Spartan Ops Ideas/Suggestions

[Lord ET3RNAL]

Hey, I'm new to these forums and I'd like to give my suggestions and ideas toward the future of Spartan Ops. Season 1 was an alright start, but for Season 2 and onward we need a big makeover.

 

New Enemies

I want more variety with our foes. Some older enemies can return (Brutes, Drones, etc), and some newer ones can be designed. The Brutes should me more aggressive and beefier than the Elites, but less accurate and strafe/dodge less often. They could replace Elites for some chapters, and while it may not seem like it would work story-wise, there's definitely a way to include them. I believe Drones should appear in panicky times, sort of like in Mission 2 of Halo 3. Maybe one future season of Spartan Ops can have a 2-4 week halloween special with the flood temporarily returning and the Spartan-IVs defeating them. They would be accidentally uncovered in a broken down forerunner facility like the Gas Mine in Halo 2. Then they would spread through several areas encountered earlier in the season and turn them into rotting wastelands.

 

For original enemies, I have one particular idea in mind. It is a gigantic reptilian beast that would fights similar to how the Flood Juggernaut would've in Halo 2 and the big native creatures in Halo Reach did (forgot what they were called). The Reptilian creature would use its incredibly long tail as a third limb and would swing it at players. When a bit far away, it would go on four legs and charge. It would also use scenery objects like covenant crates to throw at the player.

 

Puzzles

I think they're should be puzzles (simple or complex) in some missions of Spartan Ops. Think of the Half-life series or even platformers. My ideas include sections where you have to use a crane and simple switch puzzles.

 

Gimmicks

Some missions should have gimmicks. How about one where you and your friends get to pilot these miniature scarab-like tanks that have the width and length of a wraith but are twice as tall because of their legs. They could fire two long beam-like plasma mortars or simple plasma fire similar to that of the ghosts. How about one similar to Assault where Crimson has to arm and detonate a bomb at a Covie base. The player holding the bomb can only melee and moves slower as well which means that the other three players would have to defend him/her. How bout a sea vehicle mission where you drive these motorbpats with chainguns and you take down covenant sea vehicles. What about an escort mission with scientists and at least one must survive. Another idea of mine is one like GoW's horde where you must build up defenses and fight waves of enemies. You could call in reinforcements, weapons, vehicles, and air support. They could also have a Pelican or Broadsword mission. I also want to see one where Crimson is going to and they have thruster pack (in the beginning it would work like an unlimited Jet Pack because they'd be in space). They would also have avoid asteroids moving toward them and fight off Elite Rangers. My last idea is a sequence in one chapter where one player would have to take control of a MAC while the rest of the team fights off enemy forces on the ground.

 

Story

I want longer CG episodes, around 10-15 minutes.

 

Characters

I believe Fireteam Majestic and Sarah Palmer (if she's still alive by then) should appear as allies in gameplay). Maybe it could work as another gimmick where they need to be kept alive. If they're damaged to much, they fall to the ground and need to be revived in a time limit (30 seconds to a minute probably) or else the mission is failed. Since the Arbiter is going to appear in Spartan Ops in the future, he and his Elites should be in gameplay as well.

 

Replayability

Let's say you're not playing Spartan Ops on matchmaking because you just want to have a new, fun experience with friends. Players should be allowed to activate skulls, change the amount of lives, and edit traits. In Matchmaking, they're should be a "par", which would be an amount of time in which you're trying to complete the mission under. If the completed mission's time is under the par, you get extra XP.

 

 

 

I know all these new features would add time to Season 2 and onward's development, but it would be totally worth it. If any of you guys have more ideas/suggestions, I'd like to hear your creativity.

[Dog]

Brutes are not returning man . No fliers no brutes no nothing. Drones and brutes were at high charity while salvaged ships had basic stuff. grunts,elites,hunters,jackals

[BearClawsKiller]

Cool and creative ideas! Although we're already in to Season 2. And also 343 said there not putting in floss so unfortunately they probably won't have flood.

 

 

[Victory Element]

i greatly like you idea of adding a larger variety of objectives to spartan ops. Instead of just pushing buttons and defending a generator, add in bomb planting, retrieval of intel from enemy bases, or capturing a hill. They couldnt be inplemented in the same ways as they are in matchmaking, but they would make missions much more interesting

Edited February 13, 2013 by Victory Element

[Lord ET3RNAL]

Cool and creative ideas! Although we're already in to Season 2. And also 343 said there not putting in floss so unfortunately they probably won't have flood.

While they initially said that there won't be flood, quite a large of people are demanding more variety in Spartan Ops. Flood would definitely add to that variety. Besides, the whole Halloween special (if they had one) would not have to be canon, as it the flood would just come back for that month and are defeated again in the same month without doing any significant damage. Thus it's like they never came back in the first place.

