You can only remove one Spartan Ability, but which one?

NOTE: So originally I was going to make this thread just about Sprint, Thrust and Clamber because I think these are the 3 major game changing abilities in Halo 5. But because Sprint is tied to Slide and Spartan Charge, I decided to just include the rest of them. I combined Sprint and Slide however because you cannot Slide without Sprinting; I then included Spartan Charge as a separate choice, the implication being that Sprint and Slide could exist without Spartan Charge.

Anyway, moving onto the thread. If you had to cut one of these abilities from the game, which one would you remove, and why?

SPRINT + SLIDE: There's no denying that Sprint has had drastic effects on the game, ranging from weapon balance and spawn algorithms to map design and gameplay pacing. As a result, it's unquestionably the most disputed aspect of Halo gameplay for the last 7 years. Sprint lets players move horizontally at around 20% faster speed than default, and when chained with a crouch, allows the player to slide into battle or under geometry.

SPARTAN CHARGE: An extension of melee after Sprinting from a short time, Spartan Charge is also a hotly contested ability. It not only does a full melee's damage and all but guarantees you a kill upon contact, but it also allows a player to move horizontally not unlike the Thrust.

THRUSTER: Once a 3rd person ability with a long cooldown, Thrust is now a staple of the Halo 5 sandbox, allowing players to dodge attacks and move both horizontally and vertically, although the upwards height provided isn't significant on its own.

CLAMBER: Referred to as vaulting or mantle in other games, Clamber lets players grab onto ledges that "they might have missed" or move vertically by scaling geometry. When combined with Sprint, Thrust and Auto Stabilize, it provides the player with incredible horizontal and vertical movement opportunities.

GROUND POUND: This interesting ability lets players aim a powerful downward melee attack that kills upon direct impact, or otherwise does splash damage, sending targets flying.

AUTO STABLIZE: By scoping in mid air, the Auto Stabilize lets the player hover in place for a few seconds, or until they unscope or take damage. Its most practical use however isn't during combat, but for scaling maps vertically.


It's no denying that Halo is a different game with all of these abilities, and it's very unlikely that all of them would see more than refinements for the next Halo title. But if you were given the opportunity to remove one, which would you pick?

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My vote goes to the Thruster, and here's why:

Sprinting and Sliding around I think is actually an enjoyable way to move around a map. The movement delta isn't as drastic as it was in past Halo games, and while I don't think Sliding is all that practical in combat, it adds a certain flair to the movement that makes Halo 5 seem more immediate than previous games. I don't like the shield mechanic used to balance Sprint, but I think with instant weapon readiness and additional tweaks to the movement delta, it would be fine within Halo's sandbox.

If I could remove two abilities, I would then remove the Spartan Charge, as I don't like what it does to close quarters combat. And frankly, the animation is stupidly clunky, so it has always looked out of place. But I suppose I could tolerate it if it was significantly nerfed.

Clamber on its own I don't mind. The window to clamber vertically could change or tweaks could be made to its weapon readiness as necessary. While the addition of "Clamber Spots" on 343's maps can be seen as a negative, Clamber doesn't inherently create these, nor does it get rid of crouch jumping. Its usefulness is tied to map design moreso than itself.

As for Ground Pound, I dislike the fact that it can be aimed, so I would simply remove that feature and force players to land where they trigger it like a basic meteor attack. It would require more skill and actually improve level design.

Auto Stabilize just needs to be removed from the scope feature and tied to a different button. It makes sense within the context of shooting, but when you're holding a bigass Sniper Rifle and trying to Auto Stabilize, scoping into the wall is clunky anyway you look at it.

Which brings me to the Thruster Pack. I think this is the ability that needs to go. For one, it is the main cause of map design issues when combined with Sprint and Clamber. Clamber is significantly less effective without the Thruster. I also don't think the Thruster is all that fun. During combat, every fight boils down to strafing for a few shots and then Thrusting on the last shot. And if you mistime your Thrust or you've already used it, you're waiting for a cooldown. It's just a weird pace breaker that has ruined the strafe game as opposed to enhancing it. Increasing the horizontal strafe speed would accomplish a very similar effect and be much less repetitive

Thruster also ruins just about every threshold on a map by allowing players to easily disengage from battles into cover. Players no longer feel the need to commit to fights because they can Thrust out of line of sight instantly. To counter this, every thing in the sandbox is overcompensating. Sniper magnetism is ridiculously high to hit thrusting players, grenades and explosives have stupid radii to damage the player evading them, and tracking weapons are more powerful than ever. Finally, Thrust makes vehicles much less rewarding because it's way too easy to dodge splatters.

Honestly, when I weigh the pros and cons, I think Thruster alone ruins the game more than any of the other abilities combined. Or rather, when combined with all of these abilities, it's redundant and does more harm than good. Everything else can be fixed with tweaks; Thruster however represents a fundamental shift in design philosophy for the game that I don't think is worth the tradeoffs. Because think about it, Thrust is the reason people can fly across the maps with flags. Thrust is the reason our threshold design and vertical scaling has to change. And above all else, Thrust single handedly gives every player a guaranteed defensive ability. And it just so happens to be the only Spartan Ability with a cooldown that doesn't reset instantly.

Why do we need Thruster Pack again? Get that **** out of my Halo fam.

 

@Dweeb Why do you quote my mega posts

And yea, I don't know when you will Thrust, but it's more or less expected in any given 1v1 encounter because it's instantly rewarding in that scenario. Speaking of momentum, how do those tiny Thrusters completely change a 2000 lb suit of armor's momentum to move in the opposite direction?

 

id personally remove Thrust, Spartan Charge and Stabilize. Sprint, Slide and Clamber are fine and if Ground Pound loses its directional aim, i dont mind it. If it doesnt, then i think it should go as well.

But i wanted to see which ability people thought affected the game the most.

 

Obviously most people here would say remove all of the abilities but that's not the point of the thread. We've been there and done that.

And besides, if you do that you're going backwards because all you can do to Halo after you remove everything is increase the movement and strafe speed, which is cool for 2v2ers and Quake nerds, but doesn't do enough for the game in the long run. The game would need a complimentary mechanic to supplement the repetitiveness and open up map design opportunities. I'm against Thruster for the reasons I listed in the OP, which I don't think will change provided every other ability is removed. I could get behind a Double Jump depending on its implementation.