Halo 4 Armor Ability Improvements

Games Other Halo
1

With Reach came the introduction of Armor Abilities, which the Halo community collectively refers to as AAs. They, quite frankly, are a take on the equipment introduced in Halo 3, wherein implemented with which to mimic the growing trend of loadouts/perks in modern FPS games. A few of them certainly helped to deepen the experience in Reach, such as the new ability to sprint or evade, and the strategic element of sending a hologram out to distract your opponents.

However, with these AAs came balancing issues with the extremely overpowered Armor Lock, the ability to stay invisible on the fly for extended periods of time, and a Jetpack with which to break every Forgable space one could fathom. Reach, as an experiment with new gameplay elements, was both a success and a failure.

For Halo 4, I don’t want to see this element removed, but built upon and fine tuned to better balance the gameplay in which they are used. The idea behind Halo 3’s equipment should also be built upon in the formation of this new system, with standard AAs ready to be used from the loadout menu and slightly more powerful AAs present as pick-ups on certain maps where users may have an advantage in their use.

Here are my suggested changes:

Sprint: Slightly reduce the distance one can run in their burst of speed and, respectively, increase the rate in which the AA recharges. Shorter bursts of speed mean decreased emphasis on running through a map wrecklessly for melee kills.

Evade: Slightly reduce the distance and velocity one can travel by diving. It is a bit rediculous that you move so fast in a dive that you actually lauch from a ramp.

Hologram: Allow bullets to travel through the Hologram to remove it as a source of moving cover. Additionally, add a red gamertag indicator above the Hologram’s head to help deceive the enemy more effectively.

Jetpack: I suggest the Jetpack be scrapped in favor of a Jet Booster, much like the Brutes had in Halo 3 and the Elites in Reach. One use would drain the AA meter. Unlike Boosters in the campaign, the boost height should be decreased and the speed should mimic that of the Jetpack in an effort to make airborne users more vulnerable to gunfire.

Armor Lock: Decrease the time a user can remain in Armor Lock, remove the frosting and EMP functions, and keep the user in first person mode thoughout its use. Additionally, if a player is stuck before activating Armor Lock, the forcefield should encase the grenade, localizing the explosion and killing the user. No one should survive a stick.

Drop Shield: Remove its regenerative function. Increase the area that the shield covers and slightly reduce the time it remains active. Increasing the spread of its reach would allow enemies more room to enter the shield. Additionally, the devs could “frost” the shield to decrease visability from the inside of the shield (imagine a frosted glass).

Active Camo: Remove, entirely. I say this because Halo 4 should bring back the power-ups that made Halo gameplay immersive and varied. They encouraged map progression instead of localizing players and encouraging camping. If they were brought back, an Active Camo AA would have no use.

With that, here are a few potential additions to the AA armory:

Radar Jammer: Instead of a little ball that jams radar in the viscinity of its placement, I suggest a remote radar jammer in the form of an AA. Unlike the jammer function in Reach’s Active Camo, this jammer would be a single use pulse jammer that, when used, would jam every radar in the general viscinity of the user, including the user. Instead of filling each radar with red orbs, it should disable the radar altogether. This would certainly add a stealth element and increase killtimes by removing crouching as the only method to avoid the radar.

EMP: A pulse from the user would deplete the shields of other players in the blast radius. This pulse would drain the user’s shields and cause them to collapse to their knees for roughly two seconds. The initial blast radius would be very small, and extend slightly outward with lesser effects. The visors of every affected Spartan would malfunction temporarily, causing split-second static, slightly obstructing vision.

Tac/ Trauma Kit: Assuming health makes a return in Halo 4, I suggest that the Tactical Trauma Kit that exists in Reach as a cosmetic Utility Armor Permutation be made into an AA to allow for health regeneration on the fly. To be clear, I am not talking about shield regeneration, as it existed in Halo 3, but health regeneration, much like the Drop Shield’s regeneration function in Reach. One use would drain the AA meter and could be used to heal an ally, as well as the user.

