PROZAC77

Let us place "targets" that have aim magnetism, and let us set a point value if they get shot/blasted. Training maps galore if this happens! Bonus: give us the option of letting targets shoot back for some serious training!

Bullet, looked to me like you argued there would be a meaningful ranking system, then people challenged your argument and you fell back on "I know, we don't know whether they will have a meaningful ranking system". Like those above, I'd love to see a "both and" scenario, unlockable pixels and credits, along with something that demonstrates skill. Frankly, I don't care how much pixel crack they make unlockable, as long as we have a ranking system that provides some measure of skill (and competitive play).

Don't kid yourself... betting Halo 3 goes offline shortly before/after Halo 4 release. Jumping back to Halo 3 won't be an option for long.

I'll preorder, but probably won't do the midnight release. I probably wont order any special editions this time around unless it comes with an actual working plasma grenade.

Honestly, I'll buy Halo 4 even if I suspect its junk. But I won't play it unless I stay interested, and racking up credits to unlock armor pieces and weapons wont be enough (I don't play COD for a reason). I NEED a meaningful ranking system to stay interested and to ensure competitiveness. Everyone talks about the prestige of earning a rank that tells everyone how good you are, but lets not forget that it also ensures you play against people roughly the same skill as you. I WANT to play against skilled players so I can get better. I'm sooo tired of bottom feeding in Reach matchmaking!!!

Shiv has it right. PLEASE include a (meaningful) ranking system. Frankly, I'm glad people are creating lots of threads on this topic, because 343 NEEDS to know how important this is to fans, and we haven't seen any indication that its going to offer ranked play (in fact, we can infer the opposite from many of the new features, like join-in-progress). Keep up the fight, Shiv.

I'm looking forward to seeing Halo 4, but I'm also getting a bit nervous. From what I'm reading it sounds like many changes will raise the "random" factor. I don't think random=great gameplay. Frankly, that "What a cluster!" sense of randomness is why my COD disks are collecting dust. One of the things I have always LOVED about Halo is the great balance between skill and strategy. Games have momentum and there is an ebb and flow. Anticipating whats about to happen in the game is as important as seeing whats on the screen. They might be up by 10, but if you play smart or time a power wep right it can shift the momentum and change the game. I'm really hoping that with Halo 4 that sense of structure to MM games is retained. Threats to that sense of "order" to the game include: Join In-progress: Most of the time people quit out there is a reason: they are getting outplayed. Its their way of conceding the battle. I HATE joining a game in progress where my team is getting humiliated and I'm the replacement meat shield for people who quit out. I also loathe besting a team and having half of them quit out, only to see them replaced by champs. Please let people earn their own wins and losses. Instant Respawn: Spawn times create a built-in momentum that I love. It gives a penalty for getting out-played and rewards the other team for their accomplishment. In an objective game good teams are always calling out how many enemies are down, and it gives you some time to heal or grab an objective. Spawn times also protect teams from BAD players since it slows down the rate at which they can die and doom their own team to failure. Custom Gear and Loadouts: I LOVE the fact that in Halo a noob has just as good of gear as a pro. Nobody had to grind for an in-game advantage, so I can play on ANY of my several accounts without worrying about whether a weapon is unlocked. Someone who plays all day has no in-game advantage over a casual gamer. And when a game starts you have a really good idea of what your enemies are coming at you with. You know what you should do to avoid damage from that particular weapon, or how many shots you can take before dying to it, or which weapon you should pick up to counter it. That sense of "order" to the battle distinguishes it from those games where your always going "WTF!" (eg Action Sack, or random spawn customs). Random weapon spawns: Weapon spawns are one of the most strategic elements of Halo. Setting up to get a key power weapon, or avoiding an area the enemy just got one, is a key tactic to the game. Random weapons change that for the worse. Encountering a shotgun on a level where there shouldn't be a shotgun, or where its unbalanced? Or having a mosh-pit rush to an advertised spawn? Ugh. Am I the only one getting a little nervous?

One of the things I love about games like Madden is they give you metagames, which let you hone your skills outside of the "regular game". Halo could rock this if they just added targets (with magnetism) to Forge. If we had actual "targets" in forge we could design and play our own metagames to improve our skills like shooting accuracy, strafing, noscopes, etc. and challenge friends to beat our "highscores". Suggestions include: Let us place targets that are shaped like heads (circles) or Spartans. They should have the same magnetism as any enemy. Let us assign a point value to shooting/sticking the targets Give us paths to make targets move (straight to a specific point, random between points, etc) Give us the option to let them shoot back Let us give the target a skill level for its shooting accuracy (easy, medium, etc) The possibilities here are endless, I'd spend mad hours forging and playing these types of maps to beat my/friends high scores and work on my Halo skills.