How can Halo be faster without sprint or AAs? Suggest solutions

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

I’m against sprint in Halo.

But back in the days without sprint, Halo was essentially the slowest and most sluggish competitive game. CS, GoW, SCII, Quake, Shadowrun - all of these games were considerably faster. I fear that if sprint is removed, the modern gamer might not be so willing to adjust to slower speeds.

Since filling the OP with suggestions is essentially a thread killer, I’d rather leave this up to you folks. As much as I like going back to play old Halo, it is difficult to re-adjust to the old speeds. If sprint was removed, how would you go about making the game less uncomfortable and sluggish?

2

Up the base speed to be faster than Halo 2’s, and add to the jump height. Add a default vertical or horizontal movement ability such as Thruster pack or maybe something along the lines of a booster pack allowing for a quick vertical thrust. (Such equivalent to running over a nerfed Halo 3 gravity lift.)

3

Or we can saw screw you to others who dislike Halo? They do not make their games to be familiar to us, why should Halo conform to them? it was it’s on style. And with a slower killtime, a slower pace comes naturally.

4

Halo 2’s speed was good. Combine a slightly faster movement speed with smaller and tighter maps, and you’ve got a good Halo game.

> filling the OP with suggestions is essentially a thread killer

I honestly never realized that before. That’s a good idea.

5

Is it impossible for a character to have two speeds? The character walks until the stick gets to it’s limit, at which point the character runs? In the 21st Century with a brand new console with a spiffy new controller, is this something that is beyond the expertise of today’s game developers?

6

Make the maps appear smaller, and give us an increased movement speed that doesn’t feel sluggish when changing directions. IE: Halo 2.

You could also make it appear that he is sprinting if running at max speed for a while when not shooting, and just snap quickly into place when you shoot without a penalty for that “face-pace” feel.

7

Slower than GoW?

Anyway, I agree with whoever essentially said don’t make the game worse or artificially fast to appease the 3 hardcore COD fans that might jump on the game for a night.

Halo should be Halo.

8

> Slower than GoW?

GoW’s cover system made it quite frantic. Plus, the third-person camera’s greater freedom of movement gave it the illusion of speed. That’s the kind of stuff I mean.

> Anyway, I agree with whoever essentially said don’t make the game worse or artificially fast to appease the 3 hardcore COD fans that might jump on the game for a night.
>
> Halo should be Halo.

Agreed. However, when I said “modern gamers” in the OP, I actually had Halo fans in mind. They got into Halo before it had sprint, sure, but they may have become too adjusted to the “flexibility” of Halo 4 to get invested in a no-sprint Halo. I might be selling them a bit short, but regardless.

As for actual suggestions, one thing that came to mind was field of view. In Halo 3, the FOV was so bad it pretty much felt like this. Having a wider field of view in HX1 may affect gameplay, but it also makes it feel a lot more comfortable and less claustrophobic.

9

One of the best way to improve the pace of Halo games is to make quality maps that aren’t too large, yet at the same time aren’t too compact. Heretic in Halo 3 is too compact, for example, while maps like Guardian are very well designed.

Sprint is better for larger games. Notice that first-person shooters that use a “sprint” mechanic have larger environments and player counts. Halo doesn’t need sprint to create fast-paced gameplay.

10

The game wasn’t even faster with sprint because the maps were scaled up for it, it’s a pointless illusion that you’re moving faster when really, you aren’t.

And besides, who cares what mainstream gamers want with Halo? Halo can be different and it was doing just fine until 343i pulled this BS about appealing to a larger audience when OBVIOUSLY IT NEVER WORKED! You look at Mass Effect 3, it tried to appeal to a larger audience. DID NOT WORK. Look at Halo 4, it tried to do the same thing that other games have done in the past to get more money. IT. DIDN’T. WORK! And it will NEVER work because doing that takes away what made the game great when it appealed to it’s original audience.

