Cosmetic Unlocking needs to be reworked. And I have the solution

Games Halo Infinite
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As it stands right now, the shop system and other cosmetic unlock alternatives is a rather busted system that offers little return for the hours of gameplay put in.

The Battle Pass runs through 100 tiers way too easily.
Event Battlepasse are far too annoying to burn through because of the challenge system being the only means of progression, meaning you can win a dozen matches in a row and not get anything from it in terms of EBP progression.
The Weekly Ultimate Challenge unlocks are sometimes small items that don’t make it worth the effort.
The shop’s current form of weekly item rotation makes it so that users can buy Credits and then not spend them for a very long period of time due to shop item repeats (speaking from experience, I have gone three months without having to buy any Credits because I am not spending the ones I have on my profile because there is nothing new or worthwhile in the shop.)

The current system of unlocks does not stand well.
And as Halo Infinite further expands, the system will need to be reworked sometime soon.

So, here is how I would rework the Cosmetic Progression System of Halo Infinite.

STEP 1 // EXTEND THE BATTLE PASS

Currently, the Battle Pass of each Season is 100 Tiers long and offers plenty of content. But there is room for improvement.

Instead of having current Event Battle Passes for things like “The Winter Contingency” or “Interference” events, why not instead have these Events permanently extend the length of the Premium Battle pass by inserting 10 tiers of content into the Premium Battle Pass lineup?
Play through the event matches and every victory will unlock an item from the newly added tiers, so players can obtain the items then and there.
This also allows for events that players do not 100% want to play an out as after the event is closed, the battlepass is still permanently extended by 10 tiers and granting players those 10 items through regular progression.
After all, while events offer new gamemodes for players to enjoy, not every player wants to play KotH or Last Spartan Standing to get the items.

Another method to extend the battle pass is to eliminate the Weekly Ultimate Cosmetics and just have them simply be a new tier added to the battle pass track every week, giving something new every week for free. The item is already free anyway, so I see no reason why this would not be a great alternative.

The final improvement would be to PERMENANTLY have the Seasonal Battle Pass be available in the Xbox/Steam/Microsoft Stores as a purchasable DLC. When the season ends and moves onto the next, I see no reason to not have it’s battle pass be forever lost to time.
This game is being upheld for a decade and so in time you will have new players that will now have many Armor Cores and their cosmetics time-locked away because the player wasn’t online until three or four years into Halo Infinite going live.
Honestly, it is humiliating that Among Us has this as a feature with its Seasonal Passes. Literally you can log in at any time and obtain any of the previous Seasons that were available for unlock for players to have active and progress forward through matches.

This would also amplify the likelihood that players will buy the Premium Battlepass Track, since it will grow throughout the season and offer more content for a single purchase.

Should this be implemented in an update to the game, owners of said Season Passes would have all the cosmetic items from the non-Fractures events added to the battle passes as a free-content update.
So owners of the Heroes of Reach pass will find themselves now having the following event contents added as new tiers for that pass -

  • 20th Anniversary + 8 Tiers
  • The Winter Contingency +10 Tiers
  • Cyber Showdown + 10 Tiers
  • Tactical-Ops + 10 Tiers
  • The Winter Update + 30 Tiers

Meanwhile Season 2 - Lone Wolves would receive -

  • Interference +10 Tiers
  • Alpha Pack + 10 Tiers
  • The Yappening +10 Tiers

STEP 2 // FRACTURES BE OPTIONAL DLC

Like with the Main Battle Pass that is released every season, we see the Fractures Event Battle Pass released every season along-side it. But there is an issue.
It is a 30 tier BP that is available for a few select non-sequential weeks every season.
Why not make it be its own bonus DLC Battle Pass?

Play through the event while it is live to unlock some basic items in the early 30 tiers of the BP, similar to what we have right now for the events. But if players want to venture past the first 30 tiers of the BP, they have to buy the Fractures Pass DLC.

Like with my proposed adjustment to the Seasonal Battle Pass, the Fractures Battle Pass would be a PERMANENT addition to the Microsoft Store / Xbox Store / Steam Store for players to obtain at any time. Play through the event? The first 30 tiers are free. Play not during the event? You gotta burn through all 100 tiers of the pass.
(Basically the non-premium track of a Fractures Pass has the first 30 tiers filled with goodies. But the Premium Track would have 100 more goodies added for unlock progression.)

What makes the Fractures passes even more interesting is that they are extended over time. Fracture’s Tenrai comes back around? Well, 343 could add more cosmetics for the Yoroi armor core and allow for the players to unlock more content; thus increasing the long-term value of the Fractures passes.

