ForgeMonitor

BLAM!--Frag grenades explode on impact. (Bungie/Halo reference)

Sup, Spark. I'd rather have the Falcon because it was so much more balanced in multiplayer. The fact that the pilot didn't control any weapons made it so that he had to position himself to benefit the gunners; this promotes a lot of teamwork. It would be nice to have the Reach Campaign Falcon variant, which gives the pilot a nice little machine gun. Also needed is an afterburner so a skilled pilot can splatter people and evade Banshee bombs. And let's face it; so many classic fails ended with someone getting sucked through the propeller.

I haven't had access to my Xbox in weeks. Despite this setback, I have still tried to stay connected to the Forging community. Unfortunately, it looks as though it will be many moons until I will be able to Forge again.. On the bright side, I have an idea for a mini-game that will be very, very fun. It's Flood-based and should be easy to Forge. Anyone who reads this can try building this map. 1. First create a cubical box without a lid out of simple flat objects. It should be big enough to hold four edge-to-edge gravity volumes at the least. 2. Fill the box with Invisible Gravity Volumes side by side facing up. There should be two layers of volumes, the purpose of which you will soon find out! 3. Fill the box with a trait zone and set it to give players Good Camouflage and Speed Boost. The former is to dampen surrounding noise, and the latter is to make the players' screens blue. 4. Place down several Rocks with the tips slightly above the top of the gravity volumes. These are for the humans to jump around on. 5. Place down small crates set on normal physics. They should bob up and down slightly. 6. Place blue Dominion shields horizontally so that they touch the top of the gravity volumes. 7. Place the Flood spawn points on the bottom of the box, and place the human spawn points on the rocks/crates. The Flood will have a dynamic experience on this map. Submerged beneath the shields, they will hear things differently, and their screens will be blue. The humans will struggle to survive on the surface as the shark-like Flood shoot out of the water--like sharks. So you see the theme of the map now? There might be some technical flaws in my directions; you might want to switch the blue dominion shields with normal shield doors, but that would be very expensive and punish the humans for accidentally walking off spawn. Good luck creating the map!

All right, "Elite" said my poll was one-sided, so I'll remove my influential opinions (lol) and make some unbiased, boring points. There are many options for Halo 5's Magnum. Each iteration throughout the saga has had its perks and flaws. In CE, the "Pistol" was great--a lightning-fast three-shot kill with 2x zoom, deadly accuracy, and a high skill-curve. Its two major flaws in my opinion were that it had a large clip (12 bullets, I believe), which forgave errant shooting, and it dominated all other non-power weapons, leading to sometimes monotonous--yet consistent--matches. In Halo 2, it was christened "Magnum" and received some new features. It was a five-shot kill and the first iteration to have an eight-bullet clip. These nerfs were added to balance out dual wielding, which brought some epic combos to the game (Pea-shooter/Magnum, SMG/Plasma Rifle). While it was rewarding to use, its kill time still made it a clear secondary to the Battle Rifle. In Halo 3 the Magnum did not change much. The Battle Rifle and Assault Rifle clearly outshone it in many respects; it was used mainly for cleaning up headshots when the primary weapon of choice ran out of ammo. It also didn't have a scope, as I recall. In Halo 3: ODST, the Magnum underwent a dramatic change. It became silenced and was pretty much useless against the Brutes; however, its scoped ability remained highly effect against Jackals and Grunts (yayyyy!!!). In Reach, the Magnum was either a 5sk or 6sk, but it shot much faster. To compensate for this, bloom was added to prevent spamming. It remained an effective weapon; in te beginning of the game, the bloom reset faster than that of the DMR. In Halo 4, the bloom remains and the Magnum is a six-shot kill. It is actually surprisingly effective--if you can manage the bloom. Firing faster makes for random outcomes, so pacing is key. Some say that a six-shot kill is not rewarding for the skill it takes to deal with bloom, or because the primary weapons are now buffed (#Halo4Turbo). Its damage was increased to promote teamshooting, but it remains a 6sk. 343i now however have the ability to tweak it with ease, so opinions on its transformation are welcome. Which Magnum was the best? the worst? Do you think there should be different variants for multiplayer and campaign (stealth levels) or should it be consistent throughout both faculties? Leave your thoughts below; I'll reset the poll questions so they are less biased and so I can recollect the information after writing this lengthy post.

ONI sends the Master Chief to kill Halsey, who has teamed up with Jul 'Mdama to get revenge on Palmer and the UNSC. The Arbiter is struggling to keep the Storm Covenant from taking Sanghelios. On a Forerunner installation manned by Prometheans guarding a sample Flood matter, the Chief finds out that Halsey knows how to retrieve Cortana from a site linked to the Librarian's key. He must choose from following orders--killing Halsey--or bringing back Cortana. Jul 'Mdama moves his fleet to take Sanghelios for the Storm, but his advance is stopped by Infinity, which--with the help of Forerunner technology found on Requiem--transports Master Chief onto the ship holding Halsey. She proposes a deal: let her escape, and she will bring back Cortana; if not, she will release the Flood from the installation. Chief chooses the first option, but the Cortana that Halsey brought back isn't the same--it downloads an advanced virus onto Infinity, crippling the ship. Halsey then goes to transport to Archive--a special place on the installation that contains all the knowledge of the Forerunners--but Chief gets pulled along with her. On the other end, Bornstellar Didact is waiting with an army of Promethean Warriors. In a desperate attempt to survive being destroyed completely, Halsey unleashes the Flood, knowing that it will unify her knowledge in the Gravemind. Arbiter, still on Sangehelios, manages to turn the Storm Covenant against Jul 'Mdama. Unfortunatey, Infinity is caught in the crossfire and is forced to abandon ship and jettison dozens of fireteams to the war-stricken surface of Sanghelios where the Prometheans await. Further chaos ensues... There might be a couple of errors in here, but I think it's a pretty solid starting point.

