Halo Fans: Where do you stand on Spartan Abilities? (Sprint , Thruster, etc.)

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

List of Spartan Abilities:

• Sprint
• Thruster
• Spartan Charge
• Ground Pound
• Clamber
• Stabilize
• Slide

I have two layered questions for you:

1. Where do you stand on these? Which would you like to return in "Halo 6," if any? Are you indifferent, as in you don't mind if they stay or go?
2. Would you be okay with Warzone (12v12 mode w/ REQ system) having these abilities, while Arena modes (8v8 and below, equal starts, etc.) took a more Classic Halo™ approach without any of them? Perhaps you'd only want Thruster enabled for Arena, while sprint and everything else is disabled?

There's a lot to consider here, like map design and aim assist accounting for sprint and other abilities, but assuming there wouldn't be any issues actually developing these two styles, would you be okay with this split for multiplayer?

Mind you, previous Halo games already had similar splits between playlists, so this wouldn't be new to the franchise (Competitive playlists in H2 and H3 like MLG/Hardcore vs standard playlists, Reach Title Update playlists, Halo 4 Legendary starts, Halo 5 Warzone vs Arena, etc.).

This is such a hot topic in Halo communities, so what do you fine folks think? And if you hate Halo, don't even bother replying.. or else!

 

[II JumPeR I]

I hate them. They really have to go.
Thruster especially ruined 1v1 battles.

 

[Prine]

Love them and hope they become staple to the series, the thrusters and clamber in particular.

Halo 5 combat is the best Halo has been, id rather 343i leave this element alone and focus on strengthening level amd encounter design moving foward, if they nail that they'll have a masterpiece on their hands.

I see no need to remove abilities in other modes as it should be an intrinsic part of Halo's movement.

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

I hate them. They really have to go.
Thruster especially ruined 1v1 battles.

Click to shrink...

Your post already covers question 1, but what about question 2? I'm curious if you, as someone who loathes every ability, be fine with them in Warzone at least? Would you be fine with that split or do you want them removed entirely?

 

[It’s Time To Go]

They're weird and I don't like them. I'm not a big Halo multiplayer guy and even in single player, I don't like it. Sprinting specially, since it feels so minor, yet it really wrecks the feeling of the game.

 

[Chettlar]

Is it weird that I am basically just 100% no on sprint, but conflicted on most of the others?

 

[TheFireman]

I love all of them except Sprint and Clamber. I'd be fine with seeing those two go. But they also won't be a deal breaker if they're still in next time.

 

[Deleted member 2229]

Sprint is fine as is stuff like mantling. Everything else has to go though.

 

[36 Chambers]

Been playing a lot of Halo 5 lately.

Honestly the abilities aren't that bad. The spartan charge is Trash though. The amount of times I've been mid battle with someone and their team mate comes out of no where and spartan charges me to death is annoying.

Clamber I don't really mind. People struggled with the trick jumps in 2 and 3 so it makes it easier for them I guess.

Ground pound, while fun to troll with, isn't very useful once you learn to avoid it.

Stabilise and slide can go.

Thruster I like. It adds another dynamic to a battle and kinda takes over from strafing in a lot of enounters.

Sprint can die in a fire. Its ruined the entire flow of Halo gameplay. Maps from the old games don't play as well. And newer maps that have to account for sprint aren't very good. Just lose it. Running from a battle with no shields is lame as fuck. It used to take skill to survive close fights. Even with the shield recharge penalties I'm still not on board with sprint in Halo. It's pandering to the general audience.

I get it. The abilities sell the idea of a spartan super soldier. Whatever. I still don't want them in Halo. As I'm definitely in the minority, I accept they're here to stay. Even if my love of Halo has suffered for it.

I would 100 per cent be happy for abilities to be in warzone/campaign and leave arena Halo to the Classic gameplay without them.

Never gonna happen though :/

I should also mention that a split is probably a bad idea. One unified setting is the way. Gears is still suffering from the core/comp split. Two weapon tunings that just annoyes everyone when they have to play their least favourite.

 

[Defect]

Sprint needs to go. Absolutely no reason to have it. Just have good base movement speed.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

I'm not against the concept per se, but they've been handled horribly in Reach and 4 imho. 5 did it good. Sprint can definitely stay, too, this isn't 2006 anymore.

