One of Halo 5’s biggest complaints from community members is the emphasis on the Spartan Abilities. I think they were a logical step in the right direction after Halo 4 tried (and failed) to utilize custom loadouts but there’s obviously still room for improvement. People seem to think that if Halo 6 will have classic gameplay that means the Spartan Abilities will be thrown out like loadouts were previously. While I wouldn’t mind, I think there’s another solution here:
Sprint: If 343 really wants to make a fast paced Halo game then just bump up the base movement speed to make sprinting unnecessary. Games like Doom 2016 have shown that you don’t need sprint to have a fast pace. This way they can design maps around one movement speed rather than two.
Thrusters: This ability I believe needs no major changes, maybe some tweaks to the recharge time and how far the dash is but I could see it being needed for some crafty skill jumps or even platforming in the campaign.
Spartan Charge: This is just a cheap way to get easy kills, kill it with fire.
Ground Pound: I like ground pound as an idea, but maybe there are better ways to implement it. Interested in thoughts about this one…
Clamber: I’d say if 343 is gonna keep clamber, don’t make 80% of the jumps rely on it since it totally kills the momentum of encounters.
Smart Scope: Remove the accuracy buff for weapons like the AR and SMG and there won’t be any issues.
Stabilize: If 343 goes back to the classic zoom weapon properties stabilize will have to be removed since only precision weapons would activate them.
Curious to hear other ideas, also if I might have missed something.
I like your ideas.
I think getting rid of sprint and bumping up movement speed i a good idea. I also like the idea of keeping the thruster pack, because it adds to the game on a strategic level, but isn’t game breaking like sprint was in Reach and 4.
Spartan Charge and Ground Pound belong in Destiny, as far as I am concerned.
I think Clamber should be removed, I miss the proper floaty-ness of the original trilogy, and it kill momentum, like you said. It breaks the flow of run, jump, shoot, thrust, repeat.
Smart-Scope was terrible in the Beta (I didn’t play it, but this is what I get from people who have), and less terrible in the final game (which I do play). I think it should be replaced with the full face zoom for precision weapons and the basic binocular vision for the non-precision weapons that was present in the older games.
On a side not, can we have an upgraded thrusters power up that adds a jetpack-like ability to your thrusters. Just for custom games and forge minigames, I don’t think it would work on maps like Truth.
The only ability I really have an issue with is spartan charge, especially coupled with the shorter radar range.
No problems with smart scope or sprint. Ground pound is alright, makes for some cool moments but can also be annoying if you’re playing a clan of monkeys that like to float around topside and just smash downward.
At first I loved all the new abilities, with the exception of Spartan charge. And to be honest I still like having sprint, thrust, ground pound and clamber however, after watching videos on how to improve the gameplay and other ways to implement abilities from people like Late Night Halo and others. I personally think there are other ways to get a more classic feel while still having some new stuff because I realized there are a lot of things that were in all halos that aren’t in halo 5.
even though it could kinda mess up warzone because the maps are really big, I definitely think now that I want sprint gone. After consideration and watching the video on why Halo CE was so awesome by I think it was The Act Man I realized one of the biggest reasons why halo was such an amazing gameplay mechanic was because you can have your weapon drawn while at full speed. I’m sure we’ve all gotten very salty when we are sprinting and we get cut down because we couldn’t stop and draw our weapon, which is something that never happened in previous halos before halo reach.
Personally, I would like to see only thrust, clamber, and ground pound return. having the speed bumped up of Spartans with an ability to thrust as an evade tactic would be great. Even though when starting halo reach and halo 4 and 5 I loved the abilities, I find myself now wishing to have a more classic feel, however keeping some new stuff.
With the regular releases of retro FPSs without sprint (id Games specifically) as well as popular modern FPS titles (Overwatch and CS:GO for example) I can see the no-sprint thing working with a modern audience and actually bring people in. With sprint, I’m happy on either sides of the argument. Halo works brilliantly both with and without sprint.
I’d rather not see Thrusters go and I’m glad to see others agree; they add in an extra element to 1v1 situations in both Warzone and Arena, from a quick escape to duking out the enemy. I especially love use them when you are aware you are being chased, so you run to an incline a jump right back over your chaser and get an easy kill. I think they called in ‘ninjaing’ during the reach times.
Spartan Charge feels like a pointless, rage inducing jump scare that in universally hated throughout all of Halo 5 multiplayer. It’s irritating and despite the fact it does close to no extra damage, is still really a really easy way to just annoy anyone.
I reckon Clamber should stay. Similarly to Thrusters, it adds an extra layer of depth to the game. And 343 nailed it down in Halo 5 where some jumps still require a crouch jump to be clambered. +1 for clamber.
Smart Scope is really just the ‘ehh’ of Spartan Abilities. I don’t see why one should ditch zoom for it, but I really don’t see the need to revert back to zoom for it. So once again, just ehh.
I’m keen on the return of Spartan Abilities and am anticipating to see how they are changed in the next mainline Halo (whenever that comes out).
Thanks for all the feedback, looks like spartan charge is universally hated just like I thought lol.
Maybe if it was more of a knock-back/stun move instead of a giant moving fist it would be better, but I agree that the limited radar range makes it absolutely rage inducing when players do nothing but sprint around the map and nail players in the back since there’s literally half a second to react to it.
Whenever I read something in favor of single-speed but simultaneously pro-thrust then I get suspicious. I don’t have any personal problem with the ecosystem they’ve created around two speeds, especially as the game types I favor (BTB, Warzone, Campaign, Firefight) would be unplayable any other way. But I’m puzzled how people can object to sprint and not object to thrust, which is in essence a third speed. Sure it’s short-duration with a recharge time, but it’s still introducing complexity into the game which is (to me) no less than sprint. Actually, it’s much more because it brings with it the entire suite of thrust-based motion mechanics, at least one of which we can all agree is seriously problematic, and all of which introduce a quality to gameplay that (to me) feels way too button-combo happy like I’m playing Killer Instinct. And adding in an ability (pound) which cannot be executed with the legacy button layout is a slap in the face to every Halo veteran who doesn’t want to have to re-learn the controller every three years.
So if the selling point of single speed is simplicity then why is the complexity of thrust (and pound, charge, slide, clamber) okay?
I’m not really good enough at the game to comment on the advanced mechanics of the individual abilities, but all I do know is I think a good middle ground for Halo 6, if they are not going to remove the abilities completely, would be to at least nerf them a bit so they’re not quite so OP and don’t exaggerate the skill gap by quite as much. I kind of feel like Reach and Halo 4 strike a middle ground where, they have some more enhanced abilities than the classic games yet the gunplay, the pacing of the encounters still feels evocative of the classic games but massaged and evolved. Halo 5, with infinite sprint, half a dozen abilities available at all times, ADS for all weapons, lowered aim assist, severely nerfed radar, and lower TTK (not by much, but enough to be noticeable) feels like a totally different game to me. Reach and 4 still feel like Halo but modernized Halo. Just my opinion.
I agree with everything you just said, good analysis.