Ultimate Halo 5 Wishlist

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Now I expect it will be very rare for some of these features to be put into Halo 5, but as Halo has such an incredible sandbox and features like custom games and forge, it would be definitely be plausible to implement some of these features. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on many of them. Some are variations on current or previous features.

Max player count:
With the new power of the xbox one, dedicated servers, and improving internet speeds for most, it is now a serious time to consider raising the player count to 12v12, 16v16 or possibly even 24v24 /32v32 (these figures might change the games radically, but could make games like invasion which was a good concept but was flawed by being 6v6 a lot better)

Playable characters:
We have been used to playing as Spartans or Elites, but there are numerous other characters at our disposal. Things like ODSTs and marines, Jackals, Grunts and Hunters, Brutes, and now Forerunners, as well as the flood.
Whilst Brutes and Elites and Spartans could all be made to be ‘equal’, the others are intentionally weaker. They would not be used for normal multi player, but a variety of special gametypes, the first of which is mentioned below.

’Halo Battlefront’:
One of the great things about star wars battlefront is how you can quickly change between a variety of characters especially on a larger scale it would be awesome to be able to switch between these characters and races, to have a larger faction vs faction feel.

There is also another great thing about star wars battlefront which people would love for halo…

Space Battles:
Star wars battlefront shows us that Space battles can be done in a fun and effective way, and with the example of Halo reach we know Halo has the sandbox to do it. You could have Longswords/Shortswords, and like star wars there could be large ships from both sides which could be used for attacking bases or objective type games like capture the flag.

AI:
one thing that might benefit some of these gametypes, and to make the scale larger would be AI. With dedicated servers, and the potential for server side AI we can add these to gametypes such as these (or possibly some social playlists on normal matchmaking) to help make up the numbers, and to make the affair more epic

Dual-wielding:
personally I love dual-wielding; it’s fun, and gives some power to the lower weapons. However there are some flaws. I propose bringing dual wielding back, but giving each weapon a ‘special ability’ only available when it is single wield. This, combined with larger recoil/bloom vs more power and a lack of grenades, should balance them out, making both single and dual wield viable.
For example, a pistol could scope when single wielded, and not when dual wielded. The needler or plasma pistol could lose their home in ability, and the plasma rifle would lose it’s plasma burn effect. Some of these changes would be affected by the weapon sandbox changes below

Weapon Sandbox:
There are a number of ‘weapons’ which have been left out from multiplayer which would be a great addition. Following on from dual-wielding, the Jackal shield is a perfect dual wield weapon - it has a charge which is reduced as it takes damage, to much damage and the shield will overcharge (can be coloured just like the campaign). To fully cover yourself you would need to crouch, leaving you exposed behind
Similarly the sword should be dual wield. Single wielded it would have a longer lunge/faster slice speed. But dual wielded would be the ultimate combination. It would make swords a much better contest!
To replace the sword as a single wield weapon the honor guard staff should be included.

Other weapons include the hunter cannon - a power weapon where you tap to charge a giant plasma pistol/fuel rod gun shot, or hold to send a giant sentinel beam shot

There should also be a greater consideration of the range of weapons -very short (eg melee, shotgun), short (eg SMG, Plasma Rifle), short/medium (eg AR Needler Plasma Pistol), medium (eg Pistol), medium/long (eg BR, Carbine), long, (eg DMR) very long (eg sniper). For some dual wield weapons (like the pistol) their effective range might change. There should be a balance to make it difficult for weapons to work as easily outside their range.

Vehicle Sanbox:
with the new game modes above, and increase player count, vehicles such as phantoms, pelicans and even scarabas (as well as shadows and elephants, and space based vehicles) could all easily find a way into the sandbox for certain gametypes. As well as space battles, aerial battles could become more common.
Spartan ops, Firefight, Custom Campaigns:
one of the biggest strengths of previous halo games was their additional modes. These were so good, that other games implemented similar concepts (Horde, -Yoink!- Zombies, Spec Ops, and survival). Destiny also does some great work at making strikes, raids and story missions all based around fireteams. I would like to see Halo reinvent it’s options so there are even more game types which are even more customiseable. This includes firefight or spartan ops modes vs flood, prometheans and convenant. Modes where there are players on both sides with AI potentially) or where you can be the flood prometheans or covenant (think Gears of War 3 beast mode).
There are potential for things like boss waves etc too. If you couple this with being able to play as ODSTs or other races, there is an insane amount of potential available. If you could then add customisations to the campaign to make it more replay-able too, and having matchmaking campaign playlists etc will help get people together.
There could also possibly be an open world ODST/Destiny style map which people could complete missions on etc.

