Halo Infinite Live Service Fantasy
Feel Free to ignore this. This is one part venting, one part fantasizing, and one part fan-fiction. I shouldn’t post this but I have an urge to that won’t leave me alone. Please let this get buried under actually useful posts. Also wrote this before seeing most recent trailer.
Day 1
Infinite launches feature complete, which means, more or less with the features it currently has. Forge, Customs Browser, a main multiplayer mode with various playlists for the live service to run with. Early events are nothing special more a celebration of Infinite’s release than anything else.
Season 1
Halo Reach, as a theme, is a decent idea for early seasons of the live service. Keeping in theme with the back to Halo’s roots direction of Halo’s earlier marketing and leaves Infinite with a direction to go.
Chapter 1
I find nothing wrong with Halo Infinite’s campaign as a chapter 1 to an ongoing creation. As a standalone it’s fairly unsatisfying.
Season 2
This does not necessarily have to be season 2 but at some point the Halo Reach theme will have to be dropped and the game will move on to something else. I see two directions to go from Reach while maintaining the ‘Back to the Roots’ direction. Reverse Release order or Cannon Chronological. Reverse order puts ODST as the next title to theme around, Cannon Chronological has CE. Or the order could be abandoned in favor of something else. I choose ODST.
Therefor Season 2 comes with two large additions to the multiplayer PVE and Playable ODSTs Halo as a live service will have to change and so after warming in the glassing beams on Reach, we chill to the smooth jazz of Mombasa city.
Week 1 of Season 2
Firefight appears in the main menu right under Multiplayer, for the first week or two it’s just Firefight a 4 Spartan team against waves of AI enemies. A basic PVE mode a little disappointing but not unexpected.
Week 2 if Season 2
Half of those queuing in for firefight instead get shunted off into a 4 player tutorial on the differences between ODST’s and Spartans. New Equipment is showcased and at the end your squad of ODST’s is sent on a mission to capture/rescue a high value target. The ODST’s get dropped in and infiltrate the Banished base. All is going well until Banished reinforcements arrive, you are trapped, your intel was bad, and now you are fighting you last stand.
Meanwhile the other half of those who queued in for firefight are playing firefight in 4 man Spartan squads, until they get match-made with a ODST squad in need of rescue. The Firefight is interrupted, a quick cut-scene plays explaining you are being sent on an emergency rescue mission, and one loading screen later the Spartans are dropping in to the rescue, bonus points if one of the drop pods destroys a Wraith or something.
Now with a FireOps mode with 4 ODST and 4 Spartans Fighting together the last stand of ODST’s turns into a roll against the Banished. The ODST’s with the macguffin that will capture the asset fight towards the objective, the Spartans given orders to Protect and support the ODST’s. It’s a short set of missions, but they do what they need to and open the door to far more.
In the PVP Multiplayer Playable ODST’s get added alongside Spartans. ODST’s don’t have the Mjolnir Armor of the Spartans but they have been able to acquire and adapt some of Mjolnir’s left overs. ODST’s are Equiped with Lævateinn Rigs. Lævateinn is the weapon of Thor’s brother Loki, the name roughly translates to ‘Damage Twig.’
You read that right, ODST’s are armed with Sticks, the platoon still has to share the rock.
Game design wise the philosophy behind ODSTs should be ‘If they were any better they’d be Spartans.’ Displayed in their yellow tinted HUDs, they have Halo CE and Reach style shields and Non- regenerating health. Lævateinn rigs are much lighter than Mjolnir armor so while Spartans only get a thrust pack, ODSTs get a ‘Jump pack’ giving them a tool with similar mobility to the grapple if lacking some of the utility. They are however not Spartans, having slower base movement speed and a weaker melee (three hits?) and no crouch slide. Other potential pieces of equipment that could come with ODSTs include a flash-bang/smoke-bomb that temporarily disables the motion sensor, A health pack with a “secret” use as a bootleg overshield. Slightly harder to hit because of smaller hitbox sizes the ODST plays like a Spartan from older titles
Adding different playable character’s, mostly Elites, has always been cited as being difficult to balance because of the different hit-boxes. I say lean into the differences, make them features not bugs.
Chapter 2
Going even deeper into the ODST theme Chapter 2 takes a break from Chief to show what is happening on a different part of the ring. This peninsula jutting into the middle of one of the Ring’s seas is littered with many, banished anti capital-ship emplacements. Don’t you think it’s strange that it only took three cruisers to take out the Infinity, well so do the Banished. The Infinity fell to what was supposed to be a distraction, the multitude of AA emplacements were what was supposed to win the fight and were deployed during said ‘distraction’. When the UNSC abandoned ship most of them landed on this peninsula just before said AA guns came online with a large amount immediately being captured by UNSC ground forces. Enough of them that the currently isolated Banished on the ring can’t attack the location by air and the UNSC can’t leave by air either. So the UNSC has been trapped on the peninsula. Stuck in a stalemate siege with Banished ground forces.
You and your squad of ODSTs are being deployed on a mission behind enemy lines. The surviving Spartans are busy holding the line. So the ODSTs are being sent via Laskey/Halsey/Roland/Huragok engineer to a section of the ring that houses forerunner communications equipment with the goal of contacting UNSC reinforcements. What secrets will you uncover along the way, and who else will hear your call for help?
