Based on what I’ve been seeing, everybody has their own opinion on how they would have liked the playlists of Halo 4 to turn out. Now that the official list have been revealed:
> “Infinity Slayer – 4 v. 4
> The newly introduced Infinity Slayer variant allows Spartans to earn points during the course of a match, which can eventually be leveraged to call in ordnance from overhead. Ordnance drops within Infinity Slayer consist of three selectable but randomly generated weapons or power-ups, the latter of which can alter a Spartan’s speed, shielding or ability to issue damage.
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> Big Team Infinity Slayer – 8 v. 8
> Same as above, in an 8 v. 8 setting
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> Dominion – 6 v. 6
> Teams are pitted against each other to capture, fortify and resupply bases to win. After infiltrating a base, a player can capture it for their team, whether it is a neutral base or a base previously claimed by the enemy. When a team has held a base for long enough, it will automatically fortify, defending itself with turret emplacements and energy shields. Holding a base earns teams points for each resupply, and provides teams with heavy ordnance drops and vehicles each supply cycle.
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> Regicide – 6-player FFA
> The Spartan in first place is the King. As the King racks up kills, their bounty increases, thereby increasing the points other Spartans gain from killing the King. All other Spartans’ heads-up displays and motion sensors give away the King’s location at all times during the match, aggressively focusing combat wherever the point leader happens to be.
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> Flood – 10 players
> Within this War Games simulation, the deadly parasite has returned – a group of Spartans have been transformed into incredibly fast and deadly Flood combat forms. As the Flood, players are forced to destroy uninfected Spartans, converting them into Flood combat form allies. As an uninfected Spartan, the player’s goal is to survive the seemingly never-ending Flood onslaught, staving off transformation into the parasite.
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> Capture the Flag – 5 v. 5
> Played with up to four teams, each of which has their own Flag. The goal of each team is to steal an enemy team’s Flag, while protecting their own. Once a team has grabbed a Flag, they must return it to their own capture point to score. Flag carriers are only able to use a Magnum or the Flag itself as a weapon.
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> Oddball – 5 v. 5
> With up to eight teams in combat, the goal of the War Games simulation called Oddball is to hold onto the ball the longest. While holding the ball, a player or team will gain points, but the player holding the ball is unable to defend themselves with their weapon. Players are also able throw the ball or use it as a weapon for close-range melee attacks.
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> King of the Hill – 5 v. 5
> Reminiscent of schoolyard skirmishes, the War Games competition known as King of the Hill pits up to eight teams against each other in a struggle to hold a specific territory. While this is a classic game type, its most recent iteration offers a variety of new scoring methods, including a focus on individual performance in addition to the team’s collective effort.
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> Team Slayer Pro – 4 v. 4
> This playlist features the following settings: No Radar, 3 Loadouts (DMR, AR or BR with 1 grenade and Resupply Tactical Package), Player Movement Speed, Reload Speed and Weapon Swap Speed set to 110%, Friendly Fire ON, Score to win Round 60 Kills, No Map Loadouts, and No Custom Loadouts.”
… I thought it would be cool for everybody to share what they had hoped it would be, or what they wish it will turn into. Of course, if they’re perfectly satisfied with what 343 has presented them, that’s totally cool too.
If it was up to me, I would have done something like this:
Infinity (features individual custom loadouts, perks, ordnance drops, etc)
Team Slayer: 4 v. 4
Team Doubles: 2 v. 2
Team Objective - 5 v. 5 (Oddball, King of the Hill, Capture the Flag)
Squad Battles - 6 v. 6 (Dominion, Extraction, Capture the Flag)
Big Team Battle - 8 v. 8
Classic (features playlist specific pre-determined loadouts, no ordnance drops, etc)
Lone Wolves: 6 player FFA (Slayer, Regicide, Oddball, King of the Hill)
Team Tactical: 5 v. 5 (SWAT, Snipers)
Team Slayer Pro 4 v. 4 (Skill based ranking system, 1-30)
Grifball: 4 v. 4 (Skill based ranking system, 1-30)
Flood: 10 players
Something all those lines still fits into 343’s desire of having “a streamlined playlist selection” (there’s 10 playlists, only 1 more then 343’s given 9), and I think it would have better suited what fans look for in matchmaking.
How about you guys?