Ok, so i just wanted to talk about some of the problems vehicles and hijacking in halo 5 have and how it makes using vehicles in the warzone less viable. Its happened to many of us, you come out of the garage with that shiny new Hannibal or ONI Scorpion, but it just so happens that there is an enemy on the other end of that invisible team blocker which is the only form of protection you have. You have no control over it, the game forces you out and causes you to be vulnerable and out in the open for about 5 seconds. More than enough time for that one lucky guy to get right up next to your tank and then… you’re instantly dead and a req has been lost. Its stuff like this that makes you frustrated at Halo 5 and you can blame a few things for this. Maybe you’re mad at the the limited reqs you have because of the req system and that you just lost a perfectly good req or it can be just the fact that an enemy was able to get right up next to your spawn without any consequences and wait for you to come to your inevitable death, or it can be those damn randoms that never help you out. Regardless, its a problem i wanted to address. Thats not the only problem but its definitely a big one. So lets talk about some of the other problems as well. Second problem i want to address is the huge effectiveness of active camouflage against ground vehicles. There’s no way to see it coming as you have a very wide and far view of the area around your vehicle with your third person perspective. That may seem like a plus, however, in order to see active camo you need to be relatively close to it, but the camera angle in all vehicles forces you to be decently far away from the ground and any spartan that is sneaking up on you. The radar doesn’t help either as active camo cannot be detected on radar, even with advanced sensors. Active camo is a very easy way to counter pretty much any ground vehicle unless its constantly moving in the opposite direction of you. I very much think camo needs to be nerfed but only in a way that affects vehicles. Active camo is fine as it is against infantry but its undoubtedly overpowered against vehicles. There is no real counter to it unless you can spot the slightest disturbance in just a few pixels.
Now, another thing that makes vehicles much less of a viable option is the radar and spartan movement. Now, this part only really affects heavy vehicles, but is still very much worth mentioning. When in a vehicle, your radar still very much has the same range as when you were on foot. This seems a bit unrealistic in my opinion but whatever. The problem with the radar IS its range, but for a different reason than it being unrealistic. The reason is because the base spartan movement speed has been increased with the addition of faster sprint, a thruster pack and slide to the point where it is so easy to just quickly run up to a tank and hijack it when it is unaware. The red dot indicating an enemy spartan comes into view so fast that, unless you are watching it the whole time, you almost have no time to react, especially if the enemy uses the sprint+jump+thruster+slide combo right when he comes into radar view. I feel like if im gonna bring out a tank, i absolutely have to use the armor mod Advanced Sensors if i even wanna make hijacking a fair thing to deal with. One of my biggest peeves with this is when i bring out a mantis and a guy leaps in front of me. So i start to back off but his sprint combined with thruster and slide pretty much equals and can even go faster than the speed of my mantis in that short time. Now, there is a problem that hes able to go faster than me but the real problem here is that he is literally able to hijack me from the front even though the mantis should only be able to be hijacked from the back, like in halo 4.
My one final problem which more concerns the viability of vehicles in the warzone than it does hijacking, is the one counter that everyone uses. The plasma pistol. The plasma pistol is probably one of the easiest ways to shut down enemy vehicles in warzone. It costs very little req points with the voids tear costing 4 req points and the standard plasma pistol costing only 3. The weapon takes very little effort to use with its huge red reticule range and homing ability. It has the potential to shut down pretty much any vehicle it encounters. The emp renders a vehicle useless for just a few seconds. However, these seconds are just enough time to let the plasma pistol cool down, and charge up for another shot. Your vehicle still is not able to move even after the second shot is fired. This renders your vehicle useless untill the plasma pistol has either run out of ammo, or you get hijacked. Your teammates rarely help you when you are immobilized. There is no real counter to this unless you either switch seats, get out of your vehicle or hope to god there is a teammate nearby willing to help.
Those are the biggest things that i feel make vehicles much less viable in the warzone and i didn’t even talk about the vast majority of overpowered reqs that can easily wreck vehicles (no pun intended). I wanna know what you guys think and if you have any constructive criticism to add to these matters. I wanna know how many of you have these problems. I wanna know your ideas on how to fix these problems.
Some advice… Paragraphs!!!
