Halo 4 and FC Wars

[Salvanous]

I have a few ideas to throw out here, so my apologies for this rather lengthy post.

Forerunner Weaponry+Lore

I know this is a very unnecessary thing to say, but I feel like since we are implementing forerunner weaponry into FC wars now, there needs to be an explanation for their sudden appearance, and use wide spread. I also feel like the "Oh, we just found them" aspect is a very cheap way to solve the question.

In this respect, I feel like as we are calling this first Halo 4 war a "Beta War", we should actually call it a "Simulation War". It would help provide an answer for any changes that might occur gametype wise, as well as explain why forerunner weaponry is being seen spread through all the armies. It's as much to train the troops, as well as experiment with the designs of forerunner weaponry and see if their weaponry may be viable for real world use.

Loadouts

I'm repeating a few people here, but it might actually be wise to make custom loadouts for various "professions". It would provide each person with a more clear cut goal of what their actions should be. I'm NOT saying "Make a sniper class" or anything insane like that. I'm saying not even saying give them armor abilities for their job. What I do suggest is why not provide certain support and tactical packages to various fields.

For example, your scouts may like getting the tactical package "Mobility" (providing infinite sprint), your heavier hitters might like a loadout with "Firepower" allowing for use of two primary weapons in their loadout, or "Ammo Pack" allowing for additional ammo. Your leaders or pointmen might like "Sensor" (improved radar and sensitivity), and your sharpshooters might like "Stability" (steadies weapon when being struck).

Frankly I think that we all ought to maybe just start with Sprint, and pick up armor abilities across the map. (even though I REALLY want to get thruster pack). But with just these loadouts providing a little assistance to the roles they are supposed to play, and thus make the whole unit hopefully able to be more cohesive.

As for weaponry, I would think we ought to keep the primary for each class with a choice of DMR/BR/AR along with a secondary of a Magnum (and give the magnum to each class this time, every solider keeps a sidearm). Grenades may vary, but provide possibly more neighboring weaponry inside each teams base. What I mean by this is that also include weaponry such as the Carbine, Light Rifle, Storm Rifle, Suppressor, and other guns of the same nature in the base. It keeps to the aspect that each army have access to covenant and forerunner weaponry while maintaining we mainly are composed of UNSC weaponry. You can also do the same for plasma pistol and boltshot, but I would be a bit more hesitant on throwing those in the base as well.

I think all of this wouldn't hurt how the map plays, nor would it make any one person feel they the loadouts were unbalanced, it would simply help direct each loadout to a different goal.

Maps and Trait Zones:

To provide a little more map direction and feeling of barricades meaning something without making it an impregnable wall of steel, I started to think of Halo Wars. How when you put a unit in a barricade, they became more resilient and able to survive better. I think we can finally apply this to Halo 4, in making barricades you can shoot, and be shot over effectively. What I suggest is putting trait zones behind barriers and increase the damage resistance they have there by a certain percent (able to take 150% damage?). Things like this would help provide that barricades were something more used and less of perhaps just for aesthetics.

Another thing that might be worth trying is giving high points of the map a traitzone that improves their radar range, or sensitivity.

Give certain things on the map a feeling like what they are provide more than just a the "We are here, you are there" but give the people defending them, and that are there a bit of a perk for possessing and maintaining their place there. It would give a new element of map control, and not simply make it a battle sometimes over who has the power weapons. It would add complexity to the battles, making power weapons a way to press for the territories, and the territories a way to maintain control with common weapons a bit more easy.

Providing Breaks:

Look, I can't begin to speak on how balance will play in Halo 4, but off of the last few wars and how one sided they have been at times, I think I should throw out an option here. If either R.E.D.D. or B.L.U.E. gets sweeped two weeks in a row, I suggest we take a one week break and during this break just do a custom challenge between REDD and BLUE that week. For example, have that break week be a Grifball day, or a Rocket Race day between REDD and BLUE. Just something to help keep the community together, and give people a breather if they are getting owned repeatedly. Or hell, just do a practice on the maps planned, and just do it with fun weaponry, like infinite concussion rifles for everyone. Just make sure we don't get so caught up in competition that we lose sight of this place as a community.

