Greetings, players of Halo, fans both current and former. Wherever I go on these forums, I see people who complain about 343’s Halo 4. I also see people who defend it mindlessly. On both sides, I see people who are just plain annoying. Many Halo veterans were disappointed about how the game turned out, especially in the multiplayer department. I think I shall make a list of the more major complaints (in no particular order) here:
- the Boltshot
- the DMR
- the Gauss 'Hog
- sprinting
- the Jetpack
- no flinching when shot
- the menu system
- map design and layout
- Forge limitations (budget and item count)
- bullet magnetism and aim assist
- Ordnance
- Spartan Ops (Inf. lives, lack of inspiration, repetitiveness)
- Flood replacing the more easy-to-customize Infection
- no Falcon/Hornet
- no Promethean vehicles
- too much focus on BTB, no big team objective
- loadouts
- underpowered Pulse grenade
- underpowered Thruster Pack
- no Firefight
- no Assault or Race gametypes
- no visible in-game CSR
- no Brutes (or their guns and vehicles)
- Elites and Prometheans not playable
- no ODST or CQB armor
Dang, that’s a pretty long list. If I forgot anything, say so. In my own humble opinion, these complaints are mostly valid. Some even make me wonder why 343 didn’t (or couldn’t) do X, Y, and Z. Many will say they wanted to forge their own path, or didn’t want to be exactly like Bungie, or whatever.
A number of times, I’ve seen posts talking about how Halo should be a “fan-driven, fan-designed game.” I think I may have a solution for that. Is it possible? Maybe. Will it be done? Doubtful. Has this been proposed before? Probably. Will I say it anyway? You’re darn right I will.
The answer: Full and unabridged total customization. Here’s what I have in mind:
- Individual weapons tuning (damage, bloom, recoil, reload speed, magnetism, aim assist, clip size, firing interval, projectile speed, effective area, lock-on)
- changing Vehicle traits (acceleration, speed, handling, weight, drift, boost speed and recharge)
- adjusting Armor Abilities (recharge speed and delay, duration, depletion rate, propulsion distance, damage, visibility)
- changing everything for individual teams (available loadouts, traits, spawning)
- general (weapon despawn time, dropping AAs, toggle sprint and flinch)
- customizable tactical packages and support upgrades (changing traits, etc.)
- choosing character models (Marines, ODSTs, Elites, Knights) for multiplayer
- adding the Falcon/Hornet
This is only a small list, especially when compared to the complaints above. But I think it covers every single one. (Minus Forge, but I doubt anything can be done about that anyways.)
But can it be done? In a title update, no. With a new disk, with some major changes to the engine? I don’t have a Yoinking clue, but maybe.If it is done… How would it be implemented?
Here, ladies and gentlemen, is what I think to be the crucial part of my argument, what makes the solution workable. It involves Custom Games.
When someone creates a gametype, and he/she plays it with his/her friends, and they all love it, and it’s really fun, and a lot of people play it, they can submit it to 343 for review (or perhaps a committee of respected community members.) If they like it, they can put it in Matchmaking, or have a generic community playlist. Alternatively, if a player puts their gametype on Waypoint, and enough people vote for it, it can make an appearance in Matchmaking.
As a final note, I believe Waypoint should have a Steam Workshop-style submissions section, where fans could contribute new items to the Halo 4 sandbox (as well as totally new maps.) Maybe there could even be a simple creation tool/app for this.
So… What do you all think? Am I a total idiot? Do I have some good ideas?
If 343 does this, will you go back to playing Halo 4? Would you pay for this update if you had to?
Please, discuss. 
I think they also said they weren’t able to include Mark V armor for the same reason.