After playing this for a week, I'm growing somewhat skeptical for its longterm health - Halo fans will probably stick with it, but I'm not sure about casual fans, particularly those who play solo.
Arena is 4v4, which puts a ton of individual responsibility on players. If you're not playing with a fireteam, you're probably gonna have a bad time, and leavers absolutely ruin this mode. The limited map pool is also baffling (and ugh, Orion). Breakout in the TA playlist is a mistake.
Warzone is 12v12, which makes you a cog in a grinder that has a lot less individual responsibility. It's easy to feel like nothing you do will change the outcome of a match once you fall behind (or the other team gets entrenched/pushes as a group in assault).
There's no inbetween mode with 6s, where you can make an impact or carry some weaker players, but you're not on the spot to perform at a top level at all times.
I'm ignoring other issues with the game, bugs, gameplay, or otherwise - this is just an overall nature of the game sorta deal. In just this week I've already lost some friends who don't want to play arena (too intense for them), and they're looking forward to BO3. A few others went back to Destiny. That means my remaining group for Halo is now ~3 people, not even a full fireteam for arena if everyone is online.
Req cards and the whole req card system are also really dumb, but free maps > cruddy microtransactions, so whatever. The ultra rare one shot cards are just totally pointless, you might find one in a week of play and use it up in <5 minutes (or less if you're unlucky).
Kind of a bummer too, I really like arena, and the combat feels tight and fun, but without a full party to roll with, I can't see myself sticking with it longterm either. I'll be watching what sort of support and changes they roll out I guess. I like it enough that I'd try to drag my friends who do enjoy arena back for new maps.
Any way to reset our levels?sweet! Let us know what it gives you =)
