- gamertag: mrxak
- user homepage:
Here's how I wish armor lock worked:
Spartan A1 has armor lock, Spartan B1 has a pistol. They run into each other, and B1 gets some shots off on A1's head. B1 seems to have the advantage, so A1 activates armor lock and screams for help. A1 suddenly can't take extra damage from headshots, his head is protected. Melee, even from behind, doesn't do a lot either, since melee is fairly slow and recharge will beat the damage. A1's shields recharge to full and then some, like an overshield. Spartan B1 keeps shooting and actually does shield damage, but A1 keeps charging, counteracting all of that damage. B1 switches a more powerful weapon, and now A1's charging can't keep up, his shields are starting to drop, although at a lower rate than if he wasn't armor locked due to the recharge. A1 now has to decide, does he wait for help, or does he end armor lock and start shooting back? If he starts shooting back, he'll still have his overshield, but he'll lose the recharge. Still, he'll have an advantage in terms of shields. If he waits, somebody might come along and kill B1, and then A1 can finish recharging as long as his armor lock has energy, which might mean he's got overall better shields for the next encounter (although they'll slowly fade). If he waits, Spartan B2 might come along with a rocket launcher and kill A1 outright with a couple hits.
Basically, I want armor lock to not be invincible, while at the same time providing a significant advantage in terms of HP. It does that through a larger pool of HP, and also an active recharge, even while taking fire. It lets somebody get a second chance at life, and it encourages teamwork on both sides. It encourages an armor lock user to have a buddy close by for support, since it's still possible to die while armor locked. It encourages the opposition to work together when fighting somebody with armor lock, because two or more people will be able to kill somebody who's armor locked, albeit slower than if they were fighting a lone guy with no overshield.
I see too many lone-wolf fights involving armor lock, and it's because of the nature of it. The video posted on the Bungie news feed is a great example of two people with armor lock going it alone against each other, whereas if one of them had a buddy, both of them probably wouldn't have died if the mechanic worked as I've described.
Actually, I just thought of another way armor lock could work. Just make damage against the player with armor lock active hurt energy reserves instead of shields. Beat on somebody hard enough, and their energy will go away and they'll lose armor lock. That means somebody fighting somebody with armor lock can make armor lock end sooner, and on their terms, but it still gives the guy with armor lock time to get help.
Active camo is not very camouflaged. I'd argue it's the least powerful armor ability of them all, and for one simple reason. You guys upped the polygon counts of everything, and that means there's lots more surfaces to reflect/distort light on a camouflaged spartan. When somebody with active camo runs up towards me, I can see him clear as day, and I know to look if I somehow missed him because of radar jamming. Active camo is actually a disadvantage when sneaking up behind somebody because of radar jamming too. Used to be, when you got the active camo power-up, you could gank a few people easy before anybody knew you were even there. Now, they see you coming on their radar and with their eyes. I've gotten many more assassinations as any other class besides recon, simply because active camo works less well for stealthiness than not trying to be stealthy.
[Edited on 05.20.2010 3:47 PM PDT]