THE OFFICIAL HALO FEEDBACK THREAD

Community General Discussion
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Dear 343 Industries. This si my opinion on the future of the multiplay of the Halo series :

*) Promote the unique Halo “Big team battle” feel, full of ingame scenarios and adventures. Don’t fall into the trap of making a “massive packed in action” quick gameplay that results in a cheap comptetitive arcade FPS. Halo is a unique FPS, you DON’T want to follow COD, MOH, Battlefield. Don’t be realistic. The multiplayer has to be as “epic” as the campaign if you see what i mean.

How would we do that?

>> LONG games (30,45 minutes), BIG and diverse maps, LOTS of players.

Indeed, i miss the 45 min Halo 2 PC CTF games on dedicated servers and the real thrill and freedom they had. That’s what really makes Halo special. Long games give enough time for players to build up team strategies (vehicule offense, hunting down a sniper, making a four man squad…).

Other mutliplayers ideas i encountered :

*) “Massive Team battles” : 36 players on a Forgeworld-like map with giant vehicules (SCARABS, elephants…) and playable TRANSPORT vehicules (Phantom, Pelican) that would make real ingaming “war landing” action scenarios.

>Please push “Capture the Flag” and “Invasion” to it’s finest, this is the key to Halo. And I like the 75% Outdoor and 25% indoor (bases) type of games.

*) 3rd Race : the return of the FORUNNERS!!! New gameplay (design, equipment, vehicules, moves). So that we have Spartans, Elites and their forunner equivalents.

*) Aquatic gameplay : marine vehicules/weapons/moves.

*) Items AND armor abilities (not one or the other)

Ideas : grapple hooks, hangliders, drones, mines, traps, bombs

  • Other grenade types : Frag, plasma, Brute, and other

*) Customisable bases : surveillances, vehicules assist parking, traps, prisons, autodestruction option.

PRISONS (worse than respawning!) so that there would be emprisonment of opponents AND breaking free thanks to team parteners.

*) Epic body duels ! (Swords are amazing! why not push the idea?) : more melee moves and animations.

*) Promote strategy : online communication, special team hierachy/organisation, interactive map… give visual screen orders to team mates?

*) Bots and players : to control a squad, or to have a “war pet”.

*) Bring back dedicated servers too! Or… brand new online system enhancing the massive BTB community feel.

*) A Special range of only Dual-wieldable weapons.

  • Bring back Flame thrower.

*) Keep all weapons/vehicules and bring awesome NEW vehicule/weapons.

*) Combo attacks : Two players performing a combined special move ( by pressing on the same buttons, etc…)

*) Real time Space-Earth interaction? (combining space and earth maps) Sabre/LongSword takeoff/landing.

*) Playable BFG, Missile Silos.

… And my last idea : you guys could be moving on to a MMO-FPS aye? :wink: (link server-maps together)

GOOD LUCK for the future of the Halo series!! <3

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Halo is currently the only game I own. LOL, I sold everything else just to buy Halo: Reach. Hah. That just goes to show how lame I am. But really, I love Halo. It’s great.

:slight_smile:

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Dear 343 Industries

I would never beleived to speak to you directly.

So I have an idea for the next Halo.

I think from a while that would be good to reinstate some ancient vehicle
in particular the Spectre from Halo 2.

But thats not my big idea.

The point in which I hold the most is the integration of the Locuste from Halo Wars
as an pilotable vehicule for the next Halo. I explaine.

First, it would be original to have a vehicule which for once does not Run, does not levitate or does not fly,
but which walks. I also think he could satisfy the fans of the Scarabs.

For the physical consept, he could be an ground and a little bit slow vehicule, and NOT be able to climb walls at 90°.
In fact, exactly like in Halo Wars. For the Weaponry, he could fire the same lazer as in
Halo Wars or still fire like a Banshee. I think his armament should be composed by two weapons, like the banshee.

Here we are, I hope you appreciate my idea because I really hold it.
Thank to read my message.

