Balancing Armor Abilities for Halo 5

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

ALL armor abilities on spawn, the way they work now, can go die in a fire. They are worse to the game than personal loadouts because they are more powerful and less predictable. Return to the glorious days of custom powerups and pickups!

Each Armor ability can easily become an overpowered pickup or custom powerup with some tweaks. Here’s my suggested selection:

Custom powerups (Spawn on map like in classic Halo’s):

  • overshield
  • Active camouflage (no radar jammer, powerful camo)
  • Damage boost
  • Speed boost, which now comes with a thruster pack

Pickups (spawn on map, one time use):
Scanner (replaces PV): place it on the ground and it scans the entire map much like PV does now, only you can see all enemies. The scan lasts long enough to cover the entire map but does not show your opponents for longer than a second.
Autosentry pulls out a more powerful version of the current autosentry. Has a long animation compared to the others.
Bubble shield as it worked in Halo 3, replaces Hardlight shield
Regeneration field: a more powerful version replaces the current regen field, without the sound and vision distortion. (no long deployment animation!)
Gravity Lift replaces the jetpack. Works as it worked in Halo 3.
Power drain would be the most powerful pickup, and it would function like it did in Halo 3.
To reintroduce hologram, we would have to make an exception. Hologram is still a pickup to be picked up, but it can be used as many times as you would like once you have it, until you die. It would also be buffed: it would mimic your exact movements while running towards you are looking at (including mimicking sprint). (no orb, see next paragraph)

What’s more is that everyone who has a pickup on him has a bright, colored orb hanging from his pocket. The orb color clearly represents the pickup that is carried. This way, you can predict what your enemy is going to do.

To encourage them being used, you can simply add waypoints to the more powerful pickups. You can also balance these out by adjusting the respawn timers. Certain armor abilities can also be limited to the maps that support them; that way, maps don’t have to be designed around jetpack, for instance. The combinations for innovation and balancing are endless. Any new ability that is invented brings new content to the game, and does so in a balanced way. The balance comes from having to earn the pickup by fighting over it, and making their useage predictable because it can be clearly seen what is going to be used.

Returning to pickups is essential in making Halo 5 a great game from launch. I can’t stress enough how important this is: the cool pickups will attract all kinds of players, and the balance from pickups will KEEP the attracted players. This in turn leads to large populations, which greatly increase the quality of matchmaking. Not to mention how the competitive playlists can use the pickups as well, which heals the wound between the pro and casual communities. The pickups are obviously just one aspect of making Halo 5 popular and balanced; but it is one of the most important ones.

What do you think? Comment, state your opinion. The poll is to get a quick idea of what the community thinks.

2

> Pickups (spawn on map, one time use):
> Scanner (replaces PV): place it on the ground and it scans the entire map much like PV does now, only you can see all enemies. The scan lasts long enough to cover the entire map but does not show your opponents for longer than a second.
> Autosentry pulls out a more powerful version of the current autosentry. Has a long animation compared to the others.
> Bubble shield as it worked in Halo 3, replaces Hardlight shield
> Regeneration field: a more powerful version replaces the current regen field, without the sound and vision distortion. (no long deployment animation!)
> Gravity Lift replaces the jetpack. Works as it worked in Halo 3.
> Power drain would be the most powerful pickup, and it would function like it did in Halo 3.
> To reintroduce hologram, we would have to make an exception. Hologram is still a pickup to be picked up, but it can be used as many times as you would like once you have it, until you die. It would also be buffed: it would mimic your exact movements while running towards you are looking at (including mimicking sprint). (no orb, see next paragraph)

First of all, Bubble Shield is not a good idea. As fun as it may be to put a barrier between you and your opponent, it’s detrimental to flow of gameplay. This isn’t just a problem with Bubble Shield. It also applies to Armor Lock, Hardlight Shield, and anything else that creates an impenetrable barrier between you and your opponent. You see, the fundamental flaw in what is practically an invulnerability is that it stops the whole encounter at the push of a button. There is nothing it adds to gameplay except an unnecessary delay.

To a lesser extent, that kind of applies to regeneration field because it makes you far more resistant to damage, but still allows you to shoot the opponent (unlike any of these barriers). The only reason extra resistance actually works for Overshield is because it doesn’t allow you to decide when to become more resistant, and only gives you a limited amount of time in which you have to make a quick decision how you best utilize it to benefit your team.

