The Problem(s) With Armor Lock in Halo: Reach Matchmaking

[minolta]

The Problem(s) With Armor Lock in Halo: Reach Matchmaking

For those of you (everyone) who don't know me I am a pretty avid Halo player, I have been playing the game 5-6 times a week since about the time Halo 3 came out, so I guess you could say I have a bit of experience. When Reach came out I was excited, I had played the beta and couldn't wait to see what the full version was going to offer. Now the game has been out for almost 6 months and I have played almost 1,300 multiplayer matches, when I first started out in Reach everything seemed golden, however as the months carried on I have found a few thorns on this otherwise beautiful rose. The main one being the controversial armor ability: Armor Lock! In this article I will examine why Armor Lock throws the balance of any game off by trumping all of the power weapons in the game. It also nullifies other aspects of the game such as sticky grenade kills and makes close quarters combat awkward. Finally I'll suggest some tweaks that could make it a more balanced armor ability.

The issue with Armor Lock is one of balance, to put it simply: it is just too powerful, it acts as a trump card to any and all weapons and grinds combat to a halt. In previous Halo games if you picked up the rockets, or a sword you instantly felt powerful, you should after all considering they are called "power" weapons. This is not true in Halo: Reach, with the sword or shotgun you have to be so close to an opposing player that your shields can be dropped with a quick Armor Lock, then all the player has to do is melee you once to get a kill or kill/death(he kills you, you kill him) or lock again and have a nearby teammate take you down. The rockets can be brushed aside by Armor Lock with a classic double lock: going down once for the initial rocket then locking again for the second one. At that point you have to reload or change weapons and all of a sudden the opposing player is at an advantage.

This balance shift is unfair to the player who was previously in a power position, they earned the right to that power position through solid play. They fought to get into that place of power in the game, a position that only comes around 2 or 3 times per match. Unfortunately Armor Lock takes all that away, now just by spawning your opponent has a weapon in his arsenal that completely nullifies the power of the sword, rockets, or any other power weapon.

This doesn't just apply to power weapons either, lets not forget about another fantastic feature of the Halo series: sticky grenades! There is nothing better than getting a fantastic stick kill. The feeling of perfectly throwing a grenade into an enemy and watching as he is inevitably destroyed is probably one of the best moments in any Halo game. However this feeling is gone from Reach due to the addition of Armor Lock, now it seems that 80% of the time when you land a great sticky the player who you stuck simply Armor Locks and walks away unharmed. This is especially true in games of elite slayer where you spawn with sticky grenades, you are forced to switch on Armor Lock because thats all anyone else is using to combat all the grenades being thrown.

The Armor Lock is also not only a defensive system, but an offensive one as well which makes it unique amongst all the other armor abilities, take a look at this:

armor ability - primary use
jet pack - transport
evade - transport
sprint - transport
camo - defensive only
drop shield - defensive only
hologram - defensive only
Armor Lock - defensive and offensive

Armor Lock is the only ability that can be used to drop the shields or inflict any damage on another player, putting it head and shoulders above the others. The obvious argument is that Armor Lock only hurts those in close proximity to the player, or if you melee an Armor Locked spartan. Which is true and makes this a non-issue for the average player, unless that player has a sword or shotgun. Now the enemy only has to quickly lock and unlock to take your shields down, and then melee you once to kill you. The problem is the basis of these weapons is close range combat and defending against them is what Armor Lock does best. I understand that Bungie doesn't want players to be unstoppable with the sword or shotgun but this has never been a problem in previous games that featured these weapons. Besides that the sword or shotgun are setup to spawn only 2 or 3 times a game, whereas Armor Lock is available ALL GAME LONG!

Which leads me to my next point, one of the popular arguments for Armor Lock is that it is available to everyone in the game, that if I so choose I can use Armor Lock and put any of the techniques mentioned above to use myself. However this is not a very good solution, it just creates a vicious cycle that causes every game to play out in the same way, take this as an example: Imagine if one of the load outs in a match featured rockets as a starting weapon, while all the other load outs used the traditional dmr/ar/pistol setups. One load out is obviously more powerful, so anyone who picks it will be at an instant advantage, and because it is available to all players everyone will inevitably pick that load out so they are not at a disadvantage. In this scenario every game is going to become a rocket battle, which can be fun at times but I don’t want all of my games to be thoughtless rocket battles.

I'm not someone who whines about an armor ability I don't like without offering solutions. I love the idea of Armor Lock and in theory I think it sounds like a lot of fun, but some tweaks should be made to it, and here are a few of my suggestions:

1) No more double locks - you can only lock once and when you unlock you have to wait for a full recharge of the ability before you can lock again.

2) Longer recharge cycles - make it take something like a minute to recharge the ability, that will keep people from over using it as they ask themselves, is this really a situation I need to Armor Lock in, or should I just fight it out?

3) Remove the shield dropping ability - or, alternatively make the shilled dropping function only work when you are locked for the full amount of time

4) Remove the invincibility factor for some weapons - Lets face it rockets should kill Armor Locked spartans! I understand the need to make it slightly more difficult to kill them though so perhaps it takes 2 rockets to kill someone? 2 close range shotgun blasts? If they were still vulnerable to some power weapons then things would not be so out of hand.

