Personal Ordinance: Improved and Reworked?

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So, EVERYONE who has been here a while should know I loathe Infinity settings. I am Halo traditionalist. But, I know, and everyone else should to, that 343 will never completely remove infinity, the best we can hope for is a:

Ranked
Social Classic
Infinity
Firefight
Spartan Ops

Split matchmaking system. But, I think I have a way to make PoDs work better in the aforementioned Infinity playlist.

Tier Dropping

This plays around with the CoD kill/Scorestreak system. It means that the longer your streak continues, the better the weapons become, but, the gaps between each counter increases in size, so your first drop is say 3 kills in a row, drops would be Needler, Boltshot and Plasma Pistol. your next set would be at 4 more kills in a row, so you would need to chain 7 kills without dying. each tier adds another kill requirement.

Here’s the catch. to go for a higher tier, you must sacrifice the tier you just got. This means, you have to either press up on D-pad to cancel drop, or just leave the choice on screen till you hit the next tier. So that more of your own skill is what is getting you the bigger guns, not just dropping in bigger and bigger tools. If you want a bigger gun, you have to work for it. Also, when you choose to settle for a drop, your streak is reset and you begin again. Any kills with a weapon obtained from a tier 2 drop or higher will not add to your streak.

If you are killed before choosing to drop your weapon, or if you chose to wait for a higher tier, you lose all progress and have to start again, if you where still choosing weapon, you lose that to (but there is a 10 second delay before this occurs, so an immediate death after tier reach loss is not a problem). Risk vs Reward.

Like I said, I don’t support continuation of Infinity settings, barring choosing to start with my Covenant Carbine :). But i feel this is a far more workable system than what 343 implemented in Halo 4, and differs enough from CoD to be a bit more skillful.

2

It doesn’t matter what you change. Players should NEVER get power weapons from Ordnance.

NEVER.

Now, If Ordnance was restricted to just loadout weapons and no power ups, Then I might be okay with it.

But is Ordnance allows you to obtain power weapons, Then it’s not going to fly.

Your system rewards players for being too good. How is that fair to newer players? Its not.

No power weapons in Ordnance.

3

The rich still get richer and the poor stay very poor. At least Personal Ordnance gave them a chance. Regardless, giving players power weapons is just plain ridicules and completely ruins the balance of the game.

I’m sure aspects of Infinity will return in Halo 5 such as loadouts and most likely Sprint. But as far as Personal and Random Ordnance is concerned, I think 343 have got the message. They would be stupid to include it.

Splitting up the game into 3 divisions of Social, Ranked and Infinity is also not an option. It would be just dividing the community even further leaving us with at the bear minimum of 3 separate slayer playlists which isn’t a good idea nor advisable when trying to keep a sustainable population. Aspects of Infinity can be moved into Social, Personal Ordnance however has no place in Halo and should be removed entirely.

4

> It doesn’t matter what you change. Players should NEVER get power weapons from Ordnance.
>
> NEVER.
>
> Now, If Ordnance was restricted to just loadout weapons and no power ups, Then I might be okay with it.
>
> But is Ordnance allows you to obtain power weapons, Then it’s not going to fly.
>
> Your system rewards players for being too good. How is that fair to newer players? Its not.
>
> No power weapons in Ordnance.

The system, while rewarding players for playing well, can also end up punishing them just as easily however. A good player can just as easily end up with nothing by making one mistake.

also, bare in mind that my system is not intended for a full game, merely a optional playlist.

The player, while getting rewarded for playing well, cannot use these weapon to be rewarded again. in the end, their trade-off is minimizes just how large an advantage they gain.

If the gametype isn’t for you, then you don’t need to play it. which is my point. I dislike Infinity settings as well, but I feel like balancing the system for those who do enjoy it. As long as Infinity is not the focus of the game, and classic is, with Infinity as a side playlist for those who enjoy it, or those who want to mess around, Then keep it. Just don’t shove it in our faces.