One of your big French fan.

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Here are my suggestions for Halo 4 multiplayer:

  1. Leave the core foundations of the game alone, try to improve on the formula rather than changing it. Take it deeper.

  2. Bring the BR back, I suggest something like the tech demo H2 BR as suggested in this thread: http://halo.xbox.com/forums/games/f/7/t/6148.aspx I always thought the Br should shoot more precision shots when scoped in and should burst fire when fired form the hip. This would satisfy those who like the single-shot and burst fire of both the HCE pistol/Reach DMR and the H2BR/H3 BR. This would also give the weapon more depth, and would positively effect gameplay.

  3. Unlock the potential of the Halo Weapon Sandbox. I feel like the weapons in Halo can be improved upon. Give them more depth, give them varied uses do something that no other FPS is doing right now. I dont know what the answer is to give them more depth, but maybe dont limit every weapon to a niche. You could have like a “focus fire” feature where when zoomed in with a weapon it would be harder to hit shots but have a longer range. Look at button combos in H2, they were loved by the Halo community because they gave depth and made the BR a dynamic weapon maybe you could do something with those. Introduce more mid-range-long speciallized precision weapons. Re-introduce dual-wields. There is TONS you could do with the weapon Sandbox. Remember, that weapons in the Halo Sandbox change the way people play every-time you pick up a new one, your strategy changes and you have more power and possibilities as a player. I feel like this is the thing you should be focusing on innovating there are tons of possibilities.

  4. Re-add the best vehicles and add new vehicles. Halo 3’s vehicle Sandbox I feel was the best balanced and most fun to use. Bring back the Hornet, the H3 Banshee that didnt have a OP banshee bomb, introduce some new vehicles. Maybe you could give the vehicles some more possibilities as well. Maybe one vehicle has a shockwave or a knock-back effect that needs to be close to infantry to be effective. Instead of trying to keep distance with your vehicle you would need to be up close. There are tons of uses and cool things you could do with a vehicle that has a shockwave. Another thing is you should try to keep the vehicles on one map to a minimum. Make them powerful assets, too much clutter and everyone is in a vehicle and people dont have to worry about playing smart because there is always one respawning. I liked Halo 3’s Standoff because the warthog was a powerful asset, and if you lost it, the time it was down you had to switch playstyles to a more defensive stance. When it was back up you could push up as the warthog was putting down mad support fire.

  5. Bring the community together. The key to a games long-term sucess is its community. Look at Halo 2 for the key to bringing the community together and making everyone feel involved. Clan system is a must. This brought the community together, and made sure everyone had a home. This also allowed for competitve rivalries, and clan matches were awesome and no other game offered that kind of immersion. We felt part of the community in Halo 2 every single one of us, it was just a fun time and people treated each other with a respect. I could search random and party up with people I had just met, this NEVER happens in Reach.

  6. Simple but effective maps. Look at the great classic maps that people love to play. Most of them are pretty basic. Too many multi-level and complications in Reach’s maps. Great Symettrical maps of the Halo series: Blood Gulch, Wizard, Battle Creek,Colossus,Lockout,Standoff,Vahalla,Sanctuary(I luv noob combo lol), The Pit.

Examples of good assymetrical maps done right: Terminal(personal fave,)Zanzibar, Boarding Action, Ghost Town, Headlong,Turf, Damnation,Chillout.

Keep it simple but effective. Too much clutter makes for a bad map.

  1. Restore movement speeds/jump heights back to a classic feel. You limit the players possibilities as a player and grenades become too powerful when you move to slow as shown in Reach. Strafing,ghandi-hopping,ninjas,jump-shooting,jumping off objects to gain height advantage, making targets harder to hit, these are the possibilities you as a player gain when movement speeds/jump heights are at classic settings. These all give depth to the game and create for more combat scenarios. And they make it so you can dodge grenades which you cant really do in Reach.