But anyway… I have felt they are less viable as well. The higher mobility of spartans makes it difficult to avoid spartans that can literally rain on top of you.
Since 343s weapon balance in Halo 5 makes most weapons have close kill times if the Chaingun (for example) were to do a lot more damage than an AR it would be near instant kill times for the comparison. So that makes damage for vehicles (mainly the hogs) seem low on top of the very easy to highjack gameplay.
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> …
A lot of those problems can be fixed with bigger, better designed maps, although the Plasma Pistol is a real doozy.
I would try making the Plasma Pistol reduce the movement speed of vehicles by ~50% instead of simply stopping them, then I would make it that while the vehicle is ‘overcharged’, it takes damage faster maybe by ~25%.
Or maybe instead of the armour reduction, it can’t use any weapons (pretty much same as before).
I completely agree that the Plasma Pistol being a hard counter for vehicles is a little bit shoink.
Edit: Because I can’t spell apparently.
Really good points, the wheelman perk was introduced as an attempt to nerf the plasma pistol but it still isnt enough. Theres no way a level 4 req should beat my level 8 phaeton, utterly ridiculous and its extremely aggravating. Ive been complaining about the mantis boarding since day 1 as well. As far as getting spawn killed, just spawn at home. No reason to save the minute it takes to drive across the map, it simply isnt worth it.
The ease of destroying ground vehicles has lead me to stick to banshees and phaetons for most of my vehicle usage, simply a lot safer use of reqs.
Halo 5 is an infantry focused game. I only spawn land vehicles for ff as its just too easy to get boarded. How about a certain amount of dmg needed to board vehicles. Plasma pistol has always been a counter for vehicles. I wouldnt mind if they decreased speed overall but kept sprint. Warthog needs help gunner is just too easy to snipe but i feel thats a problem due to the large (aim/magnetism?). I think they will fix that for halo 6. You cant really go and change a core mechanic like that months into the game
Like ThickestMoney93 said, only aerial vehicles with wheelman are safe nowadays. The heavy ground vehicles would be easily balanced with the following in my opinion:
#1: They need to take certain amount of damage before boarding becomes avaivable. I think that 50% of the vehicles health should be drained before it could be boarded. Basically the vehicles should go through two visual health stages.
#2: Revamp of plasmapistol’s emp effect. Basically split the vehicle into upper and bottom parts: EMP:ing the bottom part would immobilize the vehicle but main weapons would still be functional, and EMP:ing the upper part would disable the weaponry.
And for the plasmapistol users to clarify which part you’re about to EMP, when charged you wold get a similiar lock on to the part you’re aiming like with the hydra.
This would be a great balance in my opinion.
The bottom EMP would still let you defend yourself from being boarded but it would leave you vulnerable for lasers and rockets and etc.
And the weaponry EMP would let you still escape boarders but it would give a window for heavy weapons to fire at you.
> 2533274874385787;6:
> Like ThickestMoney93 said, only aerial vehicles with wheelman are safe nowadays. The heavy ground vehicles would be easily balanced with the following in my opinion:
>
> #1: They need to take certain amount of damage before boarding becomes avaivable. I think that 50% of the vehicles health should be drained before it could be boarded. Basically the vehicles should go through two visual health stages.
>
> #2: Revamp of plasmapistol’s emp effect. Basically split the vehicle into upper and bottom parts: EMP:ing the bottom part would immobilize the vehicle but main weapons would still be functional, and EMP:ing the upper part would disable the weaponry.
>
> And for the plasmapistol users to clarify which part you’re about to EMP, when charged you wold get a similiar lock on to the part you’re aiming like with the hydra.
>
> This would be a great balance in my opinion.
> The bottom EMP would still let you defend yourself from being boarded but it would leave you vulnerable for lasers and rockets and etc.
> And the weaponry EMP would let you still escape boarders but it would give a window for heavy weapons to fire at you.
Yes. Yes to all of this. Give this man a medal.
> 2533274874385787;6:
> Like ThickestMoney93 said, only aerial vehicles with wheelman are safe nowadays. The heavy ground vehicles would be easily balanced with the following in my opinion:
>
> #1: They need to take certain amount of damage before boarding becomes avaivable. I think that 50% of the vehicles health should be drained before it could be boarded. Basically the vehicles should go through two visual health stages.
