I have an idea for a suitable replacement for the jetpack that i also think is more suited to halo and is less of a map breaker because it dosent involve cutting across or climbing or hovering or anything like that. It also works as more of a piece of equipment from halo 3 that many people have been wanting since their removal in Reach. What i propose is the:
Jump Pack - It is a more get-from-A-to-B version of the jetpack that looks and operates similar, but is used for a different purpose. Rather than hovering and acsending, it propels the wearer forward. The jump pack lifts you only a short distance above the ground, hence ‘Jump’ pack. It will take the user forward and straight into the battle zone, ideal for shock troops. Although it has a short flight time due to its speed, you dont need to worry about fuel regeneration. It has instead of a short fuel limit that you must wait to be recharged, it has a fuel limit, segmented into blocks that are each used in a jump.
The limited fuel is very balanced and very important because the equipment in halo 3, which you had to find and pick up, was an ace up your sleeve. You could go into a battle, knowing that you have something special you can use. Picture the enemy having a tank and warthogs. You arrived to see your mate get blown to pieces by the tank. It turned its gaze to you, but you let go your Power Drainer. The tank stops on its tracks (no pun intended) and is helpless as you and your team blow it up. That was the real fun of equipment in halo 3 that is one of the things that made it great. However, in Halo: Reach, when you’re parading around in the tank, anyone in the entire enemy team could potentially armor lock just as you shoot them, rendering your powerful cannon useless. As you scramble to reload, the enemy foot soldier runs up to your mighty tank and punches it to pieces! That was hardly fun or fair. Thats why halo needs to take a step back from AAs AS THEY CURRENTLY ARE! This is extremely important to stress that AAs are perhaps one of the best additions to the halo games. Bungie had the right idea. They just left it unpolished and unrefined. Thats why you should take into consideration what has worked and what will work and put it together.
Back to the jump packs, the limited fuel is derived from the aspect that i just elaborated upon. They aren’t re-usable. They were fun because you had to put thought into it and valued it. Only used it when you really needed. It wasn’t like taking a step or jumping in the air. It wasn’t an action. It was a friend who went in and sacrificed itself to help you. [sniffs away a tear]
Enough with the emotions, the second limit, the fuel segments that limited the duration of a single jump, is that you can use your jump pack effectively and to help balance it so that you dont speed right over to the enemy base in one blow then let your guns rip. That is very cheap and VERY map breaking.
And whats more, the jump pack and AA’s in general, should still be in a loadout in my opinion. Finding things on the map is something i dont always like. You choose how you want to play and you choose your loadout to suit your tactic.
And as i must get off now, i want to leave you one more base idea. Armor Lock. Alas, It shall be killed. BUT! It shall be reborn as the son of Overshield! Armor Lock from Reach had two major problems. One is that it made someone invincible and totally stopped game flow. The other is that the player could not move, and so, only delayed the inevitable doom, which made it frustrating for everyone. There MUST be SLOW PLAYER MOVEMENT! The player cannot do anything but move slightly slower. This is to shrug off the hail of fire long enough to get to cover so that the player can re-think his strategy or escape a sticky situation. The shielding effect looks the same as Armor Lock and has the player lower his weapon or something. Think Crysis 2 armor mode as the grandfather on Overshield’s side of the family.
As for the strength of the shielding, it should be able to make a scorpion cannon round surviveable, preferably with shields gone and little to no health lost. I reckon it should be called Shield Overdrive.
As for the strength of the shielding, it should be able to make a scorpion cannon round surviveable, preferably with shields gone and little to no health lost.
As for there are only defensive AA’s now, i would like to go further into the equipment side of things. The next is not so much an ‘ability’ as it is a weapon. What i am proposing is Deployable Mines. How many times have you been playing Reach when you’re in a situation where the enemy is dominating the map. They have two warthogs, two banshees and their team owns more than half the map. They are oppressing your team and keeping them pinned down in the base. You will lose if you try to hold out any longer. You decide with your team the give you the rocket launcher and grenades and get you out into the middle covertly in hopes of taking out some of their vehicles. Once you’re there, your escorts are dead and you had spent a few rockets to keep the enemy’s heads down. You are hiding next to the main road, waiting for a warthog to go by. Just as you see one coming, you think: “Wait, there is a MG turret and a passenger with a Grenade Launcher on that hog and it will take me a few seconds to line up the shot. While i do that, the flying banshees overhead can fire their cannons at me”. You realize you have no hope. You either try and get killed before you do any damage, or you stay and wait for your base to be overrun. No fun at all.
However, what if you had Deployable Mines? You can line up your throw, pop out and throw one on the track. You duck back down and wait for the target to drive straight over it and get blown off to the side, upside down and with the driver + passenger dead. You move in and stick a knife into the Machine gunner. Congratulations, your team is saved! This is just one of the many situations where Deployable Mines are a fun, rewarding and tactically diverse approach.
“But hey, there was something like that in Halo 3!”
Yes, i know, and it was really fun. A great idea. Only it could’ve been better, as the Deploying control was messed up and hard to do, and it wasn’t powerful or intimidating enough. You could also spot it a mile off.
If you made it a set of maybe three that you pick up and takes the spot of the AA H.U.D., meaning that it is a three use AA, it would be a better more useful choice than H3’s singular mine. Also, if it is given a much more powerful explosion designed for vehicles, that would make it PRACTICAL to use. The way it should be deployed is that it cannot flip, you cannot throw it very far and it will only flip a LITTLE bit if there is a slope. It also mustn’t slide on the ground. As for changing how it looks, it needs to be smaller, but have a bigger detection range, and it must be harder to spot. As an old man once said, “Shiny lights a good mine do not make…”. It must not be activated by allied passers but anything else, including non-operating vehicles and enemies, must.
Concerning spawning with AAs, i think maybe just the lower class AA’s should be available from spawn and most others you must find around the map.
This is all ultimately up to you to decide, 343. As is everything. And im sure Halo is in good hands.
Thank you.