343 releases scaled progression system details for Halo 4

A snippet from the latest Halo 4 bulletin has confirmed that it’s entirely possible for you to, for the first time, screw up character creation in Halo.

Here’s what the company had to say about the new system:

• When designing the progression system for Halo 4, our primary goal was to give progress more meaning, and in order to do that, the player’s progress has to impact gameplay. In Halo 4, we primarily do this by allowing the progression system to modify the weapons and abilities the player can take into battle, empowering player choice, and exposing more elements of the sandbox to more players.
• As you progress through your multiplayer career, you unlock items that allow you to build the character and experience you want. The things you really desire, such as the Battle Rifle and DMR, you’ll gain access to fairly quickly. Some of the more difficult choices you’ll face, such as which Specialization to tackle first, come later. All of these things give you the ability to tailor your experience and focus on your favorite parts of the sandbox more than ever before.

It’s the existence of difficult choices that has me excited. Variation beyond armor and pre-battle skills is always welcome in shooters, but this is the first time we’ve seen permanent experiences factoring into the game’s details. Based on this, it sounds like, while all guns will be available for everyone eventually, you can choose paths to reach certain guns in a faster manner. Can you imagine not having access to the Sniper Rifle immediately in matchmaking?

This new wrinkle makes me even more excited for the game’s release on November 4th. More information as we get it.