How I think loadouts should be in H5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
#1

Loadouts are a cool concept and I would really like to see them return to Halo 5. I like the freedom to chose my weapon and change the appearance of said weapon. However loadouts are not without their flaws. Halo 4 is a prime example in which the loadouts could not have been executed any worse, even had 343 tried.

I’m not going to address these problems because like me, you’ve probably read them and addressed them plenty of times over. Instead I’m going to state my ideal loadout system with reasoning.

Primary Weapon
Halo 4 allows us too chose from the BR, DMR, AR, Carbine, Storm Rifle, Light Rifle and Suppressor. The biggest complaint I hear is the balancing issue. Even after the weapon tuning we are still having problems, and why? because we have too many weapons in the sandbox, balancing them is near impossible. How do you balance 3 Automatic weapons, ultimately one will always be the better weapon unless all are made to have the same spread, kill time ect which takes away the uniqueness of the weapon.

Choice of weapons avalible
I think that we should have a smaller range of weapons to chose from(because of the above reasons); one Long range weapon, a mid range weapon and a close range weapon being the DMR, BR and AR. I never liked the idea of a Spartan spawning with anything not UNSC. It doesn’t feel right nor makes much sense. Obviously this is a rather controversial opinion because I know people like to use their Carbine and Storm Rifles ect but the fact is that they don’t help gameplay and make loadouts much harder to balance.

Skins
Skins are pretty cool and should obviously return. If they don’t affect gameplay, why the hell not. Again in Halo 4 they were implemented poorly in the fact everybody could get them by just playing the game normally or by buying DLC. They need to make us really work for skins in Halo 5, give us an incentive to play and grind for skins and stances. Its all cool getting this cool AR skin through champions bundle but it isn’t that cool when half the players playing the game also have it. Give the skin some significance. Each weapon needs to have 4-5 skins. 1-2 could be unlocked by progressing further through the progressive ranking system e.g. if playing Reach and hit Captain I would unlock a skin and others could be unlocked for beating the campaign on Laso, achieving a 50 in a ranked playlist, getting x amount of kills with said weapon ect.

Weapon model
This is a very cool idea that I recently had. It would be very cool if we had the option to use older builds/versions/whatever the hell you want to call them of the weapons from previous titles. So I could use the Halo 3 version of the BR if I wanted or the Reach DMR. This just adds more variety and again you could make them unlocks to give them some significance. The weapons would obviously have the same attributes e.g same kill time ect.

To Summarize
Please don’t question my opinions and choices without reading the reasons.

  • Choice of BR, DMR and AR
  • 4-5 different skins per weapon (not including DLC and toys) that can be unlocked through both progressive ranking system and through completing in game achievements e.g. beating campaign on Laso
    -To add variety, ability to use previous models of weapon (with same attributes as current model)

Secondary Weapon
In Halo 4 we have the choice between the Magnum, Boltshot and Plasma Pistol. The Boltshot is easy to use and has no skill curve. The amount of games where players just run around the map and get kills with the Boltshot. The Plasma Pistol just ruins BTB battle. One reason I don’t play BTB battle in Halo 4 (second favorite playlist in Reach, even with Armor Lock) is because the vehicle combat is horrible. As one user said recently, the Warthog may as well have been called the DoubleKillhog too which I would have to agree.

Choice of Weapon
Even those who disagree with the removal of non UNSC primary weapons, I’m sure can agree with the removal of the Boltshot and Plasma Pistol. If you disagree with the removal of the Boltshot and Plasma Pistol, you are likely clueless to as why they ruin game play. The Magnum is pretty much perfect in the sense that it is balanced and again is UNSC therefore would make sense to start with.

Skins
Again we need 4-5 skins unlocked through in-game achievements and through the progressive ranking system.

Summary

  • Magnum as only choice of weapon
  • 4-5 skins

Grenade
My biggest complaint with Halo 4? Blooming Plasma nades. They ruin both BTB and 4v4 slayer.

The Frag grenade and Pulse Grenade are both very balanced however again with the UNSC theme, the Pulse just seems a little odd. That and it is incredibly under powered. I actually laugh at myself when I die as a result of the Pulse Grenade, whether it be straight up killing or weakening my shields for enemies. They have their purposes but ultimately it is completely outclassed by the Frag grenade. Classic Halo is Frag Grenade only starts, I don’t know why we would change an already perfect formula.

