A small but effective change to the REQ system.

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So after browsing these forums for the past few days I’ve noticed a lot of people are quite obviously not happy with the REQ system and it’s purely RNG approach to things. I had an idea for a really small change that could improve it quite a bit and wanted to know what you guys thought.

A lot of people, I notice, are buying pack after pack trying to get some particular weapon, such as a DMR, but keep getting bogged down by the sheer number of aesthetic REQs in the system that they don’t much care for. To date there are approximately 700 aesthetic permanent REQs (helmets, armor, visors, emblems, stances, assassinations, skins) and approximately 250 gameplay permanent REQs (certifications, loadouts, armor mods) By those numbers you are nearly 3 times as likely to get something purely aesthetic in nature than you are to get something that could affect gameplay. (I realise a lot of those aesthetic REQs, emblems in particular, are unlocked from level or commendation specific packs and thus are not included in the pool of randoms, but for the sake of this thread, we’ll use these nice rounded numbers.)

My proposed change:
Split the REQ packs between aesthetic REQs and gameplay REQs

Even if the current packs stayed available, and new versions of the silver and gold packs were added that simply guaranteed your two permanent REQs would fall into one or the other category, I think it would make a lot of players much happier. (The consumable REQs included could be left untouched.) If 343 were worried that their microtransactions would take a hit, they could change the transactions to be simply for points rather than packs themselves. As in you’d purchase 5,000 or 10,000 points rather than directly buying packs, and they could even hike up the prices of the more specific packs. I don’t personally mind all the armor variations, but I also wouldn’t mind getting some more loadout variations and I would be more than happy to spend double the REQ points on packs if I knew I was only going to get gameplay specific items with no chance at aesthetic items.

Another minor, but I think important, change would be to make sure players can’t unlock modified loadout weapons before unlocking the base version. I’ve seen a number of people in the forums, as well as one of my friends, who’ve got some souped up version of a DMR at REQ level 8 that they hardly get the chance to use, and don’t even have the base version yet. If the REQ system required that you get the base version first, it would further increase the chances of getting some of the base loadout weapons people are looking for, and quite frankly, just make more sense.

Ultimately what these changes boil down to:
Removing just a little bit of the randomness from the REQ system.

I do understand 343’s idea that the random unlocks keep you coming back for more, because you never know what you’re going to get. But when about 75% of the unlocks are things that so many people just don’t seem interested in, purely random is not the way to go. I’m sure there are plenty of players who do want some of those aesthetic pieces, myself included. In their case, they could invest in the aesthetic specific packs rather than gameplay. Ultimately, a huge issue I see with a purely random system is it makes the assumption that everyone places some value on everything, when the reality is quite a large portion of players place almost no value on the majority of the available items, making opening packs more frustrating than exciting. At least that seems to be the case.

A few other thoughts:
Adding some more interesting ways to earn REQ points would make things better. Like daily or weekly challenges, even if mostly for XP, if they offered a few extra points it would be nice. Or perhaps more interesting boost cards that worked like daily challenges except for one specific game.

Ultimately, I think the REQ system should be replaced with a credits system similar to Reach’s where you choose what to purchase (aesthetic and gameplay included) and the microtransactions would be for credit deposits if you didn’t want to earn them by gameplay. This thread was mostly for a minor change they could make for a huge improvement rather than a complete overhaul of the system.

What are your thoughts?

2

Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.

Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
Level 10 adds the SMG
And at level 20 you get the DMR.

So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.

3

Excellent topic, I’m mitigated in-between the idea of REQ Gameplay/Aesthetic because I do love my armor/skin as much as I like getting new power weapon and vehicle.

The part I most agree with is the daily/weekly challenge for XP/REQ points. Make it like it use to be give 1500-5000 points for a daily challenge 10-20k or more it depends for a weekly challenge. This will keep people to play the designated gametype for that challenge and it will help a bit for the unlockable

4

> 2576836393959214;2:
> Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
>
> Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> Level 10 adds the SMG
> And at level 20 you get the DMR.
>
> So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.

Horrible idea. Specially assuming it only takes a few hours to get to SR20.

5

> 2576836393959214;2:
> Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
>
> Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> Level 10 adds the SMG
> And at level 20 you get the DMR.
>
> So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.

That’s quite clever and a good solution!
I still think splitting the packs would be helpful though, say for players who want to get lots of certifications, or are looking for a specific helmet, it would help a lot.

