: That undesirable behavior such as farming kills to stat-pad and draw out
: match durations for more reward system points has been a thing in the
: series since at least Halo Reach yet developers continue to fail to find
: ways to better asshole-proof these games tells me it's either oversight
: and/or incompetence on the developer's part, or, even worse, apathy or
: even outright malice. Perhaps 343i, and Bungie before them in Reach,
: simply aren't aware of the shenanigans that go on in matchmaking. Playing
: games with small pools of players, and those players being people you know
: personally, is likely going to create an experience with less griefing.
: However, I honestly doubt that so many developers could remain blissfully
: unaware that many players can and will exploit whatever they can to grief
: the other players.

They aren't unaware. It's not incompetence. Games are designed that way on purpose, because player investment systems > no player investment systems for their games. Ignoring the objectives and stat padding have always been a thing, even before Reach.

What you're arguing is that a game should essentially be balanced and designed around the lowest common denominator of play style, which I fundamentally disagree with. Yeah, I'll run into farming groups on occasion (I never have the experience of kill farming in Warzone Assault, so that's what I usually play when I'm solo.) but I look at a lot of your changes and see stuff that would make the mode less fun when that's not an issue. There are still avenues 343 could explore—like a surrender option—that wouldn't impact gameplay, but I don't particularly want them to align the core experience around "these people will be dicks so let's make potential games less fun to try and lock them out." In the words of Ian Malcolm:

"Griefers, uh, find a way."

I don't think Warzone is a free to play game unless you have no skill or no patience. Two or three games of Halo in and you'll likely have the basic REQs you need. The rest comes down to dispatching others and taking their stuff. I rarely call in my own REQs and mostly just use what other people drop, and I'm a mediocre player.

My online real complaint with Warzone is that I'd like maps with more open terrain for better vehicle encounters (the Sanghelios map scratches this itch better) and for more bases to have optional exits like Apex—a way for defenders to get to another objective quickly, to encircle attackers, or for attackers to attempt a sneaky back way in.