Legendary Map Pack



The Legendary Map Pack or LMP is the second map pack that was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace on Tuesday the 15th of April at 2am PST (9am UTC/GMT) to download for 800 Microsoft Points. It is the follow up to the Heroic Map Pack, released on December 11, 2007. . Like the Heroic Map Pack, there are several more new Forge objects.

Avalanche
The spiritual successor to Halo: Combat Evolved's large snowy vehicular map Sidewinder, Avalanche is the Halo Trilogy's current largest multiplayer map ever made. All Human vehicles on this map are snow-camouflaged, and two vehicles, the Hornet and the Scorpion tank, are now available on this map in Matchmaking. It was codenamed Cottonball.

Blackout
The remake of one of the most popular and beloved Halo 2 maps, Lockout, Blackout was designed with a human theme layout unlike its predecessor Lockout, which had a Forerunner theme instead. The map also had a few spawn point changes. It was codenamed Moonlight Sonata.

Ghost Town
An entirely new map as announced by Bungie, Ghost Town bears a slight resemblance to the Halo 2 map, Turf. The map also may remind some players of a map of another popular FPS game, Counterstrike, due to its human-themed layout. It was codenamed O.K. Corral.

Delayed Maps
A few alternate maps were originally slated for the Legendary Map Pack, though they did not progress as fast as expected. For this reason the maps Purple Reign and Space Camp are not going to be released in this map pack. However, these maps are planned to be finished and released in the next upcoming map pack(s).

Forge Filters
Forge Filters are forge objects, introduced in the LMP, that change what the map looks like by using effects. The effects were made to make the custom game and forge experience more entertaining according to Bungie. There are six different choices to choose from, each one changing the map's look in some way. there is colorblind, gloomy, juicy, nova, old timey & pen and ink.

Trailer
The trailer was called "Darkness", after the poem of the same name written by Lord Byron. The spoken lines are the beginning portion of this poem concluding with a line from the middle. It was also voiced by David Scully (Avery J. Johnson/Sangheili). The trailer was released on April 3rd & can be downloaded from bungie here.

ViDoc
A Video Documentary called "Mapmaker, Mapmaker Make Me a Map" by several DLC designers, contributers and leads was posted on Bungie.net on April 9th. It features three different Bungie employees for each map that worked on the particular map and is done in a machinima style. It goes in depth about the canon behind the maps, their overall design and structure, as well as some of the Forge items available. The Forge Filters were shown in action for the first time. You can download it here or watch it here

Price Status
Bungie have confirmed on update 3rd July 2008, that the Legendary Map Pack will no longer cost 800 microsoft points. It will be 600 microsoft points from 7/7 and all legendary map purchases after 7/7 will no longer include the free bungie pro bonus.

Trivia

 * Before images of the first LMP map were released, Bungie stated that all maps in the LMP were originals, however the only original LMP map is Ghost Town. This was to tweak Purple Reign and Moonbase Alpha, which were in the original line up, but Avalanche and Blackout were mentioned as well. This announcement might be to decrease speculation of the new maps from the LMP.
 * This is the first pack to have a map that is based on the Forerunner/Covenant point of view and vantage point.
 * The Legendary map Ghost Town has the same name and designation as the first checkpoint name on the campaign level The Storm.
 * The soccer ball has been confirmed to be on all maps as a Forge item.
 * Downloading the Map Pack also subscribes players to Bungie Pro for 4 months, free of charge. For those who already have Bungie Pro, the feature extends their subscription 4 months. However, this is only for a limited time, and Bungie has stated it will end in August 2008.
 * Many people had difficulty downloading the Maps on April 15th, due to the amount of activity on the Bungie servers that day. Of those that could download that maps, many were plagued by extremely slow download times, some ranging as far as a few days.
 * The next map pack could be possibly released in August 2008, due to the 4-month gap between the Heroic Map Pack and the Legendary Map Pack. This is only an estimate.
 * It may be a coincidence that the map pack was released on April 15th, the day the Titanic sunk after hitting an Iceberg. In addition, the maps Avalanche and Blackout both involve icy environments and both have icebergs and glaciers in their backgrounds scenery. Yet, it is unknown if Bungie actually released the map pack on April 15th purposely as a reference to the sinking of the Titanic or is just plain coincidence.
 * Halo 3's launch, the Heroic Map Pack's release, and Legendary Map Pack's release were all on Tuesdays. All of these may be just pure coincidence.

Related Articles

 * Halo 3
 * Heroic Map Pack
 * Mythic Map Pack