Alright so here’s a good idea for halo 5; lets let players tweak their armor abilities with various mods to their liking!
Here’s how it could work. In the loadout menu a player chooses an armor ability, then presses X after one is chosen and picks an armor ability specific mod from a list of 2-3. Exactly the same as if that player was applying a skin to his weapon.
The mod you choose provides a unique boost to that armor ability, but does not fundamentally change how it works. Here are a few brainstorming examples of mine.
Thruster pack:
Agility - can influence direction mid thrust
jump pack - allowed to thrust straight up
jetpack:
thrust boost- increased lift speed
Low gravity- increase hang time
Active Camo:
Stalker- blue dot radius considerably smaller
Phantom- retain full cloaking while moving
Auto sentry:
Advanced weapons- greatly increases the auto sentries’ fire rate and damage
Advanced armors- greatly increases the auto sentries’ defenses and gives it a shield.
Promethean vision:
Predator- red ring radius greatly decreased.
Heat signatures- show trail of red indicating enemy positions 2 seconds prior.
Regeneration field:
Protecting wave- take decreased damage while in the field
Restoring wave- increased radius
I’m not saying these specifically are exactly what they should be, just brainstorming to give you a better idea of what I mean.
Another great thing about this is how much new strategy would be added to halo. Players would have another aspect of their play style to consider as they carefully choose an armor ability mod.
> Sounds like a great idea for the next Call of Duty or <mark>Section 8</mark> game.
And thus WE should have it. “Working for Section 8” needs to be a -Yoinking!- byword for “It’ll blow our wee little Master-Chief branded socks off.” Imagine if 343 had the fortitude to simply rip Section 8’s ordnance system rather than shoe-horning power weapon drops into it? It would have made sense and though that’s a pretty low bar it’s one sorely lacking from recent (ie. since Halo 2) stabs at new gameplay features in this franchise.
> > Sounds like a great idea for the next Call of Duty or <mark>Section 8</mark> game.
>
> And thus WE should have it. “Working for Section 8” needs to be a -Yoinking!- byword for “It’ll blow our wee little Master-Chief branded socks off.”
Section 8 is fun and all, but it lacks chess-like strategic depth like Halo has. I’m more than hesitant to borrow features from a game like that for that reason.
> > > Sounds like a great idea for the next Call of Duty or <mark>Section 8</mark> game.
> >
> > And thus WE should have it. “Working for Section 8” needs to be a -Yoinking!- byword for “It’ll blow our wee little Master-Chief branded socks off.”
>
> Section 8 is fun and all, but it lacks chess-like strategic depth like Halo has. I’m more than hesitant to borrow features from a game like that for that reason.
Um, it’s quite the opposite. Look at what Halo has for strategic depth, holding the spot where the big stick spawns until it does so and you can get a few cheap kills. What is it in Section 8? Juggle the three objectives with vehicles, turrets, and other deployables and an equipment set that would make your standard Halo fan’s head explode. For example you can have two grenade analogs, jetpacks standard, and point-by-point stat customization. And THEN you have customary FPS gameplay. Oh, and spawning isn’t just at the whim of a random number generator. In just about every way it’s a more strategic game. It’s hard to play and a bit clunky, but you can’t fault it’s depth.
> Um, it’s quite the opposite. Look at what Halo has for strategic depth, holding the spot where the big stick spawns until it does so and you can get a few cheap kills.
Camping power weapon spawns is an amateur’s mistake–no skilled and experienced player does that because it’s a very ineffective strategy. Halo has much more strategic depth than that, and I wish you would take the time to understand it.
Also, variety of custom choices does not always equate to strategic depth.
I think the main thing 343 should focus on with h5 is the arena aspect of Halo. Any thing that can enhance the player should be picked up/fought for to reward team work and positioning.
Maybe a mod type system could work based on performance like Counterstrike. Basically points earned in each match could be used to buy mods within that match but doesnt carry over to the next. Mod is good for 1 respawn but can be purchased again given the player has enough points.
For example 1 kill=1point.
Powerup boost mod can be purchased for 5 points. Once you get a power up you get to use it slightly longer. If you get a power up without a mod then it functions normally.
Power respawn costing 7 points. This allows you to respawn ONCE
with the pwer up or power weapon you last died using.
Team power up boost at 10 points. Any teammate who gets a power up gets the benefits of the mod.
Needless to say I’m not a fan of loadouts and spawning with AAs. However Im all for cool abilities in Halo but Halo MP should remain an arena shooter.
I would much rather see AAs used as map pickups. They are just too impactful on game flow and map design when they are used by all players at all points in the game (this includes sprint).
