Suggestions for 343i to improve Halo 4

Games Other Halo
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WEAPON BALANCE:

#1. Nerf the Bolt Shot - By… (a) remove the semi-fire capability of the weapon, so it’s a charged shot only weapon and have it operate similar to the human Railgun in that the firing mechanism is fully automatic once activated and it can’t be pre-fired prior to reaching a full charge. (b) Increase the time for a fully charged shot to fire off and increase the cool-down period after firing as well as make it a mandatory cool-down similar to the Incendiary Cannon. (c) Depending on the results of the previous changes, consider changes to the damage range as well as the swap speed for any fine tuning tweaks.

#2a. Buff the DMR and make it a Power Weapon - Turn the DMR into a true mini-sniper by making it a regular 4 shot kill weapon (3 to break shields + headshot). This would also mean that there would now only be one primary precision weapon option per the 3 different weapon factions (Human=BR, Covenant=CC, and Forerunner=LR).

#2b. (Contingent on 2a being accomplished) - A bigger, more spacious zoomed-in center reticle for the Forerunner Light Rifle. Making it more difficult to accurately line up shots at greater distances preventing the 4 shot kill capability of the zoomed-in LR to get too powerful in comparison to the other precision primary options once removing the DMR. Plus, give the Covenant Carbine an extra reserve magazine by default.

#3. Buff the Spartan Laser - Try to get it back closer to that of the Halo 3, or Halo: Reach, Spartan Laser.

THE PLAYLISTS:

Each playlist should be focused on team size and each playlist should offer slayer variants as well as objective variants to vote on each week. A group of select variants per that requirement should be rotating in-and-out on a weekly basis.

(1) Big Team Battle (7v7-8v8):
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Snipers (zero ordinance drops), Snipers Pro (zero ordinance drops & no radar), Regicide, and Influential VIP.
Objective variants - CTF (Multi-Flag), Dominion, Extraction, Assault (Neutral Bomb), and Territories (non-locking).

(2) Squad Battle (5v5-6v6):
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Snipers (zero ordinance drops), Snipers Pro (zero ordinance drops & no radar), Regicide, and Influential VIP.
Objective variants - CTF (Multi-Flag), Dominion, Extraction, KotH, Oddball, Assault (Neutral Bomb), Territories (non-locking), and Stockpile.

(3) Team Battle (3v3-4v4):
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), MLG Slayer (MLG modifications), Snipers (zero ordinance drops), Snipers Pro (zero ordinance drops & no radar), and Regicide.
Objective variants - CTF (Multi-Flag), MLG CTF (MLG modifications), KotH, Oddball, Lowball (Oddball), Assault (Neutral Bomb), Territories (non-locking), and Headhunters.

(4) Team SWAT (3v3-4v4): No shields
Slayer variants - Standard, Shwatguns, and Magnums.
Objective variants - CTF (Multi-Flag), KotH, and Headhunters.

(5) Team Doubles (2v2):
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), and Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar).
Objective variants - CTF (One Flag), KotH, Oddball, Assault (Neutral Bomb), and Headhunters.

(6) Multi-Team (?v?v…): The playlist would be on a weekly rotation as to it’s party size parameters and matching gametype offerings. One week it may be geared for 4 4-person teams, another week it may be for 4 2-person teams, yet another it may be for 6 or 8 2-person teams, or perhaps 4 3-person teams.
A hodgepodge of variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Regicide, Shotty Snipers, Splazers, Rockets, Swords, Hammerzeit, Rocket Race (VIP + Race), Rocket Hog (VIP + Race), KotH, 3-ball (Oddball), Lowball (Oddball), Headhunters, and Stockpile.

(7) Rumble Pit (1vALL): It should consist of two main gametypes… Flood and Lone Wolf.
Flood variants - These variants should resemble many of the Infection variants we’ve seen in past Halo titles.
Lone Wolf variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), and Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Juggernaut, Regicide, KotH, Oddball, and Headhunters.

(8) Cage Match (1v1):
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), and Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Snipers (no personal ordinance drops), Snipers Pro (no personal ordinance & no radar).

(9) Team Mercenary (5v5): It only accepts individual players, not a group or party of players.
Slayer variants - Infinity Slayer (standard), Classic Slayer (no personal ordinance drop), Slayer Pro (no radar), Classic Slayer Pro (no personal ordinance drop & no radar), Snipers (zero ordinance drops), Snipers Pro (zero ordinance drops & no radar), and Regicide.
Objective variants - CTF (Multi-Flag), Dominion, Extraction, KotH, Oddball, Assault (Neutral Bomb), Territories (non-locking), Stockpile, and Headhunters.