If 343 were to implement this, it would also be an opportunity to allow players to unlock items that were never put into the shop rotation. There are plenty of Yoroi armor assets that were not able to be unlocked and are now pretty much permanently vaulted. But with the option of a Fractures Tenrai DLC pass, players can obtain an entire battlepass worth of items that were in the shop and event pass.

This would also allow the shop to remain exclusive to the main-canon Armor Cores and such, as all items for the Fractures Armor Cores will be obtainable only in the Fractures Battle Pass.

STEP 3 // ECONOMY ADJUSTMENT

What does Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege have that makes it better than Halo Infinite?
Dual-Currency Economy.

In R6: Siege, players can grind the game to earn Renown Points. Renown can be exchanged for cosmetics.
Also in R6: Siege, players can spend IRL cash to earn R6 Credits. Credits can be exchanged for cosmetics as well.
Why not implement this into Halo Infinite? It would simply be a merger of what Halo MCC and Halo Infinite has available right now.

You complete challenges in MCC? You earn a Token.
So lets add Spartan Tokens to Halo Infinite so that the Challenge System can actually be rewarding.
Complete a Challenge? Earn a Token!
Complete a “Star Challenge”? Earn 2 Tokens!
Complete the Weekly Ultimate Challenge? Earn 5 Tokens!
Are you the MVP of your team for the match? Earn a Token!
Every 10 Tiers of the Non-Premium Battle Pass, you earn a Token. If you have the Premium Battle Pass, then every 10 Tiers you will unlock 2 Tokens!

Meanwhile players with expendable cash can also have the option of spending IRL money for UNSC Credits.

Both UNSC Credits and Spartan Tokens would be exchangeable for cosmetics in the shop. But UNSC Credits will have a couple things that it can only buy -

  • Premium Battle Pass Track
  • Fractures DLC Pass Track
  • E-Sports Cosmetics
  • Spartan Token Boosters
  • Exp Boosters
  • Challenge Swaps

Spartan Token Boosters simply double the amount of Spartan Tokens you earn from gameplay for a while. So earning Tokens outside of the Battlepass will be doubled while the Booster is active.

Simple right?
MUCH more consumer friendly while also ensuring that there is still that microtransaction cash-flow to appease the investors and quarterly profit quotas.

STEP 4 // SHOPPING EVOLVED

The shop as it stands right now is… stagnant.
Let’s say you check up on the shop weekly… and you find that half of the weekly items are things you already have obtained.
Bummer.
And that bummer is going to be further amplified the longer this game runs on.
Currently there are 3 Main Canon armor cores who’s cosmetics rotate through the shop weekly.
And yet Hazop and Zvezda have only shown themselves in one weekly rotation out of the last 52 this past year. So if you missed it, you cannot get those items until they rotate back in sometime in the future.
BUT
Every season will add more cosmetics and more armor cores to the game.
Which means the chances of seeing Hazop and Zvezda are growing slimmer each weekly rotation.

The solution is simple.
TABS

The shop should consist of tabs that contain ALL of the cosmetics that are not featured in Battlepasses, and sort them into the following tabs -

  • Mark VII Armor Core
  • Mark V [B] Armor Core
  • Rakshasa Armor Core
  • Season 3 Armor Core
  • Season 4 Armor Core
  • etc Armor Cores
  • Weapons Cosmetics
  • Vehicle Cosmetics
  • Personalization Cosmetics (A.I. Models, A.I. Colors, Emblems, Stances)

This way players can enter a tab of the shop and see EVERY bundle of items available at all times.
Then they can spend exchange Spartan Tokens or spend UNSC Credits to obtain said bundles.

And if players want to buy the items individually? They can simply go to their customization screen. Everything that is locked should be able to be obtained by trading Spartan Tokens or purchasing with UNSC Credits.
Also, buying Helmets with exclusive attachments should have those attachments automatically applied to the purchase. For example, we did not receive the CBRN Rebreather that the Firefall Helmet was to obtain. But if you have the Firefall helmet unlocked, it would be added in by default.

The Front Page of the Shop would also feature a Weekly and Daily rotation of Bundles that are on a discount for a limited time, allowing patient players to obtain items for cheaper costs if they are willing to wait for a while.

This will ensure that players are free to obtain whatever cosmetics they want at any time, so long as it is not a Battlepass item unlock.

And there you have it.
My solution to solve a problem that Halo Infinite is currently facing and the amplified version of this same problem we will be facing further down the line.

A consumer friendly business model.

Whaddya think?