But barriers aside, I see no reason to replace Jetpack with something as useless as Gravity Lift if the abilities are going to be map pick-ups. The only realistic flaw with Jetpack was that it could be used off-spawn by as many players as wanted. Additionally, being able to select it at spawn meant that it could be used on maps not necessarily suited for Jetpack.

As a map pick-up, Jetpack really has none of these problems. As a pick-up, the advantage given to the user can be regulated by choosing what types of maps to put it on. A good example of this is MLG Sanctuary in Reach on which there were two Jetpacks. Due to the flat nature of the map, the only practical advantage of having a Jetpack was the ability to get to ring 3 (which could also be accessed without Jetpack, just not as easily). The advantage there is marginal, and therefore it’s possible to have it as a pick-up on a short timer with the ability actually adding something to gameplay.

Grav Lift on the other hand has the problem that it really doesn’t add a lot to gameplay. Any strategic usage of it would be to place a short cut on the map for a limited amount of time. But then comes the question: what is that shortcut useful for? Getting faster through the map of course. When do you need to be faster? When you are carrying the objective, of course. But when you are carrying the objective, you could as well have a teammate on the higher location to take the flag, which is much more teamwork oriented. So, the practical benefits of Grav Lift are slim compared to Jetpack.

The Scanner idea is something I would rather make into a traditional power-up. I don’t see a scenario where it would be beneficial to carry it around. To me, a power-up that would activate for X amount of time after picking up, and in that time see all the opponents on the map, seems more appealing.

Autosentry sounds like a fine idea if it isn’t too weak or too powerful. However, I must admit that on a personal level, it feels out of place to me. So, from a personal perspective, I wouldn’t have it. But having it and Power Drain as the only Halo 3 style pick-ups seems kind of complicated and out of place. That’s why, if my ideas were to be followed, it wouldn’t really make sense to have them in the game (and, to be honest, it wouldn’t be that big of a loss anyway).

3

I feel like thruster pack should be like hologram, and I also feel like you should be able to spawn with lower tier AA’s, and make higher tier ones map pickup. (ie. Spawn with Hologram, thruster, gravlift, find the rest on map.)

4

> >
>
> First of all, Bubble Shield is not a good idea. As fun as it may be to put a barrier between you and your opponent, it’s detrimental to flow of gameplay. This isn’t just a problem with Bubble Shield. It also applies to Armor Lock, Hardlight Shield, and anything else that creates an impenetrable barrier between you and your opponent. You see, the fundamental flaw in what is practically an invulnerability is that it stops the whole encounter at the push of a button. There is nothing it adds to gameplay except an unnecessary delay.
>
> To a lesser extent, that kind of applies to regeneration field because it makes you far more resistant to damage, but still allows you to shoot the opponent (unlike any of these barriers). The only reason extra resistance actually works for Overshield is because it doesn’t allow you to decide when to become more resistant, and only gives you a limited amount of time in which you have to make a quick decision how you best utilize it to benefit your team.
>
> But barriers aside, I see no reason to replace Jetpack with something as useless as Gravity Lift if the abilities are going to be map pick-ups. The only realistic flaw with Jetpack was that it could be used off-spawn by as many players as wanted. Additionally, being able to select it at spawn meant that it could be used on maps not necessarily suited for Jetpack.
>
> As a map pick-up, Jetpack really has none of these problems. As a pick-up, the advantage given to the user can be regulated by choosing what types of maps to put it on. A good example of this is MLG Sanctuary in Reach on which there were two Jetpacks. Due to the flat nature of the map, the only practical advantage of having a Jetpack was the ability to get to ring 3 (which could also be accessed without Jetpack, just not as easily). The advantage there is marginal, and therefore it’s possible to have it as a pick-up on a short timer with the ability actually adding something to gameplay.
>
> Grav Lift on the other hand has the problem that it really doesn’t add a lot to gameplay. Any strategic usage of it would be to place a short cut on the map for a limited amount of time. But then comes the question: what is that shortcut useful for? Getting faster through the map of course. When do you need to be faster? When you are carrying the objective, of course. But when you are carrying the objective, you could as well have a teammate on the higher location to take the flag, which is much more teamwork oriented. So, the practical benefits of Grav Lift are slim compared to Jetpack.
>
> The Scanner idea is something I would rather make into a traditional power-up. I don’t see a scenario where it would be beneficial to carry it around. To me, a power-up that would activate for X amount of time after picking up, and in that time see all the opponents on the map, seems more appealing.
>
> Autosentry sounds like a fine idea if it isn’t too weak or too powerful. However, I must admit that on a personal level, it feels out of place to me. So, from a personal perspective, I wouldn’t have it. But having it and Power Drain as the only Halo 3 style pick-ups seems kind of complicated and out of place. That’s why, if my ideas were to be followed, it wouldn’t really make sense to have them in the game (and, to be honest, it wouldn’t be that big of a loss anyway).