Forge:
The new forge looks incredible. I would like to see more dynamic effects (such as light bridges etc) added,or ideas such as drop pods etc, but apart from that the usual features that people request are dynamic weather settings, terrain editing or environment changing (eg desert, snow jungle etc) and obviously different skins for objects (convenant, forerunner, flood and Human, as well as environments suitable for each) so that we can truly recreate any map.
Forge gametypes and Custom game types:
The idea of forge is great for making maps, but nothing came out of playing forge competitively. Imagine playing multiplayer when one person is given the job (or earns the job as monitor) who can spawn things based on a player budget which is given by killing or completing objectives (similar to how points are given on games like COD). It would totally revolutionise Forge battles
Also if firefight or other game modes could benefit from having the ability to either forge in between rounds or having the ability to have one person being in forge mode to support a team.
This leads on to custom game types in general. Being able to control all of these things would be epic. Also having the ability to customise all gametypes so they represent the physics etc from Halo 1 - 4 etc would be great - so we can recreate all the maps as we know and love them
It would also make it easy to replicate game modes from other games. Imagine being able to forge or customise a -Yoink!- zombie style playlist, or replicate gears of war in the halo sandbox. It would make it the ultimate game, with unlimited possibilities

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Join in Progress:
A controversial topic, and not an excuse to quit, but for social game types having the ability for players to join (maybe they could disable it or see the state of the game (time/score) before choosing or turn the feature off) but it would help keep games flowing and get people involved. It could also apply to games such as firefight/spartan ops (where appropriate). Ranked would be explicitly not join in progress

Ranking system vs EXP (and customisation):
Although Halo 2’s ranking system was better. Halo 3’s was good in it’s use of EXP for games played and games one etc. Giving people EXP for what they do in game, and using that to unlock armour or custom looks (for all of the potential playable characters including grunts, jackals brutes etc) would be a great addition. It could also be linked to ranks like General etc for how much you play, rather than how skilled you are.

Whilst the Halo 2 system is great, there needs to be a refinement so it takes into account things that may make a match unbalanced - the levels of you are your teammates vs who you are facing, the number of players on each team, the difference in score (50-49 vs 50-1) when calculating the success of a match - similar to how it is/was done in FIFA. Also your rank should need to be maintained. A 50 should not get there and stop playing. This would cause over time their level to decrease.

Equipment / AA:
Whilst not everyone’s favourite concepts, I think there is some potential in both, but the way they were implemented could have been better.
My solution is an item which serves as both Equipment and AA, depending on how you use it. The item would be a map placement item, and would have a set amount of charge, rather than regenerating.
Examples could include
Jetpack (single use) vs Grav lift (team use/equipment)
Hologram/decoy (single use) vs Radar Jammer (Team Use)
Armour Lock (single use) vs Bubble Shield (Team Use)
Overshield (single use) vs Regenerator (Team use)??
EMP/Trip mine ability (single use) vs Power drain (Team use)??
Invisibility / Flare Crossover?
Ultimately this makes things such as armour lock powerful, as a map placement which can be controlled and gained, whilst not ruining the core gameplay. It could also be tactically used for equipment. The amount of charge determines how powerful or long the effect last for equipement, whilst individual use of each iteam drains it other time (eg armour lock tacking damage, using jetpack etc)

3

Dual wielding is huge. That is the number one thing I think needs to return to the franchise.

4

I completely agree. It set Halo apart from other games, and if they perfect it they could turn dual wielding into a more balanced and potentially powerful alternative, and the penalty of not being able to use grenades, and losing some of the single wield ‘abilities’ I mentioned previously.

