Now that we’ve seen the Battlepass, Fractures, Store, and how customization works, here is how 343 could have designed their system to be both player friendly and make them tons of money in the process.
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ARMOR KITS allow players to buy a set of non-customizable armor, colors, emblems, etc to wear in game. This was originally advertised to let players look like legacy characters from older games (NOBLE Team). Other potential characters they could use and monetize are (Osiris, Blue Team, Red Team, Palmer, Kurt-051, Master Chief, Alpha Nine from ODST, and many more). Maybe this will happen, but right now kits are mostly just colors/patterns. I’m fine with having MTXs for E-sports teams, but they need to be selling coatings SEPARATE from the kits for people who want to represent those colors, but not the whole armor.
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ARMOR CORES. I understand why cores exist. Some armor pieces would look too awkward mixed and matched (ex: Yoroi chest on MK VII chest). That’s fine, but making coatings, helmets (which should fit anyways), and other less awkward piece core specific is a bad move. 343 could still sell the core, which is the goal, but now the cores are less restrictive and players feel better about their spent money.
That said, make the MK VII the free core. Everything that goes on it is free to unlock, paywall other core if you want, but at least give F2P players SOMETHING for at least being loyal and helping the games population. -
ARMOR PATTERNS . Armor coatings should never have existed. They are restrictive and go against player expression. Players can’t wear their colors, they can only wear the colors that some artist made and what 343 allows them to unlock. But the coating system was attractive because of the colors, it was attractive because of the armor distribution. People like “Scorpion Punch” because the idea of having a single color spartan with one arm looking different was neat. Sell camouflage, tiger stripes, fading gradients, but not colors. Please.
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ARMOR TEXTURES. In addition to patterns 343 could sell textures. It’s also a new option players have not seen before. This could be things like mud, grime, shine, polish, battle scar, plasma damage, and so on. Imagine having a big energy sword gash across your chest plate. Right now, colors, patterns and textures are all tied to the coating system, hindering player creativity. Separate them. Doing this would make customization more dynamic.
*The next four, people may disagree with me on
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GLOVES. While a part of the armor, I feel that gloves don’t matter too much. It’s a small part of the armor (only 1 hand), and the customization gets lost with prosthesis anyways. This is a new option, but hardly one people would miss.
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WRIST. Obviously a big part of Reach’s customization, but if 343 just HAS to “make money somehow” then monetizing wrist attachments in bundles would help. Again, it’s a small part of the armor that I personally rarely notice.
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UTILITY. The same as wrist. I personally like utility pieces, but again, people hardly notice them.
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KNEE PADS. Again, you hardly notice them, and sometimes you can’t even see them in the intro/outros of matches.
*I believe the most important armor parts for identifying players are Helmet (visor), Shoulders and chest (and color).
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EMBLEMS. Emblems shouldn’t be monetized, but since they have been for 2 games now, I’ll entertain the idea. Emblems really only serve to let players customize their portion of the scoreboard. So in reality, emblems have almost no effect on the game. If only one part of customization were to be paywalled, I’d want it to be emblems. That said, emblems need to at least be customizable again. Color, foreground, background.
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EMBLEM COLORS. If 343 insists on monetizing colors, emblems aren’t the worst thing they can do. They hardly affect the experience, and a handful of options are already given to us for free. I don’t like paying for colors, but I’d rather it be on emblems than armor.
Also emblems, need to apply for nameplates, armor, weapons AND vehicles at once. Selling 1 emblem 4 times is just bad. -
ARMOR EFFECTS. No one NEEDS Inclement Weather, or Grunt Birthday Party to have a good time in Halo.
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MYTHIC EFFECT SETS. Again no, one needs these, and honestly they look like a disadvantage to have flames revealing where you last sprinted. But they look cool so someone is bound to buy them.
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WEAPON KITS. I don’t know what’s in these, but I assume they are like armor kits. Weapons aren’t usually customizable in Halo, so this isn’t that big of a deal and it only seems to be UNSC weapons.
