Take Reach one step further. Allow us to play as Brutes and Elites in multiplayer social. Different hit boxes and balance it with speed and movement options. All Spartans elites and brutes with the same basic run and walk speed. Spartans have a short dodge. Elites their roll. Brutes a leap. Also diff hit points in the body only to balance larger hit box.
I would say different health systems. You have the power armor that regens like shields but once it is down it breaks and you need say an engineer to rearmor you. Power armor gives you different abilities, but if you lose the power armor you get that charging rage ability that allows you to rush forward and smack people like a bull.
Basically as I said the 6 different playable characters in a Halo rpg setting would be
UNSC
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Spartan (I like the Halo reach health system for these guys) - ODST (stamina is a shield but allow it to be used for movements like sprint and clamber and makes melee hit harder)Covenant
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Elite (Regen Shields, Regen Health) - Brute (Power armor system that I explained above)Flood
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Combat Form (Black Eye skull on, health regens only on melee but you could overcharge the regen)Forerunner
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Promethian Knight (Watcher heal)Now for arena or any competitive setting Spartan vs Elite is more than enough as trying to balance out everything is a bit difficult. I am sure there would be some who would still play ODST in a match full of Spartans, Brutes, Teleportation Knights and Flood. But if you made an ODST as strong as a Brute, you would be breaking cannon a little bit.
That sounds cool actually and that’s something I’ve never thought about. It could be purely aesthetic or in a class system where each has benefits and disadvantages but I’d prefer aesthetic to keep Infinite’s multiplayer more like the other halos.
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> That sounds cool actually and that’s something I’ve never thought about. It could be purely aesthetic or in a class system where each has benefits and disadvantages but I’d prefer aesthetic to keep Infinite’s multiplayer more like the other halos.
Well which is why for the aesthetic choice then Spartans vs Elites is pretty much the balanced competitive part since they are so close to each other in terms of health systems (shields, dual wielding). I still like the way Reach made them asymmetrical making Elites bigger which makes them easier to hit but doesn’t need medpacks to recover full health. Spartans can regen health but only to a certain level after it falls down of course this was the newer generation III.
ODSTUses a Stamina system that can take damage, allows for sprints, climbing walls and stronger melee attacks (can still melee without stamina but they are much weaker)
Pros - Smaller target easier to hit - VISOR allows searching for nearby active camouflage enemies. - Weapons damage is the same as any other character_Cons_ - Very weak and vulnerable when out of stamina - Advanced movement such as jumping and melee attacks essentially takes health away as your avatar exerts themselves in combat. - Will have to take cover more often to regain stamina - Visor can time out and not to well in bright areasSo the ODST is all about Stamina management. Stamina would be your shields, armor ability/advance movement, melee booster. Everything uses stamina except walk/run shooting/grenade toss and switching/picking up weapons. Basically being the little guy with only a NPC grunt being smaller is better suited for mid to long range firefights. However the visor makes for an excellent scout and if at full stamina is a beast at close range but not for long and if taking damage starts to fade fast when stamina is needed the most.
SpartanWe’ve played this before, nothing too different needed here
Elitesee SpartanBruteHas power armor that acts like a regenerative shields but when depleted breaks placing the brute in a berserker stage. Can get armor replaced by an Engineer.
Pros - Lots of health - Good regeneration (especially in berserk mode) - Good Utility in power armor - Berserk mode can be a beast_Cons_ - Very Big target (only the NPC Hunter is larger) - Berserk mode is difficult to control especially right after armor break - weapon capability is disabled in berserk mode and cannot be manually stopped - after armor break you only regain health in berserk modeSo you are pretty much an over sized over-shielded elite until armor break. When armor break happens you enter berserk stage automatically. Berserk is your armor ability after you have no armor. You get rapid regeneration but can’t use weapons, instead you charge forward and melee swipe things until your berserk runs out as you cannot stop it by yourself. You are a walking tank until your armor is gone then berserk management is the difference between you finding a new set of armor or respawning. And once you turn berserk mode on you have to run it out and then wait for it to recharge which you would be extremely vulnerable. Also you drop your side weapon when you go in berserk mode (main one is put away) so you will have to find it again or pick up another one and use that until you go berserk again.
Combat Form (Flood)
A flood infected biomass now used as combat troops to protect the swarm and break down defenses. Can leap very far and has heavy melee damage. Can also use weapons but accuracy is reduced.
Pros - Good Health and Speed - Excellent Melee damage - Leap allows you to cover vast distances_Cons_ - Only regen health upon melee attacks - Can fire weapons but weapon bloom is debilitating at mid to long ranges.So play as the flood. What is not to like, the set up for this is of course, get in close, get in fast, and go to town with melee attacks. You can shoot but it is mostly to soften up a kill before you hit them.
Promethean Knight_???_Lets be honest, promethean is hard to work with here other than a spartan that can teleport. Heck one of my biggest complaint on halo 4 was that Promethean weapons felt more like human weapons than alien weapons. Sentinel beams were more interesting. (maybe they should be given a heat indicator). Well they will have a teleport ability. I just have to figure out how to work the health system out that is distinctive to the others.
And not all classes would need to be balanced against each other.
It would be cool to play as low level characters - such as Grunts.
You could then have grunt vs grunt battles… or custom games where you have to baby sit a grunt in your team (a bit of a reverse Juggernaut if you like).
This would need to be a separate gamemode like Warzone or Firefight is, but it would be quite the welcome addition in my eyes, truly taking full advantage of what makes Halo, well… Halo.
Eh I’m already hesitant with Elites, adding Brutes would just be another layer of balance issues. If this were to happen, keep it social modes only.
Expecting 343 to go from no other playable options than Spartans to not only accommodating the demand for playable Elites’ return but also for playable Brutes seems like a very long shot.
Like Fully Skully says above, the balancing issues that are (ostensibly) one of 343i’s reasons for having canned playable Elites to begin with are only intensified by adding yet another distinct player class. It’s the same reason I’m personally not in favor of the return of dual wielding in competitive play: it makes tuning the sandbox levels of magnitude more complicated, and less likely to happen.
The idea of it being allowed in only casual modes along with a mechanic like dual wielding making its return is fine on its face. I just would prefer 343 allocate the development resources to making the game stronger all the way around.
Ill be happy if we just get elites back lol
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> Eh I’m already hesitant with Elites, adding Brutes would just be another layer of balance issues. If this were to happen, keep it social modes only.
Yeah just have the elites work as they did in reach. Only allow players to play as them in social modes and Spartans for any competitive
I love the idea of playing as Brutes, ODSTs , and Flood. Sounds like a great idea for offline modes like a modified firefight game type. PVP would probably be complicated, but loads of fun if ever possible. Definitely on any competitive games of course.
… Imagine Fiesta… Random weapons AND random classes!
I’d really like something like this for classic invasion