Hey guys, this is my view of how Halo 5's multiplayer could be.
I believe this would be the best way to make most of the Halo fans happy, from the fans of the original trilogy that dislike the changes in Halo 4, to the fans who do like the way Halo has changed over time.
Please take the time to read all of this and comment, I am interested in what everyone thinks, including both Halo 4 haters and Halo 4 fans.
Armor abilities
I believe that a lot of the hate for armor abilities is misplaced.
While I agree with the people who think that armor abilities do not work well in Halo, and promote unbalanced game play with the way they are currently implemented, I do not believe that getting rid of them from the game entirely is the best solution.
The way I see it:
. They should NOT be a part of the loadouts. Instead, there should be only 1 on each map, and they should be something you have to work for.
. They should not last forever and they should have only a few uses in them.
. They should be cleverly chosen and specific to each map.
I imagine a map like Sandtrap having a jetpack an equal distance from each team.
It would not give the team who was using it a huge advantage in terms of kills, because if you were to fly up on such an open map as Sandtrap and shoot someone, you would be exposed and it would be very risky.
Instead, it could be used to help get from the lower parts of the map, to the higher parts.
Here are some more examples I imagine:
Haven - Promethean vision (would be helpful when running around the perimeter)
Solace - Thruster pack (help to escape grenades on the top part of the map)
Exile - Hologram (to trick people walking in or out of the narrow caves)
Ragnarok - Regeneration field (safety for players trying to hold down the middle hill)
You get the idea! This would mean that they wouldn't be missed (by fans of armor abilities), but also would not ruin the game for people who highly value balance in their Halo experience!
To help you see what I am getting at with this, think back to the days of team rockets.
You remember how most people did not like team rockets and would veto it? Yet when playing normal slayer on a map with rockets, most people would love to pick them up and would do what they could to get them!
That’s because there’s a huge difference between everyone starting with something, and everyone having to work hard in order to obtain it.
When everyone starts with something, the novelty wears off very quickly.
It is no different with armor abilities.
Loadouts
I am one of those people who values balance in their Halo experience and thinks that everyone should start out on equal terms, so you might be expecting me to say that loadouts shouldn't exist at all, but this is how I view it.
I actually enjoy being able to customize and choose my weapons in Halo 4, but there is 1 thing that can ruin this completely, and that is weapon balance.
In Halo 4's current state, I believe that the Carbine, BR, Light rifle and DMR are too unbalanced to work together in the way they should.
As we all know, the majority of people choose DMR, there is almost no point in choosing any other weapon for your primary because you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.
I don’t think powerful weapons like boltshot should be in the loadouts, neither should Plasma pistol as this makes it far too easy to take down vehicles, I think that a weapon that can easily stop or destroy a vehicle should be something you have to pick up.
Sprint
I really don’t have a problem with everyone having sprint as a default, it is something that I miss when playing older Halo games.
I think that as long as it is fast enough to be useful, but not so fast that it can easily be abused, then it isn’t really a problem.
Ordnance drops
This is one of my least favourite additions to Halo 4, simply because it promotes too much randomness and throws off the balance of the game.
But instead of saying it should go completely, I am trying to think outside of the box.
Before you dismiss my ideas here, take the time to actually visualize it happening in a game.
First of all what is bad about ordnance drops?
1. Randomness – One team might be getting needlers and grenades, while the other is getting binary rifles and incineration cannons, purely based on luck.
2. Frequency - Ordnance drops come up too often (in my opinion).
3. Power weapons – Something as game changing as power weapons should not be provided to one team only, but should only ever appear on the map in the same spot so that both teams have an equal opportunity to obtain it.
So what is my solution?
1. Take away randomness, so that the same things come up for both teams.
2. The frequency of the drops should be reduced to about a half or a third of what it is now.
3. Power weapons and power ups should be taken out.
Let me take this further, and here is where people may disagree with me if they don’t visualize it first.
I think weapons should not be in ordnance drops at all, I think that ordnance drops should have an ammo refill option and a grenade refill option.
The grenade option would give you back whatever grenades you use, and the ammo refill would give you more ammo in both your weapons.
Another thing I imagine is that when you get an option for an Ordnance drop, it is on a timer of about 1 to 2 minutes (or whatever turns out best), so that it cannot be saved until the end of the game.
This would reduce the chance of getting a power weapon and refilling it whenever you want.
I think that having ordnance drops work this way would encourage more teamwork and communication, because a grenade or ammo refill might benefit someone else on your team more than it does for yourself.
The conversations would be more like, “Ok I’ve got an Ordnance drop, does anyone need a grenade refill? I’ve placed them in the yellow corner”.
With Ordnance drops in Halo 4, when you get one it is like, “Oh sweet I’ve got a saw! Time to destroy the other team”.
Tactical packages and support upgrades
I honestly don’t have much of an opinion on these and I really can’t tell if they actually change the balance of the game in any noticeable way. They seem subtle enough not to really matter.
It seems to me that the community overall are quite indifferent to tactical packages and support upgrades, as most of the complaints are about other things like weapon balance and ordnance drops.
So I personally don’t think it matters whether they keep these in Halo 5 or not, they seem to be more for the novelty of being able to customize, which I have no problem with.
Thank you for reading if you managed to get through it all!
So I want to ask the people who do like Halo 4’s multiplayer, do you think my ideas sound good? Would you still enjoy Halo if it was this way?
To the people who dislike Halo 4’s multiplayer, do my ideas sound like they would make Halo multiplayer good again? If it still doesn’t sound ideal, what would you tweak to make it even better?
