Infinite Tech Preview – Social Arena

Games Halo Infinite
702

PVP ARENA FEEDBACK! PART 2!

Motion Tracker:
Highly appreciate bringing back the motion tracker. But to be honest it still doesn’t really serve the purpose I feel it’s intended to serve, a warning for incoming threats.
The range is so short that by the time someone pops up behind you on the radar it is by far already too late to do anything about it. Something I love about Halo is that both players often know that they are going to fight each other before they engage and both players are prepared. This makes Halo so unique from everything else. Bring it up to 30 ish meters

Not enough buttons on gamepad to map every ability:
When I started playing all my buttons were indeed mapped to something. But there was an ability in the settings called “switch equipment” which was not mapped to anything, and all the buttons were already taken. I’m guessing this ability will be more relevant in the campaign, but confused about how it will work. This has probably already been considered but I mentioned it anyway.

Switching Grenades:
The way to switch grenades in unnecessarily complicated. Opening a menu with one button to then select grenades with another button, and depending on which nade-type you’ll press different buttons, It’s complicated.
There should at least be an option to just toggle 1 button to switch through nades, a “next” button. Like in all the other games. It worked great.

Match intro:
The intro team stance idea is cool, but to be completely honest it’s only cool the first couple of times you see it. It quite quickly just starts feeling like a long unnecessary wait, when all we really want to do is to just start playing. A simple countdown while showing the team would be enough.

Player Collision:
This game would simply be improved if there was collision between players.

HUD:
The bottom right corner has too many things crammed into it. At no point did I ever have a clue what nades/how many I had, I can only see primary unless I open menu.
I don’t even notice that I have equipment, the icon is very small and melts together with everything else in that corner. Ammo counter only shows numbers for the current clip and doesn’t show the bullets-image that visually indicates how far through my clip I am, which was easier to see in the corner of the eye without looking at it.
Feel free to make use of the top left and right corners. It’s easier to quickly gather information on what you need info on by quickly glancing into the corner that the info is in.
Positive thing about the HUD is that I strongly appreciate you toned down the shield recharge effect compared to the campaign demo. I still don’t think it’s necessary at all, since the visual indicator is already the shield meter, but it’s ok this way, much better.

Countdown:
The countdown for starting up matches is very slow, it’s not seconds. The countdown from 3 feels more like 5 seconds. Frankly a countdown just to start searching for a game isn’t useful in the first place. Nobody wants to wait 5 seconds just to begin to wait some more.

Commando:
Here is another weapon that favours PC players. And it’s kind of in a weird place sandbox-wise next to the AR and BR.
So again, aim assist obviously needs to be increased, my fear is that this weapon will be over-powered when doing so, if it isn’t already. Because it does deal a lot of damage already.
I would suggest, either improve aim assist and decrease the damage. Or improve aim assist and increase recoil or spread.

Personal AI:
Too few lines that are repeated over and over. And most lines are just pointless remarks on how deadly I am, which I don’t need to be told. wink wink.
I would want settings that let me choose only to hear commentary that actually helps me, weapon drops, objectives etc. Also characters from the games would be fitting, I don’t really feel any connection to any of these AI characters.

Jeff Steizer:
We all love Jeff. Some of his lines are taken over by the personal AI’s this time. Which I find a little unfortunate. Could we get Jeff as an AI maybe?

Switching weapon during clamber:
Basically while I’m in a clamber and press Y it won’t do anything, which I understand since before auto-clamber you had to hold A to do it. It would be nice however if when we press Y during the clamber it automatically switches weapon directly after the clamber is finished.
I would say the same about pressing Y during grappling, would be nice if pressing Y wouldn’t cancel the grapple but instead do so that you bring up the other weapon once you finish grappling. Same goes for activating camo and overshield etc etc.

