I’ve been doing a bit of catching up on MCC updates, and I see some people taking issue with the idea of skins being tied to competitive playlists. I agree with them. Please don’t do stuff like that in Halo Infinite. All it does is bring those of us who play casually (but enjoy earning items) into a challenge we likely won’t even be able to complete. Couple that with the fact that coatings are basic colors and you’re essentially forcing people who don’t have their favorite combo to become sweaty for no reason. No offense intended to competitive players—y’all are incredibly talented. It’s just not for everyone.
You could make the same argument against anything: “Don’t tie coatings to campaign challenges because I don’t play campaign”, “Don’t tie coatings to progression because I don’t have time to play five hours every day”. I don’t have personal preference one way or the other, but I can imagine some folk would be rather excited about getting something special for showing off their skills.
The underlying issue here I think is not tying unlocks to competitive playlists, but having something as basic as color options be something you need to unlock.
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> You could make the same argument against anything: “Don’t tie coatings to campaign challenges because I don’t play campaign”, “Don’t tie coatings to progression because I don’t have time to play five hours every day”. I don’t have personal preference one way or the other, but I can imagine some folk would be rather excited about getting something special for showing off their skills.
>
> The underlying issue here I think is not tying unlocks to competitive playlists, but having something as basic as color options be something you need to unlock.
I feel like there’s a difference, though, because campaign and casual challenges are more accessible than competitive. I hear that ranked games in MCC are full of players who are either absolute beasts or intentionally trying to throw the match, which makes ranking up a much more grueling task than completing a mission on Heroic-Legendary or winning a few social games.
But I agree, the problem is mostly that these coatings are just colors. This would be a much different conversation if we were talking about a nameplate or a weapon charm.
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> You could make the same argument against anything: “Don’t tie coatings to campaign challenges because I don’t play campaign”, “Don’t tie coatings to progression because I don’t have time to play five hours every day”. I don’t have personal preference one way or the other, but I can imagine some folk would be rather excited about getting something special for showing off their skills.
>
> The underlying issue here I think is not tying unlocks to competitive playlists, but having something as basic as color options be something you need to unlock.
I think it is more so the fact that the people who frequent those ‘sweaty competitive playlists’ can jump into campaign and complete those campaign challenges easily even if they may not play campaign. Whereas for the ones who mostly play campaign or social/casual games, it is the exact opposite. Simply put, a campaign challenge would most likely pose little to no difficulty for the ‘competitive’ players, but a challenge that requires you to play in those ranked/competitive playlists would be of great difficulty to complete for the other players.
The thinking here is that you as a non-competitive player are missing out on something when it really should be viewed as competitive players getting a little something for reaching a certain rank. Just because you don’t think rewards should be tied to rank because you may not have a complete armory doesn’t mean competitive players should get screwed for it. Competitive players want to get cool rewards for reaching a certain rank too.
I’ll also echo the sentiment of the underlying issue being that potential rewards are armor colors, something which has been the very first customization option available to players in every Halo game.
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> The thinking here is that you as a non-competitive player are missing out on something when it really should be viewed as competitive players getting a little something for reaching a certain rank. Just because you don’t think rewards should be tied to rank because you may not have a complete armory doesn’t mean competitive players should get screwed for it. Competitive players want to get cool rewards for reaching a certain rank too.
>
> I’ll also echo the sentiment of the underlying issue being that potential rewards are armor colors, something which has been the very first customization option available to players in every Halo game.
Agreed. This wouldn’t be an issue, or even a conversation for that matter, if competitive players received something like a nameplate or a weapon trinket. I should’ve been clearer in my original post that I was specifically talking about colors.
I’ve chased Achievements I didn’t want to do just because a certain reward is there. If it’s something you want, something you need, you’ll do it. Most people have an aspect of a game they don’t favour, but will stuff soldier on if the reward is worth it. If it’s not something you need, don’t worry about it. Move along.
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> I’ve chased Achievements I didn’t want to do just because a certain reward is there. If it’s something you want, something you need, you’ll do it. Most people have an aspect of a game they don’t favour, but will stuff soldier on if the reward is worth it. If it’s not something you need, don’t worry about it. Move along.
Huge difference between hunting achievements and reaching Rank 20 in Recon Slayer tho. One involves a newbie matching against HCS wannabes and the other does not
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> I feel like there’s a difference, though, because campaign and casual challenges are more accessible than competitive. I hear that ranked games in MCC are full of players who are either absolute beasts or intentionally trying to throw the match, which makes ranking up a much more grueling task than completing a mission on Heroic-Legendary or winning a few social games.
