Possible way to fix Spartan/Armor/Sprint abilities

Games Halo Infinite
1

Now I don’t know if this has been said before, but I’ll give out my idea anyways, doesn’t hurt to give my opinion.

Now then, Halo was known for two types of gameplay: Slower, tactical gunplay with the weapon sandbox and ai encounters all making for interesting scenarios, and bigger, open sandboxes using an array of vehicles, ever since even CE.

So then, why not have the armor abilities and spartan abilities from Halo 5 tied to mech suits similar to those seen in Halo Wars 2, drawing back interest in the more mobility-based crowd of players while also making Vehicles important tools again? Meanwhile the normal base Spartans play like a modified Halo 3 counterpart, being that they have a slightly higher FOV, and slightly faster movement speed. Equipment could also be brought back as well as expanding on heavier weapons you’d need to carry around similar to gun turents, though you’d move faster with them than in older titles as well, spicing up on-foot combat further.

I think this is a fair compromise that will both bring Halo back more to it’s original roots while enhancing the playstyle of the series in the form of those mechsuits, allowing for plenty of interesting ways to play, and something for everyone!

2

I’m up for having more mechs than the Mantis

3

I had suggestions for how to balance armor abilities/movement in Infinite. In the books sometimes Cortana would allocate Chiefs armor power to give him some help in certain situations most notably when Chief was attacked by a flood form and Cortona used his armor’s power supply to send a modified shockwave into the infection form to make it back off.

1.) Armor abilities/upgraded movement system could be mapwide pick-ups. This means that you have to find these abilities around the map almost like power weapons in older Halo games.

2.) Using the new movement mechanics/armor abilities will slightly drain your energy shield symbolizing the Spartan allocating more of it’s power resource to give them an added boost. This would balance out things as people would still have the armor abilities and new movement system, but they wont be allowed to spam them continuously or risk themselves being killed easier. Shields that were lost while doing abilities upgraded movement would take slightly longer to refill than if you were damaged.

ex. you have a sniper rifle and there’s this amazing spot for sniping up on this ridge, but the only way to get up there would be to use the jetpack ability or take the long way around which could risk you being killed. However, doing so would drain your shields about 25% so you have to gauge how much more worth it woulld be to take the shield penalty or to take the long way.

I think both of these suggestions have some merit and would make both fans of the older/newer movement systems happy.

4

> 2533274876547475;3:
> I had suggestions for how to balance armor abilities/movement in Infinite. In the books sometimes Cortana would allocate Chiefs armor power to give him some help in certain situations most notably when Chief was attacked by a flood form and Cortona used his armor’s power supply to send a modified shockwave into the infection form to make it back off.
>
> 1.) Armor abilities/upgraded movement system could be mapwide pick-ups. This means that you have to find these abilities around the map almost like power weapons in older Halo games.
>
> 2.) Using the new movement mechanics/armor abilities will slightly drain your energy shield symbolizing the Spartan allocating more of it’s power resource to give them an added boost. This would balance out things as people would still have the armor abilities and new movement system, but they wont be allowed to spam them continuously or risk themselves being killed easier. Shields that were lost while doing abilities upgraded movement would take slightly longer to refill than if you were damaged.
>
> ex. you have a sniper rifle and there’s this amazing spot for sniping up on this ridge, but the only way to get up there would be to use the jetpack ability or take the long way around which could risk you being killed. However, doing so would drain your shields about 25% so you have to gauge how much more worth it woulld be to take the shield penalty or to take the long way.
>
> I think both of these suggestions have some merit and would make both fans of the older/newer movement systems happy.

Number 2 basically makes it so 343 has to design the maps to accomodate Sprint, Clamber, Thrust and other abilites (so basically bigger, taller, and more gimmicky) but punishes players for using the abilities, so basically you either come into a firefight sub-optimally or you get to spend longer maneuvering a map that could’ve just been smaller and saved everyone the trouble.

I would hate a game designed to punish me constantly for using mobility. Either embrace it or don’t. Don’t implement the negatives of advanced mobility (bigger maps that punish people who solely move old school style) and heavily punish the positives (prolonged shield drain for climbing, sprinting, etc). A good hypothetical example might be Titanfall 2. Imagine if every time you wallrun, you lose 20-25% of your health. Now you’re stuck on maps designed with extreme mobility in mind, but you either use the mobility but get heavily injured, or play boots on the ground safe but slow and unable to truly utilize the maps which were designed for wall running. It doesn’t really please either party imo.

Number 1 might prove more positive (after all, people tend to worship Halo Reach which had similar mechanics sans the loadout system) but number 2 just kind of puts half a foot into the old school and new school methods while making each aspect worse than had only one or the other been focused on. Maybe an aspect or two of each is compatible with the other (maybe like OG Halo but with thruster packs and sliding) but not a 50/50 tug of war amalgam.

