Vehicle Balance:
Let me start by telling a quick story. One time, on a game of Invasion on Boneyard, my Banshee took enough damage for flames to begin pouring out of it. I instantly knew my ride was about to explode. The thought of Oh crap, I need to bail! ran through my mind. I exited my vehicle, only to see it continue on without me. After only a second the sky was lit with a huge explosion. I on the other hand was lucky enough to have landed on the roof of the base. With my ride busted, I continued on with my mission, happy to still be alive!
The above story is a rarity. All too often a player will be in a vehicle, only to be blindsided by one of many possible scenarios. The player or players normally die quickly and without any real chance of saving themselves. Skilled players and novices alike are both subject to this death trap. I suggest that all players be given a shot of redemption after their vehicle takes maximum damage. How can this be done? Simply give every vehicle a 2-3 second window of opportunity for the occupants to bail out. Imagine youre in a Banshee. Youre hit by a Scorpion tanks shell. Your Banshee has taken maximum damage, but you dont blow up automatically! Instead it starts flaming and beeping. You know its time to bail. So you do. At this point, it really depends on where you are in the map. Did you bail at maximum height? Do you have Jetpack? Can you survive the fall? Whether or not you survive now has more to do with skill than anything else. If you were good enough, you could have gotten to a safer height before making the plunge, perhaps you maneuvered yourself over a roof, or maybe you do have a jetpack and everythings going to be ok. So what now? You lost your Banshee and youre still alive. Youre down, but not out! You have a shot at redemption. Youre not stuck spawning. What about the guy who clipped your wings? Did he fail? No, he took you out of the sky, and hes still in a tank, while youre stuck with your own two legs. He should get a Medal though, right? Yeah, he should get the Vehicle Destroyed Medal. (
Which already exists, believe it or not.) When he gets the Medal he knows hes succeeded. He can safely tell his teammates Banshees down. Both players can feel a sense of satisfaction, and I believe this would add more tension to the game.
I also think vehicle play could benefit from the Scorpion and Wraith being about to take two hits. Example: 1 rocket and 1 tank mortar. Or 1 laser and 1 fuel rod. Or any combination. Shooting the Wraith once with the scorpion and destroying it isnt the way to go. (IMO) Tank battles are more fun when drawn out.
This is all my own personal opinion of course. If youre reading this and think this is the worst idea ever, you can be happy to know I dont work for Bungie. Ive been thinking about the vehicle play in Reach a lot lately and I just wanted to give my opinion. If anyone likes the idea, please let me know. If a Bungie employee likes it that would be awesome. Right now it sounds good in my head. Maybe in practice its a horrible idea. Maybe Bungie already tried it and it sucked. I cant say for sure. I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Thanks for reading.
