Spartan Abilities

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So, I haven’t been on these forums much for a long time. So I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things here. I thought I’d share my general opinions on the Spartan abilities we’ve seen in the Beta footage, followed by a question for you all.

Thruster Pack - I think that any of us could’ve guessed that this would become a universal ability. It was easily one of the most popular armor abilities in H4, and it just made sense to make it an addition. I have no issue with it being around.

Ground Pound - Definitely one of the weirder ones. Not sure what I think about it. Apparently its not nearly as useful as you’d think it might be, which is better than having it be overpowered.

Clamber - Part of me kind of doesn’t like this one. Not totally sure why. Can the skill jumps of the past Halos exist in an environment where your spartan can grab a ledge and just climb up? I don’t think we needed clamber, but they’ve already been designing maps around it, so it will likely be in the final game.

Slide - Another thing I think we didn’t really need or want in the slightest. It only activates at max speed, and overall seems like it might be somewhat harmless.

Charge - Interesting to say the least. Another skill that I don’t think any of us would’ve ever asked for, but I think it’ll work out okay. Since your shields don’t recharge when you run, people won’t be overusing it by simply sprinting around everywhere bashing people.

Smart Scope - It may look like ADS, but its confirmed to be the Halo scope we’ve always known and loved. Glad its back, but I honestly kind of wish that it was visually the same as in the past Halos. Seeing the gun take up space on my screen seems weird to me for Halo. They even had some lore explanation behind the Halo zoom. If the visor can zoom in for you, than you don’t need the scope. The scope is there in the event that your HUD should fail, or if someone without a HUD needs to use the gun. Either way, having Smartscope will undo the flinch ordeal of H4. Thumbs up from me.

Sprint - As soon as Bungie put it in Halo Reach, we all knew that it was here to stay. The no recharge balancing should play out well, even if HAlo was better off with no sprint.

Now, if any of these abilities was to be removed/nerfed/changed, which do you guys think would be the first victim? And if you could remove any one or two of the abilties, which would you pick?

2

I honestly like all of these I just don’t think slide and charge are going to be used very much.

3

Ground Pound would be the first victim for nerfing. I really don’t like the thought of people 1-hit bro-pounding each other throughout the entire match. RUL claims its hard to use, but I’m highly skeptical of that claim. You float in the air and have plenty of time to aim it, it does not seem all that difficult. Shouldn’t one hit unless the guy is already damaged, and even then only if you aim it properly (which again, doesn’t seem all that hard).

Clamber will be alright if they remove the stupid “hold a” nonsense. It should require timing to execute. You’re still less free than simply crouch jumping, but the animation you get stuck in is insignificant for the most part.

Thruster is like equipment. Some people are going to love it, others are going to hate it, but overall its inconsequential.
I feel that it could use a small range nerf, but is otherwise fine.

I can tolerate smart scope on anything but the DMR. It just looks so awkward. Just give the DMR the old scope.

4

I personally don’t mind them at all, As a Super solider, a Spartan, i think they should of been in the games since the beginning. I think i is time to see what an spartan can do, i think it is time for people to accept that Halo is changing, that 343 will keep the classic, they will keep all of it, but there going to Show everyone that a Spartan isn’t a spartan if he can’t do nothing at all, people compare COD to Halo, saying Halo copied COD on many levels, when in the end Halo introduce the actual abilities to a character as much a COD did, sure you can argue all you want about the two, but in the end their two different games with similarities, just respect the differences. 343 is doing a good job, that and Bungie has even said that at the time for Halo 1 through 3, they didn’t have the tech to make the spartans who they are now, during reach and anniversy, thats kinda when you could tell that bungie wanted to show that a spartan is more than an average human, That Bungie more likely told 343 what they wanted to do with Halo’s story after Halo 3… All in All, 343, ( In my mind and my opinion ) is doing what bungie couldn’t, their doing what Bungie wanted.

- C h i e f

5

You know, I’m actually pretty excited to see how these abilities translate into a Halo Campaign. Should be interesting.