You make valid points.

I certainly agree that the bubble shield slows down gameplay. I just had to include it because I think cutting the annoying Armor lock/hardlight shield mechanic would be taking away from the diversity of the game. And bubble shield has always been the most balanced and fun way of implementing invulnerability. I feel that it can easily be balanced for an optimal experience by greatly shortening the time the shield is functional. Make it disappear just before shields start recharging. Or make it destructible, like Reach’s dropshield. Its function would be to block rockets, or escape death by putting up a wall while you sprint away. Not camping in it with a shotgun. It can also be balanced by giving it a very long respawn time, so that it can only be used twice in a game or so. Or even keeping it away from most playlists, much like what happened for the dropshield in Reach. But it should be included in the game for those who like to use it in customs, for instance.

Actually, this gives me a new idea for a HL shield alternative; replace the bubble shield with an entire wall. It would deploy in front of you and protect your front, but you are still vulnerable from all other sides. The enemy can walk right through the wall or destroy it. Meanwhile you buy yourself some time to escape.

The same balancing can be done for the regen field. The regen field even balances itsself out in a way, because it draws a lot of attention and the teamshotting required to kill someone in a regen field will be more obvious. It is also stationary and doesn’t last long. Again, this is one of the more powerful pickups and it should be balanced with a slow respawn timer.

I agree that the gravity lift is a great nerf to the jetpack. Jetpack on pickup would certainly work (I too loved the clutch Pistola jetpack play on MLG Sanctuary). However, making some features function as armor abilities and others as pickups would make the game quite complicated, which is why i went for the gravity lift. Though jetpack on pickup could obviously work. Perhaps limit the amount of fuel so it won’t last an entire game (but still give plenty of fuel).

I agree about the scanner. A scanner powerup that activates after some time after picking it up and doing a thorough scan when you do not necessarily need it. It would allow for a more thorough scan that lasts longer, without taking away from game balance.

I feel like the possibilities are endless. There are so many ways to balance things on pickups. Though to keep the game simple, i think it should be either all very powerful one-time-use pickups and powerups, or all weak armor abilities on pickup and powerups. A mixture of the two would make the game complicated and I fear that won’t work out for the casual community and would not contribute to unifying the casual and competitive playlists.

5

IMO the best way to balance AAs is to have everyone start with the same one.

6

> IMO the best way to balance AAs is to have everyone start with the same one.

I considered this concept. For example, thruster pack starts for everyone could work out. However, I think it would take away from the entire aspect of armor abilities. Everyone thrusting around corners to safety would get boring very fast.

Also, the whole point of an armor ability or pickup is to have something your enemy doesn’t have. This entire concept brings imbalance, unless you have earned the right to the advantage, which is only achieved by pickups.

7

> > IMO the best way to balance AAs is to have everyone start with the same one.
>
> I considered this concept. For example, thruster pack starts for everyone could work out. However, I think it would take away from the entire aspect of armor abilities. Everyone thrusting around corners to safety would get boring very fast.
>
> Also, the whole point of an armor ability or pickup is to have something your enemy doesn’t have. This entire concept brings imbalance, unless you have earned the right to the advantage, which is only achieved by pickups.

Pick-ups are fine, as long as you don’t get to spawn with different abilities. My point is that the only thing that makes As and weapons and perks unbalanced is Loadouts. If everyone started with one set- with no choice whatsoever- then it would technically be balanced- because no one would have an advantage. In this scenario, AAs would work just like Power Weapons- spawning on the map and as powerful as possible without being unbeatable. Can we get an infinite Jetpack? Sure, as long as everyone doesn’t spawn with it. Can we get Overshield? Sure. Everything that’s on the map is game to anyone that’s on the map and that makes it balanced.

