
Halo multiplayer updates Patch#
It's been in a rough state since before the holidays, but thankfully it sounds like the February 3 patch is fixing things up properly. If the match is still tied after that, it will end in a draw.īTB is Halo Infinite's largest-scale mode, pitting two teams of 12 against each other on massive maps. Outside of BTB, the February 3 patch makes changes to Oddball such that if the score is tied when a round timer expires, an additional minute will be added. While that patch wasn't totally successful, it did provide 343 with telemetry data that informed the patch that is out now. A post-holidays patch was released on January 19, but it did not fix the issues properly. Additionally, 343 has changed the join-in-progress rules such that players should no longer get into BTB matches that are nearly finished.īig Team Battle has been struggling since mid-December. There are some gameplay changes, too, as Scorpion Tanks and Wraiths will appear more regularly on BTB maps. The patch notes state that players should be able to find fully populated matches more quickly and consistently with the new update.

I hope 343 harnesses this momentum and turns Halo Infinite into one of those feel-good comeback stories a year from now.Halo Infinite's Big Team Battle mode is still facing some issues, but a new patch was released on Thursday that should help improve the experience.
Halo multiplayer updates update#
And before 343's monetization department has a heart attack: you can still sell those overpriced skins!Īnyways, Halo update is good. I'm essentially describing Call of Duty's system for unlocking gun camos, a progression ladder that annually inspires millions of people to grind that game for a year and manages to coexist with a separate battle pass. It'd mean so much more if, instead of unlocking some random shoulder guard because I got to tier 11, I had to complete unique challenges to get a cool samurai helmet. Dressing up my spartan in personalized armor like a tacticool Barbie is fun, but unlocking it in a linear path makes it difficult to envision the "perfect look" and work to achieve it. Since it seems like no design change is out of the question at 343, here's how I'd fix it: Take armor out of the battle pass and make it its own thing.
Halo multiplayer updates free#
And that's if you're a premium spender-the free track is a lonely road paved with terrible non-rewards like challenge swap tokens.

It's a lot easier to earn XP these days, which is great, but the pass is once again stuffed with individual armor pieces and disappointingly few gun skins. I'm maybe nine tiers into the thing and already bored to tears. One part of Halo Infinite that's still stuck in 2021 is its new 100-tier battle pass. It finally feels like there's a good amount of things to do in Infinite-the mile-long playlist selection helps and it's cool that you can now chase a tense ranked match with an equally tense Mongoose race on a faithful recreation of Mario Kart's DK Mountain. The quality and quantity of stuff in Season 3 is encouraging as someone who loved and then quickly dropped the game at launch. There is a free-for-all variant of Escalation out there for Gun Game purists, but I haven't encountered it in normal matchmaking yet. Gun Game fits particularly well in games with distinct weapons like Halo, and making it a team sport was a smart move, too-in other games, the mode can often come to an abrupt end when one dominant player snowballs to the end of the gun ladder. I've been pretty iffy on Infinite's marquee seasonal modes so far (Last Spartan Standing was a flop for me), but Escalation Slayer is hitting just right. Instead of hot swapping between single guns, teams cycle between 11 pairs of weapons with a loose theme. 343 added a "BTB Unlimited" playlist this week that replaces the default pistol loadout with a Bandit/Assault Rifle combo, closing the loop on the Halo Reach throwback in a way that I hope becomes permanent.Ī surprisingly cool addition to Season 3 is Halo Infinite's team-based twist on Gun Game. You'll find the Bandit in weapon lockers on maps across arena maps, but where I'm most excited to see it is in Big Team Battle. I don't think it'll be outclassing the Battle Rifle anytime soon, but I'll take the Bandit over its full-auto little brother, the Commando, every time. It fires a bit slower than its iconic Halo Reach predecessor and has a more aggressive recoil than a Battle Rifle, but that time between shots locks you into a rhythm that makes it easier to land consecutive hits.

Infinite's version is called the M392 Bandit, a semi-auto kinetic rifle that was made for clicking heads. You know what else feels great on Chasm? Halo Infinite's first new gun, which just so happens to be the return of my favorite old Halo gun, the DMR.

New mode: Escalation Slayer (it's Gun Game).