But that means it needs balanced, and if the whole Idea of Infinity is to make a more CoD style way to play Halo, then give it it’s own playlist, and balance it around Halo gameplay. I don’t mean arena starts, I mean map control and teamwork. Make the game work so power positions are not a means of simple dominance, but now rely on being good ways to stack a streak, but make these area have flanks, and the key to using them to chain the kills is watch the flanks efficiently. Teamwork would rely on defending the player on your team who currently has the largest streak, so this player could be displayed on your HUD as a defend.

I by no means endorse this to be a full way to build a Halo game multiplayer, but as a way to build an Infinity playlist. Power weapons in Ordinance can be balanced by making the weapons in the ordinance not be super dominant on the map, but more a situational weapon to have on that map. But the tiers grant weapon that are less situational, but do maintain situational properties, like starting with a needler on Valhalla, then a shotgun, then a sticky det, then a SAW. the weapons will not be super dominant on the map, but they have their use on it. You wouldn’t receive a sniper weapon or heavy launcher, as they are fairly dominant weapon on that map.

5

> The rich still get richer and the poor stay very poor. At least Personal Ordnance gave them a chance. Regardless, giving players power weapons is just plain ridicules and completely ruins the balance of the game.
>
> I’m sure aspects of Infinity will return in Halo 5 such as loadouts and most likely Sprint. But as far as Personal and Random Ordnance is concerned, I think 343 have got the message. They would be stupid to include it.
>
> Splitting up the game into 3 divisions of Social, Ranked and Infinity is also not an option. It would be just dividing the community even further leaving us with at the bear minimum of 3 separate slayer playlists which isn’t a good idea nor advisable when trying to keep a sustainable population. Aspects of Infinity can be moved into Social, Personal Ordnance however has no place in Halo and should be removed entirely.

Actually, 3 split lists is far better than 2 for Ranked, Social. there are alot of social players from Halo 3 that Hate infinity also, why should they be forced to play ranked/custom games to play the halo they loved in a non-competitive environment?

While keeping Infinity in any form is not optimal, it’s the best we can expect from 343 at this point, while we could be pleasantly surprised, wishful thinking only gets you so far. The Infinity fans do need their game mode balanced, and even if they can’t seem to realize that it just rewards better players, at least we can level the playing field a little. And by giving ways for the less skilled players to overcome a skilled player by thwarting their chain because they got a little to greedy, this gives a chance for the little guy to catch up.

I say again, I DO NOT LIKE INFINITY. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to make it work better for those that do. And as we can expect to see 343 bring back as a playlist for those who did enjoy it, there is no harm in trying to help to make it work better.

6

> So, EVERYONE who has been here a while should know I loathe Infinity settings. I am Halo traditionalist. But, I know, and everyone else should to, that 343 will never completely remove infinity, <mark>the best we can hope for is a:</mark>
> <mark>Ranked</mark>
> <mark>Social Classic</mark>
> <mark>Infinity</mark>
> <mark>Firefight</mark>
> <mark>Spartan Ops</mark>
>
> Split matchmaking system. But, I think I have a way to make PoDs work better in the aforementioned Infinity playlist.
>
> Tier Dropping
>
> This plays around with the CoD kill/Scorestreak system. It means that the longer your streak continues, the better the weapons become, but, the gaps between each counter increases in size, so your first drop is say 3 kills in a row, drops would be Needler, Boltshot and Plasma Pistol. your next set would be at 4 more kills in a row, so you would need to chain 7 kills without dying. each tier adds another kill requirement.
>
> Here’s the catch. to go for a higher tier, you must sacrifice the tier you just got. This means, you have to either press up on D-pad to cancel drop, or just leave the choice on screen till you hit the next tier. So that more of your own skill is what is getting you the bigger guns, not just dropping in bigger and bigger tools. If you want a bigger gun, you have to work for it. Also, when you choose to settle for a drop, your streak is reset and you begin again. Any kills with a weapon obtained from a tier 2 drop or higher will not add to your streak.
>
> If you are killed before choosing to drop your weapon, or if you chose to wait for a higher tier, you lose all progress and have to start again, if you where still choosing weapon, you lose that to (but there is a 10 second delay before this occurs, so an immediate death after tier reach loss is not a problem). Risk vs Reward.
>
>
> Like I said, I don’t support continuation of Infinity settings, barring choosing to start with my Covenant Carbine :). But i feel this is a far more workable system than what 343 implemented in Halo 4, and differs enough from CoD to be a bit more skillful.