Here are the categories in which I’d place these AAs:

Loadout Standard: Sprint, Evade, Hologram, Tac/ Trauma Kit, Jet Booster

Map Pick-ups: Armor Lock, Drop Shield, EMP, Radar Jammer

And that is my list of improvements for AA offerings in Halo 4. What are your suggestions? Anything to add? Anything you’d like adjusted? Please comment and express your opinion.

2

Personally, I think we need to revamp all the AA’s. I feel we need to make sure all AA’s are either combat related, or movement related- preferably the latter. Movement only AA’s would give a unique twist to maps, while keeping players on an even fighting field. With only movement based AA’s, players could choose which power weapons they what when they spawn, or where the current objective is, and pick an AA that would get them there as quickly as possible.

3

> Personally, I think we need to revamp all the AA’s. I feel we need to make sure all AA’s are either combat related, or movement related- preferably the latter. Movement only AA’s would give a unique twist to maps, while keeping players on an even fighting field. With only movement based AA’s, players could choose which power weapons they what when they spawn, or where the current objective is, and pick an AA that would get them there as quickly as possible.

I think that some maps should have movement based AAs, and others should have combat based AAs.

4

> > Personally, I think we need to revamp all the AA’s. I feel we need to make sure all AA’s are either combat related, or movement related- preferably the latter. Movement only AA’s would give a unique twist to maps, while keeping players on an even fighting field. With only movement based AA’s, players could choose which power weapons they what when they spawn, or where the current objective is, and pick an AA that would get them there as quickly as possible.
>
> I think that some maps should have movement based AAs, and others should have combat based AAs.

I’m against combat AA’s myself, but that might work. The only problem I see is that that means either AA’s will all have to be pickups, or we’ll need a new gametype for every map. AA’s as pickups can be problematic. Currently, AA’s aren’t dropped when a player is killed. If AA’s were to be dropped by dead players, there would be nothing to take the AA out of circulation. The AA would simply be traded from player to player for the entire game, eliminating any map control associated with obtaining the AA. The AA would also likely despawn if not picked up after a period of time. If they were to respawn, every player could eventually obtain the AA.

5

> With that, here are a few potential additions to the AA armory:
>
> Radar Jammer: Instead of a little ball that jams radar in the viscinity of its placement, I suggest a remote radar jammer in the form of an AA. Unlike the jammer function in Reach’s Active Camo, this jammer would be a single use pulse jammer that, when used, would jam every radar in the general viscinity of the user, including the user. Instead of filling each radar with red orbs, it should disable the radar altogether. This would certainly add a stealth element and increase killtimes by removing crouching as the only method to avoid the radar.
>
> EMP: A pulse from the user would deplete the shields of other players in the blast radius. This pulse would drain the user’s shields and cause them to collapse to their knees for roughly two seconds. The initial blast radius would be very small, and extend slightly outward with lesser effects. The visors of every affected Spartan would malfunction temporarily, causing split-second static, slightly obstructing vision.
>
> Tac/ Trauma Kit: Assuming health makes a return in Halo 4, I suggest that the Tactical Trauma Kit that exists in Reach as a cosmetic Utility Armor Permutation be made into an AA to allow for health regeneration on the fly. To be clear, I am not talking about shield regeneration, as it existed in Halo 3, but health regeneration, much like the Drop Shield’s regeneration function in Reach. One use would drain the AA meter and could be used to heal an ally, as well as the user.
>
> Here are the categories in which I’d place these AAs:
>
> Loadout Standard: Sprint, Evade, Hologram, Tac/ Trauma Kit, Jet Booster
>
> Map Pick-ups: Armor Lock, Drop Shield, EMP, Radar Jammer
>
> And that is my list of improvements for AA offerings in Halo 4. What are your suggestions? Anything to add? Anything you’d like adjusted? Please comment and express your opinion.

I do agree with almost everything you said, however I must disagree with the other AA map pickups you mentioned here. Those all sound like things you would find in other FPS games that would be referred to as “killstreaks” (which are okay) but sound too OP to be something that could be picked up on the map.

