- goheels619
- |
- Noble Legendary Member
If I had one wish for Bungie.net, it would be to be able to change my username. Even if it cost me Microsoft Fun-Money, Space Bucks, or Stosh Dollars. That is all.
Halo 2 Stats
~AFEM
Hello, the following thread will be long and full of much speculation and opinion, but I ask of you one thing, please keep it respectful and objective. I know China wants their wall back and Humpty Dumpty is sitting on my subject bar, but please don't spam this.
<3 Drew
With Reach still a ways off, and with a community so full of ideas and a need to get their point across, I say we as a community let the fine folks at Bungie what we would truly want for a "King of all Halos" or "The Granddaddy of Multiplayer". I know some of the ideas might be outlandish and seemingly impossible, but that's what all great games are based off of, insane ideas mixed with just the right amount of practicality. To ease your eyes and keep things together, I will make each one of my ideas a separate paragraph or block. I will list off the ideas at no particular order, meaning that the last idea might be better than the first idea. That's enough chit-chat, let's cut to the chase.
Strategic Forge
This little fella' is a game friends and I used to play a lot back in the hay-day of Halo 3. The game we played was complicated and full of "honor rules" but once it became better known it was a blast. The rules were as follows:
*Game takes place on a Canvas (Empty) map
*Two teams of 4-5, red and blue
*Each team would have one "General" (Monitor)
*Monitor is invincible/not allowed to be shot at
*Each side would start with Pistols and no Grenades
*At time increments, new weapons would be allowed to be dropped by the Monitor
Ex: After 30 seconds, SMGs, Plasma Rifles, and Spikers could be placed. After 60 seconds, Assault Rifles, Carbines, and BRs. After 2 minutes, Maulers and Shotguns. 4 minutes, Beam Rifle and Sniper. Etc.
*Vehicles and equipment would follow the same unlocking system as weapons
*All scenery is unlocked at the start of the game
*All items would be split evenly
Ex: Each team gets 3 BRs, 5 ARs, 8 Tube Pieces, 1 Overshield, etc.
*Monitors were not allowed to delete any of the items created by the other team
*First team to 100 kills wins
Now I know what you're thinking, "Man, how are all these honor rules going to working Matchmaking?" Simple, they don't become honor rules; they become rules available for us to set in Custom Games. If you remember Zombies in Halo 2, that entire game types was based on honor rules. It became so popular the Bungie decided to make it a function in Custom Games for Halo 3, and now we have it in match making and custom games and it has become one of the favorite game types of the community. So why not just throw in some Custom Game settings that can involve Forge? Would it really be that hard to give us a setting on when weapons can be used? It would be almost the same as choosing when scenery spawns on a map.
Unlockable Multiplayer
With second accounts reaching the levels of utmost hatred in parts of the community, a fix is almost necessary. Many ideas are out there, such as not being allowed to play until your account is a month old, or not letting an account play online if it's only game played is Halo 3. These all have issues, such as a player using a 48 hour code to play online for their first time ever, or a player only owning one game. I personally feel that my idea might be able to fix that.
My idea is this: Unlocking multiplayer by beating the Campaign on any difficulty level. The immediate problem I came up with when thinking of this, was "What if somebody just doesn't enjoy the campaign? What if they only want to play multiplayer?" I then came upon a revelation, the most amazing words in all of Halo multiplayer. Social Playlists.
Social Playlists have been the driving factor for many players online, they can go in with some guests, enjoy some laid-back fun, play some unique playlists, and everything else in between. One interesting tidbit I've noticed with some Social Playlist regulars is that many never finish the campaign, let alone start it. So why not have Social Playlists available to everyone, Campaign Elitists and Pick-up and Play players alike? That way the "hardcore" battleground of Ranked Playlists would be fought by those who have proved their stripes against the Covenant (and those who paid for more than a 1-month to boost with). Not to mention the campaign, would be a nice little practice ground for players.
Matchmade Campaign
Don't get me wrong, I'm not just venting my frustration of a lack of Firefight Matchmaking. I think that a matchmaking system for Reach could be a very beneficial move. Just look at games like Left 4 Dead or Call of Duty: World at War. Their match made campaigns have turned a quick and simple story mode into a behemoth of a mode worth reckon with.
If Halo: Reach is going to be the amazing finale to the Halo story like they say it is (And I pray to God for Bungie's sake that it is), it's campaign will be a vital key to the life of the game. A game with the story of the same magnitude of Halo: Reach's (Assuming it is amazing) would be doing itself a disservice by not trying to get as many players to play through the game two or three times as possible. However, a match made campaign might also hurt them also. Nobody would want to play it again if their first experience of the story was with a random stranger that speeds through the campaign and skips all the cut scenes.
While this "butcherment" of the story is a serious worry, so is allowing players to listen to their own music in the game. What did Bungie do when opposed with that issue of audio in Halo 3? Well, they let it happen, but at a small cost to the player. In Halo 3 if you try to listen to your own music while playing the campaign, they will allow it, but the normal audio is deactivated. Why you ask? Simple, if you are going to play the game with your hard core rap or bluegrass blasting, chances are you've already played through the game normally. With the inclusion of an "Unlockable Multiplayer", an "Unlockable Campaign" could follow suit. As long as you have experienced the game it is meant to be played, by yourself or with friends (keyword is friends, not random strangers), then you'd be free to hop into matchmaking and beat up some Covies' pick-up game style.
Matchmade Customs
Now we've all probably been in this situation;
Your wife/significant other just made you a big dinner of pie, it was great, except those damn mince meat bones are making you gassy. So you go up to bed, get kicked out of bed because of your thunderous bowels, and decide to go play some Halo. Your pretty tired and just feel like playing some Infection, but oh no! Nobody is online on your friends list to play with you! So disheartened by your lack of insomniac friends, you are forced to jump into the intenseness of matchmaking.
Ok, maybe that doesn't exactly apply to everyone especially those who don't and won't have anybody to fart in bed with (*cough*Stosh*cough), but we have all been in a time where we just want to play some Customs, but don't want to be competitive at all.
So why not just have a Custom Games matchmaking system? Gears of War has one, Burnout has one, now Bruno- erm, Halo has one! Wouldn't it be great to have a way to have a system where we open up a Custom Game, the game is thrown into a hopper, then other players can sort through what sort of Custom Matches are available. Maybe you're looking for a game of Infection on Longshore, just specify the game type as Infection, the map as Longshore, and hop into a game you chose. Well what if there isn't a game that you want? Simple, open up your own and let people find you. It would be great for setting up games if you have a small friends list, or getting un-biased players to play with you on a map you made. All in all, it would add another option to multiplayer fanatics.
Ok, thanks for bearing through that. I have two more posts worth of stuff, so I will reserve two more posts below for when I get those edited and done with. Also, any input and criticism would be great.