Halo - Multiplayer Standalone

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Introduction:

Firstly, this is will be a fairly long post, so please read it before you comment so you can gather all the information first, everything I will be writing about is my own thoughts and ideas that I would like to share with the community. It’s took a lot longer to write than I originally thought, I hope you find it interesting to read, thanks :slight_smile:

Just for background details, I’ve been a huge Halo fan since its full release on Xbox in 2001, and have purchased every game after since with all DLC, it was the game which made me pick Xbox as my console. Even outside of Xbox I’ve read all the Halo novels and collected the art books, watched every vi-doc on youtube, and so on (I’m sure many other fans are in the same boat), just wanted to say that to let you guys know that my opinion does have some knowledge behind It. I will be comparing past Halo games and other successful game to help explain my thoughts.

Chapters:

Chapter 1: Why Free to Play/Standalone
Chapter 2: Balance of Casual and Competitive - Going Back
Chapter 3: Menus/Playlists/Ranks/Leagues
Chapter 4: Implementation
Chapter 5: Gameplay
Chapter 6: Community

Chapter 1: Why Free to play/Standalone

To start, “Free to Play” does not mean “Pay to Win”, they are both completely different thing and I sure as hell don’t want Halo to be Play to win.

So why Standalone and why Free to Play?

When I say Standalone, I mean it’s own game, and when each new Halo game is released, it will be connected same multiplayer as the standalone. This is one fo Microsoft’s flag ship games, they can advertise it on the front page of the Xbox One dashboard, the reason I got and Xbox/360 was beacuse of Halo, this may be a smart incentive to also get future gamer’s to pick Xbox as their console.

Making it a standalone game makes it easier in the long run to keep everything together, like keeping the player numbers all together and a build up of maps, and also easier for Esports/MLG to implement. As why to making it a free to play, well it will gather much greater numbers of players to play the game, If a person enjoys playing it they can ask their friend to simply just download it, he may also do the same and so on. It will raise the population a lot fast and that population wont split since Halo Multiplayer is its on stand alone Some may think, “More numbers means more casual noobs and thus less competitive”, well this is not the case at all.

For example, League of Legends is currently the most successful casual and competitive game in the world, and its a Free to Play. What makes it successful? It’s successful because it has a balance of casual players and competitive players.

Chapter 2: Balance of Casual and Competitive - Going Back

As mentioned above, League of Legends is a Free to Play and is very successful because of it’s balanced of Casual and Competitive modes. In Halo 3 they did it also, when you selected the Multiplayer tab, it gave you the option of selecting 1 of 2 being “Social Slayer” or “Ranked” which has their own Separate Ranking System.

In LoL they did this but, in order to play Ranked, Players must reach a certain level (Total Playtime) to even play competitively. I think that this should be implemented in Halo Multiplayer. It will give the casual players who want to get better just like in Lol and Halo3 to keep playing, because they want to show they are better than other players, It’s a never ending objective. To do this, Halo will need to incorporate a Leveling system/league system, and also something which players can achieve to show off what they have done(e.g. Spartan Profile Medals).

Of course not everyone is not competitive, and some just want to play for fun, so they will just play on the casual playlist with other casual players. It’s a win, win for everyone.

Chapter 3: Menus/Playlists/Ranks/Leagues

Halo 4’s graphics are amazing but unfortunately the Playlist Menu is just a big step backwards, its awfully chunky and just an annoyance to use. Searching for games and looking at other players was a lot more boring and less informational as previous games. I understand 343, you want to be seen as a different company to Bungie, but don’t try and change something which isn’t broken. Take a look at the difference Between Halo Reach’s Menu here and here from Halo 4’s Menu here .