Season 3
Swords of Sanghelios and the Created. For the same reason that the Banished have been working on creating an AI ala IRATUS the Swords of Sanghelios come to the UNSC to get a share of the Anti-Created Technology, or perhaps developed it themselves. Seeing as Anti-Created technology up to this point has consisted of more AI I see no reason to change the trend, features of the season will include Playable Elites, a Created enemy faction, Robert Davi Voicing Arbiter’s personal AI, created from a Brainscan of the Shipmaster, I’d like to call him Scale making him the Arbiter’s Scale.
Playable Elites
Same health and Shields as a Spartan by default, they could be increased a little, but must never break the two Spartan melee hit or ODST three hit threshold, they are larger than Spartans, easier to hit. Elites will have two inherent mobility tools. One is a dodge roll accessed by crouching before a moving jump. Normal couch jumps will be achieved by crouching after jumping. The other is a super jump whether this jump is accessed by holding the jump button and charging it up on the ground, or accessed via button press vs button tap fighting game style is a matter that can be debated. They lack the spartans crouch slide Elite melee hits deal the same damage as Spartan Melee hits but have a shorter snap-to distance in exchange for a small AoE, caused by a small wrist-mounted plasma blade giving Elites a small leg up in a 1vs many melee fight. 3 vs 1 an even fight? More likely than you might think. What special Equipment if any will come with the Elites is a matter that leaves my mind blank cloak is already power equipment and most things I can think of would just be different versions of pre-existing things, throw out some suggestions if you’d like.
Created Enemy Faction
The main Created Combatant to be equated to an Elite, Brute, or Knight is co-opted Gen 2 Mjolnir Armor(Stompers?). With light-weight flying drones(Buzzers?) as easily destroyed cannon fodder and medium tracked modular turrets (Rollers?) as their vector for variety, the mechanic for this faction is Networking. The Created are not fighting you Mano-a-Mano, the cowards, they are fighting you remotely, using drones. One of these drones is acting as a hub receiving the Created’s orders and passing it along, Identify the subtle indicator that reveals the hub, or just use a Threat Sensor, destroy the hub and stun the lot of them for as long as it takes the Created to reconnect. They take extra shock damage.
Chapter 3
The Infinity was left behind when the Ring Slip-space jumped away and the secret to locating the Ring resides in the ship. Play as the Arbiter aided by his Scale, the Swords of Sanghelios, and the UNSC as a brawl between the Created, Banished, the Arbiter’s forces, and a mysterious seemingly friendly fourth faction, ensues over the capture of the Infinity. (pst…. That fourth Faction is the Assembly)
Season 4
Brutes and the Endless
Playable Brutes would be kinda odd to implement, but we are leaning into their differences so. Brutes have the slowest recharging shields of all playable races, they can drop both of their weapons in exchange for a movement speed buff, and they have destructible armor plates that must be destroyed to damage their health except on their back, they can throw enemies and allies long distances. From full shields to zero health they are the most durable so far taking 3 melee hits from a Spartan. The possibility to give them Halo 3 Style Equipment like deploy-able launch pads does exist.
The Endless can be just about anything when it comes to being an enemy faction if they are one, but based on the Skimmers and the Harbinger, my best guess would be a reworked take on Prometheans With Skimmers replacing Watchers and Harbinger-lite styled enemies replacing Knights. Just a guess, the fact the Skimmers don’t bring back dead enemies already makes them better than watchers.
Chapter 4
Arbiter meets up with the Chief and they alongside the Sangheli and Marines fight the Banished, Created and (endless?) The eventual victory becomes pyrrhic as the Created believing themselves Immune to the flood due to not being biological release them.
Season 5
This theoretical would be the last season as the remnants of the Created succumb to the Flood and the combined forces of everyone else, UNSC, Sangheli, Banished, Assembly, (Endless?), and Forerunner. Face the existential threat of the flood. All the stops get pulled, Reach style space battle to prevent the flood escaping the ring, that is here, Tank missions, duh, a Mammoth and a Scarab moving side by side facing off against colossal Flood forms, I am here for it. Atriox throwing the Master Chief so that he can Grapple across a chasm and activate the destruction of the ring via console on the other side, please don’t get ahead of yourself, that would be a little much don’t ya think.
Competitive and Alternative Playable Characters.
I say if the competitive scene doesn’t want playable Elites, ODST’s, Brutes in their games they don’t have to have them. Ranked can remain a Spartan only zone. I will put forward that a competitive game with teams made up of one of each race might be pretty cool.
Joke Characters
Imagine April Fools comes around. Yap Yaps revenge is here. Multiplayer turns into mess of Playable Grunt Birthday parties for a week. Joint ops except it’s Marines VS Grunts it would probably be terrible, but it would be fun.
Coatings and Monetization
Coatings are a disappointment because they are an old feature removed from the game and sold back in worse condition. They are skins when they should have been stencils. Coatings should have determined where and how player’s chosen paints would be applied to their Spartan with better Coatings Allowing more paints. Paints could have been a buy-able cosmetic not only acting as a color choice but a choice in texture. The range of Spartans that would be created range from, uber tactical camouflaged Spartans, to pimped out Hot-Rod Spartans with Flaming Iridescent Paintjobs, to the inevitable neon pink and green cat Spartan. It wouldn’t be limited to Spartans, as every race would have it’s own set of cosmetics and Coatings. Meaning that there would be four or more characters that players with disposable time and cash would be able to customize to their hearts content.
Coatings as they exist now will never be able to be attractive to as many players as they could have because no matter what skins you make there will still be players who can’t finish making their spartan for want of the correct coating. I personally am still waiting on a coating made up of mainly Pastel Orange as it’s main color, a Pale Blue as a Secondary color, with dark purple highlights. 343 has gotten close but never hit the mark on that one.