Spartan Ops wasn’t enough. Halo:Reach’s Firefight 2.0 kept me playing for far longer than Spartan Ops ever did, with its incredible wealth of customization options. That said, Firefight 2.0 in Reach wasn’t perfect, and there are some improvements that could be made. Here’s a few ideas:
1. Firefight Heavies
This is what Firefight needs, above all else; big maps, heavy vehicles, and huge battles. Big, open maps the likes of Halo 3’s Sandtrap, with not two, but FOUR enemy dropships per wave; twice as many enemies, lots of enemy vehicles to blow up… and the heavy vehicles to blow them up with. Scorpions. Falcons. Mantises. Drivable Banshees.
Some old favorites like the Chopper and Hornet… and some vehicles from Halo Wars, too; like the Grizzly, Hawk, Locust, and Vampire. The more the better. Having destroyable Scarabs drop in along with each Boss Wave would be welcome as well, and contribute to the epicness.
Firefight has always been about small scale engagements. I want it to have the kind of big vehicle battles we got in Halo 3’s Campaign.
One last thing on vehicles; if we have vehicles like the Warthog on a map, we need friendly AI. Halo:Reach had this on Installation 04, but the Warthog was all but useless in single-player on Lost Platoon, Beachhead, and Unearthed because you didn’t have any friendlies to jump in the turret.
2. Heretic Elites, Set Skulls, and Vehicle Settings
More customization options, in other words. I want to play as Elites in Firefight, but I want to fight on the Spartans team, against the Covenant; so, Heretic Elites.
We also need them to add customization options for Set Skulls; remember in Halo 3:ODST, a new skull would activate at the start of each set as well as each round; except Set skulls would remain active till the end of the game, not just till the end of the set. They removed this in Halo:Reach. I’d like to have some customization options to add them back in, and also control their duration; like whether they last for just two sets, or three, or if they stay on for the whole game.
Lastly, we need the ability to change the kinds of vehicles that spawn on the map, like in Halo 2; since Firefight and Forge don’t mix, this is our only other option. In Halo 2 you could set which Primary and Secondary Light Vehicles, Heavy Vehicles, and Aircraft (which was just the Banshee for Halo 2) spawned on the map.
We should be able to do this in Firefight, and also set the respawn time for these vehicles; whether they come back every wave, every round, every set, or not all. Or set their respawn time by seconds, minutes, or hours.
3. More Firefight Matchmaking Options
In Halo:Reach, you had two choices; regular Firefight, which meant mostly 4-player Arcadefight with unlimited lives, or Score Attack, where you could only play solo for 1 round. Enemies in Score Attack were almost always ordered, and Dropships were turned off most of the time.
Mostly I just want multiple-round/multiple-set gametypes in Score Attack with random mixed enemies, and dropships, and Firefight Limited gametypes for those who want to play solo. Not to mention Firefight Heavies and big maps, like I mentioned earlier.
4. Custom Loadouts and Personal Ordnance
If there’s one gametype where these features would fit, Firefight is it. But I think Custom Loadouts for Firefight and War Games should be separate; like in Firefight, you would get Armor Mods, Weapons, and Armor Abilities you wouldn’t be allowed in War Games. Weapons like the Shotgun, SAW, Grenade Launcher, and Energy Sword. AAs like the Drop Shield, Armor Lock, or Spartan Assault’s Seeker Drone.
Of course, you should also be allowed to turn these features off, just like in War Games, if you’d prefer players not be allowed to call down Rocket Launchers whenever they like.
5. Prometheans and the Flood
People have been asking for Flood enemies in Firefight since ODST, I think… and Promethean enemies would be welcome as well. Some new mixes too, like being able to mix Covenant and Promethean enemies, or having the Covenant and the Flood trying to kill each other as well as the player; but make it so that enemies keep spawning until they players have racked enough kills to pass the wave, or people will just hide and let their enemies wipe each other out if the Covenant, Flood, and Prometheans are allowed to fight each other.
That’s about as good as Firefight 3.0 can get. Post your thoughts.
EDIT: It just occurred to me that I didn’t address objectives in Firefight; Firefight 2.0 in Halo:Reach had Generator Defense, but this wasn’t that great. Generators could be destroyed very easily even if you reduced enemy weapon damage, meaning games were pretty short-lived. I don’t think you got any extra points for protecting Generators either, and they didn’t respawn.
I came up with this idea for an objective-base Firefight variant. Might be a little too much, but I’ll leave you to be the judge of that. Keep in mind that this should NOT replace the default Firefight gametype; only give the player more options.
6. Dominion, Assault, and Halo Wars; Oh My!
Dominion and Firefight could go together like peanut-butter and jelly. Mix with a little bit of Halo Wars and the classic Assault gametype, and it could be a lot of fun.
It would work a little bit like Halo Wars; you destroy an enemy base, and you can spawn a UNSC base on the spot (obviously they would be a lot smaller than those in Halo Wars, to fit on regular maps). Each base you control increases your score multiplier, and rewards you with vehicles and weapons drops like in Dominion, and also friendly AI like Marines or ODSTs.
Likewise, losing bases will reduce your score multiplier, and you’ll be facing more enemies than normal, as enemy-controlled bases will spawn more infantry and vehicles in addition to whatever the Phantoms drop off each wave. Customization options would allow you determine whether the game is lost when all player-controlled bases are destroyed, or not.
Bases would have distinct appearances depending on who controls them, just like in Halo Wars. You’d have UNSC Bunkers, Covenant Command Posts, Forerunner Altars, and Flood Hives; you get the idea. They would be about the same size as the small bases on Longbow an be equipped with Shields and Turrets. Since we would already need larger maps for Firefight Heavies, this shouldn’t be a problem.
You would need heavy weapons like Rocket, Lasers, and so on to destroy bases, but you could also include aspects of Assault in this new Dominion; make it so that you can only destroy an enemy base by planting a bomb (again, you could change this using custom game options).
Other game options would allow you to set the damage resistance for friendly and enemy bases, as well as the weapon damage percentage for base turrets. Naturally, you’d also have all the regular customization options that come with Firefight; dropships, weapon drops, wave traits, and so one.
