Halo Reach Competitive Play (Please Read)

[Yama]

First off I'd like to thank 343 Industries for actually caring, it's obviously not just a business for your division but instead a labor of love. Already the signs of Bloom removal show me that this team is listening to the fans, which are in return the group who will continually love and support your games for years to come. On a personal level, I've been a fan of the series since CE and participated in competitive gaming (various outlets, not just Halo) since roughly 2002 and the release of Halo 2 in the following years. I've seen the series prosper, grow and succeed from various angles. Through it's years of mainstream and even through those when it took a back seat, Halo has always had a lively competitive scene. Reach however has divided this community more so than bring it together, ironically enough it's not because Reach is a bad game either. Reach at it's core is one of the more competitive titles in the series, sadly poor decision making and a ton of surrounding variables make that core less accessible and tougher to enjoy. With the right selections (which are all painfully easy to edit), could be highly competitive and still successful. In short, less is more.

 

I've played the MLG settings, I've hosted over one thousand competitive customs, I've dedicated hundreds of hours to making smaller competitive maps that Reach lacks, I've even uploaded countless videos of discussion and such pinpointing these problems. More so, I still support the game and play in the one "competitive" area, being Arena. Here I have close to a 2.0 k/d and continue to enjoy and understand the game on a deeper level, though even then I can't help but think it could be so much better. The community as a whole has been entirely supportive of the aforementioned motions, but the original developers of the title took little heed. I'll refrain from large lists, but will pinpoint some painfully obvious flaws.

 

- Bloom. It was a good concept as it attempted to raise the skill gap, but was executed poorly. Happy to see this one being attended to already. Removal will undoubtedly help the game benefit.

 

- The Forge Maps in Arena and matchmaking. Not only are there too many, they most obviously weren't picked with the right form of gameplay in mind. Most of them have beginner level Forge error, some don't even have a load out camera. Pathetic honestly. Nobody picks them, nobody enjoys them from a competitive standpoint. A large playlist filled with community maps would be more fun and they'd have their place.

 

- With the efforts people put into Forge, how about a custom games browser? One that would allow people to search for competitive, MLG, fun rooms and/or maps in order to play them on the fly. Forgers work would be used more often and other forms of competition could be hosted more readily.

 

- Not enough competitive playlists. I remember Halo 2/3 had just about every playlist ranked, while there was one or two to practice in. Halo Reach is the complete opposite. Can we have an Arena that is truly competitive (meaning sprint only) and one that hosts various forms of competitive play style? Meaning FFA, 1v1, 2v2 and 4v4. Surely it isn't out of this realm to deem this type of competitive gameplay pertinent to Halo's success.

 

- Double beatdown. Such an easy fix, MLG settings. Why not apply the obviously more competitive and skillful properties to the entire game as a whole? Nobody deems double beatdown skillful or even sensible. There is no way it should have passed alpha testing.

 

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Lastly, I'd like to share some of my work that I've put in for the community. Some smaller, competitive maps that have been played on and recommended by various players and MLG pros. To make it easy to view and understand, I've uploaded some videos (to skip information overload in the thread, haha). I wouldn't care if my name were deleted from these if added, I sincerely want to help the community and game itself. Nothing more.

 

Whirlpool

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAAlkwTM7Sc

 

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=10121318&player=YamaMX

 

Whirlpool is probably one of the more basic and competitive maps I've made and perhaps available. It's perfectly symmetrical design lends itself to the competitively desirable notion that the 'Best DMR wins.' Four bunkers on each corner with a DMR and health pack in each, perfect visibility and line of sight with average cover. One portal for trickery, well thought spawns and a single center stage. This map is the perfect 1v1 test and it also lends itself well to a good working double team for 2v2 matches. Smaller FFA games are also acceptable and can be a blast.

 

This map has received close to 4,000 downloads and a lot of love. I'd love to see that continue on a grand scale.

