Hi. I’m more of a novice when it comes to this whole posting on forums thing, but I thought I’d share my ideas on the topic of the evolution of Warzone. Arena multiplayer has been a mainstay in the Halo franchise since its first installment, and as it has progressed throughout the years, many changes have been made to the arena format, tweaking it here and there to make it the game style that it is today. I myself am a more Halo 3 and Halo Reach style of player, but to each their own, we all have something we enjoy.
The fact is, though, that Arena is perfectly imperfect the way that it is, not much needs to be added there, and changing that would only make existing fans argue more about spawn points and all that fun stuff. As I stated earlier, the mode that needs to evolve is Warzone, because that mode had potential to be so much greater than it was, and in it I saw the ghost of a game that was cancelled way back when I was a kid.
My idea is this, to make Warzone into a mode named, quite simply, War (Or “All Out War”, the name isn’t particularly important). In this mode, there are three main areas of combat: ground, air and, most importantly, space. We know that space combat is possible because it was featured in Halo Reach, and the spacecraft have recently been added to Forge World. Each team would start with their entrance cinematic, much like Warzone, however its of your capital ship exiting slipspace over a planet\ in low orbit. Each team is given 3 classes to choose from, on the UNSC side its ODST, Spartan III and Spartan IV with he Spartan II being the Ultra/Hero class and on the Banished side its Spec Ops Elite, Brute and Elite, with a Brute Chieftain as the Ultra class. Ultra classes are not able to be chosen on the start of the match, but obtained later through either merit or as a reward through in-game xp, perhaps like the battlefront 2 system.
Each class would have its strengths and drawbacks, like how Spartan III’s would be faster and more agile, but are much weaker than the IV’s, and how the ODST’s are quieter and have access to the VISR, making them more effective at longer range, but they have poor shields. Each could have a passive ability too, like how ODST’s have a damage boost when they’re in a full squad of 4. All of this is just an idea, mind you, so things aren’t set in stone. The same can be said for the Banished side as well, with each class having strengths and weaknesses that make each one a viable option in combat.
Choosing the Spec Ops Elite or ODST allows you to spawn inn a drop pod and launch directly down onto the ground portion of the level, and begin fighting for dominance there, whereas the others spawn and go for ships to launch out into the space portion of the map. To win, you must either destroy the capital ship of the enemy team, reach the kill count (which has to be higher than the previous limit of 150) or hold all points on the ground, air and space sections of the map. Each ground portion of each map would have capture points on it, much like Dominion, but each point would be similar to a power weapon, in the sense that it would alter the flow of the map. For example, one capture point could be a radar post that, once taken, boosts your team’s radar range, or one could be an armory, or a landing pad to call down a vehicle drop, or a mass driver like how they had in Halo Reach, to provide air and orbital support.
This would also be perfect for 343 to use the “AI in Multiplayer” option to its fullest, because they could have both AI spacecraft and AI foot soldiers in game, making the battle seem much larger than it is.
More than that, would be the seamless transition between space and ground, much like the scrapped Battlefront 3 concept. There has been an itch for a game that does such a thing for quite some time, and if Halo scratches it, that would be massive for the franchise. It would also allow them to explore new options for vehicle combat, giving the ability to use vehicles we’ve only seen before, like the space banshee, the longsword, the phantom and, most importantly, frigates and corvettes. Having pilotable frigates and corvettes and smaller ships like that would allow the player to see a full battle unfold in the space arena, with each set for each serving as a spawn point as well as a ship. The UNSC would have its auto cannons, archer missiles and the MAC gun, and the Banished would have pulse lasers, plasma cannons and a glassing beams. Each ship would have AI controlled defense turrets as well, so they would have some measure of protection from boarding. If the frigate is destroyed, it doesn’t respawn, so you’d have to be strategic with how they are used in your game session. Plus, you should have full freedom to take any space craft from space to the ground to turn the tide, but you also sacrifice your ability to help in the space side of the fight.
This would greatly expand the cosmetics part of Halo as well, and would be a mode that is well-suited to the battlepass system of unlocks without being paired to a Battle Royale game mode. The biggest thing that would make this popular, however, would be that its NEW. The market has become supersaturated with Battle Royales and super fast paced shooters, I think that everyone is waiting for that breath of fresh air, I mean look at Fall Guys or Breath of the Wild, those games were so different from anything else that they were competing with, or even just different from their previous releases, but they were different in the ways that mattered, and were a massive success. I feel like Halo needs to do the same thing, because with each Halo release they changed the game, like with multiplayer in H2 or Forge in H3 and i think this is exactly what Halo needs to bring back those millions of fans worldwide that have drifted from the fanbase since Reach or Halo 3.
Let me know what you guys think, again its just a rough concept, but I’m curious to see what you guys think about the idea, be as brutally honest as you have to be.