 

[Deleted member 8001]

Never was a fan of these in Reach and it's why I dropped the game from matchmaking. I don't wanna sprint, I don't want special abilities, I just wanna play some classic Halo.

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Is it weird that I am basically just 100% no on sprint, but conflicted on most of the others?

Click to shrink...

Not weird at all. I'd probably remove Spartan Charge if Sprint was removed though, but I could see Slide changed to be Thruster + Crouch = Slide. I'm iffy on Thruster for Arena since almost every engagement boils down to "Take a few shots -> Enemy uses Thruster -> Adjust aiming to account for sudden jolt of movement." It can be grating to the experience, but I'd at least keep Thruster for Warzone because of how fun it is to pull off creative maneuvers.

I think I'd like to keep Ground Pound and Stabilize everywhere though, maybe.

 

[Chettlar]

Not weird at all. I'd probably remove Spartan Charge if Sprint was removed though, but I could see Slide changed to be Thruster + Crouch = Slide. I'm iffy on Thruster for Arena since almost every engagement boils down to "Take a few shots -> Enemy uses Thruster -> Adjust aiming to account for sudden jolt of movement." It can be grating to the experience, but I'd at least keep Thruster for Warzone because of how fun it is to pull off creative maneuvers.

I'd like to keep Ground Pound and Stabilize everywhere though.

Click to shrink...

I definitely am not a fan of slide in Halo. It's another thing that eliminating sprint would hopefully fix, unless they made Thruster + Crouch into an actual slide mechanic, which I would dislike.

I don't mind thruster because I like the freedom it provides, but I also do hear the argument that lessens the impact of positioning. I'm conflicted on it. It's really fun in Halo 5 and just instantly felt natural to use. But yeah, I don't know. Can't decide on that one.

Ground pound is fine. At worst, it's useless, at best it's awesome. It's kind of like assassinations. I think it adds a flashy new feature without detracting from the experience.

Is stabilize like clamber or whatever? I'm not familiar with the term. If so eh yeah, keep it. Especially since I think they allow you to turn off clamber right?

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

Is stabilize like clamber or whatever? I'm not familiar with the term. If so eh yeah, keep it. Especially since I think they allow you to turn off clamber right?

Click to shrink...

Stabilize is when you hover in the air for a couple of seconds while aiming. And they allow you to turn off Spartan Abilities in Halo 5, but that's only for Custom Games. Matchmaking still has them implemented everywhere.

On that note, I wouldn't mind if all the abilities return for at least Custom Games. Even bring back Jet Pack as that fun to mess around with.

 

[Sir Guts]

I don't like the abilities but if only one I can be okay with is the sprinting

Where do you stand on these? Which would you like to return in "Halo 6," if any? Are you indifferent, as in you don't mind if they stay or go?

Click to shrink...

All of them should go but if they want only one from those, I'll pick sprinting.

Would you be okay with Warzone (12v12 mode w/ REQ system) having these abilities, while Arena modes (8v8 and below, equal starts, etc.) took a more Classic Halo™ approach without any of them? Perhaps you'd only want Thruster enabled for Arena, while sprint and everything else is disabled?

Click to shrink...

Not a fan of Warzone as I still think abilities will ruin the game in Arena and Warzone. Take Halo back to being classic

 

[Chettlar]

Stabilize is when you hover in the air for a couple of seconds while aiming.

Click to shrink...

Oh I completely forgot about that. It's a very noob friendly thing, but it also has positives and negatives. It makes you a really really easy target.

Can you turn that one off? I don't think I ever did. I imagine some more hard core players would prefer it off.

I think that one I will say I am indifferent on, though it did allow me to make a pretty decent play. This was when I almost never used snipers because I am historically awful with them.



I was so pumped when I did this lol. It's pretty average but ya know. That last shot there.

 

[Casa]

Main reason I fell off of Halo 5 and haven't even thought about touching it in a couple of years now. Hate all that stuff. I want pure, simple Halo again. Don't care about Warzone so all that shit can stay in there.

I've been playing through Halo CE and Halo 2 recently and it makes me sad to see how little I cared for H5. Not that's it's a poor game on its own, it just doesn't feel like the Halo I loved.

 

[Deleted member 4372]

Hate sprint. In my opinion unlimited sprint makes Halo not feel like Halo.

 

[Deleted member 28331]

.

