Let me preface this by saying, your mileage may vary. I personally like Halo 4 the way it is. 343 did a fantastic job by putting this great work in our hands, and I personally wouldn’t change anything.
That disclaimer aside, here are some ideas for fixing some of the common complaints I see.
Another disclaimer: I doubt any of these “fixes” would either be implementable or actually fix the issue. But hey, at least I’m thinking. I guess.
Problem: Boltshot is too powerful. People camp with it way too much. Etc.
My Fix: Make a user charging the boltshot up appear on radar. Same with plasma pistol.
This gives the defensive player a slightly larger chance, and makes the boltshot be used as I feel it was meant to be. With a smaller window of killing opportunity, and more time sensitive. As it is, the boltshot user can charge it up, and if the enemy doesn’t come around the corner, switch weapons back and forth quickly and prepare again.
Problem: DMR makes the BR completely useless, and there is no way to nerf it and achieve any kind of balance.
My Fix: Don’t touch the DMR or the LR. Just make an opponent hit with a BR more disturbance with their stability.
This allows the BR to function in it’s niche slightly more competitively. With the DMR being as good a gun at mid range as the BR, and the champion of long range, the BR has no home. Giving the BR make disturbance in a close range battle between the two balances them without negatively affecting any other weapon.
Problem: Join in progress is not worth my time. Join a losing team, join at the end of a match. Etc.
My Fix: Give players who join in progress, especially to a losing team, a few more XP at the end of the match.
This could be figured like fast track, where the amount of play time matters. This gives players an incentive to keep playing a JIP game, even if they might lose. And with more people playing, a loss isn’t quite as inevitable. Heck, I suppose you could even not count a loss to a join in progress as a loss on your statistics, but actually count a win. This is a no lose situation.
Problem: Cloaked is too powerful.
My Fix: When a power weapon is fired, completely deplete the ability and let it start recharging.
This is my least favorite fix on here. I can see quite a few ways to try and balance out the active camo, if it even needs balancing, but none of them quite seem elegant enough. This would let camo users still compete with their armor ability, and not completely destroy it, but perhaps give it some slight drawback, especially for those larger maps.
Just some other thoughts:
Visible health bar on HUD for vehicle health.
Give me a fore feedback when plasma pistol and boltshot are able to be fired; I hate thinking they are ready, only to realize you let off the button a fraction of a second too soon. Hello there mantis, fancy meeting you here.
Give me an armor that is similar to promethean knights, or the didact. Friggin sweet. Hell, a Spartan in some promethean knight armor would be a pretty sweet player two for Halo 5. Make is part of the story like in Halo 2. I would think that was cool, so hey, at least one person.
Well, if you read this far, I’m sure you’ll have something to say. I don’t want to argue with anyone, as to whether any of these issues are problems or not. If you don’t think they need to be fixed, I respect your opinion. Really. I may even agree with you.
If, however, you feel my fixes won’t work, why? Do you see or understand something I missed? Perhaps just a better idea. Let me know.
Let’s just try and keep it civil. 