Skull ideas: Endurance--Armor Abilities last longer and recharge faster; Berserker--Melee damage is increased; Bowchickabowwow--All weapons that you pick up start with 69 bullets (joke).

What about a slow-moving Covenant vehicle that can use a jetpack? It would add some great height-variation in vehicular combat, and it could crush people!

Are the legs really mechanical, like the Scarabs', or are they more fluidic, like the tripods' in War of the Worlds?

Master Chief versus Prometheans, Arbiter versus Storm Covenant. The Flood come in at the last level so as not to be overly repetitive like in Halo 3.

The duration is fine, but the horizontal movement needs to be more responsive. The jetpack in Reach gave players an unfair height advantage, make it very difficult at times to get the final headshot.

I want the Falcon more than the Hornet; the former is more balanced and promotes teamwork.

@JXZAW Or they could take away 95% of armor customization and use the freed up data to store new maps or a different character--the Elite. Weapon skins are better because they are actually noticeable in-game, but twenty chest pieces that look almost exactly the same are not too essential.

I agree with Caboose; it would be better to make the Pulse grenade more like the Power Drain.

@Vehicle Destroyer: Exactly. The AA has tons of applications, but it is limited by its range and requires skillful timing. Thanks for the feedback.

@GlobalHawk722 Check out my plot outline in the thread "Any Halo 5 story ideas?". It should provide a thoroughly satisfying Campaign Also, I want to see more of the Assault Carbine that was scrapped in Halo 4. It sounds interesting.

If the Xbox3 comes out in 2013/2014 then the first game to be released for it will be Halo 2 Anniversary. This should buy 343 enough time to finish Halo 5 on time and release the game late 2015.

Maybe they will include a grenade plant option for the Hunters

I don't really mind not having Elites in Multiplayer; it was really difficult to headshot them from behind. The only reason they were in Halo 2 was because you got to play as the Arbiter in Campaign, and they didn't want to let the character model go to waste. 343 had to start from scratch, so making Elites for MP was not a priorety. I'm sure they will come back if Arbiter is in Halo 5. If you want to know what I think will make Halo 5 MP better, read my post on Personalized Personal Ordnance in the non-Arbiter pinned thread.

What do you guys want? I'm thinking of fences, the ability to forge underwater, less glaringly-bright pieces, more terrain, and more options for FX such as time of day, rain, fog, and lightning. Let's keep the ideas realistic, so please refrain from posting about forgeable AIs, terrain editors, and stuff like that. Brainstorm in the comments below new ideas that will revolutionize the Forge.

@JackalZealot You mean between Jul and Arby, right? I think Chief is going to stick with his Assault Rifle/Magnum load-out for now.

This may contain spoilers for Spartan Ops S1. ONI sends the Master Chief to kill Halsey, who has teamed up with Jul 'Mdama to get revenge on Palmer and the UNSC. The Arbiter is struggling to keep the Storm Covenant from taking Sanghelios. On a Forerunner installation manned by Prometheans guarding a sample Flood matter, the Chief finds out that Halsey knows how to retrieve Cortana from a site linked to the Librarian's key. He must choose from following orders--killing Halsey--or bringing back Cortana. Jul 'Mdama moves his fleet to take Sanghelios for the Storm, but his advance is stopped by Infinity, which--with the help of Forerunner technology found on Requiem--transports Master Chief onto the ship holding Halsey. She proposes a deal: let her escape, and she will bring back Cortana; if not, she will release the Flood from the installation. Chief chooses the first option, but the Cortana that Halsey brought back isn't the same--it downloads an advanced virus onto Infinity, crippling the ship. Halsey then goes to transport to Archive--a special place on the installation that contains all the knowledge of the Forerunners--but Chief gets pulled along with her. On the other end, Bornstellar Didact is waiting with an army of Promethean Warriors. In a desperate attempt to survive being destroyed completely, Halsey unleashes the Flood, knowing that it will unify her knowledge in the Gravemind. Arbiter, still on Sangehelios, manages to turn the Storm Covenant against Jul 'Mdama. Unfortunatey, Infinity is caught in the crossfire and is forced to abandon ship and jettison dozens of fireteams to the war-stricken surface of Sanghelios where the Prometheans await. Further chaos ensues... There might be a couple of errors in here, but I think it's a pretty solid starting point.

I just want them to put out a finished game. If 343 has the time to do that, then it will be amazing. Hopefully Microsoft won't pressure them as much as they did with Halo 4.

Here's an idea: Arby gets the keys to a Scarab.