This topic is about the particular qualities within firefight arcade matches I’ve encountered, what I suggest be modified about firefight arcade in order to accommodate this if brought back, and to hear constructive criticism from all of you. Keep it clean.
I just finished a firefight arcade match on Halo: Reach. Beachhead to be exact. From the start I was merely doing this to help get closer to the Weekly Challenge of completing 150 waves in firefight matchmaking. However, one thing I try very hard to do is perfom like a good support player and keep my teammates alive so this way, everyone can get a perfection commedation or at least one or two AND get closer to the Weekly Challenge. I find this very difficult to normally accomplish since only a minority of the players I run into are not jet pack/ fuel rod/ bad judgment prone from the start… I like the sniper rifle too much, so I choose that. Anyways, the match begins and I immediately notice that three players have selected jet pack and fuel rod while I have chosen the sniper and camo, we play and play… note, I am on top of the Beachhead building, away from combat generally, in the most effective spot(s) I know suddenly, one of the jet pack guys dies off my viewing angle (I am dropping elites by the naturally destroyed wraith because one of the jet pack guys is stuck down there till his AA can recharge and is fighting three elites). Upon spawn, this jet pack user decided to swamp me (he attempted to block my viewing angles by being CQC with me), shoot a constant barrage of fuel rod blasts at me (effectively blinding me for six seconds if I do not move and allowing two shots for four seconds while he reloads… obviously i started doing a figure 8 strafe), and finally resorting to shooting the ground where I was moving, pushing me off the top ledge three-four times before finally landing me within three squares (think of the “grid” from forge) of two fuel rod grunts and an elite (killed the elite with a lucky no-scope and one grunt before dying to the other fuel rod) for my first death of the match.
I normally don’t care for a firefight match and I just got done speaking to this guy (private chat over Live) and his reasoning for doing this the duration of the match: is someone shot his secondary vehicle (ghost) and left him with a few shots left before explosion… my policy about every firefight map: if its there and can be picked up, use it, and use it wisely… so here’s my suggestion:
In the original ODST, it was possible to betray an opponent with such weaponry (fuel rod, sniper) or by accident. This is still possible, just in firefight limited. What I am recommending is an adaptation to this rule as well as combining it with another rule and/or possibility: popular vote betrayal and customized firefight settings. Explanation:
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Players who enter matchmaking are allowed to team boot for a betrayal rather then leave it to a single player vote. “Player John Doe betrayed Sally, click __ button to boot.”, if the team does not boot the player or if all people do not vote within five seconds, he gets a second chance. If he betrays someone again, auto-boot. They leave the match. Upsides: allows a team to choose whether or not to allow players to operate like this and until the shields recharge, forces players to not be so reckless or act like that in the situation above. Downsides: AFKers will prolong this and will still allow the person to remain as well as friends of this kind of player still lingering do not boot them. These are the reasons for having a two-and-done system rather then leaving it blank.
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If number one isn’t available, simply allow a player to have his shields dropped (Not health) and if a majority of damage came from one target, they get the credit for the kill. So if a fellow player rockets two teammates using shotguns or are fighting closely, then the person who dropped the shields/ hurt them gets a betrayal or two if two are damaged to the point that overshields are dropped. After a certain amount of betrayals, the player is booted.
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My secondary suggestion is actually already a topic: allow blank slots to be filled. To effectively “drop in” in order to allow ODST fans to feel like they are being hot dropped to reinforce fellow players and while it is asking a lot, to bring a new flavor to firefight: ODST or Spartan setting customization. To allow a player to hot drop into a firefight with the original Halo 3:ODST settings or Spartan settings. I know that is one of the tallest orders and most likely we won’t see it till later games, if ever, but that is something I would like to see. Upsides: Other then the obvious, this allows firefight afk boot slots, betrayal boot, or general quitting of a match to occur. Still accumulate penalties though for quitting too many matches (maybe 5 out of 10 or something). Downsides: potential lag speed or other issues may arise based on multiple factors and could heighten/ get worse if these ideas are implemented.