If one team controlled a certain part of the map for the EMP AA…that team would have an outstanding advantage over the other team simply because it had the ability to “stun” a clutter of spartans. Evene the radar jammer would kill the enemy’s radar for a duration that allowed the using team to run around the map (not blind) taking out the enemy one by one.

6

Good, but how would the Tac/Trauma kit work? And how would you give itto your team mate?

7

> I do agree with almost everything you said, however I must disagree with the other AA map pickups you mentioned here. Those all sound like things you would find in other FPS games that would be referred to as “killstreaks” (which are okay) but sound too OP to be something that could be picked up on the map.
>
> If one team controlled a certain part of the map for the EMP AA…that team would have an outstanding advantage over the other team simply because it had the ability to “stun” a clutter of spartans. Evene the radar jammer would kill the enemy’s radar for a duration that allowed the using team to run around the map (not blind) taking out the enemy one by one.

Ahh, but there-in, I’ve introduced varying negativities to the use of every AA I’ve dreamt up.

The EMP would have an initial blast radius very similar to that of the EMP function in Reach’s Armor Lock, spreading outward for less damage. The range would be very small and would affect not only the enemy, but your allies as well. In addition, the EMP would knock the user to their knees for roughly two seconds - certainly long enough for anyone to kill them with their depleted shield. Within a coordinated team, this AA could be lethal, but if used improperly, would be catastrophic for the user and their team.

By the way, keep in mind that the only person that will be immobilized by the EMP will be the user, for a maximum of two seconds. Every Spartan around the user would have reduced shields and visor disruption, but will remain completely mobilized so as not to reduce speed of play.

The Radar Jammer isn’t necessarily attack or movement oriented, but more on the stealth end of the spectrum, standing next to Hologram. It would work similarly to the EMP blast, but with a larger radius. This means that every Spartan involved is vulnerable - ally and enemy. It would also alert the target to the user’s presence if used too obviously.

I’m not talking about making certain AAs godly. On the contrary, I seek to balance them. For example, the EMP I’ve dreamt up is less harmful than a Halo 3 Power Drain, which can be thrown at an enemy group with no harm to the user. Another example is the rarely used Flare in Halo 3. In Halo 4, since such equipment would not be suitable as an AA, why not introduce it again in the form of a Flash Bang grenade that acts in the same manner?

8

> Good, but how would the Tac/Trauma kit work? And how would you give itto your team mate?

You would use the AA to regenerate your health on the fly (not shield strength). Say you want to use your AA on a teammate as the team’s medic. Perhaps a feature can be implemented where you can actually see the health of your teammates over their heads. This way, you could communicate even without a mic, get close enough to your ally until an in-game signal promts a suggestion to press your AA button to regenerate their health. This could be accomplished, say, with a blue “X” or grey “RB” for your respective AA control button with the text “HEAL” hovering over the teammate you would target for healing.

A medal could be introduced for healing an ally, thus, encouraging teamwork.

9

> > > Personally, I think we need to revamp all the AA’s. I feel we need to make sure all AA’s are either combat related, or movement related- preferably the latter. Movement only AA’s would give a unique twist to maps, while keeping players on an even fighting field. With only movement based AA’s, players could choose which power weapons they what when they spawn, or where the current objective is, and pick an AA that would get them there as quickly as possible.
> >
> > I think that some maps should have movement based AAs, and others should have combat based AAs.
>
> I’m against combat AA’s myself, but that might work. The only problem I see is that that means either AA’s will all have to be pickups, or we’ll need a new gametype for every map. AA’s as pickups can be problematic. Currently, AA’s aren’t dropped when a player is killed. If AA’s were to be dropped by dead players, there would be nothing to take the AA out of circulation. The AA would simply be traded from player to player for the entire game, eliminating any map control associated with obtaining the AA. The AA would also likely despawn if not picked up after a period of time. If they were to respawn, every player could eventually obtain the AA.

Detailing this in the OP, I’ve already broken the AAs down into two categories - Standard Loadout and Map Pick-up.

Notice that the Standard Loadout group consists entirely of the movement and non-combat AAs Sprint, Evade, Hologram, Jet Booster, and Tac/ Trauma Kit. These are loadouts that would be available to everyone on the map from the loadout menu and encourage progression, teamwork, and stealth.