2 Likes
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I like a lot of this, but I dont think events should be placed onto the end of the battle pass. It makes people who want to get the event rewards grind all the way to the end of the pass before being able to actually unlock the event rewards. Having events be their own pass for their runtime and then being placed onto the end of the battle pass would be a better option imo. And fractures should stay completely free.

I do like the idea of a dual economy system, even if it feels a little mobile-gamey

2 Likes
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I didn’t say to glue them to the end, my fault I should’ve specified.

I believe it would be best to have their rewards scattered throughout the Battlepass at reasonable intervals. But the more you have played through the Battlepass, they will be placed more tightly together. And if you have completed the Battlepass, then they would be in sequential order at the end of it all.

And while the event is live, you will earn those rewards regardless if you level up in the Battlepass, essentially meaning that by playing the event you are doubling your progression through the Battlepass for that week, but if the event is not live; you will still unlock the items later on.

The issue with mobile-game dual-economies is that it is designed so that you have to pay money to actually win in later levels. For example, you will not be able to get past Townhall Level 8 in Clash of Clans by remaining free-to-play, as you couldn’t progress further without buying a shield.
Mobile games have to resort to this in order to make money because they are free-to-play. It is RARE to see a mobile game that asks you to pay money to download it, usually because the consumer has no idea if the game is crap or not.

Rainbow Six Siege however is doing wonderfully well with it’s dual-economy system. Heck, some items you cannot buy with R6 Credits and have to buy with Renown, such as the Diamond Skin.

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I’d like to see 343i bundle up Emblem sets and shoulder sets are a single tier reward instead of dividing them in to 2->4 tiers to pad out the pass.

(ignore that I replied to you. I hit the wrong button.)

2 Likes
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I find it odd that in MCC you get BOTH shoulders in a single tier unlock, and helmets give you many variants per tier unlock.

But Halo Infinite’s progression has players getting one shoulder one tier and the other shoulder within the next three tiers, meanwhile helmet attachments are sometimes up to twenty tiers down the line.

Perhaps another remedy for Halo Infinite’s Battlepass system is to make it so shoulders are always unlocked on the same tier, seeing as they are the same model just flipped in a mirror and then applied to the opposite arm.

1 Like
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Sounds pretty good. I hope and take into account your idea the workers of 343 have done a good job listening to the players

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One can hope.

And if they don’t want to listen to such wise and balanced advice?

Then I will simply take over 343 Industries, rebrand it as Studio-117, and make it happen.

1 Like
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Pretty much everything that’s in the shop should be able to unlock through playing the game.

Right now it’s so lame when you see someone with a full set of bought items, when it is just maybe the look he/she likes.

I know I would’ve loved to be able earn the firefall helmet for example.

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Honestly, this was one of the few things I will say was good about Halo 5.

Halo 5’s REQ Packs.

You can buy them immediately.

Or you can grind for REQ Points and take the long way to get 90% of the cosmetics in the game.

1 Like
10

idc if someone buys armor (i do too bc i like some of it), but i get what you mean. it used to mean something to see someone with recon helmet or hayabusa armor or haunted helmet and blue eternal flame effect in reach. you saw someone with that armor and it was like “wow!” now it doesnt really even standout to me. incidentally, except when i see the armor that is earned, but even bp armor just dont hit the same.

1 Like
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heh, this reminds me of an old joke.

so the game developer says to the customer “we’ve got this exciting new system for unlocking cosmetics. basically you get a pack filled with random item of differing rarity, there are no duplicates so you will unlock new stuff until you have all the items.”

so the customer tries it and says. “whats with all these variants of the same thing? theres hundreds of versions of crap and only a few things i actually want. why cant i just buy the items i want or earn them by playing like i used to?”

so then the developer says to the customer “We heard you and so we’ve come up with a new system. we’ve got two methods of earning cosmetics. a pass where you earn items as you level up, and a shop where you can buy things you want directly and ignore the stuff you dont want. This is what you guys wanted right?”

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That is how “win-a-prize-every-time” raffles work.
Every time you try, you win.
But 80% of the time it is a junk item.
Go to the fair and spin the wheel to win a prize? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won a sticker.
Spin again? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won a tiny keychain pistol that clicks.
Spin again? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won Hotwheels car.
Spin again? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won one of those tiny $5 Nerf guns.
Spin again? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won another spin attempt! And CONGRADULATIONS !!! Another sticker.
Spin again? CONGRADULATIONS !!! You won $100 gift card from Amazon that actually has money on it!

Hence why Halo 5 had 75% of its armor sets being crap and 25% of its armor looking attractive. Also why you had to unlock Assassinations to help fluff-out the unlocks.