The Future of Firefight Versus in Halo 4

Games Other Halo
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You may have seen my other thread [shameless bump]The Future of Firefight in Halo 4.[/shameless bump]

In it you know that I cite Epic for not only reinvigorating the survival mode for the modern day era but also for reinventing what they already did. Well, turns out they could make the opposite of Horde mode fun too.

Beast Mode is a blast and although we have Firefight Versus, it was never given a playlist and only given to us on one occasion. In which Spartans were horribly overpowered and it became a better tactic to betray your AI allies to deny the Spartans a chance to score than it was to actually kill the Spartans.

Firefight Versus has the potential to be a fun game mode of it’s own design in the same was Beast Mode was. But Firefight Versus can be something much more than just a reskinned Beast Mode.

Revamped Firefight Versus
The setting is a typical Firefight game. Only instead of you fighting four Spartan players you’re fighting UNSC troops on the ground. Marines, ODSTs, Spartans with vehicles mixed in: Warthogs, Scorpions, Falcons. Everything the UNSC’s got. And at your control is the massive army of the Covenant.

Slight tangent here: Ever play the game Driver: San Francisco? Ever heard of it? If not the game isn’t of importance but a mechanic within the game. In Driver: SF you can hop from car to car in multiplayer to try and stop your opponent. I propose that the same mechanic be implemented in FF VS as well.

You can hop into and play as any unit in the Covenant’s army all the way from the lowly Grunt to the hulking Hunters to the nible Elites, even vehicles themselves as you work your way through the UNSC forces to the eventual Spartan Boss Wave. But here’s another twist though: All of the units are broken up into four unit squads and should you select a leadership unit, like helmeted Grunt Hero, you can command the other units in your ‘squad.’ If you select a Elite you can command various sized (depending on rank of Elite) groups to attack, fallback, assist you, etc.

As you work your way through the UNSC troops they’ll get increasingly harder, starting first with normal Marines, with increasing numbers and more vehicles and ODSTs thrown in as you progress until said Spartan Boss Wave. Course it would be rather silly to just make them nigh invulnerable with incredible amounts of damage resistance or 6x overshields. So I would request that the Spartans play like real players. They retreat and take cover when their shields are poppped, and they are incredibly tough to stick or PP, evading at all opportunities, all the while playing to their weapon strengths. Basically they would play like actual players.

This is what I wanted when I heard of Beast Mode in Gears 3 and was disappointed when it was just five of you and it’s a dam shame that FF VS got such lackluster treatment in Reach.

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I think this is a good idea, only scrap the squad system. IMO it adds too much complexity to the whole experience. Otherwise, I like the idea, except you can spawn as a particular race of the covenant, like the loadout system in Reach.

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> I think this is a good idea, only scrap the squad system. IMO it adds too much complexity to the whole experience. Otherwise, I like the idea, except you can spawn as a particular race of the covenant, like the loadout system in Reach.

There’s gotta be a compelling reason to be a Leader class unit besides being slightly tougher than the rest of your lackies. I think implementation would be relatively easy by utlizing the Dpad.

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When I read the squad idea i thought of bladestorm

This idea is AWESOME

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> When I read the squad idea i thought of bladestorm
>
> This idea is AWESOME

Bladestorm?

As in the crappy Warrior roflcopter ability from WoW?

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Personally it likely just need a few tweaks such as no friendly fire for the elites (Though it could be a hindrance in the long run it would be more beneficial then harmful).

And as you noted yourself, the initial settings for the first and I believe only time FF V was in matchmaking it had the Spartans horribly over powered.

Personally if FF V was a bit more like the Beta’s Genny Defense I believe it could be a huge success, and maybe add some bigger FF maps for it as to utilize the AIs ability to roam as well as vehicles making it harder and that much more a priority to defend generators.

All in all as long as it’s brought back and done a bit more properly it will do fine.

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> Personally it likely just need a few tweaks such as no friendly fire for the elites (Though it could be a hindrance in the long run it would be more beneficial then harmful).
>
> And as you noted yourself, the initial settings for the first and I believe only time FF V was in matchmaking it had the Spartans horribly over powered.
>
> Personally if FF V was a bit more like the Beta’s Genny Defense I believe it could be a huge success, and maybe add some bigger FF maps for it as to utilize the AIs ability to roam as well as vehicles making it harder and that much more a priority to defend generators.
>
> All in all as long as it’s brought back and done a bit more properly it will do fine.

FF VS is possible with Generator Defense right now.

But like I said, just bringing it back isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Epic upped the ante.

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>

Another thing: The AI in FF will only send one squad of enemies to engage you at a time if you don’t actively pursue them.

By actively being a Leader Unit and sending multiple units at the defenders, you’re really making a FF experience. The default one is just too boring.

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> >
>
> Another thing: The AI in FF will only send one squad of enemies to engage you at a time if you don’t actively pursue them.
>
> By actively being a Leader Unit and sending multiple units at the defenders, you’re really making a FF experience. The default one is just too boring.

I miss how AI leadership pointed at the enemy, especially the H1 Zealots and H3 Brute Captains.

Now it’s just become a very nasty brawl where leadership enemies are just regular infantry or have been delegated to spec ops role…

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> Now it’s just become a very nasty brawl where leadership enemies are just regular infantry or have been delegated to spec ops role…

The AI has never truely been remarkable. But I’m hoping for a more profound impact on the battlefield from the loss of a commanding unit in H4. As in the remaining troops get sloppy and fall apart after their Elite/Brute leader is dead.

But that’s getting off topic though: What did you mean by ‘being delegated to spec ops roles?’

All of the leader class enemies aren’t spec ops.

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Slight update to the OP.

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FF and Campaign has alawys had a major Lag issue in EVERY Halo game in existence

if 343 can fix it, they will be loved my the Halo community, and things like FF versus would work