How Flood can be Changed for the Better

Games Other Halo
1

Hey everyone,

One of my favorite game types in Halo Reach was Living Dead, so naturally I enjoy Halo 4’s Flood game type. Although the idea behind Flood is great, I have to say (with all due respect) that I believe Living Dead in Halo Reach was better, but I along with others who agreed couldn’t understand why we felt this way. After thinking about it a lot more, we came up with a few ideas which are small, but would dramatically improve the game type. These ideas can also be incorporated into Flood right now in a matchmaking update, and do not require a next Halo.

  1. Headshots

One of my favorite aspects of Living Dead was the one-shot headshots. Shooting zombies from far away was very satisfying and helped the humans be able to live longer. The problem in Flood is that there are no longer one-shot headshots, and so we must resort to just our shotguns to kill the Flood up-close. This ultimately shortens the length of every game, for since the Flood have to get closer in order to kill them, it is far more likely that one will get infected. Additionally, it was a natural tendency in Living Dead to find “camping spots” (for lack of a better name), which players would stay in and defend themselves by shooting the flood from far away. Camping is a tricky topic, for some have strong feelings against it and others have no preference. When discussing a “zombie game type” however, camping is actually extremely relevant, for that is how people defend off zombies: by finding a place to stay in and shooting to save their lives. One thing that separates Flood and defending off zombies in real life is that players actually want to have interaction with their enemy in a video game, for they are in no real danger and want their killing points. For this reason, players are encouraged to move toward their flood enemies to kill them with the shotgun (because it is too hard to kill with the magnum), which also increases possibility of infection and thus shortens the game. Since there are no head-shots, players can no longer stay in spots and defend themselves, for it is too hard to kill the Flood with many shots (especially because of their quick movements), and instead must always be on their feet. Some may like the idea of the humans always moving around, but this actually creates a very different gaming experience, for the humans are always uncomfortably checking every direction for Flood. Living Dead was very comfortable, for you could rack up kills from the comfort of one place without checking your back, but as I play Flood, it is actually stressful for the player. All of these problems can be solved by lowering the Flood player’s health.

  1. Armor

I along with others love the new and customizable armor for spartans that can be equipped, but there are too few places to show it off. In Halo Reach’s Living Dead, we were able to dress in our own armor in this game type, but in Flood, everyone must be a bright green color, which in a way gets rid of everyone’s identity as a Halo player. Having our own armor in Flood would ultimately improve the game, for players would feel like they are defending off flood from themselves in their own armor, rather than defending off flood from a light green spartan with no identity. It would also give players a chance to display their armor to others without having to playing free-for-all games.

  1. Overshield

One exciting part of Living Dead was receiving an overshield when you are the last man standing. With this feature eliminated from the flood gametype, it gets rid of all chance for survival, in fact humans on average do not even last 15 seconds before getting infected. This ultimately gets rid of the excitement of being last man standing, for the players know that they will be dead within seconds anyway. Although the overshield would only add a few more seconds to a human’s life, it is enough to make the last man standing experience more satisfying.

These three ideas can all be added to the Flood game type easily, but only if many agree with these ideas, and someone from 343 industries is on-board. Before searching for a way to propose these ideas to 343 industries, I would like to share them with this Halo community, so I can hear everyone’s voice first.

Have a great day,
Funkyxbox

2

I’d love our custom colours back, I also say lower the Flood’s movement speed to 90% so the Thruster Pack isn’t as effective

3

Very well thought through and right on the spot. I agree with everything and would love if 343i at least considered these ideas.

The point I feel most strongly about is that Flood players now have shields. Weak shields, admittedly, but still. It takes three headshots with the magnum to kill a Flood. Given that you have only 24 rounds total, that’s a maximum of eight Floods if your aim is 100% accurate.

Maybe if we had a second gametype in the Flood playlist where Floods don’t have shields, or only Alpha Floods have them. I mean, the original Zombies custom game had soooo many fun variations, and all we have in Halo 4 is a rather generic and - in the long run - not that fun version.

4

Heh, playing Reach Infection with friends was miles better than H4 Flood.

5

Just a heads-up: you can feel free to continue your discussion here, but please consider crossposting your thoughts to the Flood Feedback thread in War Games Feedback, if you haven’t already. War Games Feedback is the most direct line of communication to the Matchmaking team, so posting your thoughts there will maximize the chances of them being seen.

6

Don’t quite agree with the 1sk headshots, I’d much prefer a 2sk for the magnum, one for the shield, one for the head. Not quite so easy to get a kill like in Reach, but nowhere as hard as currently with the magnum.

Other than that, the TP should be replaced with Hologram, last man should get overshield (You are last man after all, where’s the reward?)

Flood sprint wouldn’t be a bad idea either, but the base movement speed would have to be reduced somewhat.

And fix the BS!, I’m sick of killing a Flood, only for them to magically stab me and infect me…

7

I don’t play a lot of Flood, but I prefer it to Infection. I feel that Flood is much more balanced and spawning as a Flood is not a complete death sentence. I prefer a more dynamic game and is exactly what Flood is.

In response to your ideas I write the following:

  1. Headshots

IMO 1sk HS’s would be OP in Flood. Perhaps weapons could be placed on the map to promote more movement and to allow the Spartans to upgrade their weapons.

I think 2 weapons would work well in this role: a) BR b) Scattershot

The BR would allow for quicker kills than the Magnum, and the Scattershot has a higher RoF than the Shotgun.

  1. Armor

Again this is a balance issue. If everyone is allowed to use custom colours than players that choose darker colours will have an advantage over others. This is the same reason Bungie removed Black from the colour palette.

  1. LMS - Overshield

This actually isn’t a bad idea, but I think we have a few options that could work well:

a) The LMS gains Personal Ordnance in the form of Overshield/Speed Boost/Damage Boost.
b) The LMS gains unlimited ability usage, and a choice of new AA’s through personal ordnance.
c) The LMS gains a powerup. Similar to your idea but this could be OS/DB/or SB. (This would be specified in the gametype rather than being randomly selected)

8

I disagree with the 1sk I dont believe it would work well with our open environments, the magnum really isn’t that hard to use even now.

I think: possibly remove sprint and thrusterpack for some gametyoes, give alpha zombies a shield in that gametyoe but not normal zombies.

Add flood objective. This would be a very fun gametype imo. An easy one would be a series of hills, representing safe zones, that players must fight past the flood to reach.

Overshield on last man standing would be fine, as well as our individual colors.