Yesterday's Arena update is a travesty. After reading through as much of these thread replies and listening to as much game chat as I can bear without chiming in, I can't for the life of me figure out how Bungie thought the majority of players would want Slayer Pro taken OUT of Arena. It seems to be entirely the opposite from what the majority is saying. I can't tell you how many times I heard things like "this is the -blam!-est thing Bungie has ever done." And that quote was during my first game last night from people in the Iron division who you would normally think might be the minority in support of the update. It's as if Bungie did it just to screw with people. Which I might add is something they love to do. "Okay Bungie, we get it, you like to be intentionally stupid about toying with playlists." I wasn't laughing, I played in more games last night where my teammates went negative and rage quit than I can remember in a long time. Hey Urk, go look up the stat of how many people rage quit last night, you might get a good idea of how the update is doing. Be intelligent guys, it's a ranked playlist, everyone needs to start out on the same playing field. At the very least, Slayer Pro must be an option. What in God's name was someone thinking when they decided to not have the option to vote for maps? I know there was a problem where people were voting for the map where their team spawns closer to rockets, but how could they think that would solve it? It's their own damn fault for placing the rockets in such poorly uneven places. Taking voting away made it worse! Now people are getting screwed with multiple games in a row where their team spawns away from rockets simply because they don't have the option to choose. Who's genius idea was that? A person with down syndrome could've advised better. Here's an idea that a third grader could come up with, PLACE THE ROCKETS EQUIDISTANT FROM EACH TEAM'S INITIAL SPAWN. What a lazy and terrible solution taking away voting was to that problem. I mean seriously, these dumbasses should fire themselves for ruining this playlist. I know I'll no longer be playing Arena until these things are changed and know a lot more people with the same feelings. Back to Halo 3 it is. I hope Bungie goes into arena matchmaking themselves and listens to what everyone is saying about the update. It will be a much needed, humbling experience for them. How could they possibly think there would be a different response? Furthermore, Bungie only created two maps that are symmetrical from the origin(Asylum & Countdown) where all the others except maybe Powerhouse are grossly imbalanced. The amount of high ground dominant maps with terrible access points off spawn is a complete joke. It's baffling to me how this set of default maps for the Reach disc was approved for sale. How it was imagined that these maps would best assess skill I think is well beneath any intelligent person's comprehension of a fair and balanced test. Yeah armor lock, jetpack and camo loadouts bring a cool new dynamic, a cool new dynamic for me to poop on! Seriously though, loadouts are a novelty thing that some people think are cool, but actually ruin the flow of the game. Yes, they all have to be used differently and have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, when each loadout gives someone an added escape or rush ability it ruins the fluidity of a team result if all persons don't spawn with the same loadout. Certain loadouts are each better for certain situations. All of those different variables add an unknown to the game that in some cases randomizes and nullifies the natural skill interactions and battles. Limiting and tainting those kind of legitimate battles goes against everything a ranked playlist should be about. And with respawn disadvantages and map control so important with these lopsided maps, the loadouts can swing games in a big way and turn them into results that otherwise would not and should not have happened. For example: kills that escape from a sprinting foe, or a death from an armor lock's teammate saving his life with a double team, or a jetpacking enemy getting first shots or a clean up kill from the sky or from on top of a high structure where it's difficult to kill them. In most interactions, if work without loadouts was done and skill was performed to gain an advantage, it's all for naught all because the X button can be used as a kind of "get out of jail free card." When have free failures or an escape button ever been a part of competitive gameplay? Bailouts are for banks, not battles. Keep them in non-arena playlists only if they're going to exist at all. [Edited on 10.07.2010 2:39 AM PDT]