don’t know the actual percentage of gamers who check their profiles through their phones, I’d have to guess it’s a pretty low percentage. I don’t want to do something through my cell phone that I was able to do in Halo 3. A game might I add that came out 5+ years ago. 343, I love ya and really do want you to succeed. But these failings of core game mechanics are hurting not only you, but Halo 4’s population and popularity as well. You can’t deny that. It’s not just me saying it. It’s other community blogs and websites, it’s the throngs of forum posters on your own forums.

Let’s just take a quick look though at some of the early details (that may change), Pros and Cons:
4v4: Pro: we have a party size! Con: It’s limited to 4v4 and no BTB. Maybe
Pre-set game loadouts: Pro: Yeah, we all start out equal. Con: Some slight variance would be okay.
Forced respawn timers: Pro: YES! Con: none
No instant respawn: Pro: YES! Con: can’t get back into the acton more quickly, but this is okay by me.
Ordnance on re-supply timers: Pro: Holy heck YES! Con: Noobs will complain they can get these weapons because “try hards” are always getting them. Sorry, but for competitive playlist this is a must. Teamwork SHOULD be rewarded in this case.
Join-in-progress off: Pro: Oh sweet Mary mother of God, they finally heard our cries! Con: Why can we no haz in all multiplayer? Or at least an option to not Join In Progress.
No split-screen play: Pro: You’ve got the whole screen to yourself. Con: No screen peeking (which I think is a good thing), but what if you’ve got a friend over? They can’t play on their gamertag with you on your XBOX in the competitive playlists.
Friendly fire on: Pro: well nothing really, just standard fair. Con: Um, watch your back teammate! LOL
Max part size 4 with big party matching enforced: Pro: Should make this more competitive as people usually in teams are either more skilled and/or have tactics set-up. Con: Might take longer for randoms to be matched up.
No guests allowed: Pro: You won’t have to deal with random bad players (or conversely awesome players masquerading as guests); Con: You buds can’t play with you on your XBOX.

Most of these details I’m perfectly fine with. THey are what we expected Halo 4 to be from the start. It’s a bit mind boggling why it’s taking so long for them to be put in the game in the first place.

My biggest disappointment is that most of these won’t be implemented in the casual playlists as well. The two BIGGEST for me being:

Ordnance on re-supply timers
Join-in-progress off

I really absolutely believe that if these two things where put into casual matchmaking as well that you’d see a LOT MORE happy Halo 4 gamers. Those two alone would help to bring the game play back to Halo normal standards.

We can only hope that the Halo community makes their collective voices heard and that 343 will make these changes to all of matchmaking across the board. Not just because we want it, but because it’s better for the overall game play, longevity of the game, and replayability of the game.

You can make your opinion heard here at the thread she posted in.

-Sal