How I’d sum up Halo: Cyborg-Super Soldiers, Guns, Guitars, Tribal Beats, Gregorian Choir, Funky Synthesizer mixes, Aliens, Pew Pew Pew, Long cluttered corridors, Huge cluttered spaces, kill the computer, kill your enemies, kill your friend’s enemies… KILL YOUR FRIENDS!
But that’s just the short version. 
I didn’t even get into the finer details.
In this post I will be responding to other posts in this thread, or simply noting points I agree with.
But first just let me say: Please 343i don’t cave into the demands to remove reticle bloom and armor lock/armor abilities/loadouts.
> I’d love a “Rogue Squadron”-style Halo game, piloting Longswords, Shortswords, ONI craft, Hornets, Hawks, Falcons, Sabres, new stuff… whatever. LOVE. SPACE. COMBAT.
>
> -On that note… Sabrefight. Just what it sounds like. DLC Firefight, but in a Sabre, fighting off wave after wave of Space Banshee, Phantom Gunboat, Seraph, Corvette, whatever.
>
> -I LOVE armor permutations, tons of them. (Total Sellout, I’m still waiting on that Cape Armor Effect 
They don’t need to DO anything, either; I don’t want to be almost forced to have to change the look of my Spartan just because I want to stand a chance in a fight. But yeah, love the new armor, especially helmets and helmet attachments.
Perhaps the “Rogue Squadron” game could be a gamemode. Maybe “Dogfight” in which players in Sabres, Longswords, Seraphs, or Tarasques (look it up in Halopedia) fight each other. Also possibly “Ace” in which players fight against or with waves of Covenant fighters similar to Firefight.
I too would love to see a cape or hooded cloak armor effect. A greater variety of armor effects in general would be nice.
> More motivation - Rank is a good idea but once a player reaches Mythic they no longer have motivation to play. A ranking system with visual effects would be better for shorter motivations.
I know this isn’t really what you’re suggesting, but I think that a visual effect of your rank would be to have your ranked displayed on your armor somewhere. Possibly above where the emblem is currently (speaking of that, I think Elites should display the emblem somewhere too).
As for what you’re actually suggesting. I think that perhaps you should unlock something at each rank. I’m talking unrealistic things that a lot of people would want to wear, like the Haunted helmet or the aforementioned cape. Maybe something like an MP3 player Utility with earbuds going into the helmet. Just ridiculous stuff like that.
Continued below
Continued from above
> 1. A brand new engine to work off of
> 20. All vehicles in halo are acsessable
> 21. Fly a drop pod to the surface of a planet
> Bloom: Do not remove it. It is a great mechanic but could use adjustments. it should get much bigger and reset faster so the person who paces is rewarded by a huge majority over the person who spams.
Exactly what I think.
> This new game mode would stretch the boundaries we know of, not only in gaming mechanics, but in NPC Intelligence. The pure hectic true Firefight of always defending yourself from 2 opposing forces, no matter which team you choose would bring to the new Halo title what Bungie always wanted from the Firefight game mode… An insane fight to survive. It would take a great deal of design and planning. And I wouldnt be terribly upset if it wasnt practical enough, but the word has to get out if anyone is even going to look into it. I guess thats really all I want from 343, is to at least give it the old college try
I must say I’ve never thought of making 3-way Firefight. Excellent idea good sir.
If I may expand on this concept. Options should allow you to pick one of three factions (UNSC, Covenant, Flood) with or without allied AI. You choose to fight one or both of the other two, again with or without AI.
Along with this should go the ability to place both UNSC and Covenant ammo supplies, weapons, and vehicles. A sort of limited forge mode for Firefight maps.
> So as long as we’re discussing things that should be brought back, I got a few for you.
>
> Dual Wielding.
> I understand the Needler being an exception. I played the Halo 2 Online MP… I remember the original “Fear The Pink Mist” moments.