6

> 2576836393959214;2:
> Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
>
> Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> Level 10 adds the SMG
> And at level 20 you get the DMR.
>
> So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.

I would say maybe raise the level a little bit if we would go that way… lvl 20 is really low to get the base DMR. I would say more like 40-50 if you didn’t unlock it yet. I am level 39 and have not gotten the DMR, but I feel like I am very close to get it :slight_smile:

7

> 2533274807544947;4:
> > 2576836393959214;2:
> > Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
> >
> > Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> > Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> > Level 10 adds the SMG
> > And at level 20 you get the DMR.
> >
> > So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.
>
>
> Horrible idea. Specially assuming it only takes a few hours to get to SR20.

The levels could be changed. Perhaps DMR is only guaranteed by 50. I think it’s a solid concept though.

8

> 2533274802029738;1:
> A few other thoughts:
> Adding some more interesting ways to earn REQ points would make things better. Like daily or weekly challenges, even if mostly for XP, if they offered a few extra points it would be nice. Or perhaps more interesting boost cards that worked like daily challenges except for one specific game.

I think this is a really good idea. Perhaps adding monthly challenges too.
In Halo 4 there were such challenges to earn extra xp points, so why not add challenges in halo 5 to get extra req points.

9

I only open gold packs and I normally only get 1 or 2 pieces of cosmetic items. I think its a mistake to buy silver or bronze packs, simply because the gold clearly states that the Rare items will be in Gold.

10

> 2533274807544947;4:
> > 2576836393959214;2:
> > Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
> >
> > Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> > Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> > Level 10 adds the SMG
> > And at level 20 you get the DMR.
> >
> > So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.
>
>
> Horrible idea. Specially assuming it only takes a few hours to get to SR20.

> 2533274872647908;6:
> > 2576836393959214;2:
> > Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
> >
> > Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> > Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> > Level 10 adds the SMG
> > And at level 20 you get the DMR.
> >
> > So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.
>
>
> I would say maybe raise the level a little bit if we would go that way… lvl 20 is really low to get the base DMR. I would say more like 40-50 if you didn’t unlock it yet. I am level 39 and have not gotten the DMR, but I feel like I am very close to get it :slight_smile:

> 2533274802029738;7:
> > 2533274807544947;4:
> > > 2576836393959214;2:
> > > Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
> > >
> > > Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> > > Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> > > Level 10 adds the SMG
> > > And at level 20 you get the DMR.
> > >
> > > So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.
> >
> >
> > Horrible idea. Specially assuming it only takes a few hours to get to SR20.
>
>
> The levels could be changed. Perhaps DMR is only guaranteed by 50. I think it’s a solid concept though.

I had the DMR by level 25 I believe. The levels can certainly be changed but somewhere reasonable. Its taken me over a day of in game time to get to level 50. Maybe 30 or 35 for the DMR with the SMG falling in at 20. and the BR at 10. As long as its a guaranteed unlock within a reasonable amount of time.

11

> 2533274825101441;9:
> I only open gold packs and I normally only get 1 or 2 pieces of cosmetic items. I think its a mistake to buy silver or bronze packs, simply because the gold clearly states that the Rare items will be in Gold.

Well 1 or 2 cosmetic items out of the 2 items you get in a pack would fit the 75% mark I stated. And while gold can give you legendary items and silver cannot, if you want to get rare items faster (as in rated ‘rare’ not ‘ultra rare’ or ‘legendary’ ) you should buy silver packs to get the common and uncommon out of the way twice as fast.

12

> 2533274802029738;11:
> > 2533274825101441;9:
> > I only open gold packs and I normally only get 1 or 2 pieces of cosmetic items. I think its a mistake to buy silver or bronze packs, simply because the gold clearly states that the Rare items will be in Gold.
>
>
> Well 1 or 2 cosmetic items out of the 2 items you get in a pack would fit the 75% mark I stated. And while gold can give you legendary items and silver cannot, if you want to get rare items faster (as in rated ‘rare’ not ‘ultra rare’ or ‘legendary’ ) you should buy silver packs to get the common and uncommon out of the way twice as fast.

I get what you are saying. For me I want the ultra rare and legendary. I just don’t think the “rare” is as rare and they would have you think. I often get rare in my packs as well. its normally a fair mix of everything, common, uncommon , rare, ultra rare, legendary. I was able to get my DMR fairly quick and have gotten several of them too.

