I am very glad to know that a true FFA experience will now have a permanent playlist come next Monday, however some details are still a bit murky about this playlist, and I think I and some others would like some clarification on it.
What’s the lobby count for Rumble Pit? 6 or 8? I recall many people saying that 8 was just a bit too much for the Community FFA Playlist. I would prefer 6, but either way the cookie crumbles, I think we’d like to know before-hand. I saw the maps that will be included at launch of this playlist, and I’m worried about how chaotic the pace would be on these maps should we have 8 players: Skyline, Abandon, and Shutout. These are roughly the size of the maps in the Community Forge FFA playlist, and those playlists are just super hard to catch a breather in. If you’re no-shields, chances are you won’t get them back unless you respawn. There’s really just no escaping the line of sights and players.
Next, I have some input for your CSR designations for free for all playlists. As the Bulletin says, Regicide and Rumble Pit will use individual scoring (duh), and playlists with individual scoring are more focused on a fun, yet fair, skill pairing system as compared to a purely similar skill based pairing system that team scored playlists will use.
I think it’s a little redundant to do this. Two playlists devoted to an FFA cause share a gametype philosophy (Infinity settings) and have similar CSR scoring. I believe it’d be optimal to move for a system that Halo 3 had in regards to it’s FFA playlists.
On the Social (or looser CSR scoring, as we’ll know it come launch of CSR) side of things, we can have Rumble Pit. Infinity Slayer style with a few gametypes. Infinity Slayer itself, Regicide, and whatever other FFA gametypes that are cooked up, as long as the Infinity style gameplay is kept there with it’s personal ordnance and all. Make it 8 players as that lends itself more to the hectic and constant action side.
On the flip-side, Ranked (or the stricter CSR scoring, one that applys the pure-skill matching of Throwdown whilst applying this to FFA), we have Lone Wolves. This can be a variety of gametypes also, as long as all the gametypes are consistent with Rumble Pro settings. Make it 6 players as that lends itself more to controlled scenarios and chances to recover from a fight.
This way I believe it’ll work similar to how the dynamic between Team Infinity Slayer and Team Throwdown works. The more laid-back or chaotic-lenient players will have a home on the looser CSR scoring playlist, Rumble Pit. The more hardcore and controlled-variable preferring players will have a home on the stricter CSR scoring playlist, Lone Wolves. Everyone wins as far as FFA goes with these playlists, as ultimately, the CSR on BOTH sides should match good players with good players, and bad players with bad players. Respective of how well they perform in each playlist, of course.
4v4 team scenarios may be the field that Halo excels best in, but bringing up second place is a good old free for all experience. As proven in Halo 3, a Lone Wolf 50 was as skilled as a Team Slayer 50, they just played differently.
