WARNING: I get very wordy when talking about halo, so if this is too much, scroll down to the TL;DR at the bottom
The problems with the Invasion Playlist as of right now:
Every map in every game has a few problems, no matter how good it is. Invasion, because of the sheer size and length of each game, tends to show more problems. However, each map has a solution that can and will make gameplay more balanced.
I’ll start with Boneyard, because I have more grievances here than anywhere else… In the first phase, if you are attacking as elites, and you spawn on the far left side, you almost always get killed before reaching the ship the first few times because the spawns are in the open and they are separated from the other two elite spawns. I actually feel like the second phase is very well balanced, although if spartans obtain the wraith instead of retreating, they can cause hell among the elites.
However, the third phase is not well balanced. It starts with the loadouts. Players should flat out, not be able to spawn with power weapons. I consider the shotgun a blatant power weapon, and the grenade launcher can be very effective in the right hands. It is not overly difficult to get the core to that first door. However, the core is almost impossible to get from the first door to the open.
That’s because of the shotgun loadout, and its AA of armor lock. There are about 5 different camping corners in that little bottom floor area. If three spartans all have shotgun and armor lock, there isn’t anything the elites can do. They just constantly get slaughtered in close quarters, which slows down the game, and turns it into -blam!-ing camp fest.
I am going to move on to Spire. With Spire, the first phase feels too big for me. You can only get to the objective 3 or 4 times between the long trip to the objective and spawning. The entire offensive strategy starts to revolve around only one player pushing, while another spawns them nearby. This can become pretty boring, as only 3 players are trying to play offense vs 6 defenders. Even more problematic, is if you have an AFKer or your spawn bro quits out. Also, the needle rifle spawns way too fast. With it’s 30 second respawn time, every elite can get one within the first 45 seconds of the match. Besides, the overall size of the first phase, it isn’t too bad.
The second phase is pretty for spire. It combines an indoor objective with a medium ranged outdoors, which gives a lot of intense combat. The only thing is that the sniper completely dominates if the player is good. Elites are very easy to headshot, to the point where you could get 10 kills with those 12 shots. The third phase of Spire is very different than the other two maps, due to the vertical nature of Spire. It also plays different because of the spawn points for elites. They spend more of the game preventing the core from scoring than actually defending the core from objective. I do enjoy the craziness of trying to prevent, however, I feel like there is a little too much preventing, as most of the time elites don’t even go up on the spire.
My largest complaint about Spire, is the placement of the Banshee… It is extremely easy as a spartan, to bring a friend and just spawn kill those elites until the banshee is available. Once taken by spartans, the banshee can keep the elite on spawn for a long time. Meanwhile, the guy with core is walking untouched to the pelican. Yes, the elites have plasma launcher, but that thing is hardly a threat to the banshee. I would also like to give the elites a chance to make it to the top by putting a mancannon near the cliff where focus rifle is.
Finally, we have Breakpoint. This is definitely my favorite invasion map. I have to give Certain Affinity props for keeping the pace of the map fast, but not out of control. The first phase is much different, because the attacking team spawns with the high ground. There is also much less distance between spawns and objectives, giving the attacking team a chance to get to the hills 8-10 times. Anyone looking to make a map should pay attention to the things Breakpoint does.
Moving on to the next phase, my only issue is that the spawns are a little goofed up. Certain spartan fire teams can only spawn in the vehicle bay, while others can spawn in the weapons caches, and the vehicle bay. This is a very easy fix, and requires about a minute of time. Phase 3 of Breakpoint is also very very fun. It is set up very well, giving both teams a chance to come out on top. I only wish that the elites got their own weapons cache. Maybe a plasma launcher and a focus rifle? I don’t know really, but Breakpoint is definitely the best map in the invasion playlist.
