What are the three most important things that need to be changed/implemented/or restored to Halo with the next game? I know there are many things that people want but if you had to pick only 3 what do you think would be the most beneficial to gameplay overall?
1.] Removal of Armor Abilities, Tactical Packages, Killstreaks, and random ordnance. Some of the AAs should be tweaked so that they can be power ups, but the rest just don't belong in Halo. Players should
always be starting on an even field, or have preset loadouts for specific gametypes (like Invasion). Never should you be able to alter reload time or weapon damage or call in your own power weapons.
That is not Halo. All power weapons should be in neutral or team-specific locations
on the map. It worked for 10 years and it still works. It gets people to move around the map and fight over a location, which is one of the core principles of the game.
2.] Maps need to hearken back to Halo 1/Halo 2 style. More symmetrical maps - whether they are arena or not - that play well for a variety of games. It bothers me that Halo 4 launched with literally no maps to work for Doubles, whereas I could name 3 launch maps in any other game that worked fine. By going back to the first 2 games' styles, we get unique maps that emphasize teamwork and aggressive pushes while giving both teams equal footing. There is absolutely no reason to have anything like Daybreak where one team gets a sniper and the other gets a Man Cannon.
Stop playing symmetric gametypes on lousy asymmetric maps. By extension, most symmetric maps should have static spawns and most asymmetric maps should have dynamic spawns in Slayer games.
3.] Halo CE gameplay. Fast movement, high jump, fall damage (to add risk/reward areas), grenades with long fuse times, powerful weapons across the board with headshot ones being really difficult to use, etc. I'd also like to see healthpacks return*, but not like Reach where if you were low on health a single nade would kill you. Any sliver of shields left should absorb preliminary damage, so low health would only affect how many body shots you can take. Keep the BR just for Halo's sake, but weapons like the DMR should be axed. It's redundant to the BR, Sniper, Pistol, and Carbine. By extension,
complete and utter removal of weapon bloom across the board. I want my bullets to go where they belong, and I'm not going to wait for that to happen in a firefight. Lower the rate of fire if you want players to shoot slower, or tone down things like aim assist or the scope size if you don't want the weapon to dominate long range.
I could add other things, but these are the priorities for me. I'm just tired of random mechanics on lousy maps. None of it has benefited Halo in a meaningful way, and we can do a lot more with the game should they be removed.
*I realize there are people who never liked health or even fall damage, but I think both of them increase player awareness. You have to be conscious about dodging fire and you have to learn how to land and what to jump from. Healthpacks will deter those people who run into a firefight and try to run away, only to recharge to full shields moments later to do it again.