13

> 2533274802029738;1:
> So after browsing these forums for the past few days I’ve noticed a lot of people are quite obviously not happy with the REQ system and it’s purely RNG approach to things. I had an idea for a really small change that could improve it quite a bit and wanted to know what you guys thought.
>
> A lot of people, I notice, are buying pack after pack trying to get some particular weapon, such as a DMR, but keep getting bogged down by the sheer number of aesthetic REQs in the system that they don’t much care for. To date there are approximately 700 aesthetic permanent REQs (helmets, armor, visors, emblems, stances, assassinations, skins) and approximately 250 gameplay permanent REQs (certifications, loadouts, armor mods) By those numbers you are nearly 3 times as likely to get something purely aesthetic in nature than you are to get something that could affect gameplay. (I realise a lot of those aesthetic REQs, emblems in particular, are unlocked from level or commendation specific packs and thus are not included in the pool of randoms, but for the sake of this thread, we’ll use these nice rounded numbers.)
>
> My proposed change:
> Split the REQ packs between aesthetic REQs and gameplay REQs
>
> Even if the current packs stayed available, and new versions of the silver and gold packs were added that simply guaranteed your two permanent REQs would fall into one or the other category, I think it would make a lot of players much happier. (The consumable REQs included could be left untouched.) If 343 were worried that their microtransactions would take a hit, they could change the transactions to be simply for points rather than packs themselves. As in you’d purchase 5,000 or 10,000 points rather than directly buying packs, and they could even hike up the prices of the more specific packs. I don’t personally mind all the armor variations, but I also wouldn’t mind getting some more loadout variations and I would be more than happy to spend double the REQ points on packs if I knew I was only going to get gameplay specific items with no chance at aesthetic items.
>
> Another minor, but I think important, change would be to make sure players can’t unlock modified loadout weapons before unlocking the base version. I’ve seen a number of people in the forums, as well as one of my friends, who’ve got some souped up version of a DMR at REQ level 8 that they hardly get the chance to use, and don’t even have the base version yet. If the REQ system required that you get the base version first, it would further increase the chances of getting some of the base loadout weapons people are looking for, and quite frankly, just make more sense.
>
> Ultimately what these changes boil down to:
> Removing just a little bit of the randomness from the REQ system.
>
> I do understand 343’s idea that the random unlocks keep you coming back for more, because you never know what you’re going to get. But when about 75% of the unlocks are things that so many people just don’t seem interested in, purely random is not the way to go. I’m sure there are plenty of players who do want some of those aesthetic pieces, myself included. In their case, they could invest in the aesthetic specific packs rather than gameplay. Ultimately, a huge issue I see with a purely random system is it makes the assumption that everyone places some value on everything, when the reality is quite a large portion of players place almost no value on the majority of the available items, making opening packs more frustrating than exciting. At least that seems to be the case.
>
> A few other thoughts:
> Adding some more interesting ways to earn REQ points would make things better. Like daily or weekly challenges, even if mostly for XP, if they offered a few extra points it would be nice. Or perhaps more interesting boost cards that worked like daily challenges except for one specific game.
>
> Ultimately, I think the REQ system should be replaced with a credits system similar to Reach’s where you choose what to purchase (aesthetic and gameplay included) and the microtransactions would be for credit deposits if you didn’t want to earn them by gameplay. This thread was mostly for a minor change they could make for a huge improvement rather than a complete overhaul of the system.
>
> What are your thoughts?

Yep, that would be better than what we have now.

14

I hate when I open a REQ and see new armor only to realize it’s a “variation” of one that I already have.
I like your idea.

I’d be even happier if the armor variations didn’t count as one of your 2 perm reqs