5

I think movement should either resemble the classic model or go all out. It’s my personal opinion that a lot of folks hold Spartan Abilities and movement mechanics far too responsible for Halo 5’s problems. Which isn’t to say that they don’t present any problem at all, or even a tiny one, just that Halo 5 wouldn’t be much better of a game without the enhanced mobility and Spartan abilities, in my opinion.

I think Infinite’s going to back off of enhanced mobility, to some extent. I don’t see sprint ever going away and I actually enjoy clamber, but ground pound/thrusters/Spartan charge, etc. could easily be removed in an attempt to make the gameplay more resemble classic Halo. I am of the mindset that all Spartan Abilities make sense from a lore perspective and aren’t a hindrance to fun factor in casual and campaign modes, understanding the argument that they do make map design and balancing a nightmare on the competitive side of things.

The idea of a bunch of extra mechs to try to address the problem seems a lot more complicated to me than making Spartan abilities and enhanced mobility something that can be toggled on and off in custom game options (if they return at all) and prohibited in competitive and ranked play lists as well as any esports events.

Edit Understanding that this doesn’t inherently address the map design issue, classic maps and new ones geared for any type of play ought to be manufacturable in Forge. Hopefully they’ll have some more/better Forge pallet maps!

6

There is NOTHING wrong with Halo’s current movement system in 5. Keep it how it is, it’s perfect.

7

> 2535455915710418;6:
> There is NOTHING wrong with Halo’s current movement system in 5. Keep it how it is, it’s perfect.

Sprint, Spartan Charge, and aim magnetism would like to have a word with you.

8

> 2535455915710418;6:
> There is NOTHING wrong with Halo’s current movement system in 5. Keep it how it is, it’s perfect.

Amazingly, there’s no such thing as perfection.

Even 343i doesn’t agree with you before they made changes both before and during Halo 5.

9

> 2535455915710418;6:
> There is NOTHING wrong with Halo’s current movement system in 5. Keep it how it is, it’s perfect.

No.

If that were true, then people wouldn’t be calling out how it breaks the map design and screws up the flow of gameplay, as well as being highly unoriginal game design. Plenty of games such as DOOM, CS:GO, or Overwatch for example, didn’t need sprint and other fancy bull to over-complicate the gameplay, when the focus should have been on pure gunplay and positional skill alone, not flashy gimmicks for kids who want every game to play like a clone of Black Ops 3 or Destiny.

10

after going back to reach and MCC I can confidently say that spartan abilities make the game MUCH less strategical.

find yourself in a bad spot? no worries, just boost away.

mindlessly sprint into an area with hostiles? no worries, kill the first enemy with one punch and then boost off center and now you are in an equal firefight.

walk out into the open where a sniper is watching? no worries, just boost back into cover.

boost first ask questions later

11

> 2535423661615819;10:
> after going back to reach and MCC I can confidently say that spartan abilities make the game MUCH less strategical.
>
> find yourself in a bad spot? no worries, just boost away.
>
> mindlessly sprint into an area with hostiles? no worries, kill the first enemy with one punch and then boost off center and now you are in an equal firefight.
>
> walk out into the open where a sniper is watching? no worries, just boost back into cover.
>
> boost first ask questions later

And it robs robs someone that outplayed you a rightfully-deserved kill as well…

12

the only thing I can see staying is boost if its nerfed a bit. everything else destroys the gameplay

13

> 2533274888477235;12:
> the only thing I can see staying is boost if its nerfed a bit. everything else destroys the gameplay

Fair enough, but those thrusters still are a cheap get out of trouble free card…

14

For the most part I like Halo 5’s abilities. However in infinite I don’t think they should be useable by default in every playlist, like in competitive games.

15

I’ve said this all before but I’ll say it again. Make the abilities map pickups like equipment and or power ups.
The base gameplay is halo 2/3 with slightly higher movement speed and maybe add thrusters but that’s it. Armor abilities and spartan abilities will be placed on maps that they work well with. Armor abilities will be for the most part one time uses like equipment in halo 3, though depending on the ability you could balance it to be used multiple times or for a set duration of time. Spartan abilities will act as power ups like Overshield and speed boost. They will only stay active for a set amount of time, let’s say 1 minutes as this set time can be easily changed if it’s too long or too short. I can go more in depth on each Armor ability and spartan ability and how they would work if people want to know. Allowing all of this to be customizable in forge and custom games is an added bonus.

If the rumor of a semi mmorpg style game mode are true then these abilities would work very well as part of skill tree or rpg leveling system.

However, I will say that I too want Johnson’s green machine as a vehicle in halo infinite.

