Active Reload in Halo Xbox One?

[A6ENT of CHA0S]

If you are unfamiliar with the mechanic, Active Reload is a feature that was popularized by the Gears of War games. It is essentially a mini-game that changes the reloading mechanism of a held weapon. By tapping the 'Reload' button/bumper (depending on control scheme) once, a player can manually reload their gun rather than wait for the current clip/magazine/projectile to run of ammo (as standard). A meter appears under your weapon/ammo display, and shows the progression of the reload. There are internal segments in this progress bar (grey and white) and when it reaches these segments, the player can press the 'Reload' button/bumper again to attempt an Active Reload, which, depending on where the progress bar was stopped, reloads the gun a lot faster than a normal reload. However, if you press the 'Reload' button/bumper OUTSIDE of the grey/white segments, the weapon "jams" and takes longer to reload.

 

Its important to note that in GoW's implementation of Active Reload (with the exception of GoW: Judgment), performing an Active Reload while in the white segment of the progression meter (known as a Perfect Reload) increases the damage of the newly-loaded rounds for a temporary amount of time. I do not advocate this aspect of the mechanic, but feel that the concept as a whole would offer more involvement and require more awareness while in heated combat. I cannot personally find anything about this potential addition that would harm or disrupt the competitive nature of Halo's multiplayer. What do you think?

 

On a side note, GoW also allows Active Reload for ALL firearms. Whether or not this should be how Halo's implementation of it (assuming it would be implemented) is debatable. I feel that an interesting aspect of it could be that weapons prone to 'overheat' (Storm Rifle, Plasma Pistol, Beam Rifle, etc.) would be incapable of Active Reload, but offer a different advantage already in that you can swap weapons and swap back to them without the need to initiate an animation.

[Gubz]

I like this idea at it's core, however I don't think it's right for Halo. I think it would make it difficult to reload while performing complex movement (such as a crouch jump-reload while escaping) or lining up your next shot while the gun's still being loaded. Halo is about fast action, and I fear this would slow it down.

 

I think it works for Gears because Gears is about big soldiers that move relatively sluggishly, albeit fearsomely, about the battlespace.

[RedStarRocket91]

While I think at its core the principle of the idea is solid, I don't think it would work if it were implemented in the same way as Gears of War. A visual active reload bar works well there because for the most part any reloading occurs in cover, while the player is safe from enemy fire - meaning the reloader can safely look at it, rather than needing to devote all of their focus to scanning the rest of the screen for new threats. Halo's lack of a cover system means this isn't really possible. I can perhaps see it working if the reload bar were to appear above the motion tracker, so that players could at least retain a degree of the tactical awareness necessary in an arcade-style shooter, but for as long as players need to divert their focus away from the battle without a guaranteed safe spot, I can see this causing quite a bit of frustration.

 

I've been trying to think of a non-distracting way of implementing this, and I think one way to do it might be to offer a brief vibration in the controller during the correct time slot. This would mean players could keep their eyes on the screen while still knowing when the correct time to reload is, and potentially increase the learning rate for muscle memory. The other thing to note is that average reload times would probably need to be increased to take advantage of the system; they wouldn't need to be ridiculous, but when you can already reload an Assault Rifle in one second, cutting half a second off that in reload times just isn't worth the risk of jamming it for two or three. Power weapons in particular would also need to be very carefully balanced, as otherwise they'd go from game-changers to game-breakers, and that's definitely not a good idea.

 

At the very least, increased reload times would perhaps level the playing field between conventional and plasma weapons, as while the latter obviously can't be reloaded faster, their own cooling times could be halfway between their counterparts' active reloads and regular reloads. At the moment plasma weapons aren't really proving popular with most players, so this could be a nice way to help bring them back into common usage. I'm also a big fan of your suggestion of dropping the damage increase as a very big part of Halo is knowing exactly how much fire you can take from any given weapon: knowing whether or not you can afford to take an extra shot from a Battle Rifle in order to land a killing hit of your own is literally a matter of life and death, and making that unpredictable is anathema to competitive gameplay.

 

Great topic, MA1NE!

[SPARTAN 117]

Halo is, perhaps, a little too fast to gain anything from AR. GoW required a much more strategic approach to gameplay than Halo does in my opinion and with 343 trying to make the game play faster and faster, I think it would prove more and more detrimental to future gameplay. Never thought about AR outside of Gears though.

[A6ENT of CHA0S]

While I think at its core the principle of the idea is solid, I don't think it would work if it were implemented in the same way as Gears of War. A visual active reload bar works well there because for the most part any reloading occurs in cover, while the player is safe from enemy fire - meaning the reloader can safely look at it, rather than needing to devote all of their focus to scanning the rest of the screen for new threats. Halo's lack of a cover system means this isn't really possible. I can perhaps see it working if the reload bar were to appear above the motion tracker, so that players could at least retain a degree of the tactical awareness necessary in an arcade-style shooter, but for as long as players need to divert their focus away from the battle without a guaranteed safe spot, I can see this causing quite a bit of frustration.

Whether there's a fully-fledged cover system or not, players will use map geometry to their advantage as such. Using cover is a useful tactic in Halo, as well as Gears of War. The differences in perspective (first-person and third-person, respectively) each have different forms of giving players awareness, even behind cover. Obviously, in GoW, players can see over cover. In Halo, however, players have a Motion Tracker to allow them to know when enemies are nearby without exposing themselves. I didn't even consider the idea of changing where the AR meter would be on the HUD until I read your comment. I agree that placing it either above the Motion Tracker or weapon reticle would be best for the sake of awareness.

 

 

I've been trying to think of a non-distracting way of implementing this, and I think one way to do it might be to offer a brief vibration in the controller during the correct time slot. This would mean players could keep their eyes on the screen while still knowing when the correct time to reload is, and potentially increase the learning rate for muscle memory. The other thing to note is that average reload times would probably need to be increased to take advantage of the system; they wouldn't need to be ridiculous, but when you can already reload an Assault Rifle in one second, cutting half a second off that in reload times just isn't worth the risk of jamming it for two or three. Power weapons in particular would also need to be very carefully balanced, as otherwise they'd go from game-changers to game-breakers, and that's definitely not a good idea.

Another interesting idea that I hadn't thought of. Utilizing the Xbox One controller's impulse triggers, they could very well aid in the integration of Active Reload and help alleviate the 'awareness' concerns of the mechanic.

 

 

At the very least, increased reload times would perhaps level the playing field between conventional and plasma weapons, as while the latter obviously can't be reloaded faster, their own cooling times could be halfway between their counterparts' active reloads and regular reloads. At the moment plasma weapons aren't really proving popular with most players, so this could be a nice way to help bring them back into common usage. I'm also a big fan of your suggestion of dropping the damage increase as a very big part of Halo is knowing exactly how much fire you can take from any given weapon: knowing whether or not you can afford to take an extra shot from a Battle Rifle in order to land a killing hit of your own is literally a matter of life and death, and making that unpredictable is anathema to competitive gameplay.

 

Great topic, MA1NE!

I also think that standard reload times should be increased to make this mechanic worth the risk. As for careful balancing of the mechanic for various weapons, I think that could be done. After all, 343i has employed a former Epic dev (Quinn DelHoyo) who worked on the Gears of War games, balancing the weapon sandbox and helping to do the same for Halo 4's. 

 

Thank you for your comments and ideas

[Dark-Zero]

No way would i want that for Halo. It doesnt really add anything to it other than taking a mechanic from Gears (which Active Reload was dropped in Judgment)