The Halo Menu in general needs to go back to what it use to be, it was a lot more informational, more social, easier to navigate and in my opinion a lot better looking. In the Halo Multiplayer Menu specifically should have the classic tabs and sub-tabs for the following:

  • Multiplayer
  • Social Slayer: Team Slayer/Objective, Slayer, BTB, Infected, etc
  • Ranked: Esport/MLG Playlist, Competitive BTB, Competitive Team Slayer, etc
  • Theater
  • My Theater: View you past games, your friends and the community videos
  • Live Theater (Watch live steams/tournaments live):
  • Stats
  • Spartan Statistics: Everything you would find on waypoint but in game
  • Team Statistics: Create a team in one of playlist and view how it compares to others
  • Global Statistics: The worlds total averages and statistics, e.g. Total games

There should be a different ranking system in the social and competitive playlist just like what they did in Halo 3. In the social playlist for example it could be based of time played like in Halo Reach/Halo 4. As I have mentioned before, for a player to play competitive they must reach a certain level (e.g. 30 total hours played) in the casual playlist, but it doesn’t have to mean that it would be the highest level, it can continue higher, but it would just have to be the minimum required to enter competitive.

In competitive, its system is skill based which gives you a number from 1 - 50 like Halo3 but instead of just that, it would be withing it’s own league division and seasons, like what StarCraft 2/League of Legends does with its Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. So for example and average player maybe a “Hero” in the social playlist and a Level 40 in Silver Season 1.

From this system, Halo can incorporate its rewards (Season medals, Games Played, Positive Feedback, etc) which can be visible by there profile. It is very important for player to be able to show their spartan and there achievements, something for them to show off. This is the addictive system which has proven to be very successful in games, no other FPS console game does it, this is an opening waiting to be taken.

Remember this is just an example, also remember this would be a Free to play game, so it must have it differences from the main game, otherwise no one would bother buying the full game. So, what differences would there be between each game?

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Chapter 4: Implementation

There has to be key differences between the Halo Multiplayer Standalone and the other future Halo titles (Halo 5,6,etc). There should be different available options to select for what they want, without making it too complicated for consumers. So I’ve summarized 3 tiers which consumers can select for example.

Tier 1 (Free): Halo Multiplayer Standalone

The standalone would includes all the Halo multiplayer playlists and starting maps, including the ones created in forge, but the player wont be able to forge using this version of the game. Theater mode local and live stream will be available for them to use without limitation, and future maps outside of forge will need to be upgraded to Season Pass. Spartan customization is mostly available but may not have as many customization options.

Tier 2 (Pay): Halo Multiplayer Season Pass

The Season Pass is a upgrade from the standalone, that will grant players new DLC maps as the are released though-out the season. Each season is a year long and will need to be renewed after each year, this is because the Multiplayer would span though-out the whole new trilogy (4+ years). It’s the same as any other season pass for a game which is released yearly. Also included in the Season Pass would have all Spartan Customization unlocks available and access to Forge.

Tier 3 (Pay): Halo 5/6 Game

Buying the full Halo game will give you what you would usually get in any other Halo game, such as Campaign, Multiplayer, Firefight, Forge, Theater, etc. Buying the game will come with the Halo Multiplayer Season Pass on disc and exclusive content only found on the game disc.

Chapter 5: Gameplay

The most important thing about Halo is of course, the gameplay. I’m going to be honest, I didn’t enjoy Halo 4’s Mulitplayer gameplay, it didn’t feel like I was playing Halo. I’m just giving my own constructive criticism about the game, and compared from every other Halo Multiplayer, this was the first time I stopped playing. The reason why I didn’t enjoy it was because it lost is Halo formula and became like any other FPS. Sure it was cool having more customization and choosing what gun I wanted, but I could do that in any other game. Halo needs to go back to its classic formula. The formula used before is was dropped from eSports, the same formula used when Halo 2 and Halo 3 was the top of Xbox Live. Halo’s classic formula consisted of having even teams starting with same load outs with no power ups, even weapon spawns, power ups on map, fixed spawns and no join in progress. It is perfectly fitted for competitive play, not everyone wants that, so it only has to be implemented in the competitive Playlist.

The Casual(Social) playlist can have customization load-outs and armor abilities if that’s what the community wanted. It is even from what a social player would want, and a competitive player would want, but, the aim assistance from both playlists must the same. The aim assist must be minimal like it was in Halo 2 and Halo 3, making it too easy is not competitive and making it difference from casuals will not make the want to get better if they relay on the auto assist.

