Today we will be discussing the topic of Perfect Imbalance. Stating that having weapons/
abilities that are 10-15% more powerful than everything else is actually good for a game.
So my point in this post is that in Halo Reach Armor Lock is actually a good thing.
And that we should have some OP weapons and/or AAs in Halo 4. (Looking at PV)
So now on to the cake. Let’s start with Armor Lock:
As all of you probably know AL is deemed OP, and cheap by most of you on the forums. But
if you watched the video this should make sense: You know how in the Reach beta everyone
(including me) was using Armor Lock? It is more powerful than everything else, so that’s
why everyone was using it. But a few weeks after the game released, not as many people
were using AL, this is because everyone learned the weaknesses of AL.
Weaknesses of AL:
You can’t sprint
You basically trap yourself when you use it
People figure out these and used them against AL players. So AL wasn’t as powerful.
People went to other AAs like Jetpack or Active Camo. Jetpack has some pretty obvious
weaknesses. And not that many people use AC so players really haven’t figured out a
good weakness.
How this effects Halo 4:
Promethion Vision (if I spelled that right) seems like it’s going to be the new Armor
Lock. But instead of whining and complaining about it, try and find it’s weakness and
use the AA that can take advantage of those weaknesses. PV still will be the best AA,
(if it is like it looks like to me) but good players will find the weakness, making it
less powerful.
So that’s about it. And I know that some things can be ridiculously OP for real, but
before you write a complaint, think about what you read here.
PV really doesn’t have a weakness, but even though you can see through walls; you still have to kill him/her. Accuracy is still the key even with these new AAs.
They toned PV down right? Longer recharge time was it? IMO seeing ppl behind walls is not OP when they are going to beat your -Yoink- with other AAs (that help you in combat). But I haven’t played H4 yet so can’t be 100% sure…
> They toned PV down right? Longer recharge time was it? IMO seeing ppl behind walls is not OP when they are going to beat your -Yoink!- with other AAs (that help you in combat). But I haven’t played H4 yet so can’t be 100% sure…
I only assuming PV will be OP. Or atleast people will be complaining about it.
This is only going to work if there are AAs that can negate or counteract other AAs. Such as AC making you invisible to PV or Hologram appearing as a target.
This concept of imperfect balance (which I’m not entirely sure I believe is a proper understanding of what’s going on) doesn’t apply to Halo as we know it. In the example game, League of Legends, there’s always new content that changes the way the existing game is played. Halo is largely a static experience. It doesn’t get new guns or armour abilities. Just new maps, which are always designed to accommodate every kind of spartan movement. Nothing prompts a change of gameplay, to start with. Unless designed intentionally this way (like pokémon types), the likelihood of things unfolding in rock-paper-scissors format is unlikely. There’s no cycle here unless it’s designed that way, which means it’s not something the players discover or innovate. It’s just a different layer of depth, like pokémon types.
The portion of the video I think I agree with is the concept that there’s a point at which strategy stops being the focus, and accuracy and expeditiousness are the important part. In Halo that certainly feels true. I’m not a great shot, so being able to outmaneuver people is all I got.
I once made a thread about why some minor imbalances are needed in a game however even I have to admit saying the AL is fine in Reach is just stupid. AL is imbalanced but more importantly it destroys gameplay, makes good players miss out on kills and it takes away the fun of using vehicles (ghost).
Furthermore Halo is an arena shooter, the imbalance should exist in the weapons amongst other things (aka the sniper should be more powerful than the pistol) not in the loadouts.
Finally armour lock is cheap, jetpack ruins map flow, active camo is frustrating and promethian vision is over powered. Enough said.
> This concept of imperfect balance (which I’m not entirely sure I believe is a proper understanding of what’s going on) doesn’t apply to Halo as we know it. In the example game, League of Legends, there’s always new content that changes the way the existing game is played. Halo is largely a static experience. It doesn’t get new guns or armour abilities. Just new maps, which are always designed to accommodate every kind of spartan movement. There’s no cycle here.