 

Refinery

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqzSBhBw53A

 

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=12265664&player=YamaMX

 

Refinery is unique in that it's complexity was formed based on simplicity. What this means is that usually a map comes from scratch, thus making every decision complex as it comes from a blank canvas. With Refinery, the base canvas was actually a small section of Boneyard. It's unique in it's look and overall official style, even the map has area call outs. Aside from it's unique non-forge look, in order to be successful the map has to meet competitive standards. It ends up meeting them incredibly well, to the point many have asked the question after playing it, "Why didn't Bungie do this?" I'm not sure why, but it made for a single unique and incredibly fun map.

 

Continued on the next post...

[Yama]

Whirlwind

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-JOEg-C5BA

 

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=12710039&player=YamaMX

 

Whirlwind is a map made for competitive play and the sequel to Whirlpool. It is centered around smaller, competitive matches such as MLG styled 1v1, 2v2 and FFA (2-6). The map is completely balanced for both teams or parties and has a great amount of trickery available at higher levels. Players are able to use the maps given assets to travel through out the areas quickly, thus lending itself to it's fast paced competitive nature. Though there is cover, there are an equal amount of good lines of sight. To further enhance the overall package, the cosmetic appeal to the map was thought out carefully and uses Tempest as a base. It doesn't feel like a Forge map per say and will undoubtedly lend itself to many hours of fun and competitive matches.

 

Serenity

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy-tnmMWCjY

 

http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileDetails.aspx?fid=20389798&player=YamaMX

 

Serenity goes about competitiveness in a different manner than my previous series of competitive maps. The size is roughly medium, though any player can travel through it's entirety quickly if they are comfortable with it's fluidity. Different from my other maps, Serenity is multi tiered housing roughly four layers. Again, traveling from the fourth floor to the bottom is effortless with any knowledge on the map, thus making for some great set ups and even well timed assassinations.

 

The point of Serenity is to keep everyone on the run, without being a cluster. What this means is you aren't left for dead out in the open, but instead have options to get away or peruse. This to me is what makes maps like Derelict and Lockout great, options. All of my maps, mainly Serenity, are centered around options. These are the factors that assist set ups and trickery, but do away with over control. Players are able to hold down an area during battle, but have to keep on their feet after killing as they'll easily be overtaken if a statue. Without cluttering the map (within its intended play size), players are able to trick, set up and even escape easily and stylishly if familiar with all the map has to offer.

 

I'm going to use an example, though not in the literal form. Serenity is somewhat comparable to Lockout, not in any way how it's set up (completely different) but in the way that it takes some time to get used to. Once the player does understand the maps jumps, tricks, angles and overall set up, it becomes fluid and enables a ton of fancy high level play. It is created with high level play in mind, but goes about it in a different manner than the typical arena standard stuff.

 

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If nothing above could be added, I'd be absolutely fine with that. But on the contrary, please at least add smaller competitive maps to Halo Reach. Remakes, unique maps; as you see fit. These are undoubtedly the type of maps that make Halo what it is under the competitive spotlight. A balance of different types of maps for different playlists is understood and even encouraged, but it simply shouldn't be one sided. I think the CE release is a step in the right direction and I'm confident 343 Industries can still make this into one of the better Halo titles. Honestly, MLG Customs on smaller maps make for a completely different title, one that is enjoyable in the same style as the first two games. I'd love to see Reach finally tend to this side of things, as would the rest of the competitive community.

[Esorath]

You've got some good ideas here that I like.

I completly agree that reach could be sooo much more competitive than it is now.

The map building ability along with gametype customization needs to be tweaked and tuned and I don't see that happening at this moment from the developers. Whether they like it like it is or they feel it's fine I don't know. But Reach has the potential to have such competitive spirit to it with such things as the Sprint. I think hologram, sprint, and evade, whether they are on the map or base load outs would be fine for competitive play.

Making smaller, more team based strategy maps (much like Zealot is) is what Reach needs along with some tweaks to gametypes.

thanks for the post and the new maps to try out.