343i, please consider this Playlist Breakdown

Games Other Halo
1

Arena: (all of these playlists feature fireteam restrictions)

  • Slayer (4v4 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP) - Skirmish (4v4 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP; Multi-Flag CTF, Strongholds, Ricochet, & 1-Site Extraction) - Breakout (4v4 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP) - SWAT (4v4 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP) - Doubles (2v2 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP) - Lone Wolf (1v5 w/ visible CSR - aka “ranked” and no JiP) - Social Arena (5v5 w/ limited JiP and no visible CSR - aka “unranked”; Slayer, SWAT, Regicide, Snipers, Arena Breakout, Multi-Flag CTF, Neutral Bomb, KotH, & Oddball) - BTB (8v8 w/ limited JiP and no visible CSR - aka “unranked”; map dependent, but modes of Slayer, Regicide, Multi-Flag CTF, 1-Sided CTF, Bomb Assault, Neutral Bomb, Multi-Site Extraction, Strongholds, KotH, & Oddball should all receive consideration)
    Weekend Social options: (None have visible CSR - aka “unranked”, all team-based games include a limited JiP, and none include fireteam restrictions)

  • Action Sack (5v5; Fiesta, Plasma Wars, Mini-Slayer, Snapshot, SWATguns, Paintball, Medal Madness, Lightning Flag, Gungoose CTF, etc.) - Snipers (4v4; Standard, Mags & Snips, Shotty Snipers, and Dual Snips - aka Human & Covenant) - Multi-Team (Fiesta, Slayer, Mini Slayer, Snapshot, SWAT, Regicide, Headhunters, Crazy King, Rocket Race, Rocket Hog Race, etc) - Infection (1v12; Last Stand, Hivemind, Safe Haven, etc.) - Rumble Pit (1v7; Juggernaut, Fiesta, Gun Game [new], Regicide, Rockets, Mini Slayer, Snapshot, Paintball, Crazy King, etc) - Community Options (Grifball, Race, “Classic”, etc.)Warzone:

  • Heavy PvE (12v12) - basic mode; tweak AI boss point awarding to this. - Heavy PvP (12v12) - aka Warzone Assault; plus, perhaps any new PvP focused additions too.Note 1: The “limited” association with JiP is to enforce the concept that the system shouldn’t add players late in games or if the score disparity is so great that a comeback is highly improbable or impossible. Also, players who are JiP’d into a match where the team they joined is losing shouldn’t be credited for a loss unless the team they joined managed to take the lead before eventually losing.

Note 2: This breakdown should fit fairly easily into your matchmaking outlook by limiting the fragmentation of the player base amongst too many playlist options and their playlist population demands while at the same time providing an expanded amount of game type diversity to lessen any potential fatigue factor. An additional method to reduce any fatigue factors would be to continue adding maps to the playlist rotations and to add a one time veto option (like Halo 3) because the lobbies reset after every match preventing us from being able to properly cycle through the maps/gametypes.

2

Looks good to me. Forfeit would be nice in every game mode as a mercy rule.

3

The forfeit feature is a built-in out for any losing team. If you’re in a party then you just ask one of your buddies to quit so you don’t have to lose the match. If you’re not in a party then you just betray another player until he boots you and… then you don’t have to lose the match. Sometimes you have to lose matches. It sucks when it’s down to a quitter, but this is an inescapable law of physics. If there was a way to solve the problem then it would have been solved by now.

Also, what is the benefit of visible CSR?

4

> 2533274873843883;3:
> The forfeit feature is a built-in out for any losing team. If you’re in a party then you just ask one of your buddies to quit so you don’t have to lose the match. If you’re not in a party then you just betray another player until he boots you and… then you don’t have to lose the match. Sometimes you have to lose matches. It sucks when it’s down to a quitter, but this is an inescapable law of physics. If there was a way to solve the problem then it would have been solved by now.
>
> Also, what is the benefit of visible CSR?

There isn’t a benefit of visible CSR before the match other than bragging rights.

5

> 2533274873843883;3:
> The forfeit feature is a built-in out for any losing team. If you’re in a party then you just ask one of your buddies to quit so you don’t have to lose the match. If you’re not in a party then you just betray another player until he boots you and… then you don’t have to lose the match. Sometimes you have to lose matches. It sucks when it’s down to a quitter, but this is an inescapable law of physics. If there was a way to solve the problem then it would have been solved by now.
>
> Also, what is the benefit of visible CSR?