In regards to your idea, I do not like this at all. I certainly prefer in Halo how all things should work the same way every time and the only thing that impacts how they behave is the player’s gameplay. By changing things like this, it removes much of that creativity and skill required by players to do what they want.
Side note:
Jetpack, Camo, and PV are absolutely terrible as AAs to begin with. The idea of a longer hanging jetpack, better camoed camo person, and even more advanced PV makes me cringe for how much worse it would make this game play.
> I think the main thing 343 should focus on with h5 is the arena aspect of Halo. Any thing that can enhance the player should be picked up/fought for to reward team work and positioning.
>
> Maybe a mod type system could work based on performance like Counterstrike. Basically points earned in each match could be used to buy mods within that match but doesnt carry over to the next. Mod is good for 1 respawn but can be purchased again given the player has enough points.
>
> For example 1 kill=1point.
>
> Powerup boost mod can be purchased for 5 points. Once you get a power up you get to use it slightly longer. If you get a power up without a mod then it functions normally.
>
> Power respawn costing 7 points. This allows you to respawn ONCE
> with the pwer up or power weapon you last died using.
>
> Team power up boost at 10 points. Any teammate who gets a power up gets the benefits of the mod.
>
> Needless to say I’m not a fan of loadouts and spawning with AAs. However Im all for cool abilities in Halo but Halo MP should remain an arena shooter.
Ehhheeeguhhh…
That type of thing, that is purchasing gear and whatnot, works with a round based game like counterstrike just fine where there is a pause in gameplay.
How would you make this work for halo? It seems like it would interrupt the player trying to buy stuff and it would be risky doing it.
> > I think the main thing 343 should focus on with h5 is the arena aspect of Halo. Any thing that can enhance the player should be picked up/fought for to reward team work and positioning.
> >
> > Maybe a mod type system could work based on performance like Counterstrike. Basically points earned in each match could be used to buy mods within that match but doesnt carry over to the next. Mod is good for 1 respawn but can be purchased again given the player has enough points.
> >
> > For example 1 kill=1point.
> >
> > Powerup boost mod can be purchased for 5 points. Once you get a power up you get to use it slightly longer. If you get a power up without a mod then it functions normally.
> >
> > Power respawn costing 7 points. This allows you to respawn ONCE
> > with the pwer up or power weapon you last died using.
> >
> > Team power up boost at 10 points. Any teammate who gets a power up gets the benefits of the mod.
> >
> > Needless to say I’m not a fan of loadouts and spawning with AAs. However Im all for cool abilities in Halo but Halo MP should remain an arena shooter.
>
> Ehhheeeguhhh…
>
> That type of thing, that is purchasing gear and whatnot, works with a round based game like counterstrike just fine where there is a pause in gameplay.
>
> How would you make this work for halo? It seems like it would interrupt the player trying to buy stuff and it would be risky doing it.
First of all I’m just going to say I don’t support any of this. I oppose armor abilities in their entirety. However, I can expand on how his system could work.
In Halo Reach Invasion and Invasion slayer would give you new loadouts as you progressed in the game. This happened when you got enough kills in Invasion Slayer and captured the objectives in default Invasion. However, you didn’t get the benefit of these new class loadouts until you died and were prompted on the respawn screen. I believe this is how they would function. They would be made available once you had the points to use them and you would spend them before respawning. Another alternative would be like a killstreak in cod, but I believe he was referring to the first type because he mentions respawning in his post.
Lol use promethean vision with a perk. “GO GO Gadget stickey wall cameras!”
*Uses hologram perk “Shoe me potato salad!”
lol jk, but I`m not sure if the armor abilities mod could work.
#1 You purchase gear with loadouts so you’re not making sense there. Making in game purchases was also in MGS4 online and worked fine. It worked better than loadouts because you had to keep scoring to keep good weapons. This same system with mods that affect only items you earn in battle would fit Halo more than loadouts and AAs. Those 2 features failed in 2 Halo games…time to let them go. #2 It wouldnt interrupt anything. Getting 7 to 10 kills alone would be challenging enough. With power ups and power weapons spawning 2 to 3 min apart mods would have very little affect to overall gameplay. Also a person with 1 kill could get a power making a person with 7 wait or render his/her mod useless, yes it would be VERY risky. This means a purchase doesnt mean an automatic reward. Every player must earn everything. No spawning with nonsense to heal, fly, see through walls, turn invisble.
I’m suggesting less randomness which is ideal for competitive and casual. You want more which is annoying to both.
> > Sounds like a great idea for the next Call of Duty or Section 8 game.
>
> What about halo?
