So now that the last Map Pack of the War Games Map Packs (of the War Game Map Pass Collection at least) has been released, what should the future hold for a playlist or two dedicated to the maps after Castle’s own playlist reaches a time appropriate for evaluation?
There are those that do enjoy those maps in particular, me being among them. There are also always a fair number of Achievement Hunters amongst Halo’s player population, and as someone who tends to Achievement Hunt in Halo particularly, I find it very frustrating when the challenge of the Achievements is not the Achievements themselves, but the awfully painful task of simply finding a playlist with the only map available to earn them on, hoping that all players who join have the map packs & vote for them to be played. Shatter would be the perfect example, being only on two playlists with only the Big Team Infinity variant having the Mantis.
So perhaps after the Castle DLC Playlist’s time has run it’s course, would a permanent playlist or playlist selection hosting all maps of the War Games DLC maps be a reasonable thing to have in it’s place, similar to Bungie keeping the Team Mythic playlist up permanently in Halo 3’s Matchmaking.
I could suggest two options with the first being more preferable and the second being less demanding & having more chance of a healthy population:
1. Having two playlists to cater to the varying map sizes, like a 4v4 (Minimum Game Start Count 3v3) “War Games DLC” playlist featuring the smaller, close-quarter friendly maps like Skyline & Harvest, with a 6v6 (Minimum Game Start Count 4v4-5v5) “War Games DLC Big Team” playlist catering to the bigger maps such as Shatter & Daybreak.
2. Finding a player count suitable for all maps such as 5v5 and creating a single “War Games DLC” playlist with varying slayer & objective gametypes. This may not be as preferable to the player as the first option, but having the single playlist would hold more likelihood of a healthy player population in the long run.
If this were to be done, it would ensure that the Achievements of these map packs do not meet an early “expiration date” or become more encouraging to boost for late-coming players or catching up Achievement Hunters, and more importantly, those who wish to get more playtime from the DLC maps have a place to do so.