Getting progression right in Halo has been something that 343 has struggled with since they took over. Personally 343 should stop chasing the general trend of “progression” offered by other games. Lootboxes, battlepasses, each time has the game failed to meet the expectations and even the bear minimum at times.
This post will look into my possible ideas for what an improved Progression could (should) look like.
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The Armory:
Your basic progression screen. Where players go to not only equip their Armour but also to buy and unlock. The way players will unlock Armour pieces, effects, effect sets, will be through XP. Instead of a leveling system, The amount of XP you have earned determines weather or not you unlock a piece of customisation.
For example, 100XP Earns players the MarkVb helmet, whilst 100,000XP earns the MarkVI helmet.
Credits will then be used to purchase the Armour a player wants to use. if you don’t want to have a helmet you really don’t like, you don’t need to be given it. The value of the item could be determined by how much XP is required to unlock it and What the actual piece is (helmet, visor, etc) Or just whatever the Actual Piece is.
Challenges can also be used to unlock pieces as well. The difficulty of the challenge may also depend on whether you need to spend credits to use the armour piece -
The Store
This is where players can buy unique armour pieces separate from progression. Weather or not they’d like to skip progression and have some armour sets to use straight up or because its cool and they want it.
Continuing, specific event themed pieces that wont be made available in the Armory (fractures as an example) will Also be available here.
Players can buy these pieces using credits -
Events
Fractures, winter themed, anniversary, etc. Event themed passes (similar to what they are in infinite and other games) are made available during an event for players to progress through with event XP, done by completing challenges or playing the event themed mode. Event specific items are available to purchase for credits in the store. -
Credits
2 avenues to be assured in getting credits. By playing PvP or PvE matches in the multiplayer. The amount earned is performance based. Overall you wont get much credits, enough to make purchases in the Armory around when you unlock pieces, or to spend a week or more grinding out store purchases.
Purchasing credits using real money. This section effectively allows for a few purchases of items inside the store or lots in the Armory. Both ‘credits’ are the same. This would allow a free-to-play game be truly free-to-play.
But why? Simply put, being able to earn the credits you can otherwise buy will give 343 a good reputation. As the store items are expensive compared to the armory, players who don’t want to miss out on event items or don’t want to grind will inevitably purchase credits. There is a large amount of people who will already be buying everything they can because they love halo that much. But by earning credits, players who wouldn’t normally have spent money on an item in the store now have a discount towards it.
Every time i see reduced to clear in a store, it normally goes out fast. Alternatively, players who really want lots of things in the armory and don’t want to spend the time earning the credits can just by out what they want using their money.
However any item bought in the Armory, even if credits were bought, requires people to grind and unlock that item. Every time someone sees a fire helmet effect in game, they know someone earned it.
This system should keep a true progression system whilst also implementing a way for which the game to make money.