Good point on the forfeit feature I was describing as I hadn’t really thought it through regarding it’s potential unintended consequences; anyways, thanks to your perspective I’ve edited it out of my initial post.

First, I think I may need to clarify that the current CSRs within Halo 5 are just rough visual indicators of someone’s skill level per a particular playlist and nothing more which is part of the reason I refer to them as “visible” CSRs; the other reason is because they can be viewed in game, though thankfully after a match is complete. I would imagine that the benefit of these “visible” CSRs is that people can relate to them in order to get an idea of where they roughly rank (skill wise) within a particular playlist, but it may also foster up some personal pride in their gameplay as well as to conjure up a desire to continuously improve; plus, the penalty system that will cause you to lose some rank due to quitting may also help alleviate that problematic symptom within the game slightly too.

Most people are pretty clueless when it comes to how the skill-based matchmaking (SBMM) works through Xbox Live; they tend to think that there isn’t SBMM without so-called “ranked” playlists within a game, but that’s entirely untrue as Microsoft’s entire Xbox Live service is providing SBMM to all the games with online matchmaking. The SBMM-side is provided by Microsoft’s TrueSkill system and it’s simply the developer’s method of incorporating and refining that system into their game’s matchmaking that can lead to any differences in how it’s experienced by the users. Like I said earlier, 343i’s playlist CSRs are simply a rough visual indicator of one’s TrueSkill per a particular playlist so that players have something they can easily relate to in trying to determine their skill level and any differences with regards to the online matchmaking between playlists will be about how 343i decided to prioritize Microsoft’s Smart Match system. The Smart Match system is the name to Xbox Live’s method toward providing an ideal matchmaking environment over Xbox One’s dedicated servers; it does so by combining the TrueSkill system with additional variables such as a player’s profile Rep, age, language, and play-style preferences. Basically, the matchmaking priorities 343i has set in place for particular playlists revolves around Microsoft’s Smart Match system and it’s the chosen parameters as well as dealing with skill-based volatility (always associated with team-based matchmaking) that dictates the experiences we receive; it’s not really dictated by whether a playlist has a visual CSR or not.

6

> 2533274813239350;2:
> Looks good to me. Forfeit would be nice in every game mode as a mercy rule.

I thought so too, but as recon Z 3 R 0 pointed out there would be consequences associated with it that I wasn’t considering initially. It’s why I’ve removed it from my original post.

7

Looks fine except for one thing. I’d love for CTF to have it’s own playlist. Other than that no problem.

8

> 2533274921432900;7:
> Looks fine except for one thing. I’d love for CTF to have it’s own playlist. Other than that no problem.

Trust me when I say I too would love to have a CTF only playlist, but in all honestly with the inclusion of Warzone and the demand those two playlists put onto the overall population I don’t think the priority should be in maintaining a CTF only playlist while also attempting to support a Skirmish playlist; instead the priority becomes about trying to provide a sensible balance between offering a diverse lineup of options while maintaining a healthy matchmaking system.

9

Added a playlist I named “Social Arena” in anticipation of the coming Social playlist to ARENA.

10

Moved the Snipers playlist from being a core Arena option to a Weekend Social in order to reduce the number of weekday Arena Playlists down to 8 with a total population demand of 68.

