Infinite Tech Preview – Big Team Battle

Games Halo Infinite
541

BTB feels pretty good but there are a few things that I think could be improved.

1.Vehicle drops should be more frequent and power vehicles should start dropping sooner. I think most people play btb for the epic vehicle combat so when most of the match only has 1 or 2 people from each team in vehicles at a time it feels a bit empty and slow. I found the times when there were tanks and/or flying vehicles in play to be the most fun times, but the power vehicles only ever drop right at the end of the match so there is only like a minute of using them before the match ends. I think power vehicles should spawn when half the score is reached or half the time is done.

  1. Slayer matches should go to 150 points. With 24 people in a match the score is reached too quickly. I think every slayer match I played was less than 10 minutes, even very close ones.

  2. Total control matches often have 2 zones closer to one teams spawn, resulting in in easier captures for one team. There should always be one point somewhere in the middle and one closer to each side.

  3. Vehicle health seems inconsistent. Often a warthog is able to be quickly destroyed by a few people with assault rifles and the skewer is very effective. But it seems to be able to often take 2 hits from the rocket launcher and drive away almost unscathed. Also the banshee seems very easy to destroy. I would never see a banshee in the air for more than 30 seconds because everyone would shoot at it with assault rifles and brs and it would explode. I know that the banshee was easy to get streaks with in previous games so they didn’t want it too powerful for infinite but as it is right now the banshee is almost useless.

  4. The loot vault is not very useful right now since better items(sniper, rocket launcher, gravity hammer) regularly drop in weapon pods. The only thing of value in the vault is the overshield and it’s not good enough to bother waiting at the door for. I hope that when all the weapons are available at launch there will be things of greater value in the vault.

I expect many of these things will be tweaked for launch and I look forward to playing lots more btb in the future.

542

> 2533274793749599;513:
> If a guy can outrun Sprint walking backwards, Sprint might as well not even be in the game.

This. 100% this.

543

Hereby my two cents on BTB. Playing on the XONE.

  • The map
    The map seems a little crammed in the middle. This makes the middle section fun for infantry fighting, but a trap for heavy vehicle like the scorpion. And yes, the played should have a chance to counter larger vehicles as well. Against an experienced team you’re done for within seconds, which makes it a rare vehicle short lived.

  • Vehicles
    The warthog and the mongoose feel way too light. Looking at them makes them already jump, but jokes aside. They could use a more grounded feel and less driving on ice. Also the reticule for the turret on the warthog could be a bit bigger. When playing on a larger screen (50 inch) it is rather difficult to aim properly and actually see what you are aiming at.

  • equipment
    My main comment on the equipment is that the drop wall drops too slow. When in clutch moments, it cannot give you the turn on events it should bring. I started using it only preemptive and not reactionary.

  • weapons
    The shiny scope effect on zoomed in weapons could be tuned down a bit. It makes it more annoying to aim properly at them. The AR could do with a little less range (this was something I especially noticed in the other game modes.). And the Commando felt a bit useless. I could be me, but I couldn’t really find a good range to work with the weapon.

All in all, I did have two fun weekends playing Infinite, really looking forward to the final product. Thanks for letting me participate 343!

544

I really enjoyed what you did with the new BTB. It’s so chaotic and claustrophobic while also being open and having some breathing room. I hope the other maps are just as big as Fragmentation or bigger, smaller maps would probably not work well with this. I love that the skybox were big enough to not notice any invisible barriers on the map and the 10 second kill timer is a good way to prevent camping on certain areas. I also love the idea of the weapon drops, loot caves, and a pelican coming to drop off a vehicle on the map. I do think that the time on the maps are a little short for the objectives and aren’t enough for the game to spawn in banshee’s, wasps, and tanks. I also think that the weapons are inconsistent sometimes like the rocket launcher, ravager, sniper, and gravity hammer and the gadgets should probably have unlimited uses and keep the cooldown timer. I also think that the self destruct timer was inconsistent for the warthogs and the ghost. But other than that I enjoyed the concept of BTB and am really excited for what is to come on launch.

546

Please bring back Jeff Steitzer as the announcer in BTB, or at the very least to announce medals! It’s not the same without Jeff’s classic voice accompanying every Double Kill and Perfection. Jeff’s Medal Announcements are integral to Halo’s identity and instantly makes any clips you see online more engaging and hype! (Which will also drive more people to play the game, in search of that ever elusive Killionaire)

Also, vehicles need a significant increase in spawn (looking at the Banshee and Scorpion in particular) and resistance to power weapons (if power weapons continue to be so widely available, which should preferably be reduced so that theres not a half-dozen power weapons in play at any one moment). Unlike the Spartan Laser before it, the Skewer has no warning before it annihilates your Ghost or Warthog and the Skewer is much easier to aim in comparison to the Splaser’s charge time which makes it much more frustrating to get hit by, as it has a similar or even more extreme effect when you account for the impact it has.

Standard spawns for vehicles like the Scorpion and Banshee would also go a long way in making this Infinite’s take on classic BTB. Starting the match in/supporting a Scorpion or racing to a neutral Banshee spawn is a classic Halo experience and part of what made BTB so engaging. The Pelican drops are cool, but they feel like they should be randomized bonus drops on top of standard spawns.