Sniper:
There is nothing that can prevent a Snipers advantages on mouse compared to gamepad. Gamepad players to an extend are just gonna have to live with this unless we want sniping to become easy, which I don’t.
However, the long ranged automatic weapons, Assault Rifle and Commando, makes the snipers scope almost impossible to even attempt using.
This discourages scoping and encourages more no-scoping, which makes the unbalance between mouse and gamepad even more apparent.
This is an issue I want you to acknowledge and consider. What the solution is I can not say.
This weapon’s first scope also goes too far, it feels very weird to use.

Mute:
I would appreciate a way to quickly mute team-mates from inside the game while I’m playing. Preferably just a button press in the scoreboard.

Battle Rifle:
I absolutely love this BR, whoever made this did an outstanding job, well done, and thank you. This is “at least” the best BR since halo 2 itself.
The only issue is that the rest of the sandbox stomps on in, I get punished and die quickly whenever I pick it up, simply because the starting weapons are just better, more powerful. Again, the AR range needs to be reduced and give some space to the BR.
And ofc the aim assist needs to be slightly increased here too, but it doesn’t feel quite as non-existent as on some other guns.

Vehicles:
Have only managed to get 2 games with them due to my time-zone. But I’ll say what I “think” I gathered.
I love how the wheels fall off. I love how they explode after a sound que.
The camera while on the gun on the Warthog felt a little too low, didn’t give a very good view, half the screen was covered by my own spartan.
The mongoose felt a little “too responsive”, and a little to light.
I’m not a fan of being able to spin the Warthog in the air. Felt a little cartoony. but when I didn’t use it the air-physics seemed to go all over the place by itself. Maybe the Hog is a little light too or something?

Explosion Physics:
Default physics effect from explosions need to be increased for all mode. Bring back nade-jumps

Behemoth:
Limited time on this map, but the Warthog seemed a bit useless on this map. all enemies have plenty of cover everywhere and you can’t really get close to get better angles, and with 2 skewers on the map the Hog didn’t see might light. I think this map would have been better suited for 2 Ghosts instead of 1 Ghost and 1 Hog. But that’s just my first experience. Only pay attention to this if others have said the same.
The map also felt a little too big for 4v4 slayer. On CTF it was perfectly fine.

Plasma Pistol:
This is “the” EPM weapon, this the most important weapon to have the EMP effect on

Grapple Hook:
Fun to use in multiplayer, and 3 uses is a great balance.
i think it would feel more natural with just slightly further range.
I have to criticise the “in range reticle”. i can barely see it, please make it more obvious.

Thx for reading both parts. Good luck!

703

I love the maps so far. All the maps are good. I personally don’t think behemoth should be a 4v4 map. It’s just too big of a map. It would make good for an 8v8 btb map. But personally I am terrified for a 12v12.

704

PLEASE rework aim assist for xbox controller players, it feels virtually non existent, I know there are tons of forum posts complaining about the issue, this cant be ignored.

705
  • I experienced where I couldn’t swap weapons and it carried on through death It took a couple of deaths to be able to switch weapons - While playing in the endless training against bots my friendly bots were stuck walking In place on the map near the sniper rifle down where the plasma grenades are (sorry I can’t remember the maps name but it has the overshield on the pillar in the grassy area) - I had some hit registration problems on all maps at different times during the test - I don’t know if there was sbmm in the fleight but some games I was going against people that were way better than me that seemed like the never missed and other games it seemed close so i don’t know if it was working in the test but it seemed inconsistent - I feel like the the battle pass challenge system still isn’t good I went through like 30 swaps before i got a challenge I knew I could do and I don’t know how many we can get for free cause I don’t think I should have to pay to swap a challenge that I can’t complete - I do really like the map design and the way the game feels and plays - I hope we will get a map vote or some kind of system the first night I played on bazaar for a hour and a half before I got a different map - Overall fun game really looking forward to it and can’t wait to see what the fraction events are like (I think that’s what they are called)
706

So, granted, I already posted up some input and any who’ve read it will know where I stand on aim mechanics and my belief that, whether it be assist, magnetism, or what have you, something needs to be bumped up a bit because clearly a bunch of people have been having an unduly difficult time with many weapons outside the Assault Rifle. That said, again, i wouldn’t want anything overly drastic because this game has the potential to make for a great competitive scene. Either way though, I do really hope that whenever 343i puts a feedback blog together regarding this flight, they at least touch on aim no matter what the ultimate decision is. This way everyone across the board knows what to expect come either the new Preview (if there is one) or the release of the game.

