As some of you might already know some changes have occurred to the Defiant Maps Highlands and Condemned. I for one embrace the changes. It is basically less ammo for Power weapons and longer respawn times for weapons. Also changed is spawning locations for players on Highlands. What do you all think? Do you like or hate??
Still have to check out the changes, but thanks to Bungie being late with the update i’ll have to go to school first. If the respawn time on power weapons is reduced though then that’s a good thing. Seems like 343i actually listens to their fans. 
Here’s a list of all the changes we made to Defiant competitive maps:
Condemned
- Sniper Rifles now on 180s respawn with 1 spare clip, was 90s with 2 spare clips
- Rocket Launcher now on 180s respawn with no spare clips, was 1 spare clip
- Energy Sword now on 180s respawn, was 120s
- Hill in Comm Hallway removed
- Hill at the top of the lift in the Tram station moved to the bridge nearby
- Hill embedded into console in Tram station removed
- Hills given spawn indices for sequential hill movement
Highlands
- Sniper Rifles now on 180s respawn with 1 spare clip, was 90s with 2 spare clips
- Rocket Launcher now on 180s respawn with no spare clip, was 160s with 1 spare clip
- Spartan Laser now on 180s respawn, was 120s
- Grenade Launcher now on 180s respawn, was 120s
- Plasma Launcher now on 180s respawn, was 120s
- Hills given spawn indices for sequential hill movement
- Hill under Rock Arch removed
- Hill in “Big Horn River” by the Cliffside moved slightly upstream, between the two boulders
- Hill between Rappelling Towers moved over into open field
- Hill in Operations moved to the room next door
- Slayer specific respawn zones added for Red and Blue teams to make teams spawn on the third of the map where their base is located
- Additional respawn points added liberally to each end of the map
That should help tone down the complaining about the PWs.
Too bad the Warthog on Unearthed cant be changed to a chaingun hog…or is it possible?
I don’t like the new settings… It slows down gameplay[?]. I really liked the old ones better.
Plus it encourages me to camp at my base . I’m staying away from the defiant map pack playlist… atleast for now. It’s not unique anymore [:(].
Games move much slower on Defiant now. All the PWs on Highlands were wonderful. Nobody ever went without and games were fun and fast. Now your lucky if one teams gets close to max score and camping seems to be increasing. This was a bad choice.
> Games move much slower on Defiant now. All the PWs on Highlands were wonderful. Nobody ever went without and games were fun and fast. Now your lucky if one teams gets close to max score and camping seems to be increasing. This was a bad choice.
Yeah it was at first but it turned into being cross-the-map sniped almost every game by 4 snipers. Which is not fun no matter how skilled of a gamer you are. I too did love how available weapons were but it made it impossible to control the map that way.
Bravo 343 on the changes. Glad to see your listening.
I only got to play 1 game of slayer on each before the changes. Haven’t noticed a change in gameplay on Condemned since the changes but I did on Highlands. I personally wasn’t affected by the changes as I like to navigate to half-way, maybe two-thirds towards an enemy base, but the couple of Slayer games played on Highlands since the change have been low scoring overall.
Personally, they need a Gauss-'Hog per side for now. As far as more ammo or quicker respawns on weapons, I’m not sure.
Perhaps the Snipers should be at out where the Laser and P.Launcher spawn. The Laser and P.Launcher should spawn on the island in the middle. Rockets should stay where they are. Add a Gauss-'Hog per base. But regardless, I enjoy both maps. It’s my teammates and their lack of situational awareness I usually have a problem with.
Played a few action sack games. They were fun but I know I don’t want their physics full time. Speedpile has a chance to be made into something… more.
Played a couple Classic games too. Very disappointed in how first game, the weapon pickups were glitched in our favour, while the following game had the weapon pickups glitched against our favour. Both games were on Eclipse. I won’t be playing any of that again until I read it’s been fixed.
I just hope this helps to deter half the people on the team from camping the sniper rifle until it spawns. That’s the major annoyance I have when it comes to power weapons.
Wow! Respawn timers increased for the Sniper (and ammo count reduced) as well as implementing static spawns? Bravo 343!
> Wow! Respawn timers increased for the Sniper (and ammo count reduced) as well as implementing static spawns? Bravo 343!
I totally agree. If I wanted to play team snipers I would play team snipers, lol. At last I can do something with my Warthog on Highlands now!
Actually it encourages me waiting for the sniper to respawn and other weapons instead of picking them up, shooting up and going to the battlefield then coming back and doing some stuff. The gameplay isn’t fluent now…
Two playlists please?
eh 343i making changes but not really ones that’ll make me happy. I truelly enjoyed the ridiculous weapon spawns and having two swords on condemned and such.
Jeez now poeple will be waiting for weapons to spawn forever just sitting waiting -Yoink!- me off, took out the all the ammo for the weapons as well. I;m suprised they didn’t take the sword down to %50 or something.
All these changes they couldn’t test? they did test and they liked the weapon spawns? they just can’t handle certain people -Yoinking!- I guess and ruin it for the people that weren’t complaining.
Jeez 343i is looking acting a lot like bungie though it was different.
They make these useless changes they couldn’t test or already did, made a decision and changed it less than a week out the gate because certain people were -Yoinking!-?
All this and they don’t update the vehicles on highlands?
The stuff that needs to be changed doesn’t and the stuff thats fine gets changed? seems like bungie is still in charge around these parts.
God I’m boycotting this -Yoink-, I’m not buying nothing untill the price drops radically because of poor sales then I’m not buying any dlc untill it shows up as a deal of the week.
> Actually it encourages me waiting for the sniper to respawn and other weapons instead of picking them up, shooting up and going to the battlefield then coming back and doing some stuff. The gameplay isn’t fluent now…
> Two playlists please?
This. Defiant has lost the gameplay that made it miles better then anything Bungie put in. All ive seen are ppl camping sniper rifle and holding up in a building with a shotgun. A ton of the map doesnt get used at all now.
The Sniper changes are fine the others changes not I loved to pick the Spartan Laser/Rocket/Plasma Launcher because of quick respawn
> > Actually it encourages me waiting for the sniper to respawn and other weapons instead of picking them up, shooting up and going to the battlefield then coming back and doing some stuff. The gameplay isn’t fluent now…
> > Two playlists please?
>
> This. Defiant has lost the gameplay that made it miles better then anything Bungie put in. All ive seen are ppl camping sniper rifle and holding up in a building with a shotgun. A ton of the map doesnt get used at all now.
Add a Gauss Warthog in the “Garage” where the Ghost Spawns , its a map for Vehicles not for camping
> Actually it encourages me waiting for the sniper to respawn and other weapons instead of picking them up, shooting up and going to the battlefield then coming back and doing some stuff. The gameplay isn’t fluent now…
> Two playlists please?
Surely though if you’re just going to wait around in your base the other team will flank you, no?
In my most recent Big Team Slayer game on Highlands it was between two full parties and the action was non stop; Snipers had to be smart with ammo conservation, Rockets were a contingency weapon to be used sparingly (when you only get 2 Rockets you really can’t afford to just use them on the first enemy you see), vehicles got a little more use (still not quite as much as I would have liked however) and players made good pushes into each other’s territory thanks to the static spawns.
All in all the entire experience felt like what I’d experience in BTB games from Halo 3 and other Reach maps like Hemorrhage, Spire & Boardwalk. Plenty of action, but underneath all of that was a very structured battle full of attack and counter-attack, defensive plays, flanking and map & weapon control. Truly it was the kind of experience I wish every BTB game could be.