 

[Simmonds]

I know it may sound pathetic but my stance on these are that these abilities make me no longer a Halo fan, these are the games that I grew up playing every day since they were released and 1-3 are/were my favourite games ever (343's Master Chief Collection has left me with a really bad taste in my mouth for even these games now). While I understand the need for change after so many years of the same formula the gameplay of 1-3 is what made me the massive gaming fan that I am, i loved playing these games as it felt like your skill was determined on not only your skill with the weapons but also your movement and these abilities changed the game too much for me to continue supporting the franchise. I did actually really like Halo reach and sort of liked the Halo 4's multiplayer (hated the campaign) 5 is one step too far because of these new movement techniques and the first moment I tried the beta for 5 and felt the controls being the default controls for Call of Duty I was finished with the franchise.

 

[X1 Two]

Hate them. Things like Sprint is only there to fix the slow speed of the character. Just double normal speed and all is good. Same for the rest. Just give all Spartans a double jump. For me, character customization kills gameplay because some skill will always be better than others, there is no 100 % balancing. Give every player the same abilities all the time and player skill becomes the deciding factor.

 

[36 Chambers]

Gamers nowadays need some degree of uniformity in their games.

Hence Sprint and ADS (Even if its not that bad in H5)

If this stuff bothers you that much just move on from Halo. In terms of time played in Halo games, Im essentially retired from Halo.I'm not gonna get the game I want. Theres always gonna be sprint and the rest of this shit in the games.

Halo used to be my reliable go to game to have fun online. Those days are long gone.

 

[Dervius]

The mobility in Halo 5 really made it feel fresh, I'd definitely struggle to go back in future installments without it.

That said I do enjoy the old-school Halo shootouts, but they can feel a little dated.

As for question 2, I'd like to see the abilities stay for all modes in Halo 6, but I wouldn;t be opposed to a "purist" playlist or something where they're disabled. Similar to how Gears of War had the playlists with only Lancer/Gnasher, and only with the older damage profiles.

 

[Van Bur3n]

I have no issues with them. I was part of the crowd who couldn't stand sprinting in previous Halo games like Reach and Halo 4 because it is incredibly annoying to get the first shot on someone and then for them immediately sprint away with no consequence and negating all of my efforts. I feel they balanced sprint well enough in Halo 5 by having it stop shield regeneration. The other abilities are a nice touch that add enough to mix up your typical Halo encounter, while still retaining what Halo is all about. After sprint, thrust is probably the second most effective of the Spartan abilities, and can turn the tide of a fight if timed correctly. There is skill is understanding that timing in when to best throw off your enemy and it's a fine addition.

The rest of the abilities conveniences that are nice to have like clamber, stabilize, and slide. Or gimmicky kills like the spartan charge and ground pound. The former are nice to have for the player's sake and don't drastically affect gameplay all that much. Climb to get up those ledges without the awkward crouch jumping, slide to gain some additional speed to get to where you need to go (it has no real tactical use in a combat situation), and stabilize if you...want to annoy the enemy? I can't seem to get much use out of it, but I've seen good players use it quite well. The latter spartan charge and ground pound are rarer ways to kill off an enemy. Most of the time, they won't always be useful. But when you find those moments, they're entertaining abilities to have. I'd agree they're equal to that of assassinations.

Overall, I'm fine with them being available in both Warzone and Arena. But I can perfectly play a Halo game without them. I can go either or, but I will say 343 finally found a pretty good balance with the Spartan abilities.

They're weird and I don't like them. I'm not a big Halo multiplayer guy and even in single player, I don't like it. Sprinting specially, since it feels so minor, yet it really wrecks the feeling of the game.

Click to shrink...

Then why bother posting. Especially since you can't explain yourself.

 

[Novocaine]

I like them, I'll take them all back for 6.

Adding a classic arena where they are all disabled would be cool.

 

[Breqesk]

Dump sprint: I'm firmly of the opinion that you should always be able to fire your weapon in Halo, and having a whole separate movement 'mode' just mucks up the flow of moving around a map. I'd be willing to accept a moderately increased base movement speed to compensate, though full-on Quake/Unreal speeds would be too much.

Keep thruster: it adds an extra dynamic to one-on-one duels that I really enjoy. Clamber's fine, too.

The rest I'm basically indifferent on.