  2. Reduce random elements as much as possible. Nobody likes not knowing what AA the enemy has, or what piece of equipment the enemy has it makes for random and frustrating gameplay(which by the way describe Reach for me). Nobody likes pacing their shots perfectly only be to beat by a spammer who gets a headshot not even aiming for the head. Please keep static reticules its a staple of Halo multi-player, increase aim skill by adding recoil/reducing aim assist/bullet magnetism/reducing hitboxes/smaller reticules. People like control, and they dont want to step into a game not knowing if the enemy is going to be jet-packing, using sprint,or evade. Nobody wants to feel cheated of a kill or death, because the enemy happened to have AL or his bloom screwed him over. Reach is truly the most random and thus frustrating Halo to date I never had those problems in HCE+Halo 2. I never felt cheated of kills/death, and I never remember chasing enemies more than shooting them which is the case with Reach when everyone has a spammable defensive tool. Look at Halo CE+Halo 2 for your model not Halo 3+Reach.

  3. Bring back Ranked and Social playlists

  4. Keep Halo unique, remember you have something awesome already! Look at previous Halo games and what worked and what didnt. Learn from past mistakes, take the good things further. Keep Halo unique, dont try to make into a class-based game because its not. Dont try to add unecessary things, but instead EXPAND on current game mechanics give it more depth like the Halo Weapon Sandbox like I mentioned in my post. People wouldnt of bought into Halo if they didnt like the story/multi-player/feel of the game you dont need a overhaul. Dont look at other games for examples of what to do, look at Halo and do what you think would be the best for the Halo franchise. Mixing game mechanics from other games into Halo is a sure way to kill its uniqueness and ruin its awesomeness DONT DO IT! Dont try to fix what isnt broken, untap the potential of Halo as it sure has plenty left!

I hope you read my post 343i, and I know you guys will make Halo 4 a awesome game, we have faith in you!

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First sorry for my english, i’m French but i really wan’t to give my opinion
-No loadout
-Sprint is okay but ONLY sprint
-For the map… Make competitive map, and some fun, don’t forget Halo is competitive :wink:
-For the forge, make 2 or 3 map like forge world, one like a convenant map, forerunner and an Human map
-Please make the Br back but with the precision of the DMR
-Make some remake (remake =/ blackout, when a says a remake is a identical map.)
-For the campaign i think evrybody wan’t Masterchief ^^
-For the theater i think is perfect but i wan’t watch movie with friends not alone.
-Please make a lot of map (you can make DLC but if the game can have a few more than 10 map before DLC…)
-In this map make some cool map for BTB (not like paradiso etc etc) more like ILOVEBTB map ( http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileShare.aspx?player=iloveBTB ), and some cool map (again) for 4v4 (mlg or not), make like MLG map i think evrybody like MLG map but a lot of people didn’t like the gameplay of mlg …
-Don’t remove the bloom BUT make so that he asks for less luck…
-Put back the system of the skill (1>50)

I think its all, again sorry for my english ^^
Bye !

187

> > Need moar armour lock.
>
> Being serious we need a better and long lasting Jet Pack and Sprint; in fact Sprint should be default not an AA.

I’m gonna have to second that. Why do i need a high tech metal box in order to run? Why can i either run OR dodge? It’s a bit silly.

Sorry if the next chunk of text is a bit large, but i’ve a few things to reccomend for the next game that i’ve thought up based on playing halo 3, ODST, and reach for quite some time:

WEAPONS ADDITIONS AND BALANCE:

Regarding weapon balance and stuff, i’d like to see more love for the automatic weapons. The assault rifle, spiker, and plasma repeater in reach are just silly… they can barely kill one person before reloading, while things like the DMR or the needle rifle have enough bullets and firepower to outperform the automatic weapons in every way and range. In some maps where you start with the assault rifle, if an enemy gets a hold of a DMR your team is essentially screwed as he’ll kill you at any range with firepower more deadly than the assault rifle can manage. Also, the mounted turret (not the warthog one) and the covie turret seem very weak and underpowered currently, and there’s little point in using them as the many other weapons will out-damage you before you can kill whoever you’re trying to kill, making it not worth losing your mobility (or making you move very slowly if you pick it up).

