Useable Energy Staves

Games Halo 5: Guardians
1

So I’ve seen talk about useable Hardlight Blades, and even usable Human Melee weapon, on these Forums. Well, I’d like to say that I want useable Energy Staves (aka Honor Guard Pike).

Now I’ve suggested it to some people, and they always say something like that it’s redundant. That it’s only ceremonial, so it has no use. Or that there’s nothing that can make it unique from the Energy Sword (if that’s true, then why should there be a useable Hardlight Blade?). Well, I have my own ideas of how to make the Energy Stave work/be unique in Halo 5.

Firstly, how it can be useful even though it’s ceremonial. Halo 2 showed how it can kill a Grunt with ease (I know, a Grunt, but still). Cole Protocol says that the top of it can activate plasma similar to the Energy Sword (so that shows that they’re both equal in damage). And most importantly, Halo Wars showed how awesome it really is. In the cutscene Monsters, you can see the Spartans use the Energy Staves very, very effectively. It can cut another Energy Stave in half, it can pierce through Elite armor, and it can be thrown. Not to mention, out of the 16 Elites that you can see that were killed in the cutscene, 8 of them were killed by Energy Staves, so half the fight was the Spartans using Energy Staves. Not bad for a ceremonial weapon, eh?

Now, how to make it different/unique from the Energy Sword. Well, a longer lunge range would definitely be the first thing. The Energy Stave is clearly longer, so it should be able to lunge further. Now, that doesn’t sound unique enough, I know. That’s why I have the idea from Halo Wars. Hold RT to pull the Energy Stave back, then let go to throw it. You can’t do this with an Energy Sword because when you let go it deactivates, but an Energy Stave, while the plasma would deactivate, the tip of the spear would still go through (While Halo Wars Energy Staves were different from the Halo 2/Cole Protocol versions, they didn’t need the plasma). The throw mechanic could have a weak homing mechanic so it can hit the target. I’m assuming Jul 'Mdama has his own personal guard, so they can have their own new Energy Staves, which could have Forerunner tech inside, which allows the homing to work/be logical. Plus, just imagine the assassination animation!

As for a reason of them being in the game, well, Jul almost died in Episode 9 of Spartan Ops if it wasn’t for the fact that Knights could teleport in to save him. So I’d like to think that he’d want to make his own personal guard by recruiting his best Elites to defend him. Or heck, even the Ascetics that are with the Arbiter could have their own Energy Staves, since they were the Honor Guards before the Honor Guards (though the homing mechanic wouldn’t work/make sense, but oh well).

I’ve always wanted to be able to use the Energy Stave since I first saw them in Halo 2. Every weapon that’s been seen in the games have been useable (even the Scarab’s weapon, think about that). So why, 10 years later, has the Energy Stave still not be able to be used? The ceremonial reason was thrown down the toilet ever since Cole Protocol and Halo Wars. So we should be able to use them finally. Please.

2

That’d be kinda cool, it’d like to see it

3

A longer lunge and a throw mechanic would be somewhat overpowered when put together, but we can balance that by doubling the time between strikes.

Also, when the stave is thrown, can it be retrieved or will it die with the corpse it has made?

Additionally, I’ve noticed that when an individual throws their stave, they’ll be short of one weapon. This may cause the weapon to become an area of denial. However, this can be changed by giving the throw more power. Perhaps we can even make it explode.

4

> A longer lunge and a throw mechanic would be somewhat overpowered when put together, but we can balance that by doubling the time between strikes.
>
> Also, when the stave is thrown, can it be retrieved or will it die with the corpse it has made?
>
> Additionally, I’ve noticed that when an individual throws their stave, they’ll be short of one weapon. This may cause the weapon to become an area of denial. However, this can be changed by giving the throw more power. Perhaps we can even make it explode.

That’d be interesting. Rather than a full on explosion however, an EMP shockwave or electrical discharge that creates a wall of lightning that hurts players when entered would be another interesting add-on I think.

5

It should also have some unique assassinations. That’d be nice.

Ah, yes, another idea; Being able to carry multiple staves? Seeing as they could have Forerunner designed-parts, it wouldn’t be too odd to have a sort of ‘quiver’ that your spartan uses to get another stave after throwing it. For instance, you throw the stave, than hold your hand out as you get another one translocated into your grasp.

The device translocating them could be a glove-like device. This way, it would look a bit less awkward when you swap to your backup weapon.

6

Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.

An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.

Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.

As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?

7

> Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.
>
> An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.
>
> Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.
>
> <mark>As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?</mark>

Hey, at least I tried. It would look more silly to throw one and then have none, in my opinion. The quiver’s stupid, I know. But I’d rather that than have a big- -Yoink- stave on your back. That’s why the glove should go on the hip like the energy sword hilt instead.

I DID think. Don’t insult me on trying to come up with an idea. It’s kind of hard to articulate how I thought it should look. That said, we’ve already got a human weapon- The combat knife.

