My thoughts on armor lock

Games Other Halo
#1

This is a Friendly Discussion About Armor Lock

Right off the bat, this is not a complaining thread. While I could definitely fill an entire page with how much I dislike Armor Lock, this isn’t where I’ll be doing it. Instead, this is a suggestion; No, a thought. It is pointless to even think that anything can be done, at this point, to fix Armor Lock, but allow me to give you my opinion on what I would have done if I was in charge of designing/patching Armor Lock.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

The main goal of this Armor Ability is to allow you to protect yourself from a volley of grenades, or give yourself a chance of being saved by teammates if you are in a losing battle. Compared to the other Armor Abilities, this is fairly balanced. It is also equipped with an EMP that can short out vehicles and enemy shields, in a very close proximity. Still, fairly balanced.

Jetpack provides excellent vertical movement, at the cost of being an easy target if used incorrectly.

Sprint provides great horizontal movement and escape capabilites with the only possible downside being the draw weapon time after sprinting.

Active Camo provides a near perfect camo when standing still and moving slowly, and also jams enemy radar near you. To counter this, it also jams your radar and alerts the enemy that you are nearby; not to mention cutting your audio.

Hologram provides momentary distractions and can sometimes lure less experienced players into the open, at the cost of it being the hardest Armor Ability to use correctly, in my opinion. (It’s also my personal favorite. ^^)

While I’m sure you guys didn’t need a run down on all the Armor Abilities, I want to show you that, on paper, these are all pretty -Yoink!- balanced. (Sans Hologram; still a little bitter about that. :P) But here’s where the problem comes in: Armor Lock can be used it a way it wasn’t intended. The only other Armor Ability that comes close to that claim is Active Camo, because a sniper is nigh invincible at long distances with Camo.

The Problem

Armor Lock users quickly latched onto a “Lock and Pop” strategy. I used to use it as well, without even realizing it at first. Essentially, an Armor Lock user can enter invincibility with only a 0.5 second delay. What this translates into is one player being melee’d, and realizing he is about to lose the fight, and dropping into Armor Lock. Because he was able to do it so quickly, the opposing player, who was already within melee range, will melee again if he hasn’t begun to already. Well, great, now the Armor Lock user can pop out of Armor Lock and melee the other player once to kill him. Let’s take all the factors here into consideration:

-The opposing player is still stuck in his post-melee animation, and is unable to do anything.

-The opposing player is slowed from having melee’d an armor lock opponent.

-The opposing player has no shields from being near an Armor Lock player upon release.

-The Armor Lock player can “turn” in a 360 degree radius while in Armor Lock and get an easy beatdown after he leaves Armor Lock.

The worst part? On top of all of that, the Armor Lock player can do this twice, sometimes even three times before he has to let his AA recharge. And each time he releases from Armor Lock, there is a short “frosting period”, during which he takes reduced damage from, what seems to be, all sources.

So now the opposing player has been cheated out of a kill that he should have gotten, all because the EMP feature of Armor Lock is so easily abused. That doesn’t sound like a very defensive Armor Ability, as it was designed to be.

How I Would Have Designed It

First of all, Armor Lock should have no frosting period. As soon as you release that button, you should take normal damage from all sources. I don’t care if your argument is that they need time to perform their animation, they already have an advantage by having 360 degree turning in Armor Lock. Besides, if it was used for it’s designed purpose, their team should have mopped up the kills by that point anyways. Tough tater tots.

Secondly, shield recharge. I’m sure you’ve all noticed this. An enemy will enter Armor Lock with no shields, but will exit with his shields already charging or slightly charged. This is, for lack of a better word, -Yoink-. If you enter Armor Lock with no shields, not only should you leave it with the same amount of shields, but your shield recharge timer should be reset. Like I said, if your team is there to mop up kills, you shouldn’t need instant regeneration.

And lastly, the most important and most frustrating feature. The EMP. I have actually come up with a relatively simple solution. The EMP is only available if you enter Armor Lock with a fully charged Armor Ability, and even then, only after a certain amount of time is spent “Locked”. Let’s assume the Armor Lock Armor Ability timer is a clock, and fully charged is equivalent to noon. After you have been “Locked” for half of the time, or when the clock reaches 6, the icon changes to a faint green color instead of blue. This indicates that your EMP is ready. Not only would this prevent people from being punished for going in for a melee they should go for in for, but it punishes idiots that stand right behind the Armor Locking player.

