: I disagree that it's better than ever, partly from changes made to Grifball
: in particular (which I think are now just in the "pro" gametype)
: and the gameplay as a whole. I think they tried to make Assault and CTF
: work more than they do and failed, probably because of time limitations--
: most or all of the "on-disk" maps have neutral flag stands, they
: have Grifball ball spawns, some options for CTF and Grifball are still
: there but don't work, and in the description text for several of Grifball
: options the ball is called a bomb.

Folks can have their own opinions regarding which version of Grifball is the best. Some folks like Halo 3 the most, some love Reach's Dash, and some (like myself) think Halo 4 Grifball is tops. Different strokes.

But it's undeniable that Halo 4 Grifball is the most purposefully put together version of the game. Halo 3 was built by Bungie without including Grifball at all (obviously, since Grifball wasn't invented until December 2007). Reach's Grifball was just Assault with the announcer saying "Grifball", and it included many glitches in the settings. The "barrel roll" move in Grifball Dash was one such glitch, although it was accepted by the community as a legitimate move (it was our BXR).

Halo 4 Grifball was the only one that was built from the ground-up as its own gametype. They brought in Grifball community members to help create the gametype and demo it at PAX. They added passing to make it quicker and more sporty. They added auto-catch and continuous rounds to make the game faster, while keeping options to turn those things off if the community wanted. It was clearly given some level of priority during development, which Grifball had never received before and many other gametypes (Racing, Assault, etc) never received for Halo 4.

So when it comes to 343 getting community involvement and feedback, Grifball seems to be the prime example. I'm not sure why they love us so much, but I'm glad they do. It might be the Rooster Teeth connection, but Rooster Teeth hasn't had anything to do with Grifball for years, aside from selling merchandise. When 343 demoed Grifball at PAX, they didn't ask Burnie and Geoff to do it. They asked folks from GrifballHub.