Feedback regarding Extraction as a competitive gametype has been mostly negative. Rather than abandon it, 343 has opted to change it. This is a net positive step, but I worry it’s indicative of stubborn commitment to a preconceived vision for the mode’s future rather than a decision made in accord with player preferences. Even if the upcoming changes to the mode are well-received, I still think its addition to competitive play is basically self-sabotage for HCS Year 3. Here’s why:
My personal favorite competitive Halo title was Halo 2. In retrospect I find it remarkable that it only had 11 competitive gametypes played on five maps, Midship, Lockout, Warlock, Sanctuary, and Beaver Creek. One of the principal reasons competitive Halo 2 was so successful and beloved is that players looked forward to playing every single gametype in the pool. Practically speaking, there weren’t any gametypes that players loathed, and each of them was very good. Whether your favorite competitive Halo is CE, 3, or 5 (because it sure as hell isn’t 4, which, fittingly enough, we have to thank for birthing Extraction), I’m sure you feel similarly about their gametype pools as well.
Replication of this dynamic in Infinite’s competitive play should be of the highest priority for 343, and, in my view, any countervailing strategy is profoundly foolish. Ranked/HCS already has five game modes: CTF, Ball, KOTH, Strongholds, Slayer. KOTH and Strongholds specifically are already “zone control” modes, the former “concentrated,” the latter “diffuse” (Extraction is, um, both concentrated and diffuse? Neither?). Everyone already likes these modes. In adding a controversial and arguably redundant mode, 343 is effectively giving players reasons to dislike watching and playing competitive Infinite. Needless to say, this should be the opposite of their goal.
Other directions exist to keep things dynamic and fresh in Year 3, however. As mentioned, we have five modes, and the five game series is the standard for HCS Championship Bracket play. One step in the right direction, I think most would agree, would be to have one game of each mode per series, with Slayers reserved for Game 5. Furthermore, rather than adding Extraction as a new mode, Slayer itself could be revitalized by moving away from slow and standoffish gameplay on large maps (which often doesn’t reach 50 kills) and toward fast and furious gameplay on small maps where teams with more slaying power are clear favorites to win (like Warlock TS in Halo 2 or Amplified TS in Halo 3).
Suggestions like this are certainly more easily said than done, but 343 only needs 3 or 4 gametypes for each mode to achieve such a scheme, and, auspiciously for them, they have an extraordinary tool at their disposal: Forge. Infinite’s core gameplay has been regarded as fundamentally strong since launch, and Ranked and the HCS have been bright spots in the game’s troubled history. Competitive play is one of Infinite’s greatest strengths, and Forge is Infinite’s single greatest strength. Thus, I think it’s criminally negligent if synergies between the two aren’t exploited to the maximum extent possible.
Saying Forge should be leveraged more for competitive play doesn’t magically make competition-grade maps appear in the world, I recognize. But given what we’ve seen accomplished in assorted social playlists (Tenrai, Community Doubles, etc.), I refuse to believe that enough maps to populate a portion of a 14-20 game pool is an infeasible goal. Exploitation of Forge represents a path forward that’s currently available to 343 to endow Infinite with one the best competitive gametype pools in the entire series, and, with the addition of the Bandit, I think Infinite’s clearly within striking distance of being one of the series’ best competitive titles. 343 needs to abandon their insistence on the addition of superfluous equipment and modes and seriously focus on strategies that might actually, dramatically improve the quality of their product.
