Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, because I haven’t exactly come to a conclusion on this one yet.
People say sprint speeds up the game, yet the average map size has been increased to accommodate sprint.
Do they not cancel each other out, so to speak?
I actually don’t mind sprint personally, but why was it so necessary to add it into the game if it is being cancelled out by larger maps anyway?
Could they not have kept Halo as a none-sprint game, whilst keeping the maps small so that the speed of the game is still there? Thus not unnecessarily alienating a part of the fan base that appreciated that aspect of Halo as it already was.
But in Halo 4, it does not speed up the game for the simple fact it barely even exists.
>Maps have been made larger to accommodate for it.
>You can be stunned by fire regardless of which direction you are running in.
>And it still occasionally allows people to run away from battle.
343I basically removed sprint without actually removing sprint. Probably to avoid backlash.
Yet all the annoying gimmicks like forced weapon lowering and being forced to use it to move around at a decent pace still remain.
Don’t misinterpret this as me calling for a buff to sprint, I’d rather it was just scrapped altogether.
> I’m not going to debate about sprint in general.
>
> But in Halo 4, it does not speed up the game for the simple fact it barely even exists.
>
> >Maps have been made larger to accommodate for it.
> >You can be stunned by fire regardless of which direction you are running in.
> >And it still occasionally allows people to run away from battle.
>
> 343I basically removed sprint without actually removing sprint. Probably to avoid backlash.
>
> Yet all the annoying gimmicks like forced weapon lowering and being forced to use it to move around at a decent pace still remain.
>
> Don’t misinterpret this as me calling for a buff to sprint, I’d rather it was just scrapped altogether.
Funny that you would be the first to reply because this thread was inspired by a post I saw you make about sprint (which I agree with).
And it just got me wondering about whether it even speeds up the game, as sprint defenders say it does.
It seems to me that larger average maps + sprint would equal a 0% increase in game speed (assuming they were increased equally).
So it begs the question, was it even necessary? Seeing as the whole point of sprint is supposedly to increase the speed of the game.
> That really depends on what your notion of ‘speed of the game’ means.
>
> Rate of kills? Actions per minute? Amount of movement? How long games last?
Just whichever aspects sprint is supposed to speed up.
I’m guessing that relates to rate of kills, actions per minute and amount of movement? But seeing as average map size has been increased, are those things not all brought back down to normal again?
It’s almost like everything is the same (map size and speed), except the size of the Spartans has decreased.
Kind of like the mini covenant glitch in Spartan Ops, they are tiny, but seeing as they move around the map at the same speed, nothing has really changed apart from being a smaller target.
It could be argued that the rate of kills would actually be decreased due to them being smaller targets relative to the map size and movement speed.
Do you know what I mean? Maybe it just sounds like I’m talking nonsense, but I know what I mean in my head.
Something I posted in another thread regarding sprint
> When is sprint actually useful?
>
> The answer is, according to me, when maps are larger or base movement speed is slow. Why?
>
> Well, if you have a high base movement speed on small maps, sprint is essentially not something you’ll use as cover is mostly always close by and the action is around the corner. Why sprint to something when I can be caught off guard? Or be in position a third of a second earlier? In that case, to justify the addition of sprint and actually make players use it, you need to lower the base movement speed. What happens when you lower base movement speed? Well you move slower of course, and sprint is suddenly a fast way of getting around, with your weapon down.
>
> The negative side about lowering base movement speed is that you sacrifice strafing. What does this actually mean then?
>
> Strafing is a way to “confuse and throw” your opponents aim off and thus gain the upper hand in an engagement through the sole action of moving around. The better you are at strafing, the better you are at throwing your opponents aim off. With lower movement speed, there comes a limit of how effective your strafing can be. With low enough movement speed, strafing becomes pointless and engagements become “who saw who first” or “kill trades”.
>
> Of course we could all argue that an increase in aim sensitivity would also make things more difficult, the only difference here is that there is no global sensitivity for aiming, it’s a personal preference, while movement speed is a game rule.
>
> Now about larger maps. If we don’t want to sacrifice strafing, there’s always the option of increasing map size. While it again justifies adding sprinting as a viable way of moving around quickly, it comes again, with a price. Larger maps don’t play well with smaller player numbers on the actual map. For instance, Complex is a big map, however it’s not in BTB, or atleast it wasn’t when I played. It was used in 4v4 Infinity Slayer, with the other larger maps present, I found Infinity Slayer 4v4 quite boring as engagements in long range was frequent and they mostly ended up with someone behind cover rather than a kill and some points. I would also argue that it’s the reason BTB is the most played playlist, simply because the larger maps don’t play well with smaller teams.
>
> In the end, we’re left with two options, lower base movement speed and a decreased skill gap, or larger maps that doesn’t work with playlists with smaller player counts. If we want sprint in that is.
>
> If we leave sprint out, we don’t have any of those problems. High base movement speed increases the skill gap because it allows more freedom with strafing. Maps can be small because there isn’t a mechanic in the game that needs to be justified.
>
> There are no problems and the game is deeper, it’s a win-win situation. As opposed to having to choose between two bad choices, slower base movement speed or larger maps.
In conclusion, sprint is easily replaced with higher base movement speed but without the consequences.
Does it speed up the gameplay? I think the question is irrelevant. Fast gameplay doesn’t necesserily mean good gameplay. So I would rather rephrase the question as “Does sprint contribute to Halo gameplay?”. As evident with the repost I posted, I don’t think that sprint contributes to Halo gameplay as it detracts if it is to be useful.
> In conclusion, sprint is easily replaced with higher base movement speed but without the consequences.
>
> Does it speed up the gameplay? I think the question is irrelevant. Fast gameplay doesn’t necesserily mean good gameplay. So I would rather rephrase the question as “Does sprint contribute to Halo gameplay?”. As evident with the repost I posted, I don’t think that sprint contributes to Halo gameplay as it detracts if it is to be useful.
Thanks for this! An amazing answer and it has given me something to think about.
I never actually thought about how sprint and base movement effects strafing before, but you are absolutely right.
base player speed was reduced to accommodate sprint
while sprinting, cannot shoot. Further slowing gameplay.
Before sprint, players where always moving at top speed. People also didn’t have to wait for their weapon to become ready (weapon is down during sprint) so the are constantly shooting while moving at top speed. That’s what speeds up gameplay.