- VMidnightShadeV
- |
- Noble Member
One of the few and the proud, a Mythic Conqueror, I am.
Note: All of these additions can be implemented after the game's release because it would be a matchmaking change. One similar to the changes Bungie makes every month to Halo 3's matchmaking. At the very least it could be put in an auto-update. The release date wouldn't have to be pushed back.
Firefight sounds like a great addition to the Halo universe. It will bring co-op play to Xbox Live in conjunction with the competitiveness of Multiplayer. But what can Bungie do to maximize it's true potential?
First, everyone has friends in their friends list, but are your friends wanting to do the same thing as you at the same time? Are they even playing the same game? Most often not. It can be rather cumbersome to find a large enough group of friends to make a good custom game. That is why Firefight should be available both through custom games and matchmaking.
If matchmaking were implemented into Firefight, then you could start up a game of Firefight immediately without having to wait on your friends. Also, because it is in matchmaking, there will have to be some way of tuning Firefight to the skill levels of the players matched. That is where a special Firefight ranking system will come in.
Firefight will have the same ranks as any other ranked playlist. However, the ranks in this gametype have a much larger affect on the gameplay. When you are just starting out in Firefight,(level one) you will play matchmade Firefight on normal. As you progress through the ranks, you will play at a higher and higher difficulty. You will progress through the ranks based on how far you make it in that particular match of Firefight. This way it would be a team based playlist, because if one person uses all of the team's lives, then the whole team suffers.
I know what you're thinking. What about the quitters? This issue has plagued online multiplayer since its advent. Bots are a common solution, but because lives are shared it would only hurt the team more. A proper solution would be to automatically alter the number of enemies in the following waves to preserve a fair enemy to player ratio. (Credit to RigaTony for bringing this to my attention).
As well as a ranking system in-game, there would also be leaderboard stats on Bungie.net. In this manner, teams all over the world would be competing for the top score on each difficulty.
Firefight is a new and exciting way to play Halo. It can either be underplayed and underutilized, or it can be one of the best gametypes in the Halo universe. All of this depends on how willing Bungie is to maximize it's potential.
(Any other ideas and suggestions are welcome. If they are good enough, I will quote them in the original post).
- vMidnightShadev
[Edited on 06.12.2009 10:50 AM PDT]