Here are my opinions of the current “competitive” playlist that was just launched yesterday for Halo 4.
I played several games in Team Throwback…er Throwdown yesterday. Different gametypes within it, CTF, Extraction, Slayer. As well, I played with friends and randoms alike.
I’ve got to say I don’t like the settings for most of Team Throwdown. Why?
Okay, first, let’s look at those settings as posting by MLG Bravo (or whatever his correct screen name is) Open the source link in another window and use to read long with my post.
Source link: Team Throwdown Playlist Details
Bravo goes on to list what “gamers” said about this playlist. Note that those same gamers are the ones who HELPED him create this playlist, so of course they are going to like it. Rather biased I’d say…
So let’s break some of this down and I’ll give my feedback along the way.
Overall settings: I agree with the first several settings until with get to Personal Ordnane. BR start only? Okay, but why no secondary weapon? Halo 3 had secondaries, so did Reach. Having no secondary harkens back to Halo 2. It’s funny, one of my friends whom I gamed with yesterday in the playlist was livid about this. He said (and I paraphrase) “If they wanted to make Halo 2 settings, then just go F$%*&ing play Halo 2!.” Hmm, got to agree with him there. Halo 4 is supposed to be about progressions and evolving gameplay, not taking steps backward.
Now how about those armor abilities? Thruster I’ve almost never see used in multiplayer before this playlist, same can be said about the lightshield. So that leaves us with Hologram which was used ad nauseum in the games I played by practically everyone. Really? Enabling two abilities most don’t use on a regular basis? Wow, out of touch. And then including one that you know most are going to default to. Or is this a way to shove having to use thruster pack and hard light shield down on us?
Sensor Mode only allows for Allys. Really? Hmm, let’s see Halo 3 showed us all, so do Reach and Halo 4. So you’re going to strip away a much needed asset? It’s something everyone uses for awareness of enemies This was something I heard just about everyone I gamed with yesterday complain about. Put it in! It doesn’t make sense to only have allies viewable. IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE.
Weapons spawns. Railgun on every freakin’ map? (well the ones I played on anyway) Seriously? Come on guys mix it up a bit please. Did I get killed by it? Yes. Did I kill with it? Yes again. But it really became boring to have the same power weapon on each map.
BR Starts. Again why only the BR for the “v2” settings? I guess Bravo and his crew don’t want to be killed by an AR? Okay, so why not have the magnum as a secondary? It’s just ludicrous to NOT have a secondary weapons.
Deluxe settings. Wow, 5 settings and only 1 for the DMR and it doesn’t have a support upgrade. I think someone really hates DMR users. And the laughable Light Rifle as one of the other 5? Come on, really? If it’s firing rate were ramped up just a smidge okay, yeah, it would RULE. It is powerful, but is TOO slow in firing. So what does this leave us with…Yep, three BR settings.
On to game type settings.
Slayer-no complaints there.
Extraction…whoo boy…here we go. Five second arm time? Really? Feels more like ten. I’m going to have to check that. It just feels awfully LONG. And then it takes one MINUTE to extract? This was complained about alot. Not just me, but just about every friend I gamed with yesterday. Games were not finishing with someone winning by scoring 5 to win. Most were winning with 3 points or less. One game we played in, the initial extraction point was fought over for more than 2/3 of the game. Sorry Bravo, you got this one wrong. Scoring points makes the game exciting. By having such a LONG time to extract you severely diminish the ability to score. That doesn’t make people happy, it pisses them off. You need to look a professional sports bud, not gaming. Each major sport has evolved their sport to make it better and easier for scoring. This is what people want to see and play.
King of the Hill-barely came up and I never got the chance to play, so I can’t speak to it. But I want to play this game type.
CTF-flag at home? Okay, maybe ONE of the 3 choice, not TWO of the three. Again, you’re taking us back to the “old” days and again MLG settings. Scoring Bravo, THAT is what competitive objective needs to be about. You’ve got to make it a little easier to score.
Lastly, how about those respawn times? Wow, it feels like it’s taking forever to get back into the game. Come on guys, we want to PLAY the game, not feel like we’re waiting in LIMBO to play while respawning.
