One of the things I love about Halo Anniversary is the revival of Halo 2 Matchmaking and fixing all of Halo PC’s problems (poor controller support, bullet lag, just about every server having some stupid mod etc) But the playlists seem to have little love for Halo 1 and the previously Vista exclusive maps
For starters Death Island, which was an amazing 4 layered cake of sky battles, hilltop battles, beach assaults and cutting through the center, from Halo PC isn’t even in a playlist and the only good Halo 1 playlist is BTB which often yields horrible Halo 4 experiences for me. Occasionally, I get Halo 1 and my team is full of Halo 4 peasants who are too busy aweing at the Halo 1 gameplay they’ve never experienced before to stop the enemy flag carrier with me.
IMO the 4 player Halo 1 playlist should be changed to 8 player and include some more maps and BTB should be split into a classic BTB with just Halo 1, Halo 2 and Halo 2 anniversary and Neo BTB with halo 2 anniversary Halo 3 and 4 so people who wanna play the newer games can have their playlist and people who want to enjoy the classics get their own. And if people wanna play Halo 3 or 4 without risk of playing the other then they can just play the 360 version’s BTB.
Also I’ve noticed a lack of gametypes supporting the Fuel Rod Gun, FlameThrower and non Warthog Halo 1 vehicles in matchmaking, personally the FlameThrower was my favorite weapon in the PC version
And lastly I’d like to see the District and Uplift get added to the Halo 2 Classic playlist
I agree with most of what you said. Death island definitely needs to be in BTB.
I’m very much for splitting BTB into two playlists although H2A should be placed solely in the modern playlist.
The PC vehicles (sometimes the rocket hog is in and sometimes it’s not) and weapons have been omitted to provide a more classic halo experience that the Xbox players remember.* I agree with this except for the PC maps. I’m fine with keeping the classic sets on the Xbox maps but the PC maps should definitely have the flamethrower, fuel rod, and banshee.
District is too big and uplift is a stretch for 4v4. Uplift should be changed to CTF in BTB. I still haven’t played it yet at all.
I agree with both of you that BTB needs a rework. Here’s my suggestion:
Classic BTB (Ranked): CE, H2, and H3. All current maps for those games plus Death Island and with some voting probabilities changed so that Zanzibar and Last Resort are reduced, along with Standoff. Good maps, but they get played far too often. Make every lobby have one CE option, one H2 option, and one H3 option
New BTB (Unranked): H2A and H4. All current maps in rotation for these games. arrange lobbies so that half are 2 H2A options with 1 H4 and the other half are 2 H4 options with 1 H2A.
I’ve been playing a ton of BTB lately and having a blast, but I’ve been dissppointed by the last of variety even given the 41 maps in the current playlist. I’ve been dying to try out Gyrophobia or whatever the CE map is, but I literally haven’t gotten to play it in 8 appearances.
I also feel that the older games’ more punishing classic gameplay frustrates many casual players, who then resort to betraying, griefing, or quitting. Having ranks in the Classic BTB playlist would fix these problems and separate the hardcore players from those who just want to mess around. The H2A/H4 playlist doesn’t need ranks so bad just because those games tend to be more forgiving then the classic halo trilogy.
> 2533274793734669;2:
> My 2¢:
>
> I agree with most of what you said. Death island definitely needs to be in BTB.
>
> I’m very much for splitting BTB into two playlists although H2A should be placed solely in the modern playlist.
>
> The PC vehicles (sometimes the rocket hog is in and sometimes it’s not) and weapons have been omitted to provide a more classic halo experience that the Xbox players remember.* I agree with this except for the PC maps. I’m fine with keeping the classic sets on the Xbox maps but the PC maps should definitely have the flamethrower, fuel rod, and banshee.
>
> District is too big and uplift is a stretch for 4v4. Uplift should be changed to CTF in BTB. I still haven’t played it yet at all.
>
> *paraphrase of what 343 said as the reason.
I guess you’re right about Uplift and District, they should just show up in BTB more, I still haven’t so much as seen them available to vote and I have fond memories of both.
I like your idea of having Xbox CE maps having classic gametypes and PC maps having PC gametypes, but also allow some maps like Blood Gulch to include both.
Regarding the “classic halo experience that the Xbox players remember” 16 player CTF and Slayer on the PC version is the classic experience I remember despite having the Xbox version long before I got the PC version
> 2533274896920308;3:
> I agree with both of you that BTB needs a rework. Here’s my suggestion:
>
> Classic BTB (Ranked): CE, H2, and H3. All current maps for those games plus Death Island and with some voting probabilities changed so that Zanzibar and Last Resort are reduced, along with Standoff. Good maps, but they get played far too often. Make every lobby have one CE option, one H2 option, and one H3 option
>
> New BTB (Unranked): H2A and H4. All current maps in rotation for these games. arrange lobbies so that half are 2 H2A options with 1 H4 and the other half are 2 H4 options with 1 H2A.
>
> I’ve been playing a ton of BTB lately and having a blast, but I’ve been dissppointed by the last of variety even given the 41 maps in the current playlist. I’ve been dying to try out Gyrophobia or whatever the CE map is, but I literally haven’t gotten to play it in 8 appearances.
>
> I also feel that the older games’ more punishing classic gameplay frustrates many casual players, who then resort to betraying, griefing, or quitting. Having ranks in the Classic BTB playlist would fix these problems and separate the hardcore players from those who just want to mess around. The H2A/H4 playlist doesn’t need ranks so bad just because those games tend to be more forgiving then the classic halo trilogy.
>
> Thoughts, anyone?
I don’t think Halo 3 should be in the same playlist as the original 2, it would be a struggle between retro players and 3 players.
I was fortunate enough to finally get Gyrophobia last night, my team got rek’t by snipers and unfamiliar mechanics (well, familiar to me but not my teammates using voice chat), would love to play it again with a better team and Banshees and Ghosts enabled
> 2533274896920308;3:
> I agree with both of you that BTB needs a rework. Here’s my suggestion:
>
> Classic BTB (Ranked): CE, H2, and H3. All current maps for those games plus Death Island and with some voting probabilities changed so that Zanzibar and Last Resort are reduced, along with Standoff. Good maps, but they get played far too often. Make every lobby have one CE option, one H2 option, and one H3 option
>
> New BTB (Unranked): H2A and H4. All current maps in rotation for these games. arrange lobbies so that half are 2 H2A options with 1 H4 and the other half are 2 H4 options with 1 H2A.
>
> I’ve been playing a ton of BTB lately and having a blast, but I’ve been dissppointed by the last of variety even given the 41 maps in the current playlist. I’ve been dying to try out Gyrophobia or whatever the CE map is, but I literally haven’t gotten to play it in 8 appearances.
>
> I also feel that the older games’ more punishing classic gameplay frustrates many casual players, who then resort to betraying, griefing, or quitting. Having ranks in the Classic BTB playlist would fix these problems and separate the hardcore players from those who just want to mess around. The H2A/H4 playlist doesn’t need ranks so bad just because those games tend to be more forgiving then the classic halo trilogy.
>
> Thoughts, anyone?
Lemon, I almost cant agree more with you on that. I do hope there’ll still be room for other playlists. My suggestions are that they add action sack, team objective, snipers, infection, and multi team as permanent playlists. I can see why thatd be a problem though, but how about removing halo 2a championship, and just having team hardcore.