Alrighty, so a lot, and I mean a LOT of people have been complaining about Halo 4. I have to say I agree with many statements that have been said, but keep in mind, this IS 343’s first rodeo. If you want to keep Halo alive, and make the Reclaimer saga known throughout gaming history, then don’t just complain about all the problems: help to fix them. Remember, 343 is made up of just about 200 people. But we, the community, are MILLIONS. I’m sure if we all pitched in we can help make Halo amazing once more. Here, I’ll start by addressing many of Halo 4’s complaints.
MULTIPLAYER:
Loadouts:
Loadouts have been around since Halo: Reach, and even then a lot of players threw a fit about it. I’ve put a fair amount of thought into this, and I’m pretty sure that with Halo 4 continuing the Loadout path, we cannot revert back to no loadouts at all. Basically, we need to keep them. This is so we can compete with other titles out there (CoD) and still keep the remaining fans we have. But this doesn’t mean we can’t MODIFY loadouts, for Halo 5.
“Perks”:
Get rid of them. Really, just scrap them. They make Halo feel pretty wonky and the current unlock system makes new players feel like real noobs. We’re not too far off the deep end, we can still backtrack. Just, get RID of them. No replacements, nothin’.
AA’s (Armor Abilities):
We’ve had these little buggers since Reach as well. At this point, they’ve effectively been integrated into the Halo formula. So, sadly, they must stay. Think of this process as a detox. If someone was once happy and bright, but then turned to -Yoink!-, you don’t just yank it away all at once, you SLOWLY wean them off.
I digress, Armor Abilities must stay, but they can work in a modified form. I’ll get to this later.
Weapon choosing and customization:
Now, if 343 hadn’t of really yoinked up the weapon balance system, then this would of been fine. But as it is, the DMR pwns everyone at long, mid, and short range. Other weapons have their own problems, but overall, it’s one great big balance issue. The only reason 343 messed this up is because they rushed the final project. If they had tested it more, AND released a beta, this would have never happened.
Default Sprint:
This is perfectly fine. It makes the game fast and energetic, it works well with the Halo formula, and it it NEEDS to stay. Good job 343!
Join In Progress:
Crap. It screws with XP earnings, and messes up player statistics. It really needs to go.
Bloom:
Fine the way it is. Works well and is fairly balanced. Once again, props to you 343!
BACK to Loadouts:
Ok, I have stayed up many a night thinking of solutions to the current loadout problems, and I have come up with some answers:
Armor Abilities:
How the new system would work, is this. If you choose a certain weapon as your primary gun, then you would be restricted to only using 2 or 3 armor abilities with that gun. For example, if I set the Assault Rifle as my default weapon, then I would only be able to use Hardlight Shield, Promethean Vision, and Thruster Pack. OR, if I chose the DMR, I could only use the Hologram, Active Camo, and Regen field.
This could work REALLY well, especially if you paired such a OP’d weapon like the DMR with really useless AA’s, then no one would want to use the DMR! So basically, we kill two birds with one stone: OP’d weapons, and AA’s.
Unlock’s:
Now, the way the current system works, is that you have to rank up in order to unlock new weapons. This, SUCKS. I’m not even going to be nice about it, it just sucks. My solution is that right off the bat, when you first go into multiplayer on Day 1, EVERYTHING is unlocked (Except armor. Fancy armor has denoted good players since Halo 3)BUT, while it IS unlocked, you do have to spend Spartan Points to use it. However, all weapons are only 1 or 2 points worth, This way, you still have a mild progression system, but it’s balanced enough for new players.
WEAPONS:
Boltshot:
Oh boy, this is a ROUGH topic. On the one hand, I applaud 343 for trying to add variety into weapons, but on the other hand, I hate them for REALLY screwing it up. The Boltshot’s infamous “overcharge/shotgun” feature is just madness. It is essentially, a loadout shotgun. Which, obviously, unbalances gameplay and is way too noob-friendly. So, my solution is this: just scrap the shotgun feature. No really, get rid of it. But if you DON’T have the guts to do that 343, then change it up. A good way to balance it would be to make the overcharge completely uneffective unless your opponent’s shields were down. Then, it’d be rendered useless anyway, you might as well just use a Magnum for headshots. Ca-piche? (or however you spell it :p)
DMR:
If this sniper-in-a-tiny-gun is included in Halo 5, then you need to fix it. Here’s how: the recoil, bloom, fire-rate, magnetism, and reload times all need revision. First off, this gun has virtually ZERO recoil. When I scope in and spam all 12 bullets into a wall, they ALL hit in the SAME spot. This is bull, 343. I mean, this gun is a MARKSMAN RIFLE. It should have a hefty kick. So just make the gun nudge up a bit and STAY there after every shot. Then, the bloom. this gun needs, and I’m serious, more bloom. It would decrease the accuracy and make it more of a skill-based gun. For the fire-rate, slow it down by about .2 seconds. That would be just dandy. Magnetism-wise, please just make it so I only shoot someone in the head when I actually AIM at their head. Thank you. And finally, the reload time should be slowed just a little touch, making it so that players are discouraged from spamming it all the time.
Battle Rifle:
This was our baby, 343. The ONE thing that EVERYONE agreed would make them happy. And yet, you STILL messed it up. The gun looks and sounds great, but is practically useless. PLEASE give us back 4sk, and if you worry about OP’ing the gun, then slow down the fire-rate. Problemo solved. Keep the range and spread the way it is, but just give us back 4sk, I’m begging you.
Storm Rifle:
This gun shoots cottonballs. Fix it.
Ranking system:
In Halo 4, the ranking system makes it so that all you have to do is play the game to get to SR130. This is bologna. I would REALLY appreciate it if you got rid of the “game complete” XP award, and make it more of a skill based rank-up process. i.e., Kill count, k/d, average time alive, all that good stuff. This would really make me happy with Halo once again.
Ordinance Drops:
Personal power weapon drops, absolutely DESTROY the Halo formula. No really, it kills the old system. I like the new thing where when a match starts all the power weapons have little waypoint on them, so keep that. But scrap personal killstreaks, woops, I mean ORDINANCE DROPS. (Or should I say, ordinance derps?)
If you can’t find it in you to TOTALLY scrap them, then just make it so that you can only call in player traits like damage boost and overshield. But NO weapons!!!
Well chaps, that is all I have to say for now. Trust me, I have MANY more opinions on how to make Halo 5 the best Halo, but I’m running out of my word limit. So thanks for reading this far, and I will come back once I have fleshed out my ideas for Spartan Ops, Forge, and Campaign. Adios!
