Now I know what a bunch of you are probably gunna say, “YEAH BRING ELITES BACK, PREVIOUS GAMES WERE FINE” or “NO THERE’S NO POINT THEY HAVE BIGGER HITBOXES” and even *IT WONT FIT WITH THE CANON"
Well all of that is true. Halo 2 and 3 most combat ended up being face to face, head positioning was roughly at the same height and the width was roughly the same as well. Not to mention with elites being hunched over, headshotting from the back was a little more difficult. As an Elite player myself I’ve often found 1v1 moments to vary greatly, often changing due to positioning on the map and whether or not you gained a good grenade throw in there.
Halo 2 anniversary, the elites are a little larger than a spartan but the difference is so minuscule that gameplay doesn’t much at all.
“Pro” players almost always play as Spartans and if they are as good as they claim to be playing as elite, becoming an easier target for their opponent and truly test their skills. But would they really be testing anything? From my experience, playing hundreds of games on halo 3 and HaloMCC I’ve noticed there is no real gameplay affecting difference.
Same movement speed, same jump height, same shielding/armor.
What I think the issue is, is that Bungie tried to make the elites as similar as possible to the Spartans, but should they be? In Halo Reach the aliens different. But the multiplayer worked incredibly well, invasion was the only pvp gametype that had both Spartans and Elites and did Spartans win 100% of the time? No. But the Elites had bigger hit boxes! Didn’t make a difference. Why? Two reasons, it depends on the players in the team and the way the Elites were balanced. The Elites were faster, getting in and out of danger quicker, had a higher jump, getting to places spartans couldn’t reach as easily. And their shield began recharging faster, allowing them to rejoin combat just before the spartans recharged. The matches always varied. Invasion was my favorite gametype on Reach. And reach is probably when I was at my best on halo. 7 times out of 10 I could win both sides in a single match. I generally find plasma weapons easy to use but with the leading reticle the elites had the repeater would happily take on an AR. In matchmaking (slayers, objectives) you were one or the other, the only choice you had was in the voting so that never really bothered people either and customs games you could be either.
Now when talking about the canon. People have suggested that with the Swords of Sangheilios (the Arbiters followers) Elites could train with Spartans in war games, but that isn’t fully necessary. With simulation training the Spartans can train against Elite players who are AI’s canonically, rather than making the story a little complicated.
If Elites were to be added, balancing them wouldn’t be to much of problem. Since they’re bigger, they’ll a slight movement increase, slight jump height increase, slightly faster shield recharge, leading reticle when using plasma weapons to try and counter their larger hitboxes.
The abilities, now this will be a problem.
Obviously sprint is sprint and clamber will be clamber. Though thrusters, as people have suggested, could be evade, and since it can’t be used in the air they can evade multiple (2-3) times before they need to “rest”. Obviously the Spartan charge could be matched easily with the Elites.
Ground pound. Hmm, should Elites get the same?
What if when playing as an elite you press down on the D-pad while crouched and you engage Active camo? Should it last as long as halo 2 campaigns on heroic.
Halo 5 could go anywhere with playable Elites, whether or not we get and if we do, how they’ll be balanced, we just wont know until release day.