Rank Bars

Okay, whoever made these latest rank tags, don't get me wrong, I am fine with them... But I remember very clearly that when Halo 4 came back we were going to be going back to specialized rank tags to determine the privates from the sergeants, and so on. It is something greatly agreed upon and we talked about it forever.

I don't know if these rank tags are temporary, but if they are to stay, then I REALLY want to press for each rank getting a separate tag, and I would like it if they are a bit darker. It's hard for me to read what each rank is sometimes. It's easy for some, but some rank tags are impossible to read them. Blackhawk's for example is one that I can only see he is a general, but I couldn't read what type of general he was. :/

Don't get me wrong, they are well made, and I like the design, but I really want to press for more specific rank tags, and a bit darker ones too.

[Juggernaut9473]

i have 1 problem, the whole adding damage resistance behind a barricade, it will just make people start camping like a little bitch, and that is hated enough

everything else seems good enough

[VerbotenDonkey]

I like the ideas. They are really creative. I would be up to testing them out beforehand, especially like the damage resistant barriers. Although I think the damage resistance would also be applied for standing there, even if being shot from behind. =/

But I'd be willing to give them a try. As for the Lore, I think it's all under control haha.

Loadouts, I think it would be neat if we got more defined Soldier loadouts. However, another side of me would like individual load outs so that my Platoon has more variety on what they can change to to fit their assigned role. I'll make up my mind when I can play the game a bit and see which would work best.

[Rokkman X]

i have 1 problem, the whole adding damage resistance behind a barricade, it will just make people start camping like a little bitch, and that is hated enough

everything else seems good enough
Using cover to avoid damage and trying to stay out of enemy fire is a far superior tactical choice to not doing it.
Hence the common term, 'Stop just running out there like a fucking retard.'
Although adding buffs for cover is a bad idea, I just disagree with your delivery. Cover provides enough, well, cover.

Also maintaining all of everyone's ranks in our bars would be a daunting task.

[Juggernaut9473]

Using cover to avoid damage and trying to stay out of enemy fire is a far superior tactical choice to not doing it.
Hence the common term, 'Stop just running out there like a fucking retard.'
Although adding buffs for cover is a bad idea, I just disagree with your delivery. Cover provides enough, well, cover.

Also maintaining all of everyone's ranks in our bars would be a daunting task.

I have no problem for using cover, just not for sitting in the same fucking spot for a majority of the game

stay on the move, just move slowly

[Salvanous]

Using cover to avoid damage and trying to stay out of enemy fire is a far superior tactical choice to not doing it.
Hence the common term, 'Stop just running out there like a fucking retard.'
Although adding buffs for cover is a bad idea, I just disagree with your delivery. Cover provides enough, well, cover.

Also maintaining all of everyone's ranks in our bars would be a daunting task.

First off, the barriers in response to Juggernaut would be a very narrow line along the barricade, meaning you would need to be right behind it to have it take effect. Yes, you would get it from behind as well which doesn't work overly well, but overall I think it would be an interesting idea. Now in regard to cover Rokkman, you are talking about GOOD cover. What I am talking about is the kind of cover the actually sandbag barricades provided. Up to your hips may be safe, but your head is in plain view. I think it would streamline people to certain areas because I remember whenever I saw a sandbag barricade before I was thinking "death trap" with the buff though, it might actually be viable. The barriers would also be a bit closer to the middle of the map, usually where we describe things as the "kill zone" and maybe a few other places. Trust me in saying that I am not wanting to make someone invincible here, simply make it where people behind these baricades can actually take some legit punishment. They would still be killable by sniping, and frankly I think they would be areas that snipers would check often.

Verboten, I would LOVE individual loadouts myself, and that is what I would fight for if I could, but I was unsure if people would be alright with that. If we can do it, HELL YES.

Rokkman, you joined I think after we shifted to these more groups rank bars. They can be done, and frankly they SHOULD be done. If you want I can post another page and a half rant on why, but frankly it isn't THAT much work. Privates should have seperate ranks bars from Sergeants. I don't mean that everyone has their very own specialized rank bar, but that all BLUE Sergeants have the same rank bar, all Privates have their own rank bar, and so on. If HC get their very own, then the rest of the community should too.

