Tell me I’m not alone on this one; it seems that almost every map in H4 has little to no “flow.”
(Flow - as I’m defining it; a rhythm or a pace to the map ((layout/design as well as player and weapon spawns)) that keeps the pace and tempo high, and that allows for a couple of different approaches or strategies that can be successfully applied to making use of the map against an opposing team.)
The community maps have helped a lot in this regard, and I’m not exactly sure what or when it changed - it just seems like what use to be high intensity sandboxes has become more of a “one central power point to hold…with a map fleshed out around it and a sporadic combat pace at best.”
(^Have not felt this recently - as I’ve been playing in the FFA playlists for the G.C. <—but Halo used to feel like these FFAs, just on a larger scale). …not at all saying let’s make it more like an arcad-ey twitch shooter (like certain nameless military shooters :P)
The main reason I bring it up is because I feel like this is the main reason that replayability is so low on H4 and the population is dropping off earlier in comparison to previous titles.
These maps (and maps in the future or for future titles) need more creativity and imagination behind them.
…I consider myself a hardcore player and fan, but it is getting tiring of starting most matches with “Alright guys - everybody rush to the “X” (X = Mid base, Office, Tank Spawn, etc). If they beat us there, just try to rush them and overpower, otherwise they’re probably gonna just sit back and pick us off.” …I love to compete, but I don’t want to have to compete hard every match just so that the team doesn’t get slaughtered. Losing is fine, getting hammered is not.
I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but feel like “map control” which used to consist of two or three seperate choices per a map, has boiled down to one choice, which is making the maps feel very repetitive and doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for the “wow” moments that made Halo such a big deal in the first place.
And while we loved maps like Pit and Valhalla - we’ve been playing them for about 7 years now, move on, please.