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Halo 4 New Information: Specializations Explained and Detailed

Might need to update OP if it hasn't been.

Waypoint put up better explanations. This helps a good deal.

http://halo.xbox.com/halo4/en-US/?#!halo-evolved/specializations/c907f20c-89c4-4849-9f58-d32b31d05e77

Ill post the info here for those curious:

"During their Spartan careers, players are offered Specializations through a variety of channels, allowing them to enlist in specific rank paths that come with armor sets, armor mods, emblems, and a variety of other components. Once a player has advanced through the standard fifty (50) rank levels allotted to Spartans, they will have access to a selection of Specializations. These paths are composed of ten rank levels each, which the player, once opting for the Specialization, must complete in order to improve their rank and before being allowed to enlist in a separate Specialization.

Each Specialization unlocks the following items as you progress across its 10 levels:

• Armor Mod
• Armor Set – Helmet, Chest, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder
• Armor Set Skin – Texture skin for Helmet, Chest, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder
• Armor Mod
• Weapon Skin – Texture skin of one of the loadout weapons
• 4 Foreground Emblems
• 1 Background Emblem
• 1 Visor Color

WETWORK
Spartan optimization for stealth operations which focus on the elimination of an enemy target with the goal of leaving no tactical footprint behind.
The Stealth armor mod allows users to move quickly and silently in combat, executing enemy assassinations with lightning fast dexterity.

PIONEER
Spartan optimization for deployment into uncharted, hostile territory, such as uncolonized worlds or Forerunner constructs like Requiem, for the purpose of gathering and relaying information.
The Fast Track armor mod allows Spartans to gain more experiential data from each encounter, effectively ranking up quicker during the process.
This Specialization will be available at launch.

ENGINEER
Spartan optimization for the subversion, repair, and or reconstitution of a wide range of technology, including Covenant and Forerunner complex networks.
The Drop Recon armor mod allows users to predict the location and time of an ordnance drop through an external suborbital monitoring system.

TRACKER
Spartan optimization for long-range target tracking (trans-continent and off-world), particularly in scenarios where conventional tracking has failed or such a substantial time has passed that the trail has gone cold.
The Requisition armor mod allows users the ability to recall their own ordnance requests in order to acquire more helpful weapons in the field.

ROGUE
Spartan optimization for single-operative missions which require a lone Spartan to be deployed on their own for incredibly long durations of time, even years if required.
The Stability armor mod allows users to increase their aiming stability when being fired upon.

STALKER
Spartan optimization for target shadowing missions which require tactical invisibility despite operating at an extremely close range to the target itself.
The Nemesis armor mod allows users to target and track down previous attacking enemies, highlighting them on the armor’s passive sensors.

PATHFINDER
Spartan optimization for deep, unconventional deployment within unknown enemy territory and with little to no assistance from command.
The Gunner armor mod decreases the time of weapon overheat when occupying a vehicle weapon position and increases Spartan speed while carrying a detached turret.

OPERATOR
Spartan optimization for the operation and control of a wide range of vehicles: space, air, ground, and sea.
The Wheelman armor mod gives Spartans the ability to coax every bit of stamina and durability out of vehicles they are piloting. "

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Here are the high-res pics:

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zlatko

Banned
I'm okay with them as explained on waypoint.

I plan to mess around with most of them.

So armor pieces we unlock during picking one of these specializations, like helmet, shoulders, etc, are they then usable on other specializations or do they only work for that specialization?
 

Fracas

#fuckonami
OP updated.

Didn't even quote the pics, haha. High res goodness.

edit: Okay i should probably put the pics in quotes
 
I generally like the style of the armor, but some of those feet/lower leg designs are awful. Man.

I dunno, the more I look at them the more they seem over designed and garish. Needs to be a little more simple. I do however like the idea of skins. That gives lots more options for color combos and whatnot.
 
I honestly don't really get Halo 4 multiplayer right now. Armor mods? Specializations? Why this layer on layer on layer of...stuff. It really depresses me that the days where everyone starts with the same shit and wins based on aiming better and controlling the map better
and of course having a better connection
seem to be gone. Even these armor designs...they aren't Halo. I thought Reach's campaign's weird bulky robot suits with skullz on mah visor were bad and these are in the same vein. Halo was great because it provided this awesome sandbox while being...well, clean, not this madhouse COD-style throw things in my face and hope something clicks design. I don't need to unlock a milliion trinkets, I'd much rather play 500 hours with the same tools and base my time at honing my actual skill at the game and ranking up in a skill-based fashion.

But it's not like I'm not buying it, or writing it off. It just seems a bit silly on paper. The gameplay videos have looked so great though, and campaign looks spot-on so far. So I'm hopeful.
 

TrounceX

Member
. said:
Rogue


“In past Halo games, when you’d be zoomed in and take a shot, you’d be taken out [of your zoom],” Ellis reminds us. “Now it’s not necessarily the case. As you’re taking shots [with the Stability mod], it allows you to keep your reticule more stable.” Yep, this one is almost straight out of Call of Duty, as it will also improve your from-the-hip firing accuracy. The Rogue Specialization is tailor-made for players who prefer to snipe their foes from afar. [Editor’s Note: If only Halo 4 had a Halo 1-style super-pistol to go with this mod, I’d be unstoppable. MUHAHAHA!!!]

