Part 1: A summary of how to create/submit challenges
I hope this answers some questions. Details of specific Types in a later post.
Please post Custom Challenge queries to the Halo: Reach forum
General info:
Halo: Reach Custom Challenges (CC) were introduced by 343i in October 2011 to allow players to create their own challenges for fun and profit.
There are 4 basic Types to choose from, covering all playlists. Each Type has a maximum cR payout per challenge:
Type…max cR payout
Custom…2000
Campaign…5000
Multiplayer Firefight…10000
Multiplayer Matchmaking…30000
The actual cR awarded for each CC is factored from the various options you choose when you create it. The award is not rank-dependent - a Recruit will get the same award as an Inheritor.
The cR contribute towards your daily total, which is capped at 200,000cR (as at 14/03/12) - the total resets at midnight, your local console time.
343i may occasionally change the cR weighting for different elements. This may be announced on Waypoint, or you may notice changes to the cR payout for a CC. These changes are normally implemented on a Wednesday for one week.
Visit the Dashboard:
Log in to Waypoint with your LiveID. All Challenges are visible in your Waypoint profile at https://halo.xbox.com/en-us/Career/Challenges. This shows details and status of the regular Daily and Weekly Challenges set by 343i and is where you can view your Historical and Active CC, create new CC and accept Invites from friends to complete CC they have created.
CC can also be accessed via mobile using the Halo Waypoint mobile app for Windows 7 Phone.
Daily/Weekly Challenges:
Historical advice on these is available at http://reachdailychallenges.wordpress.com/
Overview of creating a Custom Challenge:
Click the “Create a challenge” button in the first empty Active Challenge slot. This will open an options box on the right-hand side. Name the CC, set a Type, Goal, Time and Constraints (if applicable) and Invite Friends.
Once complete, click “Create Challenge” to make the CC active - it is at this point that you will get to see how much cR the Challenge gives.
You can have up to 5 CC active at any time.
Naming:
A CC name can be up to 60 characters, but the Active Challenge will only display the first 25 characters. You can hover over it to see the full text.
The Active Challenge list does not distinguish between CC of different Type with the same Goal, or between types of enemy so it is best to be descriptive with the name, especially if you are going to invite friends. You can click on a CC to view more details on the right-hand side, but even this may not provide enough information to identify the challenge Type.
Setting Challenge Type:
There are 4 Types of CC - Custom, Campaign, Matchmaking Firefight, Matchmaking Multiplayer. Each type is playlist-specific.
Within each Type you must set a Goal (and sometimes a sub-goal) - more detail on this in later post.
Setting Challenge Target:
The Target can be between 1 and 9999. The cR payout scales linearly with the Target i.e. if you double the Target you will double the cR up to the Type cap.
Setting Time Limit:
The time limit can be any whole number of hours between 3 and 60. It modifies the final cR award - the longer the time, the lower the cR for a specific Goal/Target combination, so to maintain a consistent cR award for a Goal you will need to increase the Target as you increase the time. The cR payout does NOT scale linearly with the time limit (I need to work out the scaling - a set of figures are included later)
Setting Constraints.
No constraints are available for Multiplayer challenges. The Custom Type allows you to select a specific Map, and the Campaign Type allows you to select a specific Map, Difficulty and Skull combination. Maps do not modify the cR award, but Difficulty and Skulls do. Unsurprisingly, higher Difficulty and more Skulls will increase the cR award.
By juggling the structure and options it is possible to get the maximum cR for the minimum work. The structure and options for each Type are discussed in later sections.
Invite friends:
A key feature is the ability to invite friends to complete the CC as well. This does not mean they have to be co-op. The timer starts at the same time for all players, so make sure your friends know you are setting a CC, or allow sufficient time for them to accept and complete.
Friends get an XBox Live message to let them know you have invited them to a CC along with a brief summary (no indication of cR though), but they will need to go to Waypoint to accept the invite. As mentioned, good naming is important.
Cancel challenge:
If you decide you do not want to create the CC, click “Cancel.” You will be asked to confirm that you wish to cancel. Sometimes this message will appear towards the top of the screen and you will need to scroll up to see it. Click OK to cancel.
Create challenge:
When you click “Create challenge”, one of 2 things will happen:
1 - the CC is created and will appear in the Active list on the left
2 - the message “Error Creating Challenge. You already have an active Challenge with the same Goal type.” appears. This will happen if you are trying to create a CC with the same Type and Goal as an existing CC - incompatabilities are discussed in later sections. To resolve this, click OK and change the Type and/or Goal to one that is compatible. Sometimes this message will appear towards the top of the screen and you will need to scroll up to see it.
cR award:
The cR award depends on the CC settings and modifiers - guides to cR awards are given in later sections for each Type.
Completion:
You can view the status of your CC by refreshing the Challenges page. You will need to have finished a relevant game/campaign mission for your Target value to increase. It may take a minute for the latest results to be reflected on Waypoint. If the status doesn’t change it is likely you are doing a playlist that is incompatible with the Challenge Type.
You can turn-in CC as soon as you have reached the Target - click the completed Active Challenge and on the right-hand side click “Turn-in.” The CC will show as “Completed” to begin with, and this will change to “1st Place” once the cR are awarded.
Although Waypoint says the cR will be awarded when the Time expires, the cR will usually display within a few minutes.
If you don’t turn-in, cR are automatically awarded for a completed CC once the time you set expires.
Non-Completion:
If you do not complete a CC within the specified time it will be automatically removed from your Active Challenge list and show as “Failed” in your Challenge History.
Forfeit:
If you decide you do not want to complete an Active Challenge, you can either let time run out and it will be automatically removed, or you can click on the active CC and choose to Forfeit from the details panel on the right-hand side. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to forfeit. Sometimes this message will appear towards the top of the screen and you will need to scroll up to see it. Click OK to forfeit.
This will show as a “Forfeit” in your Challenge History