Next-Generation Halo Game Types...

Games Halo 5: Guardians
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Greetings this is about Spartan Ops Season 2… I urge you to read this whole post…

I have finally come to terms with Spartan Ops Season 2 never showing up… I just realized that Halo: Escalation (at least) the Diplomatic Peace Summit Arc would have set the story for Season 2. The new story arc would have taken place directly after the Second Requiem Campaign (Season 1), been on Ealen IV (to start off with), and would have set the stage for reintroduction of Arbiter Thel 'Vadam and Lord Terrance Hood… as well as the Jiralhanae and Eldar Chieftain Lydus. It also would have paved the road to Halo 5… alot better… still Halo: Escalation is for-filling that goal.

“It was rumored by 343 Industries, that he may appear in Spartan Ops.”

Yet this is what Spartan Ops should have been… Season 1 was a good beta-test and start to figure out some bugs… yet after Season 1 each further Season should be about $15 - $20 to pay the developers, voice and body actors, composers etc. for their time. As well as give additional maps for the WARGAMES simulator… each new location met… is a new map. So really for the $ 15 - $20 you get a whole Season of new missions and story… as well as a new map pack… this should be the future of map packs… more value for money.

I know you would say that this theory is ludicrous. What would be the missions… what would Fire Team Crimson be doing… and it would be a short season…

However the story arcs could expand over 2 - 4 episodes, giving each season a variety of locations and situations, and break the repetitiveness. Episodes would not have written-in-stone amounts of missions… so some story arcs could have 2 episodes that expand only 4 missions, spanning about 1 hour or more; while others could have the intended 10… the amount depends on the flow of the story… rather than stop-starting and breaking the immersion. Each episode would have one cut scene… an opening to the story arc and a close… and perhaps a middle.

Fire Team Crimson would undertake missions that would be alot more to the main stories structure… rather than in the background…

In the Diplomatic Peace Summit Arc they could have been assisted in escorting the diplomats (Thel, Lydus and Hood), and quite possibly could have died at the end of the Diplomatic Peace Summit Arc, but they escaped due to Fire Team Bailey and Spartan Paul DeMarco… this would have made the players feel a sense of dread that their spartan almost died, and that a supporting “main” character was targeted instead… really giving them that feeling that no one is safe.

In the Spirit Of Fire Arc they could have assisted in capturing the rogue freighter, and in one mission fly broadswords to counter the rogue long swords and vultures… this give different situations and locations… Infinity’s Hanger, Freighter and Space…

The way to change Spartan Ops for the better rather than the kill enemy, clear wave or target, push button/open door and rescue civilians then rinse and repeat… which create very similar situations is… too add main cast NPCs, to assist in some mission, make different battle situations… instead of just infantry… space battles… mammoth clearing… different enemies… like insurrectionist and automated turrets, Covenant, Promethean, Flood (if-applicable)…

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Waypoint Community Suggestions (On-Going)

  • Firefight Co-Returning
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Firefight Co-Returning

Halo 4 Spartan Ops… replaced the Firefight mode seen in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. Spartan Ops was meant to bridge the gap between Firefight and Campaign but rather created a boring and repetitive experience… so my suggestion is both should return with Spartan Ops grasping a more Halo 3: ODST, expanded story, and Firefight, Gears Of War 3, survival mode.

Firefight needs to however be re-created in the modern era… I am of course talking improvements… or our favorite gaming word… innovation.

Old Firefight Features

  • ODST and Spartan-III; fire teams of five players.

  • ODST NPC, AI-controlled ODST.

  • Covenant Empire; the Elites (Sangheili), Brutes (Jiralhanae), Hunter (Mgalekgolo), Jackals (Kig-Yar), Skirmishers (T’vaoan), Engineers (Huragok), Grunts (Unggoy), Drones (Yanme’e).

  • Vehicular Combat; Covenant and UNSC.

  • Timed Weapon Spawns; the ammo and weaponry had been scarce and so, force players to use dropped weapons… their was some power weapons readily available to players.

New Firefight Features

  • ODST player hitbox; fire teams of up to five players… perhaps as Spartan-IV and Separatist Elites hitbox…

  • ODST Non-Playable-Characters; AI-controlled fire team up to 4 members… depending on how many players are in-game… (think 5 squad members minus number of players equals the AI count)

  • Timed Weapon Spawns; the ammo and weaponry had been scarce and so, force players to use dropped weapons… their was some power weapons readily available to players.

  • New Enemies; Covenant Remnant, Flood Collective, Promethean Ecumene, Insurrectionist Rebellion…

  • Fortifications and Interactive Environments; this could range from a building and purchasing phase, to the battle phase… seen in Gears Of War 3… to just a functional door, turrets and bridges… (Decoys, Automated Turrets, Mounted Turrets, Barricades, Vehicle Spawn, Command Centre).

  • Vehicular Combat; UNSC, Forerunner and Covenant… this can range from player interactive fights to background. The background could be a NPC Pelican versing a Covenant Phantom… or perhaps a Uber fight, like a scarab.

  • Dynamic Events and Side Objectives; obviously the main objective is to hold out… but some background additions adds to the fun, both giving rewards, to make fight easier, or leaving it, and making it harder… things like a flood spore drops in clear the spores or else they will start re-animating bodies… heck if a friendly ai/player dies they can be re-animated too… or hold a location with a unique artifact that can be studied by ONI… could use the extraction tool… need to combine the different gametypes scenarios… perhaps even a automated turret set up by players, gets shut down… via damage over time… and requires a new power core… a pelican drops one off and players retrieve and install it. (Think Invasion core)

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I would like to see Spartan Ops return but I doubt it will happen…

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> I have finally come to terms with Spartan Ops Season 2 never showing up…

343i announced months ago that there won’t be a Spartan Ops Season 2:

> Apologies for being the bearer of bad news, but we have no plans for a season 2. That being said, we will absolutely be continuing the story line of those characters and events. In fact, I may or may not have overheard the narrative discussing this very thing recently… :slight_smile:

“Continuing the story line” likely refers to Halo: Escalation. It’s possible that Escalation was previously meant for Season 2.