I recently read an article on how Halo’s traditional fire-on-the-move affects game pacing versus the more popular snap-on-target Aim Down Sights mechanics used by most modern shooters. This lead me to a question, from pure curiosity:
What would the gaming community think, in a purely matchmaking focus, if Halo 5’s core mechanics returned to Halo 3 standards - even playing field, even starts, weapons on map, spawn times, Ability Pickups instead of AAs, you name it. The only major difference, and it’s a huge one, is that the game would incorporate ADS for all weapons, with or without scope.
What would the reaction be? Is it a change for the better or worse?
Good question. But I think that people who use the left trigger to scope in, on the fishtick layout, would be able to better answer the question than myslef, a bumper jumper user.
At ths point, however, it would be a huge risk for 343 to add ADS
Personally, I do not want to see ADS in Halo 5 or any future titles.
Irrespective of what change to gameplay it brings about there will be a great deal of backlash and it will be hard to shake the sense that Halo is conforming to popular and throwaway titles.
I think the common argument against ADS is by including it there is less emphasis on strafing and movement and more weighting on, what I call, “narrow” gameplay. Where you move, stop, ADS and then shoot.
It depends, would movement be slowed down when aiming down sights? If it was, it’d be horrible. If it wasn’t, nothing would really change for me as I mostly use weapons that have scopes. Although, I’d still be disappointed because it would be another pointless mechanic trying to “modernize” Halo.
Here, the weapons are designed to be unique. Of firepower, damage, range, clip, etc. Range is determined by scope.
Assault Rifles are close range weapons. It is designed for close range, so you can’t scope in because you don’t need to and aren’t supposed to.
Allowing all weapons to have a scope makes them all a lot more similar and messes up what each weapon is supposed to do. Halo’s shielding system may be an issue as well.
There are 3 big reasons (at least that stand out to me the most) why ADS is available in those games:
1- Adds to the personal experience due to the realistic nature of those games. You have to look down the sight yourself, line up the shot just right, and then pull the trigger. With snipers, it becomes satisfying (to me)knowing that I did the math in that head, and watch that sucker fall over a second or 2 later.
2- Slows the player down during fast paced games. The kill times in those games are ridiculously quick compared to Halo. If everyone easily run around pretty fast and gun them down, it would promote even more camping. That’s put in place to make sure when we do fight, we’re also exposing ourselves by going at a pace that’s slower than even Halo allows us to be.
3- Makes weapons more viable for several distances instead of a specific spot.
Reason 1 would be the only redeeming option. However, Halo has always been known for 2 things: Fast movement when fighting and weapons being built for specific ranges or roles. We take a while to die when being shot against 1 person with normal weaponry, and the only real reason projectiles are non existant in Halo: Reach and 4 is due to netcoding problems causing the game to lag.
On top of that, the weapon sandbox would have to be completely redesigned from the ground up and throwing off the vets who knew the system from day 1 of Halo’s existance. To me, it wouldn’t work out if somehow, I’m able to quickly take out a target from a scoped BR’s range with an AR relatively easily, or if I slowed down really quickly, exposing myself to team-shooting, if I were to take someone on by myself and not strafe out of the way.
It would be nice, but we can just simply have projectile physics in without the whole ADS feature. It be an overall downgrade if we were to just throw that in just because the other games have it. We don’t need it, and I doubt very seriously anyone really wants it. Plus, it would take away the whole “Super Soldier” feeling if suddenly the Master Chief needs to hold the gun up to his face to fire when he never really needed to before.
> Personally, I do not want to see ADS in Halo 5 or any future titles.
>
> Irrespective of what change to gameplay it brings about there will be a great deal of backlash and it will be hard to shake the sense that Halo is conforming to popular and throwaway titles.
>
> I think the common argument against ADS is by including it there is less emphasis on strafing and movement and more weighting on, what I call, “narrow” gameplay. Where you move, stop, ADS and then shoot.
There’s also the fact that, given that the UNSC has nueral laces and that the guns have smart-links (that is, the gun links up with the nueral lace and system software/HUD to show you where the gun is pointed) ADS should be completely unnecessary for Halo, and the iron sights should be there solely as a last ditch fallback measure in case something happens to the smart-link.
What is the concept behind aiming down sights?
-Guns start off innaccurate.
-Aiming down sights makes them more accurate.
-Aiming down sights slows your character down as a tradeoff.
I actively avoid ADS games because I can’t stand having to choose between movement and accuracy. If my thumbs can do it, I want my on-screen avatar to be able to reflect that.
ADS is not a “modern” aiming mechanic, it is a crutch aiming mechanic because it forces all players to either move or shoot instead of doing both at the same time. Overall pacing, strategy, and skill required are indirectly negatively impacted.