11

> One of the best way to improve the pace of Halo games is to make quality maps that aren’t too large, yet at the same time aren’t too compact. <mark>Heretic</mark> in Halo 3 is too compact, for example, while maps like Guardian are very well designed.
>
> Sprint is better for larger games. Notice that first-person shooters that use a “sprint” mechanic have larger environments and player counts. Halo doesn’t need sprint to create fast-paced gameplay.

Heretic is a classic remake of “Midship” in Halo 2, where you moved FASTER than Halo 3, and is considered by many to be Halo 2’s best map.

12

> > One of the best way to improve the pace of Halo games is to make quality maps that aren’t too large, yet at the same time aren’t too compact. <mark>Heretic</mark> in Halo 3 is too compact, for example, while maps like Guardian are very well designed.
> >
> > Sprint is better for larger games. Notice that first-person shooters that use a “sprint” mechanic have larger environments and player counts. Halo doesn’t need sprint to create fast-paced gameplay.
>
> Heretic is a classic remake of “Midship” in Halo 2, where you moved FASTER than Halo 3, and is considered by many to be Halo 2’s best map.

This, although I consider Ascension or Lockout to be my favourites.

13

> The game wasn’t even faster with sprint because the maps were scaled up for it, it’s a pointless illusion that you’re moving faster when really, you aren’t.

If you’re sprinting you’re moving faster. There are small maps like Haven and Forge maps like Simplex. I don’t buy this idea about not moving faster because the maps are bigger.

I want sprint to stay. I like the base movement speed boost they added with the weapon tuning update. Keep the game fast.

14

I, for one, want Built-in Sprint to return, no matter the size of the maps. However, I would not mind playing without Sprint and base movement increased if there is a Classic/Anniversary. BTW, if Sprint were to be fully removed and base speed movement increased, it would be very slow and boring. Gonna let you in on a little secret…I was easily bored in Halo 3 with the base speed movement, but when Sprint was introduced, it made the game much more faster and much easier.

15

I’m going to start out by saying I am for having some type of sprint in Halo, but still don’t think it has been implemented in the best way. I think it should be something everyone should have access to, and there shouldn’t be a limit to it.

Lore wise, Spartans could sprint upward of 40 mphs, and even being encased in a half ton of armor, were still incredibly nimble like they weren’t wearing armor at all. This hasn’t really translated over into the games. In Halo 1-3, you were relatively sluggish, and any time you had to cover a large distance without a vehicle it became more of a chore. In Reach, you had to select a tool that allowed you to do a normal human function, and even then the player was wheezing before going 20 feet. Finally in 4 it was built into every player, but there was still a limit to it, unless you had a perk, but this time no meter to actually tell how much you had or when it was recharged. It’s like they are taking baby steps to resolving the speed issue.

Initial I was thinking of having sprint function like switch modes, between a combat mode and a speed mode. Combat mode functions much like the game has since CE. Speed mode however, gives the player an unlimited sprint at the cost of not being able to attack. The player holsters their weapon and sprints at a speed probably equivalent to a vehicle, making it more like an alternative for transportation. The player can’t attack right out of sprint, but has to switch back to a combat state before even being able to melee. A player can also be shot out of their speed mode when enough damage is done, which would leave them vulnerable, making it wise not to sprint into combat. The speed mode can also be treated similar vehicles depending on the map, meaning if the map is too small to even allow vehicles on it, sprint is disabled on it as well. Of course this is just a concept, and don’t actually have a way to test it to see how it plays out in practice.

Alternatively, sprint can be naturally built into the forward motion of the player, i.e. like in Titanfall. I’ve read other people talk about a similar system before but thought it wouldn’t work, even thought it would be awkward when I read that’s how it works in Titanfall. To my surprise, it works very well, and probably has the best movement in any FPS I’ve played to date. A similar system could work in Halo as well, having the forward motion carry the player at a faster speed than while strafing, backing up, or while firing. I imagine it wouldn’t take long to test and balance that speed either.

Either one of these idea I believe would work better than what we have right now.