It’s clear to me Bravo and his buds wanted this to be a MLG playlist. Um fellows, MLG does NOT rule Halo. In fact didn’t Halo get dropped from MLG? Yeah, it’s because it didn’t have MLG settings in a playlist. However, just take a look at the numbers from MLG playlists in the past Halo games. Those playlists were VERY often low in population. Why? Because the majority of gamers (whom are average gamers) don’t like MLG settings. Not to mention they know the playlist is filled with “TryHards.” Yes, I used that hated term. Fact is, when you’ve got MLG organized teams (I’m talking the REAL ones, not wannabees) playing in that playlist, most people do NOT want to go up against them. So why make the regular competitive playlist in Halo 4 like this? When teams of friends are getting crushed by those teams, you’re going to see a lot more complaining. Bravo, who did you really have test these settings? Oh yeah, that’s right your MLG buddies as you stated in your article on Waypoint.
Folks, this is what we get when someone from MLG is allowed to create the settings for the competitive playlist. Yes, I know Bravo is with 343 now, but his roots are very clearly with MLG.
My friends I game with, (gamers ranging from average to very good) were all complaining about many of these settings. It got so bad that we were continually looking at K/Ds in pre-game lobby to determine if we wanted to go against those players or not. I see that being abused a LOT in the competitive playlist. Maybe this will even out over time, but then again, matching up teams haven’t been all that successful in past Halo games. So, I don’t think that’s going to stop.
Now all this said, am I saying Bravo’s MLG setting competitive playlist needs to be scrapped? No, but it does need some major changes. Competitive is NOT MLG. Most gamers are NOT MLG, though some like to think they are. You’ve GOT to cater to the majority here, not just your MLG buds.
Instead of bringing in just MLG guys to help with settings and testing, how about you get some regular folks, you know average/above average players to help with settings and play testing. No, 343 employees don’t count either.
This is one article I REALLY want to hear back on. Have you played the competitive playlist? If so what are your thoughts on the settings?
Also, if you want to give your feedback to 343, go to this thread on Waypoint:
-Sal
I played Team Throwdown a bit yesterday, and have to admit that I went to go play something else after only a few games because:
A. People were complaining so bad it wasn’t any fun.
B. The matching system was fail – part of why the complaining was happening.
Quite a lot of lag and people getting booted off LIVE in the last several days, not sure if it has to do with the updates, but it’s horrendous.
So all of that being said, I like Team Throwdown settings. I played quite a bit of Arena in Halo:REACH, because when all my friends jumped ship because a CoD-ified Halo didn’t live up to the real thing (Call of Duty) or resemble the game they really loved (Halo), they opted to go play the real thing. Once I had no teammates and was playing with a lot of randoms, I learned quick that people in Arena were Tryhards.
Now, on that word, I call myself a Tryhard: I Try Hard. Doesn’t mean I have to be an asshat 😉 Moving on…
I get the no enemies on radar. It forces people to be WAY more aware and work as a team by calling out enemy positions. This is competitive play at it’s finest. I also get BR starts and penalizing DMR starts. The DMR completely changes the way Halo plays, because it is mildly over powered. If they nerfed it’s damage to be less for closer combat, that would equalize it more. Of course, being a Halo lover, and having used the BR in Halo 3 to kill people across map consistently, I would prefer they boost the BR damage since it’s so ineffective at long range, but I’ll take what I can get and I’m just glad they brought the freakin’ weapon back! A little use and I’ve gotten better at the tweaked settings, can actually use the damn thing.
Railgun is sort of like a snipe that can kill you with one body shot, not sure it even belongs in a competitive playlist, but for variety’s sake I wouldn’t complain if it were mixed up with sniper, beam rifle, etc. But a lot of the power weapons seem to respawn too often in Team Throwdown for competitive play, making it feel more like a ramped up custom. Like “Heavies” version of competitive play. >shudders<
On Objectives gametypes, like I said: didn't get a lot of time in the playlist yet, but either flag shouldn't need to be home to score or the return time needs to be more, because I agree wholeheartedly on the need to feel like you're actually accomplishing something, or at least getting close, and the flag settings just feel exactly what you expressed, Sal – frustrating.
I don't feel any anger or disappointment at all about these settings. In fact, their existence brings new hope to my frustration about Halo 4 in general. But if the matchmaking system continues to fail, I won't be playing this playlist either. They need to figure out a system that doesn't penalize you for going into matchmaking with friends who aren't strong team players. Matching me and a group of my friends who are equal or less to my skill with an entire team of people who are each individually superior slayers and play together often – – it's just wrong.
It's a good way to drive me into jumping ship and going to play something else.