(10) DLC Playlist:

THE FORGE MAPS:

  • Integrate these maps into the Matchmaking Playlists.
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THE FORGE:

  • Bring back precision Forging.
  • Provide a big, open space to Forge in devoid of pre-made buildings.
  • Add the “Weapon Pickup” option into Trait Zones.
  • Bring back the zoom-in function for monitors.

THE CUSTOM GAMES:

  • Bring back VIP, Juggernaut, Assault, Headhunter, Stockpile, Invasion, Territories, and Race with all previously included options from Halo 3 and Reach, respectively. This includes things like VIP radius traits.
  • Fix the bug where placed weapons won’t show up in certain gametypes.
  • Enable full File-Share options and support on Waypoint.
  • Add option to all gametypes to disable “Press X to Respawn” or “Auto Respawn”.
  • Bring back infinite or regenerating grenades as a custom option.
  • Make Flood loadouts editable.
  • Make the Flood skin togglable.
  • Remove all-talk so Zombies and Humans have different chat channels again.
  • Bring back the option for player’s chosen color scheme instead of restricting us to the lime-green color for Humans.
  • Bring back percentage options for “Number of Flood”.
  • Fix bug where Last Man Standing waypoint cannot be turned off even if it is disabled in the options.
  • Give the “Number of Flood” a full range of numbers (1-15).
  • Bring back option to turn off flag waypoints (On carrier, on ground, escort, etc.).

THE MATCHMAKING:

  • Continue improving the game’s stability.
  • Ensure that lobbies don’t start games without even teams.
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Can you please make it so you only join half way through a game if you choose to by joining a friend or something. I just went into the normal regicide playlist and had 4 games back to back of me joining half way through then everyone leaving after the game with me being left on my own. This system does not work. It’s the worst in Halo yet and I have been playing Halo since Halo 1. I’m not usually one to moan about things but something needs to be done about this. I mean did you not even playtest the playlists before launch I can’t get one -Yoink!- game with everyone starting from the start. Who’s bright idea was it to even have joining half way through the game? It sucks. Please fix it.

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Excellent post OP. I agree with most, but not all.

I think taking the rapid fire of the Boltshot would take away the gimmick of dual modes of promethean weapons. I think they should either decrease the range substantially, or make charge time longer, or a little of both.

As for DMR, please, don’t make it a power weapon. I know how people say it needs a nerf, and trust me, I do to, but taking it out of the loadout weapons list will do more harm than good. I say either buff all the other primaries, or nerf the DMR by slowing fire rate or increasing bloom or something (maybe increase bloom on unzoomed only so its not as much of a powerhouse at all ranges).

Other than those two, looks like you hit the nail on almost everything.

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> I think taking the rapid fire of the Boltshot would take away the gimmick of dual modes of promethean weapons. I think they should either decrease the range substantially, or make charge time longer, or a little of both.

Only the Light Rifle shared the dual mode aspect. The Binary Rifle, the Incendiary Cannon, and the Scattershot didn’t have dual modes, so technically it wouldn’t be out of the norm.

The way I saw it was that the Magnum offered a player the best opportunity to kill at range with a secondary, the Plasma Pistol was more of a specialty weapon for it’s EMP effect on vehicles, but it also granted a player an opportunity to drop an opponent’s shield with a fully charged blast, and the Bolt Shot’s special niche was its close range 1 shot kill aspect, so I figured why not re-focus the weapon so that it solely relied on that aspect alone while putting appropriate drawbacks to that niche’s effective use in order to prevent it from greatly overshadowing the close range power weapons. I mean the Magnum is not an ideal replacement for the DMR by any means, so the Bolt Shot shouldn’t be an ideal replacement for any of the close range power weapons, right?

As the Bolt Shot is currently, I don’t feel like it makes much sense for a player to engage an opponent who has one when the engaging player has a Sword or a Hammer because it’s highly likely that the Bolt Shot user will too often easily win that battle. Plus, it’s extremely iffy even to engage with the Shotgun and Scattershot. While the Bolt Shot should be that close range niche provider for a secondary weapon it must do so with a massive drawback and a requirement that the player using it have immense timing and precision in order to win a match against someone with a close quarters power weapon.

BTW, thanks for the praise.