The next big Halo Infinite update is coming up, and 343 Industries is announcing a big preview of what’s new.
Senior Community Manager Unyshek is here with a comprehensive preview just in time for the big May update for Halo Infinite.
The update is packed with new content and improvements. A handful of them could already be spotted through a leak a few days ago that we reported on. The adjustments to the game modes themselves make the beginning.
- super party is making a comeback in May! The wild banter is actively incorporated into the rotation again.
- The ranked mode for king of the hill will be revised. This will now spawn faster in-game by no longer counting “setup time” when first entering. 343 Industries explains the adjustment in detail:
In order to make more meaningful decisions at the start of a King of the Hill game, we decided to reduce the starting hill timer. This now requires teams to be more thoughtful when determining their launch strategies, as teams will now have to choose between looting weapons and gear and scoring points on the hill.
Based on the feedback, we felt there was a way to make the decision to climb in and out of a hill more impactful. With the base settings, players who engaged in this behavior weren’t giving up enough, as they could jump out of the mound’s area without losing it if they came back fast enough. This could also create some ambiguity regarding ownership of the mound. This change should make the state of the hill clearer for players.
- Reduced initial hill spawn from 15 seconds to 5 seconds
- Removed the build time for the score
- Players can score immediately upon entering the hill
- This allows players to score quickly while dodging grenades and avoiding damage
- Sandbox balance tuning is also a point the studio takes to heart. However, the updates are not named exactly, but they would like to do them by the fourth season.
- die interrupter-Pistol will be easier to play. The style of play was too complex for the studio. Because of this, it was decided to weaken various attributes of the weapon. To do this, the active damage over time of the weapon is reduced, the range for the chain reactions is also reduced, in return the weapon receives an increased initial damage value.
The goal of this change was to reduce the complexity of the weapon’s behavior by focusing utility on the Super Combine’s blast and shock chain and its ability to hit nearby players. By increasing the direct damage of Super Combiners and increasing its Rate of Fire (ROF), the Disruptor leans more towards a combat pistol with a simple utility.
- Damage eliminated over time
- Reduced chain spacing from 5 world units (wu) to 2.5 wu
- Super combine damage increased from 60 to 70.
- Increased ROF from 4.285 to 5 revolutions per second
- Just those spike grenades are a weapon that can drive many players insane. After receiving feedback, 343 Industries realized that these cause too much damage. If you compare these with frag grenades, for example, you will immediately notice that the damage scales much higher with less precision. One tries to overcome this problem with a measure that is unusual. The damage is not adjusted directly, but the way the weapon works directly. A spike grenade will function more like its Halo 3 counterpart in the future. The explosion cone is thus further narrowed and the radius is restricted. However, the number of flechettes in it increases.
The goal here was to improve the directionality of the flechette, which required tighter precision but a better reward for good placement. With twice as many Flechettes but a shorter range and narrower cone, they deal focused, directional damage where placed. Out in the open, far from enemies, they won’t be as effective as frag grenades. Sticking them to walls facing nearby enemies will deal the highest possible damage, one-shot lethal if a player is directly in front of (or above) one.
- Increased the number of flechettes released on detonation from 8 to 16.
- Reduced Flechette flight distance from 5 world units (wu) to 3.5 wu
- Area of effect (AOE) damage radius reduced from 3.2 Wu to 2 Wu.
- AOE damage reduced from 300 to 160 damage.
- Adjusted flechette bounce behavior to deviate less
- To create a balance here with the grenades, the Dynamo grenades also directly to. The idea behind this is that players use the grenade in a more targeted way. In order for this to be achieved, the area of damage (AOE) had to be reduced, the range of the chain reaction had to be reduced as well, and the slowing effect had to be removed. In return, the damage dealt is increased.
The goal of this change is to narrow the area of effect, which requires more thoughtful placement with a higher direct hit reward. The previous tuning would damage enemies far outside the immediate combat area, too much the grenade rewarded blind use without bringing one itself. With higher damage per tick but a shorter radius, Dynamos create a stronger but contained threat. Use them in corners where enemies have no escape to deal maximum damage or throw enemies off a route.Changes:
- Reduced Area of Effect (AOE) of Shock from 3.5 Wu (world units) to 2 Wu
- Shock damage per shock increased from 18 to 21.
- Removed movement stun from shock damage
- Reduction of arming time from 0.65 to 0.5 seconds
- Reduced delay between shock absorber pulses from 0.3 to 0.25 seconds
- Added an additional burst damage pulse after 2.5 seconds
- Within the ranked arena they modified it shroud screen. Gathering grants a charge directly. This way the effect will be reduced in pro games, but not directly useless.
There will also be improvements in the basic mechanics.
the forge as such it now has diverse options that make the usage easier. This includes, for example, the adjustment of the nodes, which can now contain up to 128.
The advantage is clearly on the scripts, which can be edited better this way. Cards that have already been created can continue to be used, even if they exceed the value. Various bug fixes, which the studio does not name, are also part of the update. No one needs to worry about limited options at this point.
A “Frames Per Second (FPS) Counter” is now also an optional part of the interface, which at first seems to be a decorative element.
Yet the demand for it has been very high. Especially in competitive play it helps to keep an eye on the performance of the game.
Forge users also benefit from the direct display of performance. Generally, these “Quality of Life” additions are something 343 Industries is putting a lot of emphasis on in May. This is how the studio is adapting the menu interface to make it clearer and easier to use. The focus is primarily on the browser for the self-created games. The possible number of games has been increased from five to ten games.
However, what will please cosmetic item hunters is that you now have the chance to acquire individual items from previous seasons. If you want an item that was part of a bundle that you weren’t able to earn, you can now purchase it in the shop. But it is important to note that the HCS items from a past season and the current season do not count. However, the community manager writes “currently”. So maybe this option will come in the future.
To wrap up the preview, Unyshek provides some troubleshooting insight:
- Various server and client stability improvements (reduced server and game crashes)
- Various Theater/Observer improvements and bug fixes
- Halo infinity no longer crashes on launch when attempting to play on a PC below the minimum requirements. This was an unintentional bug that caused the game to crash before the following minimum specification warning message was displayed.
- Players can again choose to continue after this warning message, but the expected functionality and visual experience are not guaranteed.
- Fixed an issue that caused Wasp to “block weapons” when playing with the Bumper Jumper control scheme
- Cutscenes should no longer repeat when restarting the game
The release of the update is scheduled for May 10th. Halo Infinite is part of Game Pass.
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