8

> > > IMO the best way to balance AAs is to have everyone start with the same one.
> >
> > I considered this concept. For example, thruster pack starts for everyone could work out. However, I think it would take away from the entire aspect of armor abilities. Everyone thrusting around corners to safety would get boring very fast.
> >
> > Also, the whole point of an armor ability or pickup is to have something your enemy doesn’t have. This entire concept brings imbalance, unless you have earned the right to the advantage, which is only achieved by pickups.
>
> Pick-ups are fine, as long as you don’t get to spawn with different abilities. My point is that the only thing that makes As and weapons and perks unbalanced is Loadouts. If everyone started with one set- with no choice whatsoever- then it would technically be balanced- because no one would have an advantage. In this scenario, AAs would work just like Power Weapons- spawning on the map and as powerful as possible without being unbeatable. Can we get an infinite Jetpack? Sure, as long as everyone doesn’t spawn with it. Can we get Overshield? Sure. Everything that’s on the map is game to anyone that’s on the map and that makes it balanced.

That is exactly the point I’m trying to make :slight_smile:

Balance-wise, armor abilities would certainly work for game balance. But I think if everyone were to spawn with jetpack, for instance, the game would turn into dino blasters. Or if everyone spawned with HL shield, the game would slow down to a halt. So let us not give armor abilities on spawn, even if that would be technically balanced :stuck_out_tongue: balance is one thing, but quality is another :slight_smile:

9

> I certainly agree that the bubble shield slows down gameplay. I just had to include it because I think cutting the annoying Armor lock/hardlight shield mechanic would be taking away from the diversity of the game. And bubble shield has always been the most balanced and fun way of implementing invulnerability. I feel that it can easily be balanced for an optimal experience by greatly shortening the time the shield is functional. Make it disappear just before shields start recharging. Or make it destructible, like Reach’s dropshield. Its function would be to block rockets, or escape death by putting up a wall while you sprint away. Not camping in it with a shotgun. It can also be balanced by giving it a very long respawn time, so that it can only be used twice in a game or so. Or even keeping it away from most playlists, much like what happened for the dropshield in Reach. But it should be included in the game for those who like to use it in customs, for instance.
>
> Actually, this gives me a new idea for a HL shield alternative; replace the bubble shield with an entire wall. It would deploy in front of you and protect your front, but you are still vulnerable from all other sides. The enemy can walk right through the wall or destroy it. Meanwhile you buy yourself some time to escape.

The whole problem I see with invulnerability is the invulnerability itself. Consider blocking a rocket with such a shield. Even if it was just a shield that lasted for only a second, and could only be used to block rockets. What would it add to the game? I only see it as a frustration for the player jumping in with the rocket. Even if the shield only lasted for a very short period of time, and the player with the Rocket Launcher could easily just fool the other player into throwing the shield by not firing, it would only serve as a delay in the kill.

Admittedly, that delay can be used to escape behind a corner or to have a teammate finish the kill for you. But the ease at which such a move can be performed doesn’t justify the benefit of surviving from practically any situation.

Everything needs to have its drawbacks. And the drawbacks shouldn’t be something intentionally shoehorned into the ability balance it out. I mean, you could technically use my previous argument (how easy it is to use) as a counter argument for the inclusion of Rocket Launcher. Because at close range it’s pretty impossible to not get a kill with the Rocket Launcher regardless of how much health you have left. But that’s only until you realize the weapon really becomes harder to use the further you go. It has a drawback, not a forced one, but one that naturally stems from how the weapon functions.

So, I’m always against any form of invincibility because being invincible has no natural drawbacks for obvious reasons. And for that reason, no matter how you do it, it doesn’t really give anything to gameplay. It’s there just to annoy the players who have to face it.

Bubble Shield was really fun to use, but despite the fun factor of throwing it in the opponent’s face while they are throwing a Plasma Grenade, just to get them stick themselves, it never really added anything to gameplay. That pretty much sums up equipment in general: fun, but very much purposeless as far as gameplay depth is concerned. That’s why I propose the concept of armor ability pick-ups. The continuous use means they are much more flexible and can actually be used for proper, strategic purposes. Which brings me to the point…

> However, making some features function as armor abilities and others as pickups would make the game quite complicated –

That’s the issue. I personally see armor abilities as a much better form of map pick-ups than equipment. The problem of equipment is the fact that they are single-use. Not in the way that power-ups are, but in a way that makes them shallow. Power-ups last a period of time on the player and the same power-up can therefore be used for multiple consecutive tasks.

Equipment are used once and that’s it. They are only one maneuver in a more complex tactic, and for that very reason are shallow. You either use them completely without very much thought (just to preserve your life), or use them for very specific tasks. They don’t offer the extensive usage of power-ups and armor abilities.

