Halo 3 new playlist: My verdict

So, the new Halo 3 playlist went live on the 28th March 2008, and what do I think? Awesome...

That night, there was an extremely heated debate on Bungie.net, with people moaning about how MLG isn't the playlist we need...they're more interested in SWAT and Infection (how the hell Infection would work as a playlist I don't know!) but what they have to understand is that tonnes of people (myself included) have been playing MLG Customs for ages now as, without meaning to sound cocky, Matchmaking is just too easy...

In case you don't know, MLG (Major League Gaming) run competitive tournaments (and have been doing so since the first Halo) and, for those tournaments, use their own gametypes and Maps. When I say new maps, I mean new weapon layouts within the default maps, with a couple of levels having things added and blocked off (MLG The Pit V4 is a good example of this...). The main difference is that all of the inconsistent (and some might say, host-friendly) weapons, like the Sword, Hammer, Shotgun etc, and also the weapons that take no skill to use, like the Needler, AR, Brute Shot etc, have been taken out completely! This ensures a fair game throughout...

Here are the basic changes to the Base Player Traits:
110% speed
110% damage
90% recharge

Basically this makes the BR feel more powerful (like in Halo 2)

But yeah, the MLG playlist is awesome fun, something alot of us have wanted for ages, and it's really good to see Bungie is listening to its fans, and providing too...they could easily sit back and rest on their laurels...they've fulfilled their end of the deal by making the game..we bought the game vanilla (no extras), so they don't have to do all this! And people moan about paying for map packs?! Pathetic...

Just a tip: If you go into the MLG playlist and find yourself getting owned, stop for a bit, play a few MLG customs (download the Maps and Gametypes from MLG Gametypes File Share as this will let you get to grips with any changes) and also let you learn the new weapon placements and respawn times...

Talking of respawn times, it's worth noting that the weapons are on a drop spawn (well, the power weapons at least)...this means that when the weapons spawn, they do so in the air. This simulates the dropping of the weapon, meaning that it will disappear after exactly 1 minute...what this does is keep the weapons on a constant timer...here's an example for you:

You're playing Matchmaking, default settings (no drop spawn), and you go to find the Sniper Rifle...but oh no, it's not there! However, you don't know when it will respawn, as you don't know when it was picked up, because the Sniper spawns about 3 minutes after pickup...he could have picked it up a second ago, or 2 minutes ago...you just don't know! He does though, so he has sniper control!

In MLG, this problem is eliminated....because it drops, it will respawn every 3 minutes, regardless of when somebody picks it up, because the game thinks the weapon's been picked up! This way, if you go to find the Sniper Rifle, and it's gone, you can look at the game timer and think well, 3 minutes are almost up, it'll be back in a sec...

This creates an overall fairer game, and as such is my (and alot of other players) favourite way to play the game.

MLG = The future of Halo