Armor and VISR with meaning

Games Halo Infinite
1

So in Halo 4 I made my armor out of select pieces that I earned through commendation mastery, and it made me feel good to express my playstyle through my Spartan Card
(I showed First Strike, Assist, Protector, and Assassin Masteries as well as Legendary Completion and Pre-order/veterancy all in one image)
It was also nice to see what I was matching against and who I matched with to get a feel for how I should adapt.

This being said, I think every armor customization should be unlocked either by achievment, or my commendation mastery in Infinite, and a whole brand of people could show theirself as their specialization, just as a Spartan would.
Additionally, I think it would also be neat if every armor piece, helmet, and VISR had a slight bonus with it so you could focus your style, for example:

WETWORK Armor - Earned by Longshot Medals or maybe BXR - Improves Sentinel BR RRR by 10% and Assassination Speed by 5%
FOTUS Helmet - Earned by Pre-order or by Slayer Victories - doesn’t appear on radar on base speed (like Advanced Sensors but just that part)
REX VISR - Earned by using/killing Active Camo, or maybe Beat Down medals - Creates a grey outline on people with Active camo while in Smart-Link (Like the outlines in Theatre but only in LoS)
OPERATOR Helmet - Earned by Vehicle Medals - Same effect as REX VISR but works when in a vehicle instead

All this is theoretical but I think this would be BRILLIANT, it would encourage people with specific roles, like a Spartan Fireteam would be. Someone could set theirself up to be profecient in Snipers, or stealth, or Vehicle use, or it could be used by players who recognize a weakness in an area and buff that up

2

Giving each armor piece special values is akin to perks from Halo 4. It is unwieldy , and almost impossible to balance. I had a similar thought in the past , but once I saw how badly perks messed with gameplay and balance , i realized it isn’t worth the trouble ; Not in an arena shooter such as Halo where all players are balanced at start.

I like the concept of each piece being tied to an accamodation or achievement , but special values is a little much.

3

There were two concerns regarding the armor upgrade system ( It was really perks ), in Halo 4.
Unbalanced starts and that if this was tied to specific armors, the customization part would fly out the window.

As we’ve already tested the “perk” part.
That leaves the “customization” part untouched.

I like using the armor I think look the best, sometimes I change things up by changing armor.
I wouldn’t like to sit in the customization screen, looking at percentages and what they do, in order to optimise my gameplay, and wear some armor I severly dislike the looks of.

The idea has come up before, it’s not outside the realms of lore-possabilities, and it could perhaps work well in a spin-off which is centered around specific mechanics.
Otherwise it’s a pass for me, I want consistent mechanics through and through.

4

I’d prefer reach’s way of unlocking armor personally.

5

To me, armors having certain attributes that aren’t cosmetic is out of the question. That means apart from skill, a veteran player could have numerous advantages over a new player. To me, that seems unacceptable. Cool concepts though.

6

> 2535469888311475;5:
> To me, armors having certain attributes that aren’t cosmetic is out of the question. That means apart from skill, a veteran player could have numerous advantages over a new player. To me, that seems unacceptable. Cool concepts though.

You mean. Good decision making? If the basic armor had a small generic buff like a pinch more shields, and slightly more speed i dont see the harm.

7

> 2533274796080930;4:
> I’d prefer reach’s way of unlocking armor personally.

Just play a bunch and pick from the vending machine?

8

> 2533274795123910;3:
> There were two concerns regarding the armor upgrade system ( It was really perks ), in Halo 4.
> Unbalanced starts and that if this was tied to specific armors, the customization part would fly out the window.
>
> As we’ve already tested the “perk” part.
> That leaves the “customization” part untouched.
>
> I like using the armor I think look the best, sometimes I change things up by changing armor.
> I wouldn’t like to sit in the customization screen, looking at percentages and what they do, in order to optimise my gameplay, and wear some armor I severly dislike the looks of.
>
> The idea has come up before, it’s not outside the realms of lore-possabilities, and it could perhaps work well in a spin-off which is centered around specific mechanics.
> Otherwise it’s a pass for me, I want consistent mechanics through and through.

I appreciate your opinions on this. I personally imagined small buffs on each piece though, marginal differences merely to tip the scales. In large picking purely for aesthetic still gives various buffs but picking for stats wouldnt break gameplay.
Plus there is also a whole category that cares little for the armor unlocks that Halo 5 and Reach had cuz it was basically just. Wow you spent a lot of time online, here is an object merely for aesthetic. I wear EVA Leonov, Dauntless VISR, and Nightfall purely because it helps me blend into enviroments more than sticking out like a bright red or blue ball.
Like i mentioned in post, in Halo 4 i wore what I wore because it was earned, but if there were even marginal effects, i would be on that.
As for the perks of Halo 4, I appreciated being allowed to have a set of loadouts for specific tasks. Mobility+jet pack to get that power weapon, grenadier+Shielding for survivability in tight areas etc. I like shooters that make players think so that way you have intelligent AND skilled playerd rise instead of boneheads like ¤v€r$\€k (name corrupted so i dont get banned for calling out che@ters) being top of the chain
The armor buffs idea came with the thought that you cant change mid match, your decision helps shape your fate.

