Season 10 Arena is coming to an end in a few days (8 or 9). This is a good time to get much needed long overdue changes to the Arena up. I stopped playing Arena after season 9, but picked it back up to try out how the TU settings play competitively.
Last night, I searched about 10 games. Even though I’m unrated for this season, I was already matching single digit Onyx players because apparently my trueskill from past seasons (season 8 and 9 Onyx) carries over from season to season. I didn’t know that, and I think that makes a reset of the ranks every season pointless. Anyways, my games last night played wonderfully with the TU settings, but still the fatal flaws of Arena showed in the few games I played. These are:
My team mate got hit offline in 2 games in a row (not much 343 can do about this one, but it still sucks when it happens)
Reflection, Uncaged and Sword Base were chosen 5 times. These maps should not be in the rotation because they give an unfair starting spawn to one team.
The jetpack was abused and broke every map it was used on. It doesn’t yield good competitively play. There’s nothing competitive about abusing killzones on Uncaged.
The search times were terrible. I actually started watching TV in between games because at one point, it was taking 20 minutes to find games.
My partner and I were 2s tricked on 3 times.
Most of what I listed above can be solved in these ways:
Take out the maps that yield poor competitive play. These include Reflection, Uncaged and Sword Base.
The jetpack needs to go. Map control is useless and killzones are abused with it.
You can’t really solve 2s tricking and booting, but if the above 2 changes were made, search times would definitely improve because more people would play. And more people playing = more people to match against.
So can we get some kind of confirmation from you, 343, that you’re going to update Arena before season 11? I miss playing for a meaningful rank.
I agree with the Jetpack being removed. However, some high end Onyx’s have said that some maps like Reflection and Uncaged are unplayable without the Jetpack. But then again, maybe Arena should be no radar so map control would not be invincible on those maps?
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It’s true actually. Every single game on Uncaged and Swordbase would end 6-5 without the jet pack. But, this simply demonstrates how utterly awful the map design is.
And, Bookshelf 343 ignored my fix thread that had nearly 100 replies. They will ignore you as well. Or “suggest this to the matchmaking team”. Pathetic.
> I agree with the Jetpack being removed. However, some high end Onyx’s have said that some maps like Reflection and Uncaged are unplayable without the Jetpack. But then again, maybe Arena should be no radar so map control would not be invincible on those maps?
Unplayable? I play on em with sprint just fine, and Ivory Tower(Reflection) is amazing even with no sprint as it was in Halo 2.
BTW the entire teams that do the jetpack/needler thing should be reason enough to take it out, this is RANKED. MLG should honestly be the ranked playlist. Their rules are more competitive, combining the populations would help immensely for search times, and frankly MLG took a hit because of Reach default settings and it would be nice to eject some new blood into that scene. I think people would like it more if they give it a try.
Which just goes to show how awful those maps are for competitive play.
That’s not good enough, Whale. They’ve let Arena just sit and rot for 3 seasons now with players coming forth with changes that need to be made to better the gaming experience. They added the TU, awesome. That makes Arena like 10 x better already.
Now just make it 100 x better with the removal of jetpack alone.
I do not foresee any changes being made in Arena Season 11. Although if 343 really did read these forums they would have a much better understanding of what their customers concerns and wants are?
Bump out the maps Uncaged, Sword Base and Reflection and replace them with “Rebirth”, “The Pit” and “Beaver Creak”. Its would be fun to try some ZBNS in a couple of the gametypes.
While I am on my soapbox, improve the stats page and add a groups feature. ( We have better chance of winning Power Ball)
Pretty much agree with this post. Unless 343 is okay with changing Arena mid-season, I hope they do something soon. Perhaps they should just abolish seasons since Halo 4 should be coming out later in the year.
I pretty much agree on removing some maps. Uncaged, Sword Base, Boardwalk, Enclosed and Kingdom need to disappear. I hope they add the Anniversary maps as well as better forge maps to rotation. AAs also need to be tightly regulated: sprint only with pickups, such as Jet pack and evade.
As for the 2’s trick, that is difficult to address. Adding the Squad Slayer search restriction (big parties match big parties) would be nice, but the current player population would only make search times go up. I wonder how having a party size of one would work (much like Mercenary Team Deathmatch in MW3), but that would also have a negative effect on a close-knit team.
Even though searching MLG alone is pretty much suicide, I do that only because the MLG settings are more competitive. Personally, I think MLG, as well as other competitive playlists, should have the Arena ranking system, and just phase out the Arena as a playlist.
> Pretty much agree with this post. Unless 343 is okay with changing Arena mid-season, I hope they do something soon. Perhaps they should just abolish seasons since Halo 4 should be coming out later in the year.
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> I pretty much agree on removing some maps. Uncaged, Sword Base, Boardwalk, Enclosed and Kingdom need to disappear. I hope they add the Anniversary maps as well as better forge maps to rotation. AAs also need to be tightly regulated: sprint only with pickups, such as Jet pack and evade.
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> As for the 2’s trick, that is difficult to address. Adding the Squad Slayer search restriction (big parties match big parties) would be nice, but the current player population would only make search times go up. I wonder how having a party size of one would work (much like Mercenary Team Deathmatch in MW3), but that would also have a negative effect on a close-knit team.
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> Even though searching MLG alone is pretty much suicide, I do that only because the MLG settings are more competitive. Personally, I think MLG, as well as other competitive playlists, should have the Arena ranking system, and just phase out the Arena as a playlist.
Enclosed is a good map without the Jetpack and Kingdown is the best map for competitive play in the game outside of MLG hands down. They won’t do pickups, so I say just get rid of jetpack in any form. It’s too easy to exploit maps with it.
Arena already has the party restrictions. However finding another full team can take 20+ minutes because so few of them search. They’re all 2s tricking to match randoms.
I search MLG alone for 99% of my MLG games. I get by just fine. Leave the Arena system out of MLG. It will only bring cheaters to a decent playlist.
> This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not call out individuals. This includes forum members, moderators, administrators, and non-forum members.
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> It’s true actually. Every single game on Uncaged and Swordbase would end 6-5 without the jet pack. But, this simply demonstrates how utterly awful the map design is.
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> And, Bookshelf 343 ignored my fix thread that had nearly 100 replies. They will ignore you as well. Or “suggest this to the matchmaking team”. Pathetic.
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> No jetpack no radar no swordbase. Add FFA Arena and doubles back in. Remove party chat from arena. This prevents the 2s trick and encourages teamwork.
I don’t think you can remove party chat… Plus you could just skype or use another means.