And that is my opinion on Armor Lock. If it had been set up this way, it would have been balanced with the other Armor Abilities, in my opinion. I’m sure I left something out, and if I did, I will probably edit it in or post a response. Please, let me know what you think and what you would have done differently were it up to you.

TL;DR: Read it.

#2

I agree, armor lock is a far more powerful armor ability than all the others. But I think it’s a good idea in theory; if only it could have been implemented such that worked well with the CQC system in Reach. That brings me to my main point in response to your post.

I don’t want to go too far off topic, but I think most of the problems with armor lock can fall into a larger category: the CQC system in Reach is inconsistent, frustrating, and broken. Armor lock adds an extra dimension of uncertainty to close quarters combat. Combined with the outrageous lunge, auto-aim, and damage ratio of the melee attack in Reach, fighting an armor lock user in close quarters becomes akin to carving out one’s own eyeballs with frozen sticks of poop.

I use armor lock whenever possible, but I use it as intended. I suppose you have only my word on that, but because of my distaste for the melee system in Reach, I tend to stay out of melee range whenever possible. I use armor lock to deflect the (ridiculously overpowered) grenades and banshee bombs.

As a result, the changes to armor lock in the TU seem to punish users who use AL as intended, but still allow people to abuse it in CQC situations. No longer can users sustain a few seconds of concentrated grenade explosions. However, users can still “lock and pop,” which is probably the real reason why armor lock gets so much hate.

Your solutions all make a certain level of sense, but I think all that needs to be done is to disallow users to perform actions so quickly after they have exited armor lock - especially melee attacks. An AL user can turn around faster than somebody with 10 sensitivity ever could, and land a spot-on melee almost every time.

Add a “weapon draw time,” as with the sprint ability, so that AL users have a brief moment where they can move but not perform any combat actions.

TL;DR: I think the CQC aspect of armor lock is the only thing wrong with the ability.

#3

I haven’t run into the issues of the CQC Armor Lockers as much myself, Mainly because i tend to keep my distance from Melee combat in most cases. When i do end up that close, I deign to pull a sharp arc in my movements to strafe around and behind to end it quick, but i digress. I can see why the popping and locking can be a serious problem.

I’ve finally been enlightened in regards to the Frosting, which i thought people were referring to shield recharging. Teaking that could be a good way to go about discouraging the pop and lock strategy.

Tsaio also raises a good point about a weapon draw time to add in.

I don’t quite want to think about the result of the TU on my usual Armor Locking habits. I often put on Armor Lock to contend with excessive splattering(Via pretending to not see the ghost so they see me looking away and charge, only to meet a violent reality of a player on his toes and ready for it) The Primary reason is usually to content with power weapons of the more explosive variety(Though i find An emergency Vtol with the JP to work well for that and with grenades). Tn the cases it comes up, Dealing with a scorpion. Prior to TU in my experience, Three well timed armor locks was your limit for survival against a tank and those three pop and locks could be the difference between getting to cover or becoming a carbon smear. I get the vibe one Scorpion tank round would make your armor lock implode on you now.

#4

I feel like my EMP “charge” mechanic would solve most of the CQC problems, but even then, someone who is good with Armor Lock could still drop down fast enough to negate multiple melee’s and retaliate. But that can be said with a lot of things. The hologram appears underpowered, but when you get to know it, you can literally be in 2 places at once. Same with Armor Lock. On paper, it seems like it would only be useful when playing with a good team, or in the occasional lucky situation.

But with it’s “second ability”, it becomes a rather offensive ability. Who’s to say melee-negation isn’t the top tier ability of Armor Lock? Of course this wasn’t in the original design to be an actual feature, because they would have realized how overpowered the EMP is if it was.

I don’t want Armor Lock to lose it’s current usefulness, I just wish the CQC problem could have been addressed. And, in my opinion, the TU nerf barely made a difference. They nerfed portions of it that no one was really complaining about.

#5

It’s like the wall of China in here.

On topic, I have a big problem with CQC Armor Lockers. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to find a whole team abusing Armor Lock in close quarters scenarios. They even used it out in the open, just to give them a few extra seconds to live.

It’s even worse that their shields recharge during the time they are in Armor Lock.

This is why I like the Title Update more. It feels somewhat new compared to regular Reach. Either that or I’m just sick of the ‘pop and lock’ strategy. Oh, sorry, did I just say strategy? I meant exploit.

There is nothing strategic about a ‘Press LB to live’ button.

