Hey everyone, earlier this month we announced changes to the HCS map pool, and we'd like to go into a bit more detail on the thought process for those changes along with providing an update on Neutral Bomb in Ranked/HCS.

Map Pool

While adding Lattice KotH, Oddball and Strongholds, we removed Solitude KotH and Streets Oddball. Over time, the map pool has increased and increased without much removal. Players have long been asking for a new asymmetrical competitive map. We're excited for Lattice to freshen up the meta and strengthen the quality of our asymmetrical objective suite as well - something that we feel has plateaued. And with the addition of a new map, we knew that some shuffling was needed. The quantity was already higher than desired by both players and HCS alike so to keep the balance per mode reasonable, we felt it was best to remove 1 KotH and 1 Oddball. When surveying Ranked players, Live Fire and Recharge both score better as competitive maps than Solitude and Streets, so while it wasn't an easy decision, we felt removing those kept the map pool its strongest. 

Assault Update

Regarding Assault, as shared earlier Neutral Bomb had a bug resulting in the mode being removed from HCS and Arena temporarily. This bug has been fixed, and you will see Neutral Bomb return to Ranked today. Since the temporary removal, we've seen the negative response to Fortress Bomb and while there are still some that enjoy it, we will be removing it from both Ranked Arena and HCS. Aquarius Bomb will be returning to Ranked today and HCS play beginning this weekend. Thanks everyone for continuing to voice that feedback! 

Moving Forward

The gametypes that you will see in the HCS Open Series this weekend will also be the gametypes played through the HCS Charlotte Major and the Halo World Championship in October.

We'll see you there!