Also, for the love of god, DON’T MAKE THE SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPON OVERSHADOW EVERYTHING ELSE. The DMR being better than every other non-power weapon has killed much of the game’s uniqueness… there’s no incentive to go for many of the “fun” weapons when the DMR you start with are better than them. DMRs being able to kill vehicles is crazy as hell too, and really makes the vehicles that are supposed to seem strong (like the wraith) feel like paper.

I’d also like to see the return of the SMG and dual wielding… it was hella fun in halo 3 to go around with two SMGs killing people that underestimated their firepower, plus it added more variety to the weapons and gave the players many gameplay choices

Perhaps you guys could bring back the the silenced scoped SMG from ODST. That thing is actually pretty good, and would serve to fill the role as an intermediate between the Assault rifle and the BR/DMR variant of the game (assault rifle for short range/mid range, scoped SMG for mid range, dmr/br whatever it will be called for mid to long range). When using it while crouched you wouldn’t appear on the radar, and shooting while invisible wouldn’t result in such a drastic visibility change. It shouldn’t be able to be dual-wield, though.

MAPS

The Defiant map pack and the Noble map pack have the best maps in reach hands down. They’re beautiful to look at, fun and challenging to play on, and are balanced enough that they can be used in many different gametypes without problems. I like how they’re BASED on the campaign, not directly taken from some levels of it. They’re seriously awesome, keep making maps like that.

Forge world is freaking fantastic, but one of my main gripes with it is that it looks… bland. There are three colors in every map: gray, green, and blue. Heck, half the time the map is literally just gray from all the forge objects added in. This becomes a huge eyesore, and i literally don’t play playlists that rely heavily on forge maps (like the classic playlist) because of how ugly they are. If you could add in different colors or textures for the walls and stuff, or maybe things like “weather filters” so that you could make snow based maps or desert maps, it would greatly improve the enjoyability of forge world.

Last point regarding maps, and i can’t stress this enough: DON’T MAKE LARGE MAPS LIKE HEMMORHAGE. MAKE LARGE MAPS LIKE VALHALLA OR SANDTRAP. There’s just something about getting sniped repeatedly in the face at MY base from some guy hiding waaay back at HIS base that makes me want to snap the disk in half. Or getting camped to hell by a tank hiding in the back of our base. Or being killed from every which direction by bullets from who knows where because of how open the map is. More stuff in the middle + inability to see opponent’s base form your base = less camping and more fun to be had.

That said, I freaking love the halo series. I didn’t mean to come off as rude in any way, and i hope you guys make the next Halo so great that other shooters will be forced to try and be “halo killers” again.

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I just thought of something (again).

Many people like to explore what is outside the campaign and multiplayer levels, even if there is almost nothing.
So, why not giving us the option to desactive invisible walls ?

For exemple, if we finish the campaign once, we could have the ability, in the options, to remove all boundaries.

190

> Ok, If you Bungie guys are really reading these… And I hope you are. Here are a few suggestions on some DLC for Halo: Reach.
>
> -For online Co-Op: Elite Score Attack and Elite Firefight (Where you defeat waves of human troops both infantry based and vehicle based- ODST’s, Ground Troops, Spartans, Etc, Delivered by Dropships and Falcons)
>
> -Elite Campaign: Play through the Reach Campaign from an Elites point of view as you “Attemp” to stop the Spartans from completing their objectives (Which just like in the regular story is actually impossible as the “Package” has to be delivered. Complete with new Achievements.
>
> These ideas came from the idea that you gave us the ability to choose how we appear as Elites, yet there is little content allowing a player to play as an Elite, this would alleviate that issue.

gonna have to agree with this, there are just too few occasions that you play as elites. Honestly, though, if they just let us play as elites in multiplayer matchmaking anytime we wanted (not just in elite variants or invasion) it’d be fine. They’d have to turn off the regenerating health, though.

