Infinite Tech Preview – Big Team Battle

Games Halo Infinite
862

Some Additional Feedback/Ideas:

  • Although the Energy Sword wasn’t officially available in the flight, from I’ve seen of it online, as good as it looks, I think it could use a few visual improvements. First off, I think it should look more like the classic Halo 2 and Halo 2 Anniversary Multiplayer Energy Swords, with a lighter and less-intense (less saturated) blue with some pink flare around the edges of the blade. I think the shape and effects of the blade are solid right now, it’s just the color to me that could use a few improvements. I didn’t get to hear the sounds too much, but from what I heard it didn’t seem like there were any sounds when the blade was swung openly in the air, and I think that should change to more in-line with what was heard in past Halo titles. I also think that the sound heard when slashing an object is a bit too much like a “squirt” sound and not enough like a “slash” sound - this sound could stand to be sharper, a more pronounced blade cutting sound.

  • Although I already discussed the sound of the Gravity Hammer in a previous post, there are a few other aspects of it that I’ve thought of that I think could use some improvement. First, off I think that the Hammer itself had a slightly better and more detailed model and idle animation in Halo 5, and so I would love to see elements of that design and animation return. Seeing the ends of the hammer open up, exposing the internal moving components of the hammer was such a nice detail, and was so much cooler compared to just moving the hammer around in one’s hands as it is now in Infinite. Additionally, while I do like the Infinite Hammer’s look overall (the Banished insignia on the blade is a really nice touch), I think it could use some more cloth wrapping around parts of the handle and blade areas, and I think Halo 5’s hammer did a better job of more seamlessly joining the hammer to the handle. Secondly, in regard to the weapon’s function and physics - I didn’t fully test the weapon and its physics, but I think there could be a bit more ragdoll applied to enemies you hit with the hammer (or enemies that are just out of one-shot range of the hammer when you slam it), and maybe more for yourself and vehicles as well (I didn’t try hammer jumping, but if it doesn’t work currently, it definitely should be changed to work). I also think the Hammer should knock the environment around a little more as well - I saw the idea of having the hammer stir up sand and dirt when you slam the ground outside and I think that would be such a great detail to add. The last thing I’ll mention is the lack of a different animation for melee with the hammer. The point of the melee option with the hammer is for it to be faster, but weaker than the main slam. As it is right now, the melee is just a weaker version of the main slam with just as slow a swing time, and so I think this should be changed to have a faster and different animation that still does similar damage to that of a regular melee for the hammer’s melee (maybe have the Spartan flip the Hammer around to the bladed end and swing that instead for a melee - I think this was one of the animations in Halo 5 and it was awesome).

863

Dear 343 employees,
Thank you for making halo infinite a really fun game. You guys have clearly shown that you care for your players, this game, and it’s future. You guys ask for feedback so i will provide some.

  1. Make it to where you have to press the interact button to hijack vehicles upon grappling to them
  2. Where the heck is Jeff Steizer? I want him in BTB.
  3. Have heavy vehicles spawn at the start of the match.
  4. Keep kicking -Yoink- and continue making this game great. Thank you
  5. Oh yea can i get the halo insider nameplate in mcc for playing the season 8 flight? Thanks

