What Can 343 Do To Make Halo 5 Successful?

[spartan123]

Whats up everyone? I just wanted to start a thread about potential improvements that 343 could make to their next halo installment, since many on this forum only touch on the problems in Halo 4 and not the solutions to said problems. There are 3 important issues that I think we should address first: lack of variety in map size (too large), custom loadouts and ordinance drops (which ruin gameplay balance and make map control unimportant), and the failure of Spartan Ops (which uses recycled levels from the campaign and ceases to pique the interest of gamers with its plot). Some solutions to these problems I think 343 should implement could be 1. smaller more symmetrical maps (along with more remakes and urban environments as opposed to natural environments), 2. the absence of custom loadouts and the placement of armor abilities as items that spawn on the map that you can pick up (like equipment in Halo 3, which I also think should make a return), and 3. the return of Firefight along with a stronger Spartan Ops (which could be improved by focusing on the lives of the Spartan IIs and IIIs instead of the newer Spartan IVs; I would love to play out some of the missions from the books, like Chi Cheti and Sigma Octanus). Post whatever problems and solutions that you like; I value this community website as a way of getting in touch with the ideas of the players and sharing my own opinions, so don't hold back. 

[GoodGuy]

I think the next halo should have a lot of replayability. Once I was finished the campaign, I didn't even want to touch it anymore... The multiplayer just overall made me mad, because if you lacked skill it didn't matter because all you had to do was spam stickies and boltshot, therefore making it lack replayability and having more of a repetitive feel. But anyways, I think 343 should be a little bit more creative with 1. Maps (symmetry, it always felt like one side had an advantage) 2. Challenges (instead of killing 50 players, it could be try and get a triple kill with a pistol) 3. Playlists ( I was honestly surprised they didn't put a classic slayer pro playlist in). I realize that this was their first game (it doesn't help that Microsoft rushed them, therefore they couldn't get done with what they planned) (there were apparently some type of script for the VIP game). But they took away a lot of things I enjoyed that bungie created (and worked well). Like you said with the equipment in halo 3, they pretty much got rid of that. One thing that didn't work at all was load outs. They absolutely ruined every power weapon in the game. For example, just today I was playing a game where my enemy had a shotgun, and even though you would think that it is more powerful, I still killed him with a boltshot, and that is something you can spawn with! I think 343 should look at how the gameplay worked in halo 3 and go from there. I was honestly disappointed with the multiplayer. I also think firefight should make a return, it was what got me into halo. I had a blast from my first game on firefight on ODST. But to see them take it away was just awful. Firefight was one of those things, there was no real objective. All you did was absolutely destroy covenant! That is what made it fun for me. But yea, those are my opinions.

[spartan123]

I think the next halo should have a lot of replayability. Once I was finished the campaign, I didn't even want to touch it anymore... The multiplayer just overall made me mad, because if you lacked skill it didn't matter because all you had to do was spam stickies and boltshot, therefore making it lack replayability and having more of a repetitive feel. But anyways, I think 343 should be a little bit more creative with 1. Maps (symmetry, it always felt like one side had an advantage) 2. Challenges (instead of killing 50 players, it could be try and get a triple kill with a pistol) 3. Playlists ( I was honestly surprised they didn't put a classic slayer pro playlist in). I realize that this was their first game (it doesn't help that Microsoft rushed them, therefore they couldn't get done with what they planned) (there were apparently some type of script for the VIP game). But they took away a lot of things I enjoyed that bungie created (and worked well). Like you said with the equipment in halo 3, they pretty much got rid of that. One thing that didn't work at all was load outs. They absolutely ruined every power weapon in the game. For example, just today I was playing a game where my enemy had a shotgun, and even though you would think that it is more powerful, I still killed him with a boltshot, and that is something you can spawn with! I think 343 should look at how the gameplay worked in halo 3 and go from there. I was honestly disappointed with the multiplayer. I also think firefight should make a return, it was what got me into halo. I had a blast from my first game on firefight on ODST. But to see them take it away was just awful. Firefight was one of those things, there was no real objective. All you did was absolutely destroy covenant! That is what made it fun for me. But yea, those are my opinions.

Agree with you on pretty much everything. The custom loadouts, which I mentioned in my post and you touched upon, make power weapons on the map obsolete - why use a shotgun when you can spawn with a boltshot.  I also agree with you that they should bring firefight back, and also with campaign replayability. One of the reasons I enjoyed Halo 2's campaign was because there were so many little things that you noticed for the first time when playing back missions. Like pieces of dialogue, cool backdrops, scripted deaths, or hidden skulls. Halo 2 had so much content in its campaign that it made you want to play it over again just to discover new things. 

