i know i made another thread, but heres where they talk in depth of all of the playlist
Straight from bungie.net
http://www.bungie.net/News/content.a...news&cid=12802
Our playlists are broken into two broad categories.
Ranked Playlists
Ranked Playlists are for the player who wants to test his and his team’s mettle in a straight up competitive game. These playlists are sport-like in that they are tightly focused—you won’t have the rug pulled out from under you by an unexpected game of Hamster Crack. You will know what to expect, and over time, become versed in the nuance of your preferred playlist’s maps and games.
In addition, enemy player voice is disabled in game in Ranked Playlists. This is because these playlists are about the contest, and not about being Chatty Mc Chatterson. Some people love the art of trash talking above all else—there is a home for you, but it isn’t a Ranked Playlist. The scoreboard does all of the trash talking here.
Lone Wolves
Lone Wolves is our FFA playlist, and the focus is on gametypes where you only need to rely on yourself. The player count is 5, slightly reduced from Rumble Pit, so that it is harder for a player to win simply because he was more effective at farming the weaker players than second place was.
Typical Games: Slayer, Oddball, Crazy King Team Slayer
The reigning champion from Halo 2, Team Slayer is a straight up Slayer playlist for teams of 4. The majority of games are vanilla Slayer, but there are some weapon variants to mix things up. However, there are no gametypes which overemphasize a single aspect of Halo MP, like Rockets or Swords. Shotty Snipers is as far from home as it gets.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, Team Shotty Snipers Team Objective
Team Objective is our non-Slayer playlist for teams of 4, and is for the team which wants a more rounded experience. The focus is on round based asymmetric gametypes, like One Flag CTF and Territories. There is no Team Slayer here, but there is some VIP for when you just need to kill things.
Typical Games: One Flag CTF, Territories, One Sided VIP Team Tactical
Don’t let the name fool you—this is a new and somewhat experimental playlist. The focus here is on gametypes which place a high premium on cold, calculated cunning, and careful play. This does not necessarily mean twitch reflexes or mad headshot skills. The basic gametype here is Eliminatio, so named because it’s not quite elimination. You will respawn, but rounds end at 5 kills, so you and your team cannot afford to blunder into a prepared ambush. Work together, and know every inch and every corner of your maps, or you won’t get far.
Typical Games: Eliminatio, Eliminatio Snipers Team Doubles
Team Doubles is our 2 vs. 2 playlist, for when you and your buddy don’t want to mess around with organizing big teams. The gametypes here are Slayer and VIP—more diverse than straight up Slayer, but the emphasis is firmly on working as a team and killing your opponents.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, VIP Social Playlists
Social Playlists are for players who are looking for other players. The game matters less than the people in it, whether you’re looking for people to party up with, or just want to engage in verbal sparring with the guy you just humped. The selection of games is wider here, and the maps are more diverse, so even after several dozen games you might be surprised.
Unlike Ranked Playlists, you’re welcome and encouraged to bring a full party into Social Playlists, filling up both teams with people you know. Matchmaking will offer up games all night long, and even try to balance the teams to boot.
And if you’re working on your Rating, you’re still welcome here—Social Playlists do award XP for wins, though to attain the higher Ratings you will need to prove yourself and earn the required minimum skill level in a Ranked Playlist.
Rumble Pit
Rumble Pit is our social FFA hopper for up to 6 players. Anything goes in the Rumble Pit, and you’ll see a games from Swords to Ninjanaut. Slayer is weighted heavily, but the majority of the selection is more varied.
Typical Games: Slayer, Mosh Pit, Hammerzeit Social Slayer
The social version of the Team Slayer playlist, Social Slayer is for teams of 4 to 5, and is a bit looser in terms of map selection and weapon variants. If Slayer is your thing, but you like the more casual nature of a Social playlist, then this will be a good home.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, Team Rockets Social Skirmish
Social Skirmish is our mixed, non-Slayer playlist for teams of 4 to 5. There’s a lot of CTF, Assault, and Territories in this playlist, and it’s ideal if you’re looking for a well rounded selection while building up a party over the course of multiple games.
Typical Games: Multi Flag CTF, Neutral Bomb Assault, Territories Big Team Battle
BTB is our hopper for teams of 6 to 8. The selection includes both Slayer and objective gametypes, on the larger maps in the game.
At launch, BTB is going to be limited to teams of 6—this is a temporary step to allow Halo 3’s networking systems to figure out who the good hosts are, so that matchmaking can function properly and set up games that aren’t crapshoots. However, once things are firmed up, we plan to increase the limit back up to the traditional 8 per team.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, VIP, Multi Flag CTF Multi Team
Multi Team is a slightly different take on team games, with four teams of 2. The games have more of an FFA feel, but you still have a teammate with whom to share your victories and commiserate about your defeats.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, VIP, King of the Hill Social Doubles
The social version of the Team Doubles playlist, for teams of 2. This playlist is ideal for people looking for smaller, head to head games, whether by preference or by player count. The games lean towards Team Slayer and weapon variants thereof, but there’s also some VIP and Territories in there to mix things up.
Typical Games: Team Slayer, VIP, Flag Rally
MatchMaking Playlist 
Linear Mode