 

Brutes are not returning man . No fliers no brutes no nothing. Drones and brutes were at high charity while salvaged ships had basic stuff. grunts,elites,hunters,jackals

Some Brutes and Drones may have survived that huge battle, just not many. I would love it if 343i back cause while Brutes aren't my favorite enemy, it would be nice to see them.

 

 

Also, thanks for the compliments guys

[paulic83]

How abouts showing the scoring system cause there definatley is 1, it always tells u ur biggest kill and how many points its worth!it would give more incentive to replay and im sure it wouldnt be to difficult!!

 

[AdmiralZ]

With regards to Lil Dog's comment about brutes and drones, they didn't have their entire species on High Charity. Brutes occupy vast stretches of space just like many other species in the Covenant, and I'd say something similar with regards to drones, but I'm not actually certain. I'd love to set the game to easy and try to punch down hoards of brutes like in the good ol' days!

 

Most of those ideas are fantastic, and a few would be fairly easy to implement. Some of the new things, reptilian beast, mini-scarab, (The Locust's kinda like that) and since they aren't in the game, brutes and drones, would take a fair bit of effort to use. They've got a sorta-flood, but I'd like to see it more bloaty and infected again.

The Pelican mission is an amazing idea, especially since it's already designed for three people to be able to use it. And it's in the game already! Just stick a turret in the back or something for the fourth guy. Broadswords would be interesting until your teammate decides to knock you into a wall and send you both to fiery oblivion.

I like the alternate objectives as well, keeping Majestic alive instead of a bunch of scientists sounds much easier. The bomb arming would probably end up like the chapter where you disarm all the Havoks, except in reverse. With regards to the MAC, they could always bring back the Mammoth. It's got vehicles, turrets, the MAC, of course, and enough weapons to keep four people stocked for a whole chapter. Defense, assault, whatever. First person to the targeter gets to fire it!

The Flood missions are really easy as far as story goes, there are Flood on Halos, there are containment procedures, there are idiots to release Flood. It writes itself. Again, I'd like to see them bloatier and more infected.

 

As a final thought, I'd like to see some in-game mention of the Precursors. Nothing major, just tidbits. Maybe a mission where you find a not-quite Forerunner artifact or something.

[Lord ET3RNAL]

With regards to Lil Dog's comment about brutes and drones, they didn't have their entire species on High Charity. Brutes occupy vast stretches of space just like many other species in the Covenant, and I'd say something similar with regards to drones, but I'm not actually certain. I'd love to set the game to easy and try to punch down hoards of brutes like in the good ol' days!

 

Most of those ideas are fantastic, and a few would be fairly easy to implement. Some of the new things, reptilian beast, mini-scarab, (The Locust's kinda like that) and since they aren't in the game, brutes and drones, would take a fair bit of effort to use. They've got a sorta-flood, but I'd like to see it more bloaty and infected again.

The Pelican mission is an amazing idea, especially since it's already designed for three people to be able to use it. And it's in the game already! Just stick a turret in the back or something for the fourth guy. Broadswords would be interesting until your teammate decides to knock you into a wall and send you both to fiery oblivion.

I like the alternate objectives as well, keeping Majestic alive instead of a bunch of scientists sounds much easier. The bomb arming would probably end up like the chapter where you disarm all the Havoks, except in reverse. With regards to the MAC, they could always bring back the Mammoth. It's got vehicles, turrets, the MAC, of course, and enough weapons to keep four people stocked for a whole chapter. Defense, assault, whatever. First person to the targeter gets to fire it!

The Flood missions are really easy as far as story goes, there are Flood on Halos, there are containment procedures, there are idiots to release Flood. It writes itself. Again, I'd like to see them bloatier and more infected.

 

As a final thought, I'd like to see some in-game mention of the Precursors. Nothing major, just tidbits. Maybe a mission where you find a not-quite Forerunner artifact or something.

With regards to Lil Dog's comment about brutes and drones, they didn't have their entire species on High Charity. Brutes occupy vast stretches of space just like many other species in the Covenant, and I'd say something similar with regards to drones, but I'm not actually certain. I'd love to set the game to easy and try to punch down hoards of brutes like in the good ol' days!

 

Most of those ideas are fantastic, and a few would be fairly easy to implement. Some of the new things, reptilian beast, mini-scarab, (The Locust's kinda like that) and since they aren't in the game, brutes and drones, would take a fair bit of effort to use. They've got a sorta-flood, but I'd like to see it more bloaty and infected again.

The Pelican mission is an amazing idea, especially since it's already designed for three people to be able to use it. And it's in the game already! Just stick a turret in the back or something for the fourth guy. Broadswords would be interesting until your teammate decides to knock you into a wall and send you both to fiery oblivion.

I like the alternate objectives as well, keeping Majestic alive instead of a bunch of scientists sounds much easier. The bomb arming would probably end up like the chapter where you disarm all the Havoks, except in reverse. With regards to the MAC, they could always bring back the Mammoth. It's got vehicles, turrets, the MAC, of course, and enough weapons to keep four people stocked for a whole chapter. Defense, assault, whatever. First person to the targeter gets to fire it!

