Let me start off by saying that I have been playing competitive Halo since 2001 and I refuse to let that stop anytime soon. So my appreciation for Bravo, Ghost and the rest of Multiplayer team at 343 not giving up on the “competitive” Halo 4 community is through the roof. Thank You.
With that being said:
More recently I have been extremely active in the Team Slayer Top 200 Leaderboard finishing 3rd overall Season 1. So I personally believe Proving Ground, implemented with the Top 200 Leaderboard can be a huge success. With a few adjustments (that I think are minor) this playlist has the potential to revamp Matchmaking as well as repopulate the declining competitive community.
1. “Backing-Out” of the pregame lobby should not be allowed. This was a feature that was used in the Global Championship playlist over the summer.(Which was a playlist aimed to be as competitive but well-balanced as possible.) This feature would prevent players being able to abuse the system and ONLY play against players they know are far less skilled than them. Since when is picking and choosing the easiest opponent considered competitive?
2. “DNF” Unfortunately, in matchmaking if you DNF (quit out during the game) it does not affect your CSR rank at all. A “get out of jail free card,” as you will. Knowing this glitch, more players, (specifically aimed towards players active in the Team Slayer Top 200) will play almost an entire competitive match just to quit out near the end if they think losing is a possibility. The result is that player that quit does not lose any XP on there CSR rank while, according to the computer, the winning team that deserves the XP technically just barely won a 4v3 game (depending on how many players DNF)resulting in little to no XP for anybody on the team.
3. Gametypes I personally think all 3 Gametypes (KOTH, CTF, Extract) that are being voted on should be in the playlist on release day. As of now the playlist is pretty much only going to be Legendary Slayer plus the 1 winner from the Community Choice Poll. The playlist might be too repetitive or dull at release which could give players a bad impression.
4. Team-Based CSR For all my multiplayer veterans out there, we have a more familiar understanding on the difficulty it took to get to a 50 (H2, H3.) Although the CSR ranking system is not as competitive as other ranking systems in the past, the playlists with Team Based CSR are way more challenging to rank up than the Individual CSR playlists are. And considering Proving Ground will eventually have an assortment of objective gametypes, Team Based CSR would be a perfect match.
Proving Ground is essentially gametypes that provide a more classic Halo playing experience, so why not tweak the adjustments above to provide a more classic Halo matchmaking experience?
-FlawlessNSP
> 1. “Backing-Out” of the pregame lobby should not be allowed.
> …
> 2. “DNF” Unfortunately, in matchmaking if you DNF (quit out during the game) it does not affect your CSR rank at all.
These issues have affected matchmaking as a whole since Halo 4’s and CSR’s launches, respectively, and Proving Ground is no more special than any other playlist. Nothing has ever been said or done about them and so we should assume that these issues will never be resolved.
> 3. Gametypes I personally think all 3 Gametypes (KOTH, CTF, Extract) that are being voted on should be in the playlist on release day.
It’s pretty obvious that Extraction is going to win the vote, but I believe this is only going to be because it hasn’t been in regular matchmaking in… geez, I don’t know how long. I agree that all 3 should be in rotation, but barring that, CTF would provide a lot more longevity, I think.
> 4. Team-Based CSR
I don’t believe 343i ever said Proving Ground will use individual CSR. Since both Team Slayer and Team Throwdown use team-based CSR, I think it’s reasonable to assume that Proving Ground will too.
> 1. “Backing-Out” of the pregame lobby should not be allowed. This was a feature that was used in the Global Championship playlist over the summer.
343 has stated numerous times that the only way to prevent people from backing out is to lock them in immediately, which means no voting process (just like the H4GC). While I have no problem with this, new players, who are looking to prove themselves, may be off put by not having a say on the gametype.
> 3. Gametypes I personally think all 3 Gametypes (KOTH, CTF, Extract) that are being voted on should be in the playlist on release day. As of now the playlist is pretty much only going to be Legendary Slayer plus the 1 winner from the Community Choice Poll. The playlist might be too repetitive or dull at release which could give players a bad impression.
THIS! In order to keep things interested, there should be more than two gametypes in the rotation.
I love the idea of implementing the Top 200 in this playlist and I hope to see some new faces try this playlist!
All 3 game types should be included in this playlist. That will add variety and give the playlist longevity. Extraction will get boring after the first 20 games and people will leave to go play other playlist.
I love that the leader board is coming over to this playlist. Finally it’s not just based on team slayer, team slayer gets boring so fast.
As far as CSR is concerned, it’s not implemented very well in this game. It’s not often you get a match that’s fair for both sides.
as stated above the backing out glitch cannot be fixed without having the voting option removed - and I don’t see that happening
(sadly it’s here to stay)
Would love to see a wider variety of objective game types all 3 would be great.
This playlist could really be something great.
Just remembered that the playlist can not go on the bottom of the playlist screen it needs to be at the top above the Team Slayer playlist so people have and idea of what it is and were its at.
- playlists higher up have more players most of the time
just a idea
please and THX
> Just remembered that the playlist can not go on the bottom of the playlist screen it needs to be at the top above the Team Slayer playlist so people have and idea of what it is and were its at.
>
> + playlists higher up have more players most of the time
>
> just a idea
>
> please and THX
That’s actually a good point. You should be able to see it when you enter playlist selection. More people might play if they know it exist.
Did I read the update wrong or does it say motion trackers in this playlist?
