My thoughts on the January update

Games Halo Infinite
1

> With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.). Halo Infinite truly is unlike any Halo before it when it comes to our support and commitment to the game and our players.

This part stood out to me because of the section in parentheses. Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line. This makes me hopeful that if a need in the sandbox isn’t met they can stretch a weapon or vehicles stats to meet that need or add new ones if the prior fix can’t be accomplished or like the post said just to keep things fresh. Meta shifts in particular get me excited. There are so many times I’m playing any of the previous Halo titles and I think, “Man, this weapon is good but maybe it’s a little too good.” Like the CE pistol or the Battle Rifle in most games. The ability for them to look at any particular weapon and go, “That one isn’t used as much as the other ones or isn’t as effective as it should be, let’s figure out why.” Is fantastic.

> The Tools of Engagement principle
> …
> (Fluid movement, accurate gunplay while on the move, clear roles for every weapon, vehicle, etc.)
> …
> one of our major goals was to remove redundancy in the sandbox.
> …
>
> - Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions. - To abide by the Lone Wolf principle means that we must provide the player with the necessary items and features to empower them to be effective on their own. Teamwork will augment the experience, but we need to ensure that the player can feel powerful on their own. One way that we achieve this is by looking at designing, tuning, and balancing the starting loadout for players in multiplayer. The basic traits, tools, and weapons must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.

This part also stood out to me probably the most out of everything. Clear roles for weapons, redundancy reduction, effective starting loadouts. What do I think when you say starting loadout for a standard game of Halo? Assault Rifle and Pistol. There are so many times where I’m playing a match, I pick up my assault rifle, spray enough bullets to level a house and yet my enemy is still standing. Not only that, but they turn around while I’m reloading the ol’ bullet hose and pop me 4 times with any given weapon and I’m dead. Which leads me to wonder why any developer would include a weapon so hilariously underpowered in any starting loadout. What’s its use? Just to be garbage to throw away and that’s it? The weapon is made entirely redundant when presented with the fact that the pistol is more reliable, powerful, and easier to use. Given what I’ve said here, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air to start with 2 weapons both useful in their own right. No more peashooters for primaries.

> Players need to feel durable and strong when they have shields up. If we create a sandbox toy that violates that feeling, then we run into problems as we conflict with that foundational gameplay element. When that happens, we move away from that experiment and try something else.

In most Halo games but ESPECIALLY Halo 5 I feel like I’m made out of wet tissue paper 9/10 times. In previous Halos I know I can take 4 or 5 good shots before my time is up but in 5 it feels like in an instant I’m dead. As if I’m just an unarmored combatant. I’m eager to see how they’ll make the player feel tough in this iteration.

> expect to see some minor differences between multiplayer and campaign when it comes to acquiring equipment, the frequency in which they can be used, etc.

I’m eager to see equipment make a return and I figured equipment being balanced differently from campaign was a no-brainer.

> Equally important is how the equipment feels on the opponent’s end. Not only that it’s balanced, but that there’s engaging counterplay or clear telegraphing that give players on both sides an opportunity to display skill mastery.

This is interesting. In Halo 3 I found that a lot of equipment just kind of left the victim high and dry. Hawk a shield drain at someone and you get a free kill. What’s the target going to do other than slowly shuffle away from it in a vain attempt to survive? Even shooting it hardly changed anything. Never blew it up in time to make a difference. I wonder how they’ll implement this “counterplay”.

> …and this terrain is order of magnitude(s) more difficult. While this caused a significant re-tuning of the core vehicles that have been in every Halo, when you see the gorgeous environments of Infinite, I think it’s worth it.

I’m hoping this means that the land vehicles will be less floaty and slippery. I always imagined warthogs and mongooses to have more traction than the pitiful stuff we see in the games. Maybe have the classic Halo “drift” be bound to a separate button for offensive maneuvers?

> if the sandbox isn’t tuned correctly vehicles can become oppressive quickly. Specifically, what this means to me is that if the Golden Triangle doesn’t provide counters to vehicles – they will be dominant.

cough cough banshee on spire cough

> The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading…
>
> We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience…

Its like they were talking about me specifically. The shotgun always lands in the top 3 of my most used and coveted weapons. I always memorize the shotgun spawn and to have one that’s more readily available and easier to use makes me super excited.

