Introduction
The arena is a new type of competitive playlist introduced last year into Halo: Reach, admittedly, it never took off. There were many contributing factors as to why it did not, lacking skill gap, camping, bloom, lack of a simplistic, and visible ranking system. But we aren’t here to talk about why it did or did not take off, population wise, I’m here to propose my settings and attributes to the new arena.
In the Lobby
One of the problems with the current arena is that there is almost no point in playing it, the only way people see your division is if they are in the arena with you, looking at your service record, or stats on Bungie.net. My proposal to show your division on your nameplate in every lobby in Matchmaking.
Q: Why do you think this will increase the population?
A: Well to answer that question, we have to look into other games. Lets look at Gears of War and Gears of War 2, there was almost no difference in terms of weapon sandbox between the two. Yet Gears of War 2 yielded higher player counts over a more extended period of time. Why, you might ask ? Simple, in the lobby there was a little number next to your name that indicated your rank. It was virtually meaningless, yet even Cliff Blezinski, Design Director of Epic Games and my Idol, clearly states in his interview with IGN that the pointless little number was the reason Gears of War 2 stayed popular so long. So in short, more players will want to play arena to parade around there division rating in every lobby they find themselves in.
The Game Modes and the Title Update
With 343’s Title Update, new custom game mode settings will be available such as bloom tweaks, and much much more. My proposed settings for the arena gametypes:
Starting Weapon: DMR
Secondary Weapon: Magnum
Melee Damage: 75%
Bloom: Off
Armor Abilities: Drops on Map
Movement Speed: 120% ( 115% would be optimal)
Jump Height: 110%
Starting Grenades: 2 Frag
Q: Why no Bloom?
A: Not trying to start a flamewar here, but bloom admittedly does not works as intended. Furthermore spamming produces random results in DMR fights at medium/close range. Since this is a squad based playlist, with medium to small sized maps , bloom just wouldn’t fit into the competitive equation.
Q: Why are Armor Abilities drops on the Map?
A: To encourage teamwork really, teams will have to fight for Armor Abilities, Map Control, and Power Weapons. Just like in previous Halo titles.
Q: Movement speed increase, why?
A:For multiple reasons really,
- To accelerate the pace of the game.
- To increase the effectiveness of strafing.
- To get away from the mini nukes, before they get you.
Discuss
Well do you like my proposal, or no?
Keep it clean ladies.