Frank O’Connor, you are wrong. So very wrong. The REQ system is by no means “unintrusive” and “well-liked”. It is disliked because it is, mathematically, a scam.
- 238 Helmets - 229 Armors - 63 Visors - 305 Emblems - 27 Stances - 30 Assassinations - 140 Weapon Skins - 28 Assault Rifle variations - 36 Battle Rifle variations - 28 DMR variations - 4 Magnum variations - 27 SMG variations - 14 Armor Mods - 99 Power Weapon certifications - 75 Vehicle certifications - 12 Power-Up certificationsAdd it all up, and there are 1425 permanent unlocks in the REQ pack loot boxes. Since they are part of Microtransactions, they are designed for you to get frustrated and buy more in hopes of obtaining what you want sooner. So, if you were to make a brand new account and buy your way to everything, it would take around 713 Gold loot boxes to get everything at 2 permanent unlocks per loot box. The best deal on Gold packs is $99.99 for 47 Gold packs. So, you would need to spend around $1,599.84 to unlock everything, which is absolutely disgusting. However, they are available in-game for 10000 Req Points, so if you really want everything without wanting to spend any extra cash, it’ll cost you 7,130,000 REQ points to unlock everything. In a game that you already paid $60 (Base release price) for. This should be illegal.
To call this system “unintrusive” is a disgusting lie. They took any aspect of customization and ruined it by limiting what we can customize, and then stuffing them in loot boxes. No more complete customization of your Spartan, now we’re limited to Helmet, Armor, and Visor thanks to the loot boxes. No more unique emblems you can make, now they’re pre-set and hidden away in loot boxes. There is only one armor set that you genuinely have to earn in-game, being Achilles. Even Helioskrill, the armor you get for completing all Master Chief Collection games on Legendary, is available in the loot boxes. Why put in effort when you can strike it lucky with a loot box you paid three bucks for? To make matters worse, there are certifications for power weapons and power-ups in these loot boxes, that increases your chances of getting gear that makes you statistically superior in-game. Sure, it’s only in Warzone, but the fact remains that you can get better at the game in some way, shape, or form, just by throwing money at the screen.
Ideally, all micro-transactions and loot boxes should be taken completely out of Halo, but because of how greedy Microsoft and 343 Industries are, that isn’t going to happen. The best possible compromise would be for customization to be taken out of the loot boxes, and returned in full to how it once was. Helmets, Helmet Attachments, Visors, Left & Right Shoulders seperately, Chest/Torso, Arms, Legs, etc, and we should be able to earn them through in-game achievements/commendations, or be able to buy them directly with our REQ points for a FAIR PRICE.