Bringing Thruster Packs to Halo's Multiplayer

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I really havent seen anyone being skeptical about the thrusting in Guardians aside from a very very small population. Which is odd because I personally think that this is the only unbalaned spartan ability (or the most unbalanced spartan ability as some of you may say).

I honestly think that all of the spartan abilities are well balanced aside from the thrust (I am ok with the game presenting some new things now that we have MCC). I’ve had plenty of “barely got em” moments in halo and hardly any, maybe non at all, “I should’ve got em” moments. I’m sure the thruster will create plenty bs moments for us competitive players, especially when they end up using it when they’re one shot.

343 made it so that the player slows down to regular speed while you’re sprinting when being fired upon & your shields won’t regenerate when sprinting so that in combat there is just one balanced layer of combat movement. So the movement is pretty balanced at this point right? Yeah. But now they’ve added this new layer of movement that has no downsides in combat. Now rather having one layer of movement in combat now we have two in guardians, which I personally am not fine with considering its halo and you shouldn’t have an advantage in combat simply because your thrust cool down is ready.

Unlike many die hard halo fans I play call of duty every now and then (rarely, as I prefer halo), and those thrusters on the exo suits can create some frustrating moments even though players die very quickly in CoD. Now im just imagining the same situations but worse considering the kill time in halo is much longer

That being said, I say just remove the thrusting ability in the second half of the beta just to see how things work out. If 343 decides to keep the thrusting then I say balance the way it works. Rather than having it boost you, have it move you the same speed as walking. Whats the point of having it then? Well first off you’ll still be able to perform longer jumps because you’ll be able to burst forward mid air. Secondly, you’ll still be able to get to cover/dodge but not as drastically. How so? Well in halo when you strafe from one direction to another you need to gain some momentum before you start moving at regular speed. The thruster will counter this and allow you to move at walking top speed immediately in which ever direction.

Those are my two cents. I personally hope that the thruster is removed but I highly doubt it will be. If they do keep it I hope they follow my advice as i think it makes sense and it creates a balance in combat.

Im completely fine with:

Sprint - your shields do not recharge and you’re slowed down upon being fired on

Ground pound - you need to lead it, it takes a while to strike with it, and it needs to be charged up before going in for the pound

Smart scope - you don’t need it to be good at the game. It has the same use as it did in Halo 2 - 4. It seems completely pointless having it on non-precision weapons

Camber - little bit skeptical, is this replacing crouch jumping or is it just a new addition? If its just a new addition then I think that is fine

Slide - I believe it doesnt speed you up, correct? It just allows you to move while crouching at sprint speed for a short distance? Not any faster nor slower.

What do you guys think? I don’t post often but I thought this was worth mentioning.

2

There is nothing unbalanced about it. Everyone has access to it at every time.

I hope what you mean to say is that it negatively impacts how you play the game. Because it can’t possibly be unbalanced.

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> 2533274845095818;2:
> There is nothing unbalanced about it. Everyone has access to it at every time.
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> I hope what you mean to say is that it negatively impacts how you play the game. Because it can’t possibly be unbalanced.

That is what you took away from all of that? And that wasnt what I meant lol.

Well yes, no spartan ability can be unbalanced across the board because everyone has access to them. But what the spartan ability is able to achieve is capable of being unbalanced. This also contributes to balancing the flow of the gameplay. Hope this helps

4

> 2777219770235327;1:
> Now rather having one layer of movement in combat now we have two in guardians, which I personally am not fine with considering its halo and you shouldn’t have an advantage in combat simply because your thrust cool down is ready.

What advantage? Thrust recharges every four seconds for every player. If I thrust towards you with a sword you have a fair chance to thrust away.

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> 2533274876134618;4:
> > 2777219770235327;1:
> > Now rather having one layer of movement in combat now we have two in guardians, which I personally am not fine with considering its halo and you shouldn’t have an advantage in combat simply because your thrust cool down is ready.
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> What advantage? Thrust recharges every four seconds for every player. If I thrust towards you with a sword you have a fair chance to thrust away.

You’ll only be able to thrust away if your cd is done though. The pacing of guardians is pretty intense.

Also, As I mentioned in my post I am talking mainly about abandoning a fight, not necessarily using the thrust to fight. I am ok with that; thats why I think the tweaks I stated could benefit the gameplay. You won’t be able to abandon the fight unless you escape fairly but you’ll still be able to use it for jumps and for fights.