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> Its one of the best games ever made. <

192

It’d be nice if in custom games players could adjust the damage output of each weapon individually as well as the bloom(including an option to remove it) and the ability to adjust each weapons firing rate. Possibly even an option to change how shields react to each weapons and melee, perhaps an option to switch back to the bleed through model of past Halo games.

With these sort of options you would not have to constantly go back and patch the game either in terms of balancing. I think introducing these options via a patch for Reach or at least having the options built in the next Halo would be great. In most cases all players would have a setting they could enjoy and it would make it easy to have a more diverse set of playlists.

193

Dear again 343Industries

I just want to share you another idea I had.

I think it will be great to introduce in the game more then two flying vehicle.
( one Human, one Covenant)

I think you have to keep the Banshee and the Falcon but you must put one or even more flying vehicle like,
the Hornet or the Sparrow Hawks for the Human.

For the covenant, the best is to keep the Banshee because it is as important as the Warthog for the game.
So you can invent a new covenant flying vehicle.

Enyways, just 3 or 4 flying vehicle will be great but please, keep the Banshee and if is possible keep the
Falcon too.

I dont think you have to put ingame the Phantom or the Pelican but is can be good.

So thanks you and I hope you do not forget my idea about the Locust, because I hold it more then this idea.

Sorry for my bad english.

One of your french fan, waiting for the next Halo.

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ok i know this is all fiction but what hapen the the base on mars i mean we passed in going to reach so we should have a small little base of mars too atleast tell what happen too it or that its weather conditions were to hard for human life. also not completley like beast mode gears 3 but be able to have an al out battle with hunters vs flood brutes vs spartan in halo 2 hunters did fight brutes so i would be like a boss battle but with most to all playable covy some flood units and marines/spartans of course all playable. for example of controls for hunter pree LT to zoom in and go into shield mode covering up orange areas. bring back ALL pass veichles and a few really bid maps to hold 1-2 scarabs so that one team does not cheat/ hog up the one scarab. a scarab gun would be cool to use in CUSTOM games but maybe tone it down a bite. The one and only thing im really asking is MORe playable characters like hunters and or flood (mainly flood)

I will add more later

197

I submitted this idea to bungie before the reach release but they didnt take it.
Elite skull for a shoulder piece
EMP forces player out of AL
better visor colors. ex(green,red,purple,ect)
toggle bloom on/off
toggle fall dmg on/off

198

Campaign:
Overall I think the story needs some work. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Halo Universe and everything in it, but the games’ Campaigns leave something to be desired. They’re pretty short, and they never actually go into detail about anything, like you’d expect a sci-fi game to. I can understand that the multiplayer is the main selling point of Halo, but please 343, do not forget about what made the first game so great, and why so many people still think that it is the best Halo to this very day.

Also, I can understand replacing older weapons with newer ones to keep the balance in multiplayer, but what’s the point in also removing them from the Campaign? It’s not like they’re doing any harm to the overall balance of the game there. I was quite disappointed that to say Reach was a pretty big military based planet, there was literally no variety in weapons whatsoever. It’s almost as if the UNSC and Covenant just stop using certain weapons for a period of time.

Campaign Ideas:

  • Enable a small amount of customization found in Firefight and Custom Games as soon as players finish the Campaign (but disable achievements if players customize a Campaign game).
  • Make the length longer. Much longer. :smiley:
  • If the player plays as a character such as Master Chief, enable the option to play as their own Spartan after they have finished Campaign mode.
  • More weapons and vehicles in Campaign mode than multiplayer.
  • More variety in missions (rather than “shoot your way through here” all the time, have something like “hold this position from Covenant reinforcements” or “escort this Pelican to a certain location”)

Gameplay:

  • Armour Abilities were a good idea in Reach, but I’d either remove Armour Lock or re-balance it. I personally find it unfair that it can destroy vehicles and cancel out sticks. Remove those two abilities that Armour Lock has, and it’ll be slightly more tolerable.

