Arena-style Halo

Games Other Halo
1

I was listening to Bravo’s latest video where he, along with Best Man, answered some of the questions that he was asked in regards to E3 and there was this one thing that really bugged me; Haven and Adrift are about as small as the maps will get in H4, which is something that Kevin Franklin seem to have informed them of. Now, I know that some of you may not care or think that is great, but really I must say that I’ll be disappointed if this proves to be the case.

I, personally, have always been leaning more towards the smaller, gun-combat style of Halo, or Arena style if you’d like, and not the whole ordeal with vehicles that you can find in BTB and now in Invasion as well, and I’m afraid to see my personal way of having fun in Halo get taken away even more by the continuing enlargement of maps that we’ve seen since H2 really. Obviously, one individual’s “needs” will not be looked out for and never should either, but regardless I’m sad to see the Arena-style of Halo get more and more diminished.

I will not go any further into why I think it is, beside the obvious change in vision for the maps, since that has been stated several times over by countless people but I really thought that 343 would not do what Bungie did in H3 and Reach, where I felt that the Arena-style started to get more and more neglected, and start catering to both sides of the Halo-gameplay spectrum, instead of just one, but I guess I was fooled by obvious PR-talk.

Since 343 themselves has stated that they want this game to be customizable as much as it can be, I hope they give us the tools to do so. That does not include merely a gametype editor, but options when it comes to toggle aim-assist, smoothing, individual weapon-damage modifiers etc. so that the game truly can be editable and so that both groups, those that enjoy the more BTB-ish approach to Halo and those that, like I, enjoy the more Arena-style approach to Halo or perhaps even those who enjoy both, can enjoy H4’s MP because as it looks right now, again from my personal view, it looks like one side is favored over the other.

And please, avoid the “adapt”, “embrace change”, “competitive players can suck on my -Yoink-” comments, I think we’ve all seen enough of those.

2

> I really thought that 343 would not do what Bungie did in H3 and Reach and start catering to both sides of the Halo-gameplay spectrum, instead of just one, but I guess I was fooled by obvious PR-talk.

I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?

3

> I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?

I’m yet to see anything that would suggest that they are catering to both. If you have, please show it to me.

4

> I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?

So instead they have to make it soley for the “casual” side do they?

There is nothing competitive about giant maps and here’s the kicker, small arena maps are every bit as fun for “Casuals” as they are for “Competitive” players. Foundation, Warlock, Lockout, turf etc.

Halos best maps were all small Arena style.

5

The one thing that annoyed me in Arena was that most of the maps were forged.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the way Arena works in Reach with the Divisions. But Im not really that type of Halo’er.

But I would hate to see it being ignored and pushed away.

6

> > I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?
>
> So instead they have to make it soley for the “casual” side do they?
>
> There is nothing competitive about giant maps and here’s the kicker, small arena maps are every bit as fun for “Casuals” as they are for “Competitive” players. Foundation, Warlock, Lockout, turf etc.
>
> Halos best maps were all small Arena style.

Vahalla and sandtrap would like to have a word with you.

7

> The one thing that annoyed me in Arena was that most of the maps were forged.
>
> Don’t get me wrong, I loved the way Arena works in Reach with the Divisions. But Im not really that type of Halo’er.
>
> But I would hate to see it being ignored and pushed away.

I favor the chaotic btb side of Halo, but when I play rumble pit, things can get extremely competitive.

8

> The one thing that annoyed me in Arena was that most of the maps were forged.
>
> Don’t get me wrong, I loved the way Arena works in Reach with the Divisions. But Im not really that type of Halo’er.
>
> But I would hate to see it being ignored and pushed away.

Ah, I wasn’t speaking directly of the Arena gametype in Reach, but I guess it provides a good example of what I mean when I say that that sort of gameplay, or gametype that attempts to provide that sort of gameplay, more and more is getting pushed away from “standard” Halo and instead finds itself shoved in to a corner.

Personally, I was never a big fan of Reach’s divisions, but here’s to hoping that the ranking system will be improved =).

As I would hate to see BTB or Infection get taken away then. I can’t say I enjoy those gametypes but they provide entertainment for others, and as so they deserve to stay and get developed further.

9

> > I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?
>
> I’m yet to see anything that would suggest that they are catering to both. If you have, please show it to me.

He totally misunderstood your sentence. He thought you were saying:
“I really thought that 343 would not do what Bungie did in H3 and Reach when they started catering to both sides of the Halo-gameplay spectrum, instead of just one, but I guess I was fooled by obvious PR-talk.”

An understandable mistake when you read your original sentence.

10

> not the whole ordeal with vehicles

Oh dear, vehicles are too much to handle.