>
> But the SMG, the Spiker, the Plasma Rifle… Those guns are dramatically underpowered in PvP game modes when you can only carry one. (However, if you bring back the Mauler, it too needs to be an exception, Dual Wielding a 2 shot weapon isnt necessary)
>
> The Magnum’s current damage makes it, too, a little sketchy in Dual Wield scenarios, so consider this. Remove the Magnum as a weapon in the games weapon set. Make it so that everyone has 3 weapons. Thir primary, their secondary, and their sidearm. I think this to be a little more physically accurate as well
>
> And while we’re discussing the Plasma Rifle, the decision to revisit the Brute Plasma Rifle in ODST was phenominal, and should be a serious consideration for future Halo games, but in addition to, not in replace of the original Plasma Rifle
>
> And finally, as a veteran Warthog gunner, the mechanics of the Halo 3 Warthog machine turret were by far the best. In Reach any turret is so inaccurate that youre better off getting your Assault Rifle out and sitting in the passenger seat. If you are concerned about the Warthog being overpowered in PvP combat, the overheating feature in Reach was tolerable, but please fix the accuracy. Its the right thing to do.
I had an idea for dual wielding. Have separate dual wield versions of weapons. To illustrate what I mean consider this example: you could be holding a single wield SMG and come across another single wield SMG but you wouldn’t be able to dual wield that. However if you came across a dual wield SMG you could drop the single wield for the dual wield (or vice versa). It’s somewhat illogical, but fits the game mechanics better and would be simpler to balance.
For some weapons dual-wielding would mostly be aesthetic and single wielding would be the “correct multiplayer version” and for some dual-wielding would be the correct version. When dual wielding you wouldn’t be able to throw grenades and melee would be less effective.
I agree that turrets should be more accurate. Only overheating should be how the player’s rate of fire is controlled.
Continued below
Continued from above
> LegendaryMango4:
> i will defend to the grave my opinion that bungie stole the loadout concept from cod in order to appeal to a wider audience. i still feel betrayed.
You really shouldn’t feel that strongly about loadouts. They’re almost nothing like the customizable classes from Call of Duty (for one their gametype determined, not player determined).
Maybe they are there specifically to appeal to a wider audience but I doubt it. Seems to me more like Bungie was looking for some way to make Armor Abilities an important part of the game but not make them a power up. They finally went with the idea that people could choose the armor ability they spawn with, having different weapons and grenades go with the different loadouts is probably secondary. Just consider how most gamemodes with loadouts don’t actually vary between loadouts at all save for which armor ability is used.
> Specific Weapon Damage settings:
> Assault Rifle: 50%
>
> Battle Rifle: 115% (Reviving the Battle Rifle wouldn’t hurt either!)
>
> DMR: 110%
>
> Grenades:85%
>
> etc.
>
> If players are allowed to alter the damage of individual weapons by 5% increments, there would be no weapon balance problems, simply because they could be fixed straight away. Coupled with Forge and the current customization options, Halo would be able to function in any way that the player wants. Please consider this when making your next game. I doubt it would be easy, but I’m sure that it would be worth it!
>
> Also, don’t limit the 5 percent increment editing to this, allow us to do it with everything else aswell (health, movement speed, jump height etc.)
> Another thing to consider for the next Halo game is a revival of a Global Ranking System similar to the one in Halo 3.
I like your idea of being able to change the damage of specific weapons. I would like to add the ability to change damage vs different defense types (shields, health, vehicle).
5% increments for settings are fine though, I wouldn’t say “no” to 1% increments but that’s really unnecessarily precise.
You’re proposing a rank based on trueskill? I guess I wouldn’t be against a skill-based secondary rank, but only if it functioned like Divisions in Reach’s Arena or StarCraft II’s Leagues. By which I mean it should reset periodically (every 4 months should do) and be playlist specific. The skill independent rank should stay as the primary vessel of player progression. Also to prevent some -Yoink- most playlists should only show the skill-ranks of enemies.
> xSavi0rzx would you like to be able to play as the flood if so what kind/form ? how many of you would like to play as the flood ?
I support adding “Flood Combat Form” as a type of player model, it would be great for Infection. Brute as well (just the adding part, not the Infection part).
> can we get the halo 1 tank back so we can ride on the side but also have the second gunner seat.
I’m pretty sure that Scorpion side seats were removed because of boarding. Though simply getting a ride on the Scorpion by standing on it would work well enough if the shell couldn’t be blocked by someone standing in the barrel.
Speaking of boarding, I don’t think that if you board a tank from behind you should be able to even hurt the driver without a grenade. And you shouldn’t damage more than the hatch by punching.
Here ends my responses
Though I would like to add a though on the BR. You should add it into the next game. Keep the DMR for the reticle bloom focused evolution of Halo multiplayer that Reach represents and have the BR (Halo 3 version with fixed bullet spread for each shot in the burst) for the “Classic” Halo multiplayer.