16

Increase base movement speed and FoV, then you’re both faster and get the illusion of being a lot faster.

> > The game wasn’t even faster with sprint because the maps were scaled up for it, it’s a pointless illusion that you’re moving faster when really, you aren’t.
>
> If you’re sprinting you’re moving faster. There are small maps like Haven and Forge maps like Simplex. <mark>I don’t buy this idea about not moving faster because the maps are bigger.</mark>
>
> I want sprint to stay. I like the base movement speed boost they added with the weapon tuning update. Keep the game fast.

Well an experiment was conducted on Guardian Halo 3 and Haven Halo 4. Apparently with mobility on you cross Haven the same time you cross Guardian, which is without sprint.

Sure, you’re moving faster but not getting there quicker.

17

I think I may have posted on this issue before…

One of very few things about Halo 3 that bugged me coming from Halo 2 was the slower perceived speed. Once I played a custom game in the map Sandtrap at 125% base speed it felt just right. I both like and dis-like sprint, since it requires a use of a button when we have a joystick…

I think a more nuanced set up on the joystick may be just the answer:

<> Just a small nudge, you walk slow.
<> More of a nudge, just shy of normal speed.
<> A regular push, and your base speed is like Halo 2.
<> Just shy of all the way forward, and you are moving faster…
<> …and jam it forward, and you get sprint that may not be AS fast as Halo Reach/4, but it has a limit at least 3-4 times longer than the cut off sprint gets w/out a perk.

It will take a little bit getting used to, but maybe my controller will last a little bit longer, LOL :slight_smile:

18

I don’t think the problem has anything do to with Halo’s speed but rather people’s ability to stay alive in the battlefield and choose the right decisions. I have seen game-play from beginners and they literally walk away from the battle-field …

How is this slow? We are constantly battling all the time(I am on the other team called Telltale). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNHgK3OVa8w

Take a look on an even bigger map. Slow? Keep in mind that we are also only 4 players in the game. I am on the other team called DeMoNCaaT.

It doesn’t have to be any slower on bigger maps if you learn to stay a live and do the right things. In Call of Duty you will die the moment you get shot, but in Halo you simply go behind cover or back out of a fight when you are no-shield - Something beginners never do (This alone will allow them to stay in the battlefield for a lot longer).

I am fine upping the speed to Halo 2’s but the real problem lies in the players ability to stay alive and choosing the right decision. I mean, when you have two beginner teams walking away from each other, obviously it’s gonna feel slow.

My fix is to let players call out with the kinect to highlight the “call-out” on the map, thus letting beginners and everyone else figure out where the enemies are + A tutorial pointing out what is really the obvious (but nobody does it at the lower to mid level): use cover and back out of fights.

19

I think an increase in movement speed is the least of what should be done. As far as it’s considered, all that should be done about it is to bump it back to 2.25 U/s as it was in the original trilogy. I don’t think the movement speed should be much larger than that because otherwise we would lose some of the smaller maps as we do with sprint due to increased size.

But there are two things that affect the feel of the movement without changing the movement speed:

  1. Field of View
  2. Movement Acceleration

Field of View has a really drastic effect on how moving around feels and there would preferably be a slider for it because people play at different distances from their display which affects how they perceive the FoV. But with the limitations we have, 90 degrees seems like a good sweet spot. Only the perceived speed is changed and there will be less complaining about sluggish movement without any change in gameplay.

Acceleration doesn’t really affect the movement when running around. But at least a big problem to me in Halo is that strafing doesn’t really feel responsive. Changing that characteristic would affect the overall feel of the movement making the game feel, if not faster, more responsive.

20

Why does everything always need to be faster? Play Simplex or dispatch without sprinting. They work just fine.

The maps need to be good and a good basic movement. Thats it.

I played Titanfall. It was a blast beeing so fast. But after a while it was getting old. Everytime I didnt run and jump around like a fool I though I could maybe miss something thats happening somewhere else. It felt like there is no time for strategy and teamplay.