A Revamped REQ System

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Hello, Halo FPS lovers!

As we all know, the Halo community has responded to the REQ system very negatively. On this date, 8/10/2017, there is a poll over at Poll Discussions about the return of the REQ system, and people apparently despise it. However, I do not think it is all bad. Of course, it is flawed, but I think with some changes it would fit excellently into Halo.

Here is what should stay unchanged: the XP and RP boosts, the accumulation of REQ points, the REQ packs available for purchase, and the REQ variants of loadout weapons and power weapons.

Now, it is time for the changes, the most important of which is the ability to purchase base REQ certifications, loadout weapons, armor, weapon skins, etc. For the most part, all common REQs should cost 10,000 points, all uncommons should cost 20,000, all rares should cost 40,000, all ultra rares should cost 65,000, and all legendaries should cost 100,000. If the weapon or armor is mythic, it should cost an extra 5,000.

Second, I will talk about the REQ variants. On this topic, the first thing I will say is that they cannot be purchased, but they can be earned through kill commendations. For example, let’s say you purchased the Sniper Rifle for 20,000 REQ points. In order to get the End of the Line, you need to get 50 kills with a Sniper Rifle in MP, and to unlock the Arrow of Time, you must get 117 kills with any Sniper Rifle variant (including the base variant) in MP. For the Nornfang, you must get 180 kills with a Sniper Rifle variant in MP and get 50 kills with the Nornfang in the campaign. The same system can be applied to any weapon; first you earn 50 kills, then 117, and if there is a Mythic version, get 180 kills in MP and 50 in campaign. Now, to earn REQ cards, you would need to either purchase a 10-pack of a certain REQ for half of the prices stated above (e.g. 10 Scorpions cost 20,000 REQ points) or purchase a REQ pack for their current price tags, and see what you get.

Third, I will talk about the armors. I think that you can take your chances with a REQ pack, or purchase it. Who knows? You may get the beloved EVA helmet after three tries with Silver Packs instead of spending 40,000. Or, if you are like me and bad luck seems to always be on my tail, you can just save your REQ points. This being said, some variants should be locked behind achievements and cannot be purchased. You may need to beat Halo 6 on Legendary difficulty to get the Mark VI armor, just like Halo 4. Or, to get the Helljumper armor, you must get 150 kills with the Ground Pound. As for armor customization, you should be able to mix and match helmets, visors, leg plating, and so on, but you need to unlock/purchase the armor from all of the sets you want to use for your armor. If I wanted to blend the Helljumper and the EVA armor, I would need to acquire both sets.

Now, I will clear up everything I did not mention. I think all emblems and backgrounds should be purchasable for 10,000 REQ points apiece, and they will not be found in REQ packs. Assassinations, Loadout Weapons, and Weapon Skins will simply be purchasable or unlockable via REQ packs. You can earn REQ points by completing campaign missions.

This system, as far as I know, would be solid, but you guys may spot some problems with it. Let me know what you all think down below. If you really like it, let’s make this post large enough that 343 Industries notices it!

~~Riprollonect13

2

I think customization items such as Armour & Helmets should be purchasable, but weapon & vehicles reqs should be from packs to prevent players from just buying all the best weapons & vehicles.

3

I think the req system would have been way more accepted had they left some stuff only unlockable through game play.

4

> 2535460550943257;1:
> Hello, Halo FPS lovers!

Hi

> 2535460550943257;1:
> Here is what should stay unchanged: the XP and RP boosts, the accumulation of REQ points, the REQ packs available for purchase, and the REQ variants of loadout weapons and power weapons.

I disagree. Loadouts need major work. Currently, loadouts are unlocked from packs in the form of specific combinations of scope+attachment. This could have been done a lot better, for example maybe unlocking the scopes and attachments separately, and then being able to put them on any loadout weapon that has been unlocked.

But even better would be removing loadouts from the req pool altogether. I hated Warzone when I first played it, because I had to use a Magnum when everyone else had battle rifles. That’s no way to make Warzone friendly to new players. What would be the harm in giving every player every loadout weapon, including the scopes and attachments, from the beginning?

> 2535460550943257;1:
> Now, it is time for the changes, the most important of which is the ability to purchase base REQ certifications, loadout weapons, armor, weapon skins, etc. For the most part, all common REQs should cost 10,000 points, all uncommons should cost 20,000, all rares should cost 40,000, all ultra rares should cost 65,000, and all legendaries should cost 100,000. If the weapon or armor is mythic, it should cost an extra 5,000.

