An Idea for how to fix Armor Abilities

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

Hey halo nerds, read how i intend to fix armor abilities and save halo.

I had an idea for how to fix Armor Abilities, without actually getting rid of them. Before you ask, no I’m not a fan of armor abilities, and preferred the equipment system of Halo 3.

The system I will be suggesting is a cross between Halo 3’s and Reach’s/4’s system. It also has aspects of Halo CE’s on map power up’s.

Armor Abilities are no longer part of load-outs, they are on map pick-ups. You can pick them up and drop them to trade them with other armor abilities.

The armor abilities run on a charge, and depending on the ability, you can use them a certain number of times before the charge runs out.

There are only a certain number of armor abilities on the maps, say 2-4.

There will also be power-ups, such as overshield, speed boosts, and active camo, replacing that particular armor ability.

Players with an armor ability cannot use pick ups, and if attempt to, their armor ability will overload and deactivate, and within a set time frame, the armor ability will respawn on a predetermined, neutral sector of the map, while the player picks up the power-up. Vice-versa will also happen if a player with a power-up tries to pick up an armor ability.

The game-changer however is a secondary pick-up known as power stations. Power stations work similar to health packs, but give the player another set of charges with the armor ability. They recharge every twice as fast as power-ups. The catch is, however, power stations are only located in enemy territories, and you cannot use the power stations on the allied team’s side, as to encourage aggressive play-styles and player movement.

The AA’s are also on a cool-down, if the player fails to recharge the ability 90 seconds(can be adjusted according to gametype/map needs) after all charges have been exhausted, the AA will deactivate and respawn according to the same conditions above.

Players with armor abilities are marked uniquely on the other player’s radar, in order to make players aware, but only if they are attentive to HUD elements.

This is meant to encourage competitive game-play and player movement, at the same time keeping in the armor ability system.

Tell me your thoughts!

2

I’m sorry, but I cannot see this happening without rejection and complaints.

3

What you describe sounds to me like you view armor abilities as a crutch and you would take that crutch away from everyone else and then use that crutch as weapon to break the legs of anyone trying to use it with the ideas you describe.

4

I think you started out good, then it got weird.

I agree with these.

  1. Map pick up only: 110% agree with this. You will then have to fight to get your AA’s.

  2. Limited Charge: Another good idea. If AA’s had this limitation I could live with both the Jet Pack, and Armor Lock abilities.

5

Really the only AA’s that have given too much trouble have been Jetpack, Armour Lock and Active Camo, we need to avoid having them as AA’s, make AC a power up, Don’t use Armour Lock have Hardlight Shield instead, Jetpack should be a Jump-pack or not in at all

6

> What you describe sounds to me like you view armor abilities as a crutch and you would take that crutch away from everyone else and then use that crutch as weapon to break the legs of anyone trying to use it with the ideas you describe.

i don’t even understand what you just said

> Really the only AA’s that have given too much trouble have been Jetpack, Armour Lock and Active Camo, we need to avoid having them as AA’s, make AC a power up, Don’t use Armour Lock have Hardlight Shield instead, Jetpack should be a Jump-pack or not in at all

I half agree with you, the only problems I have is Hardlight shield is still too over powered, anything available as a load out option that provides invulnerability, even partially from only one direction is still too powerful, and the very idea of a jump/jet pack, or anything that lets players go against the intended flow of the map, breaks the map.

7

> > What you describe sounds to me like you view armor abilities as a crutch and you would take that crutch away from everyone else and then use that crutch as weapon to break the legs of anyone trying to use it with the ideas you describe.
>
> i don’t even understand what you just said
>
>
> > Really the only AA’s that have given too much trouble have been Jetpack, Armour Lock and Active Camo, we need to avoid having them as AA’s, make AC a power up, Don’t use Armour Lock have Hardlight Shield instead, Jetpack should be a Jump-pack or not in at all
>
> I half agree with you, the only problems I have is Hardlight shield is still too over powered, anything available as a load out option that provides invulnerability, even partially from only one direction is still too powerful, and the very idea of a jump/jet pack, or anything that lets players go against the intended flow of the map, breaks the map.

