All I don’t like is that ever since Halo 2, Halo games have been changed in ways that support random-play, over skill.
Halo 3 introduced a few good features:
Ability to see sidearm on back - Removed the random factor of not knowing who could whip out a Sword or Rocket on you at any second.
Removed several glitches and created the first solid Halo Multiplayer experience.
Bullet Travel Time in LAN games introduced a skill gap previously lacking in regular BR v BR combat.
But then they threw on the bad:
Equipment you CANNOT see on the player’s persona.
Random Bullet Spread on almost all weapons, worst on the BR and Carbine.
Overpowered, and often at times seemingly random Melee attack damage.
Bullet Travel Time in Online games created an even larger random factor.
Then Halo Reach fixed only one notable thing:
Hitscan returned for the sake of online play.
And introduced a slew of random.:
Grenades now overpowered and aim assist.
Melee attacks guarantee at least a trade of kills.
Reticle Bloom spam TOO effective on DMR.
Armor Abilities off spawn… nuff said.
What most of us want to see is Halo return to a less random state. Keeping a few lessons learned from previous games, and evolving. For instance.
We all WANT to see secondary weapons appear on the player’s model. But that shouldn’t be all. We should be able to see their grenades on their belt, and whatever equipment they have.
Armor Abilities should prioritize over equipment, but should be collected from the map in standard play, and be blatantly obvious on a character (much like the Jetpack), as opposed to a hidden little colour difference on the hindside (Forerunner Vision makes the Visor glow, Hologram appears on the Spartan’s Chest etc). As well, I believe all of us would like them to be able to be used up (Jetpack lasts for 20 seconds of airtime, Hologram gives you 5 holos etc), or only last a period of time, but be constantly active, much like Active Camo or an Overshield.
One feature I am growing to like the idea of is customized loadouts, HOWEVER. This should NOT allow you to start with “Armor Abilities”, “Modifications”, or your own Grenade type. And should be fairly limited in selection. You should always be forced to choose between Utility Weapons as a Primary (BR, DMR, Carbine, Magnum etc), and Automatic Weapons as a Secondary (AR, PR, Repeater, Spiker, etc.).
This leaves Taboo weapons like the Needler and Plasma Pistol, and Power Weapons like the Shotgun and Sniper, on the map. And doesn’t give too much variety, everyone starts off with the same relative ability to combat other players, but decides on personal preference between similar-caste weapons.
I am ALSO growing to like the new method of power weapon spawning on the map. While I feel “Taboo” weapons should still be on set timers, in set locations. The idea of being given new waypoints/locations for weapon spawns and timers for when they will spawn, so all players on the map know where they will be, and when, is brilliant. BUT the initial spawn for all of these weapons MUST be preset, and feel fair and Symmetrical. And this system will only work if player spawns are akin to Halo 2’s asymmetrical map spawn-style (Prioritizing teammates to spawn relatively close to other players on their team). While during Objective games, in which the spawns must be static, Power Weapons must spawn in set locations at all times. Or at the very least, prioritized so any weapon that spawns near a team-location ALWAYS spawns closer to that base, and any that spawn in middle ALWAYS spawn somewhere on the middle line of the map.
Just things like this. Change is ok, in fact, change is something we all crave for after growing bored with a game in a series. But this change MUST consider the fact that we still want a game where our skill out prioritizes randomness in 99% of the combat in the game. If a player is radically worse than me, he should only be able to beat me if he has a power weapon in it’s correct environment, I screw up, or he gets lucky and throws a really good nade, or manages to hit all of his shots after shooting first.