Disclaimer: haven’t been here long. If this idea has already been thrown around the forums, please point me in the right direction. I didn’t find anything using the search bar though.
I have been thinking about some of the things being said about the progression system in Halo 4. I was listening to a sparkast, and the quote I was thinking of was:
> “XP that you unlock and you then earn these points that you can then use to spend on loadouts and stuff. You’re not going to get it just for playing and completing matches and Spartan Ops experiences and things like that. You’ll get something for playing but if you play well and if you win, you’ll do better, to the point where it’s incentivising”.
This got me thinking about earning and points. Maybe we can create our own incentives? We already have custom challenges, so maybe we can wager on our own performances. For example, in matchmaking, we may gain some XP for playing and some more XP if we win, but maybe more incentive can be provided. Say for example, we receive 5 XP for a loss, and 10 XP for a win. Players could have the option to change that before a match to 0 XP for a loss and 15 XP for a win.
Alternatively, everyone could start a match with 5XP, which would be normally awarded at the end of a match. An additional 5XP could be awarded for each player at the end on the winning team, normally making it 5XP for a loss and 10 XP for a win. However, all players have the opportunity to put none, some or all of that starting 5XP into a group pot, shared between both teams. At the end of the match, the entire pot is given to the winning team. Each player receives XP proportional to the amount paid in. Say the following amounts were put in the pot by each player in an eight player match:
Team 1
Player 1: 1XP
Player 2: 2XP
Player 3: 3XP
Player 4: 4XP
Team 2
Player 5: 1XP
Player 6: 2XP
Player 7: 3XP
Player 8: 4XP
Suppose Team 2 wins, the winnings for each player would be as follows
Player: Total XP =(XP left over after wager + winning bonus + Money Gained from pot)
Team 1
Player 1: 4=(4+0+0)
Player 2: 3=(3+0+0)
Player 3: 2=(2+0+0)
Player 4: 1=(1+0+0)
Team 2
Player 5: 11=(4+5+2)
Player 6: 12=(3+5+4)
Player 7: 13=(2+5+6)
Player 8: 14=(1+5+8)
As you can see, Player 4 made a high wager but lost the match, so only made 1 XP. Meanwhile player 8 made a high wager and won the match, so made 14 XP.
So then, why do I think this could be a good inclusion in Halo 4?
Stops Quitting
In a match where we could end up with a few drop-in-drop-out playlists, if players literally invest themselves in a match, so there is more likely to be people staying in, and try to make back their investment. On the flip side of the coin, if someone does quit, all is not lost. The ability for another player to join the match means that if you did decide to try and increase your XP gains, you can still have a good chance of winning it, as opposed to if all of your team quit. Obviously such a system could only work if players entering the match were of a similar skill to those leaving it. (I would make it so players joining the match were treated as if they were playing for the standard XP loss and win, adjusted for the time they were in the match).
Encourages Team Work
If a majority of players on a team have decided they will win, and have risked their precious XP, then they will be more likely to work together for a win. Too often in Reach I have seen people wait at sniper spawn on Haemorrhage, run off to a cave and never be seen by their team again. If players can gain experience more quickly by working together as a team, they will all try to win the match as a team. Why sit in a cave with no care for the team if you can rank up more quickly by playing as a team?
Encourages Players to go for a Win
Again, if players gain XP by winning a CTF match in the shortest time possible, people won’t hold an objective and spawn kill for half an hour, but will try to finish the match quickly, allowing the players to find a better match. Of course the better team will win more often, and so rank up more quickly.
A Competitive Twist
I’m sure the vast majority of the people reading this have heard trash talk online. Well, now everyone has the chance to put their XP where their mouth is. Someone says they are better than you; tell them to make a wager.
Of course, I am obliged to consider the downsides; as such a system could be abused or incorrectly implemented.
Boosting
If me and a friend were both to go into a 4v4 or FFA playlist with 3 idle guests each, we could wager the max XP from all players, and win alternate matches as fast as possible to rank up as quickly as possible. The most obvious solution to me is to not allow guests to make a wager, as they won’t earn XP at the end anyway, and I’m sure the banhammer can detect any blatant wrongdoings anyway.
Lying/Cheating Teammates
This would basically amount to a player promising a teammate to make a wager, and that the team would definitely win, only for said player to go AFK, and the teammate to not make XP that match. For this, I would put my faith in the banhammer to make sure players are playing the match, and in fellow players to not be gullible and fall for such things.
Uninformed Decisions
For players to make informed decisions, it must be easy to access service records of both friends and foes and find statistics, such as win/loss for each player. In Reach, we can easily see Armoury Completion, Commendation progress as well as weekly and daily challenge progress. Maybe in Halo 4 these could be replaced with W/L, K/D and games played? It could also show what, if any, XP they have wagered. Players should be able to know to stick or twist. I should also make it clear again the wagers are entirely optional. If you have no faith in your team, you can wager nothing at all.
Not knowing anything about how Spartan Ops or other game modes will really work, I can’t come up with any ideas for similar systems, so that will have to wait. In regards to what playlists this can be in, as long as the progression system is separate from a playlist rank (e.g. 1-50 or Arena Divisions), I can’t see why this can’t be in every playlist. After all, no playlist should provide a bonus over any other in terms of progression. Although, the system would not be as effective if players can’t join mid-game, as of course it would be hard to make a good judgement if teammates quit at inopportune moments and aren’t replaced.
I think I’ve covered all of the basics here, and if you have read this far, well done and thanks for reading. Please contribute more wagering systems; I’m sure better ones could be used.
TL;DR: Allow us to wager XP if we will win a match. Correct wager = more XP, incorrect wager = less XP.