I don’t like the idea of certifications either. Maybe it would be nice to make them purchaseable, because then I would have only purchased vehicle certifications because of how useless weapons are in Warzone Firefight, but then people being able to certify themselves for nothing but Phaeton Helioses would potentially create some balancing issues for PvP. So I think it would be best to do away with certifications entirely. And also because single-use reqs that have a lower drop rate have their scarcity compounded when their certification is also a rare drop, which is silly.

And like I said, loadouts shouldn’t be unlockable. Otherwise, I agree that being able to use req points to purchase permanent unlocks individually would be an improvement.

> 2535460550943257;1:
> Second, I will talk about the REQ variants. On this topic, the first thing I will say is that they cannot be purchased, but they can be earned through kill commendations. For example, let’s say you purchased the Sniper Rifle for 20,000 REQ points. In order to get the End of the Line, you need to get 50 kills with a Sniper Rifle in MP, and to unlock the Arrow of Time, you must get 117 kills with any Sniper Rifle variant (including the base variant) in MP. For the Nornfang, you must get 180 kills with a Sniper Rifle variant in MP and get 50 kills with the Nornfang in the campaign. The same system can be applied to any weapon; first you earn 50 kills, then 117, and if there is a Mythic version, get 180 kills in MP and 50 in campaign. Now, to earn REQ cards, you would need to either purchase a 10-pack of a certain REQ for half of the prices stated above (e.g. 10 Scorpions cost 20,00 REQ points) or purchase a REQ pack for their current price tags, and see what you get.

To be honest, I don’t like this idea. What if someone only plays Warzone Firefight? They won’t be getting any kill commendations to unlock the reqs necessary to perform well in Warzone Firefight.

> 2535460550943257;1:
> Third, I will talk about the armors. I think that you can take your chances with a REQ pack, or purchase it. Who knows? You may get the beloved EVA helmet after three tries with Silver Packs instead of spending 40,000. Or, if you are like me and bad luck seems to always be on my tail, you can just save your REQ points. This being said, some variants should be locked behind achievements and cannot be purchased. You may need to beat Halo 6 on Legendary difficulty to get the Mark VI armor, just like Halo 4. Or, to get the Helljumper armor, you must get 150 kills with the Ground Pound. As for armor customization, you should be able to mix and match helmets, visors, leg plating, and so on, but you need to unlock/purchase the armor from all of the sets you want to use for your armor. If I wanted to blend the Helljumper and the EVA armor, I would need to acquire both sets.

This would probably be an improvement, actually

> 2535460550943257;1:
> This system, as far as I know, would be solid, but you guys may spot some problems with it. Let me know what you all think down below.

There are some issues I have with the req system that you haven’t addressed. The idea of unlocking weapons and vehicles to use in Warzone is inherently unfriendly to new players who don’t have much of anything. In addition to being barebones at launch, I feel like that is a big reason why Halo 5’s population dropped off so fast after launch. Warzone isn’t very fun when you don’t have a lot of reqs.

It also creates issues with higher difficulties of Firefight because new players, who don’t have much of anything in the way of reqs, think they are being effective when they stand there and assault rifle Warden Eternal (hint: they’re not). Therefore, new players can drag their team down and cause a loss, simply because of the fact that they’re new and don’t have many reqs, even if they are skilled players. Walling off higher difficulties of Warzone Firefight, and not allowing new people to play them until they have a big enough req collection, has been discussed, but I don’t think that’s a good idea either.

Not to mention the snowball effect that happens in Warzone, leading to blowout matches is a direct result of the way req leveling works within matches (this is mostly solved with the addition of Warzone Turbo, however). And here’s another thing: I sincerely think Halo 5 would have had BTB Heavies, or at least more vehicle-friendly BTB maps, if the req system wasn’t a thing. I’m sure they wanted all of the chaotic heavy vehicle action to take place in Warzone because that’s where they make their microtransaction money (keep in mind Warzone can’t exist without the req system). But outside of Warzone, Halo 5 lacks anything like the BTB Heavies we had in Halo Reach and 4. Without the req system, I don’t think this would be an issue.

So for these reasons, I am hoping the req system doesn’t come back at all in Halo 6. Some of these problems are built into the core of how it works, and can’t be fixed by simply adjusting some details about how stuff is unlocked. Although it can be a lot of fun once you have a big collection of reqs so you can dominate everybody in Warzone Turbo and call in the best vehicle for each round in Warzone Firefight, the req system causes more problems than it’s worth, in my opinion.

Edit: forgot to mention the req system also incentivizes 343 to go for quantity over quality when designing armor. So yeah

5

> 2535416010022389;2:
> I think customization items such as Armour & Helmets should be purchasable, but weapon & vehicles reqs should be from packs to prevent players from just buying all the best weapons & vehicles.

I was thinking that the base power weapons would be purchased, and you unlock the special REQ variants by getting kills with the base power weapons.

6

I agree