There is where you are mistaken. You assume that all 343i will do is bottle Halo 3 and Halo 4 into the game in their original states. That’s sort of what they are trying to do with Halo 4 and it’s not working. Halo 5 needs to keep the good things from both sides.

7

> > The rich still get richer and the poor stay very poor. At least Personal Ordnance gave them a chance. Regardless, giving players power weapons is just plain ridicules and completely ruins the balance of the game.
> >
> > I’m sure aspects of Infinity will return in Halo 5 such as loadouts and most likely Sprint. But as far as Personal and Random Ordnance is concerned, I think 343 have got the message. They would be stupid to include it.
> >
> > Splitting up the game into 3 divisions of Social, Ranked and Infinity is also not an option. It would be just dividing the community even further leaving us with at the bear minimum of 3 separate slayer playlists which isn’t a good idea nor advisable when trying to keep a sustainable population. Aspects of Infinity can be moved into Social, Personal Ordnance however has no place in Halo and should be removed entirely.
>
> Actually, 3 split lists is far better than 2 for Ranked, Social. there are alot of social players from Halo 3 that Hate infinity also, why should they be forced to play ranked/custom games to play the halo they loved in a non-competitive environment?
>
> While keeping Infinity in any form is not optimal, it’s the best we can expect from 343 at this point, while we could be pleasantly surprised, wishful thinking only gets you so far. The Infinity fans do need their game mode balanced, and even if they can’t seem to realize that it just rewards better players, at least we can level the playing field a little. And by giving ways for the less skilled players to overcome a skilled player by thwarting their chain because they got a little to greedy, this gives a chance for the little guy to catch up.
>
> I say again, I DO NOT LIKE INFINITY. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to make it work better for those that do. And as we can expect to see 343 bring back as a playlist for those who did enjoy it, there is no harm in trying to help to make it work better.

Some players enjoy Assault, others enjoy KOTH, CTF, Ricochet, Oddball ect but can we afford to have a playlist for each alongside the core 12-13 playlists. It would be much more sensible to have a Team Objective playlist right?

Obviously Infinity Slayer would have to be better balanced e.g. remove PO for it to be a gametype in social settings.

But Infinity players can enjoy a game of slayer without all the infinity rubbish anyway. I dislike Sprint but I still enjoy Halo 4 and have almost 3000 games in matchmaking. This may be a selfish point of view but people will play regardless of whether PO is in the game or not and the removal will only benefit players even if they don’t know it. The amount of Infinty Doubles games where I have gone flawless is ridicules…

I just don’t like the idea of splitting up the playlists even further.

8

It should be removed.

9

No.

Get rid of personal ordnance.

Fin.

~ Duck.

10

Ok, this has to be addressed.

Everyone who is yelling “power weapons should not be ordinance yadadada” is completely missing my point. I AGREE. But this thread was not built for discussing whether you like it or not, it was started to make it work better for those that do.

If you do not like Power Weapons in Ordinance, like myself, then skip over the thread. It was about making the Power Weapon Ordinance system work better, for those that actually enjoy it.

I hate PoD, I keep saying this, but I’m not trying to make it work in Halo, I’m trying to make it work better in a separate Infinity environment, such as it’s own playlist, like I said in OP. Please stop the “Power Weapons in PoDs are bad!” posts and actually answer the question. does it sound like better or worse system than Halo 4?

11

> Ok, this has to be addressed.
>
> Everyone who is yelling “power weapons should not be ordinance yadadada” is completely missing my point. I AGREE. But this thread was not built for discussing whether you like it or not, <mark>it was started to make it work better</mark> for those that do.
>
> If you do not like Power Weapons in Ordinance, like myself, then skip over the thread. It was about making the Power Weapon Ordinance system work better, for those that actually enjoy it.
>
> I hate PoD, I keep saying this, but I’m not trying to make it work in Halo, I’m trying to make it work better in a separate Infinity environment, such as it’s own playlist, like I said in OP. Please stop the “Power Weapons in PoDs are bad!” posts and actually answer the question. does it sound like better or worse system than Halo 4?

