OK, so this is old news, but it still pains me when I see it. Last night I decided to jump on some Gears of War online play. I haven't checked out the new maps Raven Down or Old Bones yet, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I thought maybe there would be some how, some way, that Cliffy B. and the good folks at Epic had fixed their awful patch of removing the host name from ranked games. When the new maps were available for download the patch went into effect and pretty much removed me from the GoW online community. Here's my problem, and it's probably one of my biggest problems with Microsoft this gen: Why the hell can't we play ranked matches online with our friends? I understand they want to eliminate cheating and have implemented their new TrueSkill System, but I still cannot understand why we can't play together with buddies.
To me, the solution is simple. You make every game that bolsters strong online pvp action REQUIRE the party system that Halo 2 implemented. If Bungie was able to create that system last-gen, there's no reason why it can't be implemented this gen. Or better yet, create a clan system for Xbox Live, so every online game can offer clan matches that track statictics, rate clan members gamerscore, etc. I can't imagine this being very difficult, which leads me to the horror and dismay that I am starting to see unfold before my very eyes: Microsoft doesn't want you to play with friends. I truly hope this isn't the case, but the deeper we get into this generation, the less I'm playing pvp with my old clan mates.
Microsoft better right this ship fast, because as an avid online gamer that got back into gaming when SOCOM first hit the online servers, they need to realize gamers want clans, they want a strong online community, they want to play ranked games that tracks statistics, and they want games to have longevity. By only allowing friends to play together in unranked games, and lacking strong clan support, they are losing their online support base. If the guys at Sony ever pulls their heads out of the sand they would realize that this would be a way to hurt Microsoft. Gears of War had a good thing going, as friends were able to jump in together and track their kills and deaths while having a good times in games that counted. Then they patched the game and I haven't played since. I can only hope that Halo 3 paves the way for all the changes I'm craving, and that Microsoft makes those changes the standard. It used to be "good to play together", but not anymore.