>
> But I agree, the problem is mostly that these coatings are just colors. This would be a much different conversation if we were talking about a nameplate or a weapon charm.
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> I think it is more so the fact that the people who frequent those ‘sweaty competitive playlists’ can jump into campaign and complete those campaign challenges easily even if they may not play campaign. Whereas for the ones who mostly play campaign or social/casual games, it is the exact opposite. Simply put, a campaign challenge would most likely pose little to no difficulty for the ‘competitive’ players, but a challenge that requires you to play in those ranked/competitive playlists would be of great difficulty to complete for the other players.
Campaign challenges may be accessible, but those were just an example. The point was more that there will usually be unlockables that somebody won’t like or won’t be able to get. How about all these promotional coatings? How about the Halo 5 level 152 reward? Or, should there not be a reward for reaching max rank in Halo Infinite, whatever that is? I’m never going to get any max rank based rewards, because those ranks are usually absurdly high, and I don’t have time or interest to play a single game that much. But does that matter? Maybe I’m not going to be able to get them, but maybe they’ll bring some joy to someone else.
Ideally, the unlock system is diverse and has something for everyone, whatever they specialize in. Sure, there are completionists who will want every single item, but I don’t think it’s in the spirit of completionism to ask for something to be taken away from someone else so that you can have an easier time.
And again I stress: basic color customization is a different issue altogether, and I don’t think coatings are an ideal system to begin with. Maybe all coatings should be ridiculously easy for anyone to get, no matter what and how they play. But that’s going to mean no special coatings for completing the campaign on Legendary (because that’s really hard for some people), no special coatings for reaching really high ranks, or for getting tons of kills. Heck, it means all those promotional coatings should eventually become unlocked for everyone. Now, personally I have no preference one way or the other. I’m just saying that’s what having no challenges that someone realistically won’t be able to complete means: you can’t discriminate.
I don’t have a problem with really special coatings (fancy glosses, paterns, materials, effects) being tied to competitive stuff or even promotions.
I do have a problem with things like purple or “red and grey” being locked behind things.
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> Campaign challenges may be accessible, but those were just an example. The point was more that there will usually be unlockables that somebody won’t like or won’t be able to get. How about all these promotional coatings? How about the Halo 5 level 152 reward? Or, should there not be a reward for reaching max rank in Halo Infinite, whatever that is? I’m never going to get any max rank based rewards, because those ranks are usually absurdly high, and I don’t have time or interest to play a single game that much. But does that matter? Maybe I’m not going to be able to get them, but maybe they’ll bring some joy to someone else.
>
> Ideally, the unlock system is diverse and has something for everyone, whatever they specialize in. Sure, there are completionists who will want every single item, but I don’t think it’s in the spirit of completionism to ask for something to be taken away from someone else so that you can have an easier time.
>
> And again I stress: basic color customization is a different issue altogether, and I don’t think coatings are an ideal system to begin with. Maybe all coatings should be ridiculously easy for anyone to get, no matter what and how they play. But that’s going to mean no special coatings for completing the campaign on Legendary (because that’s really hard for some people), no special coatings for reaching really high ranks, or for getting tons of kills. Heck, it means all those promotional coatings should eventually become unlocked for everyone. Now, personally I have no preference one way or the other. I’m just saying that’s what having no challenges that someone realistically won’t be able to complete means: you can’t discriminate.
I apologize for not being clearer in the original post (which I’ve since edited to make it a little more obvious that I’m only talking about coatings). Forcing someone to complete a task that’s near-impossible for them just to get the color they usually run isn’t a good idea. I feel the same about the Red Shift armor. People who can’t buy anything from GameStop don’t deserve to be restricted from their usual color combo. Weapon trinkets and emblems? Totally different story.
Hey I strongly disagree with your post, It is an incentive for us competitive players. That would be like complaining because you had to get really sweaty to get Recon armor in H3. For a better experience for all of us, different rewards should exist for different types of players; other people enjoy forge, infection, campaign and it would be nice if each playlist got an special reward for excelling on it.
Yep. There needs to be lots of competitive rewards.
Get the sweat glowing!
With a game that has as wide a scope as Halo - few people are going to thrive in every corner. I don’t like Warzone. Hate it. So there are achievements and unlocks I may never get. It’s probably cost me any chance of hitting 152 as I spend all my time in less fruitful playlists. So be it.
Nb; I’m only SR 145. So I doubt Warzone would have helped 
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> Hey I strongly disagree with your post, It is an incentive for us competitive players. That would be like complaining because you had to get really sweaty to get Recon armor in H3. For a better experience for all of us, different rewards should exist for different types of players; other people enjoy forge, infection, campaign and it would be nice if each playlist got an special reward for excelling on it.