I'm not sure about you Rokkman, but I personally don't like that we are trying to make ranks mean more, and yet it is hard to do that when we share so many of the same rank bars. Not only that, but if you want to be seen with your proper rank you now need to either get into HC, or put it in your signature. A while back each rank had their own tag, and it gave a better feeling of accomplishment to have something to show for your rank. It gives better purpose and pull to lower ranks to work higher, and helps provide a more clear chain of command.

[SuRroundeD By 1]

Sorry Salv, but I disagree with most of these points :( I don't want to offend you or anything but I'm not a fan of them bud.

Personally, I think (at least for the beta war) we should be able to customize our classes at will, and however we want to. Power weapons and etc will still be on map but I want to be able to spawn with any Primary if I've already unlocked it.

And about the Forerunner Weapons, the "We just found them" excuse kind of works. We can put the lore to it, make the feeling of these wars seem more dangerous than previous wars with the including of Forerunner weapons and gadgets.

And with the barriers, I can see it being annoying if I put more shots into someone in cover, but because they are in cover they have more health, I die. If they are in cover they are being protected by shots, I think that's a large enough advantage.

EDIT: I do agree with having separate rank bars -_- don't know why we got rid of those in the first place, I liked having a different pic for each rank, and having each rank be specified.

[Salvanous]

Sorry Salv, but I disagree with most of these points :( I don't want to offend you or anything but I'm not a fan of them bud.

Personally, I think (at least for the beta war) we should be able to customize our classes at will, and however we want to. Power weapons and etc will still be on map but I want to be able to spawn with any Primary if I've already unlocked it.

And about the Forerunner Weapons, the "We just found them" excuse kind of works. We can put the lore to it, make the feeling of these wars seem more dangerous than previous wars with the including of Forerunner weapons and gadgets.

And with the barriers, I can see it being annoying if I put more shots into someone in cover, but because they are in cover they have more health, I die. If they are in cover they are being protected by shots, I think that's a large enough advantage.

Like I said later bud, if we can have our own loadouts that we make personally I'm ALL FOR IT. I simply didn't think we would allow it. If we can have that, then HELL YES.

Also sorry to burst your bubble but the lame excuse of "We just found them" doesn't really work. If they were found, they would go to a lab to be analyzed, not thrown into the field. Besides that, they wouldn't see widespread use through the whole army, simply given to small task forces for their use. The big guys get the big guns.

Also I am unsure why everyone is so scared of barriers. We are talkign about cover that even if you were crouching under, would still present your dome very easily, and the the zone trait would be for probably the 2 steps behind the cover. Basically a concussion round blast would easily throw you out of the trait zone. Hell a good grenade coudl do it, not to mention with EMP grenades, it woudl make those barriers unusable, as you would still be one shot regardless of damage resistance if you stayed inside of one. :/

[GhostHammer]

I'll end the lore discussion right now...

It is being taken care of.

Continue discussing other things. :)

[SuRroundeD By 1]

Like I said later bud, if we can have our own loadouts that we make personally I'm ALL FOR IT. I simply didn't think we would allow it. If we can have that, then HELL YES.

Also sorry to burst your bubble but the lame excuse of "We just found them" doesn't really work. If they were found, they would go to a lab to be analyzed, not thrown into the field. Besides that, they wouldn't see widespread use through the whole army, simply given to small task forces for their use. The big guys get the big guns.

Also I am unsure why everyone is so scared of barriers. We are talkign about cover that even if you were crouching under, would still present your dome very easily, and the the zone trait would be for probably the 2 steps behind the cover. Basically a concussion round blast would easily throw you out of the trait zone. Hell a good grenade coudl do it, not to mention with EMP grenades, it woudl make those barriers unusable, as you would still be one shot regardless of damage resistance if you stayed inside of one. :/

Depends on how much technology we found. We could say that we found a few Forerunner Constructs heavily forified in Forerunner tech and weapons. If there were enough armories, that could mean thousands, maybe millions of weapons, so the possibility for Forerunner Weaponry isn't too far off, and who knows, why couldn't we have reverse engineered the tech and recreate it for mass production? How many years have passed since the Reach war and these new ones? The Lore could be fit into the explanation.

