Halo Reach Beta Forum
  • Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES Impressions/Feedback
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES Impressions/Feedback

like the armor but I would like to see more armor choices in the Halo Reach

  • 05.20.2010 7:10 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
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Sprint should be a little faster and either last longer or have a quicker recharge.

I think It would be amazing if armor lock deflected all attacks and if they the armor lock and you shot them at point blank range you take some of the deflection damage. and if it could deflect tank shots giving a chance for the tank to shot itself. That would be cool.

[Edited on 05.20.2010 7:15 PM PDT]

  • 05.20.2010 7:14 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
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When you pit sprint against evade in a fire fight evade is way better. I think you should be able to hold any direction when you start sprint to quickly change direction. It would be helpful in situations like Jones in the Temple of Doom or the Han in the New Hope.

  • 05.20.2010 7:23 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Man, the haters are already trying to nerf armor lock. Right now, in my opinion bungie nailed it on the first time. Armor lock is just perfect, especially when you go from extended use to short bursts of life saving invincibility. Its a god send for campers on the yellowvator in sword base, and i know longer fear hammers, or swords, and i love how you can punch right out of armor lock for all the dummys that sit behind you thinking they will get a free assassinationj. armor lock is perfect, stalker is perfect as well. if you are bored enough to sit around a corner to get a kill. be my guest. you wont see muhc action though, and you may get 1 kill out of it. jet pack is fine, anything else would be like a portable banshee on your back, and sprint is uninteresting but so useful, the only thing i have to say is make the time between the player hitting rb and the abilities activating a tad shorter.

  • 05.20.2010 7:27 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Sprinting needs more control. I shouldn't have a problem rushing into a room to "shotgun" a guy. It seems like when I come out of sprint I have very little control for a second or two.

  • 05.20.2010 7:32 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Sprint needs to be much better, when you're sprinting you have to travel further and get there faster.

  • 05.20.2010 7:36 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

I think that the shield ability leaves you to vulnerable when you come out of it when enemies stand back and wait for you to come out of it, I think when you come out of it it should deploy the flare (like from halo 3)to give you a slight chance, and the sprint should include a shoulder block.

  • 05.20.2010 7:38 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Tru7h. C4RN4GE. Bungie.

Armor Lock
I like how it makes for very interesting gameplay, I don't think it needs to be changed. This was probably my least used ability though, only because I am an offensive player and prefer big open maps.

Sprint
I like how this was set as everyone's ability in Slayer Pro. Made it much more fun. I also thought this was perfect.

Evade
This was fun as hell to use as an elite. The quick beatdown with a sword after you evade towards someone felt nice. :D

Jetpack
I was happy it still felt like Halo with this in it. I don't see this needing any changes.

Active Camo
This is extremely underpowered I think. Players are still clearly visible unless completely still. Perhaps decrease the invis time but make the player less visible when in use could fix this.

  • 05.20.2010 7:41 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

EVADE: Perfect! Works to cover ground quickly, for evading fire or grenades, or offensively to get behind enemies.

SPRINT: Overall, the most useful ability in the game albeit the most boring. However, MAJOR issues with firing weapons or striking with melee weapons. A right trigger pull should end the Sprint ability the same as it makes you drop a flag or skull. You shouldn't have to worry about de-activating Sprint and then pulling the trigger. What's even worse is when there is a delay from when you stop sprinting and when you're actually able to use a weapon (most notably, the Energy Sword). You essentially sprint right up to someone, pull the trigger, wait for something to happen, and instead receive a fist to the face.

JETPACK: This ability seems very well-balanced. I was worried that players would be finding ways to get outside the map, but Bungie has done a nice job preventing this. At first, I was very displeased with the vertical readout on motion tracker, but I realize it was in part to help balance this ability and works very well to do so.

