Overall, I’m very positive for Halo right now. I think we ended up with some pretty darn good gameplay and far from the worst monetization in comparison to competition and I think a lot of these selling points are going to shine a bit brighter down the road.
However, I am not without my criticisms, as at the end of the day not only do I enjoy playing Halo, but I love seeing others have a blast too.
So, firstly, I think the pass itself is in a tolerable position. I think the amount of XP you can snag a week when the time frame of this season is considered is just okay, but I worry it might be too lacking on shorter seasons for players with less time too.
This is sorta negated at the pass never expiring, but I think at the end of the day if it doesn’t feel good, then that’s just what it is. I think adding is bonus xp for wins, or even win streaks, will go a far way for players who are both trying to catch up, those who are running off the daily challenges by day 2 of the week and overall improve matches by encourage people to win.
I think the rewards are mostly OK. I’d like to see some of the filler replaced and redundant unlocks (like two shoulder pieces on different slots on different levels) be combined where they can be to make room for store credits or something of similar interest. Maybe even add store credits on top of every 10 levels. I think this would bring more bang to the bucks we spend on the game.
As a pretty frequent player so far I often run exclusively off of the daily challenge for XP, which nets in 1 levels per 20 matches completed, pretty early in the week. While the game is a blast, it feels like a bit of slog, but I understand that the pass isn’t meant to be completed within a week.
I think this highlights the importance of a global rank system along side match XP, even if that match XP contributed exclusively to that global rank and battle pass. It feels like I’m hardly making a dent in the pass when I’m running off these dailies, but a global rank influence by some external to the challenges would soften the blow of that slog quiet a bit I think.
Challenges are mostly okay I think. I’m not a god-gamer by any means, but I find that I’m able to complete most of them pretty casually. There is some outliers still that are pretty steep in their demands and incredibly niche and those are usually subjected to challenge swaps. I think filtered playlists here would go a long way, however.
Being able to ensure you’re in a match that syncs well with your challenges would feel way better than hoping that is the outcome of the matchmaking and prevent a lot of frustration with the challenges themselves. Alternatively, or additionally, you could present the player with more challenges to do, but choices between the challenges (i.e Play 1 CTF match or win a game of Slayer) would go a long way as well.
Overall I think Infinite is a great product and I look forward to seeing how we can make the moments that feel bad, feel at least not so bad or ideally good.
This is a lot of discussion about the stores prices, but it’s pretty over my head since the value of an amount of money for whatever is in the store might differ from person to person and a bit complex to find even ground on.
Thanks in advance to all that read this, especially 343i. You’re all great and we’re all rooting for you.