> 2533275024758028;4:
> I personally don’t mind them at all, As a Super solider, a Spartan, i think they should of been in the games since the beginning. I think i is time to see what an spartan can do, i think it is time for people to accept that Halo is changing, that 343 will keep the classic, they will keep all of it, but there going to Show everyone that a Spartan isn’t a spartan if he can’t do nothing at all, people compare COD to Halo, saying Halo copied COD on many levels, when in the end Halo introduce the actual abilities to a character as much a COD did, sure you can argue all you want about the two, but in the end their two different games with similarities, just respect the differences. 343 is doing a good job, that and Bungie has even said that at the time for Halo 1 through 3, they didn’t have the tech to make the spartans who they are now, during reach and anniversy, thats kinda when you could tell that bungie wanted to show that a spartan is more than an average human, That Bungie more likely told 343 what they wanted to do with Halo’s story after Halo 3… All in All, 343, ( In my mind and my opinion ) is doing what bungie couldn’t, their doing what Bungie wanted.
>
> - C h i e f

And in regards to the evolving Halo franchise. I’d have to say that seeing these changes is a good thing. As much as I love my classic experience, that’s what the MCC is for. If only the MCC hadn’t had one of the worst launches in recent gaming history, then I think we’d all be in a happier place in regards to H5 Beta. Some people seem to think that its copying cod. Perhaps. I personally don’t play CoD so I have no idea. I think that the copying people are seeing inst necessarily from CoD. games like Titanfall have set a new standard for FPS shooters, and H5 does seem to be taking on some of these standards, such as more vertical oriented abilities and some form of thrusting/jetpack mechanic.

6

I love the new abilities

7

> 2533274819302824;3:
> Ground Pound would be the first victim for nerfing. I really don’t like the thought of people 1-hit bro-pounding each other throughout the entire match. RUL claims its hard to use, but I’m highly skeptical of that claim. You float in the air and have plenty of time to aim it, it does not seem all that difficult. Shouldn’t one hit unless the guy is already damaged, and even then only if you aim it properly (which again, doesn’t seem all that hard).
>
> Clamber will be alright if they remove the stupid “hold a” nonsense. It should require timing to execute. You’re still less free than simply crouch jumping, but the animation you get stuck in is insignificant for the most part.
>
> Thruster is like equipment. Some people are going to love it, others are going to hate it, but overall its inconsequential.
> I feel that it could use a small range nerf, but is otherwise fine.
>
> I can tolerate smart scope on anything but the DMR. It just looks so awkward. Just give the DMR the old scope.

Your’e so hard to disagree with : \

Yeah Ground pound looks like to be an ability that is easily spammable and risks of the ability even lessen with the games higher emphasis on quick movement, increasing the user’s chances of living with thrusters, Sprint and even Clamber in some instance.

But it looks like a distraction more than a threat to veterans imho . The time a skilled player notice someones attempting to pound him, he would probably shot the guy as much as possible while the opponent is charging and then when the opponent drops onto him a simple thrust backwards or sidewards would easily screw up the opponents attempt.

Final thing, so the clamber is used by holding a button, so how in the world Greenskull missed one?

8

> 2533274881042784;7:
> Final thing, so the clamber is used by holding a button, so how in the world Greenskull missed one?

An option in the menus apparently. Frankly speaking, should not be one. Greenskull must have kept it to the default setting.