Plus, game play reasons may ask for it. So far, it's looking like the DMR might be the most powerful precision weapon, so why would I pick up a Light Rifle or Suppressor if I already have a DMR? Using it as a map pick-up wouldn't work very well . . .

[Salvanous]

Depends on how much technology we found. We could say that we found a few Forerunner Constructs heavily forified in Forerunner tech and weapons. If there were enough armories, that could mean thousands, maybe millions of weapons, so the possibility for Forerunner Weaponry isn't too far off, and who knows, why couldn't we have reverse engineered the tech and recreate it for mass production? How many years have passed since the Reach war and these new ones? The Lore could be fit into the explanation.

Plus, game play reasons may ask for it. So far, it's looking like the DMR might be the most powerful precision weapon, so why would I pick up a Light Rifle or Suppressor if I already have a DMR? Using it as a map pick-up wouldn't work very well . . .


I'll end the lore discussion right now...

It is being taken care of.

With that being posted in your arguement, let's get down to the gameplay. I'm not saying display them out like power weapons bud. If you ever look around your base in ANY map we have used on FC battlenights, you will see that around bases we tend to have a few non power weapons. On Delta Facility, we had a magnum, plasma pistol, plasma repeater, 2 plasma grenades, and a needle rifle strewn across the base. I'm saying that keep our weaponry in loadouts (if we don't use personalized loadouts) primarily UNSC based, and keep most of the covenant/forerunner weaponry strewn across the base as I just pointed out.

They aren't power weapons, so they shouldn't be treated as such, but if we go ahead and flood ourselves with forerunner weaponry... Sorry that doesn't really seem to mesh with the rest of the lore. And yes, if we found an assload of forerunner tech, then sure, but regardless even if we did find that much, if it's a tool you are unfamiliar with, you run scenarios with it before putting it into field use. How many variants of the M16 have there been that have gone through testing before being implemented into the field in full effect?

[ThatRussianBear]

I like the barrier idea and I agree with the rank bars being darker

[Salvanous]

Once again pushing for specified rank tags, not simply enlisted, officers, flag officers, and so on.

[SuRroundeD By 1]

With that being posted in your arguement, let's get down to the gameplay. I'm not saying display them out like power weapons bud. If you ever look around your base in ANY map we have used on FC battlenights, you will see that around bases we tend to have a few non power weapons. On Delta Facility, we had a magnum, plasma pistol, plasma repeater, 2 plasma grenades, and a needle rifle strewn across the base. I'm saying that keep our weaponry in loadouts (if we don't use personalized loadouts) primarily UNSC based, and keep most of the covenant/forerunner weaponry strewn across the base as I just pointed out.

They aren't power weapons, so they shouldn't be treated as such, but if we go ahead and flood ourselves with forerunner weaponry... Sorry that doesn't really seem to mesh with the rest of the lore. And yes, if we found an assload of forerunner tech, then sure, but regardless even if we did find that much, if it's a tool you are unfamiliar with, you run scenarios with it before putting it into field use. How many variants of the M16 have there been that have gone through testing before being implemented into the field in full effect?

Alright, I can see the first argument, but I'd still feel like the Forerunner and Covenant weapons would just be clutter on the map.

For the second argument, you're right, it would take sometime to find how the LR would work, maybe even take a few years to master the weapon, what if the Halo 4 wars happen 50-60 years after the Reach Wars (Not likely, but even 5-10 years would be enough time)? We could stretch the timeline to fit the Forerunner Weaponry, and as GhostHammer said, they have the lore covered.

[GhostHammer]

I'd invite you all to look at the Lore section of the forums but, wait, where? It's missing! Hmmm, wonder what could be happening... ;)

That's all the teaser you guys are getting :P

[Salvanous]

Thus why moving past it. In regards to the forerunner and covenant weaponry placement, I am not saying make a tidy little pile of it in each base. I mean simply place them around the base for easy access. The guys forging our maps already know how to do it, and I trust them to do it well. I simply am saying that IF we go with predetermined loadouts, then that is how we ought to do it, not have ourselves flooded with forerunner tech in our loadouts. It cheapens the gun, and makes the weapon seem common, where since we are FORERUNNER CONFLICT, and our lore to this point as has been over obtaining and maintaining forerunner weaponry, it should be seen as a valuable, or less frequent weapon. This last part is a bit of a strained arguement, I know, but the overall display I make is what I stand by most strongly.

