A Request for the Return of Armor Customization

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Let me start off by saying: I’m aware that I don’t speak for the Halo Community as a whole; this is merely the opinion of – and a request, if possible, to the gifted workers of 343 Industries from – an individual. Seeing as I must’ve “missed the bus” on the surveys handed out within the Feedback Program, I feel this is the only place I can write this request. If I’m mistaken, please let me know, and I’ll delete this thread promptly.

My concern lies within the Armor Customization options available within Halo 5: Guardians – or, more precisely, the lack thereof – as well as the User Interface currently present (as of this post) within the game’s Customization sub-menus. While having the option to select my own Armor, Helmet, Visor, and Color is substantially better than the scarce options provided within the game’s predecessors, Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, it unfortunately falls short of the greater range of choices provided in Halo 3, Halo: Reach, and Halo 4. Given that Halo 5: Guardians is the most advanced game of the franchise to date, I feel that this needs to be rectified, as I feel that I can’t connect at all with the Spartan I’m supposed to be controlling on the digital battlefield.

First off, I’d like to make a suggestion pertaining to the organization of the menus within the Spartan Appearance Category. If possible, I would like the Filter (Y Button) Option from the Requisitions: Collection menus to be implemented into the Armor, Helmet, and Visor menus, and set to cycle between three different settings:

  • Filter | Most Recent (Organize the unlocked/available selections by viewing the most recent acquisitions first)
  • Filter | A – Z (Organize the unlocked/available selections in alphabetical order)
  • Filter | Tiers (Organize the unlocked/available selections by grouping the items’ ranked Tiers together, starting at the lowest (Common) and finishing with the highest (Mythic))

Secondly, it would be nice if the “Skins” of each Armor and Helmet could be removed (in other words, have the currently listed (pre-Memories of Reach Update) 214 available items reduced to their 82 originals), and then subsequently replaced within a sub-menu that would open up once a particular Armor or Helmet has been selected (i.e.: Default, Skin 1, Skin 2, etc.).

Thirdly, I wish to address the current limitation of four available customization options. Since I understand that there are other players who wish to keep the customization as is to prevent over-complexity, I would leave the initial choices of Armor, Helmet, Visor, and Color alone. Instead, an additional button (perhaps holding the Left Trigger?) could be implemented when the “cursor” is hovering over a specific “Skin” of an Armor, prompting a small sub-menu to open up and allow the player to choose which specific parts of the Spartan they wish to adorn. The selections could then be:

  • Left Shoulder
  • Right Shoulder
  • Gauntlets
  • Torso (Front)
  • Torso (Back)
  • Thighs
  • Greaves

Essentially, all I’m asking is if the game’s options could be updated so I can turn my Spartan from:

In retrospect, a lot of this seems rather demanding, but I don’t intend it to be. By no means is anyone required to listen to me; I simply felt that these suggestions needed to be voiced. If anyone connected to the Developer happens to come across this post, I pray that what I’ve provided will at least be taken into consideration. And now, this is the part where the “floor” becomes open for discussion. What does the Halo Community think about these options? Is it a fair compromise between those who wish to see more customization, and those who do not? Would you want/do anything different? Am I ultimately alone in wanting any of this? Am I just an annoying ***** for creating a topic that’s practically identical to the dozen-or-so others addressing Armor Customization as well? (Only time will tell!) Seriously, though, discuss and critique at will; just remember to be civil about it, please.

Spartan 016, Jex, signing off.

2

Why not just have the customization like it was in halo 4, it was my favorite armor customizing game.

3

I think 343 Industries should keep the current armor pieces they have, but should have halo 4 armor customization.

4

You can already sort by Most Recent and by Rarity. For Most Recent go to the “Customization” tab, for Rarity go to the “Collection” tab.

As far as individual pieces go, first off it’s way too late into H5’s lifespan for them to add it in my opinion.
Second, after playing DOOM recently I’ve found that more often than not with tons of customization options for each slot I end up hitting “randomize” more often than not because I’m too lazy to go through 100 pieces for each arm and leg (that’s just me though).

As for feeling a “connection” to your spartan, I feel no more significant connection to mine now than any other game. I mean everyone had Hayabusa anyway, it wasn’t really special. And having one giant shoulder, one whole bulky side etc., isn’t all that unique since there is most likely someone else using the same thing anyway.

You make alot of good points but it’s all kind of negligible to me.