Loving the game so far, definitely want to see this game be the absolute best it can be. (I’m still in awe of how wonderful the weapons feel, particularly the Needler, though the time to kill on many weapons like the sidekick, commando, and AR could be increased so that the BR isn’t so far behind all other options at close range, and the fact that you made sprint feel like it belongs in Halo has been nothing short of miracle-work)

547

Would love to see the maps evolve.
Pelican crashing down sometime. Or the ground shifting itself due to it being forerunner technology.

Maps changing as time goes on would be neat.

548

Also, some counterplay to grapplejacks would be interesting, even situationally. I never actually managed to get a Banshee in the games I played this weekend (Please see my other message about vehicle spawns), but perhaps performing a Banshee trick could dislodge an attached grapplehook? It would make the trick a bit more useful and help the Banshee stay relevant when there are 4(!) or more (!!!) grapplehooks running around.

That also brings something else up, the Grapplehook is incredibly powerful and I feel like that is appropriate, but its honestly on par with the Overshield and Active Camo. Having more than 3 in play feels excessive, especially when they spawn in bases and other pseudo-safe locations. Changing them to only spawning in neutral locations or loot caves would make them feel like they were the appropriate rarity for how powerful they make the user.

549

Only got on for a few hours but had a blast on the tech preview! Took a few games to settle in and learn the map but once I did I had some epic BTB moments (favourite was holding a control point in a Scorpion).

Like that the flag spawn moves as CTF progresses.

Like that planting a grenade in a tank kills the driver but doesn’t destroy the tank first time, keeping it in play longer and letting others have a go.

Like that the heavier vehicles are brought in later, but this does seem to limit it to one heavy per game. Would like more Scorpion and Banshee spawns

You seem to have to be directly behind the warthog turret to get on it, not the sides? Spent far too long waiting for players (myself included) to find the right position to get on the warthog turret.

Is there an order to the post match scoreboard?

Would like to be able to see postgames on Waypoint.

Frustrating that pressing anything in the 3 second countdown cancels the three second countdown.

Overlays can make it difficult to gauge enemy vehicle damage.

Scope flare can make it hard to aim back.

Seem to get double updates on events (e.g. flag grab) from both AI and announcer; not sure whether that’s a bug?

Had a lot more luck with the Skewer compared to the last tech preview where I didn’t manage to hit anything with it.

I don’t like the warthog a d mongoose horns. They sound too much like “regular” car horns, meaning that they lack character (I feel like I’m in town, not on a Halo ring)

Players seem able to hold the mongoose horn indefinitely, which is annoying. Would like something to stop players doing that.

Nit picking, but I preferred “your team has the enemy flag” to “an ally has taken the enemy flag”. If nothing else, whose ally? My ally on another team? Their ally whose betrayed them?

I don’t imagine this will change :sweat_smile:

Thanks 343! Looking forwards to December

550

Please make the warthog a little heavier. It feels like a rubber ball.

551

Jeff Steitzer needs to be in BTB. It doesn’t feel like Halo if he’s not announcing the medals! Please add that into BTB. Other wise it is great!

552

> 2533274868835415;542:
> > 2533274793749599;513:
> > If a guy can outrun Sprint walking backwards, Sprint might as well not even be in the game.
>
> This. 100% this.

I think it takes a few seconds to accelerate to full speed (when those “wind lines” appear)? Makes it useless in combat, but useful for getting around the map.

In theory I think that makes a good compromise in the context of Halo, but I also found myself trying to sprint to close gaps when I was caught out with short range weapons, only to have the enemy backstep away me.

553

> 2533274819593537;508:
> 4. Also, like I said before, enemy player outlines make sniping cheesy. Reduce overlay opacity as range increases please.

Yeah, I like the outlines, but they stand out too much at range, and can make it difficult to identify specific enemies (are you going up against match-boss or match-noob?). I like that the shield effect helps prioritisation though

554

> 2533274904158628;232:
> If 343 wishes to keep the escalating vehicles thing in BTB, then I suggest they add a Heavies version of BTB where all vehicles, including the heavier power vehicles, are available throughout the match like they are in other Halo games. This would be in keeping with the “extra chaos” design philosophy of BTB Heavies, and, you know, sometimes it’s more fun to just hop into a tank or Mantis from the safety of your team’s base instead of fighting with the other team over it. So, 343 if you’re reading this, please consider adding BTB Heavies as post-launch content.
>
> Either way, as many have said, the fun vehicles need to be made available earlier in the match. Playing this tech preview I found myself running around on foot 99% of the time and rarely even saw a vehicle that wasn’t a Ghost or a Warthog or a Mongoose.
>
> Also increase motion tracker range please.

I already said this but quoting you because it is so true. It is not fun fighting over the tank including the opposite team for the tank. And if someone has the grapple shot forget about keeping the tank its to slow. I think if the hatch where u sit is still there it cannot be stolen from you otherwise you have no chance on keeping the tank. But I highly agree with you. So please 343i I truly hope you read this.