The Map Pick-up category consists of the more combat oriented AAs that would be spread throughout certain maps as pick-ups, akin to Equipment in Halo 3. EMP, Armor Lock, Radar Jammer, and Drop Shield pick-up AAs would be treated as power weapons and certainly wouldn’t all exist on a single map at one time unless in a BTB setting of sorts. They are all combat based, and, even as pick-ups, still offer negatives to their use, like any other AA.

As far as the dropping of a pick-up AA, I’m not sure I agree that such a feature should be implemented, as it is, afterall, an AA, and not Equipment. The AA in the user’s possession should not be dropped when switching AAs or upon death, and should simply respawn after a set amount of time if the user who picked it up was killed, or swapped the pick-up AA for another. In addition to preventing clutter of an area to sieze control of a dropped pick-up AA, this would also encourage movement about the map in an effort to secure the AA from its spawn point, much like Active Camo and Overshield power-ups.

Edit: AA terminals should be the source of these pick-up AAs, as opposed to visible objects on the ground with a hologram-esque representation of what the pick-up AA is. This way, AAs would not be physical pick-ups, but “downloads,” per se, from these AA terminals. The spawn times would indicate when a new user could “download” the AA from the terminal when it is no longer in use by any other player. The AA within the terminal could continue to be represented with a Hologram-esque bubble containing the symbol of the AA containted.

10

Now this is rare, a thread about AA’s that is not purely complaint/REMOVENAO and with logical thoughts used. I must say that I like these ideas, but they would have to be tested to see if it makes or breaks Halo, and whether or not they speed up or slow down gameplay. I see that you’ve made negative repercussions for some abilities.

11

In my opinion AAs should be pick ups not load outs. Let people fight over Armor Abilities as if they were power weapons. That way people cant spam AL and break the map with jetpack at spawn.
Also that would limit the amount of people with a certain AA. This prevents team spam.

12

> Now this is rare, a thread about AA’s that is not purely complaint/REMOVENAO and with logical thoughts used. I must say that I like these ideas, but they would have to be tested to see if it makes or breaks Halo, and whether or not they speed up or slow down gameplay. I see that you’ve made negative repercussions for some abilities.

Yes, I believe that every AA needs to have some sort of negative quality to help balance their usefulness against other AAs. If one is to be very powerful, it should have an equally negative effect. This was the fault of Armor Lock - trading limited invincibility, EMP functionality, frosting, and a 3D view of the user’s surroundings for immobility for the duration of its use. It is unbalanced because the pros certainly outweigh the cons. As suggested, a nerfing is in order for Halo 4, not only for Armor Lock, but for every AA, as this system is improved upon.

I do hope they take other AA ideas into consideration, because variety is certainly the spice of life, and Halo Reach’s gameplay could not deliver, dwindelling incentive to travel about the map down to power weapons, alone. Power-ups and BALANCED pick-up AAs should be present, as well, to provide more variety to Halo 4’s multiplayer offerings. As I said, Reach was an experiment that shared both success and failure, paving the way for future installments to improve on its faults and build on its successes.

