So way back when I first heard of it, Helioskrill was exclusively an unlock for completing MCC Legendary (not LASO, just all 4 campaigns on Legendary.) Which was something I was like “Oh boy…well…imma have to do 'em all over again I guess…” (begrudgingly, but also excitedly.) But then soon after, I heard that they decided to put the non-base variant (Helioskrill Warbound) as a possible random unlock in the RNG req packs (which clearly waters down the difficult accomplishment of the base version)…and then I got Warbound in a req pack.
So, the wind got taken out of my sails about “needing” to play MCC Legendary, so I never did. And now just recently, with the free Halo 5 birthday “Greatest Hits” pack…I unlocked the base version as well!
So what’s the deal here? Was it ever exclusive?
If so, and they just decided to unlock it for anyone, I don’t think I agree with that philosophy, AT LEAST as long as said Halo game is still the newest/current Halo game (compared to when they unlocked Recon for everyone in Halo 3: 5 years after the game had been out, ~2 years after reach had been out, and six months before 4 came out. And even then, I still only think that decision was ok, because iirc, they did that mainly because the original forums (where you had to go to unlock Recon) were going to be discontinued after Bungie left the franchise. So because of that, and also probably as a little “last harrah,” they dished out the “beloved” Recon armor…no more “can i haz recon” memes haha. But ya. wtf’s up with Helioskrill.
It was exclusive for a very short period. I started playing H5 online in 2017 and Helioskrill had been part of the REQ pool for a long time at that point. What happened with it? Well, the REQ system exists. It’s a microtransaction-based casino. One more item added to the pool means more packs for people to open to complete their REQ collection, leading to more potential sales from people paying real money for packs. There’s no way to give it a positive spin when such a predatory pile of junk dictates customization. At least, that’s my theory based on the psychology behind systems such as the REQ system. No way anyone is officially going to come out and admit to something like it, much like how no one really wanted to discuss the whole thing with Activision’s patent for a similar system a few years ago. Additionally, MCC was pretty broken at that point without much of a population. I guess 343i figured no one would really care if Helioskrill did not have a task requirement anymore.
One can hope 343i releases armor for MCC that is the equivalent of Helioskrill. Even if that does not happen, they have done a great job giving out some cool pieces of armor that are not the easiest to obtain. For example, there was the one given out for reaching the end of set 4 (I believe) on Heroic in ODST FF. It’s lots of fun and feels very rewarding, just like the 360 days. Now, the question is whether or not 343i pulls a Helioskrill again in the future and simply hands out those cosmetics without players having to do anything for them. Hopefully that does not happen since there has been so much backlash against what they did with Helioskrill.
I feel like Helioskrill was added to the REQ pool within the first year of H5. I had it at launch from completing MCC on legendary, but back then, MCC had a lot of problems with crashing and not saving progress. I believe this was the primary motivation behind putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool. It was pretty frustrating to get to the end of a mission and have the game crash and not save your progress – this happened to me multiple times in H2.
Since MCC has been fixed up a lot since then, this isn’t really a problem. But at the time, putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool was a simple solution.
I played thru The Master Cheif collection to get it. I don’t regret it since my intro to the Halo Franchise was Halo 5, but it definitely upset me when they put it in the req pool. If they were going to do that, they should have at least released a Master Cheif collection emblem/banner in it’s place.
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> […] but back then, MCC had a lot of problems with crashing and not saving progress. I believe this was the primary motivation behind putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool. It was pretty frustrating to get to the end of a mission and have the game crash and not save your progress – this happened to me multiple times in H2.
>
> Since MCC has been fixed up a lot since then, this isn’t really a problem. But at the time, putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool was a simple solution.
Ah, a fair point if this is true. If so, it was more of an unfortunate conciliatory thing, which is understandable.
Let’s hope/assume this is the reason, and if so, that something similar doesn’t happen going forward!
It was actually an Exclusive Item and it was only available by completing all campaigns on MCC on legendary difficulty.
However, it was added to H5 Req packs after all.
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> > 2533274843634673;3:
> > […] but back then, MCC had a lot of problems with crashing and not saving progress. I believe this was the primary motivation behind putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool. It was pretty frustrating to get to the end of a mission and have the game crash and not save your progress – this happened to me multiple times in H2.
> >
> > Since MCC has been fixed up a lot since then, this isn’t really a problem. But at the time, putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool was a simple solution.
>
> Ah, a fair point if this is true. If so, it was more of an unfortunate conciliatory thing, which is understandable.
>
> Let’s hope/assume this is the reason, and if so, that something similar doesn’t happen going forward!
While I would like to say something similar won’t happen in the future, Helioskrill wasn’t the only “exclusive” thing in H5 that became less exclusive. The Sticker Shock weapon skins were supposed to be exclusive to Lootcrate subscribers. However, a year or so after, 343 released them in a limited time pack that could be purchased with REQ points.
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> > 2533274856493441;5:
> > > 2533274843634673;3:
> > > […] but back then, MCC had a lot of problems with crashing and not saving progress. I believe this was the primary motivation behind putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool. It was pretty frustrating to get to the end of a mission and have the game crash and not save your progress – this happened to me multiple times in H2.
> > >
> > > Since MCC has been fixed up a lot since then, this isn’t really a problem. But at the time, putting Helioskrill in the REQ pool was a simple solution.
> >
> > Ah, a fair point if this is true. If so, it was more of an unfortunate conciliatory thing, which is understandable.
> >
> > Let’s hope/assume this is the reason, and if so, that something similar doesn’t happen going forward!
>
> While I would like to say something similar won’t happen in the future, Helioskrill wasn’t the only “exclusive” thing in H5 that became less exclusive. The Sticker Shock weapon skins were supposed to be exclusive to Lootcrate subscribers. However, a year or so after, 343 released them in a limited time pack that could be purchased with REQ points.
Oh really? That’s a bummer. If I had to guess, there may have been fine print stating that they are “exclusive until X months after release” or something. When devs use those stipulations, it’s fine and all, but they should make it a little more obvious so people don’t feel cheated.
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> > it was added into the REQ pool along with other variants of it.
>
> Lol, did you read my actual post? or any of the replies?
>
> I/we all know it was added. The question was why.
no i didn’t because theres no need to. It was added because 343 makes horrible decisions.
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> > 2533274856493441;10:
> > > 2533274979619629;9:
> > > it was added into the REQ pool along with other variants of it.
> >
> > Lol, did you read my actual post? or any of the replies?
> >
> > I/we all know it was added. The question was why.
>
> no i didn’t because theres no need to. It was added because 343 makes horrible decisions.
Well you should, otherwise don’t comment man. Somebody already explained that it was almost certainly a tough decision based off an unfortunate issue way back when MCC launched, making some rightful-earners not get it, so they seemed to have made it available for all as a sort of concession (albeit at the cost of degrading a once-cool reward.)
haha. But ya. wtf’s up with Helioskrill.