Armor Abilities and Halo 4

Community General Discussion
1

Everyone knows that the addition of Armor Abilities is a hotly debated decision among the Halo community. Some think it was a great addition to the series and would be happy to see them return in the future, while others think that the series would be better off taking a step back and returning to the formula of Halo 2 and 3.

I think armor abilities were a good idea myself and enjoy their usage, but they became too prominent in the game. Some of them are too efficient at doing what they do, and others, while not troublesome if a single player is using them, can be simply map breaking when used in bulk.

While I can agree with people who say that they’re overpowered to a degree, I can’t say that I’d be fine with them just dropping out of use from here on out.Here’s what i’d do with them for 4, and if you REALLY hate AAs, please just read the whole thing if you disagree, because you might just find yourself agreeing with me in the end.

UTILIZATION
In each basic gametype in Reach, you get (or initially got) access to a set of five armor abilities in the beginning. I do not think that this setup should be utilized in Halo 4. Instead, I think you should spawn with a base choice of armor abilities in default games. Lets say sprint and evade(an AA which I will be discussing further), and certain other AAs are on the map readily available for use. They should spawn like any normal weapon, usually with some sort of symmetry as far as the map is concerned. They should also be placed so that each team has equal access to all armor abilities at the start.

Having the AAs other than what effects horizontal movement spawn as pickups completely changes how they’re viewed in game. Having things available as a pick up forces you to choose between going to grab your weapon or your preferred armor ability (if of course you don’t prefer the starters) when you go into combat. Also, having only one or two of each type available on the map will limit the number of players who have the same AA. Ideally under these circumstances, each member of a team will be able to have each a different AA if they like, but no team will be able to go all jet pack, all camo, or all armor lock. In fact, the only way they’d get more than one of the same AA is by going to the other team’s side and stealing theirs, in which case it’d be along the lines of having the other team’s sniper rifle. The exception to this would likely be on a big team map, where in my opinion at least armor abilities in Reach feel most at home.

Being on the map, they’d naturally have spawn times. Initially, I’d say that the spawn times for them should be about ninety seconds after the drop on average, either because of death or swapping. (also make whether the old AA falls when you die/swap it an on-off option in customs) Depending on how well this plays out, it would or wouldn’t be tweaked.

A lot of this is stuff that could, in fact, be altered for Reach. This is only changing the utilization of the AAs, and in doing just this, it completely changes their role in the game. they go from supplements that everyone can access at any given time to augmentations to a single player’s play style that may not only give them combat advantages in certain situations, but also give them task specific abilities that will make them more valuable in objective based games, allowing them to perform specific tasks IF they aren’t careless with their ability.

Now, the AAs themselves would also be in need of tweaking. Some in need of tweaking are obvious to many, but the methods presented frequently involve amputation, when surgical precision would be much more suitable for all interested. My ideas on the matter are in my opinion the best possible changes that could be made if all of the Armor Abilities from Reach were to make the transition to Halo 4. We’ll start with the Elephant in the room…

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ARMOR LOCK
This armor ability is my favorite. Not because I can beat most power weapons easily with it, or because I can use it to avoid death and escape, but because with it, I can be more aggressive in close quarters with less worry of enemies spamming grenades or me being caught in a situation where I know what I’m getting into, but may not be able to react fast enough to everything around me. However, having used it almost exclusively in Reach’s slayer and objective playlists, I’m very comfortable in saying that it’s too effective at what it does. On the other extreme, I am also comfortable with saying players that are less confident in their abilities can use it as a crutch simply to buy time or escape. I’m guilty myself of using it to directly prevent the opposing team from killing me and therefore winning a 49-49 game with six seconds on the clock to go and me in their sights with my shields down. Because of it’s place in Reach’s gameplay and how it behaves, I think it is the one in need of extensive changes.

First of all, the timer needs to be shortened. Six seconds is too much time to be sitting in one place. While it is good for avoiding the most rediculous levels of grenade spam, that’s about all it’s good for. Outside of that, it does slow down gameplay, and in an unnecessary way. I think that the timer should be reduced to three, maybe four seconds. This gives players the ability to negate two rapid grenade tosses from one person with one lock.

Secondly, the amount of uses you have access to with one full charge is too many. Someone who is familiar enough with the ability can deflect 3 attacks from any power weapon while being an active, mobile player. If the player is properly equipped, one active lock (quickly going into armor lock and popping back out) should be all they need to even the playing field. If not, they should find comfort in the fact that they’ve forced the opponent to use more ammo in their power weapon then they would have liked. Therefore, I feel that requiring a near full charge in order to use the ability is a must, and I only say near full because the armor lock dance is fun to do and I don’t want to see it go.

