The Future of Halo With Spartan Abilities

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

This had been a concern on mine for a bit, so I’m glad to finally get it off my chest…

Halo 5 (like all new games) has it’s fair share of changes compared to previous iterations in the series. For the sake of this thread I won’t go into the details of every change, but I will be focusing on one aspect of gameplay in particular, and these are player abilities (not to be confused with ‘Spartan Abilities.’)

The concept itself is not new. Players can do new things in every subsequent Halo game.

In Halo 2, players gained the ability to dual-wield weapons and hijack vehicles. In Halo 3, we gained the ability to carry turrets and were introduced to more utility-based power ups called ‘equipments.’ In Halo Reach, these were replaced with ‘armor abilities,’ and a set of new armor abilities would debut in Halo 4.

In Halo 5, these are called ‘Spartan Abilities,’ and some of these were armor abilities in previous Halo titles… As in, not intended to be integrated into core gameplay. They are still like ‘player abilities,’ in the sense that every player has them at the start of a match, but ultimately, they are not synonymous with hijacking vehicles and carrying turrets… In fact, some of these Spartan Abilities can actually damage the opponent, and while they aren’t technically armor abilities, they share this trait with Armor Lock.

Let’s start by listing which ones were armor abilities in the past:

  • Thruster Pack- SprintDamages the opponent:
  • Ground Pound- Shoulder ChargeThe remaining Spartan Abilities:
  • Slide- Clamber- Smart Scope- StabilizersWhat does this mean? I separated them for a reason. For Halo 5, it doesn’t mean anything, (unless I were to add my personal opinion on them…) but for Halo 6, Halo 7, Halo 8, etc. it means a lot…

343 has given them to every player, no longer classifying them as power ups, which is fine, right? I mean; nobody wants Halo to lose continuity in gameplay… What about Ground Pound? Is it an armor ability? For all intents and purposes it’s not, but it does damage the opponent, making it similar to one.

Unfortunately, it’s not as fine as it looks… Slide, Clamber, Smart Scope, etc. may have nothing in common with armor abilities, and do not affect core gameplay, but Thruster Pack, Sprint, and Ground Pound do, and will have become permanent, thus permanently ridding Halo of it’s intended formula… Opinions aside, unless 343 gives players the option to disable those three abilities, Halo’s core formula will consist of new ‘Spartan Abilities’ EVERY year for Halo’s entire lifespan, whatever they decide to call them, if the pattern continues the way it has been so far (which it has been for the past 5 years.)

2

Thoughts? Do you share my concerns?

I’m crazy, then…

3

Halo’s formula is fair start and map control. That is intact, and these new abilities add to the game. Also, Smart Link isn’t new. The view is, but the mechanic isn’t.

4

Ground pound is game breaking. As will be the shoulder charge that you seemed to omit from your post. Offensive abilities go against the entire philosophy behind Bungie’s original armor abilities, and whether or not you agree with their implementation of armor abilities, it still provides the basis for these "“spartan abilities”. Abilities should merely add mobility and nothing else.

5

> 2533274800181151;4:
> Ground pound is game breaking. As will be the shoulder charge that you seemed to omit from your post. Offensive abilities go against the entire philosophy behind Bungie’s original armor abilities, and whether or not you agree with their implementation of armor abilities, it still provides the basis for these "“spartan abilities”. Abilities should merely add mobility and nothing else.

Of which ground puns and charge are rarely if ever used.

6

> 2533274800181151;4:
> Ground pound is game breaking. As will be the shoulder charge that you seemed to omit from your post. Offensive abilities go against the entire philosophy behind Bungie’s original armor abilities, and whether or not you agree with their implementation of armor abilities, it still provides the basis for these "“spartan abilities”. Abilities should merely add mobility and nothing else.

And dual-wielding went against the Golden Triangle of Guns, Grenades and Melee that Bungie pioneered, yet they still added it in. The community survived.