And that you did do. The changes will still have to be tested to know how game flow behaves with this. Most of them where good but some of them i don’t like. One of the ones i don’t like is the requirement for kills; i like the old way of where points from assists count to. The other one i don’t like is the D-pad… i use recon and grenade switch is the D-Pad. If sprint was an armor ability again that would leave a button open on the recon controller preset for switch grenade.

12

> > Ok, this has to be addressed.
> >
> > Everyone who is yelling “power weapons should not be ordinance yadadada” is completely missing my point. I AGREE. But this thread was not built for discussing whether you like it or not, <mark>it was started to make it work better</mark> for those that do.
> >
> > If you do not like Power Weapons in Ordinance, like myself, then skip over the thread. It was about making the Power Weapon Ordinance system work better, for those that actually enjoy it.
> >
> > I hate PoD, I keep saying this, but I’m not trying to make it work in Halo, I’m trying to make it work better in a separate Infinity environment, such as it’s own playlist, like I said in OP. Please stop the “Power Weapons in PoDs are bad!” posts and actually answer the question. does it sound like better or worse system than Halo 4?
>
> And that you did do. The changes will still have to be tested to know how game flow behaves with this. Most of them where good but some of them i don’t like. One of the ones i don’t like is the requirement for kills; i like the old way of where points from assists count to. The other one i don’t like is the D-pad… i use recon and grenade switch is the D-Pad. If sprint was an armor ability again that would leave a button open on the recon controller preset for switch grenade.

The Idea of point’s was Just something I saw as unnecessary, but from an assists point of view it does make sense. thing is, if you look at Blops 2, a player could get the highest streak just from running between and capping objectives.

And Yeah, I see the grenade thing as a problem. Perhaps having to hold the score button to select you drop also?

13

I can’t really have much to say about the idea. If someone has to get 10 kills without dying to get a Rocket Launcher then the launcher itself probably isn’t going to make any difference except secure their already likely victory. That’s still not ideal but its better than having five overshields in play at once (which is a pathetically common occurrence despite how ridiculous it sounds).

As for “fix Infinity so the Infinity fans will like it”, if we truly fixed Infinity there’s no reason to keep it out of ranked. Not being classic doesn’t automatically make it less competitive.

14

> I can’t really have much to say about the idea. If someone has to get 10 kills without dying to get a Rocket Launcher then the launcher itself probably isn’t going to make any difference except secure their already likely victory. That’s still not ideal but its better than having five overshields in play at once (which is a pathetically common occurrence despite how ridiculous it sounds).
>
> As for “fix Infinity so the Infinity fans will like it”, if we truly fixed Infinity there’s no reason to keep it out of ranked. Not being classic doesn’t automatically make it less competitive.

10 kills for a RL? no way.

Tier 1: 3 Chain: Needler/Boltshot/Plasma Pistol
Tier 2: 7 Chain (Cancel 3): Concussion Rifle/Grenade Launcher(example)/Gravity Hammer
Tier 3: 12 Chain (Cancel 7): Sword/SAW (Better Balanced)/Speed Boost
Tier 4: 18 Chain (Cancel 12): Shotgun/Fuel Rod Cannon/Overshield
Tier 5: 25 Chain (Cancel 18): Rocket Launcher/Damage Boost/Sniper Rifle

Of course, different maps could have the tiers tweaked to better work on the map. This was just an example. When you get a kill with a tier 2 or higher weapon (or if a power up is active) they do not count towards the chain, and remember, the chain is broken when you choose the drop, so you start again, not like CoD where it keeps going. you choose to risk for a better drop, but if you die before you reach it you get nothing, or select a lower tier choice to play it safe.

Risk vs Reward is factored in to this system. It follows a little in traditional Halo style (emphasis on little) in that there is a far bigger emphasis on risk vs reward in this system. There is no here’s a big gun, use it to get another big gun, It’s just a reward. It has far less of a benefit to you trying to get another than Halo 4’s. I’d be in favour of separate stat systems between the classic playlists and Infinity, so you can’t boost an overall K/D. if you got a massive amount of kills, but they came from Infinity, that should be shown.