Thirdly, the “frosting” part of armor lock needs to either become more pronounced in order to clarify when attacking the locker will cause damage, or removed. While I know it’s there to protect the locker when he’s doing the exit animation, I don’t feel it’s really all that necessary, and if it’s going to be present, it’s duration needs to be made very clear. If it’s simply the cause of lag, then I guess there’s not much we can do about it aside from improve netcode.

Another thing that could do with changing is the effects of armor lock itself. With a shorter fuse, the EMP would likely charge faster. Because of this, the concussive force of the EMP should be increased to force them out of basic melee range. This would require the armor locker to either finish the kill with gunfire or close distance for the melee kill. This would also allow sword users to still attack the armor locker when he releases the lock as well as giving those whose shields have been dropped a chance to wound or kill the armor locker, depending on the playing field at the time the latter decides to lock up. It should also require that the player stay in armor lock for at least a half a second before an EMP begins to charge. The stun effect should also be removed, since it’s likely that if you decided to go in for the melee on an armor locker, you’d get hit with the EMP due to the shorter duration.

That’s what I would change about Armor Lock. I’d also consider lengthening the charge time, but I wouldn’t want to make decisions on that until I saw how the other changes effected it’s use, particularly the limit to the access.

EVADE
While not nearly as in need of change as Armor Lock, in my view of how things might be in the future, the fact that it’s constantly accessable makes change for this one more pressing than any other AA. The only real changes that I’d make to it would be to reduce the amount of uses per charge to one, and slightly increase the charge time. Presently, it allows you to dance around your enemies with minimal effort, when in reality it should be used for what it’s name implies. It presently overshadows sprint, which is used for rapid movement from place to place, because it provides you with those quick bursts of speed much more often and in a more rapid mode of transportation. Making these changes are what I believe would make it perform the task it’s intended to do without breaking out of it’s niche in the system.

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ACTIVE CAMOFLAUGE
This armor ability is one that is also in need of a good amount of change. Presently, it’s a camper’s dream. It can be used for extended durations with little concequence, and accessed nearly all the time.

The first thing that I think should be altered is the duration. Right now, you get a whopping 45 seconds to use your active camo when standing still (longer than the camo powerup lasts by 15 seconds), but only 15 seconds if you decide to go on the move at full speed. In my opinion, 15 to 20 seconds should be all that you need in any situation. If you’re waiting to surprise someone, you shouldn’t need 45 seconds to do it, and 15 seconds in halo is more than enough time to move from one point of cover to another, even on Blood Gulch in many cases. Right now, it promotes camping, and I think camping in Halo is nowhere near as fun as the frenetic pace halo is known to reach quite often.

The second thing that I feel needs to be changed is the level the charge needs to be when you access it. having instant access is pretty much useless, and being able to charge it a little bit and then use it again only further promotes camping. I feel that requiring at least half charge to access it is a reasonable request. This would allow users to make quick bursts of camoflauged movement across hostile terrain, or quickly fade into the darkness and escape.

Another thing I take issue with is how easily you reveal yourself with the ability if you decide to move at all. I have never thought that it was a good tradeoff for the amount of time you had access to it. Again, it only further promoted camping with the abiliy. I feel that the camoflauge, both on the powerup and the Armor Ability, should be returned to Halo 1 and 3 levels of effectiveness. This, in conjunction with the above two suggestions, would make for a more mobile camoflauge.

The way that the motion tracker gets jammed is in my opinion an ineffective and rather annoying way to make it hard to find where a camoflauged opponent is while announcing their presence. I think instead, it should utilize the eight sections and three rings that the motion tracker is seperated into. Instead of random dots arranged in a circular pattern, the jammer effect should instead blur or fuzz out two sections that the camo guy is in the general direction of, alerting you of his presence without becoming a distracting mess that you could even still potentially discern his location from. when you’re in very close proximity, the center circle should be fuzzed out, to put you most on your toes without directly giving away the camo player’s position as the current method tends to do.

JETPACK
I honestly don’t think that there’s much to change about the jetpack. it’s not, after all, the quality of the ability that makes it frustrating to go up against, but rather the quantity in which it may appear. My suggestions on the utilization of the abilities solve that problem. If I HAD to change something about the jet pack, I might make its sound carry a bit better, so you’re more aware of someone using it.

DROP SHIELD
The drop shield is also something that finds it’s problems solved with the changes in distribution of abilities. It takes an appropriate amount of damage, provides sufficient protection, and can be negated by Armor Lock EMP. I find that there’s nothing really wrong with the drop shield itself.

