A conversation last night while playing on Highlands made me realize I hadn't posted much about that map. I don't think it's very well designed, but several aspects of the way it is set up right now could be altered to make it play much better. The single biggest is the placement of the Rocket Launcher.
Ideally, power weapons shouldn't be in their location of ideal use. Meaning, the sniper shouldn't spawn in the perfect sniper tower, and the rockets shouldn't spawn right where players will be camping with them. They should be spread out to force teams to work to control them.
Currently, CTF and Assault games - two and one sided versions - revolve around when rockets spawn. If they're spawned recently - such as at the start of the game - a couple of sacrificial lambs need to be sent into the base to drain the clip before any serious attempt at the objective can really be undertaken. That's because there's not much reason to move away from where they spawn.
I suggest moving them away from the base. This would create some interesting early moments, as teams fan out to secure their heavy ordnance, and present some opportunities for teams to clash as they did so. Not a rocket rush in the classic sense, where we're fighting over one thing, but open enough that teams have to work a bit to get their goodies.
My suggestion - and again, many places will work - is to put them were the shotguns currently spawn. (The Shotguns can be moved into the rock tunnels.)
That way, teams have to head through the one-way teleporter to get them, which presents a brief window where the base is left without them near by. A Warthog can barrel into the base before the rocket carrier can get back, barely. But they'd be in a position to call out such a thing. And the opposing team would have a shot at trying to head the rocket carrier off.
Upon respawn, it's not an automatic that each team gets their rockets - leaving them outside the base means we'd have to plan and fight for them, and send players away from the base to do so. This would be a big improvement over the present, where rockets spawn in and we have to just throw a few bodies at the base to get rid of them.
I hope the playlist designer(s) at 343 are looking at things like this, this type of low level detail, and looking for ways to create more interesting scenarios through small but important changes. I'm not a huge fan of Highlands but a big part of that has to do with the way the map is set up. Some TLC of this sort will help it play much better.