Bubble shields were a major tactical advantage in game modes like king of the hill and oddball idk why they took them out. Also, why is there an activation time for the overshields/camo…in older halos as soon as you picked up the over shield no one could kill you immediately after picking it up. I’ve been killed after activating over shields due to the activation time which is totally pointless
They probably don’t want to bring something like the bubble shield back because it, much like the armor lock ability, pauses gameplay or directs you to do exactly one action. As for the activation time on camo and overshields, that’s there because now they’re pick up equipment like the others. If it didn’t have an activation time then you could be in a fight, wait for your Shields to pop and instantly activate overshields so that you don’t die, get double Shields and kill your enemy. This also helps to make sure that if you have a pocket Invis you can’t just trigger it to ensure the enemy doesn’t get it when you die.
This has been done for balancing because they have now made them carry equipment instead of on map instant activation pickups.
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I loved the bubble shield.
But I can see why it has been replaced by the drop shield (which I am getting better at in terms of timing and placement).
Fingers crossed we get it back for Forge / customs games though.
Thats the tradeoff of being able to carry the Camo/Overshield with you. Before it was activated instantly but you couldnt carry it with you, the countdown started the instant you got it wherever on the map. Now you can use them at any time, so the trade off is that if you dont time it right someone can kill you and take it for themselves.
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I would love the old Beta H3 bubble shield that rolled around to come back. It was a good distraction that changed the flow of encounters. Lower the duration and size, make it function more like grenades so it can be thrown at people, like throwing a griffball at someone to trip them up.
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I always found the Bubble Shield to just get in the way and stall gameplay. This was exacerbated when someone had a CQC Power Weapon.
I would be open to it returning for niche gametypes and custom games though. I say bring it back with the classic Shotty. Then we can have a Rumble Pit/Action Sack gametype with Shotgun and Bubble Shield loadouts. Utter Chaos!
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I predict that we will see the return of some equipments, though slightly reimagined to some extent to serve a better purpose in the sandbox of Halo Infinite. For example -
Instead of a Jet Pack, we would likely get a Jump-Jet equipment. What this would allow you to do is press the jump button again to get a second jump in, allowing you to climb even higher and clamber a higher ledge. Yes you can argue that the Grapple-Shot does well enough, but you have to aim where you want to go and you have your guns lowered as you move from Point A to Point B. The Jump-Jet however would allow you to maintain your ability to shoot while ascending further and allow you to change direction mid-air, so you can jump one direction and then the other in an attempt to evade mid-air and throw off your opponent’s aim for a second and give you a slight advantage in a gunfight. A rocket is heading your way? You jumped to the side and avoided it. A sniper-fight is occurring, well you can change direction all of a sudden and hopefully cause the enemy to waste a precious shot or two.
The Bubble Shield would probably return in the from of Halo Reach’s Drop Shield, which not only shielded players from incoming damage from weaponry, but also healed those within the bubble’s range. However, it also weakened over time as damage was intercepted; so it wouldn’t last long if a lot of damage was directed towards it; but it would be useful in a pinch to heal up teammates and provide cover in distance engagements. Though the obvious weakness would be vehicles.
The Radar Jammer would probably make a return, though now as something akin to the Deployable Sensor device, sticking to a surface and covering a bubble of the map with a blind-spot to the radar. However it would only prevent the enemy radar from functioning within range or detecting anyone within the blind zone. And if the enemy launched a Deployable Sensor in the area, it would not pick up enemy signatures within the blind zone; thus being a good countermeasure.
Hologram would probably make a return, but with a heavy upgrade as it is no longer a decoy. Instead, the Holographic Drone would project another Spartan and basically play as a low-level bot armed with a Commando Rifle and roam around on your team as a spare teammate for a little bit. The decoy would of course die like other players, but would function well enough at diverting enemy fire to what is a valued threat. However, the projection will not be able to capture objectives, only being a pseudo-teammate until they despawn, get replaced by another decoy you projected, or is destroyed by enemy fire.
The Tripmine would definitely be nice to see return to the game, as you can deploy an explosive charge in choke areas to prevent enemy flanking manuvers or as a trap for vehicles. Unlike all other equipment, it is just one use so make it count.
Speed Boost from Halo 4 and Halo 5 could be nice to have as a return in the Powerup spawn-pad.
Same goes for the Damage Boost.
