Well it’s pretty clear 343i is intent on changing Halo, and while I might not agree with that I may as well do my best to offer some alternative suggestions.
Keep in much of this is based on my opinions about certain mechanics, though I will attempt to remain as objective in my points as possible.
The Design Philosophy: The entire point of my ideas is quite simple. Are the mechanics adding or taking away depth? Is there a skill gap to them, or are they simply there “just because.” In the event that a mechanic is there “just because”, how can it be reworked to be more useful without making it overpowered? If it isn’t adding any skill (or negatively affects the game) and can’t be reworked in a positive light, it will be removed.
Mechanics:
Sprint: Had to see this one coming right? There’s a huge, well written post elsewhere that I will link here detailing what sort of effects sprint has on the game and whether it is a positive or negative mechanic to include in the game. The gist of it is, it’s not adding anything of real value (though it can be argued that there is a skill in knowing when and when not to sprint) and in the end does more damage than any benefits it has. I would say remove it from base traits, however, do not remove it from the game entirely.
Halo 4’s Speed Boost powerup is like any other Halo powerup. It alters base stats for a brief period of time and is a map based item. In the grand scheme of things, it is it’s own version of sprint. If sprint is to be removed (and I wholeheartedly believe it should be) having speed boost as a map pickup could be a nice way to keep the idea behind it in the game.
Clamber: I’m getting the ones I don’t like out of the way first. I’ll be blunt: Clamber is pointless. I’m not going to argue that it’s more or less skillful than crouch jumping, that’s for you to decide, but at the base level it’s not doing anything that couldn’t already be done before and can’t be done better. The one positive argument I’ve seen for it is that it adds a certain fluidity to the motion, in which I wholeheartedly agree. That said, I personally think there’s a more interesting way to achieve this which I’ll get into shortly.
ADS: I don’t like it for the sole purpose of it blending niches. While I am wholeheartedly in support of making the autos more “skill” based (headshot multipliers), blending them in with the medium range weapons removes the balance point that they had in the first place (their advantage in close quarters engagements). Rather, what I’d like to see is an implementation of one precision based automatic, the ODST SMG. This would allow for a weapon of it’s own kind to compete with the BR’s in medium range without removing the niche of the AR and regular SMG. Bringing back the CE Plasma Rifle could also be beneficial, because what it lacks in scope it makes up for in damage multipliers and movement hindering capabilities.
The animation for ADS has to go. I personally find Halo’s implementation of it somewhat jarring. And since we all love the canonical arguments so much (hint, I dislike them but in the event that someone else is going to use them every time sprint is mentioned, I feel I should do the same with ADS), ADS animations make zero sense in the context of spartan armour and lore. The hud link between the weapon and the spartan’s visor negates the need to ADS.
Ground Pound: Personally I don’t see what the issue with this is other than being mapped to the crouch button. There is a certain “skill” to aiming and timing a ground pound and due to the fact that it requires a direct hit I can’t see it being particularly overpowered. Anyway, if sprint is removed we can easily bind Ground Pound and the other spartan abilities to whatever button slot it would normally have taken up which would alleviate many of the problems associated with them. The one remaining problem would be stabilizers, as it and ground pound can’t exist on the same button (and stabilizers shouldn’t exist on the aim button, which I’ll get into).
Stabilizers: Can’t say I’m a huge fan of them. I feel it removes part of the timing involved in hitting a jump snipe/shot/etc. On the other hand, aside from that incredibly selective point, it’s not negatively affecting other skills and could introduce a layer of tactics depending on how the maps are designed and how players choose to use it. My suggestion for stabilizers is that we remove it from the scope button and place it somewhere else, though I’m not entirely sure where. The reason for this is simple, this way we won’t have to scope in to use it and we won’t be forced to use it when we jump and scope in.
Slide: Not really adding anything, not really taking anything away, not hindering player controls, looks cool for machinimas. I’d say leave it in. How will it still be implemented if sprint is out of the question? A: Speed Boost. B: Pressing crouch in a certain time frame during or after a thrust from the thruster pack will launch you into a slide. The timing has to be small enough that it doesn’t interfere with one’s ability to crouch but long enough that it’s not impossible to pull off.
Charge: Same implementation as above (though mapped to the melee button), and I see no reason to change it other than a slight increase to damage (say, 100% shield damage and 50% health) to make it a more worthy option while in combat. Not powerful enough to one hit kill, but not as weak as a regular melee either.
New Suggestion:
Wall Jump: I’ll go into the specifics of this in a minute, I’ve got a video I’ll be posting shortly which will detail the uses Wall Jump could have as a replacement movement ability for clamber. Granted, this is theoretical. I wouldn’t even put this in the main settings for the game, but rather in it’s own trial playlist to gauge community reactions.