Good points, HLS and Jetpack should be campaign exclusive then

8

> Really the only AA’s that have given too much trouble have been Jetpack, Armour Lock and Active Camo, we need to avoid having them as AA’s, make AC a power up, Don’t use Armour Lock have Hardlight Shield instead, <mark>Jetpack should be a Jump-pack or not in at all</mark>

I’d honestly prefer the Jetpack to become a Map Pickup and remain as powerful as it is now, because the only reason that it plagues the game is because EVERYONE SPAWNS WITH IT.

9

> Good points, HLS and Jetpack should be campaign exclusive then

I have no qualms with this, it might be a bit redundant to relay resources to make campaign-exclusive abilities, but they should pull out all of the stops for campaign.

> I’d honestly prefer the Jetpack to become a Map Pickup and remain as powerful as it is now, because the only reason that it plagues the game is because EVERYONE SPAWNS WITH IT.

Exactly, IMO treating AA’s like power weapons are probably the best way to solve most of the problems of AA’s without actually getting rid of them

10

> > Good points, HLS and Jetpack should be campaign exclusive then
>
> I have no qualms with this, it might be a bit redundant to relay resources to make campaign-exclusive abilities, but they should pull out all of the stops for campaign.

They did it with evade though and made it MP only in Reach, they did it with Regen Field I think in 4

11

> Good points, HLS and Jetpack should be campaign exclusive then

I never saw anything unbalanced about the Hardlight Shield. If anything, it’s one of the most balanced in the game.

In honesty, the only reason why I saw Armor Lock to be terribly unbalanced was because it had that EMP affect to it and that it would destroy vehicles that came in for the splatter.

12

The only way I wouldn’t mind seeing them return is if they were map pick up and limited to one use, which is basically just equipment. So imo they should just drop the idea of AA’s and expand the equipment arsenal.

13

> The only way I wouldn’t mind seeing them return is if they were map pick up and limited to one use, which is basically just equipment. So imo they should just drop the idea of AA’s and expand the equipment arsenal.

That’s basically what I tried to do here, get rid of AA’s as they were before, and merge it with equipment.

14

I agree on the map pickup and limited charge. Anything beyond that I think is either getting too complex or allowing it to be gamed. Or you could just make it timed. Jet pack spawns every three minutes and lasts for 60 seconds… you can use that time to break setups (you controlled the part of the map that has the spawn, so you didn’t break map flow, your enemy just ignored it)but you can’t abuse it for the entire game.

I’m surprised promethean vision isn’t getting any hate on here. Any armor ability that allows you to dictate to your opponent how they can play the game needs to be either removed or have limited availability. Active camo obviously forces your opponent to completely change the way they attempt to engage you, and given how effective it is forces them to abandon the concept all together at times. Jet pack removes grenades and melee from teh equation (golden triangle be -Yoink!-), armor lock removes melee and grenades as well… you get the idea.

15

> I agree on the map pickup and limited charge. Anything beyond that I think is either getting too complex or allowing it to be gamed. Or you could just make it timed. Jet pack spawns every three minutes and lasts for 60 seconds… you can use that time to break setups (you controlled the part of the map that has the spawn, so you didn’t break map flow, your enemy just ignored it)but you can’t abuse it for the entire game.
>
> I’m surprised promethean vision isn’t getting any hate on here. Any armor ability that allows you to dictate to your opponent how they can play the game needs to be either removed or have limited availability. Active camo obviously forces your opponent to completely change the way they attempt to engage you, and given how effective it is forces them to abandon the concept all together at times. Jet pack removes grenades and melee from teh equation (golden triangle be -Yoink!-), armor lock removes melee and grenades as well… you get the idea.

It’s all fine to only have AA’s as pickups, but you have to consider the developers.

343i has a hard time wanting to revolutionize Halo, but at the same time, keep fans into the franchise, especially the Grizzled Ancient Ones, that have been there since the beginning.

With the pickup charges, it adds a new dynamic to the gameplay, without it being game-breaking.

And I forgot to mention that I would get rid of PV and active camo all together.

There would also be at most 2 jetpacks on map at any given time.