The Armor Ability Topic

Games Other Halo
1

This topic is designed to foment discussion concerning armor abilities.

How I believe existing/confirmed armor abilities should behave:

Jet Pack: This armor ability is, in my opinion, the worst armor ability in the Halo series. As it was in Halo: Reach, it was capable of allowing users to deviate from the predetermined paths implemented in to maps which, successively, ruined all map flow. Not only that, but it eliminated the demand for trick jumping which has always been a big part of Halo. Finally, Jet Pack detained game pace. Ground vs. Air battles were slow and didn’t require much skill; Jet Packers had little horizontal movement. This made said battles boring and, sometimes, slow.

Proposed Change: The Jet Pack should be removed and replaced by a Jump Pack. A Jump Pack would, in simplest terms, act as a double jump. Think of it this way: in Halo, grenade jumping has always existed as the double jump. Double jumping very rarely deteriorated map flow and, because of this, an armor ability facilitating double jumping would be ideal. A Jump Packer wouldn’t have much air time and, therefore, wouldn’t slow one on one battles down. It could act as a vertical strafe. The Jump Pack could essentially double one’s jump height with a 5 second cessation period.

> According to a user by the name of MIKKEEEEEEEEEEE, “The Jetpack is once again available FOR BOOSTED JUMPS” - Stated in June 2012, US OXM.

Active Camouflage: Halo: Reach’s Active Camouflage armor ability was very broken. I’m actually astonished at how poorly it was implemented considering it replaced Halo’s classic power-up. The radar jamming effect’s purpose is unbeknownst to me. I’m assuming its purpose was to balance the ability. It didn’t. I’m not entirely sure if this was a feature in previous Halo titles, but the declension of translucence via movement was implemented poorly.

Proposed Change: This should be a semi-under-powered armor ability to necessitate the reimplementation of the Active Camouflage map pick-up - an essential part of Halo. I believe the armor ability should give the user a 30 second state of semi-invisibility. This would be, perhaps, 50% camouflage. Movement would NOT devolve invisibility. It would be the ideal armor ability for snipers; camping is a necessary action to take when sniping, and having this armor ability would allow the user to blend into his surrounding a bit better. It would not allow users to run around the map invisibly, and it would not allow users to jam other’s radars.

Sprint: This isn’t an armor ability, but I’d just like to say this: I believe 343i is handling Sprint perfectly. The enervation of Sprint’s effectiveness when being shot at is brilliant and would deter fleeing battles.

Promethean (Forerunner) Vision: There aren’t enough details to discuss this armor ability thoroughly.

Hologram: This armor ability functioned well in Halo: Reach. I don’t see any reasons to change it.

Does anyone have any ideas for new or existing armor abilities in Halo 4?

2

they should add the ability to swim

3

Here’s how I see it.
The JumpPack only allows the player to elevate by 2 or 3 times the default jump height.
And it also keeps players from staying in the air for long periods of time.
It also eases the building of maps. By this, I mean that it makes it easier for a 343 map designer or Forge builder to make a map without having to worry about the Jetpack breaking the map’s flow or planned strategic layout.
For those “professional” Forgers out there, remember that not everyone is good at forging.

There is only one issue I see this bringing about.
“Jumping” with such an increase in height would no doubt be abused as a secondary form of strafing.
Very easily fixed. When the JumpPack is in use, the player’s attacks are crippled.
Your weapon’s accuracy is greatly reduced, grenades’ directions are very unpredictable, and melee’s range is reduced.
And this disability will continue until the player lands and the spartan regains his or her stability.
This will discourage players to use the JumpPack as a ways of dodging an enemy’s attacks.

Why were AA so bad in Reach?
They were bad in Reach because they aided the player in more than one situation.
But not all Reach AA did this. Such as Hologram and Active Camo.
I will explain why Armor Lock, Jetpack, DropShield, Evade, and Sprint were bad AA.

Armor Lock : Effective in 6 situations, making it the worst AA.

-Saved the player from being splattered, also destroying the vehicle.
-Distracted enemy team from continuing on to possibly kill other players.
-Gave the player time to wait for his team to arrive and help or save him.
-Either negated or backfired all explosives.
-Allowed the player to disable vehicles or enemies’ shields.
-Gave player ability to win in a melee battle everytime.

Jetpack : Effective in 4 situations.

-Allowed player to reach map positions he wasn’t supposed to be on.
-Allowed player to take shortcuts.
-Temporarily gave player a higher view point than other players.
-Allowed player to escape death.

Drop Shield : Effective in 3 situations.

-Gave player temporary protection from incoming fire.
-Healed player and his team. (not shields, but health)
-Distracted enemy team from continuing on to possibly kill other players.

Evade : Effective in 3 situations.

-Allowed player to move about the map quicker.
-Allowed player to escape death.
-Allowed player to easily avoid any attack.

Sprint : Effective in 2 situations.

-Allowed player to move about the map quicker.
-Allowed player to escape death.

How is 343 going to fix the AA?
Like I said earlier, AA should have only one purpose.
Luckily, 343 knows this and is fixing it, if they haven’t already.
Allow me to explain each AA in Halo 4 that we currently know of.

Hologram

Allows the player to distract or confuse the enemy.

Active Camo

Hides the player from enemies.
(343 may shorten the usage time as well)

Promethean Vision

Allows the player to temporarily look through walls.

Jetpack (guessing)

Gives the player a quick boost upward to reach higher ground.

What about Sprint?
Sprint, though it is no longer considered an AA, still needs to be fixed.
343 has already fixed it, and has told us how.

