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Here are my thoughts on Spartan Abilities based on what we know so far, and the ways in which I think they could be implemented. What do we know about Spartan Abilities so far? - They're not Armour Abilities. - They're not Armour related, but are things that Spartans can do inherently. In Halo 2, the new SAs would be dual-wielding and vehicle boarding. - Every player has the same set of Spartan Abilities http://teambeyond.net/forum/index.php?/topic/5709-frank-oconnor-confirms-armor-abilities-removed-from-halo-5/ http://teambeyond.net/halo-5-guardians-wont-armor-abilities/ Why do I personally think they could complement Halo gameplay? First and foremost, everyone has access to the same set of abilities, so there's no guessing what the other play has at their disposal. This means that unlike with AAs, SAs will allow players to predict (without guess-work) what the other player might do during any given encounter. It also means that players wont have functional advantages over each other. But it's important to mention that a feature isn't automatically good just because everyone has access to it at all times. I think there is more to consider when it comes to whether or not each individual SA will work. If I could put into one sentence my philosophy on how they should fit into the game, it would go something like this: Spartan Abilities should give players different options - options which require a decent amount of skill to utilize - for approaching encounters, without taking anything away from the validity of the skills that would otherwise have been appropriate in approaching those encounters. But what would be an ability that wouldn't fit into this description? Let's take armour lock and pretend that everyone had it at all times, and let's ignore for a moment that it was armour related for the sake of this point. Armour lock was used in order to save a person's life in a situation where they otherwise would have had to fight their way out of the same situation had Armour Lock not been an option. It happens at the simple push of a button, yet the benefits to the player greatly outweigh those of simply fighting without armour lock. Imagine a typical situation where Armour Lock would be used - a player is losing an encounter. And let's look at the typical impact that armour lock, and a lack of amour lock will have on that situation: Armour Lock Player input - pushing and holding a button. Very little thought or timing necessary in gaining the benefits. Outcome - greatly improved chance of survival (at least for the time that you're pushing and holding the button). No Armour Lock Player input - having to use skills such as out-shooting and out-strafing the enemy. Requires a decent amount of timing and thought in order to make effective use of those skills. Outcome - greatly reduced chance of survival So Armour Lock not only required very little in the form of human input, but it also negated and drastically reduced the necessity for other skills which were already valid in its absence. So how about an ability which does actually fit into that philosophy? Well, a good example of that would be vehicle boarding. Vehicle boarding gives players an option for taking over vehicles which are currently in use by the enemy team, but without having to destroy the vehicle, and without having to rely on power weapons or grenades. Why is it not a bad option in the same way that Armour Lock is? Because: 1) Typically, it requires a decent amount of skill, timing and thought to pull off. So it doesn't present itself as an obvious choice over the skills which were previously necessary in taking on an enemy vehicle (killing the player). 2) It isn't always an option, and most of the time, the previous skills are still more appropriate in taking on enemy vehicles than vehicle boarding itself. Vehicle boarding is only valid when you get close enough to actually use the ability in the first place, which in itself is an effort to achieve, unless the enemy player makes a mistake of their own. So the other skills, such as destroying the vehicle itself or killing the people inside it, are still very much appropriate and valid. So to put it simply, the extra option isn't something which negates the need for skill in order to take on the vehicle, it simply adds another option which still requires timing, thought and a decent amount of skill from the player to use effectively. How does this apply to Spartan Abilities? I think that they should all be more aligned with the kind of things vehicle boarding brought to Halo gameplay, and less aligned with what armour lock brought to gameplay. My current theory on the ground-punch Spartan Ability One of the abilities which the Halo 5 beta trailer seemed to show off was the yet-to-be-officially-named 'ground pucnh' abilitiy. It shows a spartan using the thruster pack to thrust down and punch the ground. The resulting effect in the trailer is that the enemy spartans get blown away from the impact (and possibly killed?), even though the ground-punch-spartan didn't actually come into direct contact with them. I think the ground punch might do damage based on the height you fall from when using it. For example, falling from a mere jumping height will do very little damage (if any), while falling from a large height (say from the top of Construct to the bottom) will do more damage, and perhaps have a higher damage radius, due to the fall itself taking longer. If this theory is true, then it would seem to be a self-regulating feature in that players who try to spam the ability, by simply jumping and using it over and over again, will get very little benefit from it because they wont be using it from a decent height. And the result will be that they're putting themselves at risk more than they're helping themselves. If players use it from a height, the increased damage would be the reward for having to time the jump/fall more accurately to get results. Also, as pointed out by Gobias no Teambeyond, it would reward the controlling of higher ground, but you would have to sacrifice that advantage in order to risk the opportunity to deal more damage. Some questions: What would your own philosophy be on how the Spartan Abilities should fit into Halo gameplay? Do you have any theories on what some of the yet-to-be-shown SAs might be? What do you think about how the 'ground-punch' SA should/could work?