ACTIVE CAMO: I saved this and ARMOR LOCK for last because, in my opinion, these two need the absolute most work. I like the effect of losing audio. I like that the effectiveness of the camo is dependent on the user's speed. I even like that it works as a radar jammer (RJ was one of my favorite equipment types in H3 and NEVER got put into Matchmaking after the update, unfortunately). However, I feel this ability has been balanced to the point of making it the weakest ability in the game. The radar jamming feature is completely useless with the advent of the vertical motion tracker. If team play is the focus, how great would it be to have someone play decoy using the camo who isn't even involved in the fight, but is actually a floor above/below the enemies? I think the radar jammer should work not just in a horizontal plane, but also vertically. If enemies see dots on every possible level on their tracker, they will truly have to be on the lookout for the stalker instead of waiting until the RJ cluster gets near them and then grenading that area with everything they've got. I also think the user's motion tracker should not be affected by the RJ. The user of the cloak has already been crippled to crouch-walking in order to remain invisible. They become visible if they fire their weapon or throw a grenade. They become visible if they get hit, even if it was just a stray bullet from an unrelated battle. So, with all of these other things to keep the stalker from just running the table on the enemy team, WHY would you take away their motion tracker as well??? I think the ACTIVE CAMO should either retain their own motion tracker, or only become visible when they are shot rather than when they are attacking.

ARMOR LOCK: Just as the camo is over-balanced, this ability is drastically under-balanced. The duration the ability can be used works well. I am also VERY grateful that users are unable to move. Where this ability really becomes frustrating though is in how quickly it regenerates and in how quickly it becomes fully active. Cloaking has a delay before the user is completely invisible. The jetpack has a delay before the user is able to sustain flight. Evade and Sprint have a delay coming out of it that prevents immediate attack. So why then are players able to activate/deactivate AL so quickly that they can avoid melee attacks but still deliver a return attack that usually kills opponents? And why are they able to not only view players behind them while they're locked, but also attack them quicker than those enemies can attack? I think a great way to better balance this ability would be to prevent armor regeneration while using this ability and to prevent the seemingly Flash-like speed to pivot around and strike enemies standing behind the user.

Well, these are my opinions of the armor abilities after having played close to 400 games in the Halo: Reach Beta. I would love to see if anyone feels the same way I do about the abilities, or if anyone has any other suggestions for Bungie on how to better balance these incredible new gameplay elements. I really do think this will be the best multiplayer experience to date for the Halo franchise, and I look forward to gaming with you all in the fall. 8D

  • 05.20.2010 7:53 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Armor lock needs to be more effective. The full effect of being invulnerable doesn't take hold until you're crouched on the ground . This leaves you with a 2 second delay from your initial activation of the ability which leaves you vulnerable which usually winds up getting you killed, this problem tends to occurs in close quarters combat.

  • 05.20.2010 7:55 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Nick Quinto

I think the armor abilities are fine but i don't like the classes. They should be placed on the map like active camo, custom power up and over shield were in previous games. The classes should be left to invasion and generator defense.

[Edited on 05.20.2010 8:23 PM PDT]

  • 05.20.2010 8:21 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES - IMPRESSIONS AND FEEDBACK

it just means you've got to be able to win a rifle battle against 2 people, be sure to have grenades handy so you can wipe out the other guys shield and get a 2 for 1.

  • 05.20.2010 8:29 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES Impressions/Feedback

Armor lock is a great ability and is very helpful at certain times but can be very frustrating to players who get perfect sticks with plasma grenades. All their work is simply negated by simply using armor lock which shows no skill at all. Armor lock should simply have a shorter time in Multiplayer and not campaign. Sprint and evade and great abilities and have no problems with jet pack. Active camo has two problems: Elites having the UNSC Active Camo pack on their backs (This should and can easily fixed by making a simple covie camo pack)
And the radar jammer.
the radar jammer causes players to have trouble finding each other to fight.
EX: I am stalking a Elite, I go active camo and he turns a corner, my radar is crowded and i cannot find him and he can't find me.
To fix this all that needs to be done is the removal of radar jamming for the user first of all it doesn't make any sense in any story and removing it from the user would still block enemy radars alerting them that we are there and they can still see us if we attack in the end it makes the fight easier to get to.

All and all loved the beta
Thanks Bungie

  • 05.20.2010 8:44 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES - IMPRESSIONS AND FEEDBACK
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"Nothing makes a handsome man more comely or an ugly man more terrifying than long hair. Plus, it's FREE!"