Oh, and one non-Spartan Ability based change I'd make: get rid of zoom/sights on most/all of the automatic weapons. As is, you can still be slightly more effective with, say, a pistol at range than an assault rifle—but only if you're good, and even then, the difference is pretty negligible, and certainly not enough to make up for the gulf in difficulty between landing consecutive headshots with a pistol, and just keeping an assault rifle on target.

I'd also really appreciate having cosmetic customisation decoupled from the farcically awful REQ system - having to melt endless garbage in the hope of RNGing my way into, say, a helmet that's caught my eye is actually a big part of why I stopped playing Halo 5 MP; it just started to feel like pointless busywork - with, assuming it has to stay at all, all that crud confined to Warzone boosts and weapons, where I can ignore it. (Assuming they don't hang BTB out to dry again with 6...)

I know there's no way in hell that last one's happening, though.

 

[Casa]

Gamers nowadays need some degree of uniformity in their games.

Hence Sprint and ADS (Even if its not that bad in H5)

If this stuff bothers you that much just move on from Halo. In terms of time played in Halo games, Im essentially retired from Halo.I'm not gonna get the game I want. Theres always gonna be sprint and the rest of this shit in the games.

Halo used to be my reliable go to game to have fun online. Those days are long gone.

Click to shrink...

This is where I'm at, unfortunately. Things like ADS, sprint, clamber just made H5 feel like a generic sci-fi shooter rather than Halo. Rather than the simplistic "gun, melee, grenades" mantra of Halo's 1-3 it just feels more chaotic and unpredictable.

I'm still going to get the next Halo and give it a chance but I'm not expecting to fall in love with it like I did the old games.

 

[Kinthey]

They always felt super gimmicky to me. Like a tacked on way to keep up with other shooters that had introduced similar stuff, so I can really do without them. Don't mind if they keep them for warzone though as that mode isn't meant to play like classic Halo anyway

 

[Kasey]

I'm ok with sprint going away as long as they don't make movement as slow as CE or 3. Those games are just too fucking slow.

 

[jem]

List of Spartan Abilities:

• Sprint
• Thruster
• Spartan Charge
• Ground Pound
• Clamber
• Stabilize
• Slide

Click to shrink...

• Sprint - Neutral
• Thrust - Pro
• Spartan Charge - Currently against, if they remove all aim assist/magnetism then I'd be pro (assuming sprint remains).
• Ground pound - pro, it's gimmicky but entertaining and it doesn't really detract from the game in any way. If you get killed by a ground pound you got massively out played.
• Clamber - pro
• Stabilize - Mixed. I like it but they need to come up with a better control implementation. I don't like how it's tied to scope.
• Slide - Neutral, doesn't really do anything. If sprint is in then I guess I'd rather slide was in that out.

 

[Burrman]

I hate them. They really have to go.
Thruster especially ruined 1v1 battles.

Click to shrink...

Your job is to hate things

 

[Kuro]

Sprint is pointless. I'm fine with most other abilities but I fear they might be looking at Overwatch for Halo 6 and we'll end up with "heroes".

 

[inoperativ]

I really like the thruster, ground pound, and stabilize (it's kind of annoying you need a controller with paddles to use it properly though). I don't have strong opinions either way about the rest, although I'd miss the sprint into slide + jump + thruster combo if sprint was taken out.

I would be fine with Warzone and Arena having different spartan abilities. Warzone could even have loadout items giving you new abilities/changing the functionality of the standard ones for all I care.

 

[Haze]

I enjoyed armor abilities in Reach because they were simpler and didn't change the core gameplay. Halo 5 does not feel like a Halo game. The switch to what is closer to a twitch shooter than an arena shooter did not sit well with me. The TTK is lower and that alone bothers me but often I felt games would end without reaching the kill caps and it's because it's actually too easy to escape via the plethora of new abilities.

 

[Deleted member 23475]

No warzone (but btb yes) and no Spartan abilities on my side.
I would prefer a come back to the classic Halo gameplay that we all knew and love.

 

[J-Rod]

Never really was a fan. Sprint maybe is okay.

 

[_Karooo]

Gun, grenade and shield is Halo.

 

[Gareth]

I really wouldn't want to do without Sprint, Thrust and Clamber now.

There never seems to be any consensus among Halo fans, lol.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Get rid of Charge and Pound. Destroy Smart Link. Dash and Clamber are okay. Sprint can go if they up the base speed, but I don't see that happening.