Locking off colors ≠ locking off armor pieces. Every Halo game since 3 has had its own exclusive armor, which I take no issue with! In fact, I had a lot of fun bettering myself so I could have a shot at getting Recon (I never got it, lol) during the Halo 3 days. I just think coatings should be unlocked through challenges that are accessible to all players. Leave the sweaty stuff to getting emblems or new armor types.
Basic colors should not be attached to anything like that, but unlocks for reaching a certain rank or something are great. The ranking system just has to have a good MM system in place. I think h3’s helmet unlocks were pretty fair. Nothing most players could do.
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> > 2533274824050480;5:
> > The thinking here is that you as a non-competitive player are missing out on something when it really should be viewed as competitive players getting a little something for reaching a certain rank. Just because you don’t think rewards should be tied to rank because you may not have a complete armory doesn’t mean competitive players should get screwed for it. Competitive players want to get cool rewards for reaching a certain rank too.
> >
> > I’ll also echo the sentiment of the underlying issue being that potential rewards are armor colors, something which has been the very first customization option available to players in every Halo game.
>
> Agreed. This wouldn’t be an issue, or even a conversation for that matter, if competitive players received something like a nameplate or a weapon trinket. I should’ve been clearer in my original post that I was specifically talking about colors.
I see your point. Yeah, handing out colors as a reward is not smart. Comes across as a very desperate method of monetization. I remember Gears 5 was marketed as having a very straightforward system with minimal monetization and it turned out to be the most convoluted and predatory pile of junk to date. I hope Infinite won’t go that route, but it’s looking more and more like that may be the case.
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> > 2591580321307319;7:
> > I’ve chased Achievements I didn’t want to do just because a certain reward is there. If it’s something you want, something you need, you’ll do it. Most people have an aspect of a game they don’t favour, but will stuff soldier on if the reward is worth it. If it’s not something you need, don’t worry about it. Move along.
>
> Huge difference between hunting achievements and reaching Rank 20 in Recon Slayer tho. One involves a newbie matching against HCS wannabes and the other does not
Reaching top rank in Halo Wars was a grueling task. Especially for someone who sucks at RTS games. Reaching Rank 20 might be a lot easier for someone than speed-running Halo 2. It all differs from player to player.
A mixture of both would be nice, because some unlockables mean more when you earn them. For example, the Arctic Sniper for Halo 3 was competitive, and if you earned it means so much more.
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> > 2535418288909351;8:
> > > 2591580321307319;7:
> > > I’ve chased Achievements I didn’t want to do just because a certain reward is there. If it’s something you want, something you need, you’ll do it. Most people have an aspect of a game they don’t favour, but will stuff soldier on if the reward is worth it. If it’s not something you need, don’t worry about it. Move along.
> >
> > Huge difference between hunting achievements and reaching Rank 20 in Recon Slayer tho. One involves a newbie matching against HCS wannabes and the other does not
>
> Reaching top rank in Halo Wars was a grueling task. Especially for someone who sucks at RTS games. Reaching Rank 20 might be a lot easier for someone than speed-running Halo 2. It all differs from player to player.
The difference is that campaign gameplay is always the same.
It’s the same enemies from the same spawns on the same levels with the same weapons. You can not only prepare yourself, you can literally learn what you have to do by heart.
Multiplayer is just pure RNG. From the players you get matched up with/against, the maps and modes, up to lag and disconnects.
It’s not a reward, it’s a gamble.
> 2533274825830455;2:
> You could make the same argument against anything: “Don’t tie coatings to campaign challenges because I don’t play campaign”, “Don’t tie coatings to progression because I don’t have time to play five hours every day”. I don’t have personal preference one way or the other, but I can imagine some folk would be rather excited about getting something special for showing off their skills.
>
> The underlying issue here I think is not tying unlocks to competitive playlists, but having something as basic as color options be something you need to unlock.
I’ll spell the confusion
- the coatings make little sense due to the fact that :
- it is red v blue
- it’s an fps not tps like fortnight
- the only Playlist it could be used is ffa and most players use black or neutral color schemes to avoid being targeted when in the lead
- in short, armor coatings are only relevant to ffa and the playlist is competitive and they only hold value if you get rid of coatings that are camouflage in maps like blue for midship, etc
Since it really holds true that they are decorative for campaign players and do hold value in cutscenes… It’s more of pointless tax on casual players who primarily play the campaign, firefight, etc.
Then, to connect the dots-they hop into ffa and get noobstomped showing off their coating.
I would like to say in conclusion that I am not opposed to the coatings and am simply explaining.