Aye.
Well, in any case, I would enjoy them having both firefight and Spartan Ops. The two gametypes both brought something new to the table. However, both modes will likely require a good deal of tuning to remain entertaining. I’m just going to list some ideas I had. Even if 343i never uses them, it’s not like I didn’t try to give advice, right?
Spartan Ops brought a new thing to Halo, which was a self-contained cooperative campaign. While I personally liked it, many rue the concept as very niche and bare-bones, which, I am ashamed to say, have to agree with. It lacked the punch of the single-player campaign. So I propose a more in-depth look at the Spartan Ops. One with less “Eggheads”, and with larger areas. Something more akin to an actual campaign. So I propose a ten-mission starter, each with a unique layout. Perhaps with longer cutscenes (But still skippable), which show more of the player’s Spartans preparing to disembark from the Pelican they came in on. Instead of the grunt-related slapstick comedy which plagued the original Spartan Operations mode.
Longer levels would be a bonus strictly because the change in environments was too static in the original SO. So, in other words, I’m promoting a shorter campaign (About two to four levels per chapter, instead of the previous ten). Unless the level reuse is canonically sound (For instance, all of the Infinity levels), 343i should never make SO missions on an older map. Seriously, the amount of times I cleared out Sniper Alley was truly ridiculous. The Covenant KEPT MAKING BASES THERE, even though humans knew where it was, what it did, and even garrisoned it at one point.
Another good thing would be enemy types unique to Spartan Ops. Not entire races, but specializations, like underwater elite rangers or grunts that are specifically supposed to suicide.
Firefight is a much less in-depth thing. I believe Halo 3 ODST’s firefight nailed it on the head. I also have an odd opinion concerning the maps; It should use sections of the Spartan Ops missions, as well as regular campaign areas. This should also be mixed with one or two standard areas. Another thing I enjoyed was the nighttime firefight missions, so I believe that each map in firefight should have a day/night selection, and perhaps an enemy type selection as well.
For instance, you could set the game so you could be fighting strictly Prometheans, or strictly Covenant (Or any other faction, like Insurrectionists or flood, that is in the final game). Or you could set a mix of enemies. Another good edition would be allowing the player to set loadouts and on-map weapons. However, that should be the limit of map modification allowed. The reason why ODST’s firefight was good was the uncertainty of the next wave, and the scarcity of power weapons and restock stations. Halo Reach firefight was made so much easier with the addition of ammo crates, which provided me and my shotgun an unlimited amount of ammo, resulting in easy kills. But in ODST, you frequently had to improvise and use the Covy weapons. And the set amount of lives only increased that challenge. Now, the time limit added in in Reach wasn’t a terrible idea. It should also still be present. But not by default.
A possible idea would also be wave challenges, a’la Gears of War 3’s Horde. THese could provide users with overshields or access to a special weapon.
Another idea is having the unique Spartan Ops enemy appearing on maps based off of SO level areas.