Yours Truly, ProLujanYT

864

> 2533274815357851;861:
> Overall I really enjoyed this flight and here are some pro’s and con’s I came up with.
>
> Pros:
> - Love the return to the classic aesthetic
> - It looks and plays like Halo
> - The assault rifle actually feels usable and isn’t the default throw away gun for a weapon swap it usually is.
> - Total Control is a fun match type that keeps the action going at a fast pace.
> - Customizable AI’s are fun addition that I never knew I wanted until I got it.
> - The grapple shot is fun way to get around maps and to flank enemies.
> - Grapple Jacks
> - The ability to customize individual pieces of armor is back
> - Overall map designs were good and had the asymmetrical sandbox design Halo is known and loved for.
> - The way vehicles and weapons are deployed to the battlefield by Pelicans
> - The unlockable rooms that not only give you power weapons and power ups but create a secondary objective to fight over.
> - Different spawn locations for the flag in Capture the Flag.
>
> Cons:
> - The Shield Wall is junk in it’s current form and too easily taken down.
> - A lot of “power weapons” had a distinct lack of power. The Heat Wave, Ravager, Bulldog, and Gravity Hammer are prime examples of this.
> - The Heat Wave and Ravager take way too many shoots to kill somebody. Feel like I have to dump a whole “mag” of a heat wave to kill one Spartan. While it feels the same with the Ravager, all the Ravagers shots in a “mag” have to be perfect hits at the same time to get a kill. - BRING BACK THE CLASSIC SHOTGUN! The Bulldog seams like it could be good weapon in campaign for taking out groups of Grunts or Jackals but it’s hot garbage in multiplayer. Was constantly losing CQB battles against AR’s or pistols. Or I was winning CQB battles against Bulldogs with AR’s or pistol. - The Grav Hammer was almost as useless. It seems like unless you have an enemy perfectly lined up center screen and are close enough to normal melee them the best you could hope for would be taking down their shield… It’s weak.- Need to bring back the plasma pistols ability to EMP vehicles. Don’t know why this was removed but it was a bad decision.
> - Vehicles are way too weak also. I have no problem with being insta killed by a Skewer or SPANKR in a Warthog but vehicles get destroyed way too quickly from normal small arms fire. They also need a damage buff. Feels like the .50 cal gatling gun on the back of the Warthog has the same, or even less, DPS as the assault rifle.
> -The dynamo grenades are OP against vehicles. It EMP’s them for far too long and the area of effect(AOE) feels too large especially considering the time it EMP’s a vehicle for. I believe it would be better if it slowed down vehicles with it’s current AOE instead of outright disabling them.
> - While I liked the overall map designs, Fragmentation was somewhat of a let down. It is way too cluttered with predefined vehicle routes that basically punished players for using ground vehicles.
> - Vehicles spawned way too late and far to infrequently. This is especially true for the Scorpion, Banshee, and Wasp. Most of the time the game would be over before they could even spawn. And that’s not even in game where a team got rolled. I’m talking about 15 to 20 minute games or even longer.
> - Basically it felt like someone in 343 hates vehicle gameplay and wanted to ruin it for everyone else.

I agree. Another thing to add, make the electric gun (I think its called the shock rifle) take more shots to EMP vehicles or give it an alternate fire mode like a charge up thing. Or make it fire a projectile beam that requires you to lead a shot instead of it being hitscan. Thanks fellas

865

A Note Regarding Assists in BTB:

Something I noticed throughout the BTB flight was how inconsistent the assists felt. There would be times when I would shoot an enemy player or vehicle several times and see noticeable damage (not always shield-popping or critical damage, but still obvious), but when that player or vehicle died, I wouldn’t receive any assist credit, despite my contributions. In the worst cases I would actually make a vehicle very weak - almost to the point of it exploding - and would receive no assist credit. I’m not sure if anyone else noticed this, but I think this should be looked at to see if assists are working as intended, because it really didn’t feel like they were in BTB - it was a bit frustrating to be hammering a Warthog with a Ravager or grenades only to receive nothing when someone else dealt the killing blow with an AR lol. Also, if assists are only awarded after doing a certain amount of damage, 1.) I disagree with that idea in Halo and 2.) if it has to be this way, there should be more of a gradient for how you get assist credit/points rather than just getting nothing if you don’t critically damage a vehicle or player and “+50” is you do. In the event that assists do require a certain amount of damage to be dealt for them to trigger, then I think Infinite should adopt a system like Battlefield or Battlefront where you receive assist points based on the amount of damage done to the player, increasing linearly up to a certain point amount that’s worth less than that of a kill (in Halo’s case, “+50” would be the max and perhaps “+10” could be the worst, with any number in between 10 and 50 possible for those less-than-shield-popping contributions on a kill).

866

> 2533275029790322;8:
> 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 thought I was going blind with my radar, never see anyone then POOF I’m screwed.

