Quality ideas for quality-of-life improvements to Halo matchmaking

[Gubz]

The following are some feature changes that I would like to see in Halo 5. None of them have any bearing on the base gameplay, but instead adjust how we look at, and feel about, the game while we're playing it.

 

Please don't reply without reading, especially to point number 1. I think once you've read what I've suggested there, you'll find that it adds to the experience, without detracting from it in any way.

 

 

 

 

 

1. Some form of additional ranking system that doesn't amount to raw EXP. (Don't get me wrong, I like the EXP rating too, check below for an awesome solution)

   

 

For the exp ranking, you are a private, sergeant, colonel, whatever. But you are NOT a number. (Rank 120, anyone? This needs to go away.)

 

For the skill ranking, or class, your insignia (the arrows of a sergeant, or the stars of a colonel) will be colored, or look to be made of a different material. For example.

 

-Player A has a very low skill ranking. They have a .68 KD in slayer gamemodes, and they lose a lot of objective too. They have only played 12 matches though.

 

-Player B has a relatively low skill ranking. They have a .88 KD in slayer, and they lose nearly every objective game they play. They have played about a month. 110 matches

 

-Player C has a moderate skill ranking. They have a 1.02 KD in slayer, and a .96 win:loss in objective. They have played for a while, 318 matches.

 

-Player D is a veteran, and a very skilled player. They have a KD of 4.15 and an objective win:loss of 3. They have played for months, 2200 matches.

 

 

 

Player A might be a Private (class II), their rank symbol will be the arrow of a private, but the symbol's color would be a standard white, because they have not played enough matches to get an accurate skill ranking.

 

Player B is likely a Lieutenant (class III), their rank symbol is the bar of the lieutenant, and is made of a rough, gritty metal granted to all the class III players who stick it out.

 

Player C might be a Colonel (class V), their rank symbol will be the stars of a colonel, and will be the shining gold standard of a rank V player.

 

Player D is probably a "Max Rank" (class X), their rank symbol will be the vibrant shape of a max rank adornment, and will have the fiery orange hue of a sunlit topaz.

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Lobby style should revert from tabbed playercards to a list of names with a preview pane, like Reach had. (Halo 4 feels so impersonal, seriously. It makes you feel like a number. I feel more individualized at the DMV.)

 

Remember the lobby for Halo Reach? Yeah. It was good, wasn't it?

 

To the right there is a list of players and the teams they're on, with their name and ranking symbol. As you scroll through the list, the spartan preview on the edge of the screen changes to show their spartan and their stats. Simple, elegant, integrated, informative, personal. Well done.

 

Halo 4's lobby looks and feels like Windows 8. Enough said, seriously, I don't even want to explain further than that. 

 

 

 

3. When voting on maps and gametypes, the number of votes should be invisible until after voting has taken place. (Peer pressure voting is a real thing, most people don't even realize they do it.)

 

-Add a voting option for "Impartial". The cursor should default to this position when voting, so the button mash voters don't screw the roll by voting for whatever ended up on top.

 

-In the event of a tie, the map is randomly chosen from the tied maps. Players are never shown the vote tally, but may still have communicated with their team while voting.

 

-Gametype should be an independent vote from the map vote when relevant, and voting should follow the same principles therein.

 

 

4. Post match data should go back to the way it was in Halo 3, including top medals (MVP should be pictured. Top medals should return to being accurate.)

 

-The post-match screen from Halo 3 was ideal. Honestly, just return to that format, it was nearly flawless.

 

As for top medals: I like top medals, it's a cool addition to the game, like a competition of its own. However, when I see "first blood" as the top medal every match, I want to throw something at my television.

 

 

Rules for top medals:

a. First Blood should ONLY be a top 3 medal when NO OTHER 3 medals have been earned. First blood is earned EVERY GAME. It is not "top" in fact, it is not even relatively impressive. 

b. Medal count should not supersede medal quality (3 double kills are not as impressive as an overkill, 4 killing sprees are VASTLY easier to achieve than 1 riot)

c. Bull-trues are not inherently impressive. Most are either pure luck, or just outright bull-CRAP in the form of someone who pulled a shotgun from their own buttcrack.

d. Stickies are underrated (in large quantities). They're impressive, and usually worthy of screaming into your mic.

 

 

5. Speaking of medals.... What happened? Where's my sharpshooter medal!?

 

-The lifetime "medal chest" should be view-able in game by yourself and other players

 

-The following medals need to be in / return to the game:

*20 streaks were never ingame, but should have been.

 

Weapon Sprees (5/10/15/20*)

 

-Sniper Weapons (sniper spree, sharpshooter, be the bullet, 20*)

-Hammer (hammer spree, dreamcrusher, wrecking crew, 20*)

-Shotgun (shotgun spree, open season, buck wild, 20*)

-Sword (sword spree, slice and dice, cutting crew, 20*)

-Headshots (headshot spree, trigger happy, marksman, 20*)

-Stickies (Sticky spree, Sticky Fingers, Grenadier, 20*)

-Wheelmans (wheelman spree, roadhog, road rage, 20*)

-Splatters (splatter spree, vehicular manslaughter, sunday driver, 20*)

-Assists (assist spree, sidekick, second gunman, 20*)  <---- currently, the "assist spree" exists as "wingman"

 

Other

 

-Sniper weapon headshot medal (WHY would you remove this. GIVE ME ONE REASON. Honestly!)

