343i have steadily and sorta consistently been releasing all the Halo gametypes/playlists since release last year, but the one mode that Infinite needs the most is probably Warzone.
Warzone was a mode that came out with Halo 5, it was 12v12 PvPvE and was based on Strongholds. It was really cool because it opened up crazy situations and battles due to all the REQ’s available and the AI enemies.
Now I am not whimsical, this would have to be a major investment from 343i’s perspective. So this would be the focus of an entire season, so basically Season 4 or 5 or 6 and so forth. Most of the basics are already in place, 12v12 maps, bosses, some variants (though it would obviously need to be expanded over time to incorporate a lot of new ones), so the difficult part for them would be adding variants but realistically one could argue that many have already had the legwork done on them in Halo 5 so they could be ported over most likely.
The real difficulty with this mode would be how its done. I think the basics are already set, but do AI’s really contribute to the mode? Is the scaling fair? How would retrofitting Infinite maps for Warzone actually pan out in terms of gameplay? I think Warzone is needed. BTB is just not interesting enough in its current form long term, there needs to be another good solid gametype added to it for it to be great, something ideally that makes Stockpile sort of irrelevant.
343i have a tendency to throw out ideas by the bushel each release, yet I think Warzone was probably one of their best ideas. We could argue about its execution but the core idea was cool. Warzone should make a comeback in 2023 at the earliest. Tons of potential.
id say the likely hood of them making any large game mode beyond btb is low given the recent cancellation and push delays/push backs. it feels like they want to minimize what they have on their plate and take things slow
yes they obviously wouldn’t be able to until after Season 3, but there’s a lot of time between now and never.
Now we could still absolutely argue that its nowhere near priority number 1 for them, but I think from a content perspective it would do wonders.
While i did not care for Warzone i would agree here a bit.
Regarding Warzone i hated REQs. They are a bad design and grinding for random unlocks that have a set amount of uses are bad. I would be fine with REQs if once you unlocked a card you had it forever. The unlock process would have to be very specific too ex: you kill this boss you unlock his weapon.
Also we would need way way way more AI on the field to feel entertaining. Titanfall got it right with its Attrition mode if this is the style of play you want.
As for BTB, the biggest problem is is how weak vehicles are. There are a couple reasons for this:
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Narrow paths restrict vehicle movement to very predictable and not very helpful places
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There are more readily available anti vehicle counters than any any other Halo
- shock nades at multiple spots on the map
- shock weapons on the map
- usually a hydra on each base
- rockets, nades, skewers, snipers are also on the map
- the grappling hook makes it way too easy to hijack
- can stop smaller vehicles with a repulsor
No map is really designed for BTB with vehicles which is what usually lead to my most fond BTB memories. We need more open maps like Sandtrap, Valhalla, and Blood Gulch to return along with symmetrical vehicle spawns. On top of this we need to cut the dynamo nades map spawns to just 1 and you only get one nade at a time or they need to become like the Power Drain from Halo 3 and be an equipment instead of a grenade. On top of this they should have to make direct contact with a vehicle to stun it and upon contact they are destroyed but the stun is actived. With all the other counters to vehicles they should still be fair.
One last thing. Some vehicles do kill quick but they also die crazy fast. Lower their damage and buff their health by a good bit. Vehicles just do not last any time in Halo Infinite. Outside of a grapple i can’t remember vehicles trading sides as they die so fast. In older Halos vehicles used to trade sides much more often.
reqs are farrr better then their current go to for money grinding.
not to mention it was extremely easy to get req packs
Hm . Interesting thoughts. I wouldn’t mind seeing warzone again in Halo Infinite. Good idea.
It would obviously not have P2W mechanics, so they’d probably just put the FOB’s from the Campaign (I mean the weapon lockers basically) into the BTB maps, then it follows similar progression to Halo 5 where it went from level 1-9 and so forth.
You’ve never played with or against a good team I reckon? Vehicles are nuts now. Maybe the Chopper is sorta trash, but Ghosts, Warthogs, basically any vehicle besides mongeese and Choppers are really good in BTB. What happens I’ve found is vehicles will just solo push into enemy base, get wrecked, and act surprised the enemy team pushes back. If a team supports the vehicles they are insanely strong. I remember vividly playing a match of Team Slayer Ranked or whatever back in the Halo 3 days, me and my friends literally could not destroy the Warthog. The gunner literally went like 25-0… This is not those days any longer. The game is better balanced.
I would argue that the AI just detracts way too much from the objective/gunplay. You are trying to capture a zone/base then you get killed by a random crawler or whatever, then you consider how annoying bosses are where your team will spend minutes killing one then enemy shoots one rocket and steals it…
I also think that in order for Warzone to work on Infinite’s current BTB maps they’d have to not have AI enemies, or at least only have bosses or something. tons of grunts/cannon fodder would not be possible without much larger maps (Deadlock probably could fit all of it lol) so I think if they do bring back Warzone I’d prefer it to be just PvP exclusively.