15

> [
> 10 kills for a RL? no way.
>
> Tier 1: 3 Chain: Needler/Boltshot/Plasma Pistol
> Tier 2: 7 Chain (Cancel 3): Concussion Rifle/Grenade Launcher(example)/Gravity Hammer
> Tier 3: 12 Chain (Cancel 7): Sword/SAW (Better Balanced)/Speed Boost
> Tier 4: 18 Chain (Cancel 12): Shotgun/Fuel Rod Cannon/Overshield
> Tier 5: 25 Chain (Cancel 18): Rocket Launcher/Damage Boost/Sniper Rifle

The game ends at 25 kills (unless you’re in objective).

I think requiring 18 kills in a row to get something as mundane as a shotgun is pretty extreme. The shotgun respawns pretty fast, I’m going to go through multiple ones before I reach that point. There’s almost no point in having ordnance when its this restricted.

I could maybe see ordnance work in a competitive setting as a compromise between identical starts and loadouts (i.e. every few kills you can call in a single specific, common weapon out of three that you choose your ordnance to obtain). Haven’t decided if that would be reset by dying or not. If people are so obsessive we could have the game broadcast “Player2 has called in a DMR” as well.

Players could still “play with what they want” without all the ramifications of “constant unpredictability and chaos” among other nonsense.

16

> > [
> > 10 kills for a RL? no way.
> >
> > Tier 1: 3 Chain: Needler/Boltshot/Plasma Pistol
> > Tier 2: 7 Chain (Cancel 3): Concussion Rifle/Grenade Launcher(example)/Gravity Hammer
> > Tier 3: 12 Chain (Cancel 7): Sword/SAW (Better Balanced)/Speed Boost
> > Tier 4: 18 Chain (Cancel 12): Shotgun/Fuel Rod Cannon/Overshield
> > Tier 5: 25 Chain (Cancel 18): Rocket Launcher/Damage Boost/Sniper Rifle
>
> The game ends at 25 kills (unless you’re in objective).
>
> I think requiring 18 kills in a row to get something as mundane as a shotgun is pretty extreme. The shotgun respawns pretty fast, I’m going to go through multiple ones before I reach that point. There’s almost no point in having ordnance when its this restricted.
>
> I could maybe see ordnance work in a competitive setting as a compromise between identical starts and loadouts (i.e. every few kills you can call in a single specific, common weapon out of three that you choose your ordnance to obtain). Haven’t decided if that would be reset by dying or not. If people are so obsessive we could have the game broadcast “Player2 has called in a DMR” as well.
>
> Players could still “play with what they want” without all the ramifications of “constant unpredictability and chaos” among other nonsense.

I’d say a Halo 4 shotgun is pretty beast. it’s not a fast respawn on any forge maps unless it has one mag. Infinity as it stands in Halo 4 cannot be competitive, and I do not aim to make it so. My aim is to improve it for those who like it. I am not one of those people, but it doesn’t mean I can’t try to help.

The Idea of Identical starts is extreme, I prefer a carbine, it is basically the same power, but I am forced to spawn with a BR? that is stupid. Like this in a Halo game is fine, it worked for Gears 3, it can work for Halo. as the main gameplay of a Halo game, the ideal and best middle ground is:

Choice of Primary
Choice of Secondary
1 frag

and thats it.

17

> I’d say a Halo 4 shotgun is pretty beast. it’s not a fast respawn on any forge maps unless it has one mag.

I meant relatively. I will probably get two shotguns before I reach 18 kills in a row with just a common weapon.

> My aim is to improve it for those who like it.

Infinity fans already enjoy it as is from what I can tell.

No one likes the enemy getting a rocket, but the simple solution is to just remove the rockets from ordnance (requiring 25 kills is basically the same thing as removing them outright).

> The Idea of Identical starts is extreme, I prefer a carbine, it is basically the same power, but I am forced to spawn with a BR? that is stupid. Like this in a Halo game is fine, it worked for Gears 3, it can work for Halo.

I agree, a large amount of people disagree and will spew theorycraft regardless.

Having ordnance in this manner would at least somewhat satisfy everyone.