5

Dual-wielding absolutely and a co-op mode if not several co-op modes. 343 designed some amazing armor customization in Halo 4.

6

HHmmm i might be simplistic but : How about an Awesome story ? I`ve always been primarily a campaign driven player, always do the campaign before jumping on the PvP side of the game. For me it makes a big difference on the interest to said game factor.

7

I hate it in multi-player when you have a teammate who obviously isn’t even playing. You see a player who is motionless for the whole match. They need to figure out a way to punish such behavior.

8

I hope they can include a higher max player count, and forge is even more advanced than what we’ve seen with Halo 2: Anniversary

9

well i have 2 that i want and it is duel wield and have your spartan be a part of the story i.e halo reach

10

Based on what I’ve seen the community mostly want’s.

  • Dual wielding- Playable elites, brutes, prometheans, and flood.- Longer campaign- New and old game types in matchmaking.- Halo 2 Anniversary style forge with even more vehicles, options, weapons, and larger maps.- Larger player count/lobbies.- One or more co-op modes.
    What do you guys think?
11

Duelwielding swords would be a little overpowered but love it.
Something I would like to see is an invasion style gametype where each player gets a small AI squad to follow you around and fight with you. So standered 6v6, each player is chosen randomly for a “rank” and that rank determines what level squad is given. So say there are 3 types of rank, low mid and high, only one person is given high, 2 given mid and 3 given low. high rank players are given say Spartans get ODST’s and Elites get elite minors. mids- Spartans get marines Elites get jackels maybe skirmishers, low- Spartans get whatever is lower than marines (police maybe? xD) and elites get grunts.

If brutes, forerunners and flood become playable then brutes are similar to elites, forerunners get crawlers then watcher and crawlers then knights. The flood, thats a hard one to think of but maybe they just get a bunch of infection forms and if they’re near a dead body they gain an AI of whatever was taken over. And your squad doesn’t replenish until all of your current ones die and you call down a drop pod.
In options you can turn this feature off for standard gameplay.

Weapons should have at least two for each type, so
Automatics-
UNSC AR 60 round and 32 round versions. SMG
Covenant Storm, plasma rifle, repeater, the halo reach needler
Brute Spiker and Bplasma rifle
Forerunner Suppressor and ?
Ranged-
UNSC DMR, BR
Covie Needle rifle, carbine
Brute ? and ?
Forerunner light rifle and ?
Sidearm-
UNSC 8-shot scoped magnum and 12 non-scope magnum
Covie plasma pistol and in the lore there is a needle pistol so that’ll be interesting
Brute mauler and ?
Forerunner boltshot and ?
Snipers-
UNSC standered 4 shot and ?
Covie beam rife and focus rifle
Brute ? and ?
Forerunner Binary rifle and ?
Close quarters-
UNSC Shotgun and maybe katana?
Covie Sword and jackels use an energy cutlass pretty sure we could make use of those
Brute hammer and larger more powerful version of the mauler?
Forerunner scattershot and maybe some kind of hard light sword
heavy weapons-
JUST ALL OF THEM!!! Plasma launcher was awesome and I miss the grenade launcher :’(

And to make sure all weapons are used online weapons change on maps every week or two. so one week most maps have primarily UNSC weapons with the occasional other. But next week it’s primarily brute weapons with the occasional other.

Loadouts? yay or neigh? Personally I’m conflicted, I like the idea of making it your choice but it lead to unbalanced gameplay, especially when the most people ended up using the BR and reduced the variation that (I believed) was supposed to happen in halo 4.

12

I think they can get the bests things from the other games, like dual wielding, the bealtiful and classical multiplayer configurations. The nostalgic weapons that we dont saw on Halo 4 like the SMG ( maybe they can put the SMG with the supressor as an option). Play as a elite used to be cool too. New and massive assassinations. An UNSC air vehicle (to campaign and multiplayer). New Awesome armors, maybe something more military as in Halo Reach.

13

I think a super large scale battle front like game would work well as a side game like odst.
ps: would definitely play as an odst

14

That’s quite a Christmas list, pal. I’ll be happy if we just get firefight back, personally.

15

Invasion, Infection, and action sack to say the least