Now, consider armor abilities. Their problems can be attributed to being given off-spawn to as many players as possible. That was the inherent reason for all their problems when you start tracking back to the source of those problems. Being forced to pick-ups (or in case of the Promethean Vision, power-ups), the problems are largely negated when players don’t have freedom in choosing them, but need to attain them. That’s why I believe they work better than equipment did.

> I feel like the possibilities are endless. There are so many ways to balance things on pickups. Though to keep the game simple, i think it should be either all very powerful one-time-use pickups and powerups, or all weak armor abilities on pickup and powerups. A mixture of the two would make the game complicated and I fear that won’t work out for the casual community and would not contribute to unifying the casual and competitive playlists.

Indeed. Having three different types of abilities would stretch the complexity of the system too far to the point it could be a real detriment for players’ interest in the game. Keeping it simple is definitely more important than having a compromise. And as I said, I personally see more potential in armor ability pick-ups than Halo 3 style equipment pick-ups.

10

THIS IS GREAT IDEA i would love to see this either have this or dont have armor abilities in my opinion

11

So you’re tellimg me that I can’t have my thruster pack at spawn because the jet pack and camo are OP? Lets face it, they are the only problem here. I mean look at Team Throwdown, barely anyone bothers with AA’s cause’ you die once and have to wait another 7 kills to be “rewarded” with a hollogram or hardlight shield.

Make active camo a pick up, I’m fine with that and remove the jet pack.

12

This could work I guess.

13

> So you’re tellimg me that I can’t have my thruster pack at spawn because the jet pack and camo are OP? Lets face it, they are the only problem here. I mean look at Team Throwdown, barely anyone bothers with AA’s cause’ you die once and have to wait another 7 kills to be “rewarded” with a hollogram or hardlight shield.
>
> Make active camo a pick up, I’m fine with that and remove the jet pack.

This ^

Active camo and jetpack are the 2 imbalanced AA’s. The rest are fine IMO. Just make camo an AA and jetpack only for customs and there’s the solution. I think there should also be playlists without AA’s for those who like the classical approach but AA’s aren’t too bad. You may not like them but some people do.

14

> So you’re tellimg me that I can’t have my thruster pack at spawn because the jet pack and camo are OP? Lets face it, they are the only problem here. I mean look at Team Throwdown, barely anyone bothers with AA’s cause’ you die once and have to wait another 7 kills to be “rewarded” with a hollogram or hardlight shield.
>
> Make active camo a pick up, I’m fine with that and remove the jet pack.

This guy has the right idea

15

My idea is to give all players access to all of the abilities upon spawn.

A hexagonal menu could be brought up holding the LB, and when you choose an ability and let go of the LB that ability is activated.

All abilities would drain from a meter, but different abilities would have different power requirements.

As for taking the equipment route:
Radar Jammer - Same as Halo 3
Scanner - Does what you said.
Tripmine - Larger detection radius, BTB exclusive.
Regeneration Field - Weaker than Halo 3, stronger than Halo 4.
Shield Drain - Same as Halo 3.
Jetpack - Has limited fuel, used by holding equipment button.
Thruster - Just replace sprint with this.
Hardlight Shield - Limited Fuel, used by holding equipment button, does not take damage.*

*Fuel would be displayed as a percentage over the equipment icon on your HUD.

Camo as pickup.
Damage boost as pickup.
Speed boost as pickup.

16

> So you’re tellimg me that I can’t have my thruster pack at spawn because the jet pack and camo are OP? Lets face it, they are the only problem here. I mean look at Team Throwdown, barely anyone bothers with AA’s cause’ you die once and have to wait another 7 kills to be “rewarded” with a hollogram or hardlight shield.
>
> Make active camo a pick up, I’m fine with that and remove the jet pack.

The whole point of this thread, and the reason why I am making it, is because armor abilities on spawn are litterally impossible to balance out in order to create an experience that isn’t random. Their very design implicates randomness. You can’t turn dice-rolling into a competitive game.

Jetpack and camo are the worst of the armor abilities. Agreed. So let’s remove both from your personal loadout. What’s left is hologram, hardlight shield, regen field, thruster pack, autosentry, promethean vision. Jetpack users and camo users need new armor abilities. These are the people that choose the de facto most efficiënt armor abilities, which, with the new selection, will be promethean vision and maybe regen field. New threads rise up in how these are overused, how everyone sees eachother cross-map and how people run back from around corners with new shields. So, let’s remove both from the game. What’s left is hologram, autosentry, thruster pack. Only 3 armor abilities now remain. Most will choose thruster pack and autosentry. Always seeing people escape with the thruster pack gets repetitive and annoying, and so is being greeted with autosentries everywhere. Do you see where I am getting at?