5

yea h5 customization is most definitely a step backwards. even from halo 3 and that game was pretty limited

6

I hate to say it… But DOOM has better customization than H5… But gotta pander to the mlg crowd. God forbid they have to transfer the extra data to designate which armor pieces they have equipped. That much lag would make the game unplayable!

7

Hopefully halo 6 has a similar armour customisation to halo reach

8

> 2533275037964533;2:
> Why not just have the customization like it was in halo 4, it was my favorite armor customizing game.
> I think 343 Industries should keep the current armor pieces they have, but should have halo 4 armor customization.

Indeed, I loved Halo 4’s customization options, more so than any other Halo game to date. But I expanded my list primarily because of one recurring reason that kept popping out at me since the dawn of Halo 3: there was never (and I mean EVER) a single torso piece that I actually liked. Every time I found one that caught my eye, I always found myself hating either the back of the piece, or the front. That’s why I added “Torso (Front)” and “Torso (Back)” to the standard Halo 4 options.

> 2533274821761464;4:
> You can already sort by Most Recent and by Rarity. For Most Recent go to the “Customization” tab, for Rarity go to the “Collection” tab.

That’s true, but I was aiming for a way to condense those options into the same screen; preferably the one with the preview of your Spartan adjacent to the menu. To be perfectly honest, my preferred choice out of the suggestions I’d provided was actually the “Filter | A – Z” option, but I added the other two as I’d imagine other players would want those choices to remain in the menus.

> 2533274821761464;4:
> As far as individual pieces go, first off it’s way too late into H5’s lifespan for them to add it in my opinion.

Well, considering the industry average of a game’s development cycle (without building a new engine) is a minimum of 3 to 5 years, I think it’s a bit early to say we’re “late” into Halo 5: Guardians’ lifespan, when it supposedly still has at least 2 ½ years to go. To clarify, I’m not asking for new content (armors, weapons, maps, etc.); rather, I’m simply requesting a restructuring of the Armor Customization Menu’s options. I feel like it isn’t too late after the game’s release for that, but, as you say, it is just my opinion.

> 2533274821761464;4:
> Second, after playing DOOM recently I’ve found that more often than not with tons of customization options for each slot I end up hitting “randomize” more often than not because I’m too lazy to go through 100 pieces for each arm and leg (that’s just me though).

Well, that’s why I suggested leaving the current options as they are, and instead, have the more detailed customization selections available via an optional button. On other threads concerning this topic, I’ve noticed some players who, much like yourself, would prefer not to be bombarded with more choices than Halo 5: Guardians currently provides, and I understand that outlook; a friend of mine, who used to play Halo for many years, felt the same way, and would either “randomize” or just use basic selections like “Helmet” and “Chest”.

But leaving that as the only available choices, I feel, is a tad bit unfair for those out there who wish to go into greater detail on their armor. I’m just trying to look for a compromise between both parties without creating a huge programming nightmare for 343 Industries, truth be told.

> 2533274821761464;4:
> As for feeling a “connection” to your spartan, I feel no more significant connection to mine now than any other game. I mean everyone had Hayabusa anyway, it wasn’t really special. And having one giant shoulder, one whole bulky side etc., isn’t all that unique since there is most likely someone else using the same thing anyway.

Indeed, I understand your views on a player’s connection with their in-game Spartans; on many occasions, across all Halo games since Halo: Combat Evolved, I’ve seen players with identical armor choices. This often led me to believe that there was a line between the “Popular Choice” and the “Creative Choice”. Perhaps it’s merely coincidental, but I never found myself liking what was considered “Popular”, and the creative touches I placed on my Spartan in the past helped me feel like I was much more unique and “myself” in the battlefield (before Halo 5: Guardians – and after Halo 2 – I don’t believe I ever ran into anyone who looked identical to me). I don’t know how else to put it, but it feels like that immersion has been heavily hampered, and I’m just controlling another pre-selected avatar, much like in the Medal of Honor games of old.

> 2533274799030734;6:
> God forbid they have to transfer the extra data to designate which armor pieces they have equipped. That much lag would make the game unplayable!

Halo: Reach and Halo 4 both had a tremendous amount of armor options to cycle through, and I never had any “lag” issues on either game. Granted, I don’t speak for the Halo Community as a whole, so if I’m alone in that scenario, then I apologize; but, I feel like additional customization would place an almost negligible draw on the game’s servers.