This is pertaining to Halo Reach on PC for social matchmaking, and how to fix it:
Problem:
I feel like this issue has been blown/shrugged off a lot from 343, and it needs to be acknowledged, or at the very least be a prompt for change.
Big team battle is massively lacking vehicles, and this has been an ongoing problem since the Bungie era for Halo. As of right now, this is the worst case of it. More than half the maps, such as Ridgeline, Tempest, High Lands, have ONLY warthogs, and sometimes a ghost at max, nothing beyond this. If you're truly unlucky enough, you'll be forced to play Boardwalk or Highnoon, both of which have no vehicles on them of any kind, and that's just plain wrong. We almost /never/ get wraiths, banshees, scorpions, falcons, or revenants, only a few maps have them, and the chances of you getting to play on 'em are really low.
Most people who play BTB go there for vehicle combat anyway, and it's the only playlist in Reach other than Invasion that offers it. I understand that there is a competitive community on here, but Team Hardcore exists for a reason, and there are lots of other non-vehicle playlists to choose from. It seems like a large chunk of the player base is being ignored when it comes to this as if the Esports community is dictating what we're allowed to play. Most people don't play BTB just so they can run around /only/ using a DMR or a warthog.
All the non or severely limited vehicle combat maps are like that by default, I know, but there are ways to fix this.
Solution:
Make Forge variants of Ridgeline, Tempest, and Highlands that include tanks, aircraft, plus revenants. Remove the default versions of these maps from Big Team Battle entirely.
Remove Boardwalk and High Noon completely since they have zero vehicles on them, and are too enclosed for BTB. If people wanna play on those maps, they're included in other playlists outside of BTB, heck they're even in Free-For-All right now.
Wraiths and Revenants would be a great addition to Ridgeline since the mortars from those would complement the long-range combat on there. Infantry wouldn't be easily overpowered since there's a lot of hills to hide behind.
For Tempest, giving each base a falcon or banshee with an extra medium/heavy vehicle would be amazing with how open the map is for aerial combat. Both bases already have a lot of natural cover against aircraft, the risk of spawn killing isn't high.
As for Highlands, give both bases a falcon and scorpion. Since the map has loads of cover and short sightlines, the Scorpion wouldn't be an overpowered thing since opposing teams could sneak up and board them quite easily if the driver isn't careful. Since it's a pretty heavy UNSC map with a lot of open-air, the falcon would make playing objective game modes a lot more fun and could be used tactically in many situations.
Another thing I'd really recommend is reducing DMR starts, they make most weapons on maps completely redundant and tear vehicles apart very easily if multiple people are shooting it. If this idea is opposed, especially by the Esports people, there are competitive playlists for them, there's no reason why someone else's gameplay should be enforced on somebody else.
General recommendations for editing bland maps:
I always suggest giving both bases on a map a tank plus an aircraft of either kind, it adds variety and keeps maps from feeling stale. Adding extra power weapons might be recommended to keep things balanced, but do not go overboard with adding too much anti-vehicle stuff, vehicles are pretty fragile on Halo Reach already. The ORIGINAL variant of Valhalla from Halo 3 when it had the wraiths included is a good reference for how to go about adding vehicles.
What 'not' to do for edition/changing maps:
I strongly advise against only having warthogs and ghosts on BTB maps, that formula just doesn't work and can make a map feel really stale, and a chore to play on. This only works if it's a 4 vs 4 map for team slayer typically. If you have tanks and aircraft, give each base/team one, don't put only one in the middle of the map. A good example of why that's not a good idea is how the Wraith on Breakpoint always gets destroyed before anyone can even get into it, it's best to let both sides have their own.
Compromise idea if the solution/proposal can't be implemented:
Make another social Big Team Battle playlist that is purely dedicated to vehicle combat/heavies. If a 343 employee is reading this, there wouldn't be any harm in trying this. While other games in MCC did offer the option to search for Action Sack game modes that featured heavies, it unfortunately included crap like Splockits and Fiesta, despite the fact nobody asked for those two game types. Having a vehicle playlist would be greatly appreciated by people in this community, including myself since there'd be no risk of having to play something that feels like a chore.
An additional idea that might help is bringing back the voting system in matchmaking, where all the players in a session can cast a vote on what they want to play. Maybe all the maps and variants could be listed simultaneously if people wanna play their favorite map and game mode. I think we can all agree that people shouldn't be forced to play on something they don't enjoy or feels like a chore.
My final thoughts:
I really feel like vehicle combat is almost intentionally being reduced in the only playlist it's available in other than Invasion. Infantry-only maps have no place in BTB, we already have those kinds of levels in all other playlists. While the DLC maps look awesome, they feel extremely bland. If a 343 employee reads this and disagrees, I genuinely want to see a counter-argument.