>
> The portion of the video I think I agree with is the concept that there’s a point at which strategy stops being the focus, and accuracy and expeditiousness are the important part. In Halo that certainly feels true. I’m not a great shot, so being able to outmaneuver people is all I got.
You don’t need to add new content to get perfect imbalance.
Perfect imbalance implies creating a slightly stronger weapon than the rest of the field so that there’s a meta-game happening where players pick said stronger weapon and then players in response pick the counter to that weapon. This then repeats over and over.
If automatics didn’t suck and weapons actually stuck to their range niches we could have this. Everyone is using the slightly overpowered BR? Then players start picking up ARs and forcing engagements that favor the AR, beating the statistically overpowered BR.
I don’t want a game that’s all about reaction time and aiming “skill.”
> I once made a thread about why some minor imbalances are needed in a game however even I have to admit saying the AL is fine in Reach is just stupid. AL is imbalanced but more importantly it destroys gameplay, makes good players miss out on kills and it takes away the fun of using vehicles (ghost).
>
> Furthermore Halo is an arena shooter, the imbalance should exist in the weapons (aka the sniper should be more balanced than the pistol) not in the loadouts.
>
> Finally armour lock is cheap, jetpack ruins map flow, active camo is frustrating and promethian vision is over powered. Enough said.
I think you makes some good points. However, I hope that they do apply this to Halo 4.
I think that this is what they were going for in Reach, it just didn’t work as they hoped.
Also, PV has many weaknesses, such as the short duration, the inability to see Hardlight Shields, only able to see through single walls, etc. I probably won’t use PV that often, because of all the weaknesses it has.
I get what you are saying but I’m gonna have to say this about your comparison with armour lock. Zoidberg meme Your comparison to armour lock being good for each is bad and you should feel bad!
Armour lock is a perfect example of something actually broken. Yes, there is a counter to it(prior to TU) when it’s 1v1, but with an entire team using it and staying close and defensive you basically have to kill each person 2 times over before you can kill them.
NOW, it looks very evident that 343i has leaned towards this balancing act with their loadout system, and that’s good. There are so many scenarios per game its just a case of countering the dominent force and doing something new.
> I get what you are saying but I’m gonna have to say this about your comparison with armour lock. <mark>Zoidberg meme Armour lock is bad and you should feel bad!</mark>
>
> Armour lock is a perfect example of something actually broken. Yes, there is a counter to it(prior to TU) when it’s 1v1, but with an entire team using it and staying close and defensive you basically have to kill each person 2 times over before you can kill them.
>
> NOW, it looks very evident that 343i has leaned towards this balancing act with their loadout system, and that’s good. There are so many scenarios per game its just a case of countering the dominent force and doing something new.
> I completely agree.
>
> Also, PV has many weaknesses, such as the short duration, the inability to see Hardlight Shields, only able to see through single walls, etc. I probably won’t use PV that often, because of all the weaknesses it has.
Those aren’t weaknesses, those are limits. A wwakness is an aspect that you can take advantage of and turn their ability against them.
And I get what you’re saying OP, but I’m going to have to agree with Red Head 535. Loadouts should consist of balance. What is done on the map should make for unbalance and the better players should win.
> I get what you are saying but I’m gonna have to say this about your comparison with armour lock. Zoidberg meme Your comparison to armour lock being good for each is bad and you should feel bad!
>
> Armour lock is a perfect example of something actually broken. Yes, there is a counter to it(prior to TU) when it’s 1v1, but with an entire team using it and staying close and defensive you basically have to kill each person 2 times over before you can kill them.
>
> NOW, it looks very evident that 343i has leaned towards this balancing act with their loadout system, and that’s good. There are so many scenarios per game its just a case of countering the dominent force and doing something new.
>
> Fixed
Which is why AL was downgraded to Hardlight Shield.