In Reach, Sprint allowed the player to move quicker and escape death.
They have fixed this by causing Sprint to slow down when the player is being shot.
So now, it only allows for temporarily quicker movement speed.

So there you have it.
AA will no longer break the game as they did in Reach.
Thanks to the diligent designers at 343.
Thank you.

  • III P u r 3 III -
4

That is what this thread’s going to cause

5

I also believe the jet pack should be a jump pack.
-Once activated, the person could not change direction
-It could be used twice before a recharge time (whatever)

Making it have a specific distance would allow the developers (forgers) to make maps for both normal jumps and give players larger jumps that could be takin advantage of with a jump pack.

6

I <3 this topic. You aren’t blasting the armor abilities with rage and cuss words, and you aren’t completely harassing the game because of there existence.

I agree with the Jump Pack idea (I also hated Jet Pack in Reach but it was fun in customs). It would add a level of skill to time right in order to dodge shots and maybe with a 1 on 1.

I also agree with active camouflage, personally, I don’t like this AA but if it isn’t implemented like it was in Halo: Reach than it shouldn’t be too bad.

I also like how you didn’t talk about Promethean vision. You don’t know anything about it so you don’t suggest anything, nor do you blast it with words of rage.

I agree with how sprint is being implemented also.

7

IDK guys, as much i can understand how certain AA were a bit broken, i loved all of them in my own way. I sort of agree yet disagree about the jetpack. I love traversing through maps that way, it feels like if i was Boba Fett. Now i kinda don’t understand the idea of “Map flow”(Explain as a message please), but i though the use of it was fun and intriguing. I definitely agree that they need to modify them for the sake of balance, but i only wish that is was only effective on MM. Or at least give us the opportunity to modify them ourselves in CG. I would in a way want to see if all abilities have a cetain way to mantain their versatility. I would want at least that have 2 funcions, not just one. Its just my opinion. Keep up with this. I love it.

8

> Here’s how I see it.
> The JumpPack only allows the player to elevate by 2 or 3 times the default jump height.
> And it also keeps players from staying in the air for long periods of time.
> It also eases the building of maps. By this, I mean that it makes it easier for a 343 map designer or Forge builder to make a map without having to worry about the Jetpack breaking the map’s flow or planned strategic layout.
> For those “professional” Forgers out there, remember that not everyone is good at forging.
>
> There is only one issue I see this bringing about.
> “Jumping” with such an increase in height would no doubt be abused as a secondary form of strafing.
> Very easily fixed. When the JumpPack is in use, the player’s attacks are crippled.
> Your weapon’s accuracy is greatly reduced, grenades’ directions are very unpredictable, and melee’s range is reduced.
> And this disability will continue until the player lands and the spartan regains his or her stability.
> This will discourage players to use the JumpPack as a ways of dodging an enemy’s attacks.
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> Why were AA so bad in Reach?
> They were bad in Reach because they aided the player in more than one situation.
> But not all Reach AA did this. Such as Hologram and Active Camo.
> I will explain why Armor Lock, Jetpack, DropShield, Evade, and Sprint were bad AA.
>
> Armor Lock : Effective in 6 situations, making it the worst AA.
>
>
>
> -Saved the player from being splattered, also destroying the vehicle.
> -Distracted enemy team from continuing on to possibly kill other players.
> -Gave the player time to wait for his team to arrive and help or save him.
> -Either negated or backfired all explosives.
> -Allowed the player to disable vehicles or enemies’ shields.
> -Gave player ability to win in a melee battle everytime.
>
>
>
>
> Jetpack : Effective in 4 situations.
>
>
>
> -Allowed player to reach map positions he wasn’t supposed to be on.
> -Allowed player to take shortcuts.
> -Temporarily gave player a higher view point than other players.
> -Allowed player to escape death.
>
>
>
>
> Drop Shield : Effective in 3 situations.
>
>
>
> -Gave player temporary protection from incoming fire.
> -Healed player and his team. (not shields, but health)
> -Distracted enemy team from continuing on to possibly kill other players.
>
>
>
>
> Evade : Effective in 3 situations.
>
>
>
> -Allowed player to move about the map quicker.
> -Allowed player to escape death.
> -Allowed player to easily avoid any attack.
>
>
>
>
> Sprint : Effective in 2 situations.
>
>
>
> -Allowed player to move about the map quicker.
> -Allowed player to escape death.
>
>
>
>
>
> How is 343 going to fix the AA?
> Like I said earlier, AA should have only one purpose.
> Luckily, 343 knows this and is fixing it, if they haven’t already.
> Allow me to explain each AA in Halo 4 that we currently know of.
>
> Hologram
> Allows the player to distract or confuse the enemy.
>
> Active Camo
>
>
>
> Hides the player from enemies.
> (343 may shorten the usage time as well)
>
>
>
>
> Promethean Vision
> Allows the player to temporarily look through walls.
>
> Jetpack (guessing)
> Gives the player a quick boost upward to reach higher ground.
>
>
> What about Sprint?
> Sprint, though it is no longer considered an AA, still needs to be fixed.
> 343 has already fixed it, and has told us how.
>
> In Reach, Sprint allowed the player to move quicker and escape death.
> They have fixed this by causing Sprint to slow down when the player is being shot.
> So now, it only allows for temporarily quicker movement speed.
>
>
>
> So there you have it.
> AA will no longer break the game as they did in Reach.
> Thanks to the diligent designers at 343.
> Thank you.
>
> - III P u r 3 III -

wouldn’t armor lock be the best AA if its useful in 6 situations. <3