The real problem with the REQ system isn’t the fact that its tied with micro transactions or that some may argue that its pay to win. It isn’t about what it is, its about what it isn’t. The REQ system isn’t a worthwhile incentive to keep playing, it doesn’t provide rewards that people can be proud of, and the fact that the REQ system doesn’t allow better systems to be put in place.The fact that the REQ system allows 343 to give away free DLC, doesn’t make the REQ system good and it doesn’t mean that its the best system for Halo.The upsides of the REQ system isn’t as cracked up as you believe it to be. Okay, so the REQ system doesn’t break the game. Should this really be a statement that praises and defends the REQ System just because they say, “he at least it doesn’t break the game so its good.” That’s not a good thing about the system that is a GIVEN. It should be balanced and it should be an unmentionable. How does the REQ funding for pros affect you? How does it make the game better? How does a few million dollars that only a select few people have a chance to get make Halo 5 a better game? Why do people think that the microtransactions is the only way for this game. Say Halo 5 had a traditional DLC plan that Halo 4 had. Is it impossible for those profits off the DLC to go to Pro Players? I don’t think so.Of course the biggest upside to all of this is the free DLC Plan. Hell yeah up to 18 free Halo maps until June? Sounds amazing.
All of this free DLC they were hyping up were suppose to be there at launch like every other Halo game. What has the DLC offered so far. Well BTB came out in November with a selection of Forge maps a gamemode that has been in every other Halo game Day One. In December we got Forge, a feature that has always been in Halo day one, a remix of plaza, 2 forge maps, and a Warzone map that 343 showed footage months before the game came out. Again its not a bad thing that they’re added now and thank god they’re free, but all of this should’ve been here DAY ONE. To me I don’t see this Free DLC plan as adding content to the game, but them still finishing it. It’s not bad that they’re adding it for free, but its bad when 343 acts like its a favor to us. All of these things that were in past Halo games day one, was not the message you were trying to send out as a justification for a micro-transaction system because the content added for far, shouldn’t be post launch content. So once the game is on par with past Halo’s, this excuse for a free DLC plan means nothing. Once that is done, you can actually start delivering on your free DLC plan with actual maps and new gamemodes that you started on after the game released.What is the REQ system’s purpose? These REQ packs are Halo’s reward system and what you play for. They should be a goal to obtain and the rewards it self should be rewarding. But this isn’t the case. REQ packs are uneventful to earn and they’re rewards are not a big incentive to keep playing. The REQ system offers armor and weapons, weapons which have balance placed in them to make a better experience. But people use that fact that the REQ system doesn’t break the game, as a mean of justification for the system that everything is balanced and they use it to defend every aspect of the system. Just because something doesn’t break your game automatically means it good. Sure getting a legendary armor piece in a REQ pack exciting, but was the method that you got it exciting, no.You didn’t earn that piece of armor, you got lucky. Did that armor piece represent anything, an accompaniment? No. It represented luck. That’s the extent of Halo 5’s reward system. Grind points and open packs to obtain a random loot item, it doesn’t make anything. When you get the Helljumper helmet on your 3rd REQ pack or 200th, none of that mattered to you or other players.
When someone sees you with that helmet, they don’t go wow, he must have completed something hard or did something great to get it. No. They just say he got lucky on a REQ pack.In this example i’m about to give, im gonna show you a better system. Instead of unlocking the War master helmet through a REQ pack that doesn’t mean anything, you have to get like 2 killing sprees in a game. The list can go on and on and actually engages people to play these modes to get the piece they want. So you say what about the people who aren’t that good at the game. But you’re not seeing the upside to this. This system can bring communities together. Remember Halo 3 when people started obtaining Ninja. You might have been interested and say how’d you get it. He’ll say you have to collect all the skulls in the campaign. So you have to go in legendary but it may be too hard to do it SOLO. So you find some people that need it aswell and you go through it together getting all the skulls now you have the armor and guess what, it meant something. It meant you went through the campaign again to get the skulls and got this badass piece of Armor. Remember when Recon was a big deal in Halo. You had to impress Bungie with something and if they noticed you, you got the armor. This encouraged people to make community maps, screenshots, machinima, gamemodes, the list goes on and on which bought together the community in a good way. People saw this as too hard to obtain so they made the the Vidmaster challenges which were hard but rewarded you with the badass Recon Armor and when people see that they go, wow he went through hell to get it.These challenges you could complete with your friends, having a good time going through it and have you noticed things like this bought the community together in a fun and engaging way? Then 343 gave Recon to everybody and it stopped being important and that’s the problem with the REQ system.343 defines the reward as the item itself. But in reality, the reward is the journey you had to go through to get that chest piece or helmet. And when your system has rewards that tie into challenges or tasks you have to complete, then those rewards mean something more.
Say your big into forge and there is a system in place that allows you to download a rate maps like an upgraded file share. So you needed 500 downloads to obtain a emblem and when you people see you with that emblem they go wow, he must create good maps. They might check it out rate one of your maps, download and play on it with their friends. Do you see the benefit to a system like this unlike the REQ system we have now. Again, the REQ system stands in the way of better systems and Halo 5 should be the first and last game to include the REQ system. You might go well you play this game a lot so why are you complaining about the system. I still play this game because it is fun to play but its getting stale. People seriously need to think multiple times about the REQ system before they jump to conclusions that its a good system.
TL;DR
The REQ System isn’t a rewarding system. Just because it doesn’t break your game, doesn’t make it a good thing. There is no challenge to getting any of the items in Halo 5. Just getting lucky busting open packs is the extent of Halo 5’s reward system. This should be the first and last Halo game is include the REQ System. It doesn’t allow for better systems in place like where you have to go through little challenges or go through Vidmaster type challenges which would result in community interaction. I understand you don’t want to read all that’s above, but its better explained in those paragraphs.