Chapter 6: Community

The Community is also another big factor especially in a free to play game, the games success is based around on the community. The easier the community can contribute, the better success the game will have. This can include a wide range of things from community events, community votes, in-game community pages/profiles, community sharing, live streams, etc.

That’s all my thoughts so far, I’ll keep updating it when it needs to be, so tell me what you think, if you have any suggestions or share you ideas in a comment, thanks for reading (that’s if you managed to get though it all haha)

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<mark>Community Questions & Answers</mark>

weird stealth

> OP You left out CUSTOM games out of your menus.

Yes your right I did forget to mention custom games, ill make sure to update my post.

> Tho I do agree with the idea of making a stand alone MP game/disc, I don’t think that’ll happen. If it’s handled like how crytek handled Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, then having it a two disc set in the disc case shouldn’t piss off many people.

I agree it would be hard to that, which is why I think I didn’t explain it clearly enough. What meant was that the standalone was a downloadable game straight from xbox live, since it’s one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises they will have no problem to advertise it directly on the xbox dashboard.

Andycu5

> Just to give you a heads up about Free 2 Play, OP:
>
> While Free2Play certainly isn’t Pay2Win, Free2Play often leads to Pay2Win.

Well I agree some games do that, but we can’t generalize it for every F2P game (e.g LoL is not P2W but is still a FTP). It would depend how 343 would implement it, hopefully the correct way.

> In order to ensure that F2P Games make money, they have micro-transactions.

Correct, but there are other benefits that aren’t just money to this idea. Halo/343 isnt short on money, but they want just as much is Halo to grow to bigger. Making it F2P will not only advertise Halo, the the Xbox One itself, it might the thing which makes consumers decide to get an Xbox to other consoles on the market. Money can still be made, think more of it as a Halo/Xbox intensive to buy.

SrSergeant 7ohn

> i wouldn’t agree on the bounds of splitting the game in 2 for one it just doesn’t make sense if people just payed for the campaign 343

It ins’t splitting the game at all, look at chapter 4. People who purchase Halo 5/6 will still get the same multiplayer as the standalone, the difference is they would get extras in the mulitplayer such as skins and whatnot, don’t forgot it has other things such as Forge, Campaign, Firefight, etc which the F2P Halo won’t have unless upgraded.

Delko Elite 15

> I just don’t see why such a big fan of Lore would ever want a MP standalone. It does nothing for someone like you but give you a shooting gallery.

Remember, the standalone is just there for people who want to try Halo or want to just play Multiplayer, for those who like campaign or all of Halo they can still buy the full game. Halo Multiplayer is just a way to get players to download the game and try it, if they like it, they way want the full experience and buy the full game.

FALL OF REACH

> I like everything you said except the seasons part for your rank. Once I get a rank I feel like I earned it and it should not be taken away from me. By me having to try and earn a 2nd rank 50 when I already accomplished this goal is off putting and a endless cycle. There is really no incentive to achieve it a second time when I know I already worked my way to that goal…

I understand your point, I suggested this idea of a seasonal (yearly) cycle for a few reasons. One being, In past Halo games with ranks, once people have reached it, they get a little off put because they are scared it will go down. Each year no matter how good or bad they did the previous year, can have a new goal to reach, to reach 50 in that year.

Once a season is over, it’s forever locked on your profile showing how you did, so if you reach level 50 gold, it can show it on your profile from that season. 343 could award players on how well they did each season (e.g. season 1 gold can get exclusive golden pistol). Other games such as LoL and SC2 do this, it keeps the game fresh and always giving the player a goal to achieve.

4

OP You left out CUSTOM games out of your menus.

Tho I do agree with the idea of making a stand alone MP game/disc, I don’t think that’ll happen. If it’s handled like how crytek handled Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, then having it a two disc set in the disc case shouldn’t piss off many people. Other than people not wanting to spend time switching out discs every time they want to go from MP to Campaign, and back. But I will say this, the stand alone game would make both campaign and MP fun, and more likely to have the features that everyone likes, and very little of what they hate.

MP can be more classic, and have adjustable weapon stats and what not. Campaign, all of the space taken up by MP’s features, armor, maps, things of that nature, can be replaced with more campaign related features.

