Well, I'm crossing my fingers that along with controlling ordnance drops, we'll be able to control AA availability on custom maps. Also hoping that jetpack is relegated to Spartan OPs and Campaign.
Jetpacks are.... okay as long as maps are designed with Jetpacks in mind. They're actually a cool element in specific maps/gametypes.
Well, unless thrusters have multiple colors of jets, and that dude just thrusted off a ramp or something.. [br][/br]Edited by merge: I think the issue is when they expect every map to be designed around jetpacks. Or rather, when they put the jetpack on every map, despite it's designed intention.
I should clarify with: Jetpacks work okay when AA's are treated as pickups on a map. Like that, it's just a nifty piece of equipment ONE person can grab, that allows them to move around quickly, but costs them their stealth/subtly. It's like a trade-off equipment when used as a pickup, and functions as another way to direct map flow, if people are contending it on the map. That being said, I absolutely despise jetpacks when everyone can spawn with one.
To me there is a clear division between jetpack and everything else in Halo. For instance I don't mind playing the jetpack-fests on Uncaged, but I go into those games with the understanding that EVERYONE will use jetpack, and you start looking for particular movement patterns - people jetpacking from small tower to the cage, jetpacking off the mancannon so that they go flying out over the elbow, jetpacking up from rockets to the top health pack, etc. That map has a bunch of additional, predictable movement routes taken by jetpackers (and it plays very constrictingly without a jetpack, too). But on other maps that are more traditional in design, I mostly find the damn things annoying. Asylum with multiple jetpackers is *extremely* annoying, because suddenly ring control loses its meaning, and 75% of the map becomes vulnerable to anyone willing to fly as high as possible and DMR you from above. Some maps like Countdown do a better job of giving the jetpack defined uses (e.g. flying up to top healthpack from the bottom floor/mid area, or going up through the two drop holes), but it still allows for irritating behavior like perching on ledges and lights, or getting on top of the map and exploiting the full soft kill timer for cheap kills. Basically I find that it really screws up gameplay except on maps that are fully designed for it, almost to the point of encouraging it, and once everyone is using it then it becomes less of a big deal to me. But I don't think that's good for the overall Halo experience. In particular, it really makes forging all-purpose competitive maps a needless pain in the ass. Jetpacks as pick-ups are better than as loadouts, but they still put the same basic onus on map designers to always account for them, and in any case 343 hasn't shown signs of going in that direction at all. If jetpacks are in H4, you can bet they'll be loadouts just like they are in Reach.
Seriously, I know we can't have anything like this for matchmaking, but AA's work a lot better with a "traditional" halo mindset if you use them as pick-ups on the map. Everything but armor lock, it still kind of sucks.
I swear to god if freaking Jetpack is in MM Im gonna rant lol, I SERIOUSLY hope that thats a guy thrustering off a rock or something... EDIT: also hope that its spartan ops only.
I hope that is a jet pack.. i would love for it to be in the game, for people to use in customs.. but i wouldnt want it in MM.. But you can clearly see that they do not look alike in the picture... one looks like an attatchment to the guys back, and the thruster looks like part of the guys armor...
The problem with AAs that only exist for use in customs is that it's a reasonable amount of time spent on something which won't see that much use. The only examples of this I can think of are the Sentinel Beam and Plas Rifle (Reach only), which seem a little less arduous than a whole new AA. I could be wrong, and if they find the time to do it just for customs then it'd be great, I agree that it's a potentially useful thing for plenty of customs applications. But I'm not holding out tbh, and if they put it in for use in the whole game (ie. MM) then I'm gonna nerd rage something rotten.
I have to agree. I suppose Jetpack is a serious problem in part because it allows a player to take certain paths around the map that are physically impossible to reach with any other ability. That alone is just too much, really. The ability has too serious an effect on gameplay, especially with Halo traditionally having a focus on map control and movement. Platform maps especially suffer from obsessive Jetpacking because they typically divide play-space up with empty spaces which are easily crossed by Jetpacking. Hell, sometimes I think people don't even use the actual floor on Uncaged except for power weapon spawns and recharging their Jetpacks. I refuse to dabble in Jetpacking though. I play Bumper Jumper anyway and tend to stay around the cage trying to snipe/pro-pipe all the nubs hovering overhead. (opinion) As a pickup, it isn't as bad because I see it as more of a powerup akin to AC or Overshield, and it certainly has the power of them. It becomes another good and different reason to control part of the map, and so long as only one or two of them exist on map I think it's actually fine when treated as a power weapon.
i never considered jetpacks to be all that useful, i wouldn't put them anywhere near AC and OS. they're an annoyance, something stupid and extra to worry about. Most jetpackers were just free targets, Powerhouse games a lot of the time were just idiot jetpackers getting absolutely torn to shreds in the middle of the map. i dont think jetpack belongs on maps as a pick-up power weapon, i just dont see smart players going out of their way to get it. ooooOOOOoo you can use a shortcut, too bad you're loud as **** and going to be dead in under 15 seconds. oooOOOooo you can fly up in the air to confuse a guy, too bad you're in everybody else's line of sight and going to be dead in under 15 seconds. At least with OS and AC there are defenses to being called out by the enemy team, hide, or take extra shots like the shielded beast you are. It really doesn't belong anywhere in a competitive setting to be honest. they better keep that **** in spartan ops and campaign.
I didn't say it was a good choice for a smart player, I just said it worked fine as a Pick Up. The extra movement options offer a good positive, with obviousness and loudness being trade offs.
Jetpack would be much better as a vertical version of H4's thruster. That would let people double jump to better locations, but it would be a lot easier to build around. It would be to jump what sprint is to lateral movement. The 'Rocketeer' style is cute and all, but it just doesn't suit Halo. That's something I'd expect in a game like Borderlands or Mass Effect where mechanics are balanced with comparable extremity instead of subtle functional differences.