Next Halo 3. This is where things are not nearly as noticeable but Elites, due to their character model (Not their hitbox) caused some interesting inconveniences when they had their backs turned to you. This is where I think many of the grievances centered around Elites being unfair are HIGHLY exaggerated. Aside from their player model, there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with them in both Halo 2 and Halo 3 aside from possible bugs I may have missed, but given the technology of our time I’m fairly certain player model bugs are not going to remain issues for very long if there even is any (Assuming Elites were in Infinite). I have played Halo for many years, both on a Professional level and Casual. Speaking of which, even Pro players wish Elites to return. So there’s that. Continuing, I have never had a real issue with Elites aside from Halo Reach because of the drastic differences. Not because of their shape or the way they were designed, but their gameplay mechanics. In terms of size and armor, they could have easily scaled em down for multiplayer purposes. And NO, scaling them down does not mean it’ll make them look hunched over.
Long story short, you wouldn’t have to worry about fairness or balance as long as 343i has the right design and gives them the same movement and gameplay mechanics as Spartans similar or exactly like Halo 3 or Halo 2. They can even be taken out of ranked modes if you want. But all other social or core modes they should be allowed. For example Core Team Slayer, Grifball, Infection, Core FFA, Invasion, Multi-Team, etc… Halo Infinite seemed to have an excellent and compatible design for Sangheili from what we could tell in the early gameplay footage, and if they were slightly too small or too big, they could have easily made adjustments for multiplayer. This is why for many people, it was such a shock for the Sangheili and Halo community that Elites were announced absent from Infinite. Halo is NOT an E-sports-only title and there is so much more to Halo than just being about Spartans.
III. What can the community do to get them back and is it possible to put Elites in Infinite as a live service game in the future and if not, what about allowing customizable Elites in Halo Reach on MCC?
Let’s start with what the community has been doing wrong and how we can bring them back. Yes, you heard correctly, what has the community done wrong… Well here’s the thing. Technically speaking? Nothing. Plainly speaking? Well, the problem is that people as a majority do not mind if Elites return but are not necessarily considering it a Core component. Meaning that people don’t seem to think they are too important to the multiplayer, and that is including average fans and content creators alike. So if Elites are not in the game, many content creators and the majority of the community are just disappointed but not outraged or have a desire to fight for playable Elites. Why is this a bad thing to me, and why does it not make much sense compared to other requests like Split-Screen in the past you might be wondering. Well, my answer is kind of self-explanatory but I’ll start by making a comparison with Split-Screen.
Do you guys remember how much Split-Screen being removed from Halo 5 blew up on the internet? Now I have a serious question and before you answer it quickly, I want you to think about it. Why was Split-Screen so important to people? Was it that bad that they removed Split-Screen and do you honestly believe that so many people use that feature in Halo or any game these days, MATCH the level of outrage that social media put out? The answer should be no and the reason being is because hardly anybody use’s split-screen. Does that render these fans’ wishes useless? Of course not. But why is it that the entire community for Halo blew up about it?
Do you want to know what I think? I think the real legit reason, only because this has happened multiple times quite recently is because somebody blew up online, and people just… Followed, without really thinking about it. (I remember the way I heard about the Split-Screen issue was from the Angry Joe Show). Perhaps people were just filled with anger and frustration at 343i that they used any reason they could to criticize them. Or maybe they just went with it simply because of everyone else. People blew up about MCC Halo online armor but why? What sense did it make? It’s not like you had to wear it. Even content creators questioned the community response to that. So I will question the community response to Split-Screen not being in Halo 5. Not many people use it, in fact, the number of people that would use split-screen compared to playable Elites… I mean seriously, who do you think is going to win? Or let me rephrase that, what SHOULD win that fight? Playable Elites right? got to go with the numbers. That is after-all the most logical thing to do. Luckily we can have both and we don’t have to make that choice, because we can easily have both, I’m just trying to make a point.