There just aren’t enough equipment types to keep the game interesting, and the Drop Wall is quite underwhelming compared to the Bubble Shield. I propose at least another 10 equipment items, and to make the game balanced, only include the new items in an >>>"experimental playlist <<<, so as not to affect game balance.
NOTE: The addition of more equipment types would allow players to equip two different equipment items simultaneously in the ** Experimental Playlist**, switching between them like you would with your grenades by holding down the Equipment button ( Bumper ) and then pressing the D-pad to switch to your other equipment item, allowing for more skill based, strategic gameplay by requiring players to choose the right combination of equipment at the right time.
/// ( Nerfed ) BUBBLE SHIELD ///
Should return as equipment, BUT be destroyable after taking the equivalent damage of two Rocket Hits and the shield should dissipate in Half the amount of time that the Halo 3 Bubble Shield did. Players who drop a bubble shield would be protected against vehicle splatters, and would provide additional defense against Sword strikes or Gravity Hammer impacts to help balance out power weapon usage, especially useful in “Fiesta” where people feel the weapon assignments are often lopsided.
/// ( Nerfed ) LANDMINE ///
An Impact on a Landmine by a Warthog should cause significant Damage, but not destroy it, and in exchange, the warthog health should be boosted by another 10% — The Landmine could also be used against Spartans by activating if they get within 5 feet of it, being usable as a passive defense for objective game-types and requiring players to use their SCAN feature more often to spot landmines in the area. The use of the scan function to spot landmines would reward players for communication and gives an additional reason to use this oft neglected feature
/// VEHICLE SHIELD ///
This would Balance out the effects of Landmines and other anti-vehicle weapons like the Brute Impaler. A player with the Vehicle Shield Equipped would provide an energy shield defense to the ENTIRE vehicle and occupants, with the equivalent strength of 1.5 Spartan Shields, and vehicle shield increases the number of electrical EMP weapon shots required to disable it
1 time use Item ( No Cooldown )
/// WEAPON UPGRADE ///
Activating the “Weapon Core” Equipment type would give you access to an upgraded version of the weapon you have equipped, with the upgraded weapon version being based on the weapon variants from the campaign. This would allow you to have a “personal power weapon” of your choice, creating an added component of power weapons to make the game more about map control to have a power advantage /// *** The Weapon upgrade would introduce things like the Rocket Launcher with lock-on capability which would help with anti-vehicle game balance and itself would be balanced out by the Vehicle Shield Equipment
1 use, no cooldown, but Items respawn on map twice as fast as other Equipment types
/// POWER MELEE ///
This Equipment would allow your player to initiate a One Hit Kill Melee, BUT the added suit power required to do use reduces your shields by 15% while it is active, and you can only use this ability in the 30 second window that you have it activated. Your Spartan’s Arms would Glow Red when this is equipped to show other players that you have One Hit Melee Equipped ( POWER MELEE WOULD ALLOW PLAYERS HOLDING THE ODDBALL OR FLAG TO HAVE A LIMITED TIMEFRAME ONE HIT MELEE )
2 uses, 1 minute cooldown, each use depletes own shields by 15% and players with active power melee have red glowing arms
/// RE-SHIELD ///
This Equipment Instantly starts re-charcging your energy shields when activated and other players observing you see a Blue Shield Sparkle instead of the usual yellow one. To make this Equipment BALANCED, you cannot use your weapon while recharging your shield with this equipment, making it a passive defensive device
2 uses: 1 minute cooldown
/// WRIST MOUNTED RAILGUN SLUG: ///
This Equipment fires a single Railgun slug, allowing you to have an additional offensive weapon capability, HOWEVER, since it uses your suit’s Power Systems, Each use of the Wrist mounted Railgun Slug depletes your shields by 20%, although they recharge at double the speed ( This equipment type is inspired by the wrist mounted launchers from Jango Fett ) DAMAGE: Each Railgun slug damages a Spartan’s shield by 30% with a body shot and 50% with a headshot
3 Wrist Mounted Railgun slugs, 30 second cooldown and each use depletes own shields by 20%
/// TRIFECTA ///
Allows your Spartan to carry three weapons: Two Primary and one secondary, with the secondary being either the Sidekick, Plasma Pistol, Brute Mauler, or Forerunner Energy Beam, also increases Max Ammo Capacity of the player by 25%
/// GRENADE DEFENSE ///
Expands the Diameter of your Energy Shield and causes Plasma grenades to Bounce off instead of sticking and increases the distance at which Frags would be in proximity to you by causing them to bounce off, thus reducing potential grenade damage by increasing distance that a grenade lands from you
Passive Use ( 2 uses ), once activated is viable for 30 seconds, 1 minute cooldown
/// ENHANCED SCANNER ///
Improves the function of your Scanner ( D-PAD ) allowing it to have a more Limited version of Promethean vision which has a 50 Meter Range, Scanner also causes Vehicles to glow with an outline and thrown Grenades are visible in the air as they are tossed
Passive Use ( 3 uses ), Cooldown is 45 seconds after activating and once activated, the enhanced scanner lasts for 15 seconds or until user presses the D-Pad again to deactivate it
/// WARHEAD ///
Increases the Splash Damage of your power weapon by 15% due to an increased Warhead Payload on Rockets and Enhanced Power system on Energy Based weapons. Only applies to weapons that deal splash damage. doesn’t apply to grenades.
