As many of us know, sprinting has became extremely hated among the community, and many feel 343 would be fools to not remove it in Halo 5. But here is the thing, sprinting has became pretty much standard in the fps’s of today, and Halo 4 is no exception. With 2 Halos under our belt with the ability to sprint, removing it now would cast aside 2 generations that liked and possibly preferred it.
I understand what sprinting has done, to the maps. Making them larger and ruining 4v4 gameplay while also taking away the skill jumps and everything that made the maps competitive. But here’s the thing, its not sprints fault the maps are no longer competitive, that’s the maps themselves, you can have sprint and competitive built maps, its just the past 2 halos have leaned toward the casual crowd more so the competitive crowd. I believe if sprint was to return that it would not necessarily mean the end of competitive built multiplayer maps, heck if done right sprint could make them more competitive, by adding trick jumps that could have dire consequences on those that failed making it more rewarding on those that have mastered it.
New situations such as having to jump to a platform that is hovering over a large chasm, or ravine that would allow you to flank the enemy team or even get to a power weapon before someone else, these situations could really take advantage of the extra momentum sprint jumping allows. If sprinting returns, this is the mindset 343 need to have, they need to accommodate the maps on more than the enhanced speed sprint provides, which is why I feel the past maps failed, they were only being re-sized in which ruined them for competitive play as well as messed up multiplayer maps of past halos. This however does not mean that remakes would be impossible, it just means they can’t be carbon copies of the original which allot of 343s remakes feel, it literally feels like the just graphically updated the map and ported into the new halos engine most of the time.
The maps would need to see updates and changes, 343 could state true to the theme and layout but things like the skill jumps and other aspects that makes sprinting on those maps over powered, if a old map is to closed off, it needs to be more open, if their were small gaps in between the ground and a platform with a void feeling those gaps, then the gaps need to be made bigger and the void more dangerous, so sprinting can’t bypass what was obviously meant to be a ''Map Hazard". If we could take a look at the Midship remake that is in Halo 5 we will notice that the map has undergone a lot of changes both graphically and physically, that tells me the 343 is learning and that remake maps shouldn’t just be graphical updates, they need to accommodate the gameplay changes as well.
I might have had problems with the changes Bungie made with their remakes but I have came to understand why the maps had to undergo the changes that were given to them, if 343 could do this while also staying true to the theme of the map, which was something Bungie had problems with, example: Lockout From Halo 2 was meant to have a forerunner theme to it but for some reason it went for the industrial setting instead. The same happened to Tombstone in halo 2, while Hang em’ high clearly had a Forerunner theme to it, Tombstone was given a more human theme as the map was set in the city of Old Mombasa.
Now I am aware sprint is not confirmed, and even if it does not return, the maps can’t simply just be ported over, as Spartan Abilities would still have to be factored in, I trust 343 has learned from their mistakes with Halo 4 and will give us a more competitive feel in Halo 5, but this whole ‘‘Sprint will ruin competitive play’’ needs to stop, if it returns its not going to be the end, if it doesn’t well then you can be happy.