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WEAPON COATINGS. They need to be compatible with ALL weapons, so you can have a matching set, not just the AR or the BR, etc. That said, Halo’s never needed weapon skins. They were cool in 4, 5, and MCC, but they aren’t a necessary part of the experience and if people really want them, they’ll get them.
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MODELS. I don’t know to what extent these will go, but the Shinobi Wrap from the Yoroi event looks pointless. A muzzle guard that you can’t even see in game. Go off I guess.
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CHARMS. Sure, monetize them. Again Halo doesn’t need them, but if people want them, then go right ahead.
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KILL EFFECTS. Halo doesn’t need them. No one needs them, but if they want to pay for that stuff, that’s not my problem.
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VEHICLE COATINGS. They were cool in MCC, but no one needed them, plus they always crashed my game. Besides it’s not like I’ll ever get to drive a scorpion anyways.
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MODELS. Hood ornaments and I guess fuzzy dice in season 2. I won’t pay for it, but someone will.
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AI MODELS. Honestly surprised we’re given THREE for free and then Lumu as the 4th in the battlepass. These are a cool addition and I love them, but Halo never needed extra announcers and I’m fine with the ones we have. That said, please add Auntie Dot. She should have been in this season, but I guess that Virgil money was too good to pass up.
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AI COLORS. Don’t really need AIs so we don’t really need their colors. Again monetizing colors is bad, but if you’re going to do it, do it something that doesn’t impact players too much.
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AI SKINS. Kind of how Virgil has a hard hat, maybe give Fret and company a cowboy hat or something. I won’t buy them, but someone will like them and I think it is better than monetizing ROY G BIV.
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NAMEPLATES. Sure, monetize them. You only see them at the beginning of the game and no one cares.
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PALETTES. Monetizing colors is embarrassing, but again, do it on things that don’t matter like nameplates.
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BACKDROPS. Seriously? Not gonna buy them, but feel free to bundle that stuff I guess.
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STANCES. People will buy these, but they don’t matter. And it’s only a matter of time before the stances look ridiculous. Special Delivery is the only one I need.
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ASSASSINATIONS. Supposedly you’re bringing them back, and I already know they’ll be monetized. I love assassinations, but good thing Halo doesn’t need them and is actually competitively more viable without them.
And finally:
- CREDITS THROUGH CAMPAIGN PURCHASE. Halo’s campaign is $60 alone, making it a steep price compared to past titles. I don’t know if it will live up to that price, but 343 can get more F2Pers to buy it by allowing those who purchase it to unlock the right to earn credits through gameplay. And the credits don’t even have to be super quick to earn.
Make it:
- 1 credit for match completion
- 1 cR for a win
- 1 cR for a good performance (7+ kills, positive K/D or 1000 match score, or all 3 to triple the gain)
- 1 credit for every 5-10 kills with any gun
- Maybe credits for achievements like beating the campaign on Legendary
- 5 credits for each skull found
- And more
Titanfall 2 had a similar system to this and it was great. I didn’t have to spend a dime on stuff that I wanted, but there MANY things that I never unlocked. So those loot boxes still looked enticing for the impatient. TF2 also still had bundles and paywalled packs that could only be unlocked through cash. You don’t have to have everything be free to have a player friendly, but profitable system.
WEEKLY REWARDS: The current system doesn’t eliminate FOMO. If players don’t get the weekly reward, then there’s no telling when that same reward will appear again. Instead, at the start of every week, let players CHOOSE which reward they want to attempt to unlock. Once this item is chosen, the option locks to prevent people from cheesing the system. This way if you don’t get that coating you wanted because you got unlucky on challenges, then you can try again next week.
Final words:
This system didn’t have to be like this. You didn’t have to make it so manipulative. If you simply made a good and robust system, people would have bought it simply because it was THAT GOOD. I haven’t bought the BP or any store items because I’d feel like a chump for doing so. In fact this horrible system is WHY I’m withholding my money.
Make players say, “I bought the Halo Infinite Battlepass, and it was the best thing ever.”
Make players feel good for spending money on your game.
Unfortunately they can’t be converted into real money. But in the end, those $140 were a benefit for the developers.