The one issue that I find plagues Battle Pass systems is the degree of linearity contained in them. In most, aside from MCC, you literally just unlock everything in a set order from beginning to end. And despite being able to choose the order you unlock things from page to page in MCC, you’re still always forced to unlock everything from one page before progressing.
I think it would be far more interesting to allow players to “carve a path” so to speak through the Battle Pass. Let’s say, for instance, level 1 is simply the armor core, which you get for purchasing the pass. From there you would be presented with a selection of options, for example page 1 contains all of the chest pieces for three sets of armor, a couple of armor coatings, an emblem, and a visor color totalling 10 options.
Page 2, and all following pages, unlock once you have purchased 1/2 of the options available. For page 2 in particular that’s 5 items from page one, where page 3 u locks when you’ve purchased any 10 items between page 1 and 2 (basically every 5 unlocks opens the next page). But there’s a bit of the caveat, you see page 2 has the shoulders that match the chests from page 1, and weapon coatings also matching the options from page 1, but the ones matching sets you haven’t collected from page 1 are still grayed out. Meaning there is a progression of linearity to unlocking cosmetics that are part of a set, while still giving the player freedom to unlock specifically the pieces they want to get along the way.
Emblems, visor colors, and other things that aren’t already in sets from previous pages (such as a chest piece for a new set that begins on page 3) will always be available once you’ve unlocked enough options to reach that page.
The only piece of gear, that will require you to get everything from every previous page in the pass, would be the particularly unique/interesting piece at the end of the very last page. Something like the Haunted Helmet from Reach is a good example, as Haunted was the end-goal armor piece in that game and season 1’s pass is Reach themed. So if Haunted is the final unlock in a pass, it can only be obtained by completing the entire battle pass.
I feel like a system of partial-linearity like this that allows you to get to the later gear quicker than MCC while also providing a better sense of progression than just letting people unlock everything in any order would cause, would be an extremely satisfying way to revolutionize battle passes for the better.
Halo started out setting trends in the gaming world with it’s awesome console controls, matchmaking party systems, regenerating health, and trueskill ranks. I feel like MCC and Infinite’s Battle Passes are finally putting Halo back on the trend-setting map. No longer just following what other games are doing cough loadouts, reqs, and advanced movement cough but taking what exists and making it far better than the competition ever has. Take it one step further, and make Battle Passes an actually fun, player motivated form of unlocking cosmetics!