Halo: Reach Forum
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Subject: Add a personalizable element to the game.

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Halo has a very addictive draw for competitive players, but I think it can go further. It has an epic storyline, a wealth of characters and backgrounds, limitless multiplayer abilities... and it is on this that I would like to elaborate. I will profess, I am no hardcore player, nor do I care about hardcore players and their wants. I am the target casual-gamer who plays many other games besides Halo 3. One thing that I always thought the Halo multiplayer could expand on is drawing players in and getting them attached to their characters.

Let me be clear when I say that I have absolutely no idea what the Reach: Beta will unleash, but I was hoping it would include character and playstyle personalization. Whether I'm playing a green-blooded marine, a fearless spartan, or a member of the Covenant; I want to be able to get attached to my character. The only way I see this happening is if weapons have a little bend in the way personalization and could possibly take damage in combat or incur wear and tear. The same goes for the armor. I loved the armor perms in Halo 3, great idea. Why not take it to the next level and give the pieces you put on your player actual purpose other than aesthetics? Many of the abilities are already there in the custom games lobby. Enhanced radar, speed, gravity, resistance, shields, camoflauge, and so on... I can also see that just by the image so tantalizingly emblazened upon the forum header, our multiplayer experience is in for a change.

I'm sure that the clan requests will be heard, and have been so relentlessly submitted by MLG players since 3's launch, but another personal touch to the cut and dry clan perspective would be to actually have them function as an independant army or faction. Let me explain, as I'm sure this is confusing and probably way too tall of an order, but I am nothing if I am not inventive.

Let's say that in order to start your own clan/faction, you must at least be a Major (according to H3's ranking system.) I would try to find a name that would strike fear into my opponents, something like "Ma5tur Ch33f's Pryv3t Armi" and like in H2, I would imagine that you could recruit in-game. Hopefully, it would be similar to b.net groups in the way that you need activity/min member requirements to keep from being disbanded. So, you get some friends to join in. Great! Next you set-up the clan/faction leaders, these people have control in the group ranks/forums. Afterwards you set up the privy list in which these folks would have no function other than to be separated from the peons because they are awesome for reasons beyond definition... Clan/Faction creation is Done!

Now, let's get to the fun micro-managing obsessive stuff. What makes your clan/fac different from others, besides a myriad of high-pitched voices and plethora of made-up girlfriend names? Here is where you would be issued X amount of credits to customize your group. You might be able to do things such as choose your group's camoflauge; Jungle Foliage/Desert Sand/Urban Camo/Aforementioned Camo Prints with primary/secondary color options... X credits spent. You might want to set matching clan/fac armor avatars (the player's personal avatar would appear smaller underneath.) Maybe you want the group to only wear ODST armor? Well, it'll cost, but everyone will be atypical with you issuing them all either mix and match pieces or complete sets... and your enemy won't be able to tell which of you just no-scope exterminated their squad.

Here is where rank would pull into play within the clan/fac. You can set a credit budget based on rank within the group for weapons. Everyone's playstyle is different, let them work their way up to afford the good stuff. Sergeant so-and-so is allowed 10 credits, 6 for a BR and 1 a-piece for Frag/Sticky Grenades. Wait, maybe he should just carry two frags and stock-up on BR ammo. Yeah, that's better, 6 for the BR and 2 for Frags... and 2 more for a spare clip of BR. Awesome, he is ready to roll-out. Gaining ranks within the group would allow you to be more prepared for a battle. The higher the rank, the higher the credit limit. Ultimately, I would imagine a player having 2 of each grenade, a primary weapon, a secondary weapon, equipment, and then maybe the spare credits enabling custom armor enhancements for in-game use... (such as a NAV-waypoint on the opposite team's high-roller)

Maybe things could go so far as to tailor your initial load-out at the base? All the spare weapons/grenades/equipment/even vehicles could be personalized. It would be possible to do something like this with default object type positions on maps... for example: heavy weapons go here, light vehicles here, bubble shield here... etc. I'm just kind of spit-ballin on this one, allow me to clarify. I want 6 BR's on 30 sec respawn (credits are a little tight now) and I guess all my other weapons (1 Snipe/1 Rocket/2 Pistols/Bubble Shield/Etc) will have to have 120+ sec respawns... MINIMUM (sad face) We could use some support vehicles too, I guess. I think I can afford two chaingun 'hogs in for 360 sec respawn. Okie dokie, load-out is set!