Sup, Community? This is Darkrain491 with the best way to keep loadouts but balance them effectively. I recently posted a related thread that was side tracked. So please keep this thread solely on loadouts, and on posting your ideas and suggesting improvements on other peoples but first some things that I want to make clear and are facts and are not negotiable or deniable. 1: The secong fire mode of the Boltshot is a shotgun mode and is OP despite its Nerf. Some people maintain that it is not a shotgun. 2: Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades in Loadouts IS overpowered, without a doubt. 3: The amount of Flinch the DMR causes is far to much, and flinch should be removed entirely. 4: this thread is only about loadouts 5: Sprint for everyone as a default should be kept as the majority of Halo 4 maps are big, and Halo 5 should have much of the same, but made better with better initial weapons and better spawns. Primary Weapon Choices: UNSC Precision: Battle Rifle: Shield Break 3 Bursts, Health 3 Bursts, 2x Zoom. 36 mag (12 bursts) DMR: Shield Break 4 Shots, Health 3 Shots, 3x Zoom 15 mag UNSC Automatic: Assualt Rifle: Shield Break 12 Shots, Health 6 Shots, No Zoom. 32 Mag. ODST Silenced SMG: Shield Break 18 Shots, Health 10 Shots, 2x Zoom. 48 Mag. Covenant Precision (Arbeiter's Faction): Covenant Carbine: Shield Break 6 Shots, Health 4 Shots, 2x Zoom. 18 Mag Covenant Automatic Weapons: Plasma Rifle: Shield Break 8 Shots, Health 10 Shots. Plasma Repeater: Shield Break 14 Shots, Health 10 Shots. (No overheat, venting system, high fire rate) Storm Precision Weapons (Jul M'daama's faction) Needle Rifle: Shield Break 7 Shots, Health 3 Shots (SuperCombine), 2x Zoom. 21 Mag. Storm Automatic Weapons Storm Rifle: Shield Break 8 Shots, Health 10 Shots. (Higher Firerate than Plasma Rifle, Overheats faster) Brute Militia Precision Weapon Thorn Rifle: Shield Break 4 Shots, Health 3 Shots, 3.5x Zoom, High Bloom. 15 Mag. Brute Militia Automatic Weapon: Spiker: Shield Break 14 Shots, Health 12 Shots, Bonus Melee damage large Magazine (52) Forerunner Precision Weapons: Light Rifle: (Unzoomed) Shield Break 4 Bursts, Health 3 Shots, 36 Magazine (Zoomed) Shield Break 3 Shots, Health 2 Shots, 3x Zoom, 12 Shots a Magazine Promethean Automatic Weapon Suppressor: Shield Break 13 Shots, Health 13 Shots, 48 magazine Armour Abilities Now these are centered around more balanced Gameplay and not player benefits. Player Self Aid: Active Camo: Note (These ideas are from another thre and are NOT my original ideas but i liked them alot so i feel the need to spread these new Active Camo Abilities) Active Camo in its current form is an op camo campers dream. these changes take their dream and turn it against them. The new Active Camo works better the FASTER you move, causing the players position to always be revealed but they will be invisible, So now it is better for crossing open fields where there is little cover opening new stategies instead of improving old camping metheods. now that you will always be on radar, there is no need for the radar jammer, but we will come back to that. While active, promethean vision will not work on you while you are sprinting. Evade: Now that all players have ready to use sprint, evade is limited to one use per cooldownbut otherwise is the same as hali reaches, this replaces thruster pack Jump Pack: This replaces the currently OP jetpack this is a single use upwards thrust thay luanches a player into the air by about 15 feet in a slow arch movement, similar to the brute jump packs in Halo 3. Promethean Vision: Same effects as Halo 4. people are diffently affected while they have active Radar jammer or Active camo. Drop shields and Regen Fields are highlighted in blue and green respectivly. Players who are not moving will be fully highlighted red, not just red outlines. Suppirt Self Aid: Armour Lock: By removing the ability to stun those who melee an armour locked player and the EMP effect on players (but will still affect vechicles) this armour ability becomes not overpowered and cannot he abused the way it was in reach. now it will be good for anti-vechicle and explosion surviving, the way bungie meant it to be used. Hard light shield: Provides an alternative to armour lock that gives the user more mobility at the cost of less protection, it will work as it currently does Grenade Resistance: 10 seconds (Interupptable) of lessened grenade damage (players will still killed one hit with full shields when stuck) offers yet another alternative to armour lock that allows full mobility but only reduced damage from grenades and not all forms of damage (AA version of explosives support package) Stamina: While active, provides the user with faster reloads and indefinate sprint (Mix of the mobility and dexterity packages) Support: Drop Shield: (Assume a return of the medpacks and health system) Creates a bubble shield (stronger than reaches, weaker than Halo 3s) that while within it your will automatically regain healt But not shields, but they will start to recharge normally. Regeneration Field: The Opposite of Drop Shield. This AA will automatically recharge TEAMATES shields but not their health their is also no bubble effect or vison obscuring Radar Jamming: Due to the new removal of radar jamming on Active Camoflage, it can be made into an AA that Does this: Creates false enemy and teamate indicators on enemy motion sensors that are within range. prevents the player being seen on promethean vision while walking or sprinting. EMP drop mine: Large EMP AoE detantion that stuns vechicles and drains shields but emits green light and beeps loudly, can be triggerd by shooting or pressing AA button again, long recharge time. Seconadary Weapons: ODST silanced Pistol: Shield Break 5 Shots, Health 3 Shots, 2x Zoom Halo 4 Magnum: Shield Break 4 Shots, Health 3 Shots, 2x Zoom Halo 3 Magnum: Shield Break 3 Shots, Health 2 Shots, No Zoom, Slowest firerate of secondarys Second Primary: Player may subsitute their armour ability to spawn with a second primary weapon of the same faction as their primary All player have defualt frags, not changable. Packages are removed entirely, Waypoints to power weapons are removed, except when within 5 feet of the weapon, Flinch is removed and replaced with the zoom out when shot. these are my revised loadout system to balance the game and promote team work, as protecters and and aiding teamates with the support armour abilities will earn you bonus credits used to buy SOME armour pieces, some are unlocked via set requirements e.g 15 perfections. Credits DO NOT act as EXP and the ranking system is similar to Halo 2 crossed with halo 3s Please tell me what you think!

I think another problem with was the lack of urging teams to work together and many of the teamwork orientated playlists were removed, the foremost was Invasion. So i have come up with Some ways to oromote teamwork and coming to teamates aid they heavily reward players who aid teamates and the team as a whole during team games. Some of the content on this thread will require you to have a glance at my loadouts thread, link below http://www.343industries.org/forum/topic/30684-halo-5-multiplayer-my-opinion-on-balancing-and-loadouts/page-1?do=findComment&comment=277212 1: More Assist and Rescuer style medals. And they should reward more XP than they currently do. Examples: Medic assist Medal (15 XP) Heal Teamates Health using Drop Shield Recharge assist Medal (15 XP) Recharge Teammates Shields using Regeneration Field Jammer assist Medal (15 XP) Jam an opponents Radar while a teamate kills him/her Lucky Star Medal (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Binary Rifle Guardian Angel (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with a Sniper Rifle Blue Guardian (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Beam Rifle Boomstick Bouncer (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Shotgun Scatter Saviour (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Scattershot Banhammer (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Gravity Hammer Slash n' Dash (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Energy Sword Guided Rockets (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Rocket Launcher Green Lantern (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Fuel Rod Cannon Fireman (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Incineration Cannon Needle and Stiches (20 XP) Save a teamate by killing their attacker with the Needler I Will post more weapon ones later. On Waypoint, And in game, It should display Not just kills and Assists but also rescues, heals, recharges and distractions, and going into details reveals what weapons they save teamates with most. This also would help clans establish wether a player is a good or bad team player easier and help them determine these players playstyle. Holding or Defending objectives should also reward players more for their effort, CTF has the right Idea with 100 XP a Flag Capture. Invasion should return as as Gametypes, as should all other previously removed gametypes. Any other suggestions should be posted with the utmost sinceriaty. Finally if you go to my loadout page to read up so you understand some of the stuff ive posted you might not undertand overwise (such as the Jammer medal) and dont forget to state your opinion there two!