16

> 2533274825160595;15:
> I’ve said this all before but I’ll say it again. Make the abilities map pickups like equipment and or power ups.
> The base gameplay is halo 2/3 with slightly higher movement speed and maybe add thrusters but that’s it. Armor abilities and spartan abilities will be placed on maps that they work well with. Armor abilities will be for the most part one time uses like equipment in halo 3, though depending on the ability you could balance it to be used multiple times or for a set duration of time. Spartan abilities will act as power ups like Overshield and speed boost. They will only stay active for a set amount of time, let’s say 1 minutes as this set time can be easily changed if it’s too long or too short. I can go more in depth on each Armor ability and spartan ability and how they would work if people want to know. Allowing all of this to be customizable in forge and custom games is an added bonus.
>
> If the rumor of a semi mmorpg style game mode are true then these abilities would work very well as part of skill tree or rpg leveling system.
>
> However, I will say that I too want Johnson’s green machine as a vehicle in halo infinite.

If the abilities are to act as powerups, why not just have Speed Boost instead of sprint, and the Jetpack instead of clamber/stabilizers? Clamber should be nerfed down to a similar way to how DOOM 2016 handled it in multiplayer, with only very clear, specific areas being climbable, as to keep the map design intact. And “Smart Link” should be an optional toggle, like assassinations are in Halo 5, letting us choose between classic scopes or those animations. Does that strike a good balance?

17

> 2535420516580561;16:
> > 2533274825160595;15:
> > I’ve said this all before but I’ll say it again. Make the abilities map pickups like equipment and or power ups.
> > The base gameplay is halo 2/3 with slightly higher movement speed and maybe add thrusters but that’s it. Armor abilities and spartan abilities will be placed on maps that they work well with. Armor abilities will be for the most part one time uses like equipment in halo 3, though depending on the ability you could balance it to be used multiple times or for a set duration of time. Spartan abilities will act as power ups like Overshield and speed boost. They will only stay active for a set amount of time, let’s say 1 minutes as this set time can be easily changed if it’s too long or too short. I can go more in depth on each Armor ability and spartan ability and how they would work if people want to know. Allowing all of this to be customizable in forge and custom games is an added bonus.
> >
> > If the rumor of a semi mmorpg style game mode are true then these abilities would work very well as part of skill tree or rpg leveling system.
> >
> > However, I will say that I too want Johnson’s green machine as a vehicle in halo infinite.
>
> If the abilities are to act as powerups, why not just have Speed Boost instead of sprint, and the Jetpack instead of clamber/stabilizers? Clamber should be nerfed down to a similar way to how DOOM 2016 handled it in multiplayer, with only very clear, specific areas being climbable, as to keep the map design intact. And “Smart Link” should be an optional toggle, like assassinations are in Halo 5, letting us choose between classic scopes or those animations. Does that strike a good balance?

There would only be 2 power ups that give you spartan abilities. They could be called Speed and Airborne, though the names don’t really matter.

Speed would consist of Sprint, Slide, and Spartan Charge with a white glow on the users armor. While Speed boost would still be a power up in the game, this would act differently and work on different maps. Sprint would nolonger stop shield recharge, and it would be about 150% the speed of normal movement. Spartan Charge would be a one hit kill but it would have 0 target magnetism as well as 0 splash damage but higher knock back. Slide would be about the same as it is in halo 5.

This would work more on larger maps given the significant speed increase and the ability to knock over vehicles with spartan charges higher knock back. This would act more like a time limited weapon than a power up. It would be similar to the Halo 5 energy sword when it still had the speed boost buff.

Airborne consist of a Double jump, Stabilizers, and Ground Pound with a yellow glow on the users armor. The Double jump would overall be 150% the normal Jump height, maybe higher, as the first jump would be 100% high and the second would be the last 50%. Stabilizers would be stronger than they were in Halo 5 as the user won’t be slowly falling and would be activated/deactivated by pressing the Sprint button in the air. The Stabilizer’s movement would be half the speed of normal ground movement and it would last up to 10 seconds. you wont need to use Smart scope to activate it.

The Double Jump would replace Clamber as it would be able to do all the same things that clamber can while keeping your weapon up and ready to fire. This would work and more vertical maps as well as maps are suspended in the air like Guardian and Narrows as Stabilizers would allow for superior map traversal with ground pound being both an offensive ability as well as a quick escape back to the ground.

The specific numbers I am using for these can obviously be changed for balancing purposes.

With the Double jump and possibility the Gravity lift equipment from Halo 3, Jetpack wouldn’t really be needed. I suppose it could still work similar to double jump but giving you 3-5 more jumps instead of just 1 or it could just work the way it did in 4 and reach. Smart scope is just an alternate version of the zoomin function that has been in every Halo as a base ability so there would be no reason to make it a powerup.