And for the tenth time on forums, I’m going to say this; Speak for yourself. At least I was entirely on topic and providing something to it, instead of switching it entirely.

8

> Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.
>
> An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.
>
> Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.
>
> As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?

Okay, so instead of providing constructive criticism about the idea itself, you’re just going to scold the OP and much of the community for thinking of this idea and ideas like this in the first place?

Sure, while the Energy Stave isn’t 100% unique, nothing about that warrants insulting an entire community.

9

> > Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.
> >
> > An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.
> >
> > Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.
> >
> > As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?
>
> Okay, so instead of providing constructive criticism about the idea itself, you’re just going to scold the OP and much of the community for thinking of this idea and ideas like this in the first place?
>
> Sure, while the Energy Stave isn’t 100% unique, nothing about that warrants insulting an entire community.

My constructive criticism was clear: It’s a bad idea, please put some more thought into these ideas.

This forum has come up with the following ideas which wouldn’t work in Halo:

Destructible Environments
Custom Animation Assassinations
Custom hand held blades
Dismemberment
Gore
Staves
64+ player multiplayer
Minigames inside the campaign
Water based vehicles
Free DLC
Mammoth and scarabs in multiplayer

And as much as you’re allowed to post these ideas, I’m allowed to criticize them within the forum rules.

Did I insult the community? No.

I stated: Put some thought into the ideas from a GAMEPLAY perspective, not from a “This sound cool!” perspective. I don’t have to put up alternative ideas to useable energy staves, I can just disagree and say it’s a bad idea.

10

Wow. Just… Wow. So many people think they are just a cornicopia of what the community wants.

Regardless, seeing as we have no idea what Halo 5 will have except for the Chief as of yet, It’s natural for people to come up with ideas and suggestions. And you shouldn’t be insulting people over it.

A human melee weapon is a bad idea because it doesn’t work within the Halo universe the way Covenant melee weapons do. Every brute weapon has a blade on it and they relish close combat, so it makes sense for them to have a Gravity Hammer. Elites are a Marshal culture where swordsmen are elite and valued, based off of Japanese/Chinese Ancient culture. So it makes sense for them to have a sword.

The humans, on the other hand, put emphasis on guns and bullets and merely surviving. They care if they die. They are also weaker than most other Covenant species. If they made a UNSC-specific melee weapon, it wouldn’t make sense because ONLY spartans could use it. The combat knife is prominent in assassinations because it makes sense. And Spartans don’t go running around, shaking themselves and yelling while holding them. They make clean, effecient kills instead.

I don’t like you.

11

> > > Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.
> > >
> > > An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.
> > >
> > > Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.
> > >
> > > As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?
> >
> > Okay, so instead of providing constructive criticism about the idea itself, you’re just going to scold the OP and much of the community for thinking of this idea and ideas like this in the first place?
> >
> > Sure, while the Energy Stave isn’t 100% unique, nothing about that warrants insulting an entire community.
>
> My constructive criticism was clear: It’s a bad idea, please put some more thought into these ideas.
>
> This forum has come up with the following ideas which wouldn’t work in Halo:
>
> Destructible Environments
> Custom Animation Assassinations
> Custom hand held blades
> Dismemberment
> Gore
> Staves
> 64+ player multiplayer
> Minigames inside the campaign
> Water based vehicles
> Free DLC
> Mammoth and scarabs in multiplayer
>
> And as much as you’re allowed to post these ideas, I’m allowed to criticize them within the forum rules.
>
> Did I insult the community? No.
>
> I stated: Put some thought into the ideas from a GAMEPLAY perspective, not from a “This sound cool!” perspective. I don’t have to put up alternative ideas to useable energy staves, I can just disagree and say it’s a bad idea.

@DSight
You cleverly cut out the part where you included, “Please Halo waypoint think before you post.” You did insult the community. And I don’t think dismemberment, gore, larger multiplayer (32, not 64), and some destructible elements akin to what Halo 2/3 had are bad ideas. They fit, and are actually already implemented in some Halo games.

12

I don’t think that it would really make sense to put into the game given:

1: As far as I know, the Honor Guards are gone, and I would imagine that most of the former Covies would find other weapons much more useful, so if nobody in the story uses them in the game, why would 343 put them in when they can work on something more important?

2: I don’t see the UNSC creating weapons such as these in the period between 4 and 5, given that they already have close quarters weapons such as the shotgun, which would make more inefficient weapons such as the staffs kinda useless for them.

13

> > A longer lunge and a throw mechanic would be somewhat overpowered when put together, but we can balance that by doubling the time between strikes.
> >
> > Also, when the stave is thrown, can it be retrieved or will it die with the corpse it has made?
> >
> > Additionally, I’ve noticed that when an individual throws their stave, they’ll be short of one weapon. This may cause the weapon to become an area of denial. However, this can be changed by giving the throw more power. Perhaps we can even make it explode.
>
> That’d be interesting. Rather than a full on explosion however, an EMP shockwave or electrical discharge that creates a wall of lightning that hurts players when entered would be another interesting add-on I think.

