How to make Halo 4 great for the Competitive and Casual

Games Other Halo
1

An issue with Reach and H3 was that in those games it would suit one sort of gamer more then the other. The casual gamers always got more, and its inevitable with how the gaming industry is. But I think I have the solution so the competitive players get more fun out of the game

Here are some of my solutions

  1. Take out bloom and any kind of spread for mid range guns. While making guns like the AR get a damage buff, but one that has the kill time of a Halo CE AR. While the main mid range gun has the kill time of a Halo CE Pistol, and make it either 3sk or 4sk.

  2. More options then Reach did. I’m not sure if your adding bloom for mid range guns, but if you are players should have the option to take it off. Individual damage modifiers would also be great. Except for mid range guns, it should have a option on top of the “General damage increase/reduction” and it should be something like “Shots to the head to kill” so it will make more options.

  3. A great map editor- You cant please everyone with the maps your making. Your bound to have people hate some sort of map, so you should have an amazing map editor. The issue with Reach’s was of the Framerate lag, and the grey colors. You should make more colors and skins for items, so it can seem like a full fledged map

  4. Bleedthrough, this is good for casuals and the hardcore. It makes less unfair gameplay, and makes spray and praying funner

  5. Lower aim assist. Something between Halo CE and H3, it makes for more satisfaction when you get that sweet headshot. It also helps the competitive since they have to get better to have a monstrous mid range gun. It helps casuals as well because if the aim assist is low, then it makes it easier for them get that spray and pray kill when the player using the mid range gun cant land the head shot

  6. Fair maps. This is so casuals wont get dominated if they are one certain team, and makes for more competitive and fun maps. I’m not saying to not have a-symmetric maps, but to make those sort of maps more even as possible

Also Frankie, we never abused the Pistol. Please tell me one time where you got 3sk with it across Hang 'em High consistently. Yeah pros cant even do that, so no we never abused the Pistol. It was just we had much more skill then you and the skill gap in that game was actually huge.

EDIT: I think I forgot to write this down.
Also add 1-50 Halo 2 ranking system! But make Social playlists have something like Reach or H3.

Edit 2: Another one I forgot

A good strafe. One problem with Reach right now is the strafe. The strafe’s acceleration is very poor, basically it takes to long to actually turn to the other side when you are strafing.

This is a huge problem in h3 and Reach, not as much in H2 but it was still a decent strafe. But Halo CE’s strafe was the best, the strafe was very crisp and the movement in general in the game was very crisp.

Watch this video for a better explanation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYAPmV7GcrU

You can tell the difference especially with Halo 1 and Halo 3. In CE it was very quick, but in H3 it felt sloppy.

Just imagine, Reach with a strafe that was like Halo 1’s. People would definitely not get 5 shot kills no where near as often if the strafe is this good in a Halo game.

This is one of the big reasons why Halo CE did not have players getting 3sk every time, because things like the strafe were very big in the game and it needs to return in Halo 4.

2

I agree with all of your points, and your English is much better than most people who speak it as a FIRST language.

Making the game good for hardcore players makes it good for casual players, almost by default. Your post explains that perfectly and I really hope this thread gets more attention.

3

Lol technically English isn’t my first language, but I say it more then my first language for about 6 years :stuck_out_tongue: But technically its not, so I always got that excuse when I’m typing fast and not caring about the typos :stuck_out_tongue:

But thank you for your reply.

IMO, Halo is supposed to play more for the hardcore, it started as one. Making gimmicks which make a player live longer and long kill times kill the experience for both sides.

For casual their getting frustrated that its taking forever to kill someone, unlike CoD.

And Hardcore are getting mad because its to easy to escape (especially with things such as AA’s).

Making a balance such as a Pistol. Where you need to have a bunch of skill to get 3sk consistently, BUT it also kills pretty damn fast, as well with the other games in CE.

4

> I agree with all of your points, and your English is much better than most people who speak it as a FIRST language.

For some odd reason, it usually happens to be like that.

On topic: I completely agree. The game could be made more enjoyable for both parties simply by making it enjoyable for competitive players. That’s because casuals don’t care about gameplay as much, but competitive care. Casuals just want to have fun. Of course there would always be those complainers who would complain just because it’s too hard to them, but we don’t need to care about those people. They’re not real casuals nor are they real competitive. They are people who think they’re good when they actually aren’t.

P.S. The Halo CE pistol kill time isn’t three seconds it’s 0.94. Even if you usually can’t pull three shots to head with the maximal firing rate, the kill time comes from the maximal firing rate.

Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about seconds but you were talking about the amount of shots, but anyway. At least I made a valid point. 0.94 second kill time is maybe too fast.

5

> Lol technically English isn’t my first language, but I say it more then my first language for about 6 years :stuck_out_tongue: But technically its not, so I always got that excuse when I’m typing fast and not caring about the typos :stuck_out_tongue:
>
> But thank you for your reply.
>
> IMO, Halo is supposed to play more for the hardcore, it started as one. Making gimmicks which make a player live longer and long kill times kill the experience for both sides.
>
> For casual their getting frustrated that its taking forever to kill someone, unlike CoD.
>
> And Hardcore are getting mad because its to easy to escape (especially with things such as AA’s).
>
> Making a balance such as a Pistol. Where you need to have a bunch of skill to get 3sk consistently, BUT it also kills pretty damn fast, as well with the other games in CE.

EXACTLY. If the headshot-based weapon in Halo kills quickly anyway, regardless of scoring the headshots or not, casuals are still going to have fun with it.

I’ll admit, having a 3sk is a bit ridiculous. But a fast-shooting, perfectly accurate, single-shot, 4hsk/6bsk (headshot/bodyshot) rifle would be PERFECT for the next Halo game.

6

Great post OP agree 100% lots of options and a map editor make everyone happy. Also, 343 should be sure to split up the playlists social/ranked and re-institute the 1-50 skill. Not too many playlists that it greatly splits up the community but a nice balance of social and ranked options.

7

As much as I love the 3sk pistol, I can dig a 4sk pistol. It would help the casuals out, and it would still be the second fastest mid range gun in the series. Right behind Halo CE Pistol.

Also to have a lot of people happy, I think I have an idea. It will split the population, but it makes everyone happy, and everyone wont have a problem finding a game

First of all, we all want the Halo 2 ranking system back.

Onto the playlists

We could have 2 sections. (BTW This would be if their are AA’s in this game, if they’re aren’t adding AA’s then disregard this part)

One would be called Social Playlists, or something like that. It would have these playlists

  • TS and Objective in one playlist, so Team Objective wont be over shadowed like it usually is
  • BTB
  • Infection
  • Team Dubs
  • SWAT
  • Action Sack
  • Multi Team

All these playlists would have most of the AA’s. They are not any playlists which only has Sprint in here but SWAT

The other would be called “Competitive Playlists” It would be mostly a playlist without AA’s, but it still has Sprint as a starting AA, and ONLY Evade and Jetpack as pickups around the map

Legend:

  • = Sprint and other AA’s as pickups
    ^ = No AA’s at all

Now you wont have these legends in the Playlists when you play Halo 4, but you will have some info on the playlist in the description.

-* Community Maps= This will be a playlist where 343 would put new maps that have been looked by them and put in matchmaking. After the game you have to put a mandatory vote on the map. Also choose one of the options on why you love/hate it. You can also go here to give your input. It would also be 4v4. It also has Objective and Slayer gametypes.
-* BTB
-^Classic Arena- IMO the ranking should be JUST like in H2
-*The Arena- Same ranking system as H2, with AA’s
-^Classic Dubs
-*Community BTB- Same as Community maps, but for maps designed for BTB

I think thats all of it, might have forgotten a few.

Also this might even be less then how much playlists there are for Reach.

EDIT: Actually I see the fault with this playlist. So disregard this

8

100 percent agreed OP, great points.

9

I disagree with your playlist layout.

Ranked Halo should be that pure, competitive drive, with a single ruleset. By adding a ranked playlist with AAs and without AAs makes that singular rank not mean anything, because the rules are not clearly defined.

It would be as if someone got their 50 in Infection, someone else got their 50 in Team Slayer, and the two have the same prestige and meaning.

10

I also have to disagree with you playlist layout for the reasons stated above. If I was going to make a playlist layout I’d go with something like:

Ranked: (1-50 skill levels)
Lone Wolves
Team Slayer
Team Objective
SWAT

Social: (Only able to gain XP)
Squad Battle
BTB
Infection
Action Sack
Multi Team
Invasion
Rumble Pit
Team AA’s???

Also, select community maps should just be implemented occasionally to all playlists.

