As a big fan of Invasion in Reach, I would personally love to see it return but modified for the times, with newer mechanics and more accommodating to modern players. As such, I have some ideas for doing just that.
- All objectives should be outdoors. Breakpoint is the best example of what I mean. None of the map objectives, whether it's capturing the starting areas, delivering the bomb or stealing the core, are indoors. Indoor environments, like capturing the navigation core on Boneyard, make doing the basic task of moving an object from one side of the map to another, way more difficult than it needs to be. Indoor environments allow for camping, limited vehicle support, and generally divide the gameplay into distinct and separate battles; one indoors and one outside, rather than one cohesive and chaotic experience. True, an attacking team with great teamwork can always defeat a less organized defending team, but a game shouldn't be based on the hopeful premise that a team will always be both skilled and copacetic. Seeing as many players just hop in, or are loners, like myself, they don't get to chat with friends and allies and win many of the matches they're in. Heck, sometimes the many friends you make are just not online and you just want to play some Halo. I believe teamwork should be the defining difference between a winning and losing team but not the only means to win. A few good players on a generally dysfunctional team should at least have the opportunity to try to win rather than take a shutout due to campers and limited lines of sight for combat, not to mention being completely exposed while delivering the core.
- All objectives should be available (in order) whether or not you complete the previous one. This sounds entirely counter-intuitive, I know, but hear me out. Nothing is less satisfying for the attacking team and boring for the defending team when the attackers get "skunked". It means the rounds are shorter, players don't get access to the better weapons and vehicles, and it probably is the reason why I find it harder to get a match for Invasion than most other game modes I play. People probably don't like playing a very one-sided match of Slayer with no power weapons and poor spawns. To combat this, I propose that even if the attacking team fails to capture or perform the objective for a certain phase of the mission, they still can proceed to the next, just without a point for it. Ultimately, what defines "winning" and "losing" in Invasion is having a point for each of the objectives. If both teams complete the whole thing, the points are 3 to 3, meaning both win. If both teams don't capture any of the objectives, the points are 0 to 0, and both lose, but still get to play a full round of Invasion with all the map has to offer. I argue that 343 should allow the game to continue to the more interesting sections with the power weapons and vehicles, just without the winning point allotted. For instance, if the attackers get the first objective, fail the second but get the third, they will still ultimately lose if the other team captures all three objectives. Only difference is, the game won't end for them on the second objective, denying what usually consists of the Elites getting to use the Wraith and Banshee, and denying the Spartans the Falcon and Scorpion. Winning still counts as winning, but everyone still gets to have fun.
- (Warzone Mechanic) Add AI Marines and ODST's to back up the Spartans and AI Grunts and Jackals to back up the Elites. (Heroic difficulty, but naturally low health) Now, don't tell me this wouldn't spice things up. When your fellow Spartans are too busy to jump into the Hog as your driver or gunner, have a marine take over that job. When you decide to take on a UNSC battalion as an Elite, have some Jackals with Beam Rifles and Needlers to back you up. The point is, they wouldn't be taking the vehicles for you (no Banshee stealing, for instance) or capturing objectives, but rather would help supplement the battle to make it feel larger and more dynamic. I feel it would aid the idea of an actual "Invasion".
