Ideas for customization

[Aicrous]

As we all know, customization in Halo Infinite, while pretty advanced compared to older games, is still lacking variety, for a reason i dont even need to say (microtransactions if you some how dont know). I believe that MCC really nailed customization even though it took them 7 years to get it right. Here are some of my ideas, and ideas from others that i thought were genuinely good.

1. Colors and Textured Armor (Worn/Damaged to Brand New and Clean) - To simplify this idea, heres this link to a post from @Windjammer19 that i thought was a really good idea → forums .halowaypoint.com/t/how-much-would-you-pay-for-a-coating/33904/30?u=aicrous (remove the space between forums and .halowaypoint)

2. More Undersuits - In MCC, 343 provided us with a number of new undersuits, with a variety of colors. Infinite does have different undersuits, but they only apply to the certain coating they go with. I would also like to see a cleaner version of undersuit, I dont mind it looking well worn, but Master Chiefs undersuit is much better looking compared to ours.

3. Armor from Halo 5 - I know some people despise Halo 5 for having an absurd amount of extremely ugly armor, but i thought that some of the armors such as Helioskrill , HUNTER (Locke’s armor), and COPPERHEAD (Vales Armor) were some of the best looking armor in the game. I really liked how sleek some of the armor in halo 5 looked, each looking unique in there own way. I nice way to have some armor return would be to give it its own armor core since armor cores are a thing now. I also liked that they looked pretty mobile since they didnt have the space diaper (controversial opinion i know).

4. Better Body Types - Armor fitting properly per body type - This has been pretty controversial among the community since its been implemented. But instead of arguing about genders and other bull -Yoink!-, i think the body type differences are pretty unnoticeable. Another problem is that on the thinner body type the armor doesnt look like it fits properly, and they should probably fix that.

5. Armor Effect Colors - I would really like to see colors for armor effects, just imagine having Inclement Weather with like Red lightning?

6. Different positions for eblems on the armor - It would be cool if we could change the position of our emblem on our armor, like having it on our shoulders or legs.

7. Multiple Helmet Attachments - In reach, helmets were able to have multiple attachments, which made them look much better than just one attachment. Like look at the recon helmet with the UA/HUL attachments.

Any other ideas for customization you guys would like to see in the game?

[Windjammer19]

Glad my suggestion left enough of an impact on you to quote me on a post of your own =]

For anyone who can’t get the URL working for some reason, here’s my comment verbatim:

@Windjammer19

They need to sell patterns and armor textures then let players just color them personally, and if they have a coating that uses way more than 3 colors, then sell THAT as a coating with a set primary and secondary. Then sell textures like dirt, mud, shine, plasma burns, sword cuts, bullet holes, etc.

Literally could have a better system that people actually WANT to pay for and make more money doing it.

To elaborate more on this, the reason why armor coatings have been met with such strong backlash is because 343/MS took a feature that had been in Halo for 20 years, and paywalled it. Now, if they were selling us something new (ability to choose armor patterns and textures), then player may have been more accepting.

The biggest reason why armor coatings are a poor system (to me, personally), is that they prevent players from wearing the colors they want. People like coatings because of how the colors are DISTRIBUTED across the armor, not the COLOR of the coatings. Many Halo games never let you choose where to put you colors, but that never stopped players. In fact, color distribution has change from title to title, but players still wore their colors consistently… until Halo Infinite. See what’s going on here?

Scorpion Punch (Black armor with Red arm) attracted a lot of eyes. But what if you don’t like the black and red color combination? Then you have to wear a completely different coating. A coating that now doesn’t have the color distribution of Scorpion Punch. And on top of everything, you still have to try and get the “right” texture as well.

Armor coatings should have been separated into two categories: Patterns and Textures. Both of these things are either in the BP or the store, but you can color the primary and secondary slots. Halo 5 actually had plenty of armors that had unmodifiable “tertiary” colors (usually white patterns, but take a look at the “Foehammer”, “Viper”, or “Teishin” armor variants to see more colorful designs). This never stopped players from expressing themselves and they even offered previously impossible combinations to be made.

For example, the “Viper Venom” variant has an unchangeable red line that highlights the armor. I sometimes used that to create a Black, Gold and Red spartan (like the German flag. No I’m not German).

For a Halo Infinite example, look no further than the Blue Rampage Coating. It’s unlocked at lvl 5 of the BP. It consists of Red, Navy, and Gold. Red is the primary and Navy is the secondary. Gold remains unchanged. Now, allow a player, if they want, to change this to Pink, White and Gold, or whatever they like.

Finally, textures. Like I said in my quote, these could be a handful of visual markings that go on top of the coating like an extra layer, with the default being something close to Chief’s armor in H:CE (not really worn, but not fresh either, it’s just metal and paint). And call that “Factory Issue”. Then you get other stuff like cracks, plasma burns, dirt, polish, scorch marks, Flood goo, Covenent Blood (any species), and much more.

The Mark VI Scarred variant actually has a crack in it (from Chief vs Locke) and opens up the possibility of VISOR textures. Imaging having the Mark V [B], but with the plasma holes from the opening/ending cutscenes in Reach.

And just like that you have thousands of combinations for a single coating, and therefore, a more valuable item that players would ACTUALLY want to buy. AND you have actual, VALUABLE items to put in the BP instead of the useless challenge swaps. As it stands now, the customization system is so limited that even if it was priced fairly, it isn’t even a quality product to justify ANY price.

Infinite’s customization has the potential to be LEAGUES better than Reach, but the aggressive monetization is strangling it.

Side note: Imagine a bundle that sold the flaming head effect, with a coating that had flames painted on the armor and a scorch mark texture. Now imagine that on your ODST Themed Spartan. Helljumper indeed.