They’ve done a similar thing with the sprint. You can’t use sprint to abandon a fight, but you can still use it to get around.

See where I’m coming from?

6

I can talk about the clamber. Crouch jumping is still in the game, but if you look down while holding crouch you’ll start the ground pound. But if there is a ledge you can crouch jump on it or clamber upon it. It’s just an addition. Looks good since there is still crouch jumping.

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> 2777219770235327;5:
> > 2533274876134618;4:
> > > 2777219770235327;1:
> > > Now rather having one layer of movement in combat now we have two in guardians, which I personally am not fine with considering its halo and you shouldn’t have an advantage in combat simply because your thrust cool down is ready.
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> >
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> > What advantage? Thrust recharges every four seconds for every player. If I thrust towards you with a sword you have a fair chance to thrust away.
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> You’ll only be able to thrust away if your cd is done though. The pacing of guardians is pretty intense

If thruster is recharging then it was already used. If it was already used and you need it less than four seconds later it was used at the wrong time. That is your fault not the game mechanic’s fault. The only disadvantage is you.

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> 2533274807529575;6:
> I can talk about the clamber. Crouch jumping is still in the game, but if you look down while holding crouch you’ll start the ground pound. But if there is a ledge you can crouch jump on it or clamber upon it. It’s just an addition. Looks good since there is still crouch jumping.

Oh ok that sounds fair. Curious to see if counter assasinations still work though, as you have to jump crouch over their head and look down a little bit to get them. But you do have to be a fair distance from the ground in order to initiate the pound, correct? So I guess it won’t effect it.

good to know, thanks!

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> 2533274876134618;7:
> > 2777219770235327;5:
> > > 2533274876134618;4:
> > > > 2777219770235327;1:
> > > > Now rather having one layer of movement in combat now we have two in guardians, which I personally am not fine with considering its halo and you shouldn’t have an advantage in combat simply because your thrust cool down is ready.
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> > > What advantage? Thrust recharges every four seconds for every player. If I thrust towards you with a sword you have a fair chance to thrust away.
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> > You’ll only be able to thrust away if your cd is done though. The pacing of guardians is pretty intense
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> If thruster is recharging then it was already used. If it was already used and you need it less than four seconds later it was used at the wrong time. That is your fault not the game mechanic’s fault. The only disadvantage is you.

Yes I completely understand that and I agree. I edited my post to clearly state what I meant. I am completely fine with using it for combat.

10

Sprint does not need to be nerfed anymore. Not being able to recharge shields while sprinting is exactly what sprint needed. Any more nerfs and sprint will be useless.

Thruster pack behaves much differently than it does in CoD. It has a 4 second cool down between uses and it only gives you one boost per use unlike CoD where you get like 2 uses per charge. CoD has more BS moments because of its insanely low kill times and their booster thing just adds to that frustration.

All the other abilities seem pretty good so far. ground pound is difficult to use at best and leaves you open to attack if you use it at the wrong time.

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> 2777219770235327;8:
> > 2533274807529575;6:
> > I can talk about the clamber. Crouch jumping is still in the game, but if you look down while holding crouch you’ll start the ground pound. But if there is a ledge you can crouch jump on it or clamber upon it. It’s just an addition. Looks good since there is still crouch jumping.
>
>
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> Oh ok that sounds fair. Curious to see if counter assasinations still work though, as you have to jump crouch over their head and look down a little bit to get them. But you do have to be a fair distance from the ground in order to initiate the pound, correct? So I guess it won’t effect it.
>
> good to know, thanks!

I do believe you would have to be a fair distance above the ground to trigger GP, yes. It would make no sense to be just 4-5 ft in the air and can ground pound, so I’m certain you can ninja other players still.

Also you’re welcome!

12

I don’t see any issue with it. Like others have posted, everyone will have it every game. The thing with it is that you’ll have to use it at the right time. You use it poorly or too soon then it can mean your death. That’s the part that makes it competitive. It has a three second cool down and nothing can increase or diminish this time. So you have to decide whether to use it for assault or to get away. I think it will make things a lot more fast paced and I prefer it that way. After playing Reach and Halo 4 with the sprint I didn’t like going back to Halo 2 and 3 MM without it. Games felt like they took too long to complete and took too long to find enemies. Even the campaign took way too long without being able to sprint.