>
> #2: Revamp of plasmapistol’s emp effect. Basically split the vehicle into upper and bottom parts: EMP:ing the bottom part would immobilize the vehicle but main weapons would still be functional, and EMP:ing the upper part would disable the weaponry.
>
> And for the plasmapistol users to clarify which part you’re about to EMP, when charged you wold get a similiar lock on to the part you’re aiming like with the hydra.
>
> This would be a great balance in my opinion.
> The bottom EMP would still let you defend yourself from being boarded but it would leave you vulnerable for lasers and rockets and etc.
> And the weaponry EMP would let you still escape boarders but it would give a window for heavy weapons to fire at you.
I like these ideas. To add the #1: I miss the days when the canopy of the vehicle could be sniped/blown off, exposing the driver to direct fire
Firstly I find your OP hard to read, as a previous poster said use paragraphs next time 
In terms of balance I think-
Vehicles should not have grenades thrown into them straight after boarding, have it halo 2 style. I.e knock armour off then throw grenade in.
Well come to think of it the vehicle balancing was well done in halo 2/3, just add overheating weapons and that’s it. Same armour, same boarding etc etc. Sick of the paper vehicles that get ruined by small arms fire.
The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
> 2533274880633045;10:
> The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
I have yet to see anyone in a warthog get more than maybe 5 kills on rare occasion before losing the gunner or the warthog being rendered useless by an AR and or pistol.
And yes, the map design plays a huge role in how most of the vehicles are useless. But, the mantis and hog are by far the most screwed. I can highjack a mantis from any direction and end it along with taking out the gunner of a warthog with a magnum while being shot at. The magnetism needs to be toned back down or the hog gunner needs more protection.
> 2535449665894532;11:
> > 2533274880633045;10:
> > The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
>
>
> I have yet to see anyone in a warthog get more than maybe 5 kills on rare occasion before losing the gunner or the warthog being rendered useless by an AR and or pistol.
>
> And yes, the map design plays a huge role in how most of the vehicles are useless. But, the mantis and hog are by far the most screwed. I can highjack a mantis from any direction and end it along with taking out the gunner of a warthog with a magnum while being shot at. The magnetism needs to be toned back down or the hog gunner needs more protection.
I would say (and have said) that the Mantis’ stomp could use an Area of effect buff, however if you are having trouble getting kills in a warthog the fault lies with the driver. A good driver and an average gunner is practically immortal. That isn’t a mechanical issue, it is due to bad driving.
> 2533274880633045;12:
> > 2535449665894532;11:
> > > 2533274880633045;10:
> > > The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
> >
> >
> > I have yet to see anyone in a warthog get more than maybe 5 kills on rare occasion before losing the gunner or the warthog being rendered useless by an AR and or pistol.
> >
> > And yes, the map design plays a huge role in how most of the vehicles are useless. But, the mantis and hog are by far the most screwed. I can highjack a mantis from any direction and end it along with taking out the gunner of a warthog with a magnum while being shot at. The magnetism needs to be toned back down or the hog gunner needs more protection.
>
>
> I would say (and have said) that the Mantis’ stomp could use an Area of effect buff, however if you are having trouble getting kills in a warthog the fault lies with the driver. A good driver and an average gunner is practically immortal. That isn’t a mechanical issue, it is due to bad driving.
The bullet magnetism does not care if you have a good driver. Headshots are far to easy to get in this game and it is no exeption for the hog. Me and my friends destroyed enemy teams when I was gunning and one of them driving. I have yet to see a “good enough” driver as you say they are just bad. And until I can see multiple occasions of hogs gunners able to do work against even half competent players I won’t think otherwise.
The mantis stomp is really hit or miss with how you can miss a spartan who is right under your foot. Along with the area of effect being way too little. Vehicles are meant to be game changing where is in Halo 5 they can be easily dealt with by loadout weapons.
On the other hand, let’s not forget that vehicles are far more useful in WZFF than power weapons. This is why it would be nice to be able to trade disposable req cards.
