For those who are not aware, with the March matchmaking update comes the removal of the playlist Squad Slayer. 343 did not give a reason for Squad’s removal but has attempted to justify it by adding “Super Slayer,” a copy of Team Slayer with the addition of the TU. If you ask me, 343 has made the wrong move here.
First of all, a few assumptions must be made about the new “Super Slayer” playlist. Considering the fact that 343 stated that Super Slayer is a “replica” of Team Slayer with TU changes added on, a few things can be inferred.
- Super Slayer will contain Armor Lock
- Super Slayer will contain all of Team Slayer’s community maps
These two factors will instantly sour the playlist for many of Squad Slayer’s biggest fans. Many players played Squad because it was the only was to avoid these two factors while still getting a Team Slayer-esque experience, and now that they have been added to Super Slayer - a playlist which is essentially Squad - these players will feel as if they have been slapped in the face.
Some may argue that armor lock has been nerfed and that therefore it is no longer as much of an issue. While nobody will argue the validity of this statement the fact remains that most Squad players prefer not having armor lock at all. It still presents the annoyance of having to stop gameplay to toss grenades at a stationary target, and ultimately causes gameplay to be slowed down and stale.
As for the community maps, there can really be no justification for including these. I have never seen a single post from somebody who asked for community maps to be added to Squad Slayer, so there really shouldn’t be any incentive to bring them in. Frankly, many of the maps are considered subpar by the majority of forum posters that I have seen discussing the subject, and yet they are still forced upon us.
The reason I bring these things up is because I feel as if 343 has done a bit of a disservice to the fans of this playlist. Where are we supposed to find a decent armor lock/community map-free game now? The only place to go is either Arena (which is still a very unbalanced playlist), Team Objective (Which isn’t even slayer), or MLG (Which has completely different settings from default). These are all very different experiences from the basic slayer that Squad presented, and as such many Squad fans will be reluctant to play these.
All of this leads me to my final point, which is really quite simple. “Super Slayer?” Really? I think 343 could have come up with a better name for this playlist, but alas, I will just have to feel silly every time I ask if someone wants to play it.
Hopefully someone from 343 sees this post and can sympathize with us Squad fans. I assume the change cannot currently be reversed, but the April matchmaking update can easily alleviate the current problems.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and please post your own thoughts on Squad Slayer’s removal.