I’ve always felt that Halo has lacked something in team play. The vast majority of teamwork, at least in 4v4, consists of calling out enemies’ positions and shielding. That’s fine and all, but it’s a bit simple and can only be done by people who use a mic.
I propose that the d-pad should be used solely for new teammate interaction mechanics. For example: - Pressing left allows you to transfer weapons and powerups to a teammate at any distance (e.g., transferring Speed Boost to the flag runner or giving sniper to a player in the tower). - Pressing right briefly places a waypoint on the map for your team, recharges after 150 seconds. - Pressing down makes your waypoint flash if you’re in trouble. - Pressing up gives a teammate 1/4 of your own shields at any distance.
Those are just possibilities - any of them could be game-breaking, for all I know. The main point is that other games have “revive” functions and “trees of life” when Halo has nothing. I don’t suggest ripping these games off, but instead incorporating some of their philosophy into Halo. It would be done in such a way that teamwork would be a requirement to win, even without necessitating verbal communication.
What do you think of this? Does it take the skill out of teamwork, or does it increase the dynamic of Halo?
> - Pressing left allows you to transfer weapons and powerups to a teammate at any distance (e.g., transferring Speed Boost to the flag runner or giving sniper to a player in the tower).
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This takes away from the necessity for individual players to earn weapons and abilities.
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> If a player makes bad decisions and is losing an ancounter, then their teammate responds by sending them a Rocket Launcher (with the touch of a button), then that player’s bad decisions will potentially go unpunished, as the good player goes unrewarded.
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> > [/li]1. Pressing right briefly places a waypoint on the map for your team, recharges after 150 seconds.
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A waypoint for what exactly? I don’t quite understand this one.
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> > > [/li]1. Pressing down makes your waypoint flash if you’re in trouble.
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Initially, I didn’t quite mind the sound of this one but upon further examination, a potential problem has occurred to me.
> > > It seems that this is a feature that would easily and likely be abused.
> > > It’s possible that players would habitually click it for no reason other than to troll teammates, which could eventually lead to people ignoring it when they see it.
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> > > Also, I honestly can’t remember if this the case in Halo 4, but in Halo 3 the waypoint would change colour based on a players shields.
> > > I think that this system would do the same thing, without the risk of player activation for the purpose of trolling.
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> > > > [/li]1. Pressing up gives a teammate 1/4 of your own shields at any distance.[/list]
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> > > I really dislike this one, I’m sorry to say.
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> > > A player’s shields should not be supplemented by their teammates shields when they are in trouble.
> > > Their shields went down for a reason and they should deal with the consequences.
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> > > > What do you think of this? Does it take the skill out of teamwork, or does it increase the dynamic of Halo?
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> > > Quite simply, they take skill out of the game. It’s so incredibly easy to press a button just to get out of trouble, when the player that put you in that trouble had to do far more than press a button.
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> > > I get that you’re trying to think of new ideas which could supplement communication in the absence of a mic, but the drawbacks are far too significant.
The things you mentioned would be terribly overpowered- However, perhaps a Counter-Strike-like communication system is in order? With the "Go go go"s and the “Need backups”? Only problem might be that Halo is by no means a “Tactical shooter”, and while planning and positioning may help a team win the game, it isn’t particularly emphasized and therefore the system isn’t needed so much.
Yeah, I have always thought of this, not just those ideas in general, but to make more use of the d-pad. It pretty much adds 4 more button possibilities, and if added could just be as important to shooting a gun with RT. I was kind of hoping for at least 2 more buttons on the Xbox One controller, but neither MS or Sony did which was very disappointing.