SPRINT
There’s honestly nothing wrong with sprint. There’s not much you can do to mess it up. The only issue is how weapons behave with sprint, the sword in particular. Rather than being blockable at all times, I feel as though the sword should require reactivation when used in conjunction with sprint, or evade as well. when the animation for the sprint/evade finishes, you turn the sword back on. Once THAT animation finishes, the weapon becomes available for use. Same thing goes for the hammer, as well. Having sword block really handicaps the sword in many situations where it shouldn’t be, and it makes it really ineffective in specific games like Grifball. It should always be a deadly close quarters weapon, and sword block puts it in the back seat when compared to it’s analogs.

HOLOGRAM
Fine as is, if you ask me.

I know it was a long read, but hopefully something like this can spark some constructive discussion on the future of Armor Abilities in Halo’s future outside of simply removing them. Please discuss and make suggestions of your own.

4

lol Good points, but I wouldn’t mind them going back to Halo 2 - Halo 3 gameplay.

5

I Personally, Liked Seeing AA’s Within The Campaign, They Gave The Game Detail, Flow And Peak My Interests, Wondering How This Will Affect Me Going From Point A To Point B.
That Being Said…Multiplayer, Need’s To Be Critiqued, Like All Good Games Flaws Occur, Like You Stated, There Are Ways Around Breaking A Map And Creating Balance.

Within Social, Why Did It Matter? Social, Was The Place To Go To Test AA’s And Play…Well…Socially.

As Ranked Goes, I’m An OldSchool Fan, H1-H3, However, Sprint Is the Only AA I’d Like To See Within Ranked Match’s It Was The True AA, You Either Got To The Vantage Point, Or Doomed Yourself Via Sound, Radar, Sight Or Whole Team Looking At You Thinking " Kill The Sprinter" It Had It’s Pro’s As Well As Its Con’s That Influence The Game In A Balanced Manner Via Crunching Critical Time Adjustments To Your Plan. It Didn’t Influence How You Received Damage, Your Survivability Of A Hit’ vs Splash Of A Received Attack, Nor Did It Hide Your Character From Sight At Will, Guard Damage Or “Hover” Above Or Across A Designated Area. That Being Said, Sprint Should Be The ONLY AA In Ranked.

When It Comes To Multiplayer…I’d Love, I Mean LOOOOVE To Have AA’s Completely Removed, H3 Had An Amazing Multiplayer System, For " AA’s " Armor “Attachments " That Were Usable Once, Power Drain, Bubble Shield, Regen, Invis and OV, Placed In Critical Set Locations. It Allowed Critical Plays, Time Crunching And Distance vs PvP Calculations ( Time Between You And Spawn - PvP Heat Zone. ) Making The Player Think " I Can Only Use This Once…It Lasts This Long, And Such Players May Be Within This Region, Is It Important For Victory? Will This Turn The Tide Of Battle? And Will This Be Effective For My Personal Game Play” Instead Of " I Have This Ability, I Can Do This And This When I Want/Need To" So Once Again Combat Is Based On…Team Skill, Player Skill, Player True Aim, Environment, And Adrenaline Fueled Combat. " I Know What My Spartan Can Do, I Am The Same As The Other Spartan, Am I Better?"
I’m Not The Best Player But In Reach My Mind Set Was " I Am Good, I Am Better, But His Spartan Can Fly…Their Spartan Can Block My Critical Movements" Sure It Leave’s The Combat Situation To be Open To ANYTHING How Thrilling, But The Best Part About Halo Combat Was “I Am Invincible! I May Be Hurt Already…But My Skill Overpowers Your Skill!”

I’m Not A Fan Of The Halo Reach Combat System As It Was Mainly Due To The Fact That You Seem Further Away From Your Characters True Sight. I Don’t Like The Feeling Of Being Small…Halo 1,2,3 and ODST. Kept Players Within The Visor, Gun At Hand, And A Label Stating " Objects Are As Close As They Appear" Reach Felt Like " Objects…Are…Well I’m not Quite Sure…Sorry :D!!!" I Saw That Working With Armor Abilities, Because Closing The Gaps With Them Made That Few Feel Right And Well Placed. But Combat Was Skewed… I’ve Watched Many Pro’s Lose Ability Because Of This.

So With This In Mind…AA’s Are Great For Campaign I Mean…Master Chief Was Called " Demon " For A Reason Lol, Just Keep Them Out Of My Combat Zone. Return My Vision To That Of Halo 1,2,3 and ODST.
A Spartan Never Dies, He Only Goes Missing In Action.

