Overall I think the majority of the spartan ops missions are well designed + fun to play BUT I do think this mode has one issue.
Namely that playing with infinite lives/respawns destroys the challenge of beating any of the missions.
This to be seemed a strange decision by 343 industries to make this the ONLY way to play these missions, even in PVT matches.
After all halo: reach’s firefight mode had loads of options in PVT matches and even two different types in public, infinite lives + a set amount of lives (10 I think if memory serves)
So how about adding some options to spartan ops missions via a patch/update?
Would this be possible?
I suggest:-
Have them play like the 2 to 4 player campaign mode or single player for that matter, if you die/all of your team you go back to the last checkpoint. Would it also be possible to add in the “skulls” from campaign mode?
Have a preset amount of lives for the team which could be edited by the host to make the game easier/harder.
Taking away the challenge of these missions makes them alot less fun to complete and also takes away replay value of them.
That is what I am talking about. I think the initial fix should to be to change how spartan ops play OR at least make this an option.
adding in checkpoints + players go back to last one if all are dead like the campaign missions would add to the challenge.
Then you could add in the AI skulls from the campaign to further increase the challenge these would be optional and the host could turn these on/off in PVT matches.
Have a certain amount of lives which also could be edited by the host would be another options, could maybe even combine these with the checkpoints + skulls.
I am NOT suggesting changing the missions themselves only how they are played.
Infinite lives/respawns takes away the challenge of spartan ops and the satisfaction of completing them.
Speaking on a personnal level I am a decent halo player but far from brillant so I got a good deal of satisfaction when I beat halo 4 on solo legendary.
I died many times But eventually got to the end, that was very satisfying despite the frustration of the the deaths at times.
Without the frustration though the victory wouldn’t have been as sweet when my 90g achievement finally popped.
Spartan ops although fun don’t give that much satisfaction in beating them at all due to the infinite lives/respawns combined with no penalty on dying, eg no go back to previous checkpoint.
On a positive note I think the cut scenes and overall presentation of spartan ops is just as good as the campaign its just a shame about the infinite lives/respawns issue.
I have also seen this mentioned on other forums and is a frequent complaint about spartan ops.
Games should be about challenge IMHO wheither they are VS or Co-op/single player.
Taking away the possibility of loss/defeat for me destroys the thrill of victory.
Forget about infinite respawns, the fact that the matchmaking can be satisfied with 1 or 2 other players found is stupid. Even on 4 player it can be very hard because of the amount of enemies they throw at you, dying in seconds
> sliding ghost,
>
> That is what I am talking about. I think the initial fix should to be to change how spartan ops play OR at least make this an option.
>
> adding in checkpoints + players go back to last one if all are dead like the campaign missions would add to the challenge.
>
> Then you could add in the AI skulls from the campaign to further increase the challenge these would be optional and the host could turn these on/off in PVT matches.
>
> …Infinite lives/respawns takes away the challenge of spartan ops and the satisfaction of completing them.
Yeah options, that’s what Spartan Ops needs.
I’d prefer they make their own skulls or bring back some skulls from Halo 2 (not Assassins or Armory of course. Angry and Catch were great. H2 Catch in particular, that was when the skull was in it’s prime).
Not to mention how respawning can be a hassle. You either spawn far from the enemies or too close to them.
In my opinion I think that just adding some skulls isn’t enough, that would definatelty make the game harder but if you still have infinite respawns combined with no going back to previous checkpoints then that doesn’t really make the missions any better.
UNLESS you are suggesting adding the skulls + what I am talking about.
Their are skulls allready in the campaign section than make the AI better/tougher, eg mythic.
I don’t see any harm of giving spartan ops various options, that would add alot to the replay value of the missions and extend their life span.
This mode has replaced firefight and that had loads of options in REACH, you could make that as easy or as hard as you wanted it to be.
Now perhaps that much customization isn’t possible BUT some would be appreciated.
Checkpoints + player(s) go back to previous ones would be a good start.
Then
Lives, these could be for all of the team OR for each player.
Then maybe skulls from the campaign.
All this said ANY of these options (even one) would be appreciated as it would improve spartan ops from the infinite respawns/no real death penalty state they are in at the moment.
I find this topic to be an excellent one. But there are more pressing matters at the moment. With the whole custom games options, CSR, and file share fiasco, 343 should have their hands full. They should work on this eventually though, maybe in a couple of months.
All Spartan Ops is, generally speaking, if spawn-wave after spawn-wave right on top of you. Constant dying, respawn and rattle off a few kills. The only fun missions for me come later and they are the ones where you need to defend the science towers/generators etc. Outside of that I blow through them and never play them again. I miss FIREFIGHT.
At least that would let me and my buddies chill together and play HOW we want.
343i LOVES to tell gamers how THEY think they should play.
“All Spartan Ops is, generally speaking, if spawn-wave after spawn-wave right on top of you. Constant dying, respawn and rattle off a few kills. The only fun missions for me come later and they are the ones where you need to defend the science towers/generators etc. Outside of that I blow through them and never play them again. I miss FIREFIGHT.”
Dr. Dorado,
Firstly surely it depends on what difficulty level you play on to wheither or not you are constantly dying or not. The majority of them are not as unfair or badly designed as you are suggesting.
Secondly I think spartan ops overall is better than firefight which arguably was ALOT more repeatitive.
Unless you altered it via the menu’s and did your missions privately you were always fighting the same enemy waves in the same order, the only variety was the map you played on.
I liked halo: reach’s firefight mode don’t get me wrong BUT truthfully it did get repeatitive.
Because each spartan op mission is designed differently you don’t encounter that, eg same enemies/same amounts of them in same order.
You also have a good cut scene before each set of missions and NPC reactions during it, although scripted and not interactive these add something to it.
My problem with it is it’s lack of options, eg only play it with infinite respawns.
Adding in the things I am suggesting would add greatly to the replay value to this mode.
Beyond this why come onto a thread about improvements to a mode you don’t like just to make negative comments about it seems a waste of time to me.
At least make some suggestions on how to improve the mode, what you want from it.
You want firefight, then play halo: reach or ODST.
Add me to the list of people who would like to see this added to Spartan Ops. I am guessing that adding in a set number of lives would probably be the easier one to implement. I just think that having unlimited lives/no penalty for death cuts down on sense of achievement and replay value. Having a sliding scale of XP based on number of deaths would be another way to at least make the deaths meaningful.
I understand that this is how some people want to play so they can just have fun (I sometimes feel that way myself), but it would be nice to have options. The way they are designed currently then I just play through them once or twice and then it’s just a case of completing the weekly challenges needed for the achievement. I think this change could add a lot of value to the Spartan Ops missions which is something that is very important to me if they want to bring out a season 2 DLC.
I like these opinions, and suggestions, I would love to see Spartan Op’s continue to improve. I do not want Firefight to return, it was useless, all anyone even played it for was to farm enemies and commendations, and most people sat in a corner with a sniper the entire game.
Firefight simply failed in so many ways, so please if you want that mess go to the 2 games that still have it instead. I actually enjoy getting to see the stories unfold and have some fun missions to get involved in each week.
I think there should be a little more freedom and goals, and limited lives as well, but so far it is improving and I am enjoying it quite alot, it is my reason for playing this game at the moment.