Introduction
Good afternoon Halo community, I’m a veteran Halo player who has played the game online since the original Halo 2 days. Starting back in 2005 or 2006, I own every Halo console shooter and have probably weeks of cumulative game-play time. I am by no means an elite level player however here are my thoughts on what I’d like in the next Halo installment:
My Overall Thoughts on Halo 4
While initially concerned that Halo 4 would became Call of Duty: Halo, overall I thought it was a great sequel that breathed new life into the Halo series. The story was grittier and more emotional. I loved the improved sound effects and the atmosphere of the game. As for multiplayer I thought 343 did a good job of catching Halo up with the rest of the shooter genre and added much needed balance fixes to many of the issues of preceding games, particularly Halo: Reach, which is in my view the weakest of Bungie’s Halo entries.
Maps
I want better maps than Halo 4. The map library was by far the worst aspect of Halo 4. The starting library was extremely small and nobody bought all the expansion sets. And while the industry seems to favor money grubbing schemes to ship incomplete games at launch, Microsoft should do the opposite.
Likewise most of the Halo 4 maps sucked. It seemed like Rumble Pit and Team Slayer was always Haven. And Big Team Games, particularly Heavies were always Valhalla/Ragnarok with the occasional sprinkling of the other maps (I exaggerate a little).
What I’d like to see
Bring back more classic halo maps redone for the new game. There is no reason why Ivory Tower, Lockout, Zanzibar, Sanctuary, Ascension, Battle Creek, Headlong, and Terminal (I feel like I’m the only person who promotes this map) can’t become standard for all Halo games. As a comparison, for those who don’t play Blizzard’s RTS games, “Lost Temple” is a map in every Blizz game from StarCraft to WarCraft III to StarCraft II.
From Halo 3 I’d like to see Guardian, Standoff, Ghost Town, perhaps Assembly, and Valhalla. I know I’m in the minority, but I’m not sorry to say Valhalla > Blood Gulch/Coagulation (this map especially sucked on Reach).
From Halo 4 I think the only map that I would like ported over would be Settler, to be honest. Haven was ok but otherwise most of the maps (with the exception of the ones I haven’t probably EVER played on because nobody owns them) are forgettable.
Vehicles
While vehicles were less powerful in H4 than in H3, they were a noticeable improvement over Reach and I think a good balance was found in H4. H3 vehicles were slightly too powerful and vehicles were pathetically weak in Reach. It pissed me off so bad that bullets from a gun shooting at me would physically push a warthog in the direction of the line of fire. Thank you 343.
Weapons
-Please bring back the Halo 3 laser, the Halo 4 laser is a piece of crap! I don’t know if the railgun was supposed to replace the Halo 3 laser, but the charge time on it in halo 4 makes it almost useless. If it was a balancing mechanism, I feel like being limited to 4 shots is perfectly adequate.
-The BR sound sucks, please fix, it sounds much better in MCC.
-I have a friend who goes back to the original H2 days and doesn’t like the sniping in Halo 4, finding it too difficult by comparison. My personal opinion is that sniping should be a bit more difficult otherwise it is easily abused, but I felt like I’d put that into the record.
-Keep grenades as they are, grenades were so heavily spammed in H2 and H3. Going back it to those games, excessive grenades are definitely an irritant
Aside from these comments I felt the weapons balance and roster was good.
Game Mechanics
-Keep Sprint and Loadouts! I know among many on this forum and among so-called “purists” sprint is anathema but has become standard in modern FPS games. I don’t think Halo should remain stuck in snail-mode otherwise it will continue to be left behind by CoD and BF, and no I don’t play either of the other two. Being able to flank as a tactical play I think is important and is something that is impossible to easily achieve in H2 or H3. It adds a great new dynamic.
Likewise with loadouts. I HATE spawning with smgs with no access to a BR in MCC. There definitely is an argument saying you ought to fight for them, but I’d rather fight for the power weapons and still stand a reasonable chance at killing my opponents rather than getting -Yoink- on because I get picked off with a BR as I spawn in and can’t hit a guy with the smg or AR.
-Bring Back Joining Games in Progress: While I was initially resistant to the idea, it is a great way to keep teams even. I don’t know if it is an aspect of the MCC that is turned off due to its numerous issues or it was a mechanic not put in, but it is complete -Yoink- that when I get split from my party and the rest of my team quits, that in Team Slayer four guys can gang up on me and do their will. Sure some good players would be able to fend them off, but not against a good team. So what should I do, quit? Quitting has been actively discouraged, but that seems to otherwise be the only answer unless I want to get defecated on. At least with new teammates spawning in, you have a slightly better shot of at least maintaining your stats
-Dedicated Servers: The idea of them sounds amazing, but we have yet to see adequate implementation with MCC, so if you can make it work, great. Otherwise stick to the tried and true.
Final
So here are my thoughts, it would be great to have discussion and hopefully 343 takes note!