In a way this would act similarly to what your proposing just with a power ups instead of a vehicles

18

> 2533274825160595;17:
> > 2535420516580561;16:
> > > 2533274825160595;15:
> > > I’ve said this all before but I’ll say it again. Make the abilities map pickups like equipment and or power ups.
> > > The base gameplay is halo 2/3 with slightly higher movement speed and maybe add thrusters but that’s it. Armor abilities and spartan abilities will be placed on maps that they work well with. Armor abilities will be for the most part one time uses like equipment in halo 3, though depending on the ability you could balance it to be used multiple times or for a set duration of time. Spartan abilities will act as power ups like Overshield and speed boost. They will only stay active for a set amount of time, let’s say 1 minutes as this set time can be easily changed if it’s too long or too short. I can go more in depth on each Armor ability and spartan ability and how they would work if people want to know. Allowing all of this to be customizable in forge and custom games is an added bonus.
> > >
> > > If the rumor of a semi mmorpg style game mode are true then these abilities would work very well as part of skill tree or rpg leveling system.
> > >
> > > However, I will say that I too want Johnson’s green machine as a vehicle in halo infinite.
> >
> > If the abilities are to act as powerups, why not just have Speed Boost instead of sprint, and the Jetpack instead of clamber/stabilizers? Clamber should be nerfed down to a similar way to how DOOM 2016 handled it in multiplayer, with only very clear, specific areas being climbable, as to keep the map design intact. And “Smart Link” should be an optional toggle, like assassinations are in Halo 5, letting us choose between classic scopes or those animations. Does that strike a good balance?
>
> There would only be 2 power ups that give you spartan abilities. They could be called Speed and Airborne, though the names don’t really matter.
>
> Speed would consist of Sprint, Slide, and Spartan Charge with a white glow on the users armor. While Speed boost would still be a power up in the game, this would act differently and work on different maps. Sprint would nolonger stop shield recharge, and it would be about 150% the speed of normal movement. Spartan Charge would be a one hit kill but it would have 0 target magnetism as well as 0 splash damage but higher knock back. Slide would be about the same as it is in halo 5.
>
> This would work more on larger maps given the significant speed increase and the ability to knock over vehicles with spartan charges higher knock back. This would act more like a time limited weapon than a power up. It would be similar to the Halo 5 energy sword when it still had the speed boost buff.
>
> Airborne consist of a Double jump, Stabilizers, and Ground Pound with a yellow glow on the users armor. The Double jump would overall be 150% the normal Jump height, maybe higher, as the first jump would be 100% high and the second would be the last 50%. Stabilizers would be stronger than they were in Halo 5 as the user won’t be slowly falling and would be activated/deactivated by pressing the Sprint button in the air. The Stabilizer’s movement would be half the speed of normal ground movement and it would last up to 10 seconds. you wont need to use Smart scope to activate it.
>
> The Double Jump would replace Clamber as it would be able to do all the same things that clamber can while keeping your weapon up and ready to fire. This would work and more vertical maps as well as maps are suspended in the air like Guardian and Narrows as Stabilizers would allow for superior map traversal with ground pound being both an offensive ability as well as a quick escape back to the ground.
>
> The specific numbers I am using for these can obviously be changed for balancing purposes.
>
> With the Double jump and possibility the Gravity lift equipment from Halo 3, Jetpack wouldn’t really be needed. I suppose it could still work similar to double jump but giving you 3-5 more jumps instead of just 1 or it could just work the way it did in 4 and reach. Smart scope is just an alternate version of the zoomin function that has been in every Halo as a base ability so there would be no reason to make it a powerup.
>
> In a way this would act similarly to what your proposing just with a power ups instead of a vehicles

I suppose another way to change things up is always nice to have as another option to look through.

Though why no vehicles? They’d only be in non-arena maps, in the same way that Armor Abilities really shouldn’t be in the competitive arena setting either. (Casual/Social Arena could have them though, just divide the playlists up similar to Reach’s matchmaking was.)

19

> 2535420516580561;18:
> I suppose another way to change things up is always nice to have as another option to look through.
>
> Though why no vehicles? They’d only be in non-arena maps, in the same way that Armor Abilities really shouldn’t be in the competitive arena setting either. (Casual/Social Arena could have them though, just divide the playlists up similar to Reach’s matchmaking was.)

I wasn’t saying they should have vehicles I actually want more mechs and Johnson’s Green Machina/the prototype suit would be awesome. If they added it the it could still function in the way you described.

20

> 2535420516580561;13:
> > 2533274888477235;12:
> > the only thing I can see staying is boost if its nerfed a bit. everything else destroys the gameplay
>
> Fair enough, but those thrusters still are a cheap get out of trouble free card…

true. Sprint is the main offender to doubt. I’m honestly in favour to go full classic