Base gameplay ought to be the same between game modes. No added abilities in Warzone.

 

[Knugen]

IMO there needs to be a classic/bare bones 4v4 playlist with slayer and objective game types.

I'm pro spartan abilities and think they are a well implemented 4th pillar in the the sandbox that adds a new level of strategi and I would be sad to see them go. Bungie tried to add something similar in the past with equipment and armor abilities but to a lesser success since those go against equal starts and adds randomness to the sandbox. The only ability I really have an issue with is spartan charge and I hope 343i will fix it for Halo 6.

 

[Mr. Snrub]

I hate them.


I'd probably be ok with a separate game-mode/playlist, but I'd rather them just removed.

 

[jelly]

I would be more happy with a faster base movement and a power up sprint or keep sprint in the campaign but the base movement would need to match which is probably a can of worms for 343. I'm honestly fed up pushing it to get around, it's tiresome, modern FPS suck in this regard. It's such a tough choice, I don't envy 343 on that front. I do like clamber but can understand the purity aspect of Halo is at odd with that, gun available when moving.

I'm not sure you could split the abilities to game modes, wouldn't that just be a mess and confusion for players.

 

[NamelessNamekian]

Your post already covers question 1, but what about question 2? I'm curious if you, as someone who loathes every ability, be fine with them in Warzone at least? Would you be fine with that split or do you want them removed entirely?

Click to shrink...

Remove them entirely. ALL HAIL HALO 1!!

 

[It’s Time To Go]

I have no issues with them. I was part of the crowd who couldn't stand sprinting in previous Halo games like Reach and Halo 4 because it is incredibly annoying to get the first shot on someone and then for them immediately sprint away with no consequence and negating all of my efforts. I feel they balanced sprint well enough in Halo 5 by having it stop shield regeneration. The other abilities are a nice touch that add enough to mix up your typical Halo encounter, while still retaining what Halo is all about. After sprint, thrust is probably the second most effective of the Spartan abilities, and can turn the tide of a fight if timed correctly. There is skill is understanding that timing in when to best throw off your enemy and it's a fine addition.

The rest of the abilities conveniences that are nice to have like clamber, stabilize, and slide. Or gimmicky kills like the spartan charge and ground pound. The former are nice to have for the player's sake and don't drastically affect gameplay all that much. Climb to get up those ledges without the awkward crouch jumping, slide to gain some additional speed to get to where you need to go (it has no real tactical use in a combat situation), and stabilize if you...want to annoy the enemy? I can't seem to get much use out of it, but I've seen good players use it quite well. The latter spartan charge and ground pound are rarer ways to kill off an enemy. Most of the time, they won't always be useful. But when you find those moments, they're entertaining abilities to have. I'd agree they're equal to that of assassinations.

Overall, I'm fine with them being available in both Warzone and Arena. But I can perfectly play a Halo game without them. I can go either or, but I will say 343 finally found a pretty good balance with the Spartan abilities.



Then why bother posting. Especially since you can't explain yourself.

Click to shrink...

Because I like the single player and can have an opinion on Halo gameplay. Why do you bother being passive aggressive about someone's opinion?

 

[Johnny Cage]

Best thing they added to the game. Go back and play halo 3after that. Slow as shit and boorrrrrring

 

[Freakzilla]

Sprint is the only one and that should just be a built in mechanic. I also hate the items. Halo 2 was the Last good Halo.

 

[RowdyReverb]

I think they are here to stay. The mobility feels too good to abandon and Ground Pound isn't nearly as OP as people feared prior to release. I think the abilities are well-tuned as well with things like delayed shield recharge while sprinting. They should stay in Arena and Warzone alike. After playing the Halo 3 classic playlist on H5 I realized that classic Halo style movement just feels out of place in this day and age. I still love those games of course, but most players have moved on

 

[henlo_birb]

I don't like them. Halo 1, Halo 2, and Halo 3 were some of my favorite games when they released. Halo: Reach was the point at which I stopped enjoying things, and even though I purchased Halo 4 at launch, I only ever played ~2 hours.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

Go.

Back.

To.

Halo.

One.

There. That's all. Yeah I know he's this super solider, he should sprint... that's fine. Give us the sprint. The other stuff? It's not needed. The only thing I do genuinely miss is ADS, but I came to terms with that ages ago.