6

Definitely agree that the AA’s would work better if they were placed around the map instead of given to you from the start. The main thing about Halo is that everyone starts off the same, Bungie changed that with the loadouts of different AA’s. Equipment was never used in Halo 3 so Bungie forced them on ppl in the form of AAs. In my opinion, 343 needs to either get rid of AAs or don’t make ppl start with them.

7

Please, no more AAs.

8

MLG has tried this method already and it sucks in Reach. Armor Abilities are terrible. I wouldn’t mind if Jetpack or Dropsheild were used in Campaign, but please keep it out of the multiplayer, it’s ruins the gameplay…

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The title is self explanatory. If the ‘jetpack’ like thing in the H4 is a hint of AA’s in H4, I’m DONE with Halo. I swear, the Halo Franchise has suffered due to Halo Reach and the AA’s within that game. Many of the hardcore players left or barely play. When I say hardcore players, I mean people who had 40’s or 50’s in H3, whether or not they were in snipers, MLG, TS, swat, and other playlists.

IMO, AA’s ruin the game.

Discuss.

10

what does rank have to do with opinion on AA?

11

I wouldn’t mind AAs in Halo 4, but I think it would be best to keep them in Reach.

If 343 adds in AAs, i’m not gonna leave Halo. Not all all. I’ll enjoy the game, like I did with Reach.

To me, every Halo game is good…except ODST. ODST wasn’t even decent, it was below average (for campaign). Firefight was a brilliant idea.

For the sake of time:
ODST firefight>Reach firefight

12

> what does rank have to do with opinion on AA?

smh

And to the guy saying you wouldn’t mind having AA’s but then you go on to say ‘lets keep it in Reach’.

That’s basically saying ‘AA’s? No thanks.’

Am I right?

13

Although I prefer no AA’s to AA’s, Halo has to keep changing. It can’t keep releasing the same game every time. Although part of me wants to play Halo 2/3 rehash I don’t think it’ll be a good thing for us.

Maybe load outs should be continued, just balanced better.

14

I’m pretty sure that the ‘jetpack’ was simply a pre-existing built in zero G booster. You can see it in both Halo 2 and 3 it is just not used. Also ODST was my second favourite halo game (after Halo 2) so leave it alone!

<4

15

The main part of the game - camp can hve the ajustments. multiplayer however can easily be fun and stay the same.

16

It depends on how they implement it. It might be in it as well as it might not be in it. They can make them really balanced and fun if they do it right.

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> Although I prefer no AA’s to AA’s, Halo has to keep changing. It can’t keep releasing the same game every time. Although part of me wants to play Halo 2/3 rehash I don’t think it’ll be a good thing for us.
>
> Maybe load outs should be continued, just balanced better.

How is Halo 2 like Halo 3? I think both games were great and they followed the golden triangle to a good extent.

18

> > Although I prefer no AA’s to AA’s, Halo has to keep changing. It can’t keep releasing the same game every time. Although part of me wants to play Halo 2/3 rehash I don’t think it’ll be a good thing for us.
> >
> > Maybe load outs should be continued, just balanced better.
>
> How is Halo 2 like Halo 3? I think both games were great and they followed the golden triangle to a good extent.

What?

My point was I loved both games enough that I wouldn’t mind going back to that formula, but I think we’ll just get bored. I think AAs are a necessary change, they just need to be done better.

19

> > > Although I prefer no AA’s to AA’s, Halo has to keep changing. It can’t keep releasing the same game every time. Although part of me wants to play Halo 2/3 rehash I don’t think it’ll be a good thing for us.
> > >
> > > Maybe load outs should be continued, just balanced better.
> >
> > How is Halo 2 like Halo 3? I think both games were great and they followed the golden triangle to a good extent.
>
> What?
>
> My point was I loved both games enough that I wouldn’t mind going back to that formula, but I think we’ll just get bored. I think AAs are a necessary change, they just need to be done better.

IMO, AA’s ruin the game. We had Camo and OS in H3. Both worked great. I just think they need to go to a different direction. AA’s for everyone? No. Make them like power weapons, people will either want them or not.

Why do you think about 80% of the people in Reach use Sprint? Cause it’s the only viable AA.

Would you rather go very slow with Camo in Reach? Sounds pretty boring considering the kill time is slow and you have to freakin walk a mile to just shoot somebody with Camo.

20

I completely understand and agree with what your saying, but I just can’t imagine 343 going backwards. Although they’d win a lot of the vets back who aren’t playing anymore, they’d probably lose everyone who joined up for Reach.

I don’t know, I’m open for anything. Reach was such a dramatic change (one I hated until like last month) so I’m sure I can adapt to whatever.

One thing to look forward to might be the physics going back to more like Halo 3 (big jump heights and faster spartans) since we’re not dealing with old school spartans anymore.