Hi. First of all, let me just say how much I love halo 5 multiplayer in general. I’ve spent more time on this than any other halo since halo 1 or 2 (and maybe any other multiplayer game for that matter). I love the new boost ability, the pistol and the variety of many other new weapons/vehicles (and their variations). I love that the gameplay feels quick/responsive and rewards skill, so much so that often it can feel like taking on 2 opponents is actually sometimes a decent option - killing them both before they knew what hit them. For me, one of the things that makes halo great are the cool moments like this were it pays to be cocky.
Here are some of my thoughts of my long time playing halo 5 so far…
Initially I felt pretty disappointed in halo 5 multiplayer. I got a bad first impression of big team battle (or lack of). The later addition of some new maps helped a little, but I definitely think overall it lacks polish compared to 4v4 arena and warzone. It has grown on me somewhat, but it still has it’s issues… I think there is a big problem with spawn camping in particular - it is a bit too predictable. For instance, I had a game on that Valhalla remake and the score must have been near 10-100 because my team could not move due to the 2 banshees. Then something similar happened with the gauss warthog on another round…It seems that people have a habit of never bothering to shoot the banshee and start giving up very quickly, or think they can be sneaky and avoid or board it too often. I think most BTB maps could benefit with more anti vehicle weapons.
I think strongholds comes up far too often in the playlist rotation. It’s not terrible, I just think there are so many better gametypes out there. I think there is something wrong when I get more strongholds than slayer or CTF. After I play warzone and then come onto strongholds, it feels like a disappointment in comparison. It seems like the older halo games had more variety in BTB, with the occasional game of oddball and king of the hill, which are completely absent in Halo 5.
I would like to see more BTB variants that have something else besides battle rifle starts. It’s ok, but I personally find the gun a bit slow. Even if I could start with a BR and a pistol. I just love the faster pistol and the carbine. Sidenote: I definitely felt similarly about halo 3 too… Carbine has generally felt more skillful to me, but never quite as useful because of lower damage vs the BR. People seem to really praise H3, but I think it was the least fun I have had with halo MP. It made the combat too midrange, and not as dynamic/varied overall. Random note: I remember how much more i preferred the h3 beta with the nice powerful carbine, but then they nerfed it too much and then all people ever used was BR…grr… I much prefer halo 5, especially since BR seems to actually work at a distance, unlike h3 (maybe it was a netcode issue). I also think the balance between carbine vs BR is spot on in halo 5, I just want more carbines! ANYWAY…I think this is partly why I love warzone so much - the pistol and AR start. Finally a halo game has gotten the pistol pretty spot on with balance in my opinion, it’s very fun too. It would be nice to find it more often in BTB, or to start with it.
I love warzone. What a nice surprise! I think it was only until I got into this gametype that the multiplayer really clicked for me. It was great to see new maps for it as well. I would basically be happy with a constant supply of new maps to keep me going! I really think the larger warzone maps do wonders for the pacing in halo 5 (due to the much quicker movement). On that note I think some of the arena maps feel a little too small - when a player leaves it feels even more noticeable, beacuse the larger team tends to sprint round the map basically spawn rushing. Anyway, back to thoughts on warzone - It would maybe be nice to see the odd map that had 5 capture points instead of 3, or a similar change in format.
Many people initially seemed turned off by the whole REQ system, thinking that it was pay to win. Most of these people probably don’t realise how quick it is to unlock new weapons and loadouts, without actually spending any real money. Very soon it feels like it doesn’t matter so much about who has the better loadouts. Infact, I love those games were I feel I don’t even need to really spend req points, and can still kill the enemy fine, and then kill them with their own fancy weapon…all the more satisfying. I quickly found myself with tons of different guns and vehicles to use and felt I was unlocking new things quicker than I was using them. SO I don’t see any big problem there. I think they made a good decision in having different req levels that you unlock in each game, so that you have to earn your rights to big guns first. I’m impressed with the amount of different scope variants for the main human weapons. For the next halo warzone gametype, I would like to see more variety in the base designs, so that they don’t feel quite so much like a copy and paste job.
I generally love the weapon and vehicle variety in warzone. It’s great to see how much they added and improved it over time. Hopefully it feels like this from the start when halo 6 warzone comes along. I would like to see a little more variety and randomization with the bosses in Warzone, but I feel I can’t really complain. I also liked the addition of warzone firefight. I love to see huge amounts of covenant on the battlefield, but I do think it is a bit too much on the easy side…It would be nice if they sometimes had a round (or whole playlist) that gave you a limit on your lives, like in halo ODST. I feel the firefight playlists feel a bit too similar, and I might have a hard time telling the difference between them. Again, I can’t complain much, considering FF was a free update. I still find it more fun to fight the covenant instead of the prometheans, but still, combat with prometheans seems more fun than it was in halo 4, and again, the variety of fighting both is probably for the best…
There is a problem in general with the amount of quitters in this game, but I don’t think that’s a fault of the game itself. People just give up far too easily. How many times have you played warzone only for a few members of your team quit once your team fails to capture the moment/fortress? It’s frustrating as your team can easily come back from it… I find it hilarious when you have 3+ people on your team quit, only for your team to later go on to win the game! 
I would love to see the return of the halo CE playlist. It was torture for me and my friend to find this new awesome playlist and then for it to be totally taken away. We were huge fans of halo CE. I find it strange that it never comes up at all in arena playlists. P.S I need more halo 1 pistol drops in req packs…I’ve only ever gotten it twice!
I love the covenant slayer arena gametype as well, but I fear they will remove that too (if they haven’t already). I’d probably go as far as saying that I actually prefer it over normal team slayer. Like I said before, just because I’ve gotten pretty bored of the slow BR starts. At least I think I would much prefer having pistol and AR start, with lots of BRs and carbines scattered across the map…
Thanks to those that read my long post!