I really want armor to be unlock from achievements or accomplishments, like absolute dog was saying. I want my armor to mean something again, to really show what I have done in the course of this game. That means rank should not unlock any pieces because its an obvious stat to find, but instead you should have to do very specific things.
Examples: Recon- get 10 kills in a game with the sniper, Operator- get 3 kills with 3 different weapons in a single game, Hayabusa- find and collect all skulls (gotta have my power ranger armor back!), Scout- get 10 assists in one game, EOD- get 1,000 kills with your AR, Mark IV- complete the campaign on heroic, Haunted Helmet- Get 100 steaktaculars, 5 perfections, 3 killionaires, and 20 kills in a slayer game, Mechanical arm- use the health pack 100 times and get 1,000 beatdowns.
The idea is all armors are possible for any level or rank of player but their difficulty range from easy to hard. This way, if you see someone with the haunted helmet, you know theyre a scary good player and you should respect them. And it also makes people proud of what theyve done and their armor, earning something is always the best way of making it special.
Two other important ideas:
-Please bring back the katanna. We need a special way to show off getting all achievements for the game, and the katanna was an excellent way of doing that and looking badass. It promoted players to do their best to earn these achievements, which is always a good thing.
-Someone mentioned this in another thread and its an amazing idea (if it was you please claim it), fade and scratches on your armor for how long you have been playing. Looking at the spartan armor in reach, its scratch and faded in places all across it to show age and wear and tear. It would be an amazing idea that this state is only unlockable by winning 1,000 games or by playing 1,000 games or some extension of that. So veteran players have a form of distinguishing themselves from newer players. Plus that is just super stylish!