707

Solid preview. The only parts I noticed need to be re looked are the spawns and sidekick damage. The sidekick is a little underwhelming when challenging the AR.

708

> 2533274793259566;676:
> > 2535467175559025;661:
> > > 2533274833311664;621:
> > > - Strongholds isn’t as good as koth. - You guys know you’re allowed to be your own game and not just follow the market right?
> >
> > Really good points that I didn’t really address in my original post.
> >
> > Strongholds on its own really needs adjusting, I just felt like I was riding a carousel the whole time. Make it take longer to capture to drive player engagements around the objective. Make the zones smaller. King of the Hill is just such a good gametype, I really hope they don’t replace it outright with Strongholds aka Domination. There is room for both. King of the Hill is a more Halo gametype as well while Strongholds is just a 1 for 1 rip-off of Domination.
> >
> > On the other point, I also agree with you. A lot of choices feel safe, in line with other shooters, and to be honest there’s not a lot that they stuck their neck out there to drive a unique Halo: Infinite game mechanic. Playing strongholds with AR starts is as close to Call of Duty Halo has been since H:4.
>
> Strong disagree on Strongholds.
>
> Strongholds has a few very important but subtle tweaks which make it quite different from the likes of Domination - most importantly the fact that you can only score if you have 2 or more control points.
>
> It’s also one of the best modes Halo has ever had.

I mean I understand the scoring is not EXACTLY the same, but from a gameplay point of view, you’ll be hard pressed to tell me how 3 static positions on a map where you capture/defend by standing inside said zone and get more points by holding the majority of zones is not Domination.

To keep the conversation focused on the flight though, you didn’t feel at all like the zones were being captured/lost too quickly? like it was hard to feel where your team was positionally? most games for me were ring-around-the-rosie

709

I personally think the AR is does to much damage and is to easy to use. I think it needs to be less effective at mid range and have more recoil when your shoot it. Right now, the AR normally beats the BR at mid range if miss one BR shot. A weapon should not be extremely effective if it is to easy to use and control. I think the AR should be effective at close range and that’s it.

710
  • Physics: Reintroduce greater physical impart on entities. Many environment interactions feel they are lacking a physical response (grenades, rockets, grav hammer, skewer, etc.). Other interactions feel they are too responsive. The vehicles feel floaty and more arcade-y than expected. Warthogs are imparted too much by physical interactions and should be given a more weight-y feel. - Gunplay/balancing: The weapon balance feels tight, however the Sidekick might require a slight buff, particularly at range. It is difficult to consistently kill an enemy in a single mag of the Sidekick, though this may be due to the aiming issue discussed above. Please reconsider bloom. It is a punishing element of gunplay and only adds frustration and RNG/luck to the combat surface. Aim assist/bullet magnetism/red reticle detection also appears to be not functioning as expected.
  • Narration: There need to be more AI options. While it does not necessarily feel like the AI speaks too often, I would like a wider array of personalities within the AIs. Jeff Steitzer also does not feel utilized enough for match and gameplay narration. - Medals: Medals need to be announced to the player more. Some medals that are fairly irregular (i.e. Reversal) are not being announced and should be. - Radar: Expand the radar range to a serviceable distance. It is too short to be useful. - Ghost: The ghost sometimes will get stuck on pieces of geometry in a sideways or upside-down state and not kick the rider off or flip over by itself. - Movement: Player movement feels like it can be too responsive and unpredictable for an opponent to follow. Particularly the strafing is too quick to track, especially at close range. Many fights can become just blindly spraying a precision or automation weapon in hopes the opponent strafes into it. Halo combat should be more focused on game knowledge over mechanical skill, such as knowing how players move and where they cover (map knowledge) and predicting these movements. Halo 3 and Reach had good movement speeds that incorporated mechanical skill while still being predictable for an opponent. - TTK: The time-to-kill for automatic weapons is too fast. Precision weapons feel balanced, but are easily being outclassed by autos, even at medium ranges. This may also be a symptom of the Movement and Aiming critiques discussed above.
711

