Context:
I’ve dedicated the vast majority of my past 12+ gaming years to playing Halo Big Team Battle.
I was credited in the 2019 Halo 5 BTB Refresh update article as a top contributor (bottom of article).
I played every single 4-hour play session available to playtest 12v12 BTB from Oct 1-3 on my stream (accept the final one).
I play on Xbox Series X with a wired Series 2 Elite controller.
All my opinions are reflections of not just myself but the Big Team Battle group I formed and play with Formal Focus. These are their opinions as much as mine.
Here are my top requested changes/thoughts for Halo Infinite BTB:
- I cannot aim in this game. I’ve played Halo for 13 years and I’ve never had as much trouble aiming on a controller as I have in this game. I spent hours outside of the multiplayer play-times going over all my in-game settings thoroughly. I could not land on any settings that improved my aim. I experienced the most problems while aiming with the sniper rifle, commando and sidekick pistol which were each impossibly hard to aim in specific situations. The following three key factors make the aiming in this game incredibly difficult:
- The strafing speed/responsiveness is too high. To clarify: Your speed while moving in one direction is great, it’s the ability to instantly change directions while strafing that felt way too responsive and out-of-place. It made it incredibly difficult to land shots, much less hit shots on an enemy player. - The aim assist/reticle magnetism on most weapons was too low (the sniper, commando and pistol were by far the worst in this area). While aiming at opponents my targeting reticle would constantly get “unstuck” and “slip off” an opponent while doing something as simple as jumping (something you should normally be able to do in a Halo gunfight). - The bullet-magnitism on many guns was close to non-existant (again: the sniper, commando and pistol were by far the worst). I cannot stress how many times I sniped an enemy player for what appeared to be a “headshot,” but it simply didn’t register or just hit their body instead. There is no “wiggle room” when it comes to landing headshots and for controller player like myself that “wiggle room” where the game registers headshots in a more lenient “circle” around a player’s head is where we often effectively operate. The fact that a weapon like the sniper feels like it has zero bullet magnetism (as proven by multiple videos) is sincerely frustrating to me as a controller player.Strange Side-Note: The Battle Rifle in Halo Infinite had great aim assist/reticle magnetism and perfectly coded bullet-magnetism. It was extremely well-balanced (TTK is higher for the BR than the commando, pistol and assault rifle) and it felt exactly as it should in a Halo game. The Battle Rifle was 100% the “best feeling” gun in the game and I do not say that out of a sense of nostalgia for the weapon. It was difficult to use in all the right places and vastly rewarding if you managed to land a “perfect” 4-shot kill. It felt so good in Big Team Battle that I found myself waiting at weapon terminals/pads just to pick one up when it spawned. This brings me to my next request.
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Please make the Battle Rifle a starting weapon in Halo Infinite Big Team Battle. In every Halo game that has had a Battle Rifle, BTB has started you with a Battle Rifle. It is critical to give players a starting weapon in BTB that allows them to help teammates at range off their respawn or allows them to fight out of a particularly difficult spawn trap set by a good enemy team controlling high power positions on the map. Even with the large number of weapon pads on the map Fragmentation I found myself in CTF and Total Control “burning” precious time wondering around looking for an available BR/commando weapon pad before I could go help my teammates. It felt awkward and I had an increasing sense of dread every time I did this that I was wasting time that I could be using to help my teammates capture a zone or cap/defend a flag. I like scavenging the map for weapons as much as the next guy, but having to do it every time off my respawn became tedious and time-consuming to a degree that gravely hindered my enjoyment of the experience. Many would say that giving everyone a BR would “limit” vehicle gameplay. This brings me to my next point.
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Give vehicles more health and make it more visually obvious when one is about to explode/auto detonate. Vehicles do not have enough health in this game and blow up/auto destruct suddenly for seemingly no reason far too often. I agree that the Skewer should be a powerful anti-vehicle weapon, but I’m still unsure it should kill/auto detonate most vehicles in one hit. The hog also does not “weigh” enough as is easily shown by a ghost being able to physically push it around in-game with almost no effort.
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Reduce the range of the Dynamo grenade’s EMP effect on vehicles. The dynamo is a very well-coded grenade across the board accept for one thing: It’s “range” of being able to EMP vehicles is insane and the resulting EMP effect lasts ever so slightly longer than it should. To clarify: No issues with damage done by the grenade or the “chain” effect the nade has. Just really think the grenade stunts an otherwise very strong take on vehicle usage in Halo Infinite. By nerfing these grenades slightly there are two other things to balance out to make the sandbox a tad more even across the board:
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Allow the charged shot of the Plasma Pistol to EMP vehicles, but only for a very short time. This one should be obvious: The plasma pistol should be able to EMP vehicles, but only for a very short time (shorter than the Shock Rifle even which brings me to my next point).
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The Shock Rifle has an inconsistent EMP effect on vehicles. When shooting any vehicle with a shock rifle twice it has an EMP effect…but the EMP effect is not lengthened if you continue to shoot the vehicle after the initial two shots. In other words: The third and forth shot have no “additional” effect and do not add to the EMP time. Fix this so the EMP effect IS effected by successive shots of the Shock Rifle past the first two shots.
Other Random requests:
- Please allow us to change our Heads Up Display (HUD) so that grenades are in the top-left corner of the screen and ammo is not just shown as a number, but clearly laid out with each bullet/charge clearly visible in the top-right of the screen like in previous Halo games. - Add a “hold to clamber” option to the game for players used to using this option in Halo 5. - Allow us to change enemy player color while keeping the aiming reticle and radar dots both the color red for enemy players.Thank you for allowing me to play in these flights and thank you for this opportunity to provide feedback. I look forward to playing the game on December 8 (hopefully with BR starts in BTB).
Sincerely,
Genesis Rider