We've got a name, we've got some mean greenies, and we've got our weapons and vehicles purchased for load-out. Let's kick some ass! Fire up the clan-battle lobby and hop right in... and we won, woot! For each victory, a small increase in clan/fac EXP would be attained, go up in rank and you just got a budget increase! Lose enough and your superiors may suddenly want to tighten the belt on your spending... With higher ranks comes prestigious access to better goods/vehicles/weapons/armors. Naturally, you would only play against people with the same access as you... or maybe it would be good to throw you against harder and softer targets for a good fluctuation.

Thank you for reading this far, I have to congratulate you. Most stopped on the first paragraph and will more than probably flame me for posting a wall of text or "trying to change Halo." Like Pokemon, I've caught them all before on different posts. Add your ideas as I would love to hear them, but try to stay on the topic of Personalization. This could be towards weapons/vehicles/armors/enhancements... whatever you can come up with. Again, thanks for reading!

  • 06.19.2009 5:25 PM PDT
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the will to win is the will to destroy

it would be great to have a sort of RPG element to the game i like it

  • 06.19.2009 5:30 PM PDT

Proud Member of Arm the Flag, creators of quality machinima. Join today! Make sure to ask for Divine Plan ;)

Played Chromehounds much? :p
It would be good to have that sorta customisability, but it'd be a fine line where to stop. Too much, and it creates a sort of side game, where you have to think about how you'll customise your character, detracting from the shooter part of the game. If you put to little, it'll be token and useless :p

  • 06.19.2009 5:30 PM PDT

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Yeah, I would naturally leave the balance up to Bungie. Also, I've never played Chromehounds, look me up, heh.
GT: Vault Tec

Anyway, to be completely honest, I wanted something along the lines of SoA in a Halo clan format. SoA = Soldiers of Anarchy. I'm not sure if it was innovative, but it was the first time I played a game where all of your weapons/units/vehicles/ammo had to be bought or recovered from fallen soldiers... sometimes even stolen.

Imagine that you have this imaginary base your clan operates out of, it has FINITE amounts of vehicles/weapons/armor/even AMMO in stock. Every shot you take counts, every gun you recover counts, every credit you earn replenishes your stock in said base. Wins suddenly become very important while losses... well, they can be staggering.

Granted, this is way too overboard for just about anyone but myself. Personally, I loved the tension and had to adjust my playstyle in order to survive. I had limited troops that I pulled from a pool so I suddenly cared much more for them. This could be converted over to Halo format with a lives pool already implemented in Firefight. Higher rank = more credits towards what you think is important. More Spawns or More Ammo? BR or maybe AR start to save cash... Frags over stickies, they cost more. Etc...etc...etc. This kind of adaptation would make it a resource battle just as much as a skill battle, which turns off lots of people. I would just love to have some kind of inventory intensive FPS game launch... hell, maybe I'll make it.

  • 06.19.2009 5:44 PM PDT

Proud Member of Arm the Flag, creators of quality machinima. Join today! Make sure to ask for Divine Plan ;)

Although I'd love this in a game, I feel like it would make it lose some of the Halo 'flavour'.
To me, Halo has been about total war. You're not some guerrilla faction, hiding in a forest. You're a interstellar organisation pushed onto the back foot, and you'll do anything to survive.
In any other place, yes. But I don't feel like it would work with the Halo story. Well, maybe sometimes but defenitly not with Reach, which was a massive pitched battle.

  • 06.19.2009 5:51 PM PDT

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Yeah, I would just like a little personalization... other than aesthetics. I'm happy with whatever I'll get, but Bungie should take it as a compliment that I'm salivating for more depth.

  • 06.19.2009 5:54 PM PDT

But DIPPING STICKS Skyler...

