I have several ideas for what should be included/changed in the next Halo game. Please take the time to consider these ideas and give feedback.
Existing Weapons
I’d like to see the Promethean weapons recieve a ‘buff’. The Forerunners should have much more powerful weapons than they currently do. I understand that they have been balanced as loadout weapons, but I’m really not a big fan of loadouts. If weapons were simply placed on the map (like in all of the past games) and we simply spawned with an AR, Magnum, and Frag grenades, it would solve many problems and reinstate the focus on map control.
Plasma Pistols and Grenades in loadouts have made vehicles like Warthogs nearly useless in terms of combat. This would also allow for weapons like the LR and Suppressor to be clearly better weapons to be sought after, rather than common weapons people use at spawn. I think the Forerunners/Prometheans deserve that much credit. On a side not, I would also like a return of dual-wielding.
Brute Arsenal
The Brute weapons in Halo 3 were some of the most fun to use and diversified gameplay. The Brute Shot causing havoc to both infantry and vehicles, Maulers catching people off guard, and Gravity Hammers causing a menacing ‘BOOM’ as it crushed its targets. I would love to see their return, and potentially reinvent a few of them for the better.
Similarly to how the Plasma Rifle has seen changes in the forms of the Plasma Repeater and Storm Rifle, I would like to see the Brute Spiker see a more solid, rifle-like iteration. With a design cue from the Retro Lancer of Gears of War, it would be larger, heavier, and have a large bayonet protruding from under the barrel (a tell-tale attribute of Brute weaponry). In addition to a visual overhaul, what if 343i introduced a form of “penetrative damage” to the projectiles. In this concept, damage would be done to your health even with shields, albeit considerably less than when firing an unshielded enemy. This would allow for a unique way to account for higher damage, as well as show more blood from the target (as I think you would see when firing super-heated metal spikes into them).
Besides adding to the overall sandbox of the game, these weapons could also give some very satisfying assassinations (use your imagination for that thought).
Armor Abilities
Armor Abilities are a valuable addition to the sandbox, as a refined form of Equipment from H3, but I find that their use has been gone about the wrong way. I think they should be placed on the map (same as my views on weapons), rather than being equipped at spawn. As they are, they don’t affect gameplay as much as they should and are more of a gimmick to your loadouts, rather than a resource to be used wisely. Also, some abilities either shouldn’t be armor abilities (possibly Active Camo?) or should be revised (Thruster Pack and Hardlight Shield). I have a few ideas of my own for the latter two.
The Thruster Pack is an over-reactive form of Reach’s Evade, which I rarely saw at all. Thruster Pack just doesn’t seem as useful as some of the other abilities to me, but has a lot of potential if approached in a different way. If the concept took the form of the ‘Lancer’ variant of Promethean Knights’ ability (the awesome zigzag lunge manuever), it could be used to deadly effect and would be a sought- after piece of equipment to control on the map. You certainly wouldn’t want to run into someone with this ability and an Energy Sword.
The Hardlight Shield, in my opinion, shares a fatal flaw with its predecessor Armor Lock: they both render you unable to fight back. My idea of how to remedy this would be to replace it with the Jackal Shield. In terms of operation, toggling this ability on would equip the shield, as well as auto-equip a pistol (like the “Flagnum” combo used in Halo 4’s CTF). This would allow you to still fight, but render you unable to sprint, melee, or throw grenades (similarly to dual-wielding). Story-wise, this tactic was used by Spartan-IIIs in the prologue to Ghosts of Onyx and could now be used by the S-IVs.
Vehicles
I would like to see a return of the Brute Chopper, as well as either the Hornet (with or without rockets) or the Falcon. As for new vehicles, I would like to see the Locust from Halo Wars appear in multiplayer. Serving as a Covenant counterpart of the Mantis, this repurposed mobile mining platform would be a cool change of pace for Covenant vehicles, as well as show that the Covenant (or Storm Covenant) still have some bite. Canonically, it would make sense for them to use these, considering they employed the use of a Harvester, which was another mining machine.Invasion 2.0
A greater form of the gametype from Reach, this would allow people to play as different races of the Covenant, as well as Prometheans. In terms of how to balance this change, it could work similarly to ordinance (which I personally don’t like, but could work quite well for this gametype) As the Covenant/Promethean team gets kills, assists, etc., they would accumulate points that could be used to play as a stronger unit when they respawn. For reference, look to Gears of War: Judgment’s OverRun mode (which was largely made by now-employee and weapon-balancer at 343i, Quinn DelHoyo). This would add excitement as you would play as powerful creatures like Promethean Knights, Hunters, Elite Zealots, Brute Chieftains, as well as those under their command. I honestly wouldn’t mind playing as a Suicide Grunt (Arbiter-specific unit from Halo Wars), running at the Spartan enemies to take a few of them with me…Anyways, those are some of my biggest ideas and I may add to it later, but I’d like to hear what the community thinks and hear what they would change/improve.