The Henery
Member
Fantastic post. You covered the majority of my concerns that have arisen in relation to this playlist since it was announced. I can only see this playlist succeeding on a major level if the default mechanics that were removed, in order to justify the existence of 'armor mods' etc. are patched back in by default. It just doesn't make any sense to do it any other way.
I'm also in agreement on the topic of AAs and the naming of the playlist. We really don't want this playlist to become another Arena. There were multiple reasons why I believe the latter did not succeed.
-The name and the in-game description (potentially intimidating if you were a casual player)
-Initially split from main playlist roster (until Season 5/7, IIRC)
-Lack of clear cut information sharing on updated settings (W/L implementation)
-Inclusion of particular AAs, to the disgust of a large chunk of the playerbase*
-Map selection, imbalanced initial spawn locations, sometimes terrible weapon sets & locations (default Campdown, ffs)**
I was still coming across Arena players two seasons after W/L was implemented who thought that individual ratings were the only important metric in relation to divisional ranking.
*The call for the removal of Jetpack was ongoing for almost 2 years! The majority of players were in favor of Sprint/Hologram loadouts only. There were literally thousands of people posting in threads on B.net and Waypoint (after the changeover) calling for this change. Jetpack was finally removed somewhere around mid 2012 IIRC. I know some of this delay could be justified in light of the logistics involved in the MM changeover itself, but let's not have this happen in this playlist. Just remove the cheap/map-breaking AAs from loadouts at the get-go.
**I was part of a group who redesigned and rigorously playtested modified map settings and campaigned to get these changes implemented into the Arena. The changes were miniscule (in terms of not requiring any major backend work), and yet profoundly improved the dynamic and flow on each map. Even though the response to these modifications from the community on various forums was hugely positive, nothing was ever done in response to our campaign.
I really don't want to have to go through this again. Let's have balanced initial spawns, balanced and more importantly; suitable power weapon selection and locations (no shotguns on tight, campy maps) and a very much stripped down AA selection (if there must be one at all).
Oh this is definitely something that needs to be prioritised. I think we've all gotten so bogged down in campaigning for normal weapon spawning over randomised global ordnance, that it's been forgotten just how crucial where those weapons are spawned. Things like red teams initial spawn on Reflection (where they'd have immediate and exclusive access to Rockets plus a quick jetpack to Sniper) was a farce. Arena settings were a farce, really. They should have cannibalised MLG into the playlist and been done with it.
And it's disheartening to hear about your work rejigging the spawns and weapon locations going to waste. Bungie's original design intent with Forge was to provide the community with a tool to fine tune existing maps not create completely new maps (not that I'm against its evolution into a quasi-map maker). Simple things like, on Countdown, changing shotgun to focus rifle or sniper and sword to a grenade launcher would have completely revitalised the tired experience of playing that map in MM. Somebody on here forged Swordbase to provide extra ramps that promoted better map flow. Nothing was ever done to implement it into MM or consider it. Bungie/343 simply asked the CC's for more lego maps or heavies variants and we ended up with Cragmire. I sincerely hope that that "community is a direct and democratic extension of the team" rings true for things like this going forward.