"There are shadows for the shadows of things, as a reflection seen in a mirror of a mirror. We know there are circles within circles and dimensions beyond dimension. Reality is itself a shadow, only an appearance accepted by those whose eyes shun what might lie beyond." -Louis L'Amour-

I'm happy just as long at some point bungie will be able to implement giant battles on battlefields the size of the Grand Canyon, but I guess my dream is a long ways off since 150 man teams are completely out of the question. Lack of technology to handle that kind of connectivity among game systems spread across the globe is currently out of our hands... maybe 15 years down the road? BTW I like the way your trying to think outside the box, keep it up... after all your just pondering possibilities...

[Edited on 06.19.2009 6:11 PM PDT]

  • 06.19.2009 6:09 PM PDT

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Thanks bro, I appreciate the compliment. That might be the first one I've gotten on these forums.

150 Man teams are not quite impossible, you just have to sacrifice too much to call it Halo. Graphics would obviously take a hit, unfortunately, more than that would have to go... Like you said, down the road maybe... with better tech. 32 or 64 man teams are NOT out of the question, however. All you would need are dedicated servers to take out the relay and networking problems... well then, maybe Bungie is already working on that? Dedicated servers are something we've asked for... since a long time now. Huh, we may have just cracked one of the very possible wishes granted for Halo: Reach.

  • 06.20.2009 5:50 PM PDT

I think if any other element of customization should be added, it's more armor customization. Such as knives, straps, leg permutations, glove permutations, etc etc.

  • 06.20.2009 6:01 PM PDT

This would be awesome but i still think I would like having a choice between the two not just one or the other. Like MLG and big team, they're nothing like eachother but they are both fun. So I would like it to be a sort of playlist. If I had this I would go for camo or not showing up on radar. I know I could just swap Halo: Reach and Halo 3 but I would want all the upgrades of reach.

Edit. This would actually give me a reason to rank up. LOL!

[Edited on 06.20.2009 8:04 PM PDT]

  • 06.20.2009 7:58 PM PDT

Meepzoid

I was about to post my idea but I saw a lot of writing so I just gave up. Can someone summarize his idea instead of making me read a lot and I dont feel like reading.

  • 06.20.2009 8:50 PM PDT
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i would like leg armor and the ability like u said for r armor perm. to actually do stuff for u but only in multyiplayer

  • 06.20.2009 9:01 PM PDT

"YOUR DESTRUCTION IS THE WILL OF THE GODS, AND WE ARE THEIR INSTRUMENT."

Eh.
Yes they should bring back clans, but the whole credits system? Yeah, no thanks. I don't want Reach to be that CoDish.

  • 06.20.2009 9:24 PM PDT

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Did CoD have credits? I've only played Modern Warfare, but that game did not have a credit system.

In response to other posts, I can summarize it for you:

1. You would be able to personalize your character a LOT. This way they actually suit your playstyle (stealthy, point man, heavy weapons, etc) Throw in camo patterns and a new color system as well. Don't forget about armor pieces actually providing a purpose, poor camo upgrade or speed upgrade etc...

2. Clans would exist and be entirely customizeable. You could enforce mandatory dress-codes, ranking within the clan, even pick the default load-out of weapons, vehicles, equipment, ammo, and grenades for your team's base during games. Micro-manage to the extreme, attention to detail would give you an edge over your opponents. With this a credit system would need to exist for balancing, win games and rank up = more credits. Lose too many and rank down = budget cuts.

That's what I've got, squashed by bigfoot himself to be more eye-friendly.

  • 06.21.2009 6:48 AM PDT

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Posted by: Eagleznest
This would be awesome but i still think I would like having a choice between the two not just one or the other. Like MLG and big team, they're nothing like eachother but they are both fun. So I would like it to be a sort of playlist. If I had this I would go for camo or not showing up on radar. I know I could just swap Halo: Reach and Halo 3 but I would want all the upgrades of reach.

Edit. This would actually give me a reason to rank up. LOL!