Not bad, but maybe just make it not pick up on enemies with the threat sensor and do the classic radar jamming of a bunch of red dots roaming around. Having it be completely jammed or not able to show enemy movement would be a bit to much and kinda step on the toes of Active Camo.
Also way to much here. Allowing for the sudden increase of an extra teammate is way to much. Even if it is just a basic marine bot.
They could even give this one an upgrade by making it attach to walls and objects like the threat sensor.
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Imagine using the grapple shot on someone’s bubble shield to steal it for yourself
Disagree. Bubble Shield is vastly different from Armorlock because it’s not just a tool to deny kills, it’s a tool which alters the terrain. It doesn’t essentially “pause” the game like Armorlock did, it forces the enemy to consider a melee approach or to simply ram a vehicle right through, something Armorlock totally counters.
This makes the Bubble Shield, and in extenstion all H3 equipment, very cleverly designed. Instead of providing an instant effect which helps the user, it deploys a lingering “Terrain Modifier” where players both friendly and enemy can fight around and consider for their strategy.
This is why H3’s equipment feels much more balanced and fair than Infinites or Armor abilities. Bubble Shield returning to Infinite imo, would just be the beginning. We could rework tons of existing equipment to be “neutral modifiers” instead of specifically benefitting the user.
Some examples:
Thruster Pack > Sling pad which boosts the movement speed of anyone running through it
Repulsor > a deployable device which repulses all enemies, allies and entities in its AoE
Usually what would happen when someone used the bubble shield is you either have something to deal with it already or you had to wait or go fight someone else. So while the bubble shield doesn’t fully stop the fight it does direct you to perform one of those three actions. One of which requires that you already have stuff to deal with it. The other options are to not fight.
Yes the Bubble Shield is a much better option than Armor Lock and I would love for it to return, but I don’t see that happening with the current sandbox. The Drop Wall covers much of what the Bubble Shield would do. Not as well (definitely not as strong defensively, but allows for offense while defending), but I feel that’s the point. 343 wanted something that would fill that role, but wouldn’t slow down gameplay.
I think this is the entire problem with modern Halo MP starting with Reach: They are intentionally quickening the pace of a game designed and built on method rather than reaction.
That’s why alot of older Halo fans who grew up with the original Trilogy can barely tolerate Reach, and absolutely hate 4 and 5.
My opinion is that there should be an equal essence of both modern and traditional Halo, but the sandbox balance was DEFINITELY better in the traditional Halo titles vs the newer ones. In that respect, I think anything affecting the Sandbox should be balanced like H3 as a referrence.
Additional changes like Advanced movement and Power Equipment being picked up and used are all fine, but the sandbox balance for the majority of the gameplay needs to look to better balanced Halos for sure. I mean, even things like Spiker and SMG in H3 are usable if you the situation arises, but PP is almost always bad in Halo Infinite because it was balanced badly vs everything else. Same can also be said with weapons like the Mangler being way too powerful in close range vs its original intention as a unique Precision weapon.
Then there’s the grenades too: Dynamos are way more accessible and way more powerful at stopping vehicles compared to previous Halos where chucking a well thrown Plasma would net you good kills. This kinda just pushes Plasma’s utility down in favor of a grenade that not only has much better AoE, but also EMPs, strips shields and creates an anti zone. It’s essentially a souped out Power Drain in grenade form with 2 stocks. Yuck.
I played the original trilogy, but Halo 3 was the very first one that I owned and played extensively. I really like Reach and thought 4 was okay, definitely better when you played a version that removed custom loadouts with maps for pickups. Yeah 5 was awful, a decent enough made game, but not a good Halo game.
Was it really though? It’s a close range precision weapon with a big draw back when trying to use it at range beyond close. It can’t beat a sidekick in a fight unless the guy with the sidekick is terrible. The Mangler has always felt more like a slug firing shotgun so it being powerful made perfect sense. The problem was it being available on a rack shared by the PP and Disruptor. It was and kinda still is far stronger than either of those, but now is worse than the starting pistol that you’re meant to trade out for other weapons you fine because they SHOULD be stronger or have more utility than what you spawn with.
Yup, a case of too much utility and lack of skill required to use. I became a sticking machine in Halo 3 and Reach because that was the most common way to deal with vehicles if you didn’t have a power weapon. Now people just go get a shock weapon of some kind and stop your vehicle without much effort.
As someone who plays custom-games of firefight where it is 8 bots vs me and the bois, I can affirm that even ODST level bots are not a hassle to deal with en-masse.