The Flood missions are really easy as far as story goes, there are Flood on Halos, there are containment procedures, there are idiots to release Flood. It writes itself. Again, I'd like to see them bloatier and more infected.

 

As a final thought, I'd like to see some in-game mention of the Precursors. Nothing major, just tidbits. Maybe a mission where you find a not-quite Forerunner artifact or something.

 

While it would take more time/effort to add in new vehicles, enemies, etc, it would be totally worth it, and more people would be willing to pay for it.

[Igotperks]

Heres a nice idea. simple and it doesnt change anything really important. Make all episodes playable on XBL instead of whatever episode is current. Im now stuck doing all the episodes by myself because the spartan ops servers dont support the previous episodes for matchmaking. A real pain in the butt for a lot of people probably, including myself.......that needs to be fixed

 

I dont think putting all these episodes would hinder server load much at all since spartan ops isnt as big as regular matchmaking

Also for these edhancments, it can be a DCL just like any other where if you dont have it, you obviously cant play with it( this is in regards to The ideas about new vehicles and enemies. buT keep in mind new enemies and vehicles, that changes the programming world of this game more then you think.)

[Horateus]

A paste of what I posted on Halowaypoint Forums:

 

Current state of Spartan Ops from my perspective:
- Episode Introduction CG - Fantastic work on this, but I hope in the future the story is woven more deeply into what we (Team Crimson) is trying to accomplish. For the better part of the season it felt like whatever Team Crimson was doing is completely detached from Team Majestic was doing. Episode 10 did a fantastic job of actually showing that Team Majestic and Team Crimson were the only two teams racing to get the job done for the singular purpose of getting off Requiem, but the rest of the time Team Majestic and Crimson were both wandering around aimlessly. A compelling story that the average player can relate to as opposed to something the die hard halo fans can chew on will go a long way to making Spartan Ops more appealing.

- Actual Gameplay - This part needs a lot of work. I get that there isn't much to do for a first person shooter, but there is more to the game then going from point A to point B, kill everything that moves, and then push buttons. Repeat until evac. The scorpion tank mission (yea, its still the same, but hey, a scorpion tank!) in Episode 9 Chapter 3 and the loopy gravity in Episode 10, Chapter are good examples of creativity at work. I get that you can't do this for EVERY chapter, but it would be nice to have it at least once per episode.

- Voice Acting - Good stuff here. Roland and Miller are fun to listen to when they are bickering. I kinda wish Palmer would stop calling the scientists eggsheads though. Its getting kinda redundant. There is a reason they are poking around in forerunner tech, but there isn't a reason for her to continuously give them crap for it.

Wishlist for Season 2 and Beyond:

Mission Types:
- More Vehicle Superiority: Scorps v Crap ton of Wraiths, ghosts, etc.
- Air Support: Provide Fire Support for teams on the ground with Pelicans or Broadswords.
- Air/Space Superiority: Kill Banshees + Phantoms, Bomb Stuff, Attack CCS-Battlecruisers and Supercarriers, defend Infinity in Space from attacking ships. Infinity in Asteroid field? Nebula?
- Low Grav Vehicles: Spectacular air with Missile 'hogs and Rocket 'goose.
- Deep Ocean / Low Visibility: Self Explanatory
- Escort: Mammoths
- Capture: Scarabs and follow with defend and/or escort
- Turret Whoring: With Infinity Mac Guns, Mammoth/Scarab Turrets
- Space Walking: With Mantis or on foot.
- Raiding: xx minute countdown to destroy as much as possible and get out before reinforcements show up.
- Combined Operations: With the other service branches. Create the same feeling as Tip of the Spear in Reach. I refuse to believe that the only service capable of doing anything are the Spartans. If that is the case then you might as well have the Spartans scrubbing the latrines because apparently everyone else is too busy with their thumbs shoved up their butts.
- Weapon Specific: All snipey, or all rockety, or all assault rifle.

Mission Locations:
- Space/Asteroid Field/Stellar Anomaly/Nebula/Black Hole
- Low Grav
- Open Plains (Bloooooood Gullllllchhhhhhhh)
- Ocean Floor
- Mist / Fog

Actual Coop:
- Like in Gears of War, where the team is split up and take two different paths to the target and take turns covering each other. If playing solo have Roland provide 'assistance'.

This is all I can think of at the moment, but I hope more people can contribute to this. Also keep in mind that this is merely a wish list, and the suggestions I listed are mostly in line with what I believe they are capable of accomplishing with what 343 has on hand.

 

Edit:

Someone who responded to this post on waypoint also suggest an armored Grunt Overlord who dishes waves upon waves of grunts at you, and dual wields fuel rod cannons. I'll admit its not practical, but would still be awesome.