Personally, I think that's the main point. If not, then what would even be used for? Once locked down, you can either wait for him to come out, dealing with his buddies, or you can toss a grenade to cover your escape route. Running would only be a serious problem if alone and taking a flag or the like. But again, what would Armor Lock be used for if a player turned it on for only a single grenade or a few slim seconds of not dying?

I was thinking of even suggesting the end blast to have a slightly bigger radius, but I haven't check out other people's complaints on it yet. There may not be need of improving it at all. Have you played as the Gaurdian a lot?

  • 05.20.2010 9:01 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES Impressions/Feedback

I'm sure I am just being redundant by posting my thoughts, but maybe if Bungie reads a lot of the same complaints they will heed our advice.

Sprint-
The major issue I have with sprint is when an opponent is wielding either a sword or gravity hammer. If you have a delay on shooting then there should be a delay on using melee weapons. If you are not able to sprint and shoot, then you should not be able to sprint and hit someone. A perfect example of this would be a buddy of mine who is an amazing Halo player. He wanted to prove that the sprint and hammer feature was to overpowered so he used it for an entire game on powerhouse. The end result was just as he predicted. He hardly died and ended up getting almost 30 kills. This needs to be fixed.

Jet pack-
This is an amazing addition to the Halo series and really creates a balanced three dimensional fight. For instance, high ground no longer means everything! Now you can have players attack the high ground from the base and the air. I have no complaints about Jet Pack.

Armor lock-
Again I know all of these issues have been addressed, but armor lock needs to be tweaked. My suggestions correlate with many of the other reach players: should not regenerate shields, reduce response time...ect. My biggest concern though is that Armor lock does not make sense. As of now you go into Armor lock and you expend an immense amount of energy creating an impenetrable shield, and what is the result? You come out with full shields. What the heck?? How does that makes sense? the power to create that shield must be coming from somewhere right? So it should not recharge your shield and allow you to attack and kill your opponent who obviously bested you.

Invisibility-
Although many people have complained about how the invisibility trait Jams the users radar, I myself do not see a problem with this feature. If this option were removed and the only person having their radar jammed was the enemy there would be far to many assassination kills and pissed off players. I believe this part of the trait evens the playing field. I still have some problems with the overall package though. First of all, as it has been mentioned before, the invisibility trait lasts far to long. I have not sat down to time it, but it seems to last longer than all other abilities which I believe should be toned down. Secondly, I absolutely hate that if your teammate uses this feature, and is next to you, that your radar suddenly jams. Although I understand legalistically that it makes since, it still pisses me off! Because why should I have to suffer with no radar when I choose to have radar? All I know is that I depend on radar for kills and when I'm about to surprise a guy and my near by teammate activates his invisibility rendering me blind as a bat it really pisses me off!

Overall the beta was awesome and I am glade that bungie decided to spice things up a bit! Great job and I hope to see improvements on an already great game!

[Edited on 05.20.2010 9:18 PM PDT]

  • 05.20.2010 9:15 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

My only two issues lie with Camo and Jetpack. As it stands now I feel evade, sprint and armor lock function very effectively, especially in a team setting.

However, first and foremost, the Camo does not. The Camo generally feels quite underpowered. While the radar jam appears to be a negative side effective, it's actually the Camo's best asset, as the actual camouflaging is fairly poor. Nearly any movement other than crouch has the player become partially visible. This might as well be fully visible, as couple with the radar jam you become easily noticeable enough to be a target. Worse is how exposed one becomes when playing with the needler and yet the elite classes with needlers are paired with camo.

My suggestions for camo are that the radar jam be kept (it works as both a positive and negative), the deafening be kept (a good negative), but the camo allow full movement without become visible. Only when one shoots do they become visible. To counter this, Camo should have a slightly longer recharge period before it can be activated again. The original camo powerup was one of my favorite assets in the Halo series and I was sad to see the Camo AA underpowered so much.

As for Jetpack, my only real suggestion is have a slightly longer cooldown period, as currently jetback users can hold down their Jetpack until exhaustion and have enough juice to let themselves down to the ground easily. There is very little risk involved and it becomes infuriating when playing against a team of four jetpack users.