5

I like what I’m reading. Surely this would revolutionize console gaming? Or maybe I misunderstood your post and am wandering off in my own thoughts… :slight_smile:

6

Just to give you a heads up about Free 2 Play, OP:

While Free2Play certainly isn’t Pay2Win, Free2Play often leads to Pay2Win.

In order to ensure that F2P Games make money, they have microtransactions. At first, you’d assume that these microtransaction only offer cosmetic items, but you’d be wrong. Having the items being purely cosmetic doesn’t give off the necessary incentive to actually buy them; however, if they give you a boost in combat and an advantage on the field, that would certainly make you pay for them… And with Microsoft being dubbed as “Money-Whores” that would be the kind of thing that they would do in order to make as much money as possible.

Overall, both Free2Play and Pay2Win are out of my comfort zone. And just because if Halo 5 was F2P, you’d still be paying for Xbox Live.

7

I really like the idea of having two different sections, playlists for competitive and playlists for casuals with loadouts. It seems the way to go to cease this awful discussion in the community. But I’m not sure about F2P. It often leads to pay to win, especially Microsoft being greedy as they are.

8

i wouldn’t agree on the bounds of splitting the game in 2 for one it just doesn’t make sense if people just payed for the campaign 343 would lose money and in term resources to make the next halo making games is expensive they need to cover costs if you made the multiplayer free people who don’t care for the story won’t buy the game. The only way they would be able to cover costs of multiplayer would be through micro-transactions and we all know what that leads to.

Halo should stay as one game in order to keep the community together.

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Worked with Battlefield 3

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This is what I think the next Halo needs please everyone:

Halo 5 needs to evolve from Halo 3 and have an improved version of the REACH UI and Match Finding Options.

Halo 5 will probably need two playlist to keep everyone happy.

You need to have 2 Main Playlist, which are then split into Ranked and Social Playlist.

Ie:
Classic

  • Ranked (Friendly Fire On / JIP Disabled)
  • Social (Friendly Fire Off / JIP Enabled)*
    Infinity
  • Ranked (Friendly Fire On / JIP Disabled)
  • Social (Friendly Fire Off / JIP Enabled)*
    This would allow everyone to enjoy the Halo they want to play.

Classic would be an evolved version of Halo 3.

Infinity would be an evolved version of Halo 4.
Maybe an option for no Ordnance as well for the REACH lovers.

Each of course would have any new vehicles and weapons that have been created for the new Halo game.

The Sandbox would be the same for both. Only real changes are:
Classic:

  • No Loadouts
    No AA (Equipment Only)
    No Ordnance
    No Perks
    Sprint (TBA)
    Weapons Spawn on Map
    Infinity:
  • Loadouts
    AA
    Ordnance
    Perks
    Sprint

MAPS AT LAUNCH:

I think these features with about 20 maps at launch will be sufficient.
Map Types Required for Launch:
6 Small
6 Medium
6 Large
2 Very Large (Forge World Size)

And a player increase to 24 for Massive BTB.
And Fire Fight Maps to work with Match Making maps. Not to be new addition.

This may seem to be many maps, and a lot of work for 343i, but if half of these maps were remakes of the best Halo maps. Then the hard work is already done. This would give Halo 5 10 new maps and 10 remakes.

INTERACTIVE MAPS:

We also require Maps to be Interactive. Maps are one of the most important things about Multi-Player. And a game with bad maps, will not play well. I believe Halo Maps needs to have more interactive maps like those of Halo 2 and Halo 3.

The Interactive Maps in Halo 2/Halo 3 were one of the reasons that made these 2 games so great.

CTF on Halo 3 Highground was hard, unless you could open the gate, which made it more easy. This gave the map another objective that needed to be defended and attacked.

The train on Terminal was a blast, as you watched the enemy drive off with the flag in the warthog, only to see it get splattered by the train. Even those in the warthog got a massive laugh out of it.

These interactive environments have all been lost since REACH and need to return. Look at what Dice is doing with BF4 (Evolution Maps). They Look bloody amazing and changes how the game is played.

