The loadout system is one of the most contraversial things brought into halo. While it has brought a new spin on gameplay it hasnt had a real “positive” impact on the game. The system promotes unfair gameplay and contains extremely OP weapons. While I’m sure we cant “change the past” and exnay the loadout system in the next game i’d like to offer some incentives.
Let me first explain how it promotes unfair gameplay
-
OP weaponry like the DMR and plasma pistol are gamebreaking weapons. the dmr is mainly used to take pot shots from across the map. It is also one of the reasons as to why we cant have big-open btb maps like sandtrap and sidewinder. The plasma pistol (which arguably has been nerfed in the ammo box) breaks the halo vehicle experience by having players rush around disabling any vehicle in sight.
-
The perk system has also affected the game negatively. Giving unneeded ammo for power weapons, allowing us to pick up grenades when we should be able to from the start, and giving us the ability to call in ordinance drops (which also arn’t needed) earlier than others.
My first idea comes as this: A single, Gow-styled, loadout, which would be sorted out like this:
<Primary Weapon>
AR (close range)
BR (long range)
ODST SMG (medium range)
<Sidearm>
ODST Magnum (mid range)
Magnum (long range)
Revolver (close range, basically a beefed up halo 3 magnum at the core)
<AA or Perk (make em choose their antidote)>
sprint
firepower
cloak
hardlight sheild
radar up
pro vision
My second idea is this:
Ditch the loadout system but make AA’s part of armor customization. You’ll get one AA and it will show up on your player card (sorta like the specializations).
My last idea is this:
Ditch the loadout system entirely
Now that you’ve heard these ideas and my opinions why this customizable loadout system is faulty i’d like to hear your opinions. Whether you like the current system, any of these ideas, or just have your own please fill free to talk about it.
Why not try and balance the current system before scrapping it over? That seems like a lot less work.
Balance the weapons in performance and their niches. Make it so the ammo package only works with your starting weapons.
You don’t make drastic changes to game systems. Each change creates a ripple effect that no one can see the end of. Which is why they need to be small, and elegant changes to try and control those ripples to the best of our ability. Game design 101 people 
No perks. Just Primary, Secondary, Grenade and AA. But loadouts should only be in Social playlist not Competitive. Perks are just not balanced at all, like dexterity, gunner, operator, explosives, and so on.
> Why not try and balance the current system before scrapping it over? That seems like a lot less work.
>
> Balance the weapons in performance and their niches. Make it so the ammo package only works with your starting weapons.
>
> You don’t make drastic changes to game systems. Each change creates a ripple effect that no one can see the end of. Which is why they need to be small, and elegant changes to try and control those ripples to the best of our ability. Game design 101 people
Then allow me to point out, the drastic changes made to this game are unacceptable. Both bungie and 343i broke that rule when making reach and 4.
> Then allow me to point out, the drastic changes made to this game are unacceptable. Both bungie and 343i broke that rule when making reach and 4.
Unacceptable to who? You? Their boss? Their fans? I know a lot of people who loved Reach MP, and I know a lot of people who love Halo 4 MP. So is that your opinion? Because I think that is.
Also I’m pretty sure all gloves are off when it comes to making sequels. I mean look how different each WoW expansion is from it’s previous.
> > Then allow me to point out, the drastic changes made to this game are unacceptable. Both bungie and 343i broke that rule when making reach and 4.
>
> Unacceptable to who? You? Their boss? Their fans? I know a lot of people who loved Reach MP, and I know a lot of people who love Halo 4 MP. So is that your opinion? Because I think that is.
>
> Also I’m pretty sure all gloves are off when it comes to making sequels. I mean look how different each WoW expansion is from it’s previous.
Well, the core gameplay of wow does not change. You dont see wow changing from what it is to what runescape was pre eoc do you?
Thats the point updates to a game are fine if the core gameplay remains intact.
On topic ditch them or if we have to have them make them pre determined loadouts similar to reach.
> No perks. Just Primary, Secondary, Grenade and AA. But loadouts should only be in Social playlist not Competitive. Perks are just not balanced at all, like dexterity, gunner, operator, explosives, and so on.
This, however I would prefer the secondaries should only be magnums and the grenades should only be frags.
Plasma pistols, Boltshots, and Plasma grenades are rather OP and should either be removed or nerfed if they’re going to stay in Loadouts.
> > Then allow me to point out, the drastic changes made to this game are unacceptable. Both bungie and 343i broke that rule when making reach and 4.
>
> Unacceptable to who? You? Their boss? Their fans? I know a lot of people who loved Reach MP, and I know a lot of people who love Halo 4 MP. So is that your opinion? Because I think that is.
>
> Also I’m pretty sure all gloves are off when it comes to making sequels. I mean look how different each WoW expansion is from it’s previous.
Unacceptable to me and to whomever hates them as well, so yes an opinion, but a popular one at that.
