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Halo 4 - Armour Abilities, Tactical Packages and Support Upgrades(More added)


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Yes, Mr.Biggles posted this thread before, but i have added more to it. Just a quick heads up on that. Thanks.

 

 

Halo Reach introduced Armour Abilities to the Halo sandbox, I think it's fair to say that they weren't universally popular. 343industries seem to be of the opinion that Armour Abilities as a concept weren't flawed, just their implementation in Reach.

 

Halo 4 brings Armour Abilities back and also adds Tactical Packages and Support Upgrades, the idea being that by creating a personalised loadout you tailor the game to your own strengths and playstyle. Halo purists will inevitably feel that they dilute the purity of Halo combat. Whilst this is true, as players we have to accept the need for the game to move on in the face of stiff competition.

 

If you play Halo in any sort of team you already have specialisations, you'll have a sniper, a driver, a shotgun guy, a guy who's a sticky pro, even the most casual teams have these sort of "specialisations" the new tactical and support upgrades are intended to be an extension of this concept.

 

Let's take a look at what we know so far about Armour Abilities, Tactical Packages and Support Upgrades.

 

Armour Abilities

 

Promethean Vision

 

The ability to see through walls. It doesn't last long, but for a few seconds you essentially have x-ray vision. When asked if there will be a counter to this various members of the 343i team have said "that's not something we can talk about at this time", which would suggests there will indeed be a counter revealed closer to launch - Possibly Active Camo?

 

 

2820902-web_preview.png

 

 

 

Hardlight Shield

 

Presumably intended to be a replacement for Reach's Armour Lock, this works much like a riot shield seen in various other FPSs. Player movement and turning is slowed and they are unable to shoot whilst using it. There have been suggestions that it only blocks ballistic attacks with explosions still causing damage through the shield.

 

 

2820880-web_preview.png

 

 

Auto-Sentry

 

We've not seen much of this, but expect it to function in a similar manner to the auto-turrets in Halo 3, more of a nuisance/distraction than a genuine threat to other players. We don't know how long they stay active for or if they run out of ammo, however we do know they are destroyed when the player who dropped them dies.

 

Jetpack

 

This was seen used in Spartan Ops during E3 and has been talked about in some of the closed beta leaks. We don't know much about it so can only assume it's similar to the Reach incarnation.

 

 

AAs.png

 

 

Thruster Pack

 

Two boosters on the Spartan's back thrust the player in a horizontal direction of their choosing. This seems to be a replacement for Evade, it can only be used once per charge which is down from 2 uses Evade had in Reach. I suspect they felt that Evade made little sense as an Armour Ability canonically - why wouldn't any Spartan be able evade as many times as they like?

 

 

2820915-web_preview.png

 

Active Camo

 

Not shown officially, but was seen on leaked menu screens from the beta.

 

Hologram

 

People who've played the E3 demo say this is identical to the Reach version - Holograms show up as normal players when seen using Promethean Vision.

 

Regeneration Field

 

Not shown, but discussed by players who've played the closed beta. Likely to be similar to the shield regenerator in Halo 3.

 

 

loadout2.PNG

 

Tactical Packages

 

Firepower Package

 

Allows the player to choose two primary weapons in their starting loadout, so you could start with both a DMR and BR as opposed to BR and Pistol.

 

Shield PackageShields will recharge faster.

 

 

2820910-web_preview.png

 

 

 

AA Efficiency

 

Faster recharge on Armour Abilities - Not shown publicly, leaked from the beta.

 

GrenadierCarry an extra grenade at spawn.

 

Resupply Unknown effect, maybe you can give ammo to team mates? Faster access to ordnance?

 

Shielding

 

Possibly the same as "Shield Package", but the leaked beta screens and Waypoint use different terminology so I'm listing this separately.

 

 

 

loadout3.PNG

 

 

Support Upgrades

 

 

AwarenessAllows the player to see their radar whilst using a scoped weapon. It also offers "heightened locational intel of all nearby enemies", although it's not clear what exactly that entails.

 

Sensor Upgrade Increases the range and sensitivity of the radar.

 

Ammo UpgradeAllows the player to spawn with more ammo.

 

Collect Grenades

Not sure of the official name on this one, but there is a support upgrade that allows you to pick up grenades from dead players - which also means that without this upgrade you will not be able to pick up grenades dropped by other players. It's possible that this is in fact "Resupply" from the Tactical Packages above?

 

Mobility

Infinite sprint. People who've played the game at E3 say that this isn't as big a boost as it sounds, you get quite a lot of sprint by default.

 

loadout.PNG

 

 

Power UpsOn top of all this, players can call for power ups in Ordnance drops, in the E3 demo we saw:

 

Overshield

 

In this video we see that it gives the user TEN SECONDS of invincibility:

 

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This is probably the most worrying thing I've seen in Halo 4. Just imagine what you could do to an opposing team in ten seconds with a shotgun.. I guess it will make Exterminations more common, that's a good thing.. right?

 

Speed Boost

 

Like it says on the tin, increases the bearers base movement speed.

 

Increased Damage

 

Differing reports on how much the damage is increased by, but it doesn't seem as though it's a game breaking amount.

 

http://www.littleeng...s-tactical.html

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Great stuff Angel. Seeing all this just makes it harder to wait till November. Keep that good stuff coming!!!

 

Enough with the Halo turning into CoD remarks. Every game has similar elements amongst them. CoD was not the first game to use loadouts, perks, zombie modes etc....

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10 seconds of invincibility from a drop? (has flashbacks to papa server on combat arms...) hopefully this wont be in all game types?

 

Yes, some of these perks, armor abilities i don't want to have to deal with. Also, infinity slayer only has the random power weapon drops. I just fear some of these will be very over powered.

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Yeah this game is fantastic when I was paying it at E3 it really felt like a Halo game to me. The Armor Abilities already seem balanced and so does the game. Its probably one of the best games you will play this year and as I got to play all the other games this year the only one that comes close to this game is either Far Cry 3 or Tomb Raider. But yeah this game is simply amazing!

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Hopefully the OS will not be a ten second damage free for all for the user. I do see the repercussions of such an ability and can see the arguments about being quite valid. Aside from the OS, the only one I do not like is the HardLight Shield. having an ability or perk like the OS we saw, makes having the Shield almost useless, especially if splash damage from ordinances bleed thru and transfer full damage. I would have liked to see it become more like the Jackal Shield, and allow a left hand weapon to be used. Not a power weapon...but a small arms firing weapon. They could incorporate things like the PP, SMG, magnum (without scope), etc...

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Well look at that, nice find. Although if I may say, the thruster pack looks completely useless. You can sprint as a base now, and can equip a jetpack. It just seems like a waste of an ability to me.

 

It's to get out of danger quick. You can zoom past people and to behind cover once per usage until it recharges. It's basically a quick 1 use evade and probably goes further than Evade. In the video you can see it being used.

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What i'm thinking is maybe the radar will be as it was in Halo 3 and that heightened locational intel of all nearby enemies from the Awareness Support Package changes the radar to one more similiar to the one in Reach, which means also showing if they're higher or lower or on the same level as you are.

 

Also, Overshield sounds like 100% total bs, making someone invincible is ridiculous, overpowered and unacceptable!

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