[Maradona]

. Get rid of the triple gun Sandbox that currently houses the BR, DMR and Carbine. The DMR has no place in games that are chronologically past Reach, which Halo 1, 2, 3 and 4 are (As reach was a prologue).

 

2. Keep the BR as a 4 shot like Halo 2 and 3 and the recent Weapon tuning update.

 

3. Scrap this leveling system they have now and revert back to the Ranking system in Halo 3; You gain "skill" in Ranked Game modes and do not in casual game modes.

 

4. Promethean version of the Energy Sword and Rocket Launcher.

 

5. Symmetrical map design like Halo 3. While Halo 4 had amazing graphics on the maps, they played out terribly and lacked the fludity of Halo 3's maps like The Pit, Narrows, Guardian etc.

 

6. Make at least 5-6 map remakes from Halo 3 and Halo 2. Preferably all the maps MLG picked up like the Pit, Contruct, Narrows and Guardian. Base the map design on the symmetry of these maps and only delve from it when a game mode entails it; like the bigger maps needed for the bigger team games.

 

7. In order to get back on to MLG, REMOVE ORDNANCE AND THE CONTRACT WITH VIRGIN GAMING. Halo isn't the same without MLG and it's saddening. Were it not for Halo, MLG would be absolutely nothing. It sickens me to see COD on the circuit and not Halo.

 

8. With the removal of Ordnance, lessen the amount of power weapons. Only power weapons needed: Sniper Rifle, Rockets, Shotgun (If you count that) and THE SAW (I liked it from Halo 4).

 

9. On the note of power weapons, have them be at pre-determined locations with timed spawns like in Halo 3. This made for less randomness and rewarded people who were good at the game and knew it well.

 

10. Make armor abilities less centralizing and instead of being from a load out, make them pick ups and limited on the maps. Camo was perfect in Halo 3 as a power-up because it didn't completely fade when firing like the AA, and it had a longer duration of use, whereas the drawback was it needed to spawn and it was a pick up power-up.

 

11. On the note of Loadouts... REMOVE THEM COMPLETELY. It works for COD, it does not for Halo. It cheapens the experience and it makes it look like Halo, which promptly revolutionized the FPS genre when it came out, is taking ideas from the most bland, overhyped and overexaggerated shooter in history!

 

All in all, a mixture of Halo 4's graphics and Armor customization, Halo Reach's Forge abilities (Because of Forge World) and Halo 3's overall gameplay and competitive viability.

[DangerousDave]

What 343 need to do is put everything in the game that the community has enjoyed before then focus on adding new things but with a beta so we could test it out.

[Victory Element]

First of all, they need to have some sort of open beta to test to game. With halo 4 they had very limited access to test out the game. Because fans got to play one match and then leave, there was not enough time for players to evaluate the game properly. With a short xbox live beta, players would have surely begun to notice the small flaws such as the DMR and boltshot. Players require time to settle into a game before they are able to compare it to what they have played in the past

 

Second, war games should have social and ranked playlists. Need I say much more?

[spartan123]

 

. Get rid of the triple gun Sandbox that currently houses the BR, DMR and Carbine. The DMR has no place in games that are chronologically past Reach, which Halo 1, 2, 3 and 4 are (As reach was a prologue).

 

2. Keep the BR as a 4 shot like Halo 2 and 3 and the recent Weapon tuning update.

 

3. Scrap this leveling system they have now and revert back to the Ranking system in Halo 3; You gain "skill" in Ranked Game modes and do not in casual game modes.

 

4. Promethean version of the Energy Sword and Rocket Launcher.

 

5. Symmetrical map design like Halo 3. While Halo 4 had amazing graphics on the maps, they played out terribly and lacked the fludity of Halo 3's maps like The Pit, Narrows, Guardian etc.

 

6. Make at least 5-6 map remakes from Halo 3 and Halo 2. Preferably all the maps MLG picked up like the Pit, Contruct, Narrows and Guardian. Base the map design on the symmetry of these maps and only delve from it when a game mode entails it; like the bigger maps needed for the bigger team games.

 

7. In order to get back on to MLG, REMOVE ORDNANCE AND THE CONTRACT WITH VIRGIN GAMING. Halo isn't the same without MLG and it's saddening. Were it not for Halo, MLG would be absolutely nothing. It sickens me to see COD on the circuit and not Halo.

 

8. With the removal of Ordnance, lessen the amount of power weapons. Only power weapons needed: Sniper Rifle, Rockets, Shotgun (If you count that) and THE SAW (I liked it from Halo 4).