[VerbotenDonkey]

Hmm ... it would be interesting to make it happen so that the losing Faction gets less Forerunner Weaponry access ... ideas ideas. :P

[Salvanous]

Then that creates busy work and regulating that. Not to mention then we have people complaining about unfairness between sides. I would simply try to make sure that we don't go treating like forerunner weaponry like every day weaponry.

[ThatRussianBear]

I'd invite you all to look at the Lore section of the forums but, wait, where? It's missing! Hmmm, wonder what could be happening... ;)

That's all the teaser you guys are getting :P

lol

[KazuhLLL]

Personally, I think (at least for the beta war) we should be able to customize our classes at will, and however we want to. Power weapons and etc will still be on map but I want to be able to spawn with any Primary if I've already unlocked it.

Agreed. IMO, we should use the beta war as a chance to test how Halo 4 works with as close to default settings as possible. If certain aspects of the game are too unbalanced for our tastes, then of course we should take them out. (I have my eye on you, Promethean Vision.)

Not only would using Vanilla H4 allow us to each play to our own tastes, but it would make for an easier transition for newcomers to the community. Recruits coming in wouldn't have to keep track out what loadouts we offer for each gametype on each map, or the additions of spawn-at-start weapons that seem to be nonexistent in the new gamemodes. I say we try out the new sandbox that 343 has made for us before we decide to replace it with Halo 3-reminiscient settings.

[GhostHammer]

Just to give you guys an idea of how the Beta war will work if you missed the Reach one.

We take the basics of everything once the game is out, and re-make current stuff. So there will be the same gametypes just Halo 4 format, same loadouts, etc. Once that is done, we add in things that are new, for example, new gametypes, new loadouts, possibly some forge play, customization play, etc. Then we have our war.

Once finished, then we take the data we've gained, and that on our multiplayer experience in Matchmaking, and work out all of the issues in the Beta War.

If you think the Beta war is going to be fair, smooth, and work really well, you're living in sunshine land, please come back. Whenever we switch games, there is always a BUMPY START with the Beta war, hence why we do them. It's our way of saying "HEY LOOK THE FUCK OUT! RAPIDS AHEAD!"

Once that's done though, we fine tune everything, and the first war begins and 99% of the time goes very well with the exception of some unforseen issue that you could only discover by playing out a proper war over a couple months time. When that happens, it's taken care of right away.

Forum suggestions are great and can be debated/discussed right now. As for Halo 4, until we've all played the game and see how it all works it's all speculation, and there isn't much of the suggestions we'll remember. So if you do have ones, be sure to save them, and modify them possibly at Halo 4.

BE SURE TO POST THEM AGAIN! Chances are we may forget this thread and we want to make sure your suggestions are heard! This is especially important for a new game.

[Mythonian]

Maps and Trait Zones:

To provide a little more map direction and feeling of barricades meaning something without making it an impregnable wall of steel, I started to think of Halo Wars. How when you put a unit in a barricade, they became more resilient and able to survive better. I think we can finally apply this to Halo 4, in making barricades you can shoot, and be shot over effectively. What I suggest is putting trait zones behind barriers and increase the damage resistance they have there by a certain percent (able to take 150% damage?). Things like this would help provide that barricades were something more used and less of perhaps just for aesthetics.

That probably would not work out well.

1. It's already hard enough to assault a base to get the flag or something, especially on larger maps... This would just make it harder.
2. People have already often complained about us using custom or modified maps, since they don't know the details of the maps. These things will just make people rage when they are confused why it took 7 shots to kill someone instead of 5.
3. Only the best players will really use these. 80% of players won't use them, as should be obvious. The few that do will have an absurd advantage over everyone else. And the really, really good players will become nearly invincible since now they are able to take a sniper bullet to the face and survive due to their increased damage resistance.
4. If the enemy gets onto your side, they can camp in that spot and gain absolute map control over your base, spawn killing you and effectively having permanent overshields... This would break Hill 30 or any neutral objective game.



