((Warning: geek rant ahead!))
I just want to get this out there, because when I do a search there aren’t enough results for my taste:
I hate Territories on Halo 3.
For the uninitiated (or simply non-geeky), Territories is a game mode on Halo 3. Basically it involves two teams of eight players taking turns defending five posts on the map. The attackers have to fight off the defenders and hold the post for about thirty seconds.
It’s an annoying, frustrating game mode. The victories tend to be lopsided (if there’s any lag involved, the team with the least lag usually wins). It’s virtually impossible to coordinate a strategy unless you’re playing with a majority of veterans or people who know one another. It’s also a complicated game mode, so novice players usually spend the game trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Whenever players veto any other game mode before a match, the alternative option (which cannot be vetoed) is all-too-frequently Territories. If Territories is offered first, it is vetoed 100% of the time by players. Hey Bungie, guess what? That means people don’t like Territories.
Territories often shows up on Last Resort, the worst of the three maps for this game mode. The map is complex and asymmetrical, the posts are hard to get to in a hurry and difficult to defend, and if the defending team doesn’t seize both sniper rifles, the laser and the bubble shield in the first minute, chances are they’re going to lose. And the first post is out of reach of the defending team and right in front of the attackers, so it might as well not even be a post.
But here’s the real problem: I don’t find Territories fun. At all. You spend most of the game running from post to post, anxiously trying to defend them all. You get no satisfaction from a good kill because you’re already worrying about that other guy running toward post #4.
Bungie has already made some tweaks to the frequency that various gametypes show up, so I can only hope they’ll reduce or, even better, completely eliminate Territories in the next update. Or, if they’re so insistent on pushing the mode, give it its own playlist and stop forcing it down our throats.
What we really need is Big Team Slayer and Big Team Tactical. Fingers crossed that we see that in the near future.
VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO VETO
Did you ever play territories on Halo 2? For some reason, it sucked a lot less. I really enjoyed playing them on the small maps where its constant death and it’s easy to run to the capture point… because on there it would usually be ONE rotating territory not 5. Now on Halo 3 it’s not as fun ESPECIALLY when you play it on a large map.
I never did play much Halo 2 online, no. And when I did, it was usually Slayer. My favorite mode is probably Big Team Battle Slayer, but the lag and the dang Territories often ruins the experience.
You know, I went on bungies site and was shocked. SHOCKED that I played over twelve hundred games of Halo 2 online. Jeebus.