  • I personally enjoyed the Halo 3: ODST features, such as pressing the Back Button and having a whole map at your disposal, and pressing X for VISR mode. I think that visions such as thermal, night vision and VISR would be a great addition, and they’d fit right on to the D-pad.

  • AI needs some work. Especially when it comes to driving. Friendly AI have been able to drive since Halo 2, and while this is a nice addition, it does get really annoying when my allies drive me into walls, over the edge off cliffs, into the water, etc. Also, what was with Emile trying to snipe enemies with a Shotgun? That sort of thing also needs to be fixed. I don’t want a game that literally plays itself here, but I do want my allies to hold their own so it doesn’t feel like I am babysitting.

  • Respawning areas need a bit of improvement. I have lost count over how many times I have been immediately killed on respawn. Make it so players respawn as far away from the enemy as possible, so they have a chance to equip themselves and think of a strategy to take out enemies with power weapons.

Firefight Ideas:

  • Bring back Drones as a wave option.
  • Make it so Elites can command waves up to a certain extent in Firefight Versus.
  • Enable options to choose what “hazards” spawn and which ones don’t (such as Snipers, Wraiths, Drop Pods, etc)
  • Enable options to choose what weapons are dropped at a round start.

Custom Game Ideas:

  • Individual Weapon balance options (such as make the Pistol an instant kill weapon, or make the DMR a 4 shot instead of a 5 shot)
  • Toggle Bloom On/Off
  • Toggle Fall Damage On/Off
  • Toggle Spartan Health Regeneration On/Off

I will update this post if any new ideas or feedback comes to mind

199

Is there any way to turn off the film grain? It ruins my mood to play as long as I want. Everything looks fogged up gray and depressing no matter how amazing the set pieces and back drops look. It’s like I have bad reception and can’t fix it. Same goes for multiplayer levels that aren’t based on destroyed overcast REACH. Even messing with my monitor settings doesn’t help much cause then I would have to change my settings back and forth when not playing and this doesn’t solve the grain problem. I think everyone would notice a leap in clarity and benefit if you can just give an update so we have the option to turn it off along with brightness and contrast settings to boot.

Colors definitely need to be more vibrant as well…I would say more on the “JUICY color fx” side. It just made everything look like a refreshing clearer new game when I was in forge on Condemned(colors and clarity are pretty awesome on JUICY, specially out in space) though it would be a bit too saturated for normal, but it was way better than looking at the normal depressing gray fogged atmosphere. Halo 3 looks soo much clearer…I just don’t understand why REACH is graphically better yet so bland. Didn’t you guys “Bungie” have play testers…were they too afraid to say it looks bad. It seriously cuts the replay value/good fun addictive feeling of the game considerably. No one likes grainy washed out visuals.

Realism doesn’t have film grain or washed out colors no matter how depressing it may be…leave that part to the story. It’s not like if I were to go into battle on a war torn planet things would get grainy and washed out. It’s our mood to whats happening that changes our perspective on how things look. So if you tell a good story then you have nothing to worry about, plus you will have a pretty vibrant looking game as well. REACH’s campaign is terrible. The story mode is sad, and depressing cause the way it looks, not because what is happening. You def need comedy no matter what…whether it be dark or light. The grunts sound like jackals, what happened to their original trademark funny/wacky grunts. Gameplay is the only good thing standing, and can be enjoyed better by just doing these few things.

Giving players the option/choice is always the best way to go because the majority may not like your overall vision of how something should look, feel, sound, and control. Thanks for reading.

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Hello, for the next HALO, I would like that in the multiplayer, that it is no more sword, hammer, rocket launcher, grenade launcher,… Because these weapon removes the pleasure to play. Sorry for my English, I am French