It’s cool that the story has actually gotten a little bit interesting and all. But the Bandit really is the star of Season 3. I feel like it nestles itself neatly into a weapon archetype that has been sorely missing in Halo for a long time. A precision starting weapon that gets less effective at longer ranges.
Halo’s 1-3 always had something keeping the main utility weapon from being a laser beam across the map. Sometimes it was spread, other times it was projectile speed, oftentimes it was both. Even Reach tried (but failed) to use Bloom as it’s limitation mechanic. But Halo’s 4 and 5 had nothing of the sort. The DMR in H4 and Magnum in H5 cross mapped like it was nobody’s business. The Bandit doesn’t, and requires more additional focus and skill to be precise with at longer ranges. And unlike the BR, it’s optimal TTK and lack of descope means it can compete with closer range options, despite still being at a mild disadvantage the closer you get. If you ask me that makes it a perfect spawning weapon for both Ranked and BTB and I’d like to see it implemented as such asap.
As for how I feel about the rest of season 3? The maps are pretty mid. I mean they are better than a lot of the maps we already have, and it’s nice that the layouts shake up the three lane structure but they aren’t going in the pantheon of Halo’s greatest maps of all time. And on the cosmetics side only bringing in the Mark V/VI core, and ODST core, actually progressing cross-core, or playable Elites/Brutes would really catch my interest. Cosmetics are just cosmetics.
A monetization revamp would go even further though. Having a front page with some bundles is fine, but we really need additional pages for individual armor pieces, and colors ranging from $2-5 tops. Heck even if the bundles are for new season (current) cosmetics, and then when a season ends the cosmetics find a permanent home in a growing catalogue of individually purchased pieces. You can even do the same thing for past seasons’ event pass and weekly challenge rewards. Don’t timegate cosmetics. Only timegate free and “discounted” cosmetics. Keep the content permanently available when a season ends. Making season passes permanent purchases was a great evolution of the season pass formula, do the same thing with the shop.
I was initially just planning to write about how much potential the Bandit has to make Infinite a better Halo game. And then I went off on a huge monetization tangent and renamed the thread. Anyway, I hope others can agree with my thoughts on these topics. And I really do hope feedback like this is taken seriously at 343i. If anyone has anything to add, or disagrees I’d love to hear about it.
