My thoughts about the map variety in Big Team Battle (Banished maps), Launch Site, the heavy vehicles and the Falcon

Games Halo Infinite
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I’m loving the MP but I have several complains that I hope will get adressed in the future updates:

1) More BTB maps variety:

BTB is my main mode.

3 BTB maps may seem low but it’s actually the same amount as Halo 3. However, unlike Halo 3, variety is lacking a lot. Let’s compare:

  • Last Resort: urban fortress in Africa, beach, ruins
  • Sandtrap: desert, ancien ruins
  • Valhalla: valley, grass, rocks

While Fragmentation, Deadlock and High Power all share (more or less) the same biome and environments. Hoping that more BTB maps are coming soon as I fear the novelty may not last months because of the lack of variety in art style.

I actually wish that Behemoth would be a BTB map actually. This environment in BTB would have been great.

2) More alien maps:

Some of my favorite maps in Halo are the Covenant maps (Truth, Regret, Mercy, Chill Out, Gemini, Damnation…). Because of the unique and distinctive art style / atmosphere but also because those were so rare compared to the rest. Especially in Halo 4 and Halo 5.

I wish Halo Infinite had more Banished maps (even if their art style is closer to the UNSC art style than the Covenant one in my opinion). Even better, some Covenant maps because it’s the best art style (but I guess it’s not happening, too much work as the assets don’t exist in the campaign).

Still think that High Charity (my favorite environement in the entire series) deserved way more than just 1 map but well, it’s not happening now.

3) More heavy fire power in BTB : especially heavy vehicles (Scorption & Wraith)

I played several BTB games and never saw any Scorpion or Wraith. As someone who loved the “Heavies” variants (like in Halo 3) and, as a Battlefield player, it’s disappointing. The Scorpion and the Wraith should come more often and way earlier in the games.

4) Launch Site as a BTB map ?

I wonder if Launch Site could be converted as a BTB map. Didn’t play a lot on it (just one game) but it seems rather big for an Arena map and I think this could make a chaotic BTB map (in a good way).

I also wonder why it’s not in the ranked Arena playlist…

4) The return of the Falcon

I love the Razorback. I would love the Falcon for air transport. I loved it in Halo Reach for team play.

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As a mainly BTB player myself i am also disappointed in the number of maps, especially with how few modes we have available. Halo 3 may have also only had 3 BTB maps but all 3 of those are iconic maps while all 3 here seem kind of eh imo especially when the only mode matchmaking seems to pick is stockpile. Seriously, playing nothing but stockpile on fragmentation and deadlock is going to make me quit before the game even launches. I still have yet to get a match in highpower.

Even map variety in arena is pretty lacking, only 7 total maps. Played 9 matches so far across arena and btb, 4 matches were on deadlock (3 of which were stockpile) 2 on fragmentation, 2 on bahemoth (both times ctf) and once on streets. 4 of those matches were stockpile so nearly half of the matches i’ve played so far have been a single gamemode and almost every time that gamemode game up it was the same map.

The gameplay is amazing but the visual variety and game mode variety is pretty bad, especially in btb. At least the maps in arena are pretty varied.

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I’ve had both a wraith and scorpion spawn in a game. Each time they’re only on map for about 30 seconds before the game ends. As it is right now, the tanks have no impact on the game what so ever.

On the side, I understand their reasoning for the vehicle spawn system so that tanks don’t become oppressive if one team loses theirs early and gets stuck fighting the other teams scorpion/wraith. However 343 made it such that instead of limiting their influence, they’ve removed their influence all together. However vehicle influence in general is quite low as it stands.

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I agree with everything.

I think Arena variety is fine at the moment (although not fantastic) but I’m hoping that a new BTB map in a new environment is planned to release within the next 2 or 3 months.

Loving the gameplay but I hope they will make sure BTB is well supported and that they won’t make the same mistake as Battlefield V (which suffered from a lack of maps at launch and got a very slow post-launch support when it came to adding new Conquest maps).

Actually, I think I’m a little disappointed (even though I’m happy overall) when it comes to BTB maps because I probably expected more than 3 BTB maps at launch (and in the same biome) as they scrapped Warzone (which certainly required a fair amount of work) without replacing it with something else. Warzone maps were actually quite varied and exciting at the launch of Halo 5:

  • Apex: jungle, beach, caves, Forerunner
  • A.R.C. : mining complex, rocks, sand
  • Stormbreak: snow, mountains, military base
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I am honestly just glad that added BTB this time instead of leaving it out entirely in the last halo and when they finally did get around to adding it in they just slapped together some maps in forge and called it a day. They did BTB and those of us who prefer BTB real dirty with halo 5.

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To be honest, I disagree. While its good to include something you missed previously, keep in mind how much is missing from Halo Infinite Multiplayer by comparison to halo 5/4/reach/MCC. No forge, many game modes are missing, numerous weapons and vehicles are gone, majority of cosmetics are locked behind a paywall, warzone/firefight isn’t present, the req weapons idea is gone, no theater, no custom game browser, etc. There is so much that isn’t here, which is made worse by the fact that they took an extra year of development on the game and this is the end result.

I really hope though that fan favourite weapons when they return aren’t locked behind dlc or something.

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3) More heavy fire power in BTB : especially heavy vehicles (Scorption & Wraith)
I played several BTB games and never saw any Scorpion or Wraith. As someone who loved the “Heavies” variants (like in Halo 3) and, as a Battlefield player, it’s disappointing. The Scorpion and the Wraith should come more often and way earlier in the games.

Like you, BTB Heavies has always been my main mode in Halo. My friends and I love it. I agree that Halo Infinite’s BTB needs much more heavy firepower. Let’s look at 343’s response to this specific criticism that they got after the last flight:

We did see some players raise concerns around the stronger vehicles arriving later, and in some cases too late, during their matches. We understand the desire for better vehicles more often (who doesn’t want more chances to jump in the Scorpion?) but we believe the progression of power as better and better vehicles spawn in allows for the end of matches to feel like bigger moments.

My response to this would be to say that it’s not a “big moment” when the entirety of heavy vehicle play during a BTB match consists of a tank spawning and then getting instantly destroyed before anyone can get much use out of it, because it got dropped off in the middle of the map where everyone mobbed it.

Please 343 if you’re reading this, consider giving us a Heavies variant of BTB where vehicles spawn like they used to. That’s by far my biggest issue with this otherwise fun game right now.

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I am honestly just glad that added BTB this time instead of leaving it out entirely in the last halo and when they finally did get around to adding it in they just slapped together some maps in forge and called it a day. They did BTB and those of us who prefer BTB real dirty with halo 5.

This is true, and after BTB got added to Halo 5, the vehicle play on most of that game’s BTB maps consisted of one Warthog and one Ghost per team, which was incredibly lame for people like me who enjoyed Heavies.

Playing Halo Infinite’s BTB, which is similarly free of vehicle play outside of Warthogs and Ghosts, gave me unpleaasant flashbacks to this.

Halo 5’s BTB wasn’t fun for me until they added Big Team Super Fiesta :slightly_frowning_face:

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Even then the fact the maps were made in forge meant the vehicles were not smooth at all to drive, transitions between terrain and forge pieces is always iffy. I stopped playing 5 almost as soon as it launched, jump in for a few matches when they added btb but after seeing how little effort they put in i quit for good.