Player outline is dumb

Every time I see a screenshot of this game’s multiplayer (assorted group of Spartans engaging in what looks like a fun multiplayer experience) I get excited to play (Prior to uninstalling the title because it’s not fun)

But whenever I would load up the game and play, I’d be shocked at how much the player outline not only is pointless from a gameplay perspective, because seriously you could just do red vs. blue, give us the option, or just not do the outline and put service tags over teammates heads. (like seriously, we’re not stupid.)

But really the outline, despite all of 343’s harping over Canon and universe armor and coatings, makes the game look ugly. It rips you out of the grit of the title by inserting what appear to be Tron-like glowing color lines around a comic book character on paper in the midst of this supposedly gritty space opera franchise that I believe ruins the aesthetic of the Spartans and maps alike.

It’s really hard to appreciate somebody’s cat ears and unoriginal armor coating that they paid for that twenty other people have when I can barely see it under the immensely distracting glowing line hovering just outside of it.

Not to mention the fact that the outline utterly destroys player information in regard to somebody’s shield strength considering you can barely tell the difference from where a player is health wise because of this glowing outline that also mimicks their shield color.

Not a fan of this.

You can’t on one hand overhaul the system to benefit your microtransactions so people can give you their money so they can look how they want, and then on the other hand, completely dilute that same armor they bought by intrusively sticking SOMEONE ELSE’S preferred outline color over it. Thus diminishing player expression.

I chose red because I wanted my spartan to be red. Now Joe shmoe with purple enemy outline conflicts that everytime he looks at me. Thus rendering my armor color choices pointless.

I’d deal with this better in a traditional Halo system because RVB was there for pure team distinction and Bungie never sold their armor to us, so I can’t complain.

But you guys literally have that we have to pay for how we want to look. This was a literal selling point to us that we could show off our armor in all modes. And to top it off, I’m putting money down on a title I already bought for said armor. But the outline hinders this leaving players frustrated on numerous fronts.

And it’s really left me personally scratching my head at the thought process. Base point, the outline doesn’t need to be there. And you’d benefit from taking it away or atleast providing the option. But this just makes the game look very unappealing. And it sort of slaps people in the face who spent money.

23 Likes

I agree, red vs blue was better, i find most of this game’s cosmetics horrible, cat ears included. I wish there was a way to disable all non-default skins and effects like in mcc

9 Likes

The only thing that bothers me is that people stand out behind cover a lot easier with it. But other then that I actually like this change. I’m also glad they allow you to change the colors as well between teammates, squad and enemies.

9 Likes

I’m fine with the outline system and had actually been wishing for something like this when I was playing previous games. Was nice to be able to see my Spartan’s armor colors instead of having it all painted over in either red or blue in most game modes.

They could maybe stand out a little less obviously but otherwise I prefer it and like the flexibility of changing fireteam. enemy, and ally colors, too.

4 Likes

With coatings being so rare and expensive I’d actually like to use them lol, this system allows that.

Tbf you can still have red vs blue outlines, but I personally like the system as I can customize my person and keep it that way including colour.

2 Likes

I for one like that sweet, sweet Splinter Desert armor coating and will get it if it becomes an individually-priced item.

The could potentially just use the outline for teammates and squad mates and let the enemy team not be Outlined at all perhaps.

For me it would depend on price and if they do cross core tbh. It is a real nice coating though for sure!

Alot of the stuff is nice tbh but cost and limitations hold me back, but we shall see soon. But I am so glad we can keep our colours in a match

1 Like

I got a kick out of seeing this particular topic come up every now and again because of the amount of people that rail against Infinite on the grounds of all we used to have by way of customization, ignoring that all your freedom of color choice mattered for nothing as you were repainted red or blue.

That aside, the outline takes some getting used to, but it’s not aa big an issue as I initially felt it was. Helps that you can change the color to something more prominent or muted for enemies or friendlies.

This would be my only prevailing issue with the feature. It can make someone standout that you otherwise may not have seen. But even that is something of a balance for the fact that we can now run some pretty dark schemes.

If outlines don’t go away I won’t be playing anymore Halo in the future

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It impacts gameplay too. As soon as you see an enemy, you really got to start shooting cause you know they see you instantly; and similarly, stay out of sight lines. Additionally, some coatings (like red) confuse your teammates into thinking you’re enemy.

But, at the same time, there’s so much going on in maps that I have to wonder how well you can even see what you’re shooting at without the outlines.

I really don’t think it should be a personal option though, because this would create some balance issues. But, it could be a gametype setting.

Lastly, I think 343i could have made red v blue work well and also promote armor customization by showing off the armor in the intro as it does, then transitioning the colors to a red shade or blue shade variant, or other shade as desired. The effect to the team colors would be a nice touch too.

Outlines in ODST: Oh what a cool sci-fi feature, your HUD outlining enemies in red so you can see them clearly!

Outlines in Infinite: This is dumb and ruins canon.

3 Likes

Odst is not a main title Halo game. Odst wasn’t multiplayer either. It used Halo 3s multiplayer which had no outlines

Color outlines are great for accessibility (ppl who are colorblind or other issues etc.) but there should DEFINITELY be a way to replace the outlines with glowing service tags or something for the rest of us. I agree they look so silly and rip you from the immersion of the game

There was no need for a lot of the changes 343 did.

Let’s get real here, they pretended that they “listened” to the player base prior to the beta being released but their actions literally showed otherwise.

Whoever the director is, you literally ruined Halo, and whoever else approved of this nonsense has no idea WTH they are doing. Like seriously, WTF were they thinking allowing players to light up like a beacon across the entire map like BTB. This is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in Halo and tells me someone needs to keep their lame ideas to themselves.

4 Likes
  • Reduce the shield brightness
  • Reduce the thickness outline
  • Remove the outline for the enemy. The allied are already well identified, so if we see a normal Spartan, it would have to be an enemy.

Yep 100% the outline is ugly and sometimes I still get caught off guard because I confuse enemies with teammates. Anyone know if there’s specific setting parameters that make this much more feasible? Not sure why they went with this dec… oh wait it’s coming back to me, right… Money.

1 Like

I’ve gotten use to it playing cyberpunk.
It’s fine in that game, but it feels so wrong in Halo.
It’s too easy to see players.

think of it with big brain logic, if you give everyone the ability to outline the enemy if they are within a certain vision cone, it helps combat cheaters because you can see them just as well, plus also people who use a controller have aim assist vs if you are using a mouse and keyboard. so take it for what it is worth, until cheating goes away they have to do something to also even the playing field while not breaking the game. its dumb but it also is in benefit to you. Also Halo is futuristic and if youve watched videos/cutscenes before their visors highlighted things kinda seen it in ODST as well.

Outlines are great, they improve visibility and let customization work without you getting painted red or blue. If they do cater to people like you, I hope it’s merely an option to turn them off.

1 Like