My Impressions (and even a suggestion or two) regarding the new Invasion/Invasion Slayer gametypes:
Invasion, on Boneyard - loved this gametype, the idea of a flexible, narrative driven multiplayer warfare mission enhances the immersion a great deal. There are a few balance issues that could use a bit of tweaking.. the mission seems slanted in favor of the spartans from the get-go in a number of ways; the elites have to complete 3 objectives with a limited timeframe for each, while the spartans just have to stop them at 1 to win completely. also, certain aspects of the way the game can be played seem somehow unrealistic.. in the 2 dozen or so games that i played, nearly all of them saw spartans camping under the covenant dropship in phase 3. the dropship did nothing about this.. no gunfire to keep the extraction zone "clear" as it were, nor any sort of evasive movement; it just seemed to be kindof a static prop in the overall scene that the rest of the battlezone is trying to create.
also, just a suggestion: if the goal of the Invasion gametype is to simulate a live battle on the ground at during the siege of reach, i'm not so sure that spartans and elites would be the only combatants participating.. Adding waves of NPC allies might make the game seem a bit more epic; they could be introduced at certain intervals or during each new invasion phase. for example, after the Elites strike team takes out the shield generators, maybe a few squads of UNSC marines pour out of the base to help the spartans hold the line at the refinery; simultaneously, perhaps a covenant dropship delivers a pack or two of grunts to help the Elites push through the defenders.. etc; also the types of allies and amount that spawn could increase as the battle progresses; in phase 3, ODSTs with heavy weaponry might spawn, just as a pair of Hunters join the final assault..
Of course, the game is fun as is, it just seemed to me a cool way to really "Epic"-ify the battles in invasion mode, giving the players a cool opportunity to feel as though they are leading the charge in a much larger battle that redefines the way multiplayer can create a narrative situation.
Invasion slayer, also on Boneyard - more of the same, again loved this game mode once i started to understand the basic mechanics, however a few things seem to work differently in practice than i assume they were intended.. for example, when you capture a destination, several seconds later a vehicle will spawn there, of the same general faction as the team who captured it. the trouble is that while capturing the location causes a vehicle to spawn, it doesnt necessarily award the vehicle to your team. many times in this game mode i saw one team capture the destination while enemies waited, then after the vehicle dropped they would quickly move in and steal it.. maybe capturing an objective should cause a vehicle spawn at the capturing team's base, rather that at the contested location; or, perhaps capturing a location causes a pelican or dropship to spawn faction-specific NPC allies, as in the aforementioned Invasion suggestion; obviously while a ghost or tank can be stolen by a steathed enemy, marines or grunts or whatever are not something that can be commandeered, ensuring a helpful advantage goes to the capturing team everytime. this would also make the capture points more valuable; i played several invasion slayer matches where both teams ignored the destinations altogether, or one team allowed the other to gather in the destination only to pick them off with grenades or long-range weaponry (basically using the location as bait in a trap, to quickly collect lots of points).
Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy the beta, and to offer constructive feedback on the game we're all passionate about, player and developer alike.