9

> 2533274912254619;1:
> So, I haven’t been on these forums much for a long time. So I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things here. I thought I’d share my general opinions on the Spartan abilities we’ve seen in the Beta footage, followed by a question for you all.
>
> Thruster Pack - I think that any of us could’ve guessed that this would become a universal ability. It was easily one of the most popular armor abilities in H4, and it just made sense to make it an addition. I have no issue with it being around.
>
> Ground Pound - Definitely one of the weirder ones. Not sure what I think about it. Apparently its not nearly as useful as you’d think it might be, which is better than having it be overpowered.
>
> Clamber - Part of me kind of doesn’t like this one. Not totally sure why. Can the skill jumps of the past Halos exist in an environment where your spartan can grab a ledge and just climb up? I don’t think we needed clamber, but they’ve already been designing maps around it, so it will likely be in the final game.
>
> Slide - Another thing I think we didn’t really need or want in the slightest. It only activates at max speed, and overall seems like it might be somewhat harmless.
>
> Charge - Interesting to say the least. Another skill that I don’t think any of us would’ve ever asked for, but I think it’ll work out okay. Since your shields don’t recharge when you run, people won’t be overusing it by simply sprinting around everywhere bashing people.
>
> Smart Scope - It may look like ADS, but its confirmed to be the Halo scope we’ve always known and loved. Glad its back, but I honestly kind of wish that it was visually the same as in the past Halos. Seeing the gun take up space on my screen seems weird to me for Halo. They even had some lore explanation behind the Halo zoom. If the visor can zoom in for you, than you don’t need the scope. The scope is there in the event that your HUD should fail, or if someone without a HUD needs to use the gun. Either way, having Smartscope will undo the flinch ordeal of H4. Thumbs up from me.
>
> Sprint - As soon as Bungie put it in Halo Reach, we all knew that it was here to stay. The no recharge balancing should play out well, even if HAlo was better off with no sprint.
>
> Now, if any of these abilities was to be removed/nerfed/changed, which do you guys think would be the first victim? And if you could remove any one or two of the abilties, which would you pick?

One thing I learned and didn’t know till recently about Charge is that it only OHKs from behind. Any other hit just pops their shields. So that along with shields not recharging during sprint…makes it so charge probably won’t be a big problem (like it was/is in Destiny). You should never EVER get a OHK on me by simply running at me.
Ground pound seems pretty balanced too. I don’t necessarily love the ability that much but it seems balanced…(again…unlike Destiny)…and you actually have to have precise aim with it (again…unlike Destiny). THANK GOD for that.
Clamber – people will ALWAYS find interesting ways to move around the maps. Whether clambers in there or not. So this simply isn’t a big issue for me. There will still be skill jumps…they’ll just be different.

Sprint – think they balanced it very well.
Slide – this is the one ability that I am rather apprehensive about. Sliding with shotgun or sword etc…I think will end up being really obnoxious. But we’ll see.
Slide is the only one that seems…random…or like it doesn’t really belong…or that it’s not as thought-out or balanced as the others.

10

> 2533274904524772;2:
> I honestly like all of these I just don’t think slide and charge are going to be used very much.

I’d rather have SA’s which are underused than things like Jetpack which are overused. No problem with that.

11

I love new habilities but I want in Halo 5 the promethean vision too.

12

> 2533274814959992;11:
> I love new habilities but I want in Halo 5 the promethean vision too.

Im gonna say NO to that one. Regardless of how “useful” PV was, people eventually stopped using it.

13

> 2533274814959992;11:
> I love new habilities but I want in Halo 5 the promethean vision too.

I find myself shocked that I’m actually cool with how Halo 5 Guardians is going to be because I’ve been long against any additions that seemed negative, but so far, everything seems balanced. Maybe a buff or nerf here or their, but PV crosses the line.

14

I would still be nice for them to have a “classic” playlist where abilities are turned off. Clamber and sprint might be absolutely necessary though considering maps are based around it.

15

i like all the abilities so far and i think ground pound sounds fun but not a big fan of clamber because it takes away the skill of doing jump tricks

16

I want armor lock back.

17

> 2533274899720541;16:
> I want armor lock back.

hmm… I’m gonna have to say a big NO to that. The majority despised armor lock. Unfortunately, the more balanced Hardlight Shield didn’t get much usage.

18

> 2533274899720541;16:
> I want armor lock back.

Armor Lock was a terrible ability. I am glad that it is gone.

19

I am excited to give these all a try! The one I am most wary of is the ground pound, but I have a feeling it won’t be as bad as it may seem.

> 2533274806427910;18:
> > 2533274899720541;16:
> > I want armor lock back.
>
>
> Armor Lock was a terrible ability. I am glad that it is gone.

I agree with treycen here (for the first time today! :stuck_out_tongue: ). I felt that out of any AA that was added between Reach & 4, Armor Lock was hands down the most imba.

20

> 2533274899720541;16:
> I want armor lock back.

You’re a monster.