And make sure that most of matchmaking keeps the evolved version with DMR, many people are so resistant to any change no matter how beneficial that you’ll need to force it upon them before they’ll even consider trying it.
Hmmm, you gave me the idea for Juggernaught and Infection combined. A variation called Cat and Mouse. Because I like the idea of in Infection, the infected being actual Flood avatars (based on preferred model?), I also like the idea of Cat and Mouse is having a player who has the attributes of which ever Covenant character is chosen. Well not just attributes, avatar too.
Puny Grunts would almost never be used, but as an option, yup.
Being a Drone Major with slight shielding… now that could be interesting (a constant jetpack-like avatar?)
Brutes would be the juggernaughts. Bullet sponges with the AI moveset given in some fashion.
Elites would be like ninja-naughts.
Flood, well that’s asking for an Alpha Zombie match with the Flood being the main focus.
Jackals and Skirmishers could offer their own take on juggernaught and ninja-naughting respective. Yes, giving the IT person a Jackal with shield and Focus Rifle to use… and their minions (killed players) spawn with lesser weapons?
Either or, I like the idea of taking character use with gametypes further.
Some ideas :
-The combat forms flood:
Bring back the combat forms from Halo CE.Why?Because they were fearful,they were almost resillient to most of the weapons ,they were very agressive at close range,almost invulnerable to melees.That’s what might them fearfull in CE,in Halo 3 they were too easy to beat ecept their aim was better.
Summed up,the "Halo 4"combat forms should:
-Be aggressive at close range
-They can take more melee attacks from you
-Awesome aim like the Halo 3 ones
-It takes some time to kill them,depending on the weapon you have
exemples:shotgun,sword=very effective
AR:not effective
-They should look scary,ugly,…lots of scary roars from them that will lett you piss in your pants.
-infection forms:
Let them attack in huge larger waves then ever.
Some new types of them like the ones in Halo legends(airborn)
-Pure forms
Many new different types of pure forms,not only three but dozens upon dozens different types.Halo legends is a great exemple.
-Armory
-Sangheili can be customized back like in Halo 3.
-More content,like more visor colors,more helmets,…compared to Reach
-Helmet
-Shoulder(left,right)
-Chest
-Belt
-Wrist(right,left)
-utility(right,left)
-visor color
-backpack
-kneeguards(right,left)
-armor effect(more of them,a bit cheaper)
-firefight voice(more voices from the Halo fiction,like the didact,gravemind,…)
-HUD customization(color,motion tracker shape,…)
-Emblem can be placed everywhere
-Forge:
-larger budget
-more different objects like (trees,plants,different building(Human,covie,forerunner,…)
-AI bots
-Weather filters(rain,sunny,snow,hail,foggy,…)
-Day time filters (mornig,night,midday)
-You can increase the size of objects
-campaign
Story is up to yoou
But i hope there will be a Sangheili campaign with arbiter alongside the chief.Either way,i hope there will be around 15 missions and not 9.
> Continued from above
>
>
> > i will defend to the grave my opinion that bungie stole the loadout concept from cod in order to appeal to a wider audience. i still feel betrayed.
>
> You really shouldn’t feel that strongly about loadouts. They’re almost nothing like the customizable classes from Call of Duty (for one their gametype determined, not player determined).
>
> Maybe they are there specifically to appeal to a wider audience but I doubt it. Seems to me more like Bungie was looking for some way to make Armor Abilities an important part of the game but not make them a power up. They finally went with the idea that people could choose the armor ability they spawn with, having different weapons and grenades go with the different loadouts is probably secondary. Just consider how most gamemodes with loadouts don’t actually vary between loadouts at all save for which armor ability is used.
>
>
>
>
>
> > Specific Weapon Damage settings:
> > Assault Rifle: 50%
> >
> > Battle Rifle: 115% (Reviving the Battle Rifle wouldn’t hurt either!)
> >
> > DMR: 110%
> >
> > Grenades:85%
> >
> > etc.
> >
> > If players are allowed to alter the damage of individual weapons by 5% increments, there would be no weapon balance problems, simply because they could be fixed straight away. Coupled with Forge and the current customization options, Halo would be able to function in any way that the player wants. Please consider this when making your next game. I doubt it would be easy, but I’m sure that it would be worth it!
> >
> > Also, don’t limit the 5 percent increment editing to this, allow us to do it with everything else aswell (health, movement speed, jump height etc.)
