14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier in the development process, the development team at 343 Industries got a lot of attention from shooter fans when it revealed that it had plans to allow multiplayer fans to actually choose the datacenter they want to use in order to get the best possible performance.
Now it seems that the company has decided that the feature would introduce too many problems with the matchmaking process and has decided to use an automatic location detection service that allocates them to the nearest and best cluster of servers.
Josh Holmes, who leads development on Halo 5: Guardians, explains in an interview with BestGameEver that, "We have been running closed beta tests consistently over the months since beta to optimize our matchmaking, and QoS (Quality of Service) detection and we are very happy with how it performs today."
It seems that the main reason for the decision is that skill level plays such a big role in the shooter that player choice might lead to big imbalances in the long-term, as a dedicated number of players becomes too good for the rest of the population in a particular datacenter.
Halo 5: Guardians will rely on its multiplayer for long-term popularity and it will be interesting whether the matchmaking system that 343 Industries offers is robust enough to make sure that gamers find matches quickly and with no obvious disparities between those involved.
343 Industries has extensive plans for Remix maps
Competitive gamers might be tempted to play a little Warzone, the new Halo 5: Guardians mode that combines PvP and PvE on massive maps, but they will spend most of their time in Arena, which is designed to offer an eSports focused experience.
Holmes says that for most if not all of the included maps for the mode the team is planning to deliver Remix versions.
They will offer significant changes in both art and overall gameplay experience as the development team aims to make Halo 5: Guardians the title in the series that offers the biggest variety of maps.
The development team has also made a range of tweaks to how Spartans move and fight, with a focus on extra mobility and new ways to surprise enemies.
Halo 5: Guardians will be out on the Xbox One on October 27.
http://bestgameever.co.uk/2015/09/29/halo-5-guardians-chatting-with-josh-holmes-from-343/