 

 

 

 

-The following medals just need to be worth more points

 

Headshot (Currently equal to kill. Just...what even...)

Snapshot (also currently equal to a regular kill. Again..what on earth was going through the decision-maker's mind here? I am INCAPABLE of understanding this.)

 

-The following medals simply need to go away

 

Distraction (these are pretty much universally given to terrible players who can't land shots, and/or have no map awareness, I'd be willing to bet less than 1/1000 are intentional)

Fortification Assist (See also: Camper (noun) - obnoxious, selfish individual who can't aim and thus resorts to 'surprise attacks' on his betters, often ruining the pace of a game.)

Vehicle Hill (there is no reason to differentiate this from otherwise just being in the hill)

Weapon-specific "kill" medals (they are all worth the same number of points, just use a generic kill medal and free up resources for medals that are actually accolades)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's it. Comment, like, dislike...whatever. I just think that if these changes were made to the Halo matchmaking environment, it would feel better overall, and therefore make the game more enjoyable.

 

[Unease Peanut]

I agree with almost everything.

1. Although I would'nt want to see coloured ranks. The looks of  ranks in reach were fine as the were.

2. I liked the lobbies of both Halo 4 and Reach. Quick, easy and easy acces to info.

3. I personally don't really think hiding the vote counter matters as much. Why have a voice if no-one can see it? I would even like to see your Gt or Spartan to be viewed at the map you voted for.

4/5. I miss my bragging rights in the carnage reports aswell. And the amount of skill based medals aswell. Halo 4 has a bit too much medals for feets that don't even require that much skill (like just getting a kill). Medals almost thrown at you bringing down their value. And I think First kill always showed up because it was rare in a way that you could only earn one each round.

[Gubz]

I agree with almost everything.

1. Although I would'nt want to see coloured ranks. The looks of  ranks in reach were fine as the were.

2. I liked the lobbies of both Halo 4 and Reach. Quick, easy and easy acces to info.

3. I personally don't really think hiding the vote counter matters as much. Why have a voice if no-one can see it? I would even like to see your Gt or Spartan to be viewed at the map you voted for.

4/5. I miss my bragging rights in the carnage reports aswell. And the amount of skill based medals aswell. Halo 4 has a bit too much medals for feets that don't even require that much skill (like just getting a kill). Medals almost thrown at you bringing down their value. And I think First kill always showed up because it was rare in a way that you could only earn one each round.

 

1) The colored ranks were just an example of how this might be done. I'm trying to come up with ideas for having both exp and skill in matchmaking without people feeling left out of the fun.

 

2) I like Reach's lobby but not Halo 4. The information is quick and easy to access, but you can't see everything at once. It's pretty, but it sacrifices a lot of personality to be that way.

 

Reach: http://plusxp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/reachmulti3.jpg

Halo 4: http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii97/Mr_Random100/WP_000143.jpg (I couldn't find a good picture)

As you can see though, Reach is very clean. Ranks are easily visible, names are clearly visible, emblems too. A player's name is more important than how their spartan looks.

 

However, Halo 4 is cluttered with so much information that people have to be "tabbed out". Ranks are shunted and numerical (therefore not memorable), names are often hard to read, emblems are so underplayed that they virtually don't even matter. A player's spartan is more important than their name, and they all blend together.

 

 

 

3) This is my least valuable point, I think the improvement would be marginal at best. But, I still think it would make the map selected accurately represent what people really wanted. (How many times have you voted for random when you preferred map number 2, just because random and map number 1 were tied?)

 

4/5) Exactly, too many medals, and hardly any of them are actual feats. First Blood is earned on a 1:match basis, but it's not a "top" medal. It doesn't require any more skill than the next guy to get. All it boils down to is who runs into who first.

[TheRollerCodster]

My main problem and pretty much everybody out there is that you get rewarded for doing something too easy this is how they fix it

-Nerf the loadout weapons you dont even need a power weapon to get tons of kills

-bring back those weapons that are on the map but not necessarily power weapons like the smg and mauler

-competitive ranking system 

-weapon waypoints shouldnt show up behined walls

-buff vehicle health so that they are more rewarding to destroy

-better medals

-skillbased playlist

-lower bullet magnetism and aim assist(it feels like very shot is one target)

-make it clear which weapons are for competitive players(the sniper should be less distracting to use it basically covers 35% of the screen and the stupid little thing around the cross hair will zoomed needs to go AND it needs to be harder to use

-give us a sense of improvement with weapons by making them UN-NOOB FRIENDLY

-loadouts dont need perks, secondaries, and grenades and the DMR and lightrifle should be accurate but extremely hard to line up to the enemies at long ranges THIS WOULD FIX BTB you basically shoose with primary and armor ability you want NO LOADOUTS YOU CHOOSE THE AT THINGS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MATCH like gears of war 3 and sorta like reach