Before I start, i’d like to note that since the amount of information concerning the Promethean race is lacking at this point, Prometheans will not be mentioned as frequently in this thread.
-------------------The Inspiration-----------------------------------------------------
You may or may not have heard of this little game called Planetside 2. It
made quite a big debut at E3 this year and immediately became a game to watch.
This game is an MMOFPS(Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter) being
released exclusively on PC, it also started closed beta yesterday for the first
time.
What Planetside 2 enables is quite extroardinary: Thousands of players on a
single server spread over three different factions battling over key points in
one massive continents.
But what if Halo took this to the next level?
----------------------The Dream--------------------------------------------------------
My Point: Halo has three factions now. The UNSC, Covenant(Storm), and the
Prometheans. We’ve had Halo FPS games, and even an RTS. So why not an MMO? An
MMOFPS in particular. Many including myself have dreamed of playable epic
battles in the Halo Universe. Imagine: Pelicans, Spirtits, Phantoms, and
Promethean drop ships arriving on the Battlefield. ODSTs & Covenant Elites
dropping in from the sky. Spartans being deployed on the front.
----------------------The Figters------------------------------------------------------
Here are how the factions would work:
UNSC
-Three Infantry Units To Choose From
- Spartans(Heavy Units)
- ODSTs(Light Units, Stealth Abilities)
- Marines(Standard Units, Effective in many combat roles)
Covenant
- Elites(Heavy Units)
- Specialist Elites(Light Units, Stealth Abilities)
- Brutes(Standard Units, canon-wise it would make sense, with the Elites being
superior to them now)
Promethans
- Knight(Heavy Units)
- Inferior Knights(Light Units, stealth abilities)
- Drones(Standard Units, the cannon fodder of the Prometheans)
--------------------------NPC Companions----------------------------------------------
For each of these units, there are no special abilities exclusive to the units.
Instead: Each of these units come with NPCs by their side. For example, Spartans always have AIs assisting them on the Battlefield, Elite players have three grunts by their side, and Prometheans always have a watcher ready to be deployed.
-------------------------The Battlefield-----------------------------------------------
Human worlds, in ruin or intact. Covenant homeworlds like Sanghelios and Doisac. Forerunner wonders like Requiem and of course the Halo installations. The possibilities are endless. Halo has so many incredible and unique locations begging to be explored, and what better way to do so than creating entire worlds to wage war on in an MMO atmosphere.
------------------------Guns. Lots of them---------------------------------------------
Customization would be key in a Halo MMOFPS. The possibilities and combinations must be enormous. No player on the battlefield should feel like they lack options. Every single piece of weaponry from past games must return. Variety must always be present in the fight, no one wants everyone with just BRs or DMRs on the same team. Each weapon should feel unique and powerful in their own respective ways nad give people reason to alternate between different types of weapons whether they’re semi-auto or full auto.
-----------------------Preparing to Drop-----------------------------------------------
Admit it. Who wouldn’t want to get in an ODST pod on their own time and drop into battle. When a Halo MMOFPS comes into mind, one word come to mind: Epic. This game must be epic. Epic in size, looks, and sound. Everything. And what defines epic better than ODSTs dropping in? You look up in the war-torn sky, ships are crashing down to the surface, gunfire and plasma rounds paint the sky, but you see something relentlessly ripping through the clouds and debris. ODST pods. They’re the UNSC’s insertion method of choice. Drop behind enemy lines and hit 'em hard. But this isn’t your only option. Pelican drop ships standby in your UNSC carrier’s hangar waiting to drop you off, boots on the ground. The Covenant has their fair-share of insertion options as well with their own drop pods reserved for the most elite soldiers in their arsenal: The Elites. Phantoms are also available to troops along with Spirit drop ships that will drop off your NPC companions(Grunts for Elites, Jackals for Brutes). The Prometheans are still very mysterious, come the release of Halo 4, when more Promethean secrets are unveiled, then we’ll talk.
--------------------Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!------------------------------------------
Space combat in an Halo MMO will turn the tide of battle on the ground. It can either make you or break you, they’re just as important as your ground troops and deserve equal amounts of attention. Sabres and armed Pelicans for the UNSC, Seraphs and Phantoms for Covies. The UNSC has MAC rounds on standby ready to fire at any given time by the Commander(Which will be explained shortly) while the Covenant’s infamous and devastating Glassing abilities will be available for the Shipmaster to call in. These abilities will be explained further in the next section. Ground troops also have the ability to choose Space combat instead of ground combat at any point during the game. Pelicans can take UNSC troops into Covenant ships and plant a nuclear bomb in its core while Covies have similar options to choose(Such as destroying the ship’s reactors or planting their own bomb[Think Halo 2’s Cairo Station]).
----------------------------Commanding a War-------------------------------------------
The player in a match who holds the best overall statistics(Win/Loss ratio, K/D, least betrayals) after at least 48 hours of total play will be taken into consideration for a commanding role in the battle. Commander and Shipmaster roles are always changing, whether the the player decides to leave the match, is voted out of their role, or manually decides to resign and give the role to any other eligible players(Which can be accepted or declined). These leadership roles do exactly what you’d think they’d do: Order units to take out or take over points of interest. Every time an army completes one of these objectives, an meter will continue to be filled. Once this meter is filled, the leaders have the option of calling in their faction’s special abilities(MAC rounds, Plasma Bomabardment, and more). These leaders have three players by their side who have some of the most important roles in the entire game. One manages Infantry by calling in ammo to the Battlefield, medical supply, and upgrades for their infantry. Another manages Armor on the ground, calling in vehicle upgrades and repair abilities. The other manages Air units and performs similar operations to the Vehicle Manager. The Air Ops Manager has full control over the battle in the Battlefield’s orbit by ordering units to destroy points of interest on enemy ships(Engines, Turrets, etc).
-------------------------Thanks For Reading!-------------------------------------------
I hope you all enjoyed this thread, i’m open to criticism and more ideas. I’d just love to see all of this come to life one day. It would truly be a dream come true for Halo fans.