Went back and played Reach and noticed the armor effects. I thought they were cool but maybe a little ever the top. I think effects would be a cool addition in Halo 5 but a little more subtle and serious than having a big lighting cloud above your head like you could have in Reach.
I would support armor effects. I do think that toning them down would be a good idea, and they should be forcibly turned off during ranked gameplay (if Halo 5 features ranked gameplay). I feel that having the death effects in competitive gameplay might ruin the experience for some people.
Why not make them even bigger and act like supers in destiny. But they would have to turn them off for ranked play of course.
I hope they bring them back.
In general I dislike when things are removed from one Halo game to the next, such as game modes, Firefight, and non-redundant weapons (firebombs & spike 'nades anyone?). However, I would be all for them never reimplementing armor effects. I had the legendary flame in Reach and always had it toggled on. But, frankly, it just kind of took me out of it when I fought Spartans that had a stormy cloud on their head, or who died in an explosion of confetti. It was just a little too cartoony for me, and decently unrealistic for a sci-fi shooter set 500 years in the future.
I’d be all for certain playlists having Grunt Birthday Party toggled on or a paintball mode as fun MP options, just not armor effects that persist in actual matchmaking.