This is the only one I'm mad about. A perk like that is potentially game breaking.
 
I think what a lot of people don't get is that we are not the main audience anymore. Younger gamers are and they are the ones to whom the games are marketed at.

I know for me, i enjoyed Halo CE, 2, 3 and even Reach to a lesser degree. But now a days i tend to play games with characters that have progression and unlockables. Every single game i really enjoyed within the passed 2 years pretty much all had this. From Skyrim, Batman AC, ME3, COD mp to NHL's be a pro mode. All these games have characters progression (online and off) that allow for a progression of some sort whether its by unlocking new moves, new weapons or new powers. This is a feature in games that is incredibly important now and its one of the main reasons that Halo also decided to go this way.

Much like the way Halo CE "changed the game" 10 years ago, COD mp has also changed the game more recently. The majority of the audience (which is a lot younger than us now) expect this in games now and will eat it up. And having played a lot of games that have this, its a lot of fun when done right.

I get why some of the more old-school Halo fans are unhappy (and also a little too nostalgic), but fact of the matter is this is what gamers want now. Progression online and off. If you cant accept that, then maybe that's a sign that you should thinking of putting this hobby behind you. Either that or adapt. But at the end of the day, at one point, a franchise needs to Evolve and Halo is doing just that.
 
Man those armor designs are so damn weird. It's like they heard people saying they disliked the gritty, militaristic style of the Reach armor (with knives and pouches and skull paint) and then went in the exact opposite direction with the armor by making it extremely sci-fi looking.

It looks more like Vanquish armor than Spartan, except not as good looking and with more garish colors and completely batshit random helmet designs.

I get why some of the more old-school Halo fans are unhappy (and also a little too nostalgic), but fact of the matter is this is what gamers want now. Progression online and off. If you cant accept that, then maybe that's a sign that you should thinking of putting this hobby behind you. Either that or adapt.

It's not progression, it's homogenization. Just because Call of Duty had some good design decisions doesn't mean every single multiplayer shooter needs to adopt all of them. Halo was good for completely different reasons than CoD, and now we're losing those things so that we can have yet another CoD-type game. I don't think "this is what gamers want" considering the success of Halo Reach and the relative lack of success of games that are CoD clones. The industry should not all go in one direction to suit one type of gamer, it should be diverse with types of games that lots of different people can enjoy.
 
K

kittens

Unconfirmed Member
Holy overreactions Batman! :-/
More like different opinions. This is fundamentally changing how Halo multiplayer plays, and for those who love traditional Halo, it really sucks. Hopefully whatever "Classic" playlists 343 includes will be enough to satisfy folks like me.
 
i don't really know how to feel about all of this.

on the one hand, this sounds like it fundamentally changes the core tenants of halo, a game that I have played for years now because it is really fun. fun that comes from a fair/balanced starting point, great controls, art, music and more.

on the other hand, who is to say that this new halo will not also be a ton of fun. sure, it might be a different kind of fun, but it could also be even more fun that what i've loved before.

basically i'm just really hoping that this game is fun. don't let me down 343.
 
It's weird, the new Spartan designs have more of a Covenant aesthetic to them than human. I don't like that. Chief looks pretty great. He has a stylish futuristic feel, but it still looks human. These guys, not so much.
 
Man those armor designs are so damn weird. It's like they heard people saying they disliked the gritty, militaristic style of the Reach armor (with knives and pouches and skull paint) and then went in the exact opposite direction with the armor by making it extremely sci-fi looking.

It looks more like Vanquish armor than Spartan, except not as good looking and with more garish colors and completely batshit random helmet designs.



It's not progression, it's homogenization. Just because Call of Duty had some good design decisions doesn't mean every single multiplayer shooter needs to adopt all of them. Halo was good for completely different reasons than CoD, and now we're losing those things so that we can have yet another CoD-type game. I don't think "this is what gamers want" considering the success of Halo Reach and the relative lack of success of games that are CoD clones. The industry should not all go in one direction to suit one type of gamer, it should be diverse with types of games that lots of different people can enjoy.

Honestly, to me, Reach did a lot of bad things but very few of those problems were gameplay related. The biggest problems in that game for me was: a sucky progression system that takes forever to rank up and is utterly pointless when you do (woopy i get a new shoulder pad, im sooo excited), bad maps that many were too big for small games and too small for big games, too many quitters that are never replaced, forge maps that all look the same. Those are to me the biggest gripes in Reach and i actually stopped playing it because of that.

Reach had a lot of problems, but the big misconception in this forum is thinking that Reach failed (compared to other Halos) because of the AAs and it wasn't because of that at all. It was because of many things, but gameplay wasn't one of them. Sure some AAs needed work and were fixed, but overall, sprint and all that were additions that fit very well into the game and didn't make the game have less of a Halo feel to me.

