As we all know Halo 4 is coming out this year and I am totally excited for it. I've been a long time fan of Halo since the first game. I've have every Halo game, even Halo Wars. While Halo Wars may not have been the best game, I still enjoyed it for what its worth. Personally I'd like to discuss somethings about Halo 4. While we don't know everything about the game, I'd like to just throw my thoughts out there.
As much as I'm excited for Halo 4 there are a few things I'm a bit nervous of. One being the rank up system. Now as far as I know 343 hasn't talked much about the rankings in Halo 4. The reason I'm nervous is because of Halo Reach's ranking system. I hate it. First of everyone can rank up whether they helped the team or not. Whether they went 1 and 20 or if they went 20 and 3. I don't like this Call Of Duty like rankings because it doesn't show how good you are. It just shows how much time you've played the game. So when you're in a lobby you look at the other players and you have no idea what you're up against. I've played Inheritors that suck and there is no way of telling what you're in for. That's why I liked Halo 2 and Halo 3's ranking systems better. (Even though Halo 3 had its flaws) I like the idea of giving someone a number to gauge how good they are compared to you. Plus you feel more accomplished when you get your 45 unlike when you get to Hero in Halo Reach. For me, I already knew I'd get it just as long as I played. But when getting to 45, (again Halo 3 had its flaws) took forever and I wasn't not even sure I was going to get it. But that one day was very exciting. Halo Reach's rank up system is just boring, once you get to the higher levels you have nothing to really work for. It's not even a challenge to rank up in Reach like it was in Halo 2 or 3.
Now My idea for a rank up system would be a combination of Halo 2, Halo 3, and Reach. I think there should be a number system that takes into account your wins, or even kills, wins, loses, deaths, medals etc, and gives you a number. Now there would be 2 ways of ranking up. Say if you play ranked, (which is where you'd get the number) for each win (however its calculated) you get a number and you go up the ranking system chart, like general, general grade 1, but if you play social you get experience points (More like Halo 3). Now you could ranking up just by playing social but it would take longer than if you played rank. So you could either have a level 50 and be a general, or you could have like 1000 experience points and be a general (Just an example). This would make the rankings system matter unlike in Halo Reach. I was only interested in ranking up when in order to unlock things but now its just whatever. So for Halo 4 I'd hope there would be more an incentive to rank up such as armors, and skins to unlock throughout the ranks.
A the highest level should be special and I believe not everyone should be able to get it. So maybe the very last level should be only unlocked by rank. I never got to a 50 in halo 3 but that means I didn't try many many many times. In the end its not the most important thing in life because its just a game. While I didn't get it wasn't the end of the world.
As for armor, it looks like 343 has done a great job at making the armors look different. With the added skins and more colors you will be able to customize your character any way you want it (Journey moment right there). But I think unlocking armor should not only be just from ranking up. It should be from getting achievements or beating the campaign on legendary. It should be a mix so when you get that special armor you feel accomplished.
As far as a in game currency, I don't really care. It's probably going to be in it so in that case I'll talk about it. I think currency should be different from experience points, unlike in Reach. You should get the mula by a few different ways. You should get a winning bonus, a game completion bonus, slot machine is fine to rake in the dough, and finally money based on your score, medals, and kills. So you'd use the money to purchase skins, armor, weapon skins, and any other thing they might throw in there.
Next is armor abilities, sprint is a GREAT addition to Halo. I think it's fine, what isn't fine is armor lock. I think armor lock is the WORST thing to happen in halo. I could rant about it but it's not going to be in Halo 4 (As far as I know). It looks like these new abilities are even. I'm not sure about Promethean Vision, but I think it will be balanced enough. It looks like the meter is drained pretty fast and it pulses once so you the people near you for a short time. I don't know how I feel about it, I'd just have to play the game and find out. It looks like something I'd use. The thruster looks cool, and the shield is a much better alternitive than armor lock. I don't know of any other armor abilities at this time but I looks even.
My last concern about Halo 4 is the game modes. The new ones look fun and I'd like to try them however I pray they have the older gametypes such as classic slayer. Where the points are only determined by kills not by kills in combination with medals. Slayer is not about the points its about kills and I hope they keep that, Infinity Slayer is fine as long as there is a plain old slayer. I also wonder if there would be a mode where it's just barebones, like no armor abilities, except sprint, and invisibility and Overshield. I'd like that a lot, call me old fashion but I still love the classic way of playing Halo without all the fancy stuff. And hey, I might find that I love Infinity Slayer more than regular, you never know until you play it. So I must keep an open mind.
As far as joining the matches, I hope there are two modes. Ranked and Social, Ranked should be, you find players and its locked in, if someone leaves than no one can join in. If you quit in Ranked (Going back to the ranking system) you should not gain anything. If you quit in rank you lose any currency you might have gotten, and the experience points. If you continue to quit then it should affect your rank. I don't know how I feel if there was a Surrender thing in ranked. Such as if half you team quits you have the option of Surrendering, which ends the game and your K/D is somewhat saved. You would still gain experience and money just less. That way you don't have to fight with yourself whether to quit or not. But you would not be forced to Surrender, you could just keep on playing regardless of the lose of your team. You could end up spending your time goofing off with the other team.
With Social it should be more relaxed because it should be more for casual gamers. So I think people can quit and join as they choose but they should not join a game where one team is just about to win with one more point or 3 seconds left in the game. So have them join in up to a certain point in the game. Nothing is more frustrating than joining a game and it ends. As for quiting from a Social gametype should be less of a punishment. I would say if you quit, you'd gain from what you did in the game. However you would not get a winning bonus or maybe slot machine. So in Social you would not feel as bad quiting as you would in Ranked.
There is a lot to talk about Halo 4, but I trust 343 with making this game. I did not talk about campaign because I don't know where it could possible go. So I trust them with a good story. I just hope it has pacing, unlike Call Of Duty (which has none!) and you're not constantly hit with in your face action. That's my two cents about Campaign. I hope there is firefight because it's a little something to do from the daily grind of multiplayer, (I'd love if the flood was at least in this). Spartan Ops looks great, I can't wait to play. I'm not saying this will be the best game ever but it looks really good.
In the end whatever I may say may not even be relevant. By the looks of it the game is pretty much finished they are probably only working on little tweaks here and there. These are just my opinions, hopes, and concerns about the the game. I do this only because I care, I love Halo and I want it to prosper. I trusted 343 when I first heard about Halo 4 and I will continue to trust them to make a great game. Whatever happens, I'm sure Halo 4 will turn out just fine even if my hopes aren't met; because in life, you don't always get what you want.