Ordnance drops is something we’ve all come to know and either love or hate in Halo 4. There are two kinds, Personal and Global, that both allow different methods of gameplay added to the game. While the idea is fun and has potential, 343i has unfortunately executed them very poorly in the game.
Personal Ordnance
- I know everyone has gone through this where you’re playing an Infinity Slayer match and you and you’re teammates are getting your first ordnance drops but it seems that all of you are either getting needler and speed boost or scattershot and speed boost and you feel like the game is now at an unfair advantage because the other team is getting things like a beam rifle or damage boost that is absolutley taking a crap on you and your teammates. The problem with Personal Ordnance here is that it is RANDOM, this randomness is painful not only for the competitive community but also for the people who just want to chill and play Halo 4 on their weekends because it typically makes the game unfair and unbalanced.
THIS IS NOT A THREAD TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ORDNANCE IN HALO 4, they already messed up in this game so this is a thread to give advice and make improvements so they don’t mess up in the future.
How to Fix Personal Ordnance
- This is where I propose the fixes they could make for Personal Ordnance in future games. As most of us know you receive your ordnance drops at 70 points, 180 points, and 320 points in Infinity Slayer. So we already have 3 main points where we are going to receive ordnance, now to balance this why not make Ordnance Tiers?
For example in Tier 1 which everyone gets at 70 points everyone should get some type of grenade in their ordnance, speed boost, and then the final slot is taken up by a variety of maybe 2-3 weapons that are the weakest out of all the power weapons. That way everyone has as close to equal footing as possible off of the first tier and no serious power weapons are obtained while others get lack luster weapons.
Now instead of explaining tier 2 and tier 3 I think we already get the general idea. Tier 2 replace grenades with say either a Scattershot or a saw and replace speed boost with OS, then have a different set of stronger power weapons replacing the last slot. Then tier 3 can have say Scattershot, saw , or shotgun , then replace OS with damage boost, then have the most powerful power weapons you can get from ordnance in the final drops. that way each ordnance is fair and balanced and removes as much randomness as possible without sacrificing the general idea.
Global Ordnance
- These really help a new player just getting into Halo by adding way points however the randomness is just too much. When a Binary Rifle or Incineration Cannon can spawn at someones feet without anyone knowing it actually spawned then that’s a serious problem. On top of this there really aren’t many weapons on the map because these only drop 1 weapon every 2 minutes.
How to fix Global Ordnance
- Simple, add ammo for starting weapons around the map, give all the power weapons the same spawn and a set re spawn timer similar to the classic Halos that way there are set weapon spawns on the map, then maybe choose one location on the map where a random ordnance can occur and can drop a random power weapon. This helps keep their idea in the game while also adding back the Halo feel along with the balance of set weapon spawns and ammo for starting weapons on the map. With only one spawn place for the random Global Ordnance on the map it becomes a lot easier and a lot less unfair for Global Ordnance to happen on all the maps.
This is a pretty basic write up that I didn’t really get to go too in depth about but feel free to post your thoughts and opinions.