I want to make it clear that I’m not angry, so please don’t read that as my tone in what follows. It’s more disappointment and trying to rationalize the thought processes behind it.
Again, the PvE subject comes up and we get the same canned answer that “if halo community interest is up for it we’ll consider adding it AFTER launch” (paraphrase). Look, when a common theme on the forums and in a lot of the interviews I’ve seen, specifically ask about a PvE element like Firefight being in the game, constantly, I think it’s probably safe to say that there has been some interest in it for quite some time. Spartan Ops wasn’t overly well-received because it was fairly ill-conceived as a mode (2nd “season” improved it, but I think the damage had already been done), but I think there has been a pretty not insignificant portion of the community that has ALWAYS been pretty vocal about their interest in new or improved PvE modes in the game… so the question that should have been answered was: “Why does a PvE only mode that is not campaign seemingly not even seem to be on 343i’s ‘given’ list of modes for Halo 5?” The request for a PvE only version of Warzone seems to be an afterthought in the design process? That would be more of a given than the pure PvP version of Warzone, wouldn’t it? I mean, couldn’t an addition of the REQ system for BTB essentially be that mode?
I’m not overly keen on the idea of set spawn locations for enemies. Was it just technically too difficult to give them the ability to spawn anywhere on the map or reactively spawn based upon teams’ base control? If it’s a technical hurdle, we’d understand, but it kind of sucks that some areas of the maps are essentially considered to be used as merely a way to get to other parts of the map rather than all areas being potential ambush points.