> 2535449665894532;13:
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> > > 2535449665894532;11:
> > > > 2533274880633045;10:
> > > > The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
> > >
> > >
> > > I have yet to see anyone in a warthog get more than maybe 5 kills on rare occasion before losing the gunner or the warthog being rendered useless by an AR and or pistol.
> > >
> > > And yes, the map design plays a huge role in how most of the vehicles are useless. But, the mantis and hog are by far the most screwed. I can highjack a mantis from any direction and end it along with taking out the gunner of a warthog with a magnum while being shot at. The magnetism needs to be toned back down or the hog gunner needs more protection.
> >
> >
> > I would say (and have said) that the Mantis’ stomp could use an Area of effect buff, however if you are having trouble getting kills in a warthog the fault lies with the driver. A good driver and an average gunner is practically immortal. That isn’t a mechanical issue, it is due to bad driving.
>
>
> The bullet magnetism does not care if you have a good driver. Headshots are far to easy to get in this game and it is no exeption for the hog. Me and my friends destroyed enemy teams when I was gunning and one of them driving. I have yet to see a “good enough” driver as you say they are just bad. And until I can see multiple occasions of hogs gunners able to do work against even half competent players I won’t think otherwise.
>
> The mantis stomp is really hit or miss with how you can miss a spartan who is right under your foot. Along with the area of effect being way too little. Vehicles are meant to be game changing where is in Halo 5 they can be easily dealt with by loadout weapons.
Yeah, blame bullet magnetism. A good driver won’t have you in a position to get 4 or 5 shotted. They keep moving, weaving in and out of cover. I’m not one and yeah good drivers are pretty rare and I’m always happy when I get one. Hell, I’ve been the gunner on a few occasion in h5.
The mantis would be near perfect if it had an AOE increase on the stomp. Then you wouldn’t have to have both perfect aim and perfect timing to prevent yourself from getting boarded. You would just have to have perfect timing.
Vehicles are game changing. Someone calls in a banshee ultra or a phaeton and they are the biggest threat on the field until the get taken down. The same with a Wraith or Scorpion. Vehicles are powerful, but not broken right now. A couple of tweaks need made (Aoe on mantis stomp, Remove splash damage/scrape invulnerability for boarders), but the biggest issue is the map design. There isn’t a point to calling in a warthog when you can throw a grenade to the nearest base. Calling in a tank is a bit more dangerous than it should be, because you have to travel down predictable paths.
> 2533274880633045;10:
> The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
Oh ya for sure, vehicles are definitely great dont get me wrong, but what im complaining about is how the vehicles are dealt with. My problem is with the ways of countering the vehicles and how these counters are unfair. Since the map design isnt going to be changed since halo 5, fixing these problems is a big step in improving the overall experience with vehicles. Bigger maps will definitely be a plus in the future
> 2535449665894532;2:
> Some advice… Paragraphs!!!
>
> But anyway… I have felt they are less viable as well. The higher mobility of spartans makes it difficult to avoid spartans that can literally rain on top of you.
>
> Since 343s weapon balance in Halo 5 makes most weapons have close kill times if the Chaingun (for example) were to do a lot more damage than an AR it would be near instant kill times for the comparison. So that makes damage for vehicles (mainly the hogs) seem low on top of the very easy to highjack gameplay.
ya i kinda forgot to indent xD
> 2533274810001991;3:
> > 2533275001087079;1:
> > …
>
>
> A lot of those problems can be fixed with bigger, better designed maps, although the Plasma Pistol is a real doozy.
>
> I would try making the Plasma Pistol reduce the movement speed of vehicles by ~50% instead of simply stopping them, then I would make it that while the vehicle is ‘overcharged’, it takes damage faster maybe by ~25%.
> Or maybe instead of the armour reduction, it can’t use any weapons (pretty much same as before).
>
> I completely agree that the Plasma Pistol being a hard counter for vehicles is a little bit shoink.
>
> Edit: Because I can’t spell apparently.
Well since we cant really fix map design till Halo 6 comes around, i wanna focus on how we can fix Halo 5. I do like your ideas though, they could make for some interesting gameplay
> 2533274874385787;6:
> Like ThickestMoney93 said, only aerial vehicles with wheelman are safe nowadays. The heavy ground vehicles would be easily balanced with the following in my opinion:
>
> #1: They need to take certain amount of damage before boarding becomes avaivable. I think that 50% of the vehicles health should be drained before it could be boarded. Basically the vehicles should go through two visual health stages.