15

> 2533274802029738;1:
> So after browsing these forums for the past few days I’ve noticed a lot of people are quite obviously not happy with the REQ system and it’s purely RNG approach to things. I had an idea for a really small change that could improve it quite a bit and wanted to know what you guys thought.
>
> A lot of people, I notice, are buying pack after pack trying to get some particular weapon, such as a DMR, but keep getting bogged down by the sheer number of aesthetic REQs in the system that they don’t much care for. To date there are approximately 700 aesthetic permanent REQs (helmets, armor, visors, emblems, stances, assassinations, skins) and approximately 250 gameplay permanent REQs (certifications, loadouts, armor mods) By those numbers you are nearly 3 times as likely to get something purely aesthetic in nature than you are to get something that could affect gameplay. (I realise a lot of those aesthetic REQs, emblems in particular, are unlocked from level or commendation specific packs and thus are not included in the pool of randoms, but for the sake of this thread, we’ll use these nice rounded numbers.)
>
> My proposed change:
> Split the REQ packs between aesthetic REQs and gameplay REQs
>
> Even if the current packs stayed available, and new versions of the silver and gold packs were added that simply guaranteed your two permanent REQs would fall into one or the other category, I think it would make a lot of players much happier. (The consumable REQs included could be left untouched.) If 343 were worried that their microtransactions would take a hit, they could change the transactions to be simply for points rather than packs themselves. As in you’d purchase 5,000 or 10,000 points rather than directly buying packs, and they could even hike up the prices of the more specific packs. I don’t personally mind all the armor variations, but I also wouldn’t mind getting some more loadout variations and I would be more than happy to spend double the REQ points on packs if I knew I was only going to get gameplay specific items with no chance at aesthetic items.
>
> Another minor, but I think important, change would be to make sure players can’t unlock modified loadout weapons before unlocking the base version. I’ve seen a number of people in the forums, as well as one of my friends, who’ve got some souped up version of a DMR at REQ level 8 that they hardly get the chance to use, and don’t even have the base version yet. If the REQ system required that you get the base version first, it would further increase the chances of getting some of the base loadout weapons people are looking for, and quite frankly, just make more sense.
>
> Ultimately what these changes boil down to:
> Removing just a little bit of the randomness from the REQ system.
>
> I do understand 343’s idea that the random unlocks keep you coming back for more, because you never know what you’re going to get. But when about 75% of the unlocks are things that so many people just don’t seem interested in, purely random is not the way to go. I’m sure there are plenty of players who do want some of those aesthetic pieces, myself included. In their case, they could invest in the aesthetic specific packs rather than gameplay. Ultimately, a huge issue I see with a purely random system is it makes the assumption that everyone places some value on everything, when the reality is quite a large portion of players place almost no value on the majority of the available items, making opening packs more frustrating than exciting. At least that seems to be the case.
>
> A few other thoughts:
> Adding some more interesting ways to earn REQ points would make things better. Like daily or weekly challenges, even if mostly for XP, if they offered a few extra points it would be nice. Or perhaps more interesting boost cards that worked like daily challenges except for one specific game.
>
> Ultimately, I think the REQ system should be replaced with a credits system similar to Reach’s where you choose what to purchase (aesthetic and gameplay included) and the microtransactions would be for credit deposits if you didn’t want to earn them by gameplay. This thread was mostly for a minor change they could make for a huge improvement rather than a complete overhaul of the system.
>
> What are your thoughts?

The problem here is that 343 and MS are joining in on what other games are doing. Destiny is an obvious inspiration for the system. In Destiny you play the same content over and over for what? A -Yoinking!- helmet? Bungie found that if they created a sub par, decently crafted system and updated the rewards players would dump irresponsible amounts of money into their product. 343 has done something not too far from that concept, only it’s much more confined. It’s supposed to be tedious. It’s supposed to take forever. That way you have more to convince yourself in buying something you already own. What do you mean I own it? Think about it. All of the armors in the game pre-btb update were on the disc. You bought them. In Halo 3 there were only like 8 different sets and when I bought the disc I owned those armors, but I had to unlock them in game as part of the challenge. In other words, when you buy a REQ pack, you’re essentially purchasing what you already posses financially AGAIN. Please, keep buying. The more YOU buy, the more free -Yoink- I get. Thanks.

16

> 2533274872647908;6:
> > 2576836393959214;2:
> > Instead of splitting the reqs and forcing players do buy into one or another I would prefer to see a level lock on the basic weapons. If you do not receive them in a req by this level it is a guarenteed one.
> >
> > Level 1 has the AR + Pistol
> > Level 5 has the AR + Pistol + BR
> > Level 10 adds the SMG
> > And at level 20 you get the DMR.
> >
> > So if at level 19 you do not have the DMR you will get it on your level 20 req pack.
>
>
> I would say maybe raise the level a little bit if we would go that way… lvl 20 is really low to get the base DMR. I would say more like 40-50 if you didn’t unlock it yet. I am level 39 and have not gotten the DMR, but I feel like I am very close to get it :slight_smile:

I felt that same way about the DMR, but here I am, level 79, and still haven’t gotten a single one. I’ve got 4 skins for a DMR, but not a single weapon req.