They wouldn’t REALLY put a radar in there would they? Please tell me I’m just mistaken or it’s only to show allies.
> Did I read the update wrong or does it say motion trackers in this playlist?
>
> They wouldn’t REALLY put a radar in there would they? Please tell me I’m just mistaken or it’s only to show allies.
If Throwdown had a better population for a longer time I’m sure this playlist would have no radar.
But from the looks of Halo 4’s current population I would have to say people enjoy the radar/Legendary Slayer
Excellent post OP.
I agree with everything. I also want to say that people NEVER FREAKING EVER should rank down for winning a game. If you play as a Team with higher CSR like 30 and above its almost impossible to rank up. You need like 50 straight wins in a row to rank up because the enemyes have to low CSR. Even if they are good some times. And if you are about to win against really good people with higher CSR they will just quit before the game is over. That means you have to play by yourself and hope that you dont get the worse teammates than the other team. Im pretty sure a lot of the TS 50s know what I mean. You also have to put in guests to get a lower team CSR.
Thats not competitive at all.
> > 1. “Backing-Out” of the pregame lobby should not be allowed. This was a feature that was used in the Global Championship playlist over the summer.
>
> 343 has stated numerous times that the only way to prevent people from backing out is to lock them in immediately, which means no voting process (just like the H4GC). While I have no problem with this, new players, who are looking to prove themselves, may be off put by not having a say on the gametype.
>
>
>
> > 3. Gametypes I personally think all 3 Gametypes (KOTH, CTF, Extract) that are being voted on should be in the playlist on release day. As of now the playlist is pretty much only going to be Legendary Slayer plus the 1 winner from the Community Choice Poll. The playlist might be too repetitive or dull at release which could give players a bad impression.
>
> THIS! In order to keep things interested, there should be more than two gametypes in the rotation.
>
> I love the idea of implementing the Top 200 in this playlist and I hope to see some new faces try this playlist!
They should lock us into the screen. Its the only competitive playlist at that moment so it should be like that. That will solve way more problems than it gives.
Matches wont be so lopsided anymore and we also dont need to play haven 24/7.
> If Throwdown had a better population for a longer time I’m sure this playlist would have no radar.
Well, to be fair, sticking Team Throwdown way at the bottom of all the playlists isn’t helping with its population at all.
I was waiting for this kind of thread to pop up after I read the latest bulletin…
Anyway I agree with all of the above statements.
It would be nice if players would get locked in and could not vote. Since all of the settings will basicly be Legendary BRs without the spawning AR, not being able to vote could mostly solve the problem of playing Haven 24/7. Great map but it gets old after about 50 times…
And yes all three objective gametypes in the poll should be included at the playlist’s launch, as that will help give the playlist variety as well as longevity as a result.
And in regard to the addition of the Motion Tracker, I’m not too upset about it, as although it removes some of the added skill of no motion tracker, more players hopefully should be more willing to give the playlist a try. It will still be a competitive playlist, it just won’t be like MLG/AGL would want it. But those guys dropped Halo 4 anyway so who cares? I myself prefer to have a motion tracker in any game with more people than a 1v1(don’t get me wrong though I’m still good with no motion tracker).
One last thing I hope that they implement into Proving Ground is AAs on map. Multiple ones and kinds to control by controlling their spawns. The most common and simple fix to the AA problem is to only put them on the map, but I have yet to see this idea put into practice in MatchMaking other than Jetpacks on Station 9. I would like to see that idea implemented and tested because I still enjoy Halo 4’s AAs, they just need to be on the map. I’m glad they are removing the personal ordinance as well, its rarely used in Throwdown. I just hope that they can put a variety of AAs on the maps.
And speaking of maps, Proving Ground will need much more than the half-dozen some maps that Throwdown underwhelms us with.
-SMARTAN 427
removing the AR as a secondary is a good start. (only thing i don’t like about legendary slayer)
I wanted to comment last week. Thank you for starting this thread.
I absolutely agree with your first and second points. I have been playing TS a lot as well, and those two things are the bane of that playlist for me. It is difficult to get ahead as a random, mainly because of the DNF issue. Plus, something I have noticed happening more often lately is literally uneven matches. The team will be 3v3 at start, but then at some point during the match either team will receive a fourth player, but not both. There is a lot of backing out of the lobby as well, and that makes the start of the matches often lopsided which adds to frustration.
According to the most recent bulletin Halo Bulletin 3.12.14 they will be adding the other objective types at a later date. So that is good news.
I was a little confused by your last point. I had thought that Throwdown was already a team based CSR playlist. Maybe I misunderstood your statement there.
I do look forward to Proving Ground. I am definitely not quite on par with a lot of the competitive community, but that will not keep me from playing in this playlist. I want competition. I want no AA’s and no POD’s. I want balanced play, and some a rank to show for my effort. I don’t want to look back with Halo 3 and Reach. I will keep supporting Halo by playing its most recent iteration, and supporting 343 right along with it.
I do have a question for you guys who have been playing Throwdown and are familiar with the callouts in general. Is there anyone or somewhere I can look to find out what the callouts are that most players have been using. I am somewhat familiar with Haven, Pitfall, Shutout, Simplex, and Abandon; but unfamiliar with Onyx, Orion, Skyline, and Vertigo. Those maps I have not played too much. I know that with the forged maps most of the time the color is used, but can anyone help out with more specific callouts? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.