Regarding the Social Arena:

  • OVERALL: Fun, but very sweaty and very frustrating due to aiming issues with controller (even after adjusting controller settings) - GRENADES: There is just way too much grenade spam. I realize grenades are important in Halo in order to combat team shooting, but oh my gosh was it always this bad? I do think that the lack of friendly fire (while appreciated so that my teammate doesn’t kill me because they think they could use the sniper better than me) is a contributing factor, but I don’t think that is the whole story. I’m not sure what the solution to this problem is (maybe 1 grenade per spawn/pickup instead of 2?), because I do remember on Halo 2 PC back in the day that grenade spam could get hilarious. And of course we also need grenades in order to fight vehicles, so I don’t know. - RADAR: With the lack of audio cues to indicate someone is approaching (I have to play with my TV volume set to low, can’t always use headphones), and the speed at which someone can arrive in a position that was previously empty (i.e. right behind you on Live Fire), I think the radar range needs to be extended out. I can’t even count how many times someone just appeared out of nowhere and punched me to death. - MELEE: It might be due to how many of us are struggling with the aim experience and people were just going all-in on melee and abandoning their guns, but it feels like too much of the Social Arena experience was just getting melee’d. I know the BXB bug probably also contributed to this, but aside from bugs I would like Halo to be more about gunplay and less about melee. Maybe the default melee could get very slightly longer cooldown between successive punches, so that engagements don’t feel like a boxing match. - MAPS: In general, love the maps. They play well, it seems like many areas get traffic (everyone just don’t funnel into one hallway or tunnel the entire match). However I will say I noticed a lot of players just controlling the high ground on Live Fire on not moving. I literally stood in the underground tunnel for about 20-30 seconds and didn’t even get attacked. I also think Live Fire could use a little more cover objects on the training dummy side. Another thing I noticed is on Bazaar and Live Fire, there are many areas where if you are running around on the low section of the map and there is a level just above you (that you can’t clamber onto) and someone above you spots you on the radar ping, it is very difficult for the low player to do anything to the high player. All the player with the high ground has to do is just jump down and melee you to death.
712

CTF feedback:
I feel like the flag carrier should be able to 1-hit melee people in CQB as has been the case with every Halo game prior. It’s really hard to defend yourself with the flag especially in those tight CQB spaces without that. Also, can you add the ability to drop the flag with RT in addition to Y.

Sniper Rifle:
The sniper rifle still doesn’t feel great or satisfying to use when compared to Halo 2, 3, 2 anniversary or even Reach. It feels very slow and clunky. Seems to miss shots too much.

AR/Pistol:
The AR is too powerful in the current sandbox. Or the pistol needs a slight boost. The AR shreds people even at range.

713

Throwing someone to the wall with the repulsor should do a lot more damage. It’s basically pointless and almost impossible to try and get the pancake medal given that even a single sidekick shot to he body does more damage than throwing someone to the wall.

714

Weapon balance is obviously going to shift for everything between now and launch, so I’m not gonna rag about that. But the Plasma Pistol not having an emp ability for anti-vehicle work is…harsh. Its going to really put pressure on other weapons for anti-vehicle work, and really puts fast vehicles like the ghost in a whole other world now, where they are far deadlier. I feel like the plasma pistol should still emp vehicles, even if the duration of the emp was shortened or something I would still take it. The plasma pistol basically doubles as vehicle counter, and without it I feel a bit naked against ghosts and hogs.