> ]Well, the core gameplay of wow does not change. You dont see wow changing from what it is to what runescape was pre eoc do you?
>
> Thats the point updates to a game are fine if the core gameplay remains intact.
>
> On topic ditch them or if we have to have them make them pre determined loadouts similar to reach.
Uhh yeah…In BC you brought various classes and specs to raids simply to buff others. That got changed in Wrath of the Lich King to where the idea was bring the player not the class/spec something that was considered blasphemy at the time. Pure DPS classes cried that they would be come extinct! Obsolete!
In Wrath of the Lich king raiding was done with 25 players. If you wanted to be a top end cool kids guild you raided 25 mans. In Cataclysm they gave both 10 and 25 man raiding groups the same gear. People lost their effing minds. Still are.
Don’t even get me started on the Talent systems and PvP. They Core gameplay changed almost every time.
Now if you mean how I control my character, my objectives in Battlegrounds? How I defeat my enemies? Didn’t change at all, kinda like how Halo 4 has changed how you pull the trigger and shoot.
I liked your first idea but they should just balance everything first before making such dramatic changes. When the TU comes out, we will see.
> > ]Well, the core gameplay of wow does not change. You dont see wow changing from what it is to what runescape was pre eoc do you?
> >
> > Thats the point updates to a game are fine if the core gameplay remains intact.
> >
> > On topic ditch them or if we have to have them make them pre determined loadouts similar to reach.
>
> Uhh yeah…In BC you brought various classes and specs to raids simply to buff others. That got changed in Wrath of the Lich King to where the idea was bring the player not the class/spec something that was considered blasphemy at the time. Pure DPS classes cried that they would be come extinct! Obsolete!
>
> In Wrath of the Lich king raiding was done with 25 players. If you wanted to be a top end cool kids guild you raided 25 mans. In Cataclysm they gave both 10 and 25 man raiding groups the same gear. People lost their effing minds. Still are.
>
> Don’t even get me started on the Talent systems and PvP. They Core gameplay changed almost every time.
>
> Now if you mean how I control my character, my objectives in Battlegrounds? How I defeat my enemies? Didn’t change at all, kinda like how Halo 4 has changed how you pull the trigger and shoot.
None of them updates changed what the game was an ability based combat mmo. These updates have changed halo from arena too class based. Does seem like a major change too me.
Changing halo from arena based shooter to class based would be like wow changing its combat to what runescape was pre eoc (if you dont know what this is ill explain it.) Still in the same genre but radically different in there approach to things.
I like the first idea, except there should be two loadouts, one for MM, one for Spartan Ops.
I do have to point out to the OP that negatively impacting the vehicle experience isn’t a bad thing when taken in context with the larger game. Vehicles in Halo have never been balanced with the possible exception of the light vehicles in Halo 3 and maybe the chopper as compared to other games which have much more competently incorportated vehicles into their game (namely Unreal Tournament 2004 and UT3 which started with the intention of adding vehicles in multiplayer (where Halo approached the problem from the campaign side and has only since been making minor adjustments from that broken multiplayer formula) and did a really good job as a result.) The point is that we need something in the loadout system that can punish armor so that it doesn’t overwhelm infantry as certainly it did in Halo’s 1-3. The plamsa pistol serves that purpose without acting as a rocket launcher unto itself. It should stay and so for that matter should the DMR because gutting the sandbox isn’t the answer to hard balance problems. It’s only the easiest one and by far the one we loose most by.
The same goes for sacking the loadout system. Halo is already lagging behind the rest of the genre in coming to this solution for the spawning weapon problem. Even as early as 2006 Rainbow Six Vegas was putting Halo 2 to shame in just how competently you could make a multiplayer game play if you merely stopped trying to ape arena shooters for your core design. And more recent games like Section 8 Prejudice and Space Marine have unequivocally shown that games that are right in Halo’s neighborhood can create wonderful experiences by doing the same, by using fully customizable loadouts and even getting rid of on-map weapon spawns altogether.
No, it wouldn’t be the old Halo but remember that the old Halo started as a ideologically compromised attachment to a campaign-based game. It was never designed to be good, any interpretation of that merely came as what bungie always called a “happy accident.” Accordingly you can’t justify what they did simply by saying “it’s Halo” because that just highlights the problem. Halo is Halo and nothing else because, as Yahtzee rightly called it, it’s an evolutionary dead end, a random mutation with precious little adaptive value because it has so far separated itself other lineages. At first that was it’s charm but as that greater pool of genetic diversity has become more and more fit isolating yourself poses a serious risk of extinction or at least religation to a very small niche.
Hey I know that’s a bit of a rant but we need better solutions than simply “let’s cut stuff!” and there’s a lot of other games out there that might help us find at least the inspiration (Section 8 in particular. Their loadout system of point-by-point customization and weapon mods might be the sort of thing 343 should look into.)