555

Also wanted to add please make an option to be able to choose to play against people on controllers or mouse and keyboard you can clearly tell when your up against someone on a mouse and keyboard compared to a controller. Make it a option like MCC.

556

  1. Make the radar bigger. 18m doesn’t provide nearly enough info especially in a BTB map.

  2. The flag should never change spawns. No halo has ever had this mechanic.

  3. Flag juggling is doable, but it feels clunky.

  4. AR starts never played well in BTB, and it still doesn’t. Make it BR starts again. BTB right now feels like target practice, when you can push with a BR or a vehicle while the enemies only have ARs. Teams are going to end up turtling in their base if weapons are on respawn because they can’t push out with ARs.

  5. Not a BTB comment, but remove bloom. It introduces randomness that make engagements a coin flip. No one liked it in Reach. No one likes it now. It was reduced and removed for a reason.

  6. Giving the losing team better vehicle drops isn’t a good idea. You can steamroll with a tank, and the other team would have few to no options to counter it. Stop it with the comeback mechanics.

  7. No one is going to pick up the plasma pistol, since it doesn’t disable vehicles anymore.

  8. Not sure if it’s intended, but vehicles shouldn’t be able to move flags by colliding with it. It can be abused with relatively no punishments.

  9. Hijacking vehicles should do the same damage as a melee to the occupant. Not sure why it was reduced. You shouldn’t reward the enemy with a second chance after they made a mistake.

  10. You’re not able to change grenades while sitting in the back of a mongoose. Not sure if this was intended or a bug on my end.

557

BTB made several issues with the vehicles very apparent especially relating to the warthog.

  • The warthog flips way too easily, bumping into the smallest object will send the warthog flying in an exaggerated manner almost always resulting in it having to be flipped. It feels like it has almost no traction at all and is just waiting to become airborne. - The warthog turret crosshair is too small. At range I found it would fully cover up enemy players, it should be increased to the same size as the stationary turret crosshair. - The warthog dies too easily. The health of the warthog needs to be increased. Too often after just doing some basic drive bys the warthog would instantly enter its ‘last stand’ state and subsequently blow up. I’m not even using it that aggressively it just wants to blow up because it has such little health. It’s also not helped by the lack of visual feedback for vehicle health which I’ll expand upon later. - In stark contrast to the warthog you have the ghost which is the toughest vehicle in the game. The ghost needs its health reduced it can tank way too many hits. The fact that the ghost (perceptively) has more health then the warthog just makes no sense to me. - Compared to previous Halo titles there seems to be significantly less feedback on overall vehicle health. It’s very hard to tell if my warthog is on low health and is going to blow up from just a few stray bullets because the visual effects are so toned down. Previous titles had exaggerated flames as well as beeping audio cues (at least in Halo 4) which made it blatantly obvious if a vehicle was low on health. - Grapple jacking is incredibly strong and is a very ‘feels bad’ for the person getting hijacked especially in aerial vehicles. There should be some sort of counter play to grapple jacks (at the very least for aerial vehicles, maybe make it that banshee tricks break the grapple) as all it takes is the person aiming at the vehicle, pressing a button and now it’s theirs. Maybe increase the cool down of the grapple itself as players are currently able to grapple their way towards the vehicle to close the distance and then grapplejack the vehicle all in quick succession. If a determined grapple player has their sights set on a vehicle there’s really not much you can do. - The rocket launcher seems to barely do any damage to vehicles and their occupants. Many a time whilst inside a vehicle we’d get hit by a rocket and just be able to shrug it off with none of the occupants dying (yes even inside the paper thin warthog) and as the person with the rockets it’s incredibly unsatisfying to have a power weapon which has previously been a serious vehicle killer now do next to no damage. After testing myself it takes 2 rockets to kill the ghost and mongoose and 3 to kill a warthog. This seems like an absurdly high amount of rockets especially since every other halo title has had the rocket launcher kill in one rocket less for each respective vehicle.
558

> 2533274795076335;545:
> There ought to be some kind of indication that something you’re pointing at is within grapple range. (If there already is one, I sure don’t see it.) Grapple experience for the most part goes like this: aim, whiff the shot, fall/take one step forward, fire again, ok now you’re hooked.

The middle of your crosshair has a yellow dot if a surface or object is within grapple range. Once you realise it’s there it becomes quite obvious.

559

I’m so happy with the map design so far. So authentic to Halo and good game flow. Im still trying to figure out the best way to use vehicles without getting blown up very quickly.

560

Would work it out/get used to it, but for new players:

  • didn’t realise the plasma pistol doesn’t EMP vehicles
  • tried EMPing vehicles with the shock rifle, but nothing happened, so stopped trying
  • Currently nothing in academy about vehicles or how to use weapons against them
561

> 2535406236868481;486:
> It seems fusion coils don’t respawn (unless I just miss them every time). It’s fun to be able to pick them up and throw them, but it’s very limiting if that can only be done once at the start of the match.

I hadn’t realised this but it explains why I only saw a fusion coil twice