Elites, and their place in Matchmaking.

Games Other Halo
1

Bungie has been fooling around with Elites and the part they play in Halo Reach matchmaking for a while. But the one thing they never delivered, was the ability for fans/users of the Elite player model to actively play as their preferred species SOMEWHERE in Matchmaking.

As an Elite fan since the first time I saw one in a Halo game. Being able to play as an Elite has been a favorite aspect of myself, and alot of the friends I had made over the course of Halo 2 and 3’s online lifespan. But with the release of Halo Reach, alot of my former friends that were bound by our commonly preferred model were divided. I now only even speak with 2 or 3 of them. Some of my friends quit Halo altogether, feeling like Bungie gave them little more than a slap in the face. Others play on occasion, but the clan itself no longer exists, and a few more went on to find other friends to play Halo with.

I was one of the ones who found other friends, when I left Elite clans because I didn’t feel it was appropriate to pretend to call ourselves an Elite clan when playing as Elites all the time was no longer possible.

But this story is just a small taste of what happened to the rest of the Elite-player base with the move to Reach. Part of what created this issue is entirely Bungie’s lack of caring. They even TOYED with us, mentioning in weekly updates that “If you’re the kind of player who rocks the Elite player model ALL the time, there is a place for you in Matchmaking.” This ONE promise that Bungie NEVER gave us, is what I would like to see 343 follow up on.

At some point in your MM updates for Reach, just add a playlist dedicated to a blend of Slayer and Objective games, where everyone plays as Elites, maybe a 3v3. But with balanced gametypes, none of this “Camo/Needler, Evade/Noob Combo” crap. It gives Elite gametypes a bad name. Spawn players with a Needle Rifle/Plasma Rifle, not Plasma Pistol. Do NOT spawn players with Needlers. In Plasma Repeater spawn variants, I’m sure noone would then mind Plasma Pistol secondary.

Re-forge some of the maps. When you set the weapon spawns to Covenant there are several weapons that are NOT replaced by their equivalent. The Shotgun is changed to a Plasma Repeater when it should be a Sword, the Rockets become the Plasma Launcher, when it should be a Fuel Rod Gun. It would also be nice to exclude Hammers as they are a Brute weapon, just use Swords.

Another thing you could do at the very least, is take a few playlists that aren’t played hyper-competitively like Big Team, Rumble Pit, Premium Slayer/Objective. And turn ON the Preferred Species option. I’m sure so long as Elites are spawning with Needle Rifles, Plasma Repeaters, and Plasma Rifles instead of DMRs, ARs, and Magnums you will see few complaints that Elites are overpowered. Especially in Big Team. And even if you manipulate it so all advantageous stats of Elites are nullified, the Elite fans will be too thankful for the addition to MM to complain about our disadvantages against, say, Snipers and the like.

There are so many options you could take to give Elite fans a PLACE in Matchmaking. And it’s really all we ask for.

2

When I first heard about the “preferred species” thing, I figured playlists like SWAT and MLG would forbid Elites. I was okay with this. Now, the only time I can play an Elite is in Invasion, and even then, species preference doesn’t work.

so, Halo 4, we’re going to be Spartan-IIs again. There is now no excuse for not having Elites selectable in multi.

3

I’d also like to see an Elite playlist in Reach. However, I want the regular weapon spawns to stay, not some crappy plasma repeater in place of shotgun. Or the worthless focus rifle instead of the sniper rifle.

Also the Elite loadouts need to be altered. Remove plasma nades from spawn and replace with frags because deaths due to stickies are far too prominent in Elite Slayer. I don’t wanna see AL anymore there either.

4

Well, I think part of whats supposed to give Elite gametypes, and by effect an Elite playlists, it’s flavor is the absence of any UNSC tech. The Focus Rifle really isn’t a bad gun, It just requires more patience than a Sniper does. It’s still more powerful than non-power weapons. And I did also address that appropriate replacements would need to be made like the Sword to replace the Shotgun.

Your grenade argument is perfectly valid, though. But what I think would work better is if all Grenade spawns on the map spawned only one sticky. And you spawned with no grenades at all.

In terms of AAs, it would be nice if only Traditional Elite abilities were used. Evade, Hologram, Camo, Sprint, and Jetpack.

5

My friends and I would sometimes play around as Elites in Halo 2, but mainly just on Big Team Battle. We would do the dummy glitch for fun. We once beat a team of Standbyers by doing the dummy glitch on Coagulation. They were standbying to capture the flag, which sort of takes a while because the map is pretty big. After they capped for a second time we were able to get a dummy in their base and then BOOM–1, 2, 3! Ball game over, we beat em. Probably my favorite moment of Halo 2, beating cheaters with a glitch.

