Fun fact: 9/10 users with no linked gamertag are better than you at Halo. That doesn't necessarily mean that I am; but it does mean there's a pretty solid chance.
Posted by: An average gamer
Posted by: creamlizard
So you're saying hiding in corridors with AL and a CQC weapon makes you a good player?
Sure, it's a bad idea to rush tight spaces when there's a good chance there's an opponent with a Shotgun or Sword around the corner, and yes it's almost exclusively bad players that do this.
But entirely avoiding an entire area of a map based solely on the possibility that someone might be camping there is ridiculous. It cuts off entire sections of the map from gameplay, making what's left boring and repetitive.
It's also poor gameplay on the part of the guy who's camping; he's excluding himself from the rest of the map, leaving the other team able to set up and potentially gain map, weapon and spawn control with reduced resistance.
No, what I was saying is putting yourself in that sort of situation is a good idea. It's certainly better to stick to tight spots if you have a CQC weapon, or to keep a bit in the open if you have Rockets or even a DMR.
In MLG, for example, I carry both a Needle Rifle and a DMR. In CQC scenarios I switch to my DMR because of its higher DPS. When back in the open I use the Needle Rifle because of the accuracy. A sniper walking into a hallway with a lot of corners (the Sword spawn in the Pit, for example) would be killed by a Shotty guy there who is the better player for both being better equipped and for putting himself in the better spot.
I'm not saying camping is a great idea because staying in one spot of the map forever never helps your team. Still, setting up in a specific area in conjunction with your team, and using the right weapons, is good and will help you best opponents who think they can challenge you. As such, and on topic, Armor Lockers can be the better players if the use tight spots, as opposed to running around in wide open spaces with absolutely no cover. It would be like a Jetpacker sitting in a closed off area and not sticking to the open.
And yet, this is exactly what the vast majority of AL users do. As someone mentioned earlier, it's not so much what it should be used for as what it can be used for that's the problem.
I'd also like to suggest there's a balance issue. It's also present with Jetpack, and marginally less so with Camo and Drop Shield. Being able to spawn with an automatic situational advantage over other players is, simply put, broken. We've all seen what Jetpack does to Arena games, and AL operates on the same principle. It gives players a marked advantage over others in specific situations- allowing users to monopolise close-quarters gameplay with literally no work whatsoever.
Halo isn't a class based shooter. It never has been. It's the reason I play it over its competitors, and I'm sure it's the reason many others do too. Allowing players to choose their strengths right off the spawn is against the fundamental spirit of the game.
Yes, I'm 'against' spawning with AAs altogether, but AL and Jetpack between them have the most pronounced impact on gameplay. If you disagree with that, I'm afraid this discussion is a lost cause.
[Edited on 02.03.2012 10:37 AM PST]