867

I loved the game mode but, I would suggest maybe increasing the team counts by possibly 1-3 additional players on each team. There are moments on the map where everyone is engaged in just 1-2 locations and the rest of the map feels dead or empty. I also, noticed a large amount of crashing around the 5min mark in BTB. Possibly due to network connectivity issues. I was monitoring net traffic during play and noticed moments of packet drop. While I did not log them during this testing flight I would be happy to do so during the next and could submit them for review. Looks like communication error and packet loss to one of the servers.

868

Few Additional Thoughts on Vehicle Balancing:

For the Warthog:

  • I have to disagree with anyone who felt that the chaingun didn’t feel strong enough, at least, against infantry that is. To me, the chaingun felt really good against infantry - the combination of the damage per-shot, the accuracy (it felt really tight at a longer range than I was expecting), and the lack of any overheating mechanics made it feel amazing, like I was truly behind the trigger of a large minigun. While previous Warthog turrets from Reach, 4, and 5 were still certainly usable, for me personally the lack of overheat on Infinite’s warthog makes it feel a bit better - it feels like a great blend of prior Warthog turrets to me. Against vehicles though, it might need a bit of a buff, as there were times when I would be laying into a Ghost and wouldn’t seem to be having that much of an effect, though this could’ve been because the ghost was pounding our hog’s engine and I may not have been hitting its critical spot. This brings me to the subject of armor/vehicle health - I think the Warthog especially could use a bit of a health buff. Hitting with a Rocket or Skewer should usually be a one-shot imo, or at the very least it should take-out all the occupants if not the vehicle itself, but I think that for other weapons, the engine block is a bit too weak or provides a bit too much of a damage amplifier for those shooting at it. There would be times when AR fire would kill a hog lol. It’s difficult to say for sure because we only had one weekend with the vehicles but between the Skewer, SPNKr, Dynamo Nades, Shock Rifle, Ravager, Hammer, etc. there was a lot that could take vehicles out easily, even early on in a match.

For the Machine Gun Turret:

  • As with the Warthog turret, I love that this turret doesn’t overheat anymore - it feels so much better that way! However, I am a little skeptical of the MG turret’s damage against infantry, as there were times where I’d be laying into a ghost for a 5-10 seconds of sustained fire, and the Ghost barely seemed to take any damage. I know the stationary turrets can’t be too powerful, and granted I didn’t get to really try it against infantry, but I think its vehicle damage may need a bit of a buff.
869

343 Please Please Please Bring back the Original Announcer voice in BTB the game is too quiet without him.
The intro Is to quiet …when he announces SLAYER OR CAPTURE THE FLAG…its not there
and We need to hear Double kill Tripple Kill and so on when we play Big team battle
Don’t mess this up Please
.I’ve been Playing Halo since 2000 in its 1st month of release
Not having the Announcer is like not having the assault rifle or Battle Rifle…ITS A MUST!!!
THANK YOU

870

Missing Jeff Steitzer’s Voice in BTB

While playing the Infinite BTB flight, I didn’t notice Jeff Steitzer’s voice during matches like I did in Social Arena. The halfway mark callout, announcing multikills, etc. all lacked Jeff Steitzer’s iconic voice delivering the callouts. With that being said, I think that his voice should return, not only for the same lines as in Social Arena (i.e. multikills and medals, halfway mark, scoring flags, etc.), but also for additional situations, such as when the games begin. This sort of thing could even be made into a setting - you choose whether you want Commander Laurette giving the intro, or Jeff Steitzer. To be clear, I think there is a happy medium between our personal AI, Jeff Steitzer, and Spartan Agryna, as I like all three, I just don’t think the flight had quite enough Jeff Steitzer in the balance personally.

871

I can see that the team at 343 did a lot of work on this build and its good. However, with a name like Halo, being good isn’t enough. Gamers are looking for you to be an industry leader. With that in mind I have the below feedback from playing the flight.

Good Things About Halo Infinite:

-How the match starts is amazing. I like how the camera zooms into eye view of player.
-Bots are some of the best I’ve seen
-Graphics look Amazing / Next Gen like
-Like how the part of the body that you’re shooting lights up

Big Team Battle Game Mode:
-Funnest game type in the flight hands down.