I love to see more maps that have the following items that can be activated or deactivated:
Light Bridges
Elevators (That can fit a Tank)
Teleporters
Gates
Shield Doors
Auto Turrets / Base Defences etc

For example, Imagine a base up high, and at the front of the base is a large Elevator. You have the base pretty much covered, and the enemy is not having much luck breaking through your defences. The controls to the elevator are in your base, and left unguarded. The enemy teams works together and placed a Scorpion on the Elevator and sneak someone into your base to activate the elevator switch.

Then the Elevator comes up, with the enemy team and they have a Scorpion Tank. All Hell breaks loose. The game has changed or because someone activated a switch which activated the elevator. This would be awesome. And be great to see these elements available in FORGE.

I would like to see more gates that could be open and closed. The main interactive environments in Halo 2/3 were one way. Once activated, they remained open, except for Halo 2 map Containment.

Containment was a great map. The map had a Main Gate at both bases and when the switch for the gate was activated, you only had 30 seconds before it would close again. This created many great fights at the gate and the gate controls, as once you saw your gate open, you knew the enemy would be making an attack. You could also activate the gate as a diversion, as people mostly thought you would enter from the gate, but you sneak in around the side. This was a great map, and probably one of the best Halo maps made.

With the new Xbox One, 343 should be able to add many new and interesting Interactive Environments that were in Halo 2 / Halo 3.

Halo 5 needs to be great, and return Halo to the # 1 spot on Xbox Live, because we all know it deserves to be there.

11

> OP You left out CUSTOM games out of your menus.
>
>
> Tho I do agree with the idea of making a stand alone MP game/disc, I don’t think that’ll happen. If it’s handled like how crytek handled Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, then having it a two disc set in the disc case shouldn’t piss off many people. Other than people not wanting to spend time switching out discs every time they want to go from MP to Campaign, and back. But I will say this, the stand alone game would make both campaign and MP fun, and more likely to have the features that everyone likes, and very little of what they hate.
>
> MP can be more classic, and have adjustable weapon stats and what not. Campaign, all of the space taken up by MP’s features, armor, maps, things of that nature, can be replaced with more campaign related features.

This is where MS DRM would had been great, Because you would install the game, and wouldn’t need the disc to play.

But too many had a cry and MS changed the policy. And made the XboxOne dummer in the process.

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I just don’t see why such a big fan of Lore would ever want a MP standalone. It does nothing for someone like you but give you a shooting gallery.

I haven’t been in the Halo Pool as long as i wish, i got into it at 2002 at the age of 8 and since then Halo has been my game. I’ve played all the games for the Lore not the MP…that was just icing on the cake. If people just see Halo as an MP game than (at least in my eyes) their not fans of Halo because it is much more.

I made a Thread asking what do people think is more important to Halo

Story or MP

Without story Halo may not of ever gotten off the ground and i think ever Halo game should have a great MP but the Story should blow our tops off.

What do you think Halos focus should be more on. Story or Multiplayer

13

> > OP You left out CUSTOM games out of your menus.
> >
> >
> > Tho I do agree with the idea of making a stand alone MP game/disc, I don’t think that’ll happen. If it’s handled like how crytek handled Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, then having it a two disc set in the disc case shouldn’t piss off many people. Other than people not wanting to spend time switching out discs every time they want to go from MP to Campaign, and back. But I will say this, the stand alone game would make both campaign and MP fun, and more likely to have the features that everyone likes, and very little of what they hate.
> >
> > MP can be more classic, and have adjustable weapon stats and what not. Campaign, all of the space taken up by MP’s features, armor, maps, things of that nature, can be replaced with more campaign related features.
>
> This is where MS DRM would had been great, Because you would install the game, and wouldn’t need the disc to play.
>
> But too many had a cry and MS changed the policy. And made the XboxOne dummer in the process.

Thats not what DRM is. DRM or Digital rights management, which is meant to control piracy, not being able to run a game without a disc, but it does make it harder for people to buy a game, install it to their computer/Xbox/Playstation, then turn around and sell it, and still be able to play it on their device. Tho being able to install the game to your drive, should be able to do that. Microsoft was kind of trying to sell their new Xbox all wrong, like they’re explaining all of the little details, and how things work like engineers, but PS4 is being marketed by telling us all of these neat features, and being simple about it.