Explosion/EMP blast makes more sense than my idea of a homing mechanic. I’d think the explosion/EMP blast would work way better. Not bad.

As for the retrievable/die question, I would think it’d still be retrievable (as long as you didn’t throw it outside of the map of course). Because of this, could have it where, when you throw it and it stabs into a wall or the ground, it could then work as trip-mine of a sort until you retrieve it. If it stabs into a person, then it’d automatically do the explosion/EMP blast.
But should it die when it does the explosion/EMP blast? Maybe, maybe not. Either it gets destroyed, or when you pick it back up, it loses like 30% of its energy.

Could definitely work, I’d think.

14

> Wow. Just… Wow. So many people think they are just a cornicopia of what the community wants.
>
> Regardless, seeing as we have no idea what Halo 5 will have except for the Chief as of yet, It’s natural for people to come up with ideas and suggestions. And you shouldn’t be insulting people over it.
>
> A human melee weapon is a bad idea because it doesn’t work within the Halo universe the way Covenant melee weapons do. Every brute weapon has a blade on it and they relish close combat, so it makes sense for them to have a Gravity Hammer. Elites are a Marshal culture where swordsmen are elite and valued, based off of Japanese/Chinese Ancient culture. So it makes sense for them to have a sword.
>
> The humans, on the other hand, put emphasis on guns and bullets and merely surviving. They care if they die. They are also weaker than most other Covenant species. If they made a UNSC-specific melee weapon, it wouldn’t make sense because ONLY spartans could use it. The combat knife is prominent in assassinations because it makes sense. And Spartans don’t go running around, shaking themselves and yelling while holding them. They make clean, effecient kills instead.
>
> I don’t like you.

You don’t have to like me and I won’t be disappointed or affected if you don’t like me. A lot of people don’t like me because I’m very to the point, short and direct, and a lot of people do like me because I am.

I may not be sugary sweet in how I write something, but I’m definitely not insulting. Because I disagree with your point, does not mean I’m attacking you or the community. Separate yourself from your ideas for they are two different things.

> > > > Oh my the ideas in this forum some days. It’s like no one even thinks before they write stuff down.
> > > >
> > > > An idea may seem cool in your head like “a quiver of staves, where you hold out your hand and another one appears” but generally would not fit into the Halo universe and would look very silly indeed.
> > > >
> > > > Please Halo Waypoint, think before you post and think about how something would actually work, look and feel instead of just jumping to the conclusion: “Yes! This sounds fun therefore put it in the game!”.
> > > >
> > > > As for Human weapons, what do you want them to have? Steel swords? Bayonets?
> > >
> > > Okay, so instead of providing constructive criticism about the idea itself, you’re just going to scold the OP and much of the community for thinking of this idea and ideas like this in the first place?
> > >
> > > Sure, while the Energy Stave isn’t 100% unique, nothing about that warrants insulting an entire community.
> >
> > My constructive criticism was clear: It’s a bad idea, please put some more thought into these ideas.
> >
> > This forum has come up with the following ideas which wouldn’t work in Halo:
> >
> > Destructible Environments
> > Custom Animation Assassinations
> > Custom hand held blades
> > Dismemberment
> > Gore
> > Staves
> > 64+ player multiplayer
> > Minigames inside the campaign
> > Water based vehicles
> > Free DLC
> > Mammoth and scarabs in multiplayer
> >
> > And as much as you’re allowed to post these ideas, I’m allowed to criticize them within the forum rules.
> >
> > Did I insult the community? No.
> >
> > I stated: Put some thought into the ideas from a GAMEPLAY perspective, not from a “This sound cool!” perspective. I don’t have to put up alternative ideas to useable energy staves, I can just disagree and say it’s a bad idea.
>
> @DSight
> You cleverly cut out the part where you included, “Please Halo waypoint think before you post.” You did insult the community. And I don’t think dismemberment, gore, larger multiplayer (32, not 64), and some destructible elements akin to what Halo 2/3 had are bad ideas. They fit, and are actually already implemented in some Halo games.

Asking people to think before they post is not insulting, it’s a request. If you think that I am being insulting, I’m sorry you feel that way but my intention was not to be insulting.

It’s the same as when moderators request people to stop and think before they post to make sure they don’t create duplicate threads. If you think that I’m insulting, then they would be insulting as well. But we’re not being insulting. If you want to claim that the way I write is insulting, you’re putting emotion behind the words that never existed in the first place.

SO, let’s get back on topic.

I stand by my philosophy that less is more. We should have less options, less weapons and less things to worry about. Don’t give human players human melee weapons (eg: a baton), or forerunner weapons (hard light dagger). Just keep the sandbox as is and reduce the amount of weapons.

This will increase balance and keep the competition fair and equal with less/reduced random elements.