We know that 343 has been listening - H4 updates are proof of that - and so I think it’s possible to take a guess at what’s in store for HX1. This is just what we expect to be in the game, not what we hope for. My predictions:
-More Vertigo-style maps with interactive elements
-Powerups on maps
-A ranked/social division (I doubt Josh Menke of SCII fame would want to develop a ranking system that can only be seen on Waypoint)
-A greater distinction between social and ranked than in previous games - social would be more H4-like, ranked would be old style Halo
-Grenade Launcher
-A divisional ranking system, tougher than even H2 (based on what I’ve seen of Josh Menke’s tweets)
-Something in between Forge World and Forge Island
-Togglable sprint
-A change of some sort to AAs, perhaps pickup-only or togglable to equipment, perhaps varies between ranked and social
-No PPs, Boltshots or Plasma Grenades in loadouts
-Several old gametypes that they had to cut from Halo 4 due to time constraints
-Longer campaign for the same reason
-A campaign hub level, as we saw in ODST and was intended for Halo 4
-New weapons with new purposes, as opposed to buffed versions of older weapons as we saw in Halo 4
-The pre-update Boltshot as a power weapon, minus reload glitch (that or they’ll just get rid of it)
-Smaller DLC maps
-Bundle DLC
Most of the reasons you listed are kinda what some people hope for. I don’t, however expect them to make Social basically Infinity, and ranked basically classic…
Some of these problems would be fixed with gametype specific loadouts, prohibiting you from spawning with anything “unfair” that the community says. Other than that, most of this is more likely to happen, but with even more than what you listed… the community has been saying a lot about space battles, new weapons, vehicles, theater, campaign, ranking, sorting, firefight, etc… They probably are trying to implement these things.
I expect them to do a league play/arena/seasonal playlist , keeping sprint ,keeping custom loadouts, more ways to customize your spartan, changing AAs(either making them similar to crysis or some game types may or may not have map pick ups) , an open world campaign , increasing 16 players to something bigger , and more settings for custom games.
Other than that I don’t really expect the next halo to be like this or the previous halos.
shorter campaign- firefight 3.0- fewer weapons- mendicant bias- return to the ark- forerunner vehicles- triumphant return of the flood- custom loadouts and AAs remain unchanged- cortana is hinted to be alive somewhere- chief sings a duet with cortana (“somewhere out there” from fievel: an american tale)
I hope:
no more fireteam majestic- the bad death of paul demarco- cortana is dead and we all just have to live with it- arbiter levels like halo 2- halsey goes back to being an off-screen character- infinity gets destroyed- humanity is fighting a loosing battle- oni realizes that the spartan iv project is a failure and goes back to using child soldiers- chief gets to hunt down and liquidate the spartan iv’s because none of them are believable characters and only cheapen the story
> -A ranked/social division (I doubt Josh Menke of SCII fame would want to develop a ranking system that can only be seen on Waypoint)
> -A greater distinction between social and ranked than in previous games - social would be more H4-like, ranked would be old style Halo
> -A divisional ranking system, tougher than even H2 (based on what I’ve seen of Josh Menke’s tweets)
Eh… I would still put this under the ‘hoping for’ category. I’m still not convinced they fully understand the value of an in-game ranking system otherwise they would’ve implemented one in 4 from launch. Yes they’ve released a few updates but the game was already flawed to begin with, and putting in social/ranked playlist separation would’ve completely gone against their casual COD-like mentality.
Unless 343 completely changes their entire mindset about Halo for HXB1, and shows it to us well in advance, I have little faith in their desire to make it more competitive.
Campaign:
-Non-linear levels that reward exploration and offer many ways to approach given situations.
-A great story, maybe even the best since Halo 2
Multiplayer:
-Weapons on the map everywhere in a less random way than Halo 4
-A Legendary playlist or playlists available at launch or, preferably this.
-The return of most (75%) of the gametypes that were cut between Reach and 4 as well as new additions.
-Interactive maps.
-Playable Elites (for the thousands of fans that will no doubt use them, though not for me).
Spartan Ops/Firefight:
-Playing pre-existing modes (non-edited ones) on Firefight should reward players with the same XP they would earn on Matchmaking. This would allow me to play ODST Firefight and still get rewarded as opposed to Reach’s horrible arcade Firefight. Or 343i could just include a proper Firefight playlist.
-If Spartan Ops returns, I hope for new content every week (be it a map or a completely unique mission like a Scarab battle) otherwise it’s not worth it (as much as I love the story cut-scenes).
Forge, Customs and Theatre:
-Forge and Customs need all the options that were taken away and many, many more. Games like Trials Evolution have such far reaching possibilities in their map editors that there are loads of maps that aren’t even motorcycle related. I want to see that level if customization with Forge and Customs even if we don’t get a full-on terrain editor.
-Different pallets for different Forge maps. One map could have gray Forerunner walls, another could have a homey wooden type of walls, others could have cement and Covenant walls, UNSC and civilian walls… The possibilities are endless. This is one things that needs variety (and why not, it happened in Halo 3). Maybe all maps could include all skins so that we could just change them in the item-menu.
-Theatre needs to work for all game modes and party-viewing should be allowed (without splitscreen, though).
I expect it to be Halo 4 2.5, except with an armor mod that will make the boltshot rapid fire for only $150.00! And also the complete removal of Custom Games and Forge, the removal of Spartan Ops and Firefight, completely CoDified, horrible lag, dedicated servers hosted in Antarctica, and the Kinect will serve as the controller.
• Lots and lots of armor with the Mk. V, VI, and ODST sets being there on disk.
• Every weapon and vehicle in Halo 4 returning with some old favs reappearing.
• Simple Loadout system for the basis of the game. Primary and Secondary weapons, a single grenade, and an AA. No perks. Take some of the mods from Halo 4 and just make them base traits every one shares.
• Some kind of third mode wether it be SOps season two or Fire Fight. Just improve it which ever one it is and put in skulls, custom options, and a scoring system.
• Leaderboars for Campaign, MM, and SOps/FF with a ton of stats.
> We know that 343 has been listening - H4 updates are proof of that - and so I think it’s possible to take a guess at what’s in store for HX1. This is just what we expect to be in the game, not what we hope for. My predictions:
>
> -More Vertigo-style maps with interactive elements
> -Powerups on maps
> -A ranked/social division (I doubt Josh Menke of SCII fame would want to develop a ranking system that can only be seen on Waypoint)
> -A greater distinction between social and ranked than in previous games - social would be more H4-like, ranked would be old style Halo
> -<mark>Grenade Launcher</mark>
> -A divisional ranking system, tougher than even H2 (based on what I’ve seen of Josh Menke’s tweets)
> -Something in between Forge World and Forge Island
> -Togglable sprint
> -<mark>A change of some sort to AAs, perhaps pickup-only or togglable to equipment, perhaps varies between ranked and social</mark>
> -<mark>No PPs, Boltshots or Plasma Grenades in loadouts</mark>
> -Several old gametypes that they had to cut from Halo 4 due to time constraints
> -Longer campaign for the same reason
> -A campaign hub level, as we saw in ODST and was intended for Halo 4
> -New weapons with new purposes, as opposed to buffed versions of older weapons as we saw in Halo 4
> -<mark>The pre-update Boltshot as a power weapon, minus reload glitch (that or they’ll just get rid of it)</mark>
> -<mark>Smaller DLC maps</mark>
> -Bundle DLC
I have to disagree with some of these, as they seem to be based on your opinions, not hard fact. i have seen no evidence of 343 even mentioning the Boltshot as a Power weapon.
