Maybe I worded that wrong but I have specific friends that always get so mad, which makes me laugh my ass off, but realistically it's the only good armor ability in my opinion that I can use legitimately. I would use the jet pack, but being on bumper jumper pretty much makes it impossible to use in battle. Otherwise it's my personal opinion that I like armor lock, and I'm not changing what I like because other people don't like it. So yeah pointless, unnecessary, and unneeded response.
Fair enough. Like I said, I'm not trying to debase or devalue your opinion, or tell you that you shouldn't enjoy AL at all, that's far from my place. I'm just saying that your post and those like would be better made in a discussion about the subjective side of AL's inclusion in Reach, a discussion which totally has its place, but this is just a different discussion, one about balance and not enjoyment.
The most annoying thing with armour lock is when you are in a ghost and ramming people from behind, they see the big blob on the mini-map and jump into armour lock. However, in that circumstance i can see a bit of skill. But in all other circumstances i hate it.
I'd say that's similar to my rocket example and thus I see your point. Either way, the only merit of skill that can be credited to AL is timing, and when offset against the massive crutch it is in terms of not having to make smart plays/have good awareness of people before they get that close/being able to hit shots faster than your opponent, I'd say the merit of timing as a skill is pretty much totally negated.
You should read the thread. There are some very well written and detailed explanations as to why some people don't like AL and why they consider it unbalanced. But as was mentioned, it isn't a discussion about whether or not you like it, it is a discussion about whether or not you consider it balanced. I considered it pretty well balanced, but after reading some of the good points made here, I admit that it is slightly over-powered. [br][/br]Edited by merge: A drawback of armor lock that hasn't been touched on much here is the attention that it draws. The sound of going into armor lock and the fact that the locker blazes bright white are both pretty significant drawbacks in my opinion. I think a lot of players don't use audio queues as much, so this maybe isn't as obvious. For example: the sprint ability. I love that ability because my regular teammates and I never use it and our opponents always do. In a SWAT game, anytime we hear the (very loud, especially with headphones on) panting of a sprinter, we immediately know to look that direction and get ready. It's like a radar in game where there was none. I don't mention that to start a off-topic conversation, but to illustrate the often overlooked aspect of sound. When I turn my back on an armor locked opponent I know that they come out of armor lock when I hear the distinct snap of the shields going off.
I know it's probably related to player skill, but over half the time I use armor lock, it ends in me being defeated, and when I meet an enemy who uses armor lock, I usually kill them.
You will actually have to read this to get the point. One of the biggest problems with height advantage is not that the higher player can shoot over cover or get better hits with grenades, but that he can call the shots. Being high up, you can just rain down fire until your shields are depleted, then pull back from the edge and wait for a team mate to finish him off, or for the enemy to go away. This is assuming you don't see the enemy through some transparent surface to pop back out when he turns around. This places the player on the ground at an incredible disadvantage. Now what happens if one of the people has a rocket launcher. The person on the ground must evade the entire blast radius of the rocket which, while the person on the ledge need only move enough to avoid a direct hit (ie back up a little). How is this different from armor lock? You can't use armor lock as often. This isn't even considering that armor lock allows you to deflect rockets back at the shooter, remove perfectly placed plasma grenades (alliteration ftw), destroy vehicles, and emp shields and vehicles. I tried playing one game with armor lock and immediately thought this is incredibly powerful and takes no skill to use. Then a minute later I wanted to go back to an armor ability that wasn't obnoxious, took skill to use, would make the game more fun, and would stop making the enemies switch to armor lock to counter it. How is a game actually supposed to work when everyone adopts one armor ability (and I mean everyone) because nothing else can counter it. It never works that way for me, unless I use sprint to run away.