Thank you for hearing my thoughts.

  • 05.20.2010 9:16 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
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AL is good but needs something like a force push to push objects (ie: grenades people and cars) away after releasing not just an EMP blast.

b/c all we have to do is time a thrown grenade to explode as soon as the AL releases and its lights out

Or make a force push and AA on its own


OHH and having a team of grunts for an elite's AA would be funny... just a thought

  • 05.20.2010 9:20 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Posted by: chrism312
Armor Lock needs balancing. Too good in team games!

EDIT: To clarify, it basically gives one person a "get out of fail free" card, which lets the AL user's teammate clean up EASILY. I have fairly often been winning a rifle fight against someone, when he activates AL. I stick around to wait for it to stop (and get the kill I earned), and instead get cleaned up by one of his teammates that he calls in. It just feels cheap.


I hear what you are saying, but that is an aspect of a team based game. It's not supposed to be about one on one. Plus that's kind of the point of AL it is supposed to postpone a death so that your teammates can give you a hand if they make it in time. In my experience with AL people who play smart against it usually prevail. You can't expect to be able to just stand there and wait on the guy all the time. Move on to someone or something else and give the credit for playing smart. AAs are tactical devices and I think that when people use them to avoid death then they are making a smart decision towards their teams victory. Halo isn't always about who can shoot the fastest and most accurate. AAs add more depth to the MP. Players have to be more cautious about running at someone guns blazing for the melee kill and it promotes strategic team play. Plus it's really not amazingly powerful because there is a slight delay between when you press the button and when it actually goes into AL, so if someone fires a rocket at you, unless you anticipated it you are usually going to die because rockets fly faster than the player can AL. Also you can only use it twice consecutively and to do that you have to be in it for a very short amount of time for each one. The time that it lasts is much shorter than any of the other AAs and it's charge time isn't short by any means. The one thing that I think that they should change about it is the fact that your energy shield immediately start to recharge if you stay in it the entire time. I mean a grenade will easily clean the person up but if you want to land a good solid head shot you can't because you have to waste the first shot or two dropping what shields they have and by that time they may have found a place to escape to. I just don't think that people should hate on AL as much as they do. It's really not extremely powerful unless used properly by the right person and then you can say that about any of the AAs. In the right hands each one of them can be extremely useful and match tipping. I for one think that Bungie did an excellent job of balancing them especially since this is the first time that they have done something like this with Halo. As I said before, AAs add so much more depth and tact to the MP in Reach. I'm excited to see if they add some more to the mix and if they let you customize loadouts for custom gametypes that players create.

[Edited on 05.20.2010 9:34 PM PDT]

  • 05.20.2010 9:29 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

Posted by: KID CURIOUS
Armor lock needs to be more effective. The full effect of being invulnerable doesn't take hold until you're crouched on the ground . This leaves you with a 2 second delay from your initial activation of the ability which leaves you vulnerable which usually winds up getting you killed, this problem tends to occurs in close quarters combat.


I know that that can be frustrating, but I believe that that is one of the things that helps to balance armor lock. If there wasn't a delay then it would be a little OP. The thing that frustrates me is when you land on a ledge and try to armor lock and you start to but then you kind of fall off of the ledge so it doesn't let you because you are in the air. Not that I think that that is a problem that needs to be fixed I just get frustrated when that happens to me. But technically that's my own fault for trying to armor lock on a danged ledge. lol

  • 05.20.2010 9:44 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
  • gamertag: Japo13
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Using CR to purchase improvements to or lengthen an AA would be a cool Idea

  • 05.20.2010 9:46 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

I play halo since Halo: CE

Armor abilities are totaly awesome, i was wondering if you guys can set the run abilitie as a default and the three remaining on the d-pad buttons so you can pick up instantly which to use depending on the combat situation. i mean, instead of loadouts the spartan would be way more skilled, just an idea, but think about it... the three remainings armor abilities in the d-pad just like you switch weapons in gears of war... it sounds pretty intresting... peace out XxoVORTEXoxX

  • 05.20.2010 10:04 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

i was surprised at how balanced they all are. definitely a huge improvement from h3's equipment!

