‘Player Investment’ better reflects gamers’ time invested in Halo, not their skill. Pulling off daily challenges earn credits for custom Spartan gear.
What does all this mean? Well it means developer Bungie has injected some RPG into your Halo shooter experience, but not like Modern Warfare 2 or Bad Company 2 does for their online gear. Player Investment is designed to stop inequality.
Through singleplayer and multiplayer feats you can earn certain amounts of credits, which you can then spend on buying purely aesthetic gear for your Spartan. These changes also apply to in-game cut scenes throughout the singleplayer campaign.
Trueskill still has a role to play but acts invisibly behind the scenes for match-making, so highly ranked players but who are terrible in most gun fights won’t be paired with highly ranked and highly skilled elites.
”When the cut-scene comes up in campaign, we want you to see you,” said Bungie’s Luke Smith, talking with G4TV. ”For instance, that trailer that we showed with the helmet and soldier picking it up, the Noble 6 trailer, that helmet is going to be your helmet. If you’re pink and adorned with unicorns, that’s how you’re going to look.”
Daily Challenges will be introduced from Bungie too, and with Commendations that stay with gamer profiles persistently they hope to show others your preferred play style. Ranking doesn’t give away skill or how you like to play after all.
”I can look at your service record, Patrick,” said Smith, talking to G4TV’s Patrick Klepek, ”and see that you have a ton of assists and a ton of progress in your wheelman Commendation, so I know that you like to be a support player, you like to drive vehicles.”
”I like head shots, I like killing people with a sniper rifle, I like all that stuff,” he noted.
”But there are guys that we’ve encountered along the way who just love to drive; they just want to drive people around. We haven’t really done a great job of reinforcing that kind of behavior in the past and the Commendation system is one way we’re doing that.”
Bungie has some interesting plans for sure in regards to ranking and stat tracking Halo players, which has always been a strong suit of theirs in the past. Are you a gamer who enjoys earning commendations and pins for your in-game prowess?
Check the Halo: Reach customisation interview below with G4TV and Luke Smith.