One time Use Viable for first TWO SHOTS from a weapon: Requires user to Activate, which causes a Delay in being able to fire the Weapon to keep it balanced
/// JACKAL SHIELD ///
The name says it all. This is a Wrist Mounted Jackal Shield that has been modified to have a larger diameter to accomodate the Larger Spartan Frame. You are able to wield a one-handed weapon with the shield, and it is best used crouched to cover the whole Spartan ( except the weapon cutout ) DOWNDSIDE: To Keep this Item BALANCED, the Player has to look through the shield to see and has somewhat obscured vision looking through the bright glow of the shield, making it difficult to see distant targets /// PASSIVE USE, Takes the place of one of your weapons, once shield is depleted from Damage it requires 15 seconds to recharge ( Shield has a limit of recharges like the sword does as a %, with each use being 20% )
/// SNIPER DEFENSE ///
This Equipment type allows your spartan to Augment their Helmet with an additional outer armor plate giving them armor that allows you to survive a Headshot from a Sniper ( requires two headshots to down a spartan ), increases BR Headshot kill times by one shot ( as well as other ranged weapons ), and allows your player to survive a hit from the BRUTE spike weapon, albeit with it still depleting your shields and armor.
One Use, respawns on map after 1 minute, *** Armor plate obscures vision*** by forcing player to see through a narrow visor slit mounted on the front of the armor plate add-on
/// ADVANCED RADAR ///
THIS would solve the issue with the low Radar range by allowing players who dislike the radar range to focus their efforts on acquiring this equipment. Increases Radar Range to 32 Meters, increases Diamter of Radar Circle Display by 20%, allows players to see Radar while scoped in, Radar Circumference Blinks Red when an enemy player is behind you and within 20 meters
3 Uses, Each use lasts for 30 seconds with a 30 second cooldown
/// PELICAN SUPPORT ( Big Team Battle Only ) ///
Yes, This is an equipment type. Players must crouch and use a Comms device on their wrist to call in support from a Pelican. Requires the player to enter a comms frequency with the wrist device ( 10 seconds ) and once activated, they control the Pelican which can drop off a Vehicle to the location of their choice, AND provide overhead support with a chaingun that players control. ( your Spartan is vulnerable while operating the Pelican support so make sure to crouch in a good location as upon dyring the Pelican support will exit the map to keep the game balanced )
Your Spartan is vulnerable while using this equipment, it is not available for the first 3 minutes of the match and has a 1.5 minute cooldown time and is available in the hackable Forerunner weapons cache on maps. To avoid one team from using this equipment shortly before the game ends, this item will respawn at the 1.5 minute mark, regardless if there is one active already.
/// FLASH ORB ///
This Item from Halo 3 should return in a mostly similar format, BUT it can be countered by using the Upgraded Scanner/ Promethean Vision equipment to negate it’s effects, even if activated after the flash orb is deployed
The effect of this equipment would be different however, as it would be a blend of a smoke grenade AND flashbang as a sort of “Bright Shimmering cloud” that both obscures line of sight and is bright to dissorient players along with a loud disruptive sound that is a loud screeching noise finished by a deep low hum