Symmetrical 3 lane maps with 100 feet of verticality aren’t fun to play on. I don’t understand why 343 thinks they can keep making these maps without realizing that Halo doesn’t work well with their map designs.
I wholly believe the Hydroponic map and Catalyst to be garbage. They both have a ridiculous amount of symmetrical cover and the only flanking routes just devolve into “who can spam laggy sidekick shots into the other guy faster”. And not to mention how if you go anywhere near the middle of the map you are doomed to getting shot in every angle possible. I wondered how Bungie was able to make fun map experiences, so while I was playing SWAT with friends I remembered how well put their architecture was.
So I played Boardwalk and Sword Base, neither map features a symmetrical layout, but they have medium to large rooms designed for engagements that have ZERO emphasis on verticality, and I mean things like the ceilings are too short to effectively jump like an ape and twitch around like these modern day “pros” that spend their entire lives playing these games, and there’s no random ledges or holes in the floor that lead to my crosshair having to be everywhere at once to have a chance at surviving. So with every floor being on equal level with each other everyone’s boots were on the ground and everyone was fighting on those same levels instead of having to again twitch their crosshairs up and down to fight the “prodigies” randomly jutting out of rooms and ledges.
That’s another thing, Bungie kept a simple but effective design scheme that offered years worth of entertainment and enjoyment to their maps. Not only that but the “arenas” they made seemed more realistic as if the UNSC was scanning real places on Earth to train Spartans in their darkest hours, instead of making these fantasy locations that serve no logical purpose in real life. Boardwalk is a civilian residential center, Sword Base is an ONI facility/command center for the UNSC in the area. Let’s compare that to Catalyst or Hydro: Catalyst is a confusing maze built for who? Forerunners? The race of people we know nothing about? The only thing we know about them was that they were brilliant and wiped themselves out to save the galaxy from the Flood, but in every map 343 made with their aesthetic, it just seems like they sucked really badly at making facilities unless they wanted random openings, rooms with 5 or more hallway extensions at the very least, giant open rooms with tons of thin walkways over endless pits of death. I mean if I was a Forerunner scientist working there I would have thousands of questions for the various confusing choices they took in making the facility.
Then we have Hydro which draws from 343’s obsession of large open areas that feature no guardrails, but we are expected that untrained Human civilians are supposed to be working here 24/7 doing day to day labor? I think the map is definitely the worst of the arena maps, it feels like its straight from H5, from the layout to the aesthetics. I would love if it was removed and replaced by a remake of The Pit, or Blackout, two arena maps that are genuinely fun to play for hours and explore.
I like most of the three-lane symmetrical/mirror-image maps for CTF but I’m also excited about Joe’s recent interview hinting at bringing back some classic Halo favorites.
You hit the nail on the head right here. Just by looking at H5, you can see that most of their maps are actually just variants of one another. A pillar shifted here, a box added there, different colour filter. If anything, 3 lane maps are designed to be boring with least amount of effort put into them.
Meanwhile maps like Launch Site have gone right down the drain being used as a 4v4 map but not balanced as one. Launch Site should really be moved to the BTB pool along with Behemoth, and honestly Bazaar is also large enough for BTB Slayer or even KOTH.
Launch Site and Behemoth work the best as 4v4 or 6v6 maps from what ive tested in custom games. Having 24 players on either of those maps is wayyyyy too much. And bazaar would not work for BTB slayer at all. That map gets crowded even in 6v6
Lauch Site needs some fixing anyway,
There is an entire half of the map that is mostly a waste of space.
Some walls need to be broken down, some rooms need to be added,
And weapon spawns need to be moved around.
Where is stands, the side that spawns the larger vehicles needs more stuff in it, more sightline blocks, more back rooms.
Because nearly all combat happens exclusively Near the camo spawns open area.
cant argue, thats exactly whats wrong with launch site. it has potential. just needs additions and the wasted space needs more playable space. it can be done. if 343 wont do it, forgers will.
I hope to God any remakes we get aren’t the same maps that have been redone 1000 times over (Battle Creek, Midship, The Pit, Haven, Valhalla, Sanctuary, Lockout…etc.)
Give us something new plz:
Guardian, Narrows, Sand Trap, Standoff, Rats Nest, Countdown or Tempest would be all be excellent choices!
I’d like Narrows back, maybe a remixed extended version where they open up the back areas of each spawn.
But I also really, REEEEEEEAAAAALLY want ivory tower, Last Resort, and Foundry back.
Maybe foundry could be updated as a larger forge map to work with.
Maybe the legacy maps could be modern versions of the Most popular maps from the older games.
The problem with Launch Site is that it is a 4v4 attack/defend map, and 1 Flag CTF rarely ever comes up. It’s too large for any other objective mode such as Strongholds or Oddball so it ends up being a large assymetric Slayer map. It just doesn’t work that well.
Thankfully it doesn’t come up that often in the rotation, so it offers a breath of fresh air when it does, even if it’s the worst map in Infinite atm.
Edit: I actually think Oddball could work with some tweaks to the rules. Think attack/defend, 4 rounds total. each team gets one go on offense and defense. The defending team would start on the high ground with the ball, and the attacking team would try to take the ball away. Teams always spawn on their own side. High score wins.
I never had the pleasure of playing H2 multiplayer, but Ivory Tower was remade in Reach and I despised it. By far my least favorite map in that game.
I think a reworked Narrows could be interesting. A two bridge reverse-symmetric layout might be fun. That being said there’s nothing wrong with the original, but I’m always a fan of a good spiritual successor.
The simple answer is the pro players don’t like maps that are asymmetrical and vertical, they like three lanes as it’s a very easy layout that’s almost identical to other three lane maps.
343i have yet to release a map that plays like Lockout or Ascension. Pro players and the HCS are the main focus of all multiplayer maps, the larger player base (us normal players) are an afterthought.
I believe Mikwen said that Infinite maps need to be more vertical, so…
Yeah, he is not compete right now, not a member of any team if I’m not mistaken, but still he is not a stranger to halo by any mean.