Summary

  • 2 Frag Grenades only

Armor Ability
I honestly don’t know where I stand on Armor Abilities. I enjoy using them e.g. Thruster Pack and Regen field. However most of them need to be remove for being unbalanced and game breaking (PV, Jetpack and Camo). Then we have the Auto Sentry which is an incredibly odd AA that doesn’t exactly fit in. Again it’s not UNSC so doesn’t make much sense if you ask me.

With them abilities gone it leaves us with Hardlight Shield, Regen Field, Thruster Pack and Hologram. These abilities are generally balanced but could do with some tweaking.

Choice of AA

-Thruster Pack with a longer recharge time. Can be reused currently in matter of seconds

-Regen field which works like Halo 3 pickup. One time use with slightly faster regen. Only regens when not taking damage.

-Hardlight Shield which takes longer to recharge. Can punch through shield. The shield currently can be used for far too long. Slows gameplay right down. Reduce time it can be up but increase movement speed while using it (help get to cover).

-Hologram. Is pretty much perfect as it is.

Perks/passive abilities/enhancements
I’m not including these just because they ruin gameplay, but it is not Halo. It doesn’t feel like Halo. It doesn’t make sense.

Thanks for reading, feedback would be appreciated.

What do you think of the idea to use previous versions of guns?

#2

Why are perks “not Halo” but Armor Abilities are? They both function the same: you pick an advantage and the player with the most appropriate advantage in an engagement wins.

#3

> Why are perks “not Halo” but Armor Abilities are? They both function the same: you pick an advantage and the player with the most appropriate advantage in an engagement wins.

Perks are directly ripped off CoD. They have only appeared in Halo 4. Armor abilities and pickups have been in Halo since 07. You may not like AA’s but when balanced they can play fine, at least for social playlists, assuming loadouts are disabled in ranked.

Perks work similar to Ordnance. AA’s may give a small advantage (if any) in a given situation, whereas perks offer a massive advantage in a given situation. Take ammo. If I pick up Rockets or Sniper in a game with Ammo equipped, its game over.

#4

I don’t quite agree with your primary selection.
I think Covenant weaponry should be allowed as well. They are balanced with the UNSC weapons and in regards to the Carbine, can still be quite unique and different from their counterparts.
I think since the Covenant has been the main enemy it would also make sense to train Spartans in the use of Covenant weapons.

Besides, long range weapons like the DMR should not be included as well. They cause static gameplay and cross map battles because of their effective niche: long range (take a look at the gameplay on Ragnarok).
Also, an AR can still effectively attack and counter a BR in its niche (mid-range) but it cannot counter the DMR’s niche long range. Hence you would cause imbalance among the weapons when it comes to flexibility and effectiveness during combat.
I think long range weapons like the DMR should be placed on the map (perhaps even with a slight buff in a way) to prevent these issues.

Also, I think the grenade count should be reduced to 1 grenade, to prevent grenade spam on infantry as well as on vehicles. I think then you could also allow Stickies as an option.

> Why are perks “not Halo” but Armor Abilities are? They both function the same: you pick an advantage and the player with the most appropriate advantage in an engagement wins.

They are really not the same.

Perks are constantly activated advantages. The player has no control over them and has no chance to counter them or react to them.

AAs are controllable and temporary advantages and the player has the chance to counter them and to react to them, just like weapons.
Adding visible clues (similar to Jetpack) to them would help though to offer an observant player the fair chance to counter them effectively and before they get used, no matter if they are pick-ups or available at spawn.

#5

I agree. AAs are just as much not halo as perks when you start with them. If AAs were on map pick ups, I would have not really have a problem with them since they would not dictate the gameplay as much, have to be earned, and maps would not have to be dictated by the AAs. Overall, I would rather keep the current perks than the current AAs. They would not screw with game flow as much. By the way, I include sprint as an AA. It has all the same negative effects as AAs.

#6

> Perks work similar to Ordnance. AA’s may give a small advantage (if any) in a given situation, whereas perks offer a massive advantage in a given situation. Take ammo. If I pick up Rockets or Sniper in a game with Ammo equipped, its game over.

Jet Pack allows you to gain an impromptu height advantage. Active Camo allows you to turn invisible. How are these less advantageous than a couple extra rockets?

“But you can balance AA’s!”

No, you can’t. They will either be overpowered and gamebreaking or underpowered and useless. Hologram, for example, is pretty much useless when playing against any experienced player (regardless of skill level). The other three in your OP were nerfed by increasing recharge time or making them one-use only, so I ask: why not just make them into Equipment, or at least on-map pickups?

