Hey,
After all these disappointment features that H4 multiplayer has at times. I have been looking back at what made previous halos great and which features would IN MY OPINION make a great halo game multiplayer-wise. And so i made this thread to share my ideas and hear other opinions on this topic. In order to avoid making too much of a wall of text, i will make bullet points stating the features with my opinion on it. Most reasons should be obvious.
-BR as main precision weapon. Before i get flamed i want to say that the reason why back in H2 & H3 nobody had issues with randomness in shots and overpowering precision on the games precision rifle was the recoil. I think this is because:
-Not overwhelming in long ranges because not all bullets would hit (enforces movement and power positions)
-Some bullets would still hit and un-scope long range threats (snipers)
-Did not create randomness in precision up-close.
-DMRs (as how they are in H4) could be placed as pick-ups same way as ex. plasma pistols are not power weapons but are placed in the map to serve as a small advantage.
-H4 sprint. Although i like movement like in H3 and Reach MLG v7 because it would promote multitasking, sprint is something too big to be taken out. It could maybe be in shorter bursts but having the normal player speed be faster so that sprint could mainly be used to make jumps or other small things rather than speed running across the map. H4 sprint> Reach sprint because:
-enemies cannot as easily run away from fights
-doubles pummeling and sword charging are not as promoted or effective
-Movement smoothness previous halos. This is maybe one of the only positive things reach did well in. Even with the sprint, reach felt like like it was my feet i was controlling and every jump felt very accurate. In H4 i sometimes feel like Im gliding, specially when i try to turn while sprinting; it is uncomfortable.
-Set loadouts. Although im not a fan of loadouts (specially in H4) I feel like the game could be more simple and balanced if everyone would start equally (all AR or BR) and only being able to choose your abilities.
-Having everyone being able to choose EVERYTHING brings in too much chaos and unbalance which is too hard to perfectly balance in Halo.
-It would bring Halo back to being an arena shooter and promote competitiveness.
-NOT ALL GAMETYPES would necessarily be like this.
-such things as perks and multiple primaries and secondaries make everything too unpredictable.
-Grenade physics from specially Reach. By this i dont mean explosions or mini-nukes, I mean the trajectories that you could create around the map. Increasing the ability to make grenades be able bounce over small barriers and be bounced off several walls/ramps to create knew trajectories brings a new aspect of skill in the game. Reach’s and H3’s physics and map-design were incredibly efficient at promoting this and I feel its not as visible in H4.
-XP only awarded by winning and ranking system. A game can still attract players long-term wise by using personal XP gained by only playing (CoD). But if the gameplay is boring like H4 is starting to feel, there is going to be nothing bringing players back. In order to let people who arent as good still be able to rank up, a ranking system could be stablished that pairs them up with others that are as good as them.
-Does not necessarily have to be visible or be in all playlists.
-Enforces teamwork and communication to work towards a goal (on those playlists). How many friends and nice people did we meet in older halos compared to H4 and Reach?
-H4 makes me feel like im a lone-wolf most of the time.
-A visible ranking system brings players back to try to get better and get up the ranks.
-This worked very well in H3/H2 and despite the boosting/cheating and trashtalking. The game was incredibly played and enjoyable by many.
-Challenges could still give XP but in smaller and harder to achieve amounts.
-Clearness in graphics. Although many might be into realism and might feel H4 has done great at this, I often realize its not as easy to be able to spot flying grenades and other players now. Even if halo has always been a colorful game:
-H3 had smoke and Reach had a bright orange trail behind thrown grenades that let your reflexes spot their trajectories easily due to the color contrast without the use of any grenade indicator.
-Player’s armor in H4 blends too much into the colors and textures in the surroundings decreasing ones awareness in comparison to other Halos.
-Information in killfeed like in H3 or Reach. Nowadays H4’s kill feed only shows the word “killed”. Halo 2 had a bit of the same but this was greatily improved in the following halos by adding words such as “sniped”, “with grenades”, “with a headshot”.
-Such words reduce the amount of necessary communication by giving more information about your team-mate’d death’s situation without having to ask him what the enemy is using or how he died.
-Clear menus and score boards. H4 did not do so great on this.
-After a game it is hard to know who was in what team.
-All the blue rectangles and text font in H4 makes players have to force more their vision to find things (challenges, armor) in comparison to older halos.
-More information as well as clearness is always better.
These are basically the biggest (but not all) things IMO that could make a game more enjoyable both gameplay-wise and aspect-wise. I’m not saying halo 5 should be like this, but i don’t why they wouldn’t help make a better halo game.
So yeah, just bringing in ideas for anybody who is willing to see.
Thanks for the long read.
TL;DR:
IMO Halo multiplayer could be made more enjoyable by doing the following:
-One starting weapon per game.
-Making mobility more responsive
-Minimizing the need for Sprint
-Giving XP only from wins or big achievements
-Make graphics more clear reflex-wise
-More abundant and clearer information given to the player ingame (teammate death, scoreboard,…)
Opinions?