And Ironically, most of what i thought were gripes, are now addressed in Halo4. Surprised, i am not.
 

Elginer

Member
This looks amazingly interesting. Also complicated as hell at times to wrap my head around so much info floating around. It really does look like 343 is making Halo 4 have long as hell legs and something for everyone.
 

Natiko

Banned
I still don't completely understand the stability mod. Does it prevent you from being shot out of your scoped in view or does it reduce recoil of some sort?
 

GamerSoul

Member
Nice, Now I can match/coordinate from top to bottom.
:3 Gotta look good.

Yeah, I have to agree the armor designs do look pretty busy. I don't really see the visor on most of them. Hopefully the Recon Armor is still in.
 

Naked Lunch

Member
The multiplayer models look hella dumb. I want the classic Spartan look. Youre going to be able to customize your guy back to the old way right?
 

Sai

Member
... Man, I'm trying to stay open minded about all this, but some of this stuff is really killing what little excitement I've managed to build up for Halo 4's Multiplayer. Maybe it'll be completely different once I've got the game in my hands and experiment for a while, but...

I'm still really looking foward to the Campaign though!
 
It's weird, the new Spartan designs have more of a Covenant aesthetic to them than human. I don't like that. Chief looks pretty great. He has a stylish futuristic feel, but it still looks human. These guys, not so much.

I imagine that after the war (and probably during it) humans studied Covenant technology and have now integrated it into the Spartan IV's armor. Chief though hasn't been around so he probably has the same old human tech armor.
 
Models are reminding me of Lost Planet characters lol

Im getting a Dead Space vibe from some of them.. if the colors weren't so extreme I imagine they would fit right in.

i'm pretty sure they aren't the only armour parts in the game, in fact they may be the more extreme ones considering how hard it'll be to unlock them.

Yeah they already confirmed that there will more options than Reach, and most will be unlocked via leveling up.
 

Kiryu

Member
This is very confusing but when you play Halo 4. You will understand everything after few hours of play time in Halo 4.
 
Im a bit confused.
Are the specialization armor set bound?
Like you need Operator armor set equipped for the effect to take place or you can just select Operator specialization effect and choose your own armor parts.
 

Plywood

NeoGAF's smiling token!
Im a bit confused.
Are the specialization armor set bound?
Like you need Operator armor set equipped for the effect to take place or you can just select Operator specialization effect and choose your own armor parts.
You don't have to wear the specific armor shown, they're just showing that is what you'll unlock via that specialization.


Also check out the new thread which irons out the details: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=487136
 

Trans

Neo Member
Alright whatever, this is pretty COD, which frankly, is ridiculous and I hate COD's influences in Halo.

Just give me a classic playlist with equal balance between players and I can just spend all my time there.

..

-_-
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Alright whatever, this is pretty COD, which frankly, is ridiculous and I hate COD's influences in Halo.

Just give me a classic playlist with equal balance between players and I can just spend all my time there.

..

-_-

There is going to be a classic playlist.
 
I have a lot of trust into 343. I keep hearing that Halo 2 was the "last great Halo" and that Halo 3 and Reach were mediocre. Well, I found out that Bungie wanted to stop making Halo after the second one (the only reason they made Halo 3 is because they couldn't fit everything they wanted into Halo 2). When people are forced to work on something they don't care about, obviously its gonna be bad. 343 is made up of a team of dedicated Halo fans; they still have the joy for Halo as Bungie did working on Halo 1 and 2.

I'm surprised by how people are complaining about influence from Call of Duty, Battlefield, Team Fortress 2, and other modern shooters. I'm gonna honest, Halo kinda needed that modernization for me (I'm talking about the loadout system). This specialization stuff doesn't seem to work out too great, they shouldn't have done that and made each piece of armor give you some kind of benefit / penalty (I thought that was the original intention to begin with, or maybe I just dreamt that).
 

Xater

Member
I like unlocks and I don't mind this.

I have also been plying Halo online since the first one. Back then through tunnel software. Just saying this before the "true Halo fans" try to call me out.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
It's weird, the new Spartan designs have more of a Covenant aesthetic to them than human. I don't like that. Chief looks pretty great. He has a stylish futuristic feel, but it still looks human. These guys, not so much.

Yeah I'm really not liking the designs. Very strange looking.
I can understand why people didn't like the Reach Spartan armors, but this is too far in the opposite direction.

Still really hyped though.
 
Yeah I'm really not liking the designs. Very strange looking.
I can understand why people didn't like the Reach Spartan armors, but this is too far in the opposite direction.

Still really hyped though.

Honestly to me, the armor is the least of my worries. As long as they have the old Reach ones or MC one, im happy.
 

EvB

Member
Yeah I'm really not liking the designs. Very strange looking.
I can understand why people didn't like the Reach Spartan armors, but this is too far in the opposite direction.

Still really hyped though.

I can't say I like the ones that are on this page, some of the helmets seem far too alien in design. I'm sure there will be ones that I like though, it seems like they are cramming so much content in that we will be spoiled for choice.
 
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