  • 05.20.2010 11:35 PM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
  • gamertag: Kirbi
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Okay, overall, Id have to say that the addition of the AAs to the Halo mix was relatively painless. The cooldowns are decently timed. And there was obvious well made attempts at balancing (radar jamming with the cloak). But it feels like there wasn't much time invested in thinking about AL, especially when your own devs will openly admit it needs nerfing. My problem is that which I have heard many times over, "it negates skill". It needs a lock on it to keep a player from tossin it up over and over, it should be once (for however long the user would like) and then be forced to recharge, givin short bursters an advantage on quicker cooldown, but Ive watched people, myself included, knock back entire caches of rockets without ever having to let it recharge. It needs to not have the invulnerable effect until fully crouched, and needs to lose effect before the individual can move (both cases were a common occursnce throughout the beta). It should lock the camera forward, if the player didn't know what was coming from behind in the first place there is no reason being a scared little -blam!- should give them that advantage. Likewise the ability to come out of it backwards is beyond ridiulous, if they got taken in a firefight it should skew the battle in their favor, not decisively give them a kill that should have been a death. I like the teamwork it can inspire, but that's isn't how it's used. And the fact that your shields recharge in tv midst of it makes no sense at all. I've always loved Halo, far more for the story than ever for the gameplay. And everything has always made at least some sci-first sense, until now. What part of overcharging your sheilds gives them more power to recharge, if anything AL should instantly deplete the shields of it's user upon the static pop that will eliminate all other shields around it. Sorry to rant but I truly love Halo in all aspects and to we such a blantant tool for abuse kinda of hurts inside. I know that you will whole heartedly consider the feelings of all your fans on these critical problems, and I truly look forward to the coming fall. Thanks for letting us taste it early.

  • 05.21.2010 2:19 AM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas
Subject: ARMOR ABILITIES - IMPRESSIONS AND FEEDBACK

I don't mind the classes I really don't. Think it adds fun new dimensions and tactics to the game with really only one exception...and it pretty much ruined the beta for me.

Personally, I think armor lock should be completely removed from the game. Not only does it not make sense in the Halo universe (human's just developed shield tech and suddenly they're miles ahead of the Covenant?), but whoever says it needs to be stronger hasn't played with anything BUT armor lock. It activates damn near instantly, and most certainly NOT when the spartan is fully crouched, and it lasts long enough for them to stand and aim a beat down or grenade at the nearest enemy before they have to even worry about taking damage (I've traded beat downs with people who had literally no health as they came out of armor lock...I died and they are completely untouched.) It shouldn't be active until the spartan is crouched, and the second they leave the crouch, they should begin taking damage again.

My other beef is that they can just keep poppin it on and off. Grenade rolls in, tap the armor lock and danger averted, guy follows up grenade with bullets or a beat down, tap armor lock again and your safe and you might have just taken his shields. You kill that sucker and his buddy throws grenades on his X, but have no fear armor lock will save you again. If you're fast enough you can throw it down like 3 times without it recharging. Now I'm fine (not fine but i can accept) with the first one. But not the second or third one. If they come out of armor lock early, then they should have to wait the full recharge length before they use it again. It's already a tad unfair that they can just call a timeout right before they die but can we please draw a line somewhere?

Love sprint, kind of think it shouldn't really be an armor ability and just a natural one though, but I guess maybe the lack of the weight of a pack makes sense.

The jetpack kicks nuts I'm puttin the fear of Boba Fett into these scum bags and its righteous.

The invisiblity is...well i think it's alright. Yeah it kinda sucks when someones camping at the top of that lift with a shotgun/sword invisible, but you only remain completely invisible as long as you remain still and the radar lets you know that theirs one nearby even if not where...which would be stupid. So just go get revenge on the stupid camper and call it good.







  • 05.21.2010 2:43 AM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas

What has annoyed me so much is that I press the button for Armour Lock and forget to hold it down so I die anyway. =[

  • 05.21.2010 4:05 AM PDT
  • reply edit unleash ninjas