#6

> It’s like the wall of China in here.
>
> On topic, I have a big problem with CQC Armor Lockers. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to find a whole team abusing Armor Lock in close quarters scenarios. They even used it out in the open, just to give them a few extra seconds to live.
>
> It’s even worse that their shields recharge during the time they are in Armor Lock.
>
> This is why I like the Title Update more. It feels somewhat new compared to regular Reach. Either that or I’m just sick of the ‘pop and lock’ strategy. Oh, sorry, did I just say strategy? I meant exploit.
>
> There is nothing strategic about a ‘Press LB to live’ button.

Agreed. But that’s not precisely what we’re getting at. When AL is used as intended, I don’t see much wrong with it. Banshee spawn-killing you? A strategic armor locker can survive three banshee bombs. Yellow lift room just filled with grenades? That’s an appropriate time to armor lock.

But the way it is designed does nothing to prevent “locking and popping” or complete CQC abuse. That’s what the problem is.

Personally, I think it’s kind of cool to absorb a wraith mortar or rocket. But that’s all it should be used for. Unfortunately, it’s basically an honor system when it comes down to preventing people from abusing it in CQC.

AL needs to be implemented so that people can’t abuse it in CQC. Only then will it be on par with the other armor abilities.

#7

Invincibility buttons don’t belong in Halo, especially when you can spawn with them.

It really isn’t that hard to grasp, right?

#8

Invincibiliy buttons have a place in Halo as a Franchise now. When I first witnessed/Used Armor Lock in the beta, I welcomed it. Never again would i die through a cheap, power weapon origined kill. Such as being hit by a rocket, or spammed with the fuel rod gun, or other such means. Never again would a camping vehicle like a banshee, Scorpion, or Wraith be the end all to Infantry, it gave a proper counter, when it is well used. As a turret gunner on a warthog, people using armorlock in that situation only survive because i choose to ignore them over squisher targets.

Besides, it’s not like a guy with the Bubble Shield in Halo 3 and a Shotgun didn’t get an invincibility button. One pop of that and they had proto Armor lock by all accounts, and could fight back.

The change needed to fix the workings of Armor lock just relies in it fixing the cqc issues.

#9

Always felt Armor Lock should act like the bubble shield in <mark>Halo 3 trailer</mark>.

AL would still protect from banshee bombs/rocket/ram/other power thingy but would not be as useful when it comes to fight againts other players using standard weaponry.

#10

> Invincibiliy buttons have a place in Halo as a Franchise now. When I first witnessed/Used Armor Lock in the beta, I welcomed it. Never again would i die through a cheap, power weapon origined kill. Such as being hit by a rocket, or spammed with the fuel rod gun, or other such means. Never again would a camping vehicle like a banshee, Scorpion, or Wraith be the end all to Infantry, it gave a proper counter, when it is well used. As a turret gunner on a warthog, people using armorlock in that situation only survive because i choose to ignore them over squisher targets.

Every single thing there could be easily avoided and already had a “Proper counter”.

Rockets? Have your team get them first. That’s the point of a power weapon, same for the FRG.

Camping vehicle? Seriously? Your fault for not getting the vehicle, or getting a counter for it.

> Besides, it’s not like a guy with the Bubble Shield in Halo 3 and a Shotgun didn’t get an invincibility button. One pop of that and they had proto Armor lock by all accounts, and could fight back.

Bubble Shield. Ha. You don’t spawn with a bubble shield, and you don’t get unlimited uses. Nor are you invincible, you can easily be naded out of it.

#11

lolarmorlock

lolcrutches

lol@playerswhogetoutplayedanduseit

#12

> Invincibiliy buttons have a place in Halo as a Franchise now. When I first witnessed/Used Armor Lock in the beta, I welcomed it. Never again would i die through a cheap, power weapon origined kill. Such as being hit by a rocket, or spammed with the fuel rod gun, or other such means. Never again would a camping vehicle like a banshee, Scorpion, or Wraith be the end all to Infantry, it gave a proper counter, when it is well used. As a turret gunner on a warthog, people using armorlock in that situation only survive because i choose to ignore them over squisher targets.
>
> Besides, it’s not like a guy with the Bubble Shield in Halo 3 and a Shotgun didn’t get an invincibility button. One pop of that and they had proto Armor lock by all accounts, and could fight back.
>
> The change needed to fix the workings of Armor lock just relies in it fixing the cqc issues.

No, it doesn’t. If you had any how bad players use it as a crutch so their team mates can bail them out for their mistakes, you wouldn’t be for Armor Lock. I still don’t like even in TU though it’s more balanced now.

