EVADE: Perfect! Works to cover ground quickly, for evading fire or grenades, or offensively to get behind enemies.
SPRINT: Overall, the most useful ability in the game albeit the most boring. However, MAJOR issues with firing weapons or striking with melee weapons. A right trigger pull should end the Sprint ability the same as it makes you drop a flag or skull. You shouldn't have to worry about de-activating Sprint and then pulling the trigger. What's even worse is when there is a delay from when you stop sprinting and when you're actually able to use a weapon (most notably, the Energy Sword). You essentially sprint right up to someone, pull the trigger, wait for something to happen, and instead receive a fist to the face.
JETPACK: This ability seems very well-balanced. I was worried that players would be finding ways to get outside the map, but Bungie has done a nice job preventing this. At first, I was very displeased with the vertical readout on motion tracker, but I realize it was in part to help balance this ability and works very well to do so.
ACTIVE CAMO: I saved this and ARMOR LOCK for last because, in my opinion, these two need the absolute most work. I like the effect of losing audio. I like that the effectiveness of the camo is dependent on the user's speed. I even like that it works as a radar jammer (RJ was one of my favorite equipment types in H3 and NEVER got put into Matchmaking after the update, unfortunately). However, I feel this ability has been balanced to the point of making it the weakest ability in the game. The radar jamming feature is completely useless with the advent of the vertical motion tracker. If team play is the focus, how great would it be to have someone play decoy using the camo who isn't even involved in the fight, but is actually a floor above/below the enemies? I think the radar jammer should work not just in a horizontal plane, but also vertically. If enemies see dots on every possible level on their tracker, they will truly have to be on the lookout for the stalker instead of waiting until the RJ cluster gets near them and then grenading that area with everything they've got. I also think the user's motion tracker should not be affected by the RJ. The user of the cloak has already been crippled to crouch-walking in order to remain invisible. They become visible if they fire their weapon or throw a grenade. They become visible if they get hit, even if it was just a stray bullet from an unrelated battle. So, with all of these other things to keep the stalker from just running the table on the enemy team, WHY would you take away their motion tracker as well??? I think the ACTIVE CAMO should either retain their own motion tracker, or only become visible when they are shot rather than when they are attacking.
ARMOR LOCK: Just as the camo is over-balanced, this ability is drastically under-balanced. The duration the ability can be used works well. I am also VERY grateful that users are unable to move. Where this ability really becomes frustrating though is in how quickly it regenerates and in how quickly it becomes fully active. Cloaking has a delay before the user is completely invisible. The jetpack has a delay before the user is able to sustain flight. Evade and Sprint have a delay coming out of it that prevents immediate attack. So why then are players able to activate/deactivate AL so quickly that they can avoid melee attacks but still deliver a return attack that usually kills opponents? And why are they able to not only view players behind them while they're locked, but also attack them quicker than those enemies can attack? I think a great way to better balance this ability would be to prevent armor regeneration while using this ability and to prevent the seemingly Flash-like speed to pivot around and strike enemies standing behind the user.
Well, these are my opinions of the armor abilities after having played close to 400 games in the Halo: Reach Beta. I would love to see if anyone feels the same way I do about the abilities, or if anyone has any other suggestions for Bungie on how to better balance these incredible new gameplay elements. I really do think this will be the best multiplayer experience to date for the Halo franchise, and I look forward to gaming with you all in the fall. 8D