>
> #2: Revamp of plasmapistol’s emp effect. Basically split the vehicle into upper and bottom parts: EMP:ing the bottom part would immobilize the vehicle but main weapons would still be functional, and EMP:ing the upper part would disable the weaponry.
>
> And for the plasmapistol users to clarify which part you’re about to EMP, when charged you wold get a similiar lock on to the part you’re aiming like with the hydra.
>
> This would be a great balance in my opinion.
> The bottom EMP would still let you defend yourself from being boarded but it would leave you vulnerable for lasers and rockets and etc.
> And the weaponry EMP would let you still escape boarders but it would give a window for heavy weapons to fire at you.
You sir, have some great ideas.
> 2533274880633045;15:
> > 2535449665894532;13:
> > > 2533274880633045;12:
> > > > 2535449665894532;11:
> > > > > 2533274880633045;10:
> > > > > The vehicle are fine and well balanced. They can be game breaking when used properly, literally two good warthog drivers and two mediocre gunners can decimate an entire team easily. The problem with vehicles in warzone is map design. The maps don’t really have large open spaces for vehicles to do their thing. They have to move on predictable paths (The valleys on apex, the tunnel on stormbreak or Arc, around the armory on darkstar.) The one map that should be a vehicle Haven is Sanctum and with the bases close enough together than you can toss a grenade form one to another, there isn’t a point in using them. It isn’t the mechanics, it’s the map design.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I have yet to see anyone in a warthog get more than maybe 5 kills on rare occasion before losing the gunner or the warthog being rendered useless by an AR and or pistol.
> > > >
> > > > And yes, the map design plays a huge role in how most of the vehicles are useless. But, the mantis and hog are by far the most screwed. I can highjack a mantis from any direction and end it along with taking out the gunner of a warthog with a magnum while being shot at. The magnetism needs to be toned back down or the hog gunner needs more protection.
> > >
> > >
> > > I would say (and have said) that the Mantis’ stomp could use an Area of effect buff, however if you are having trouble getting kills in a warthog the fault lies with the driver. A good driver and an average gunner is practically immortal. That isn’t a mechanical issue, it is due to bad driving.
> >
> >
> > The bullet magnetism does not care if you have a good driver. Headshots are far to easy to get in this game and it is no exeption for the hog. Me and my friends destroyed enemy teams when I was gunning and one of them driving. I have yet to see a “good enough” driver as you say they are just bad. And until I can see multiple occasions of hogs gunners able to do work against even half competent players I won’t think otherwise.
> >
> > The mantis stomp is really hit or miss with how you can miss a spartan who is right under your foot. Along with the area of effect being way too little. Vehicles are meant to be game changing where is in Halo 5 they can be easily dealt with by loadout weapons.
>
>
> Yeah, blame bullet magnetism. A good driver won’t have you in a position to get 4 or 5 shotted. They keep moving, weaving in and out of cover. I’m not one and yeah good drivers are pretty rare and I’m always happy when I get one. Hell, I’ve been the gunner on a few occasion in h5.
>
> The mantis would be near perfect if it had an AOE increase on the stomp. Then you wouldn’t have to have both perfect aim and perfect timing to prevent yourself from getting boarded. You would just have to have perfect timing.
>
> Vehicles are game changing. Someone calls in a banshee ultra or a phaeton and they are the biggest threat on the field until the get taken down. The same with a Wraith or Scorpion. Vehicles are powerful, but not broken right now. A couple of tweaks need made (Aoe on mantis stomp, Remove splash damage/scrape invulnerability for boarders), but the biggest issue is the map design. There isn’t a point to calling in a warthog when you can throw a grenade to the nearest base. Calling in a tank is a bit more dangerous than it should be, because you have to travel down predictable paths.
I think the warthog gunners being pretty weak is a valid point to make. When you combine Halo 5s bullet magnetism with Hitscan it makes it pretty easy to pick off warthog gunners, especially since many people view them as priority targets. Good drivers are a very rare occasion in Halo 5 and even with one its still difficult to get kills unless your driving something like a gauss warthog.