To think of it, Halo was always known to be UNIQUE, to be recognized, but most of all, to be SIMPLE.
Statistics
As the latest Halos released, the series drifted farther and farther into the abyss known as ‘Modern Shooters’. Not only is this troubling, but in doing so, Halo has become less popular, less unique, less balanced, and in general wasn’t cared to in time. By the time of Halo 4’s release, one tenth of the community stopped playing(or at least half). Now, look at Halo 4’s population… Halo 5 needs a big step in innovation(not just copying but creating something new), it needs to ditch some of those ‘Modern’ functions, but most of all, it has to be easily seen as a Halo game.
Instead of becoming the ‘other game’, it should be able to hold its old fame, go back to the originals. Halo: Reach is a good place to start in terms of removing and adding mechanics. It is where the community most began to lessen. Looking at the statistics, Halo needs a way to turn this game’s mechanics towards the other way, by making itself more unique. Armour Abilities did this to some amount, but failed to impress the population because of balance, a quality that began to diminish ever since Halo 3.
What was Done Wrong and Solution
Balance is a MAJOR issue to say the least. Weapons and abilities such as the Boltshot, Armour Lock, and Active Camo. Weapons that you spawn with should not kill with ONE shot. Abilities in general shouldn’t drag on the game; giving another player an extra life or kill easier, simply because he chose an enhancement should NOT be made, or it should be tweaked. Winning a match in wrestling, for example, shouldn’t be so because you chose metal armour…(not actually going to happen…I hope)
Randomness is another factor. Ordnance and spawning issues are examples of these. Say that Player A is a better player overall than Player B, but he is given a pulse grenade ordnance, while Player B gets a Fuel Rod! The randomness must be semi- predictable and BALANCED. Spawning in another team’s base or spawn shouldn’t be happening when there are enemies in that base. Imagine winning a contest where you are first place and get a car due to a draw, but second place gets a tank!
Simplicity is again, an issue. Halo used to be a game that could be immediately picked up and played without much hassle, now the UI is confusing, you MUST organize Loadouts to really do anything against equally skilled players, and there are too many options that they don’t fit on the controller! Games such as Flappy Bird became hits because their simplicity promoted competitiveness.
Support or Completion of game should be all in the game at start, not later. This can be shown by Extraction in Halo 4’s first week. Consumer shouldn’t be given a half-finished project. Some of Halo 4’s gamers might have stayed if the Fileshare had been up faster
Difficulty has really diminished over the years. Do to many of the problems above, this can’t really be helped in many ways until the above problems are remedied. However, bullet magnetism and auto aim should decrease on all weapons as any one can aim a foot away from a target and still hit him. Even Legendary AI needs a smarter coding!
Forge/Custom Games community needs support! Reach was the pinnacle of these. Halo 4 took a half step back from Reach, which should never happen. Taking Reach as a base and adding in all of Halo 4’s forge mode and options would be greatly appreciated. I recommend reading Petetheduck’s Forge wishlist for more ideas.
Also, Competitive ranks MUST be in the game on launch! As a casual, I can’t say much, but Nak3d Eli’s ranking system speaks for itself very well.
Theater in Campaign should always be in the game. Seriously, just do it.
Lazy weapon reskins should be a no-no. All weapons should be unique and do different things such as the Carbine vs Br, not like the Storm Rifle and Assault Rifle which only has a Minor difference. New ideas such as the Brute Shot were what gave the games more life and diversity.
Lack of community support is also a turn for the worse. Integrating Waypoint’s headlines or just ’ Bungie’s(343i) Favorites’ would immerse the players more into the outside Halo world. Also, not many other games do so.
Lack of Easter eggs have literally killed the Easter hunters. I think that this is self explanatory, Reach had the most IMO.(+ Fun glitches are the same)
Campaign needs more linking and explanations regarding what was covered in the books. Not everyone reads them, and this detracts from the story. The original trilogy is a great example with less confusion. Also, we need to care about the characters, not just laugh when they die. Killing Palmer wouldn’t really affect anyone for example.
Unexplained loss of mechanics. Duel wielding, which was a beloved mechanic was taken out why? These things shouldn’t overtake us like this.
Closing
I think that the community speaks for itself with all forums. If the next iteration remedies these problems, then Halo 5 will be the best Halo ever. Obviously these are my honest 2 cents, but in general these nuisances must be dealt with! More in depth analysis will be underway.