Okay I was reading and looking at THIS article and from what it seems (or from what i can tell) it looks like there'll be no real Elite Customization and possibly not able to play as elites at all unless in a specific game type like Invasion or SvE gametype. To make matters worse Elite Customization appears to be limited to just full sets of Armor, like full on suits where you can't change the helmet, shoulders, body or anything. I understand Elites weren't popular in Halo 3, but these limitations of customization could really effect Reach machinima, and the people who actually prefer being elites won't get to be Elites. Please don't just comment saying "Who cares, Spartans have a huge armory anyway!" I'd really just like to know if what I stated is actually the case. And will we really be so limited as to playing Elites In Reach.
I never really was too fond of playing as Elites in Halo 3, and the customization options there weren't very broad either. I do understand the concern, though, especially for machinimas. About multiplayer: I know that at least some gametypes are going to be strictly Spartans vs. Elites; I'm not sure if any will allow both species in the same team.
yeah I beleive bungie posted something about this saying you can only choose a class of an elite that you wanna be, no customization at all. But Halo Reach is mainly about spartans, so I kind of understand why they did this.
I've seen it officially said that Elites are not as customisable as Spartans. I believe you just get to pick from armour sets already put together. However, these sets are already quite varied. From the images I have seen there is around 8 sets to begin with, most of which being locked (you have to pay credits to unlock them, and you gain credits simply by playing). However, Bungie have also said that some armour parts may not be visible right from when the game is released, and that they will gradually feed them into the mix, so that there is always new things to unlock. I don't see why this will be any different with Elites. I think the reasoning behind the Elites not being as customisable is due to the very nature of the way the Covenant is ran. By this i mean that Spartans have always been able to mix and match their armour to create a unique identity, which helps squads quickly identify who is who as much as anything else, due to the fact that different squad members have different roles and are built as a team from the very early stages. There is no team leader, and all tactical decisions are made as a group. The Covenant on the other hand have a very fixed ranking system for their species. Different armour sets show different ranks, and therefore Elites simply wear the armour associated with their rank, and it is just a set; it doesnt come in parts. This is so they can easily distinguish between who is in charge at any particular point. That's just my guess for why Bungie did not include full customisation for Elites. Of course, the real reason is probably that it is just easier for them to make it in pre-determined sets.
It was confirmed that Elites will be only to specific gametypes, and you can only select from 7 (8 if you're getting limited) bodies. They clearly stated that they wanted to focus on the fact that your spartan is the main character of the game. He is you, you are him. I find the level of customization for the elites is satisfactory, and looks beautiful.
I think the fact that the Elites are now very different characters (compared to Halo 2 and Halo 3 where they were of a similar size to Spartans) would make keeping the game balanced while still allowing players to be Spartan or Elite in all gametypes very difficult. As for customization, I didn't think the Elites' armour in Halo 3 was that good anyway. I usually just stuck to the default armour because most of the other pieces just looked like funny shaped blobs.