7

I played the beta this weekend and all of these things are a non-issue. The shoulder charge is only useful if the opponent is caught off guard, quite a few times i tried to run st someone and use the shoulder charge and they were able to melee me at the same time causing the same damage as i caused them and there is a penalty to movement for enough time for that person to shoot me first and kill me. I figured out it works best attacking from behind as it is a one hit kill like a fast assassination or just beat down from behind. The Ground Pound I never figured out how to use it so I didn’t worry about it. I did notice it makes people easier targets when they are hovering in the air, vice-versa I used the hovering in air to jump and shoot a few times. All-in-all the game is very well balanced and fun to play.

8

Last I checked vehicle boarding did allow you to damage opponents on some vehicles.

Also, how were armor abilities not “core” in reach and h4? Everyone spawned with them, you just had a choice.

9

> 2533274964189700;8:
> Last I checked vehicle boarding did allow you to damage opponents on some vehicles.

Not when it was added to the series. In Halo 2 it didn’t damage the opponent.

> Also, how were armor abilities not “core” in reach and h4? Everyone spawned with them, you just had a choice.

Well, they aren’t ‘core’ because they are pickup items… They can be disabled (and usually are, in MLG playlists.) Although I don’t remember if they can be disabled in Halo 4.

10

Like any other sequel, the things that worked in the past willbe left in and those that ddidn’t will be removed or altered. Also new things will be added. It doesn’t really change much other than the direction of change.

11

I honestly would not mind if stuff like thruster and clamber stayed forever. Those 2 abilities deserve to stay. Clamber stays because its a big quality of life feature and is mostly a ‘cooler’ version of the crouch jumps, just like assassinations is to melee from the back. Thruster stays because of how well it builds upon the already established core Halo elements, adding one layer of mobility to Halo. If there was one AA that should stay, it’s the Thruster Pack.

I think Spartan Charge and Slide are simply melee and crouch extensions of Sprint, so I’m grouping all 3 as just “sprint”. So it’s really just aesthetic. I see that sprint could stay in future Halos only if it remains as an out of combat feature. Right now, since you can’t recharge your shields while sprinting, since sprinting resets recharge delay and since you get knocked out of sprint by enemy fire if you have not reached max speed, I think 343 is taking a step in the right direction.

Also with some tweaks, ground pound can be treated as the melee extension of thruster. Though I agree it’s fairly out of place right now. It’s not just a “look cool” feature but “look cool and close to not used at all” kind of feature now. As for smart scope, it does not seem to be that game changing. I’m hoping it stays like Reach’s assassinations, a purely aesthetic version of something we already had. That means the tightening of spread of automatic weapons has to go. Otherwise, it’s cool.

Basically, most of the Spartan abilities should be balanced if it affects gameplay (sprint, ground pound), or remain purely aesthetic (SS, clamber). Right now things are pretty OK for most. To me, the main thing is the smart scope and the ground pound that needs tweaking.

12

> 2533274812652989;6:
> And dual-wielding went against the Golden Triangle of Guns, Grenades and Melee that Bungie pioneered, yet they still added it in. The community survived.

lol yeah… but remember, they also removed it!

The community survived that too. I completely understand if they felt it was not healthy for their vision of Halo, and nobody questioned it much, because we knew for a fact that they tested it well, and they saw it had long-term affects on Halo’s formula.

Has 343 legitimately stopped and studied the long-term affects Spartan Abilities have on Halo’s formula? Will non-hitscan weapons be viable against Thruster Pack? Is Ground Pound balanced in Slayer only, or is it healthy for all game modes? Are vehicles still viable, at all?

When you play Halo CE, Halo 2, and Halo 3; they are timeless, and they will be fun to play for another 10 years, because there are STILL no mainstream shooters that are balanced quite like they are.

tl;dr: Halo 5 still has a chance to nail that Halo formula, and improve it at the same time, but they need to either slam the brakes on abilities altogether, or make them work in Halo.