> > Another thing to consider for the next Halo game is a revival of a Global Ranking System similar to the one in Halo 3.
>
> I like your idea of being able to change the damage of specific weapons. I would like to add the ability to change damage vs different defense types (shields, health, vehicle).
>
> 5% increments for settings are fine though, I wouldn’t say “no” to 1% increments but that’s really unnecessarily precise.
>
> You’re proposing a rank based on trueskill? I guess I wouldn’t be against a skill-based secondary rank, but only if it functioned like Divisions in Reach’s Arena or StarCraft II’s Leagues. By which I mean it should reset periodically (every 4 months should do) and be playlist specific. The skill independent rank should stay as the primary vessel of player progression. Also to prevent some -Yoink- most playlists should only show the skill-ranks of enemies.
>
>
>
> > xSavi0rzx would you like to be able to play as the flood if so what kind/form ? how many of you would like to play as the flood ?
>
> I support adding “Flood Combat Form” as a type of player model, it would be great for Infection. Brute as well (just the adding part, not the Infection part).
>
>
>
> > can we get the halo 1 tank back so we can ride on the side but also have the second gunner seat.
>
> I’m pretty sure that Scorpion side seats were removed because of boarding. Though simply getting a ride on the Scorpion by standing on it would work well enough if the shell couldn’t be blocked by someone standing in the barrel.
>
> Speaking of boarding, I don’t think that if you board a tank from behind you should be able to even hurt the driver without a grenade. And you shouldn’t damage more than the hatch by punching.
>
> Here ends my responses
>
> Though I would like to add a though on the BR. You should add it into the next game. Keep the DMR for the reticle bloom focused evolution of Halo multiplayer that Reach represents and have the BR (Halo 3 version with fixed bullet spread for each shot in the burst) for the “Classic” Halo multiplayer.
>
> And make sure that most of matchmaking keeps the evolved version with DMR, many people are so resistant to any change no matter how beneficial that you’ll need to force it upon them before they’ll even consider trying it.
would you agree that we should be able to play as the flood in custom game / forge ? and add bodies to forge. why just play as the flood on infection ?
> would you agree that we should be able to play as the flood in custom game / forge ? and add bodies to forge. why just play as the flood on infection ?
Certainly. Flood Combat form versions of Spartans, Elites, and Brutes (provided Brutes are a playable species too) would function like Spartans or Elites in Reach.
I was just noting that forcing player model to Flood Combat Form would be especially good for the zombies in Infection.
A thought I just had: perhaps there should be a game option to allow players to change species in-game rather than having species forced or be decided by preference for the whole game.
For future installments in the Halo series, I really hope you guys stick to the canon set by the books, unlike Reach.
In the next Halo game, let us use everything that has appeared in the sandbox of previous games. This would be possible through Forge and Custom game options.
Examples are (this isn’t everything):
-Dual wielding (with a toggle feature), with all of the “dual wieldable” weapons from previous games
-All of the precision weapons that have appeared in previous games, with all of their original mechanics (except for BR, you guys decide between a hitscan BR or a realtime BR)
-All of the vehicles from previous games (including all of their alternate forms in campaign; AA Wraith, Grenade Launcher Falcon etc.)
-Every weapon (Target Locator) and vehicle that has appeared in the Campaign (within reason, I don’t expect to see a Scarab in Forge)
Other wanted features include
-Extremely customisable movement settings that allow us to replicate the base player traits of previous Halo games
-Extremely customisable shield and health settings (health in the next Halo game could be coupled with a toggle feature)
-Aesthetic variety in Forge
-Weapon specific damage settings (I described in detail before)
All of the features listed above (and more, they were off the top of my head) should be made available to us through Forge and Custom Game options. Half of that stuff wouldn’t even need to be included in Matchmaking, it would just be awesome to have in Custom Games.
The Matchmaking feature that I would like to see a return of is a global ranking system, similar to Halo 3. It was great because your rank was determined by your skill, and it gave incentive to keep on playing. Being a high rank actually meant something, and it gave bragging rights. You can use the banhammer to deal justice to those few who abuse the system. I didn’t realise that it was such a big problem in Halo 3. It didn’t affect me at all.
I see “my” idea about flood combat form for infection would please other people.
It’s nice, because 343i will only try to make things that are asked by a lot.
I like the idea of having placable hills. I never thought about having them be objects. And I think it would be fine with the “dull grey” if when you changed the color of an object, to say red, the whole object was red, not just a few spots on it turn red.