Providing Breaks:

Look, I can't begin to speak on how balance will play in Halo 4, but off of the last few wars and how one sided they have been at times, I think I should throw out an option here. If either R.E.D.D. or B.L.U.E. gets sweeped two weeks in a row, I suggest we take a one week break and during this break just do a custom challenge between REDD and BLUE that week. For example, have that break week be a Grifball day, or a Rocket Race day between REDD and BLUE. Just something to help keep the community together, and give people a breather if they are getting owned repeatedly. Or hell, just do a practice on the maps planned, and just do it with fun weaponry, like infinite concussion rifles for everyone. Just make sure we don't get so caught up in competition that we lose sight of this place as a community.
1. We don't plan on letting it be extremely imbalanced again.
2. Even when wars are balanced, sweeps happen semi-commonly. Two weeks in a row isn't unheard of either.
3. This would extend wars unnecessarily.

As always, if an army needs a break to regroup and get ready for the rest of the war, we will give it to them. The FMs have always been able to request a break and we have never denied a request for a break.


Rank Bars

Okay, whoever made these latest rank tags, don't get me wrong, I am fine with them... But I remember very clearly that when Halo 4 came back we were going to be going back to specialized rank tags to determine the privates from the sergeants, and so on. It is something greatly agreed upon and we talked about it forever.
As I said in my post in the Website Upgrade thread, time is short and lots of work needs to be done.

At the moment, it's not nearly a high enough priority compared to other things, and also isn't really feasible until we get a lot, lot more high-res H4 screenshots.

since we are FORERUNNER CONFLICT, and our lore to this point as has been over obtaining and maintaining forerunner weaponry, it should be seen as a valuable, or less frequent weapon. This last part is a bit of a strained arguement, I know, but the overall display I make is what I stand by most strongly.
Is it a stretch to say they've already been studying the Forerunner tech for years and are now at the point of implementing it into the military?

Anyway, refer to what GhostHammer said.

Also maintaining all of everyone's ranks in our bars would be a daunting task.
True. That was the original reason we switched, since both FMs were so, so far behind in updating them, and really it wasn't worth the trouble. It was a lot of work with little to gain, since the website permissions didn't change based on individual ranks.

With Generals now having Admin, it's viable to return, but the preparation and set up time is still significant.

Like I said later bud, if we can have our own loadouts that we make personally I'm ALL FOR IT. I simply didn't think we would allow it. If we can have that, then HELL YES.
I think you should try to understand the original reason why we did what we did in Reach.

We limited armor ability starts because some of them were rather overpowered. Everyone could pick Armor Lock and then nobody had fun. Or on specific maps everyone would pick Jetpack and screw up the flow of the map. Or the Sniper would start with Camo and totally abuse it. etc., etc.

So we resolved that by having them be picked up from the map.

If in Halo 4 we have a need to balance things by removing specific armor abilities or other items, we will do so. If we have no need to do it, we do not plan on it. We aren't going to mess with the gaming experience unless it's needed.

We do plan on experimenting with stuff in the Beta War (as has been said before), but we are only going to experiment with stuff we thing will actually improve things, which probably won't be very many.

[MedeDust]

I have a few ideas to throw out here, so my apologies for this rather lengthy post.

Forerunner Weaponry+Lore

I know this is a very unnecessary thing to say, but I feel like since we are implementing forerunner weaponry into FC wars now, there needs to be an explanation for their sudden appearance, and use wide spread. I also feel like the "Oh, we just found them" aspect is a very cheap way to solve the question.

In this respect, I feel like as we are calling this first Halo 4 war a "Beta War", we should actually call it a "Simulation War". It would help provide an answer for any changes that might occur gametype wise, as well as explain why forerunner weaponry is being seen spread through all the armies. It's as much to train the troops, as well as experiment with the designs of forerunner weaponry and see if their weaponry may be viable for real world use.

Taken care of.

Loadouts

I'm repeating a few people here, but it might actually be wise to make custom loadouts for various "professions". It would provide each person with a more clear cut goal of what their actions should be. I'm NOT saying "Make a sniper class" or anything insane like that. I'm saying not even saying give them armor abilities for their job. What I do suggest is why not provide certain support and tactical packages to various fields.