Tl;dr i know it is hard to balance it, but if they could. WHOO it would be slammin

9

> 2533274957051696;6:
> > 2535469888311475;5:
> > To me, armors having certain attributes that aren’t cosmetic is out of the question. That means apart from skill, a veteran player could have numerous advantages over a new player. To me, that seems unacceptable. Cool concepts though.
>
> You mean. Good decision making? If the basic armor had a small generic buff like a pinch more shields, and slightly more speed i dont see the harm.

If you don’t see the harm in someone who already has a significant advantage over another player (time played, map awareness, skill, weapon familiarity, etc.) having the added benefit of being harder to kill, or possessing manoeuvrability, I’d really suggest you drop the condescending attitude. This is nothing revolutionary, and even if it were it does not belong in Halo. Halo at its core is a level playing field. You start dishing out advantages to people for playing longer and you destroy that balance. And if you’re thinking “it’s not that big a deal” I pose the question: if the advantage is to be so small that you can’t see the harm, why even bother in the first place?

10

> 2533274957051696;8:
> I appreciate your opinions on this. I personally imagined small buffs on each piece though, marginal differences merely to tip the scales. In large picking purely for aesthetic still gives various buffs but picking for stats wouldnt break gameplay.

I’d argue there are people who think “tipping the scales” when “picking for stats” is “gameplay breaking”.
Eitherway, this is where, if you manage to get players of equal skill, matched together, based on some decision they made, say one picked armor they think look nice, and the other went pure META, the latter will have a constant advantage, as you later claim, you wouldn’t be able to change mid game.

Various random buffs won’t be as good as focused specified buffs.

> 2533274957051696;8:
> Plus there is also a whole category that cares little for the armor unlocks that Halo 5 and Reach had cuz it was basically just. Wow you spent a lot of time online, here is an object merely for aesthetic.

Yes?
And the endgame you’ve thought out for this particular category is, what exactly?
That they’d start chosing other armors? For what purpose? Playing a specific role?

If they’re in a party, chances are they already have specificed, maybe unwritten, roles and playstyles that they excell at.
Now if it’s solo searching, then your team is going to be random. Whatever roles there could be, chances are some are an advantage over others, and then you have a likelyhood that teams will be unbalanced based on roles played, that is if most even aim for a specific role and don’t go for looks rather than utility.

We already know what happens in some cases when several players want the sniper rifle, and it’d probably be even worse if all those players also had dedicated their armor setup, not being able to switch it out ingame, to sniping, on a map with at most two snipers, one for each team.

> 2533274957051696;8:
> Like i mentioned in post, in Halo 4 i wore what I wore because it was earned, but if there were even marginal effects, i would be on that.

And that’s you.
And the concerned feedback regarding the Halo 4 Armor Upgrades showed that a part of the community wouldn’t welcome small buffs to gameplay attributes on specific armor pieces.

> 2533274957051696;8:
> As for the perks of Halo 4, I appreciated being allowed to have a set of loadouts for specific tasks. Mobility+jet pack to get that power weapon, grenadier+Shielding for survivability in tight areas etc. I like shooters that make players think so that way you have intelligent AND skilled playerd rise instead of boneheads like ¤v€r$\€k (name corrupted so i dont get banned for calling out che@ters) being top of the chain

And these supposed cheaters wouldn’t have access to the same tools as normal players?
Them also being cheaters, what would that matter what kind of perks or small armor buffs are available to the general non-cheating player?

I’d argue “perks and small bonuses on armor (which you can’t apparently then change midgame)”, aren’t necessary requirements for being on top of the chain needing intelligence AND skill.

> 2533274957051696;8:
> The armor buffs idea came with the thought that you cant change mid match, your decision helps shape your fate.

And here we have it.
Once you’re in a match, you can’t change your armor setup.
If we’re to assume that matchmaking is some way random in maps and gametype, then you’ve eliminated the “intelligence” part of your previous statement. You can’t perdict what comes your way, and that then becomes either a “jack of all trades” armor setup that work somewhat well on most maps / modes, or hoping for the perfect map for your armor setup.

> 2533274957051696;8:
> Tl;dr i know it is hard to balance it, but if they could. WHOO it would be slammin

I’m pretty sure that it’d be close to impossible to balance.
Either the values are high enough to make a difference, and then you have some buffs which are either alone, or in combination with others, superior to other combinations.
Or, the values on the buffs are so small, so insignificant, that it hardly makes a difference.
Then as Vilhelmus II asked, what’s the point in implementing them?

11

I can live with armor being unlockable, but I sure as well don’t want them to have special effects.That would narrow customization and people would use one armor piece variant all the time, barely no variation, because of the bonus.

12

> 2533274957051696;7:
> > 2533274796080930;4:
> > I’d prefer reach’s way of unlocking armor personally.
>
> Just play a bunch and pick from the vending machine?

Vending machine? I don’t follow. In reach the options were there for you to pick what you want and you could play however/whatever you wanted to get them. That what I personally liked about it anyway.