Definitely true, though to be honest, being alerted that someone has gone in to, or even come out of AL isn't a massive advantage. I use the sprint sound a lot, especially in games without motion trackers like you say, but I don't find knowing when someone has AL'd to be nearly as useful if I'm honest. It's saved me going round corners and chasing once or twice, but in general I'm already well aware that my opponent has AL'd from seeing them do it right in front of me, and am well on the way to tearing my hair out already. It's inherently an ability used in heated situations, thus meaning you've probably noticed said player already if you have decent awareness. EDIT: @ pyro, your entire post perfectly conveys exactly what I'm trying to get at. It puts everything on the terms of the person using AL, and the power vs. skill required in 99% of effective AL situations just makes me want to cry. Hey kids, do you hate paying for your mistakes, bad judgement and deficit in skill compared to a given opponent? Here, have a crutch!
Exactly. AL is just a way for players who make poor decisions to be put back on par with players who make tactical decisions. Also, it makes the energy sword useless because so many people just lock when a player goes in for the sword lunge. The player with the sword gets emp'ed and then beat down by the guy that should be dead. It is absolutely ridiculous.
Ok, I read up to page 4 before I join the arguement. AL is my favourite armour ability that is very well balanced. -If you armour lock for a chance of survival you HAVE to rely on teammates, if you have no shields, all the enemy has to do is drop a grenade by your feet at the right time and you're dead. -You can't move which is fair -Another point to bring up: it is one of the most energy hungry AA, when you come out of AL you loose 1/4 of your AA energy and you also loose energy whilst using it. It also takes quite long for the energy to recharge compared to other AAs -You FREAKING GLOW! If the enemy team didn't know you were there they will now I personally feel that AL is a perfectly balanced armour ability because although you are given invunerability, you are sevearly disadvantaged. Edit: Another thing is people complaining that they try to splatter somebody with a ghost and they get blown up by an ALer. Why must you complain if you know the risk that the enemy might blow you up but you still decide to do it? It's your fault if you die because of this, it seems nobody knows that the ghost has guns.
just a thought! but i think you should stay in first person mode when locking it down! not pop out into third where you can look around and see if its safe to come out! anybody agree...i think that would make it more challenging to use b/c -yes you just blocked a rocket.....but is he still there or did he run away..... that to me would make pretty good sense (more balanced if you will)
No one has denied that it has downsides, the point that's being made repeatedly is that the upsides not only far outweigh the downsides, but more importantly that the reward gained massively outweighs the skill required to gain this reward. The person using AL can, and does, come out on top in many situation despite displaying less skill in the given circumstances than their opponent. They win in a situation, not because they were the better player, but because of the ability they chose. Halo is not an RPG, and so this is the main basis of the AA which I take issue with. This isn't a power weapon which must be fought for, timed, controlled or even aimed, it's just a 'I'm now more powerful than you' button which players can pick at the start of the game. So now splatters should be ruled out in case the enemy has AL? This is my main problem with it in a nutshell. So many legitimate and skilful strategies/approaches to any given encounter are all but ruled out because the opponent might have AL. So many games I'm forced to completely rule out the more in depth and skilful approaches for fear that I'll be screwed over by an enemy with what is all but a Get Out of Jail Free Card. Shots up on an opponent you juked out/out strafed/saw before they did because their awareness isn't great? Doesn't matter, AL serves to undo so many advantages that the more skilled and smarter player worked to achieve in any given encounter, and again not because the AL guy displayed any counter-skill that is comparable, but simply because they chose that overpowered loadout on respawn and know how to press their AA button when things get tough. I'd have to agree, since this gives the AL guy a nice look around to scout out any and all danger that will befall them once the charge runs out (one of the points people keep coming back to in defence of AL). Throwing a nade at their feet is hardly a fair solution when you have to wait until right before the AL runs out of charge, because otherwise they can simply see the nade and won't come out of AL until it's exploded. Same goes for positioning yourself for a melee or other close range attack once it's run out of charge, made even worse on this front by the combination of EMP burst and their ability to melee/shoot etc. the instant AL has run out. There are numerous possible ways in which AL could be reduced down to only rewarding it's more skilful uses, specialised in to either a quick thinking function that you had to time perfectly and didn't buy you any more than an instant's safety as a clutch play, or something which laster longer but didn't have all the side benefits that it currently does (EMP, insanely quick activation/ability to melee etc instantly after coming out of it, and all the rest). But right now it's an all purpose pause button which gives players so much reward for so little skill. I also think it's pretty interesting how the vast majority of people defending it as balanced start off with 'it's my favourite AA' or 'it's all I use'. Doesn't it seem a bit odd that the more balanced views, those of people who switch around and mix it up, don't jump it to defend it so vehemently? That the only people who really defend it as truly balanced are those who, if you'll excuse my assertion, seem to rely on it quite heavily?