11

GIVE ME MY BR BACK PLZ FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

12

to be honest i like pretty much everything just said above.

i would realy like to have the options for getting ride of bloom and things like that, so some playlists have it and others dont, at least you then get a choice.

it would also benice to have a proper ranking system back. i remember when i got my brig in halo 3 the enjoyment of trying to get your rank better was great.

the br can stay away for all i care. i think the DMR would be a realy good gun if the bloom could be turned off, your straiffing and your shots would have to be spot on were the br gave slight margin for error as it fired in bursts

13

I agree with everything except for removing ALL spread from weapons. I agree that random spread like the H3 BR was bad, but if there’s a BR, it should have just a very subtle perfect triangle spread. Small enough that shooting from roughly Sniper Tower to Sniper Tower on The Pit would feel about the same as a close-range fight, but just enough spread that people could move through the open on Big Team maps without getting lit up from players out of sight.

14

i agree with everything said however i would definitely bring back true skill. it is the one thing that made me want to play, and play well. it made winning important and teamwork vital, whenever i go on reach teamwork is non-existent and this just frustrates me :frowning:

please, if you do one thing bring back 1-50 levels its what made halo 2/3 stand out from CoD! and then we have reach …

15

Halo 4 is still in it’s development stages and this would be the best time to discuss things we would like to see, for example the ranking system.

The ranking system I suggest is similar to both Halo 3 and Halo Reach, taking the advantages from both and removing the disadvantages. Imaging the Halo 3 system, but instead of earning EXP at the end of every game you earn cR instead, much like in Halo Reach. Highest skill will again play a part in your rank, accept this time it is not determined simply by win or loses alone but also how well you play in a game. That way if your team looses and you played well your highest skill won’t be negatively affected, but also at the same time wining will still positively affect your highest skill. This means players will be motivated to win but will avoid boosting. Highest skill will only be achievable through ranked playlists.

The benefit of Reach’s ranking system is that most players can keep player for years and still have a higher rank to aim for, the disadvantage is that rank does not represent skill but time played instead, which is somewhat unfair to skilled players who don’t have a lot of time to play. This is where Halo 3’s system was better, rank more accurately represented skill.

For this reason, in the new ranking system, ranks up to general require skill as well as cR and ranks after general (which requires the maximum skill of say 50) will only require a lot more cR. This system represents skill but still give players ranks to aim for even after reaching the maximum highest skill.

Now that I have summarised what I think would be a good ranking system, I will add a few details. Ranks leading up to and including general have a base rank requiring a certain highest skill. These ranks will then have a prefix/suffix depending on how much cR they have collected, eg Force Colonel, General Grade 3. cR can be used to buy armour like in Halo Reach and can still be earned through commendations and challenges.
Also I think it would be good if the ranked playlists had something similar to arena ratings, so even after a player gets 50 highest skill in a particular playlist they still have a reason to play that playlist.

Any constructive feedback is appreciated and I think 343 could use this when deciding what the ranking system should be. Thanks.

16

This is a good idea and I would love if they put the skulls back in the maps to find.

17

Time Glitch you gave a great point. So maybe 343 should just have no AA’s? Because every AA is cheap. Besides Hologram

  1. Sprint- To easy to just run up to someone and get 2 melee hits, especially with no bleed through.

  2. Jetpack- Play The Cage or Uncaged and you can understand how cheap a Jetpack can be

  3. Evade- To easy to make enemies lose their aim, and you only have to press a button to do that

  4. Armor Lock- You can live through 10 grenades if you wanted to with this thing, this definitely needs to be gone

  5. Dropshield- I know a lot of people get a team and just spam it at their flag, or where they are camping.

  6. Hologram- To gimmicky but it isn’t cheap in any way

The only way an AA like Sprint, Jetpack, and Hologram would be fair for Halo 4, is if kill times are fast; Like around Halo CE level. Also fast movement like in Halo CE, so you don’t have to depend on Evade to do a strafe.

18

> to be honest i like pretty much everything just said above.
>
> i would realy like to have the options for getting ride of bloom and things like that, so some playlists have it and others dont, at least you then get a choice.
>
> it would also benice to have a proper ranking system back. i remember when i got my brig in halo 3 the enjoyment of trying to get your rank better was great.
>
> the br can stay away for all i care. i think the DMR would be a realy good gun if the bloom could be turned off, your straiffing and your shots would have to be spot on were the br gave slight margin for error as it fired in bursts

The bloom options are a must. I mean there are just too many people that both love and hate the mechanic…Options, 343. That’s the key: Give us the ability to change what we don’t like.

19

Agreed. With enough options, then their will be much less haters on the game.

20

You forgot to say removing AAs and the DMR but I agree with everything else