Okay, I’m going to lay my two cents on the whole Recon issue.
In the old days when Halo 3 was first released, Recon meant that you had impressed Bungie enough for them to give it to you, and it was like finding the teeth of a goose, damn near impossible to see in multiplayer. In fact, very few non-Bungie employees wore Recon or even had it.
Then the Vidmasters came out, and people actually had to EARN Recon. Recon got more visible in Multiplayer as a result, and those players got to strut their Recon stuff with pride at having accomplished 7 tasks, most of which were as difficult as possible.
Now with the waves of people getting Recon, it’s become too common to see, almost like the standard Mark VI armor. And there are newbs with Recon thinking they’re hot players because they have what was once a rare armor, when really they’re horrible players who would have never earned Recon normally. I even had a player complain to me, and I quote:
> How did you beat me? I had Recon!
Frankly, I’m only impressed in players that use Recon ONLY if they have all seven Vidmasters, because that means they took the time and effort to accomplish some of the most difficult tasks possible (Except for Brainpan, 7 on the 7th and Lightswitch, those are easy as hell compared to ones like Annual and Endure.) I had a friend of mine who had earned all seven Vidmasters and wore his Recon proudly actually change to another armor out of disgust at all the newbs parading around in what took him a long time to earn.
While I am finally happy to have Recon, I will not wear it outside of Machinimas or special events. While I like the Recon design, I will instead proudly wear the Katana when I unlock it, because I will still have to work to earn it, instead of wearing Recon and having veteran players look down on me for not having legitimately earned it. My pride is more important than Recon. Maybe when I myself have all seven Vidmasters, I will wear Recon, but not before then will I wear Recon in multiplayer, this I swear upon my stack of Halo novels.
I am also sick of hearing new players whine about not having Recon unlocked for them already. If a vet complains, that means he has put in the time in an attempt to unlock Recon, and has shown support for Bungie by not only buying their game, but investing time in playing it online, and thus should be rewarded for it. But a new guy? He/she can go back to the end of the line and wait for Recon, God -Yoink!-! If 343I wants to fix the Recon issue, they need to put veteran players first. If a new player wants Recon then odds are he/she only bought the game to have what many in the Halo community consider a badge of honor without having earned it.
As for people wanting the Bungie Chestplate? No. Just no. That was and always will be Bungie-exclusive. It was made to help distinguish Bungie employees after the Vidmasters were released, and it should stay that way. It was fine to release the Eternal flames for Reach on the final Bungie Day for Halo, and it shows those who spent that day sending Bungie off in style as me and my friends did. I have worn my eternal flames with pride since then. If I EVER hear of 343I releasing Eternal for all players, I will douse my flames and never wear them again, just like my friend did when he stopped wearing Recon, this I also swear!
Sorry for the wall of text, but this is my opinion on the issue. You may or may not agree with it, but all I ask is that you respect it as I respect your opinions.