 

9. On the note of power weapons, have them be at pre-determined locations with timed spawns like in Halo 3. This made for less randomness and rewarded people who were good at the game and knew it well.

 

10. Make armor abilities less centralizing and instead of being from a load out, make them pick ups and limited on the maps. Camo was perfect in Halo 3 as a power-up because it didn't completely fade when firing like the AA, and it had a longer duration of use, whereas the drawback was it needed to spawn and it was a pick up power-up.

 

11. On the note of Loadouts... REMOVE THEM COMPLETELY. It works for COD, it does not for Halo. It cheapens the experience and it makes it look like Halo, which promptly revolutionized the FPS genre when it came out, is taking ideas from the most bland, overhyped and overexaggerated shooter in history!

 

All in all, a mixture of Halo 4's graphics and Armor customization, Halo Reach's Forge abilities (Because of Forge World) and Halo 3's overall gameplay and competitive viability

Like the idea about going back to 3's ranking system. What I think 343 should do is have 1-50 for ranked playlists (like you said) and EXP progression rank for all playlists. Agree with you about bringing back the smaller, more symmetrical maps and creating them for specific gametypes. Loadouts are **** in my opinion; as I stated earlier, they ruin gameplay fluidity. I also am interested in what you said about including a Promethean melee weapon. Wouldn't it be cool to pick up the hard light blade that they carry around and use it like the energy sword? 

[Maradona]

Like the idea about going back to 3's ranking system. What I think 343 should do is have 1-50 for ranked playlists (like you said) and EXP progression rank for all playlists. Agree with you about bringing back the smaller, more symmetrical maps and creating them for specific gametypes. Loadouts are **** in my opinion; as I stated earlier, they ruin gameplay fluidity. I also am interested in what you said about including a Promethean melee weapon. Wouldn't it be cool to pick up the hard light blade that they carry around and use it like the energy sword? 

 

Yea, the Promethean weapon sounds amazing. The energy sword is one of the only weapons in Halo that hasn't really had a parallel/counterpart. The BR has had the DMR/Carbine (Carbine in every incarnation), the Sniper has had the Beam Rifle, Assault Rifle and various covenant weapons and the Magnum and Plasma pistol. But never te Energy sword which happens to be one of the most iconic weapons in Halo history.

[Composite Armour]

I agree very much with having a beta.

Can you imagine Reach if it didn't have a beta?

[BaconShelf]

It was terribad as it is now. One thing 343 did wrong was a beta, or lack of.

 

Don't hate this idea;

 

Amount of points affecting ordnance.

 

100 points= Needler, grenades, powerups, loadout weapons

 

200 points= Sticky dets, Shotgun, Railgun, Scattershot, all of the above, Swords, SAW

 

300=Sniper, Rocket, Incin, Binary, beam rifle

 

 

500+ = Obe-time-use target locator, MAC blast capacitors at the ready!

 

However, if you guy a drop at the start, you reset.(buy the Needler at start, you have to get an additional 200 for next tier. Get 200 without buying gets you a better tier.) this encourages people to save up for weapons rather than use it then. Once they cancel a drop, they cannot get it back.

 

 

 

You know what, I just want Carpet Bombs, MAC blasts and Cryo Bomvs implemented in the game. They are so much fun in Halo Waes and I always wanted to know what it would be like to see a Shortswird bomb the crap out of my/enemy team!

[Victory Element]

Another thing 343I should do is take a step back, and look at the big picture. Rather than trying to add more new features to the game, they need to focus on keeping the gameplay simple and fun. Of course, there are areas like forge and armor customization that will naturally become more complex, but this will not hurt the progress of the game. In things like campaign and war games, 343I needs to stop trying to make it "their own halo". They should examine the qualities of previous halos that made bungie so successful, and strive to improve on those factors instead of trying to become so unique.

 

I am not saying that the game should not evolve, but rather that it should evolve along the path that it first started on. Just making a reskinned halo 3 would not be the goal of this either, that is too cod-like.

[Noneed4sleep64]

I hate the idea of losing my much loved DMR in halo 5, along with loadouts, but they need an improve (no promethean or covenant weapons for Spartans, and no UNSC or promethean weapons if playing as an elite, assuming they come back)

[A6ENT of CHA0S]

Why not give the BR a single-fire mode while scoped, to take the form of a balanced DMR and prevent it from being too effective at longer ranges? The concept has been proven to work with the introduction of the Light Rifle, and we have too many precision weapons (especially when most of them have about the same preferred/effective range).

[Nazo]

They can do it very well. That's how it'll be successful.