Yeah Halo 4 looks really cool, but the one main issue that keeps getting brought up in a lot of the online videos that at least I have seen thus far is that Halo 4 will bring about a well balanced matchmaking gaming experience. A lot of people are saying that the tactical packages and support upgrades will be sort of pointless because each group consist of basically one choice that everyone would be using over the other possible known choices. For the Tactical Packages the one that everyone will choose without a doubt would be the Shield Package; "Through a modifying bypass of standard performance regulators, the Shield Package reinforces personal energy-shield emitters, resulting in a substantially higher shield-recharge rate. After taking damage, players will notice their shields recharging at a quicker speed than others who have not opted for this package in their loadout" *. Moreover, for the Support Upgrades the one that everyone will choose without a doubt would be the Sensor Upgrade; "Increases the range and sensitivity of the radar" **. Now comes my long awaited question, Does anyone out there have any ideas or suggestions for some Creative, buy yet, BALANCE perks to be added into the new Halo 4 perk set-up system? For example, in order to counter balance the Sensor Upgrade perk and to avoid everyone using it, I think that 343 should design some sort of support upgrade perk that will allow one to disappear from their foes radarsystem all together while not having a personal radar system of their own. To me, if they had that kind of perk I would be a very happy gamer. This way, not everyone in a gaming lobby will be using Sensor Upgrade as a perk, thus creating some very interesting and balanced match-ups. There will be those who prefer a better radar to those who would rather prefer not appearing on radar at all and vica-versa (possibilities possibilities possibilities -that is the name of the game). Anyway, this is one of my ideas for a perk that Halo 4 should use, because besides being a very good counter balance to the sensor upgrade perk, I hate being seen on radar as I move about on a map more so than I would hate not having a radar, and therefore, I would always choose this perk that I would call either "floodgate" base off of one of the skulls in Halo 3 or "radar-lock". Below is a list of websites of which will explain the current known tactical packages and support upgrade perks. Thus, check them out if you haven't already and reply back with some ideas of your own. Thank you for you're time Tyco * http://halo.wikia.co...ctical_Packages ** http://www.littleeng...s-tactical.html -Edited to increase size and readability-

I'll start off by saying that I've been a fan of the franchise since Halo: Combat Evolved, and that I'm currently studying game design. These are my impressions of Halo 4 so far after spending roughly five or more hours snapping up every tid-bit of information on the net and from E3. I'm going to focus on the things I DON'T like, there are a lot of things I'm excited for about Halo 4 including Campaign, Spartan Ops, the fact that they brought the BR back into the sandbox, etc. Please realise that I'm writing this for the love of Halo. ARMOUR ABILITIES should be removed, or toned down. They slow down the gameplay too much, they imbalance the gameplay, they're unnecessary for a fun, engaging experience and most importantly they go against the core principle of halo gameplay, that everyone has the same abilities (when I say that, I'm talking about moving, shooting, reloading, jumping, etc.) and everyone starts off a match on equal footing. I'll go into a bit of detail about the new armour abilities and why I think they're unnecessary. -Promethean Vision, the radar is a classic Halo staple, and gives players everything they need in terms of player detection. Seeing through walls also focuses the player on visual detection too much and detracts from the simply awe inspiring sound engine that's been in every Halo. -Active Camo, not sure if this has actually made the cut or if it's coming back as a powerup from an ordnance drop, in which case I wouldn't have too many problems with it. But in it's armour ability form, active camo slows down gameplay A LOT, promotes camping and is activated too often, making radar redundant. -Hardlight Shield, for those that don't know is Halo 4's version of armour lock (what I like to think of as the spanner-in-the-works