Iâm a little behind on my own thread! Been super busy! But anyway, to start off my post, I want to highlight my key thoughts on consolidation so the main ideas are expressed first.
1. The Majority Change
It is very clear that a majority of players that hated Vanilla Reach but supported the Title Update will most likely move on to Halo 4 and rarely, if ever, play Reach again. Players that did enjoy the original version of Halo: Reach should not have to deal with the Title Update in the majority of playlists.
With the exception of the Anniversary playlists and MLG, as well as any special playlists listed in my wishlist, any core playlist that has been title updated will experience a ârollback,â removing the TU changes from the playlist. Any other additions, such as maps and gametypes, will remain in place.
2. Playlist Elimination
In order to keep Halo: Reach matchmaking times as quick as possible after the launch of Halo 4, only core playlists should remain in general rotation and redundancy should be kept to a minimum.
While the novelty playlists Living Dead and Grifball were able to maintain sizable populations, they should be the first two playlists to be cut since they are not based on core Halo: Reach mechanics. Even though the playlists were also popular in Halo 3, those playlists were never reinstated after Halo: Reach dropped, and thus the same should apply here.
SWAT and Snipers have very similar gameplay aspects and thus should be folded into one playlist. Voting options in that playlist would be reduced to two voting options and a veto option. Randomly, the first voting session will be either SWAT or Snipers, and should a veto occur, the option that did not appear will be the only one in the second voting round.
Depending on player interest, either the Arena would be cut or Team Slayer would receive the Arena ranking system, since both playlists are 4v4.
Playlists that should also be retired include Co-op Campaign, Super Slayer, Team Objective. This will leave the following playlists and hoppers:
Standard: Team Slayer, Team SWAT/Snipers, Rumble Pit, Multi Team, Big Team Battle, Invasion
Evolved: Squad Slayer, MLG
Anniversary: Anniv. Firefight, Classic, FFA
Cooperative: Score Attack, Firefight
3. Reinstating Squad Slayer
The March 2012 Update saw the removal of Squad Slayer and having Super Slayer in its place. As a successor, Super Slayer has experienced less success, with a lower average population and different maps/settings that did not appeal to Squad Slayer players.
Reinstating Squad Slayer as it was before its removal, which included the full TU and no Armor Lock on spawn, would give TU players the middle ground playlist to return to without the hardcore elements of MLG as well as the exclusion of Armor Lock. Squad Slayer would be included under the âEvolvedâ hopper.
More when I get to it!