I would like to have an option to where I would select what maps and gametypes I wanted to play. I still don’t understand why having payed for the game and paying for XBL that I should have to play a map or gametype I want. If it increases the search time by a minute, oh well. It wouldn’t be required, it was just be a feature you could use f you wanted to.
The bloom needs to be changed a bit, I saw a post earlier stating that it should expand faster, contract faster and should be able to get bigger. I have been saying that since like week one something like ten percent for each one of those. Also we need more Forge World like maps.
There are a few more minor changes I would like to see.
Armor lock should last a maximum of five seconds. If I go into Al for two seconds and then come out I should only have two seconds remaining because coming out of Armor lock early should use up one second of time. Also you should need at least one second to use it.
Bro Slayer, I should be able to spawn on my party members. If I join with one friend or with seven.
The waypoints over teammates head’s need to be visible at all time sin all playlists no matter what. Invasion is where this is most evident.
this is about reach.
Well the game is called HALO, so it should be about halo.
i know reach was about spartans, but halo was about a weapon that can kill life. so the campagin was a dissapointer.(sorry to say that)
The maps:
i did not like the maps, non of them.( i loved the the new map pack though)
The maps didnt tell us that this game is halo (i hope that made sence.)
forge world:
forge world was THE BEST i loved it. the only thing that i hated was that we only had a map that was green. and we could only make metal items. (all silver and glass) we need space forge world. sand forge world. etc…
multiplayer:
i just did not like the AAs
weapons:
i hate the less amount of weapons we had, it was the BIGGEST thing that people hated. when fighting other people the odds of them having the same weapon as you is very high.
vehicles:
very less amount of vehicles, today i was looking on youtube and i saw someone riding a seraph and then i thought. waw now if i was on multiplayer and i saw that id be scared like crazy. the good vehicles were not in multiplayer. 
just the same old stuff.
Halo in general:
Halo is the best. when i played halo ce there were SOOO many new things compared to other games. such a good mystery, shooter, adventure, SI -FI game. i love the future things we saw. i loved how we could play as elites on the the campaign. i loved in halo 3 you could play as aliens or spartans on ANY gametype, but it would have been cooler with more aliens to play as. in halo 2 i loved the the first contact on a scarab because it made you go… WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?1!!!
thats it for now.
make it so if someone does leave a game. someone else can join.
> > would you agree that we should be able to play as the flood in custom game / forge ? and add bodies to forge. why just play as the flood on infection ?
>
> Certainly. Flood Combat form versions of Spartans, Elites, and Brutes (provided Brutes are a playable species too) would function like Spartans or Elites in Reach.
>
> I was just noting that forcing player model to Flood Combat Form would be especially good for the zombies in Infection.
>
> A thought I just had: perhaps there should be a game option to allow players to change species in-game rather than having species forced or be decided by preference for the whole game.
oh i see what you mean to be able to pick what form on custom games or pregame like halo 3 and reach but for infection have one base form that all infected play as.
Looks like I’ll be reposting my concept thread.
Hey 343, if you are looking for the most constructive criticism and well thought arguments about Halo:Reach over Bungie.net, be sure to check out this guy called:
A 3 Legged Goat
This dude has gained my respect on the forums. His replies are always polite and he always states his opinions, rather than making fun of aspects of the game. He speaks in a special way everyone can understand and talks about common issues the community complains about.
His arguments always make sense to me, and I have seen lots of people agree with him. Every time he posts, he always makes a coherent argument that explains either some tweak the game could improve with, some mechanic that previous Halos had, or just some annoyance the community is fighting about.
He never insults over the forums, and from my point of view, he’s the most dedicated Halo fan I have seen over the internet (this is my opinion, of course)
He recently made a map called Think Twice, which Urk himself put on the front page. He’s an experienced forger and know lots of strategies to make a map “fair” for both sides.
I know I may seem like a flatterer, but this guy’s serious. You should check him out. Thanks
I’ll give you what I think needs to be fixed and improved on. I’ve played way to many games and this is what I think would help.
21 step plan. This is just what comes to me off the top of my head. If I think of more I may add later.
If you have company that wants top dollar, then the great good idea would be to make halo 4.
Everything the same as halo 3 except for get rid of equipment. All you need is new maps and updated graphics and no one would complain. You would have a top seller and have the game on top of the charts for years.