Of course they removed the dummy glitch with a TU, but we had some good times. Miss those days too, I would have enough friends online to run teams of 8 for BTB anytime. They all left Reach though…

6

> Well, I think part of whats supposed to give Elite gametypes, and by effect an Elite playlists, it’s flavor is the absence of any UNSC tech. The Focus Rifle really isn’t a bad gun, It just requires more patience than a Sniper does. It’s still more powerful than non-power weapons. And I did also address that appropriate replacements would need to be made like the Sword to replace the Shotgun.
>
> Your grenade argument is perfectly valid, though. But what I think would work better is if all Grenade spawns on the map spawned only one sticky. And you spawned with no grenades at all.
>
> In terms of AAs, it would be nice if only Traditional Elite abilities were used. Evade, Hologram, Camo, Sprint, and Jetpack.

Whether you love the focus rifle or not, you can’t tell me that people actually use it in elite slayer. The majority of players would pick NR over focus rifle any day.

7

The main reason for that is the fact that players are broken off spawn in Elite slayer, though. It’s the players getting the Noob Combo, Needler, Stickies etc.

With less… Lethal spawn loadouts, the power weapons will become at least a little more predominant.

8

> The main reason for that is the fact that players are broken off spawn in Elite slayer, though. It’s the players getting the Noob Combo, Needler, Stickies etc.
>
> With less… Lethal spawn loadouts, the power weapons will become at least a little more predominant.

You do make a point but it’s silly that you would have to remove a basic weapon like NR just because the covie power weapons are utterly useless and broken.

9

haha, people like to play as giant targets? ok by me :slight_smile:

10

> haha, people like to play as giant targets? ok by me :slight_smile:

I don’t mind at all as long as we’re on equal terms :slight_smile:

11

Less remove the NR. More never spawn the player with the NR and the Plasma Pistol together. That’s silliness waiting to happen right there.

Even in DMRs on Powerhouse the Focus Rifle gets a fair share of attention, and the DMR is physically superior to the NR due to it’s overall faster kill time and better versatility.

But the difference is that in DMRs, you don’t spawn with a Plasma Pistol secondary.

12

I can’t remember the last time I played Elite Slayer.

13

Instead of adding an “Elite only” playlist, 343i should just rebalance Elites for multiplayer. In the social playlists (Team Slayer, Squad Slayer, BTB, etc.) I think we should be allowed to play as Elites if we want, as long as it stays fair. The best way to keep it fair is to give Elites the same exact traits as Spartans. Sure, there would still be a size difference, but I’m sure many people would be willing to make that sacrifice to gain the luxury of playing as an Elite.

For Invasion on the other-hand, Elites should still stay superior to Spartans just to give the gametype more depth AKA keep it’s gimmick.

14

> Instead of adding an “Elite only” playlist, 343i should just rebalance Elites for multiplayer. In the social playlists (Team Slayer, Squad Slayer, BTB, etc.) I think we should be allowed to play as Elites if we want, as long as it stays fair. The best way to keep it fair is to give Elites the same exact traits as Spartans. Sure, there would still be a size difference, but I’m sure many people would be willing to make that sacrifice to gain the luxury of playing as an Elite.
>
> For Invasion on the other-hand, Elites should still stay superior to Spartans just to give the gametype more depth AKA keep it’s gimmick.

I like your idea the best like in halo 2 and 3.

15

> Instead of adding an “Elite only” playlist, 343i should just rebalance Elites for multiplayer. In the social playlists (Team Slayer, Squad Slayer, BTB, etc.) I think we should be allowed to play as Elites if we want, as long as it stays fair. The best way to keep it fair is to give Elites the same exact traits as Spartans. Sure, there would still be a size difference, but I’m sure many people would be willing to make that sacrifice to gain the luxury of playing as an Elite.
>
> For Invasion on the other-hand, Elites should still stay superior to Spartans just to give the gametype more depth AKA keep it’s gimmick.

This is what I thought would happen initially with Reach. It makes a lot of sense, really.

Unfortunately, Elites are still a little bigger and you can’t really shift the hitbox around without encountering trouble, so I see a few options:

  1. Do like Epic did with General RAAM in Gears of War. RAAM’s campaign model is much bigger than any other used in multiplayer, so Epic scaled him down to fit with the others.

  2. Accept that Elite hitboxes are going to be bigger regardless, and adjust health accordingly. shouldn’t be a huge amount, but enough to compensate for the bigger surface area to hit. Of course, head hitboxes are still going to be huge, and nothing can really be done about that, and this may also affect melee damage.

  3. Battle posture. Have Elites in the campaign stand tall, like Halo CE/2/Reach, but in multiplayer, have them bent a bit like 3 did. Lowering their weapon will make them stand up straight.

The solution probably lies in a combo of those, or some other option I haven’t considered. However, it can be done of we and 343 put our minds to it.

16

or you could make it so elites have 110% shields and have melee do 110% damage, wont affect much because of the lack of bleedthrough.

17

i like elites over spartans and i cant use then in any other game type but invasion i want it to be like halo 2 and 3

18

I just played Halo 3 the other day and I totally forgot you could be an Elite. I agree, it would be fun to have Elites back in Matchmaking. If they could make it in such a way that it doesn’t effect the actual gameplay, that would be fantastic.

19

No.
Purple.

20

> No.
> Purple.

So, they’re going to eradicate the purple colour option from MP?