11

> 2775209234672000;1:
> Arena: (all of these playlists feature fireteam restrictions)
>
>
> - Slayer (4v4 w/ visible CSR and no JiP)
> - Skirmish (4v4 w/ visible CSR and no JiP; Multi-Flag CTF, Strongholds, Ricochet, & 1-Site Extraction)
> - Breakout (4v4 w/ visible CSR and no JiP)
> - SWAT (4v4 w/ visible CSR and no JiP)
> - Doubles (2v2 w/ visible CSR and no JiP)
> - Lone Wolf (1v5 w/ visible CSR and no JiP)
> - Social Arena (5v5 w/ limited JiP and no visible CSR - aka “unranked”; Slayer, SWAT, Regicide, Snipers, Arena Breakout, Multi-Flag CTF, Neutral Bomb, KotH, & Oddball)
> - BTB (8v8 w/ limited JiP and no visible CSR - aka “unranked”; map dependent, but modes of Slayer, Regicide, Multi-Flag CTF, 1-Sided CTF, Bomb Assault, Neutral Bomb, Multi-Site Extraction, Strongholds, KotH, & Oddball should all receive consideration)
>
> Weekend Social options
>
> : (None have visible CSR
>
> - aka “unranked”, all team-based games include alimited JiP
>
> , andnone include fireteam restrictions
>
> )
>
>
>
> - Action Sack (5v5; Fiesta, Plasma Wars, Mini-Slayer, Snapshot, SWATguns, Paintball, Medal Madness, Lightning Flag, Gungoose CTF, etc.)
> - Snipers (4v4; Standard, Mags & Snips, Shotty Snipers, and Dual Snips - aka Human & Covenant)
> - Multi-Team (Fiesta, Slayer, Mini Slayer, Snapshot, SWAT, Regicide, Headhunters, Crazy King, Rocket Race, Rocket Hog Race, etc)
> - Infection (1v12; Last Stand, Hivemind, Safe Haven, etc.)
> - Rumble Pit (1v7; Juggernaut, Fiesta, Gun Game [new], Regicide, Rockets, Mini Slayer, Snapshot, Paintball, Crazy King, etc)
> - Community Options (Grifball, Race, “Classic”, etc.)
> Warzone:
>
>
> - Heavy PvE (12v12) - basic mode; tweak AI boss point awarding to this.
> - Heavy PvP (12v12) - aka Warzone Assault; plus, perhaps any new PvP focused additions too.
> Note 1: The “limited” association with JiP is to enforce the concept that the system shouldn’t add players late in games or if the score disparity is so great that a comeback is highly improbable or impossible. Also, players who are JiP’d into a match where the team they joined is losing shouldn’t be credited for a loss unless the team they joined managed to take the lead before eventually losing.
>
> Note 2: This breakdown should fit fairly easily into your matchmaking outlook by limiting the fragmentation of the player base amongst too many playlist options and their playlist population demands while at the same time providing an expanded amount of game type diversity to lessen any potential fatigue factor. An additional method to reduce any fatigue factors would be to continue adding maps to the playlist rotations and to add a one time veto option (like Halo 3) because the lobbies reset after every match preventing us from being able to properly cycle through the maps/gametypes.

343i you have NO IDEA how much this would improve the Halo 5 experience… Maybe you guys should give him a gold req pack for free and do something for the good of the community and make this happen

12

Please see my thread entitled starting a petition please read and sign it so we can get the game types we want. We can make it happen

13

> 2533274809316585;11:
> > 2775209234672000;1:
> >
>
>
> 343i you have NO IDEA how much this would improve the Halo 5 experience… Maybe you guys should give him a gold req pack for free and do something for the good of the community and make this happen

I really hope they bring back the two holiday titled playlists (Doubles & Social 5v5) as basically permanent “core” ARENA offerings.

14

> 2533274809316585;12:
> Please see my thread entitled starting a petition please read and sign it so we can get the game types we want. We can make it happen

Petitions are not allowed.

15

I have a slightly different proposal but very similar.
Slayer (4v4, no JiP, Ranked)
CTF (4v4 no JiP Ranked)
Doubles (2v2 no JiP Ranked)
FFA (6 man no JiP Ranked)
Breakout (4v4, no JiP, Ranked, mix of breakout and arena breakout)
Social Slayer (4v4, JiP, non ranked, Slayer, Swat, Snipers, Shotty, Rockets, Juggernaut)
Social Objectives (4v4, JiP, non ranked, CTF, KOTH, Oddball, Strongholds, One Bomb, VIP)
BTB (8v8, JiP, non ranked, All of the playlists above barring FFA, Doubles, and Breakout.)
Multi-team (2v2v2v2, Jip, non ranked, All of the playlists above barring FFA, Doubles. Breakout would be possible but would require special maps)
Weekend Social (Number of Players determined by gametype. Rotating list of Infection, Grifball, Rocket Race, Fiesta, and other gametypes developed by the forge community. non ranked)

16

Mr d I wouldn’t mind that list. I’d still like social slayer being 5v5 for those times I have more friends online that don’t want to play objectives in Btb. Also why not include a couple of the btb maps in social slayer. If you think about it standoff was a 4v4 map in halo 3 and was fun.