One of the reasons why armor abilities now aren’t as detrimental as they were in Reach is, besides the obvious balancing that has been made, that there are plenty of armor abilities to be used. This makes every armor ability more rarely used, and that takes away from the frustration of a certain armor ability. The real problem is that there is ALWAYS going to be an overpowered armor ability, no matter what. It is jetpack now, second is active camo, third is promethean vision, and so on. The less armor abilities, the more boring their useage gets, which takes away from their original purpose in the first place: innovation of the halo franchise.

An example of this is sprint. Sprint was an armor ability in Reach, now it is in the game by default. Now we take it for granted, and we have forgotten what it was like without sprint. Does sprint really add anything to the game? not really, in my opinion. So why did we give everyone sprint if it worked fine without sprint?
The same would happen for thruster pack. With few armor abilities to choose from, one will be overused to the point where it gets boring. Suddenly, everyone can thrust around the corner. If everyone can do it, what does it add to the game? Nothing but the fact that people escape easier (Sounds similar to sprint, doesn’t it?)

Armor abilities are therefore by design not balanced. The point of this thread is to secure both game balance, while keeping innovative aspects such as armor abilities in the game. The only way I see how armor abilities can be balanced is by placing them on the map, so people can earn their advantage. Because they are fought over, we can severely buff the armor abilities to the point where it can be considered a power weapon. Something you want to fight over. Seriously owning someone with some crazy armor ability i picked up sounds way cooler than just using a weak version of it to give me the cheap edge I didn’t deserve, in my opinion. I hope that last sentence made sense.

17

> My idea is to give all players access to all of the abilities upon spawn.
>
> A hexagonal menu could be brought up holding the LB, and when you choose an ability and let go of the LB that ability is activated.
>
> All abilities would drain from a meter, but different abilities would have different power requirements.
>
> As for taking the equipment route:
> Radar Jammer - Same as Halo 3
> Scanner - Does what you said.
> Tripmine - Larger detection radius, BTB exclusive.
> Regeneration Field - Weaker than Halo 3, stronger than Halo 4.
> Shield Drain - Same as Halo 3.
> Jetpack - Has limited fuel, used by holding equipment button.
> Thruster - Just replace sprint with this.
> Hardlight Shield - Limited Fuel, used by holding equipment button, does not take damage.*
>
> *Fuel would be displayed as a percentage over the equipment icon on your HUD.
>
> Camo as pickup.
> Damage boost as pickup.
> Speed boost as pickup.

The idea of everyone having every armor ability doesn’t really appeal to me. While giving everyone all armor abilities would technically be balanced, it would still make it impossible to predict what your enemy is going to do. It would still have a random factor. Also, using the Left Bumper would not be an option, since there simply aren’t enough buttons on the controller and controller layout is a problem already the way it is now. Perhaps we could custom-map our armor abilities to our D-pad and use the D-pad in game. Though I still do not support the idea.

18

This AA on the spawn idea is not popular and should never return again, including sprint. If any AA’s sticks around it should only be available as a map pickup…period!!

19

> it would still make it impossible to predict what your enemy is going to do

Can you predict an enemy strafing to the left or to the right?
Can you predict them jumping or crouching?

There’s always a slight random factor. In the same aspect, you can’t predict if someone is going to choose hologram or choose thruster.

At least with my suggestion you know for sure what tools the enemy has available.

> Also, using the Left Bumper would not be an option, since there simply aren’t enough buttons on the controller and controller layout is a problem already the way it is now.

You would use the aiming stick to scroll through the menu while it’s displayed. Think of the command menu from BF3.

Proficient players could memorize the spots and simply LB+Aim Down+release LB to quickly toggle an armor ability.

20

> My idea is to give all players access to all of the abilities upon spawn.
>
> A hexagonal menu could be brought up holding the LB, and when you choose an ability and let go of the LB that ability is activated.
>
> All abilities would drain from a meter, but different abilities would have different power requirements.

How much power can we give the player? I mean, six different abilities, despite of not being able to throw everything in at once, seems like the player would have far too many capabilities. A major issue with the idea of spawning with armor abilities is that everyone can have them at the same time and need to do absolutely nothing to deserve the capabilities.

Your life and the objects on the map are far more valuable when you start with the bare minimum: your gun and your ability to move. There are aspects of playing wisely that giving too many abilities at the same time can devalue.