Then it increases kill times, making the game even slower. You give the players who put up with Armor Lock two sub optimal choices (we’ve adapted herp derp), wait it out (slowing kill times as i said) or run away to new targets. In both cases, the kill is robbed and allowing the locker to keep making bad choices because they can rely on Armor Lock to save them. Then again, TU blocking rockets on reflex takes some measure of prediction and unlike Vannila, they’ll be forced out very quickly.

If someone gets power weapon control, it’s not cheap or noobish. Rather those who failed to obtain it first are the ones who are rewarded in death. What’s wrong with this? The weapons function as intended and if YOU don’t like it, then get to them first. Simple really, you don’t have to use Armor Lock.

Of course, the only redeemable factor of Armor Lock (and the only one i like) is taking out vehicles who charge at you. That’s always fun IMO though i rather dodge them. Thanks to low movement and jump heights in Reach, it’s much harder to avoid splatters.

#13

The issue i find in the matchmaking, in BTB mainly, is that the teams are just not organized to the point to have any means of ‘weapon control’ more often than not when i put on Armor lock is when there’s excessive vehicle splattering. Most of the time the power weapons are missing and it’s not like randoms will call out where they saw someone using it.

If someone uses armor lock to escape their fate for six seconds, it really doesn’t bother me. Most of the time i just take that chance to reload, or i switch targets. The Majority of the time i just finish them off anyways, so it’s extending the inevitable.

In regards to stopping splatters with it, I advocate a bit of acting. I see a ghost and then pretend i didn’t see him and go on my mary way. They dont’ get wise either.

#14

After reading the responses so far, I honestly think Armor Lock should be completely removed from 5v5 and fewer player playlists. Armor Lock, while still annoying, has a much better and more appropriate niche to fill in BTB and larger maps; Especially ones with vehicles. Not to mention, these playlists are almost always designed for fun, and not so much balanced gameplay. (In my opinion)

If there was no Armor Lock in Team Slayer, Squad Slayer, ZB Slayer, Rumble Pit, etc…, I feel like it would be much less complained about. In those playlists you are almost always running into an Armor Lock’er in a small hallway, where you will be either victim to the Armor Lock’s melee exploit, or blown up by friendly and enemy grenades alike. They already moved Drop Shield, which was honestly less out-of-place, to Big Team and “fun-only” playlists. Why not do the same with Armor Lock?

#15

> The issue i find in the matchmaking, in BTB mainly, is that the teams are just not organized to the point to have any means of ‘weapon control’ more often than not when i put on Armor lock is when there’s excessive vehicle splattering. Most of the time the power weapons are missing and it’s not like randoms will call out where they saw someone using it.
>
> If someone uses armor lock to escape their fate for six seconds, it really doesn’t bother me. Most of the time i just take that chance to reload, or i switch targets. The Majority of the time i just finish them off anyways, so it’s extending the inevitable.
>
> In regards to stopping splatters with it, I advocate a bit of acting. I see a ghost and then pretend i didn’t see him and go on my mary way. They dont’ get wise either.

That’s just you and a handful of players who aren’t bothered by Armor Lock in vanilla settings because you think it’s fair (when it’s only fair to the lesser player). However, even TU bad players use it when they get outplayed. The better player shouldn’t have to be forced into two sub optimal choices that serve to slow the game down and could possibly allow the lesser player to actually win despite not doing anything skillful to turn the tables (out DMR ing while one shot is awesome, holding down a button is not since it requires zero effort). Instead, the lesser player should just DIE and the skillful player is rewarded with a kill. Nothing more, nothing less.

It’s not that we can’t wait for lockers to come out, we are quite capable of that. However, the very fact that we have to for an entire year is akin to pouring salt on mortal wound. Players who are accustomed to locking down are not bothered by this because it’s a crutch and why would they complain about it? 8/10 those who Armor Lock usually do so when they get outplayed and not to block rockets by reflex. It’s easily abused in melee distance too, which is annoying but that just means you shouldn’t be going for melee and instead should just shoot your gun.

While i say that’s rather clever of you, that’s in the instance they don’t see you. Usually drivers do and what would you do then? If the driver of the ghost or Warthog gunner fires at you, you are pretty much going to die (even in Armor Lock once you come out). Of course if they are dumb and try to Splatter you can always lock down. It’s only fair thanks to the nerfed settings that don’t allow you to dodge as effectively (which is preferable than locking down IMO).

Which is why i rather play in TU, Armor Locking is more punished and forces such players to think, not just lock down in the middle of the crowd and hope they can survive via team mates. I can’t stand how bad it is in Vanilla. Thank you 343, your work is much appreciated.