No, I prefer Halo to not sink into the miasma of vehicle-less gameplay. I like my variety. To me, Halo isn’t just run and gun like CoD. It’s got vehicles and much much more.

11

I would like to see Forge become a lot better, but that would only be possible on PC.

12

I enjoy both styles, but prefer the smaller arena-style maps. Hopefully there will be more maps suited for arena-style play.

13

> > > I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?
> >
> > So instead they have to make it soley for the “casual” side do they?
> >
> > There is nothing competitive about giant maps and here’s the kicker, small arena maps are every bit as fun for “Casuals” as they are for “Competitive” players. Foundation, Warlock, Lockout, turf etc.
> >
> > Halos best maps were all small Arena style.
>
> Vahalla and sandtrap would like to have a word with you.

Valahalla is a good map, not even remotely close to being one of the best in Halo.

Sandtrap? lol…

14

> > > > I’m sorry but assuming they’d cater to only one set of fans is down-right stupid. Lemme put it in real simple terms for you. You’re a teacher, your class is full of boys and girls, you’re making a lesson plan. Do you make the lesson plan specifically catering for the boys or the girls, or do you make one that helps both?
> > >
> > > So instead they have to make it soley for the “casual” side do they?
> > >
> > > There is nothing competitive about giant maps and here’s the kicker, small arena maps are every bit as fun for “Casuals” as they are for “Competitive” players. Foundation, Warlock, Lockout, turf etc.
> > >
> > > Halos best maps were all small Arena style.
> >
> > Vahalla and sandtrap would like to have a word with you.
>
> Valahalla is a good map, not even remotely close to being one of the best in Halo.
>
> Sandtrap? lol…

I can see why you would like small maps, but it is no where near as epic as vehicle combat.

15

> > not the whole ordeal with vehicles
>
> Oh dear, vehicles are too much to handle.
>
> No, I prefer Halo to not sink into the miasma of vehicle-less gameplay. I like my variety. To me, Halo isn’t just run and gun like CoD. It’s got vehicles and much much more.

No, they aren’t. But they don’t provide the gameplay that I find entertaining. Again, I’m not saying that Halo should get rid of its vehicles, it never would, just that it’s possible to cater to both playstyles. It may sound rude or offensive, but I’m yet to see 343 even make an attempt at doing so.

16

> > > not the whole ordeal with vehicles
> >
> > Oh dear, vehicles are too much to handle.
> >
> > No, I prefer Halo to not sink into the miasma of vehicle-less gameplay. I like my variety. To me, Halo isn’t just run and gun like CoD. It’s got vehicles and much much more.
>
> No, they aren’t. But they don’t provide the gameplay that I find entertaining. Again, I’m not saying that Halo should get rid of its vehicles, it never would, just that it’s possible to cater to both playstyles. It may sound rude or offensive, but I’m yet to see 343 even make an attempt at doing so.

It gets harder to make a good map as you go small. They probably did this to avoid making things get clustered.

17

> It gets harder to make a good map as you go small. They probably did this to avoid making things get clustered.

Sorry but that isn’t true at all.

Small maps are simpler and easier to make flow well.

18

> > > > not the whole ordeal with vehicles
> > >
> > > Oh dear, vehicles are too much to handle.
> > >
> > > No, I prefer Halo to not sink into the miasma of vehicle-less gameplay. I like my variety. To me, Halo isn’t just run and gun like CoD. It’s got vehicles and much much more.
> >
> > No, they aren’t. But they don’t provide the gameplay that I find entertaining. Again, I’m not saying that Halo should get rid of its vehicles, it never would, just that it’s possible to cater to both playstyles. It may sound rude or offensive, but I’m yet to see 343 even make an attempt at doing so.
>
> It gets harder to make a good map as you go small. They probably did this to avoid making things get clustered.

Treyarch did amazingly balanced small arena maps in less than 2 years with Black ops. I can’t see why 343i would brake the tradition by making them bigger just so that they could lower the required effort.

19

> It gets harder to make a good map as you go small. They probably did this to avoid making things get clustered.

Only 343 specifically know the reason for it, but most likely it is to make sprint a natural asset instead of an hinderance, like it could be argued that it was in Reach.

I just hope forge will be sufficient to make these smaller maps that I’m looking for, without them getting repetitive, like in Reach’s case, monotoned.

20

> No, they aren’t. But they don’t provide the gameplay that I find entertaining. Again, I’m not saying that Halo should get rid of its vehicles, it never would, just that it’s possible to cater to both playstyles. It may sound rude or offensive, but I’m yet to see 343 even make an attempt at doing so.

There would be playlists specific to vehicle-less gameplay, just like Halo: Reach had with it’s MLG playlist, I’m pretty sure.