> 2625759425619671;10450:
> Hey so I found this awesome article defending sprint, quoting Josh Holmes himself, 343i lead developer (That’s actually Executive Producer, if you’re going to call me out on it)…
>
> Josh Holmes opens with, "Sprint is an action that feels natural in the context of combat…"
>
> -I couldn’t possibly agree more… Sorta coincides with exactly what I’ve been saying here in this thread
>
> Josh continues to explain, "it makes sense as an action that all Spartans are capable of,"
>
> -Hey remember all those things I’ve stated about sprint being: realistic, immersive, even coincidentally true to lore?? Josh agrees that all those things combined merge together to support having sprint in Halo.
Immersion isn’t a valid reason for gameplay inclusion. Never forget that. That is a legitimate opinion, but NOT justification. He can agree on the opinion, but you fail to see it’s not justification. At best, it’s used as a buzzword/term. How does sprint feel natural, when Spartans don’t sprint with their weapons down? A Spartan in lore was once able to use a Mongoose as a shield in one hand, and an SMG in another during a novel, should we be able to lift vehicles and use them to block attacks? No. Because lore based things operate entirely differently than gameplay, and it isn’t a proper comparison, nor a proper reason. Stop using this as a reason.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> Josh goes on to say, "it creates opportunities on offense and defense when handled well,"
>
> -I guess mastering sprint does add another unique and challenging aspect to Halo’s combat afterall…
How? How does it add anything unique compared to a BMS? It makes you perform the same task as a BMS, but you put your weapon down. And at that, it affects map design, flow, and pacing negatively, unlike a BMS. And why create defensive opportunities? The only reason you’d add that is so people can escape. Something that slows the game down, and makes it less punishing. That’s blatantly admitting its flaws, but saying it as if it’s a positive.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> -As stated before, this is why there is no sprint/shoot in Halo 5- in order to balance, enhance, and fine tune competitive gameplay.
But WHY? When you have no sprint, you don’t need to tune, balance, or enhance anything, because everything’s laid out for you properly already with a standard base movement speed. You don’t need to balance maps around it. You don’t need to tune weapons around it. You account for one factor, not two.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> Expectations are everything these days which is what I’ve been trying to say… We don’t want our fellow Halo fans picking up a new Halo game just to put it down because it changed the game by trying to remove something as core as sprint.
Yeah, but you and him don’t talk about the inverse, where people didn’t pick it up because they DID introduce such mechanics, or mechanics with a similar negative impact. Reach sold more than Halo 3, but had a population decline much more steep than Halo 3’s, and they needed a patch halfway through 2011 that fixed problems competitively, such as bloom, armor abilities and, surprise, sprint because people rightfully complained. That’s not going on about Halo 4, nor even Halo 5. The expectations spoken about here are for the general player. People who pick up games and drop them just as quickly, with no real interest in the title itself or how it should work. These expectations are not for actual Halo fans, those who engross themselves in the game and its classic, competitive, but fun nature.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> And Josh says, "and it’s something that we want to keep consistent with other modes where it plays an even more prominent role,"
> -I’ve mentioned this before… Sprint has become a core mechanic of Halo, from which multiple other mechanics now branch off of it.
Okay? And it wasn’t always, before. As I said last night, Halo, competitive Halo especially has been non-sprint, longer than it has been sprint based. And the abilities in the game don’t NEED sprint to work. That point’s been disproved and isn’t valid. You can have the abilities without sprint.
To add to that, what about modes where it doesn’t/shouldn’t play a role, such as highly competitive modes? Consistency’s a bad argument, especially given how past Halo games handled a variant of sprint that affected the game in a worse manner. It was a core part of Reach, yet still maintained in a way where some playlists didn’t have it when the 2011 Title Update hit.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> Josh follows with, "Sprint can be used offensively and defensively,"
> -Another cool way that the developers tweaked Sprint in Halo 5- in an effort to satisfy the majority of gamers (as I’ve always stated)
Offensively? How? You can’t use it offensively bar running to a position quicker, which isn’t even offensive on its own. It’s not used in actual combat, bar Spartan Charge, a problem that only exists because of sprint. And again, the majority of gamers stated aren’t Halo players they’re part of the overarching casual shooter genre. WHY satisfy people who aren’t dedicated to your game or its long term success? There isn’t one. And you shouldn’t lose your identity and cater to people who won’t care a year out. Satisfy your core audience, not the focus groups.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> “On offense you can commit to an aggressive push or flank at a slight cost to weapon readiness. On defense, you can try for a rapid retreat but it carries the trade-off of stalling your shield recharge. The key for us has been to balance the potential escapability of sprint with mechanics like shield recharge and sprint ramp-up, while maintaining a sprint mechanic that feels good,” he adds.
But an aggressive push doesn’t involve sprint. It involves pushing the enemy back via gunfight, same for a flank, which isn’t at its core offensive. Watch competitive Halo 5. No “push” in CTF ever involves using sprint to rush forward. It involves actual combat. But bar that, this obviously didn’t work, given people still run, and reaching terminal velocity takes less than a second, meaning other abilities that impact movement kick in almost instantaneously. That’s discounting the quick shield regen in this game, too. Escape is still super easy, a point which he brings UP. Rapid retreat. WHY rapid? You shouldn’t be able to retreat any faster than the speed at which you can fight at while moving forward. That’s proper balance, and it’s what a BMS brings, and what sprint takes out.
> 2625759425619671;10450:
> -Again every aspect of sprint was executed extremely carefully and clearly with much effort and thought put into making sprint cater to the majority of gamers. Could it get even better with the next Halo game?? You betchya, but the dev’s need to be able to get to work figuring out how to make sprint better, not how to take it out.
But HOW was it executed carefully? What did the effort and thought bring us? Does it actually benefit the game, or have consequences most people don’t see? And again, why does it need to cater to “the majority of gamers”, most of which won’t even play the game after a month when the new CoD comes out? Why can’t it cater to Halo players? Sprint was never included in older titles. Worked super successfully, to the point where player retention was insane, even in the third year following Halo 3’s release compared to every Halo after it, something which has been acknowledged by 343i in a (IMO) skeptical statement on Halo 5’s own player retention.
