V1 is out!

We asked League Commissioner John Nelson and MLG's Senior Gametester Kasey Kramer for complete details on the new Game Types, as well as a full explanation on how they determined the new settings.

"Armor Abilities have made the biggest difference to gameplay between Halo: Reach and previous Halo titles. In initial testing, we tried to come to a decision as to whether competitive gameplay was better off with or without them. Ultimately, we decided that giving all players the opportunity to choose from a myriad of armor abilities prior to every life introduced an overwhelming amount of guesswork. It also became clear that when too many players chose the same Armor Ability, it had a negative effect on gameplay. Overuse of the Armor Lock, Active Camo, and/or Drop Shield Armor Abilities has the detrimental effect of slowing gameplay. Overuse of the Evade Armor Ability allows players to enter and exit battles too easily. Overuse of the Hologram Armor Ability creates comical gameplay where all players need to hesitate before engaging targets. Overuse of the Jet Pack Armor Ability detracts from the design of the map because all players can ignore the ramps and airlifts that were intended to define their movement. One exception is Sprint, as we did not feel that it made a negative impact on gameplay with the default Base Player Traits. We also found that one side of most battles would inevitably reach the point where the player, fearing death, would reveal the armor ability that they had up their sleeve and result in a large number of battles ending without a death.

As a result, we decided to remove loadouts and adjust Base Player Traits so that there would be a more constant flow of action in each game. We increased the Player Speed, Jump Height, and Gravity Base Player Traits. These changes simultaneously increased map maneuverability by allowing players to make jumps that they couldn’t before, and increased the skill gap in battles by providing players with faster strafing abilities and jumping movement. Despite the exclusion of loadouts, we decided not to abandon Armor Abilities completely. We have added one or two different Armor Abilities to each of our maps so that teams must fight over them and manage their use. The Armor Lock, Jet Pack, and Hologram Armor Abilities can all be found on at least one of our maps. We have chosen not to use the Sprint, Evade, Active Camo, or Drop Shield Armor Abilities. The Sprint and Evade Armor Abilities are unnecessary now that Player Speed has been increased. The Drop Shield Armor Ability can provide cover for an entire team and takes too long to destroy; as a result, it slows gameplay without offering a real benefit. Active Camo is only effective while crouch-walking or sitting/standing still, so players looking to keep it for an extended period of time would need to sit and wait for their opponents to run by. We look forward to seeing how strategies form around obtaining and using the limited amount of Armor Abilities that we have provided.

Every weapon has been strategically placed on each map in order to promote movement and enhance gameplay. Although some weapons did not make it into this version of our Game Types, that does not mean that we have completely excluded them from future testing. We will continue to evaluate our current weapon layouts as time goes on and strategies evolve, making changes when necessary. The Game Types we have selected for this version use only the Bungie-created maps. With limited time, we did not have the ability to fully test any community maps that have been created, but we plan to do so for future versions. For the Washington D.C. Halo: Reach Event, we have decided to stay consistent with the format of previous Combine 4v4 Events by using a combination of the Team Slayer and Capture the Flag Game Modes, for a total of seven Game Types. The selected maps provide the best gameplay for these Game Modes, but you should expect to see the use of other Game Modes in the future.

Remember, MLG’s Game Types are constantly evolving, and we will continue to test and make changes over time. We invite you to download these Game Types, play them, and voice your thoughts on our forums in a constructive manner."



http://www.bungie.net/Stats/Reach/FileShare.aspx?player=MLG%20Gametypes