For example, your scouts may like getting the tactical package "Mobility" (providing infinite sprint), your heavier hitters might like a loadout with "Firepower" allowing for use of two primary weapons in their loadout, or "Ammo Pack" allowing for additional ammo. Your leaders or pointmen might like "Sensor" (improved radar and sensitivity), and your sharpshooters might like "Stability" (steadies weapon when being struck).

Frankly I think that we all ought to maybe just start with Sprint, and pick up armor abilities across the map. (even though I REALLY want to get thruster pack). But with just these loadouts providing a little assistance to the roles they are supposed to play, and thus make the whole unit hopefully able to be more cohesive.

As for weaponry, I would think we ought to keep the primary for each class with a choice of DMR/BR/AR along with a secondary of a Magnum (and give the magnum to each class this time, every solider keeps a sidearm). Grenades may vary, but provide possibly more neighboring weaponry inside each teams base. What I mean by this is that also include weaponry such as the Carbine, Light Rifle, Storm Rifle, Suppressor, and other guns of the same nature in the base. It keeps to the aspect that each army have access to covenant and forerunner weaponry while maintaining we mainly are composed of UNSC weaponry. You can also do the same for plasma pistol and boltshot, but I would be a bit more hesitant on throwing those in the base as well.

I think all of this wouldn't hurt how the map plays, nor would it make any one person feel they the loadouts were unbalanced, it would simply help direct each loadout to a different goal.

Maps and Trait Zones:

To provide a little more map direction and feeling of barricades meaning something without making it an impregnable wall of steel, I started to think of Halo Wars. How when you put a unit in a barricade, they became more resilient and able to survive better. I think we can finally apply this to Halo 4, in making barricades you can shoot, and be shot over effectively. What I suggest is putting trait zones behind barriers and increase the damage resistance they have there by a certain percent (able to take 150% damage?). Things like this would help provide that barricades were something more used and less of perhaps just for aesthetics.

Another thing that might be worth trying is giving high points of the map a traitzone that improves their radar range, or sensitivity.

Give certain things on the map a feeling like what they are provide more than just a the "We are here, you are there" but give the people defending them, and that are there a bit of a perk for possessing and maintaining their place there. It would give a new element of map control, and not simply make it a battle sometimes over who has the power weapons. It would add complexity to the battles, making power weapons a way to press for the territories, and the territories a way to maintain control with common weapons a bit more easy.

I'll have to look into the above later sounds like great ideas and thats what the Beta war is for.
Providing Breaks:

Look, I can't begin to speak on how balance will play in Halo 4, but off of the last few wars and how one sided they have been at times, I think I should throw out an option here. If either R.E.D.D. or B.L.U.E. gets sweeped two weeks in a row, I suggest we take a one week break and during this break just do a custom challenge between REDD and BLUE that week. For example, have that break week be a Grifball day, or a Rocket Race day between REDD and BLUE. Just something to help keep the community together, and give people a breather if they are getting owned repeatedly. Or hell, just do a practice on the maps planned, and just do it with fun weaponry, like infinite concussion rifles for everyone. Just make sure we don't get so caught up in competition that we lose sight of this place as a community.
This most likely will be used anyways.

Rank Bars

Okay, whoever made these latest rank tags, don't get me wrong, I am fine with them... But I remember very clearly that when Halo 4 came back we were going to be going back to specialized rank tags to determine the privates from the sergeants, and so on. It is something greatly agreed upon and we talked about it forever.

I don't know if these rank tags are temporary, but if they are to stay, then I REALLY want to press for each rank getting a separate tag, and I would like it if they are a bit darker. It's hard for me to read what each rank is sometimes. It's easy for some, but some rank tags are impossible to read them. Blackhawk's for example is one that I can only see he is a general, but I couldn't read what type of general he was. :/

Don't get me wrong, they are well made, and I like the design, but I really want to press for more specific rank tags, and a bit darker ones too.

I made them, and actually already finished editing, however the point you brought up, bring it up with Metkil and Mythonian because they were the ones that denied it.