When playing Reach the game presents a system of punishments and rewards based on how you play: If you are not timing the power weapon spawns correctly you are punished for missing when they spawn by being killed by a player who timed things correctly. Conversely if you time the rockets exactly and pick them up as they spawn, you are rewarded with the use of the rockets, which guarantees a few kills. Armor Lock takes all that away, if you miss time the rocket spawn and arrive late, it rewards you by letting you lock down and survive an onslaught of rockets from the opposing player, possibly killing them in the process. If you make it to the rockets it punishes you by giving your opponent the ability to survive your rocket onslaught.

I don't know how feasible it is for Bungie to implement any of the changes I mentioned above, and it may be more cost effective for them to merely remove Armor Lock like they have done in The Arena, but either way something has to be done. Armor Lock is killing some of the great things that Halo offers: power weapons, stick kills, close range combat, all of these are staples of the Halo matchmaking experience that Armor Lock completely nullifies. It is the only offensive armor ability and its mere existence in a game can force all other players to use it in order to balance the playing field. Hopefully Bungie will take a serious look at the effects of Armor Lock and what they can do to modify it. Hopefully the next time you get a great cross map stick on an enemy he doesn't simply Armor Lock and escape what should have been certain death, instead you get to watch that great kill and be rewarded for playing well.

[Smore ninja]

I have never really had any issue with people who armor lock. This could be because of my lack of interest with the power weapons and also the fact that I adopt a more guerrilla play style when I have my hands on the sword. There is honestly nothing wrong with armor lock. Those who play with me enough know how much I hate rockets.

You are charging towards me with a shotgun/sword? Well lucky for me I decided to ditch the camo for armor lock and now your foolishness shall be punished.
I also find that Camo is highly offensive as well as defensive. Not in a direct manner. But used with a team effectively you can really disorient your enemies. Irrelevant but I just wanted to toss it out there.
Most of the time my armor lock encounters go like this:
Equal-gun down where I am low on rounds, they armor lock, I reload, they get up miss a few shots and have to reload themselves while I am at full mag. On the odd occasion their buddy will run in but I can't do anything about that.
I have dropped melee combat since my late Halo 3 days. I feel much more rewarded for gunning down that kamikaze fool that wants a bland boring melee kill.

I guess in the end how much you hate armor lock depends entirely on your play style. Adapt and conqueror.

[Sorarules20]

You made an account just to post this thread?

EDIT: Never mind, didn't know the circumstances, Sorry.

Anyways, sometimes I go with armor lock, but it always feels like a waste of time to me. Any time I see someone using armor lock, I stand a good distance away from the upcoming EMP, and wait until he decides to pop out of armor lock. Sometimes if I'm not trying, I'll even T-bag the person, it always gives me a good laugh.

[Nightrise]

You made an account just to post this thread?

He's been here a while.

[minolta]

haha well does a week count as awhile? Greenskull asked me if I wanted to write something for the site, so I did.

Smore, what do you mean by guerrilla combat? I understand the basic definition of the term but what does it mean to you in a halo context?

Armor Lock is fine in an equal gun situation, the issue I have is that when the game has given you a reward for playing well (getting a good position on someone or fighting for a power weapon) armor lock takes that away. It acts as a remedy to any power weapon in the game, but it isn't controlled like other power weapons by spawn time and a limited number of uses, anyone can have it all the time.

[Smore ninja]

If I charge towards anyone I can safely assume that they will back peddle so I attack when they least expect it, taking alternate routes. All that fun jazz.

[Ghosty]

He's been here a while.

Really....?
I agree I hate when i'm winning the fight and all of a sudden he go into armor lock I lose a few shots,He come back and smack in the face.
Also I wish it would take longer for the destroy vehical part,I just about to splatter some one 5 feet away they start leaning the don't have the blue glowly thingy around them,I hit them and go poof.

[minolta]

If I charge towards anyone I can safely assume that they will back peddle so I attack when they least expect it, taking alternate routes. All that fun jazz.

ahh I gotcha, I call that tactical play so we are talking about the same thing here.

I find that when you attack someone and they are not expecting it you usually get a few shots in and have the upper hand in the match, which is your reward for playing well and getting into good position on the opposing team. However if that player has armor lock as soon as they get hit from somewhere they lock down, now they know where you are and your reward has been taken away. In fact if you are in a close quarters situation and using something like the sword or shotgun and move in for the attack they can quickly lock and unlock, the initial shot or slice will be absorbed by the armor lock and the unlock takes down your shields. Now you have to wait 1 second before you can fire or melee where as they can instantly hit and kill you. Even if you do back up a sufficient distance where they cannot melee you they are still in a position with full shields and you have none, they can easily take out a pistol or dmr and headshot you for a kill. Of course the other option is to just run away and give up on that kill, but the problem with that is you are still losing out on the kill you deserve after playing well and getting into a good position.

[Sorarules20]

haha well does a week count as awhile? Greenskull asked me if I wanted to write something for the site, so I did.

Yeah sorry, I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt, I didn't recognize your username.

[minolta]

thats ok man, I would be suspicious too, nbd.