of Reach) and appears like a riot shield. It's much more toned down than armour lock however most of the same problems remain. It promotes defensive gameplay, ergo slowing down gameplay, and makes 2v1 situations (traditionally always an interesting dynamic where the underdog always has that chance for the double) untenable for the lone player. It is also far too useful in team situations where focus firing should be rewarded as an active component of gameplay and is instead punished by the press of one button. -Thrusterpack is implemented like a toned down version of evade from Halo: Reach. It detracts from the gameplay because it makes grenade placement and aiming redundant when combined with the new grenade indicator (just like the jetpack did in Reach) ergo slowing down gameplay, it promotes double bashing, it makes close combat weapons like the sword and the Promethean shotgun overpowered as players are able to rapidly close distance between targets, it makes escaping far too easy and thus promotes elusive playstyles, slowing down gameplay even more. -Hologram, from what I've seen it seems to be implemented the same as it was in Halo: Reach and the same problems remain, it doesn't really add anything to the gameplay as players will use it EVERY fight, it's possible for it to trick a skilled player but most of the time it's just a small irritant, therefore it's unnecessary. -Jetpack (I really hope this doesn't make the cut) it has all the same problems as thrusterpack with the added problem of having to make all maps abuse-proof and an unhealthy redundancy of power weapons like the rocket and sword. PERKS are not as bad as armour abilities, but still unnecessary. They also go against that main tenet of core halo gameplay. SPRINT, sprint is unnecessary because; 1. Halo has never needed sprint to produce dynamic, fast, fun and engaging gameplay. 2. It rewards players for playing elusively, thus slowing down gameplay. For example it makes the important positional gameplay of Halo 2 and 3 redundant because players can high tail it out of situations with sprint that they should really be punished for entering. 3. It makes close combat weapons like the sword overpowered. 4. It promotes double bashing. The RANKING AND EXPERIENCE SYSTEM of Halo: Reach that rewards mindless playing. I'm not against an exp system that gives unlocks and shows how much a player has played in a holistic sense, but I'm more of the mind that it NEEDS to take second place next to a WORTHWHILE RANK that accurately displays a player's LEVEL OF SKILL. RANKED PLAYLISTS should not be thrown in the same category as "social" playlists like the Arena in Halo: Reach. It should have it's own category to make it seem worthwhile and important and encourage players to try it out. This was one of the main reasons the Arena in Reach is a wasteland, along with the fact that the rank attained in the Arena isn't visible outside that playlist. If armour abilities, perks, loadouts and unlocks absolutely must be in Infinity Slayer, then so be it, but RANKED PLAYLISTS should NOT have these, they should remain a more pure, traditional halo experience that I'm confident 343 can deliver. BLOOM is another major element that ruined Halo; Reach for me, it introduced far too much luck. Rather than promoting skilful shooting as it was intended, it rewards players that spam the trigger and get lucky with the bullet-spread at the more common encounter ranges. From what I've seen and heard, bloom isn't as major an issue in Halo 4 as it was in Reach but I'd like to see it removed and have distance dps modifiers implemented in a different fashion. tl;dr To sum up, and continue, SUGGESTIONS FOR HALO 4. -Remove armour abilities from the game, if they must be in, give them a long cool-down, for example 60- seconds, so that they're only usable in every 4th or more encounter rather than every encounter. OR, simply have them in a separate playlist from everything else. -Remove Sprint, Bloom and Perks from the game. -Ranked playlists separate from "social", without armour abilities, perks, bloom and with fixed loadouts. -Ranks attained in ranked playlists that are worthwhile, accurate, and given a priority on a player's gamer card in-game. -Maps to bring back from the franchises' past (me faves) Guardian, The Pitt and Sanctuary. Although I love a lot more, there's no point listing everything. -A no-scope medal! Thanks for reading.