13

> > I do agree with almost everything you said, however I must disagree with the other AA map pickups you mentioned here. Those all sound like things you would find in other FPS games that would be referred to as “killstreaks” (which are okay) but sound too OP to be something that could be picked up on the map.
> >
> > If one team controlled a certain part of the map for the EMP AA…that team would have an outstanding advantage over the other team simply because it had the ability to “stun” a clutter of spartans. Evene the radar jammer would kill the enemy’s radar for a duration that allowed the using team to run around the map (not blind) taking out the enemy one by one.
>
> Ahh, but there-in, I’ve introduced varying negativities to the use of every AA I’ve dreamt up.
>
> The EMP would have an initial blast radius very similar to that of the EMP function in Reach’s Armor Lock, spreading outward for less damage. The range would be very small and would affect not only the enemy, but your allies as well. In addition, the EMP would knock the user to their knees for roughly two seconds - certainly long enough for anyone to kill them with their depleted shield. Within a coordinated team, this AA could be lethal, but if used improperly, would be catastrophic for the user and their team.
>
> By the way, keep in mind that the only person that will be immobilized by the EMP will be the user, for a maximum of two seconds. Every Spartan around the user would have reduced shields and visor disruption, but will remain completely mobilized so as not to reduce speed of play.
>
> The Radar Jammer isn’t necessarily attack or movement oriented, but more on the stealth end of the spectrum, standing next to Hologram. It would work similarly to the EMP blast, but with a larger radius. This means that every Spartan involved is vulnerable - ally and enemy. It would also alert the target to the user’s presence if used too obviously.
>
> I’m not talking about making certain AAs godly. On the contrary, I seek to balance them. For example, the EMP I’ve dreamt up is less harmful than a Halo 3 Power Drain, which can be thrown at an enemy group with no harm to the user. Another example is the rarely used Flare in Halo 3. In Halo 4, since such equipment would not be suitable as an AA, why not introduce it again in the form of a Flash Bang grenade that acts in the same manner?

Or the EMP could EMP you to? I mean no sheilds for every one right. I also believe in Armor lock when you take damage it shortens the time your in the lock. As for the jetpack, keep it but make it so that you use it for less time.

14

> In my opinion AAs should be pick ups not load outs. Let people fight over Armor Abilities as if they were power weapons. That way people cant spam AL and break the map with jetpack at spawn.
> Also that would limit the amount of people with a certain AA. This prevents team spam.

Pick ups in classic, but I want to start with them! They should make 3 of every playlist, Classic, Initial, and (fill in here). The initial means you start with AA’s and classic means there’s none. (fill in here) would be like what you said and you have to pick them up!

15

Equipment did not change the core gameplay, while mixing up the gameplay. It worked much better that AAs. It added a new layer of skill and strategy to the game. You could plan out how to get and use the equipment tactically to best your opponent, complete an objective, or give cover and much much more.

AAs completely change the game so much from the original gameplay.

16

Honestly, I like the original Halo gameplay. Not the gimmicky Armor Abilities.

17

I think AA’s should be scrapped completely for any future halo games and let them be exclusive to Reach like equipment was to Halo 3, allowing Halo 4 to do its own thing or try for classic gameplay.

18

stick to equipment please. if your calling it a halo game, dont change the core gameplay too much like AAs did.

19

This said, there should also be killstreaks…

20

> stick to equipment please. if your calling it a halo game, dont change the core gameplay too much like AAs did.

I’m talking of meshing the concepts of AAs and Equipment into a new take on gameplay. I’m sorry, but I enjoy the addition of AAs in Halo gameplay, as it adds a new depth and variety to the gameplay options. I just don’t think it was executed correctly with Reach, and certainly needs an overhaul for Halo 4.

Equipment worked because it existed as map pick-ups, and sometimes considered power weapons. They offered a new sense of map progression to give players incentive to traverse about the map to obtain them. What didn’t work with Equipment was the sense that these gameplay-altering entities had no drawbacks in their use. The Power Drain was considered very cheap for this reason.

AAs work because they helped to balance out the effects of game-altering features by permanently fixating the ability to one’s armor, as chosen at the beginning of a match. What didn’t work was the lack of balancing involved as more powerful AAs could be obtained on the fly to combat less powerful ones. Also, since they are fixated to one’s armor, we are stuck with that AA until death.

What I propose is a fine tuning of the balance of movement-based AAs like Sprint, Evade, Jetpack, and Hologram if they are to exist from the Loadout menu, in an effort to promote fair gameplay. Combat AAs like Armor Lock and Drop Shield, similarly, should be fine-tuned to offer more negative effects as cons to their powerful abilities, but left on certain maps as pick-ups, much in the way Equipment existed in Halo 3.

Along with the reintroduction of Power-ups from previous Halo titles, this system would encourage fair play from the get-go, and promote movement around the maps to obtain more powerful combat AAs, in an effort to keep it confined to one player at a time. Giving every player Armor Lock on the fly is much like giving every player a Rocket Launcher. It doesn’t promote fair gameplay.