#16

> That’s just you and a handful of players who aren’t bothered by Armor Lock in vanilla settings because you think it’s fair (when it’s only fair to the lesser player). However, even TU bad players use it when they get outplayed. The better player shouldn’t have to be forced into two sub optimal choices that serve to slow the game down and could possibly allow the lesser player to actually win despite not doing anything skillful to turn the tables (out DMR ing while one shot is awesome, holding down a button is not since it requires zero effort). Instead, the lesser player should just DIE and the skillful player is rewarded with a kill. Nothing more, nothing less.
>
>
> It’s not that we can’t wait for lockers to come out, we are quite capable of that. However, the very fact that we have to for an entire year is akin to pouring salt on mortal wound. Players who are accustomed to locking down are not bothered by this because it’s a crutch and why would they complain about it? 8/10 those who Armor Lock usually do so when they get outplayed and not to block rockets by reflex. It’s easily abused in melee distance too, which is annoying but that just means you shouldn’t be going for melee and instead should just shoot your gun.
>
>
>
> While i say that’s rather clever of you, that’s in the instance they don’t see you. Usually drivers do and what would you do then? If the driver of the ghost or Warthog gunner fires at you, you are pretty much going to die (even in Armor Lock once you come out). Of course if they are dumb and try to Splatter you can always lock down. It’s only fair thanks to the nerfed settings that don’t allow you to dodge as effectively (which is preferable than locking down IMO).
>
>
> Which is why i rather play in TU, Armor Locking is more punished and forces such players to think, not just lock down in the middle of the crowd and hope they can survive via team mates. I can’t stand how bad it is in Vanilla. Thank you 343, your work is much appreciated.

I’ve found that as a tactic, that it works best against Ghosts in general. The ones who have already seen you and when you turn their back, most of them go in for an easy splatter. I’d never try to pull that move on a hog, when it comes to Hogs i duck and cover personally. With the altered jump and move speeds i’ve found it more effective to generally jump more towards the side to buy myself more of a chance, most of the time i’m using sprint or jetpack(in which instnace its a hop and jet).

I have had moments where i’ve used Armor Lock when i’ve been in over my head. Which is generally, two or more people infront of me. It’s an embarrassing predicament in all my experiences, having at least three people vieing for spots in the firing line. More often than not, i go out fighting tooth and nail rather than using it to wait for teammates.

#17

I think many of us are missing the point.

The biggest problem with armor lock is that players use it as it wasn’t intended. People use it to ditch death and have their teammates save them. People use it to completely throw off CQC combat. People use it to survive being pecked to death by a DMR wielder who rightfully should get the kill.

All of these uses aren’t what it was intended for. AL was intended to deflect single, massive sources of damage. Like a grenade, banshee bomb, rocket, or wraith mortar. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with blocking a grenade with AL - as long as that’s all you use it for.

The problem is, people don’t block grenades with it. They get their shields taken off by an assault rifle, and drop down for the entire six seconds while their teammate saves them. That’s not how it was intended, and that’s the type of AL usage that we all hate.

So I don’t blame Bungie for creating armor lock; it was a good idea in theory. I blame them for implementing it in such a way that n00bs abuse it to the point where it’s become a scourge to the entire game.

#18

I lol when I shoot somebody when I am in a ghost and the Armour Lock up infront of me, so I can wait a few seconds before I run his *** over anyway x]

silly armour locker, but used in the right hands this can be really helpful, such as my friend classicblack who uses this AA to perfection, he runs in and gets all the attention of the enemies vehicles, AL’s up and I or another clan member fires into the crowd with a shot from a scorpion, he lives, I don’t get a betrayal :stuck_out_tongue: perfect tactic against rushing opponents.

#19

> I lol when I shoot somebody when I am in a ghost and the Armour Lock up infront of me, so I can wait a few seconds before I run his *** over anyway x]
>
> silly armour locker, but used in the right hands this can be really helpful, such as my friend classicblack who uses this AA to perfection, he runs in and gets all the attention of the enemies vehicles, AL’s up and I or another clan member fires into the crowd with a shot from a scorpion, he lives, I don’t get a betrayal :stuck_out_tongue: perfect tactic against rushing opponents.

I have always wanted to do that but it hardly ever comes up. It sounds like the people who stood and stared at the guy would not be happy in the slightest.

I have had the oppruntity to play distract for my friend while sniping though. Once or twice i have gotten over my head, popped armor lock and watched brains fly while i’m in my energy cocoon.