No not really. It adds far too much variation which would lead to imbalance. Keep AAs simple, there’s no need to make them any more complex. Tbh I don’t see how your idea would benefit the game and the use of AAs in the slightest.
> No not really. It adds far too much variation which would lead to imbalance. Keep AAs simple, there’s no need to make them any more complex. Tbh I don’t see how your idea would benefit the game and the use of AAs in the slightest.
I keep seeing people misusing the word “balance” and it’s starting to lose its meaning. More choices does not automatically equate to imbalance. AAs, perks, all of that can be balanced. What can’t happen is for all of that stuff to remain in the game and for Halo to maintain its chess-like strategic depth. Halo 4 has shown is this: eliminate loadout options that are considered OP like Active Camo, Boltshot, etc. and you will actually have a fairly balanced game. Unfortunately, you do this at the expense of Halo’s traditional strategy.
So then, the problem isn’t “imbalance”; it’s depthless-ness.
> > No not really. It adds far too much variation which would lead to imbalance. Keep AAs simple, there’s no need to make them any more complex. Tbh I don’t see how your idea would benefit the game and the use of AAs in the slightest.
>
> I keep seeing people misusing the word “balance” and it’s starting to lose its meaning. More choices does not automatically equate to imbalance. AAs, perks, all of that can be balanced. What can’t happen is for all of that stuff to remain in the game and for Halo to maintain its chess-like strategic depth. Halo 4 has shown is this: eliminate loadout options that are considered OP like Active Camo, Boltshot, etc. and you will actually have a fairly balanced game. Unfortunately, you do this at the expense of Halo’s traditional strategy.
>
> So then, the problem isn’t “imbalance”; it’s depthless-ness.
You’re right in that regard but what I meant was that with more variations, it’s more difficult to balance them. Of course they can be balanced, it makes 343’s job a lot tougher though which could lead to mistakes resulting in imbalance.
Balancing AAs properly is already fairly difficult enough, especially when you make them available/selectable for the player at spawn.
Now adding modifications to AAs would not only make it even more difficult to balance them among each other but also to balance the combinations that certain AAs create with different items and mechanics in the game.
It’s one of the issues the Perks create in Halo 4. On first sight they seem to be quite balanced among each other. But when you for example combine mobility with Sprint and Speed Boost or Ammo with power weapons then they suddenly become significant imbalanced.
> > No not really. It adds far too much variation which would lead to imbalance. Keep AAs simple, there’s no need to make them any more complex. Tbh I don’t see how your idea would benefit the game and the use of AAs in the slightest.
>
> I keep seeing people misusing the word “balance” and it’s starting to lose its meaning. <mark>More choices does not automatically equate to imbalance.</mark> AAs, perks, all of that can be balanced. What can’t happen is for all of that stuff to remain in the game and for Halo to maintain its chess-like strategic depth. Halo 4 has shown is this: eliminate loadout options that are considered OP like Active Camo, Boltshot, etc. and you will actually have a fairly balanced game. Unfortunately, you do this at the expense of Halo’s traditional strategy.
>
> So then, the problem isn’t “imbalance”; it’s depthless-ness.
Yet you contradict what you say here on other threads?
OP I like the idea but it makes AAs act weirdly and thus people wont know what to expect to an extent where it causes imbalance with certain mods being OP compared to others.
> > I keep seeing people misusing the word “balance” and it’s starting to lose its meaning. <mark>More choices does not automatically equate to imbalance.</mark> AAs, perks, all of that can be balanced. What can’t happen is for all of that stuff to remain in the game and for Halo to maintain its chess-like strategic depth. Halo 4 has shown is this: eliminate loadout options that are considered OP like Active Camo, Boltshot, etc. and you will actually have a fairly balanced game. Unfortunately, you do this at the expense of Halo’s traditional strategy.
> >
> > So then, the problem isn’t “imbalance”; it’s depthless-ness.
>
> Yet you contradict what you say here on other threads?
Balance is not the same as strategy. A coin toss, for example, is perfectly balanced, but includes no strategy at all.
> > > Sounds like a great idea for the next Call of Duty or Section 8 game.
> >
> > What about halo?
>
> No not really. It adds far too much variation which would lead to imbalance. Keep AAs simple, there’s no need to make them any more complex. Tbh I don’t see how your idea would benefit the game and the use of AAs in the slightest.
I…am perplexed how you can’t see the potential benefit to AAs…
It lets players further mold their favorite armor ability to suit their playstyle.
But anyways I assure you that I mean for everything to be well balanced, I didn’t explicitly state it but I definetly dont want imbalances among these AA modifications.