#7

> > Perks work similar to Ordnance. AA’s may give a small advantage (if any) in a given situation, whereas perks offer a massive advantage in a given situation. Take ammo. If I pick up Rockets or Sniper in a game with Ammo equipped, its game over.
>
> Jet Pack allows you to gain an impromptu height advantage. Active Camo allows you to turn invisible. How are these less advantageous than a couple extra rockets?
>
> “But you can balance AA’s!”
>
> No, you can’t. They will either be overpowered and gamebreaking or underpowered and useless. Hologram, for example, is pretty much useless when playing against any experienced player (regardless of skill level). The other three in your OP were nerfed by increasing recharge time or making them one-use only, so I ask: why not just make them into Equipment, or at least on-map pickups?

I don’t know why you made the argument of Jet Pack ect when you knew that I asked for the removal of them. Non of the Armor abilities I included are even close to overpowered. I say balanced because non give a massive advantage. How often do you hear people complain about Thruster Pack being more over powered than Hologram, it barely affects gameplay.

> why not just make them into Equipment, or at least on-map pickups?

That’s a fair point that I took into consideration but ultimately I see little point. If the AA’s affect gameplay so little (ones listed) why make them a pickup, we may as well just not include them if they are not in loadouts. In Halo 3, pre game when did you ever think, I better go rush Regen Field, much better than Sniper. That and people like the ability to customize.

#8

I agree we should have a smaller selection of weapons in the loadouts. That being said i don’t agree with going with UNSC only. It’s so nice to be able to spawn with a carbine. We could probably just get away with not spawning with any forunner weapon as they are too powerful. We could just make them even more powerful and have them in POD instead of most of the power weapons.

I think we should just trash the idea of primary and secondary all together and just allow the person to equip anything that’s allowed in the loadouts. The magnum IMO should return to CE status and be a power weapon.

AA’s should return with some new options and have ones like JP and camo shouldn’t be available. I feel the same with the “perks” as i do with the AA’s. Most of them were fine but things like ammo survivor and resistor shouldn’t return.

I agree on only spawning with a frag. not 2 but 1.

#9

> That’s a fair point that I took into consideration but ultimately I see little point. If the AA’s affect gameplay so little (ones listed) why make them a pickup, we may as well just not include them if they are not in loadouts. <mark>In Halo 3, pre game when did you ever think, I better go rush Regen Field,</mark> much better than Sniper. That and people like the ability to customize.

First of all, the placement of Equipment in Halo 3 was genius. Equipment was placed directly in pathways so you would pick it up on your way to some place else. For example, on High Ground, there was a Gravity Lift in the path on the left from the beach to the base, and you could use that gravity lift to get to the Spartan Laser spawn.

Yes, Equipment in Halo 3 weren’t very powerful, and that’s exactly why they worked well in the game. No one ever complained about additional abilities until those abilities were turned into AAs in Reach, and players are still complaining about that three years later. The solution isn’t to “balance” them; it’s to remove them altogether in favor of something that works and works well with the existing gameplay.

My perspective on the matter is that there isn’t room for more gimmicks. Halo’s “Golden Triangle” has been said to be guns, grenades, and melee. When you add additional player traits, the triangle becomes a square–in other words, you’re needlessly screwing with a system that already works and is fun. Halo 4 failed not because AAs are imbalanced, perks exist, or Ordnance is chance-based; it failed because the triangle became a heptagon–guns, grenades, melee, AAs, perks, Ordnance, sprint. The more you muddle the gameplay with unnecessary fluff and gimmicks, the less of an impact guns, grenades and melee have on gameplay, and that is something we need to preserve.

#10

Primary
DMR
SMG

Secondary
ODST Pistol

Grenade
Frag

The pistol would have a moderate killtime and moderate projectile speed.
Fairly fast firing rate, six shots per kill, 15 per clip.
Sort of a concession for carbine fans.

The DMR would have a slower killtime but faster projectile speed.
Moderate firing rate, four shot kill.

The SMG is, well, an SMG. Fast killtime, low accuracy, might as well make it hitscan because it’s already limited.

Now, what this does is allow you to specialize in close or long range, but still always have access to a medium range weapon. It also removes the “secondary” mentality, as the pistol would be just as viable of a weapon as any other.

Now from here I’d be willing to expand into weapons that fit more unique rolls than those above, but I have no ideas at the moment. What I’ve listed is our weapons designed for killing, I could perhaps include covenant weapons that are designed for more unique jobs, like stunning targets or area denial.

Anyways, when designing a good loadout system, you don’t want to throw a bunch of items into the mix and try to work it out. You want to start off small and gradually expand, so each option takes other options into consideration.