Need to be separate. Meaning separate lists for “Social” and “Ranked” or whatever their Halo 4 equivalents are. A good playlist setup is one of (if not THE) most important things in balancing the game for Casual and Competitive play.
The best example of this is comparing Halo 3’s playlists with Reach’s. Halo 3 had 2 separate lists built specifically for Competitive and Casual play, respectively. Reach had one list that was built for everything (Despite its name) and failed miserably at this. The two communities must be separated for both sides to be happy and play the way they want to play.
For example:
In Halo 3, say you want to play a game of Team Slayer with your buddies to goof off and not really care that much on the outcome of the game. You’d play Social Slayer. Say you want to play a game of Team Slayer with people who are evenly matched with you where winning means everything. You’d play Team Slayer.
In Reach, if you want to play a game of Team Slayer with your buddies to goof off and not really care that much on the outcome of the game. You’d play Team Slayer and hope that the opponents shared your mindset. Say you want to play a game of Team Slayer with people who are evenly matched with you where winning means everything. (A near impossible task in Reach) You’d play Team Slayer, hope that Reach’s awful MM system didn’t pair you with people of an inappropriate skill level, hope that it didn’t present a popular non-Competitive map (Sword Base, Countdown), and hope that your opponents share the same mindset.
Reach’s playlist setup simply cannot work in a game that strives to be both Casual and Competitive. One side (if not both) will always be left out.
This is why I propose a playlist setup similar to that of Halo 3’s:
Ranked
Lone Wolves
TS
TO
BTB
Snipers
MLG
Doubles
Vanilla Slayer
Vanilla FFA
Social
Rumble Pit
Social Slayer
Infinity Slayer
Social Skirmish
SWAT
BTB
Multi-Team
Action Sack
etc.
This would ensure that each player would find a playlist that appeals to them and caters to their style of play.
These playlists also should be cut down from the outrageous number Reach had, as it only splits the community even more than it needs to. This is why some playlists should be relocated into other playlists like putting Grifball back into AS and Infection back in Rumble Pit (so long as Reach’s biased Voting system is gone). If players would like to play those playlists, bring them back for a Double EXP/Credits/Spartan Points/Whatever Weekend.
Just my 2 cents, but this is a really important issue that I feel doesn’t get discussed enough around here in favor of irrelevant topics like Armor threads and Sprint -Yoinking!-.