- vballryan
- |
- Exalted Heroic Member
Why jetpack should be removed
TL;DR summary of its faults at the bottom
Before you read this post, I am referring how the jetpack is typically used at a competitive level. I have experience dealing with it. It is a nuisance to deal with. I stuck to sprint most of the time because I knew I was better than the other team. On some maps, you must adapt to the style of game. I and many others have adapted and know that it is not right for a good game. Just because we dont like it, doesnt mean we havent adapted or beaten it. It just doesnt add anything positive to the game.
Faster gameplay isnt always favoured. You must slow the game down at some points to regroup and make pushes to the other teams base. In my opinion, the jetpack is better as a pickup, as seen in mlg. It is perfectly fine when used on maps that cannot be abused by a flying opponent. Since the gravity is higher in mlg, the cannot go as high anyways. The kill barriers on top of the maps also stop them, they are hard kill not soft kill barriers. I hope default learns that things that can be exploited will be.
I know for a fact that many you have not played at a high level of competition. Typically, the better players know how a good game plays out. It involves both teams trying to setup. A good game is where everyone has the same start ie. Weapons and abilities. Off topic, that is what made classic halo. That is what people liked.
When multiple people use jetpack, there is an imbalance of the game. It does keep you on edge. That is fune when you have a gaeneral idea of where people can come from. Sometimes you cannot even see them on your radar because they are too high for it to pick anything up. You should not have to look that high up while also being deistracted by players down on the ground. That is why kill barriers and jetpack as a pickup are needed.
I know that you cant see anybody on your radar in mlg, because there is no radar. This is fine because then the other team doesnt neccessarily know where you are either. Although in mlg, it is almost vertain that they are in a key position on the map. Not hiding in some spot outside the map. Sanctuary, specifically CTF, is a perfect example of how jetpacks should be used in a competitive game. It is basically only used to get control of a power weapon. It is used to shoot at people going for rockets off the start. You cannot see the entire map while jetpacking because of the kill barrier just above ring 3 (the middle part of the map on the ledge around it).
In default, mainly arena, there are people who have actually mastered this tactic, if you can call it that. Trying to play classic Halo is not possible against any of these type of people. I play to win, winning is fun for me. If I lose because the other team chose to do a cheap trick, they know it is cheap, to win I feel like they didnt deserve the win. Just because we could have also chose to use the jetpack, we didnt because we know that isnt what makes a good game and because we are better than the other team. Classic Halo skill cant compete with a full team jetpacking.
There have been maps that can be completely exploited by jetpacks in matchmaking. Some of these maps are: Synapse, Enclosed, Rebirth, Uncaged, Select. These are just a few of the broken maps in default reach. There are worse maps, but they arent completely dominated by the use of a jetpack. Notice how all of those maps are Forge World maps. These maps can all be fixed by implementing more kill barriers or a ceiling to the map. On synapse, the ceiling is pointless because you can jetpack on top of everything with a vantage point basically seeing every part of the map while not beeing seen at all. One problem with enclosed and uncaged is the use of lifts that shoot you straight up. When you are using a jetpack, you can literally touch the stars when you are up there. Everybody looks like ants, but you can still see shoot them perfectly. There is no reason for them to look into the Stratosphere. As for Rebirth and Enclosed, there are spots not accessible on the map that can be used once you use a jetpack. On rebirth, you could fly over some rocks and get into a cave. On enclosed, you can use the lift at red sniper to fly over the wall and land on an edge. You can then go underneath the map and never be shot at. How does that speed up gameplay at all. That is the exact opposite thing that a good competitive game should have. Many of the times, simple forge applications can be used to fix the problems. If the forger intends on people using jetpack, make spots that cannot be camped or are hidden from the rest of the map. That is the forgers responsibility, but the player should also know how the map was supposed to be played. Every map has a certain flow to it. Most games have a set path of where you get kills and where you die. With the use of a jetpack, you will never know where you got killed from. Having a death, because the other team resorted to cheap tricks aggrevates me. I know for a fact that if some teams did not use the jetpack, they wouldnt get nearly as high of a placement as they did.
Skill is not taken into account when facing a team of jetpackers. When a person is at a high enough altitude, it is hard to shoot a persons head. You can only shoot their body since you are essentially shooting directly upwards. The person in the air can shoot the persons head almost every time because they shotting directly downwards. So for anyone saying it is not as hard to kill a jetpacker is wrong. it takes 8 shots to the body to get a kill and only 5 to the head. The person who is jetpacking obviously is going to get the kill because they are able to get headshots while the other person cannot.
Summary
Although it can speed up the game, that is not the reason people use it.
It is used to break the other teams map control and gain an unfair advantage.
It lets you get to spots not accessible to the other players not using jetpacks.
It actually is harder to kill someone who is jetpacking.
Bad players can seem good because they can jetpack.
[Edited on 01.15.2012 1:08 PM PST]