For you guys above talking about sweaty games and cryo, it's really simple.
The game is just a harder core extraction game. That's how it's designed, whereas ARC is supposed to be much gentler and has bigger maps so it's less about PvP or AI bot gunfights.
And cryo is meant for gamers that love challenge, grinding and being an extraction game is willing to gamble it to achieve.
It's just that Bungie couldnt promote that because they knew it'd turn off gamers if they told the world months ago to wait for it (whether it wasnt ready or was aways planned as an end of March content drop doesnt matter) it is a hardcore grind map requiring min stats, trios and weekends only.
If they told everyone, sales would sink even worse than now. Expectations for everyone was it was some kind of challenging end game map, but nobody thought it would have these parameters.
It's just that for people who like extraction shooters (already a harder core mode than traditional MP modes) it's a matter of whether you are a casual extraction gamer, or you are a gamer who enjoys challenge and going all out. Most people arent like that. Play COD and most people play TDM or one of the easy to understand mainstream objective modes. Hardly anyone plays Gun Game, or S&D or hardcore mode where you get half the life and no mini map.
Cryo map is for the gamers who got the time, willing to grind and want to play with the best gamers who can do it. Similar to gamers who want to play with the best who can hack it (like enjoying SBMM playing in matches with top ranked gamers). It's a mode not meant for loners (solo lone wolf players), or players barely qualifying and getting smoked the one time every month they can join. And that assumes the guy even has time to do it on weekends.
The mode is meant for core gamers who got the time, skill, and mentality to do it. Some do, some dont. When I play shooters, I know I dont. When used to play COD a lot I was actually a really good player racking up k/d and wins, but I didnt care one bit playing Gun Game, hardcore mode or any obscure stuff. I just want to join the masses and play some normal games in the popular modes. The key difference is that when Activision promotes another 5 maps are coming soon, the game is already filled with tons of content. So adding more maps is bonus. Also, most of these maps get tossed into the rotation no strings attached. Although there might be some that are walled off for certain modes, but most are just more normal maps for everyone to join. It's not a make or break if the 5 maps come and go, and Activision hell no isnt going to tell websites dont do a review until the new map pack comes.
The difference is COD going from let's say 12 maps to 17 isnt a big deal. Heck, I'd even argue a lot of the time the extra maps suck vs the default maps. But Marathon going from 3 to 4 is huge. BUT, if a gamer cant or hates cryo, that gamer is really stuck back at 3. For the core gamer doing cryo every week, it's a boost to 4 maps. But for many it's really just the same 3.
The problem Bungie had was they couldnt communicate it because sales werent great. So they hooked in the gamers interested in Marathon hoping all of you expected cryo map to be a cool 4th map that could be accessible by everyone at any time. But it's not. Everyone knew it was an challenging end game map as per info last year, but not with these kinds of limitations. It'd be like a racing game promoting more challenging tracks coming end of month, but turns out it could only be played on weekends for gamers who bought S-class sportscars. Or an RPG who promoted new content soon before it launched, but turns out it's only for level 50 characters and all characters need weapons minimum +2. It's too bad they werent clear on the direction.