715
  • Radar works perfectly, love that there is no difference on the dot between elevations. Maybe increase range to 25m. - Sprint and movement is excellent. - AR and pistol are awesome, so good infact that I don’t even bother to pick up the BR. Perhaps range on the AR is a little too good. - Too little physics and interaction with the environment. - Explosions look flat and boring, too much of a red/orange colour. - Rocket launcher makes more sound when you fire it than when the rocket explodes. - Battle rifle feels a little “stiff(?)”, feels slower and weaker compared to H3. - Death animations are super glitchy, it should always be RAGDOLL, which is way more fun. - Need the ability to turn AI talking off. - Red Reticle needs to be in the game, I don’t care if it can be abused or whatnot. - The lines that come after the grenades when you throw them looks weird. - Nades have a bit short throw? - Lack of player collission and friendly fire. !!! - Repulsor damage to players should be stronger so that it’s easier to pancake people - We need more blood! What happened to Blood Gulch? - Bigger medals, and they should be animated to “pop up” on screen. - I did not like the “digital flag” and sounds of CTF. - Plasma pistol should EMP vehicles. - Shockweapons is a cool idea but does not feel “electric enough”. Need stronger buzzing sounds and lightning. - Number of starting grenades is perfect. - Too few weapons placed on the map, could be more weapons placed around in addition to the racks. - There should be a way to adjust outlines and to turn them completely off. - There should be a toggle for players to have solid team colours like RedvsBlue.
716

1: There is a problem with collision, it makes it hard to get into melee combat because they can just walk right through you.

2: I don’t know if it’s just me or if the reload is slower than in previous games, as well as picking up a weapon.

3: I think adding playable elites would be amazing.

4: The bots can’t use vehicles which makes driving the warthog in bot matches impossible. Other than that the bot ai was amazing.

5: I think the automatic weapons are pretty op especially compared to the semi automatics.

6: Increase the radar range.

7: I noticed on Behemoth that the bots allies and enemies would get stuck in one spot phased into each other behind a rock.

8: There’s practically no aim assist on controllers.

But overall, it was really great, it was fun it was a joy, maybe a little sweaty, but in general I really liked the preview.

717

Here’s my personal feedback:

Pros:

  • The Repulsor is fun as hell to use. - The game feels smooth - The sandbox is fun - Most sound design feels good
    Cons:

  • The Warthog felt a bit off
    It felt like it was on ice when driving around. ie The handling/turning felt a bit off.
    It felt like it accelerated too fast, but the top speed felt okay.
    The physic felt lofty. You would go over a jump and be sent soaring. I’m not sure if it is related to the vehicle speed or physics but it was way too much.
    Air stabilizers need to be tuned down heavily to bring back more skill to driving - The Ghost strafe speed felt a little too quick - The UI still needs work. I don’t like the grenades and everything being bottom right - Radar feels less useful
    I’m not sure if this is because of enhanced mobility or the shorter range, but it felt like you would have players in and out of your radar in an instant. Perhaps increase the range to 25m? - Plasma pistols don’t EMP anymore? (Surely that is a bug) - I still feel like the Skewer should impale enemies. - On map weapons feel scarce at times.
    I feel like some of the outcry surrounding power AR starts is due to the fact that there aren’t many on map weapon pickups. I have never found myself going to the plasma pistol location. Perhaps entertain the idea of adding more. - Xbox Controller aiming still feels bad
    I will say it has improved but I still find I’m missing loads of shots that I typically hit in other Halos - TTK might be slightly too fast.