@Pegasi - I have used other armour abilities such as active camoflage (which used to be my favourite) but I found that hiding at the sidelines and slowly creeping towards the enemy before an idiotic team mate stands next to you basically shouting "Hey look at me, throw a grenade at me!" when the enemy throws a grenade (which is instantly) you posistion is immediately revealed and all you effort out the window. As for the splattering issue, all the times I have done this the enemy easily had the chance to shoot me but instead decides to splatter me, I even make it obvious that I'm trying to get them to do it by taunting them e.g. Dancing around, teabagging the ground or shooting them. Also, have you ever played Elite slayer? Although I do dispise when they use this no skill move, most people find that it evens out the games because you're basically stuck at every confrontation. I personally choose evade because NR rules and you can showcase that you have the skills to not get stuck in the first place - wait, what was I talking about? P.S. Damn you Pegasi and your superior arguementetive skills!
Everyone defending armor lock is pretty much saying "you can't move or shoot while in it" and "you can still die when it's over" as if the people who know that armor lock is insanely imbalanced were unaware of those facts. It's not even worth arguing anymore.
I'm one of those defenders who doesn't consider my favorite AA. But I suppose the fact that I wouldn't mind seeing it limited in some way (even though I do use it consistently, but not in a higher proportion compared to other AA's) is consistent with your statement, because I am not defending it vehemently. My least used AA is definitely sprint for the reasons I stated earlier, and my most used is probably a tie between jet pack, active camo, and hologram. I think that keeping the perspective in first-person (Perhaps even looking at the ground as the physical pose of an armor locked model implies) is the best solution I've heard. I would still use AL if this were the case and it would be more fun because it would be more challenging to use it properly.
I do find it funny that most defenders of AL say they use it all the time as well. If it were truly balanced then you wouldn't be using it all the time. Also the keeping in first person (AKA looking at the ground) while in armor lock, would actually be a great solution to AL balance, for obvious reasons.
I wish I was fully aware of how to use Armor Lock. Everytime I select it, I forget I have it. The only Armor Abilities that I feel comfortable using are the Sprint and Evade. I'm getting the hang of the Drop Shield during Invasion games. The one thing I think is unfair is in Invasion, the Shotgun loadout has Armor Lock. The Sword loadout has Hologram. They had it right in the Beta by giving the Sword loadout the Evade. Since shotgun beats sword majority of the time, the Evade would be a great equalizer.
Have you tried shooting a fully shielded enemy with a ghost? In case you have never used a vehicle, you might want to know it takes a long time to kill someone especially if they strafe because the plasma bolts are slow. Now what am I supposed to do when my warthog gunner just got sniped, I have no shields, and I am surrounded by 6 enemies; three have armor lock, but I have no idea which. Knowing if I pass between them there is a good chance one will emp my warthog with armor lock and steal it, and if I splatter one, there is a smaller chance that one person has armor lock in which case he will destroy my warthog and the enemies will not get the warthog, I try to splatter him and not surprisingly die because he had armor lock. Interestingly this situation applies to many more situations than you might think. And in every one, Armor Lock dominates. Agreed. Oh wait he's on my side =P
Apparently you don't do much warthog driving...or much reading the name of who you're responding to. If you jumped over the person instead of blowing up, that's because they went into armor lock before you actually hit them. If you understood how this works, you would know that the person is not actually in armor lock yet when they are able to blow up the vehicle. That's part of the problem, because you have no warning that the person is going into armor lock. If it took at least half a second from the time someone begins the armor lock sequence to when they could destroy the oncoming vehicle, I would have time to swerve and side-swipe the person, so whatever vehicle I'm driving takes less damage.