Naturally, people would want the normal Halo feel to it. If Bungie were to approach this route in any way, they would leave a playlist especially for it. Like you said, they are completely different animals and both are fun in different ways. I would also have a reason to rank up as well. Right now, I just don't care, there is no point to me becoming a General.

  • 06.21.2009 6:54 AM PDT

"It is impossible to prepare for and prevent a war at the same time"
-Albert Einstein

i like the idea of customizing for different play-styles, but giving lower ranked members less ammunition because they don't have as many credits, that just seems unfair.

  • 06.21.2009 7:31 AM PDT

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Posted by: shadowhawk1013
i like the idea of customizing for different play-styles, but giving lower ranked members less ammunition because they don't have as many credits, that just seems unfair.


I get what you're saying, the thing with the ammunition that I had planned was that you would start out with a full clip... and then an extra clip. The rest you would have to pick-up or grab at a supply drop. Now, with credits you could purchase extra ammo on top of that. I hope that clears it up.

  • 06.21.2009 9:38 AM PDT

I dont know weather i read right or not but your saying that better people get better weapons, making worse people even worse, therefore making worse people get battered and not wanting to play?

  • 06.21.2009 12:00 PM PDT

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Thus is the point of having a clan, extreme competition. Although, as mentioned before, not everyone wants to be extremely competitive. This is why I believe Matchmaking should be set-up as follows for normal play AND clan play:

Ranked:
Lone Wolves
Team Slaver
Etc..

Above and Beyond: (Ranked/Gear Enabled)
Lone Wolves
Team Slayer
Etc..

Social:
Rumble Pit
Social Slayer
Etc..

(Everything Green now?)

TBH: I will be making a group here soon just because the set-up within this forum is difficult for me to adequately explain things. I'll make separate posts for separate ideas, so on and so forth. I've thrown several together while omitting several others just because it gets jumbled. Look for it soon...

well, when b.net allows me to create one again (sigh) anyone else having problems?

[Edited on 06.21.2009 12:12 PM PDT]

  • 06.21.2009 12:09 PM PDT
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WoW is like Girls Gone Wild without the tits: idiots and douches taking turns doing anything to get noticed, and no one knows what a condom looks like.

They showed that new PS3 game at E3. MAG. It has 256(or something like that) players on one map without a huge drop in performance or graphics. And I like the idea of personalization and clans, but I'm not sure about the credits thing. We'll just have to wait and see.

  • 06.21.2009 12:50 PM PDT

A zero gravity map.

You mention that you want more than asthetics on the armor, well the E.V.A. would excell in zero-gee. though it would almost fo=rce every player to have it :(

  • 06.21.2009 1:06 PM PDT

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I've personally always wanted a 0-gee map myself. It is supposed to be the most feared environment for Spartans simply because there are too many forces working against you. Yes, E.V.A. would help dramatically, but a simple upgrade like magnetic boot soles would drop fly-offs. Hell, enough training in shooting your BR could adjust your trajectory back towards whatever... it would be a very interesting environment to fight in.

  • 06.21.2009 5:44 PM PDT
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this would be a great addition to halo. it would make the game so much better,competitive and enjoyable. and it would be a plus for bungie to because they would sell alot more games than they would ever hope. great idea

  • 06.21.2009 6:24 PM PDT

Your liver is a slut.
Hey, don't be a zumbo! Join Halo Wars RTS!
I'm right 97% of the time. Who cares about the other 4%?

Wow... I think I'm already in love with this game... I'll be honest, the depth of it might be a little over my head, but it sounds friggin sweet.

  • 06.21.2009 6:35 PM PDT

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Thanks for the support! I just started a group dedicated to Halo: Reach and ideas for it...

The entire purpose of this group is to try and develop ideas for Bungie to reference. After all, if we get together and focus... we may actually be able to make this a better game for everyone!

Reach for the Stars

I apologize for the lack of content, I will be working on it. I have a few forum posts started, so if you wouldn't mind... join and post your ideas! Feel free to start new threads with ideas too! The more, the better... if this takes off I am certain Bungie will notice.

  • 06.21.2009 7:06 PM PDT

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