Welcome to the second Halo Infinite technical preview! As you participate, we would love to get your thoughts on specific areas and have threads dedicated to each one right here on Waypoint.
This thread is focused on collecting input on Big Team Battle. To provide your thoughts on other aspects of the flight, please use the dedicated threads for each key area:
With the introduction of BTB is also the introduction of our new game mode: Total Control. Here’s how to play:
Three capturable zones spawn on the level. All three zones are neutral at the start of the game. - Capture a zone by standing within it uncontested by enemy players for the full capture duration. - The more friendly players in the zone, the faster the zone is captured for your team. - If an enemy player enters the zone while your team is capturing, then it becomes contested, and capturing is completely paused until it is no longer contested. - A team scores a point by controlling all three zones at the same time.
After a team scores a point, a new set of three zones appears. - The first team to score 3 points wins the match.Thank you for participating in this Halo Infinite technical preview, we hope you have fun and please share your thoughts with us below!
So far so good! Can’t wait for new game modes and other stuff! Feels so much like btb. The map is also really sweet, I like the cluster phobic feeling of it! Only wish I could access it in training room to explore it without people shooting and warthogs driving everywhere
Frame rate is bad and hit detection is off… weapons are unbalanced. Radar needs to be fixed, literally the enemies show up on the radar in melee range.
I am finding the input lag a real issue. Am on an original Xbox One, so perhaps (hopefully) that is why.
But it really makes me not feel in control. And no, it is not my TV or setup etc. Have previously played countless hours of Halo MCC and Halo 5 with this setup, and nowadays Apex, all without any input lag issues in the slightest. It isn’t enormous input lag, but it is certainly enough to make feel not really in control during battles. Halo was always super responsive. I truly hope this is just the case for this test build.
Here is my BTB specific feedback. I’m running on a Series X, playing on a 65" LG OLED CX and overall having a blast. I began playing Halo in 2002, and this is the most “Halo” multiplayer has felt for me in a long time.
I’m enjoying:
the overall chaos of BTB. It feels so active, all the time!
the ordinance drops across the map. They feel fair and rewarding to me.
grappling onto vehicles and maneuvering around Fragmentation. This is so much fun.
having a Fireteam to start out with, and their names highlighted in green on the map.
fusion coils making a fun return in multiplayer. I have yet to grapple and throw one, but I can’t wait to do so!
Fragmentation is gorgeous and really impressive to look at. Level design feels spot on, as does the art direction.
Shock Rifle on this map and Skewer are really fun.
Weapon caches are a great idea.
Things to improve:
why can’t I hear Jeff Steitzer? I would prefer to hear just as many announcements as I do in other modes.
aiming still feels a little off. I know this is a work in progress, which is great.
I would still like blood decals on walls, floors etc for tactical and aesthetic purposes. It doesn’t feel “Halo” to me without blood.
In 12v12 especially, when a teammate dies their position should be marked with a red ‘X’ for contrast against active teammate tags.
Banshee feels really heavy to me, and a little difficult to pilot.
Scoreboard for CTF – ‘Carrier Kills’ on the far right is a very odd stat. I’d prefer just to know overall kills.
the ability to mute teammates selectively off the in-game scoreboard would be nice, especially in BTB.
Perhaps most of all, I don’t like the Commando spawn vs the BR spawning on wall racks. I will grab a BR off the rack, but I don’t go for the Commando rifle.
In general, I think Fragmentation needs a few more long range weapon spawns, especially at start. It’s the mad rush for 12 people, and depending on where I spawn it’s a bit frustrating.
Thanks again for letting us play Big Team Battle! It’s been really fun so far!
I signed up for the flight and got a message saying that I was invited, but Infinite hasn’t appeared in my steam library and I’ve followed all the instructions on the signup page
Varied flag spawns in CTF - Pelicans dropping off vehicles is a really cool effect - Throwing fusion coils is really fun - Weapon caches are a fun addition to the game type - Map design is great - Texture pop-in on spawn is minimal at worst despite map size - Getting a lot of use out of the Grappleshot - Honking in a Warthog or Mongoose marks it for your teamStuff that could be improved:
Getting some massive lag spikes at times. It mostly runs fine, but when it hits it hits hard - Total Control needs a holding time for the zones once you have all 3 before you can score, it’s too easy for one team to rush all 3 immediately after they show up and win the game in 3 minutes - I would like if the map was available in Training Mode so players could figure out the layout and spawns with less risk - Might need a longer time limit for CTF, rarely got a score win or loss - Vehicle spawn progression should be accelerated, tanks and air vehicles rarely show up and I have yet to be able to use one for more than 20 seconds before I either die or the match ends. Maybe swap one of the Mongoose spawns with a Ghost and have the Pelican drops be exclusively “power vehicles” like tanks and air - Map and Mode Detail buttons don’t do anything - More of a general thing, but dying as a grenade or equipment leaves your hand cancels it entirely as if it had never been used. This is more of an annoyance than anything else - Maybe more varied locations for Pelican drops, always seems to be the same two spots on the map - Motion sensor range definitely needs to be increased - Not sure what’s going on with the AR. Will sometimes get lasered from way outside the effective range and other times it barely scratches an enemy at almost point blank. Doesn’t seem to be a skill thing, because I’m a decent shot with it - Scorpion health seems lower than expected - Ghost health seems higher than expected - Ghost reverse seems much faster than moving forward
Pros of BTB so far (having played roughly 5-6 matches):
Wow, this is really fun! I love the sandbox as well as the wide open map. - Chaotic feel of BTB is really there - Hacking loot caves is really cool! I could easily see custom games/modes centered around the number of hacks you can do in a game and such - I love the idea of vehicle drops coming in as well as the weapon pod things. - Overall I am really enjoying this and am looking forward to spending all weekend playing it :)Cons of BTB so far:
Timer for the game feels REALLY short, especially in CTF. I’ve played about 6 matches so far, and only ONE of them was not subject to a timeout (A slayer match). This feels really annoying, especially if the game is just starting to get good at that time. It also leads to severe turtling tactics by whichever team gets a flag/total control point first (since they’ll win as long as they deny the points). - Perhaps related to the short game timer, but the iterative/escalating vehicle drop thing you all have implemented could use a speed buff. It seems like out of the 15 minutes allowed for play time, 14 minutes of those are for ghost/warthog drops. I haven’t even SEEN a tank yet, and I’ve only seen air vehicles once. Decreasing the threshold for these types of vehicles to spawn would be cool, so we can see more of it all. - On the subject of loot caves, how is the actual loot decided? I’ve opened several of them and every single time it seems to be a gravity hammer, spike grenades, and an overshield. Confirmation of some variety/randomness would be nice.
The challenge for xp system must go immediately. It is absolutely awful and completely de-incentivizes people playing the game and doing well. Fix this -Yoink- 343.
The biggest issue I’ve encountered so far is that for 90% of the matches I complete, my weekly challenges do not track. I have played 7 matches so far and only one of those matches did my challenges track. Could be poor connection on my part, but the game itself runs smoothly during the match so I doubt it.