Guns/Weapons:

-Many of the Guns are bland.
-Ravenger is underpowered. Opposing Players just run through the fire/goo (whatever it is). No one fears it. Players don’t really use this gun or pick it up. Many will just pass it up, and keep their pistol.
-Its hard to locate many of the guns on the maps because they’re hidden on walls. Where’s the weapon locker? Please place them somewhere more noticeable so they’re easy to find.

Where are the holy F*ck mechanics, that create the wow moments?

-Using the turret on the back of the warthog is so underwhelming. Using a turret should be fun!

  • why can’t I switch to fps view on turret, to be more immersed?
  • why can’t I rip the turret off the back of the truck, and then run around shooting players with it?
  • Why can’t I pick up a tire that’s been shot off a vehicle and hurl it at a enemy?
  • In CTF why can’t I impale an enemy with the flag pole, and see his dead body stuck to the end of the pole rag doll like for a bit as I continue to run to the capture point?
    -Why can’t I throw the hammer at a player for a one hit one kill, instead of just running around swinging it?

Other Items:

-Sometimes the player run speed can seem a bit slow.

-Everyone should start off with a grapple (this compensates for the slow game play)

-Items in the battle pass are uninteresting. Where are the animated textures / suites, skins? (ie. A malfunctioning suit that spit sparks, a suit that’s on fire, muddy suite, bullet hole ridden suite, hydraulic fluid leaking suite, smoking suite, rusted suite, etc)

-The shoulder pad an other items make such a small change to the spartan suite that its almost pointless. Available items need to make a more noticeable change.

-How about battle pass power up suite attachment that gives me a double jump, temporary cloak, or glide ( I should be able to choose one of this items to have equipped to my suite at all times that changes how I play)

-Player death sound - I wish there were different exaggerated yelp sounds. For example, being killed with a rocket launcher should sound totally different from being killed with an assault riffle. As the person who got the rocket launcher kill, I want to hear how painful it was to get hit with a rocket.

  • Where’s the Wow Factor?: I wish the special effects from guns, grenades, and other weapons was more intense and longer in duration to increase the chaos of battle. Many times the battlefield looks plain and quiet as if nothing just recently took place here. More chaos please!

-Some players who aren’t using any power-ups can randomly become bullet sponges. Where they’re able to survive multiple direct grenade hits, and a full clips of an assault riffle.

-Mini map feels like its in the wrong place. For a fps the mini map needs to be at the top of the screen, due to its relied on heavily & will be viewed constantly throughout the battle. Games that don’t rely heavily on the mini map places the map at the bottom of the screen.

Overall:
The game feels just ok, Not amazing. As a free to play pvp, my opinion is that gamers will play this for about 3 months max, before they get bored with it and go back to their “go to” game. Which more than likely has a lot more game mechanics to it. My recommendation is to put this one back in the oven, it’s not quite done yet. Plus It’s not like xbox series x/s consoles are readily available anyway.

Best Regards,

872

I felt the TTK was way, way too low. It didn’t feel like classic halo in which individual encounters were more drawn out. I had very high ping since i was either getting matches in the US (250ms) or europe (170ms) so that didn’t help with get sniped a lot.

I think the radar being limited felt more disorienting and weird in BTB compared to regular 4v4 slayer and CTF. It was also harder to orient in terms of where red and blue bases were, so there were a lot of enemies appearing out of nowhere and from behind. Part of the issue might just be map unfamiliarity though.

873

I really want to hear Jeff Steitzer. Don’t make the same mistake as H5 Warzone. I love hearing Jeff and my AI, and I couldn’t care less for the other chatter. It just sounds empty and bland.

I love the weapon and gear sandbox. I think you did a great job dispersing them across the map, and the timing seems to be good.

Give the sniper a little more ammo and turn down the glare. I get melted more often than seems fun.

I’d love more vehicle diversity and more predictable vehicle spawns.

You nailed the map design and aesthetic.