That and DMR has a very bad taste for a lot of gamers, mostly those of us who play PC, DMR is a pain in the butt at times.

Delko Elite, here’s the thing, there are up and downsides of having a MP standalone, there’s more room for other features and whatnot that would otherwise be left/cut out because of space. like Armor, people was pissed because there was armor left out on Halo 4’s release, a Standalone MP game would mean more space for armor, maps, and ext.

Also you need to remember, not every Halo gamer are fans of the lore, there are a good percentage of players who NEVER touch the campaign, doesn’t know anything about the lore, I’ve known people like that, I’ve played with people like that in campaign, and had to explain the campaign to them so they’d understand the campaign and what’s happening and why.

14

There can only be one.The reason is because they are running out of time. O`Connor was talking about that in a interview. Besides its really pointless to have two.

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weird stealth

> OP You left out CUSTOM games out of your menus.

Yes your right I did forget to mention custom games, ill make sure to update my post.

> Tho I do agree with the idea of making a stand alone MP game/disc, I don’t think that’ll happen. If it’s handled like how crytek handled Crysis Warhead and Crysis Wars, then having it a two disc set in the disc case shouldn’t piss off many people.

I agree it would be hard to that, which is why I think I didn’t explain it clearly enough. What meant was that the standalone was a downloadable game straight from xbox live, since it’s one of Microsoft’s biggest franchises they will have no problem to advertise it directly on the xbox dashboard.

Andycu5

> Just to give you a heads up about Free 2 Play, OP:
>
> While Free2Play certainly isn’t Pay2Win, Free2Play often leads to Pay2Win.

Well I agree some games do that, but we can’t generalize it for every F2P game (e.g LoL is not P2W but is still a FTP). It would depend how 343 would implement it, hopefully the correct way.

> In order to ensure that F2P Games make money, they have micro-transactions.

Correct, but there are other benefits that aren’t just money to this idea. Halo/343 isnt short on money, but they want just as much is Halo to grow to bigger. Making it F2P will not only advertise Halo, the the Xbox One itself, it might the thing which makes consumers decide to get an Xbox to other consoles on the market. Money can still be made, think more of it as a Halo/Xbox intensive to buy.

16

SrSergeant 7ohn

> i wouldn’t agree on the bounds of splitting the game in 2 for one it just doesn’t make sense if people just payed for the campaign 343

It ins’t splitting the game at all, look at chapter 4. People who purchase Halo 5/6 will still get the same multiplayer as the standalone, the difference is they would get extras in the mulitplayer such as skins and whatnot, don’t forgot it has other things such as Forge, Campaign, Firefight, etc which the F2P Halo won’t have unless upgraded.

Delko Elite 15

> I just don’t see why such a big fan of Lore would ever want a MP standalone. It does nothing for someone like you but give you a shooting gallery.

Remember, the standalone is just there for people who want to try Halo or want to just play Multiplayer, for those who like campaign or all of Halo they can still buy the full game. Halo Multiplayer is just a way to get players to download the game and try it, if they like it, they way want the full experience and buy the full game.

I’ll Post these in the Q&A Section, I hope you guys kinda understand more of what I’ trying to say, any question or suggestion please do so, thanks all

17

Interesting post, I think a free to play Halo multiplayer would work really well. People could just download it and try it whenever they want, while the diehards can purchase the game as they normally do.

Microsoft needs to take down some notes.

18

Give me a Halo 3 style multiplayer with a slight speed increase. Add in dedicated servers and I’m set for life.

19

OP

I like everything you said except the seasons part for your rank. Once I get a rank I feel like I earned it and it should not be taken away from me. By me having to try and earn a 2nd rank 50 when I already accomplished this goal is off putting and a endless cycle. There is really no incentive to achieve it a second time when I know I already worked my way to that goal…

20

Though I was originally averse to the idea, the way you presented it is smart and well-argued, and I could see it working. I’m not so sure Microsoft would go along with it though, because I’m almost certain it would decrease their number of copies sold (since less players would be interested in the campaign and firefight offerings unless they’re absolutely top-notch). Microsoft couldn’t depend on multiplayer to sell copies, and I think that would hurt their bottom line in the long run.