My take on halo infinite map design and ranked playlist mechanics

I just wanted to bring some points to 343’s attention regarding some of the map design for ranked gametypes. Maybe infinite was rushed, that’s why we got these 1 size fit all maps for all playlists, but going forward I hope you guys will take some of these things into consideration. The biggest issue I see is clambering onto high up ledges in competitive gameplay. It makes much of the map useless and less playable when players can only jump onto a ledge while full sprint jumping to get to a high spot on the map. In other halos you are able to still fight and shoot while jumping back on to high spots or ledges to get cover from a player or a whole team. As opposed to the current maps where I’m guaranteed to lose or engage a fight because I will already take 2 shots while doing the “clamber” animation.

Second issue is in the other halos how playerspeed and weapon damage was increased to 110% in the MLG (competitive) playlist. I feel like the weapons balance is off in all gametypes because that was not taken into consideration. Probably too late to take into account now but I feel like the damage balance is very out of whack for all weapons.

Third is the ranking system, I hope you will add slightly more “weight” than there is currently to playing objective in the future. As being a primary oddball carrier won’t give you many points (mmr) and have you finish mid tier when it comes to “score point” value. Which leads to lack of objective play and toxic team shots and nades to ruin another players KD.

The fourth also has to do with maps as I feel like not much thought was given to our current playable maps. The lack of grenade bounces, peaks and just plain unusable areas of the map has me worried that not much rnd goes into these map releases. Bazaars center of the map is very bland not well protected and not the place to be, same with the OS side. I hope to see more full map usability instead of the current heavy rocket side pushes on bazaar. Most halo maps I can remember have always had a double layered center of the map with a balanced play-style for all corners, troughs and peaks of a map.

I love that we can still “run the flag” and the ball Carrier hits faster than normal melees. Other “Power” weapons are finally up to par with the sniper rifle. But these “ghost melees” should be addressed asap.

Extra things I think would make halo infinite better.

Playlists: multiteam, team doubles, snipers playlist added.

Anticheat for aimbots and such, (they’re rare but they are out there)

The option to veto map, and occasional br start for all gametypes.

Oddball, hill, swords gametype for FFA playlist.

Prelobby and post lobby, or atleast make sure all teammates/players spawn in at the same time!

This game is just in its infancy and when theatre mode, forge mode, custom game, and the fileshare UI’s get ironed out I’m sure this game will soar past everyone’s expectations and raise the bar for all game developers alike.

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This is my favorite go to when explaining this

Look at guardian from Halo 3.

Look at plaza from Halo 5.

Both of these maps are tight. Interesting. And has different types of routes and ways to play

Now look at streets from Halo infinite. Bare. Open areas. Barely a ledge to climb on. A lot of hallways.

You can clearly see that Sprint is now a bigger issue than before. In halo 5 the Sprint was limited by the abilites and the abilites allowed you to climb so the maps were a lot tighter because of it because you were able to trust to ledge to ledge. And classic was built that way so you can do those 3 part jumps like in gaurdain. The maps in halo infinite are super bare. Super boring. Offers nothing to gameplay

3 Likes

Finally, someone who understands what I am saying! I don’t mind the sprint function or slide function but it shouldn’t be the make all be all for jumps, the clamber animation takes away so much strategy and playable area on a map! Also if you look at the pit on halo 3, it has lots of wide open space but the middle of the map has 6 different paths of approach to get to the other side with valuable power ups and weapons in the center and each side of the map to force a team to decide which is the most important! Absolute genius’s designed those maps!

Exactly. I wouldn’t even consider the pit that “open” because it has proper sight line blockers where as streets has really long hallway like paths that you can shoot from really far away and the Range on the BR doesn’t help either. This actually slows down gameplay because now everyone is stuck behind a wall trying to peek shoot because they will get beamed out in the open. In halo 5 you can get straight into the action with a thrust slide. In classic Halo the maps were small enough to where if you knew your jumps you’d be able to get to the action fast.

In halo infinite there is nothing like that. Maybe you have some predetermined routes that get you places quick but there are no special jumps or special ways to move around the map. It’s just Sprint,slide,clamber - rinse and repeat

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You said everything I wanted to say and more!

It’s a shame that even if they ported those maps the play wouldn’t be the same with the added game mechanics… I hope they’re able to pull something out of their hat soon regarding these maps because I’m tired of playing the same 4 maps over and over and over just to be disappointed by the 1 size fit all design and playstyle.

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I’m actually just going to uninstall the game. halo isn"t what it used to be and its trying to be something it isnt. anything post H3 has been trash and literally unplayable. 343 buried Microsoft’s flagship game.