718

Things I liked:

  • The aesthetic and detail of all of the maps(especially Behemoth). - Sprint doesn’t feel too obstructive in map/gameplay flow. - The Commando has a better suited role in the sandbox compared to the DMR(which always was in the shadow of the BR or H5 pistol). - The Heatwave is neat. - The BR feels AMAZING in this game, probably my 2nd-1st favorite iteration of it. - Didn’t take too long to find a match. - Grappleshot is extremely fun to use - Detail on vehicle damage is niceWhat I didn’t like/things I’d change:

  • The weapon sandbox is boring and is filled with weapons that are efficient mostly at mid range(ex. BR Mid-long range, Commando mid-long range, Sidekick close-Mid range maybe higher, mangler close-long range, pulse carbine mid range, needler close to mid range, AR close-mid range maybe higher). There is a lack of variety of weapons like a SMG or plasma rifle that are extremely dominant at close range, and encourage a change in playstyle. Every viable weapon in infinite functions the same, just with different fire rates/modes. This just leads to the player being confused as to what is hitting them. No consistency at ALL. - Bazzar Slayer - This game probably has the worst aiming controls in any FPS on the XB1 right now. It feels terrible compared to the games on the MCC and H5. Try matching the settings on MCC/H5 for console players. - Performance is pretty bad on the One S(will go in depth on the Xbox input thread). - Base movement feels like I’m equipped with a speed boost and ice skates. Maybe tone down the movement speed a lil bit. Longer reload speed. - Gun fights/duels aren’t as consistent and fun compared to the other Halos(Very spammy). - The sidekick is awful. Winning/losing gunfights with it doesn’t feel rewarding. A reduced fire rate and range would be nice. - Remove the sniper and skewer on Live Fire. They’re too long ranged for a short-mid range dominant map. - Worst Sniper in series by far. Just doesn’t feel like a POWER WEAPON at times. The best fixes I can think of, is one of 3 things.

  • Remove descoping with the sniper(in 4v4). - Adjust the range/damage fall off of other weapons so they don’t contend with the sniper at its efficient ranges(only the BR, Commando and other scoped weapons should compete with it at longer ranges). - Make it have higher magnetism or port the Reach sniper

  • AR might need a damage/range nerf. Increased spread/recoil would be nice too. The H5 and H4 ARs were perfect. - Change the sidekick to a 6 shot, and a 10 mag/(5 body, 1 headshot). - Grenade switching is weird. Make grenade cycling a specific input like H3. - Outlines are too bright and map lighting doesn’t apply with them on. This makes tactical positioning completely worthless. - The shield equipment is awful, it might need a health buff(1 frag grenade destroys it). - Make OS and camo work like they did in H5. - Make the weapon and equipment rotations less random(The rotation should be per week/season rather than per match). - Buff shield strengthI’m kinda tried right now, so please don’t mind the jumpy sentences :slight_smile:

719

There needs to be a fix where you cannot switch to your secondary weapon

720

  1. Bulldog shotgun: Needs fire rate bumped up, not a lot but currently it doesn’t fire quick enough in close quarters. A lot of times I would be killed by AR wielding opponents because I couldn’t shoot fast enough.

  2. Battle pass: should earn experience for it every match no matter what. The challenges should remain but not the only way to earn experience, just a way to earn experience quicker.

  3. Challenges: I would like to have a list of current challenges available on the pause menu when in a match. Being able to quickly see how much more I need to complete the challenge or even a refresher on what I need to do would help.

721

Halo infinite. Doesn’t feel like halo on console for me. I want to enjoy it, I really do but the lack of aim assist or anything to help us console player, combined with some of us are still on 30 fps just make for a super competitive experience. And I get it, the most die hard fans will be playing this flight, but that shouldn’t excuse just how clunky it feels on console, almost as if it was designed for pc at first. Idk, I just haven’t been having any luck.

Aim assist needs work, I understand why it’s toned down/not there but I’m not asking for MCC level aim assist, just something so us console players don’t need to sweat out every match