> It’s important to address that feedback at both a competitive pro level, and for more social players – equipment must be effective and empowering across all skill levels while being competitively viable.

I’ve seen too many games fail because the devs only catered to the competitive sweatlords and this bit put me at ease. The casual fanbase makes up the majority of most games.

That brings me to my issues I had with this, personally I would have liked more looks at armor or coatings or something like that. I don’t really care how the weapons look. A battle rifle will always just look like the battle rifle to me. They never really change the design much. I guess they looked pretty so that’s something. They were STILL silent on anything about the armor coatings and that’s something that a very vocal group of the community has big issues with. It would be nice to know how they’re gonna handle it. I have a looming feeling that even though they can talk a good game, they may have some issues delivering on what they’ve said here too. I guess we’ll see in time.

2

343 said they would just be talking about the sandbox this time, so I’m not surprised they didn’t mention armour coatings or microtransactions. Best save that stuff for later.

3

> 2533274873409464;1:
> > With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.). Halo Infinite truly is unlike any Halo before it when it comes to our support and commitment to the game and our players.
>
> This part stood out to me because of the section in parentheses. Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line. This makes me hopeful that if a need in the sandbox isn’t met they can stretch a weapon or vehicles stats to meet that need or add new ones if the prior fix can’t be accomplished or like the post said just to keep things fresh. Meta shifts in particular get me excited. There are so many times I’m playing any of the previous Halo titles and I think, “Man, this weapon is good but maybe it’s a little too good.” Like the CE pistol or the Battle Rifle in most games. The ability for them to look at any particular weapon and go, “That one isn’t used as much as the other ones or isn’t as effective as it should be, let’s figure out why.” Is fantastic.
>
>
> > The Tools of Engagement principle
> > …
> > (Fluid movement, accurate gunplay while on the move, clear roles for every weapon, vehicle, etc.)
> > …
> > one of our major goals was to remove redundancy in the sandbox.
> > …
> > - Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions. - To abide by the Lone Wolf principle means that we must provide the player with the necessary items and features to empower them to be effective on their own. Teamwork will augment the experience, but we need to ensure that the player can feel powerful on their own. One way that we achieve this is by looking at designing, tuning, and balancing the starting loadout for players in multiplayer. The basic traits, tools, and weapons must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.
>
> This part also stood out to me probably the most out of everything. Clear roles for weapons, redundancy reduction, effective starting loadouts. What do I think when you say starting loadout for a standard game of Halo? Assault Rifle and Pistol. There are so many times where I’m playing a match, I pick up my assault rifle, spray enough bullets to level a house and yet my enemy is still standing. Not only that, but they turn around while I’m reloading the ol’ bullet hose and pop me 4 times with any given weapon and I’m dead. Which leads me to wonder why any developer would include a weapon so hilariously underpowered in any starting loadout. What’s its use? Just to be garbage to throw away and that’s it? The weapon is made entirely redundant when presented with the fact that the pistol is more reliable, powerful, and easier to use. Given what I’ve said here, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air to start with 2 weapons both useful in their own right. No more peashooters for primaries.

> 2533274873409464;1:
> > The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading…
> >
> > We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience…

> 2533274873409464;1:
> Its like they were talking about me specifically. The shotgun always lands in the top 3 of my most used and coveted weapons. I always memorize the shotgun spawn and to have one that’s more readily available and easier to use makes me super excited.

1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?

4

> 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?

I didn’t know mid range was considered to be anything other than me pressing my face into the other team’s booty cheeks because that’s the only time it does reliable damage. Point blank. You certainly do have a habit of assuming how I play the game as this isn’t the first time. I didn’t know you record and watch my screen. Wild. I do, use it to open up for a melee attack, but it’s not good at even doing that. Why use it as a close range melee combo weapon when most other weapons including the BR and especially the SMG do it better? As it stands I consider the AR to be hot garbage that just steps on other weapons toes but does their job worse and especially doesn’t conform to what the devs want with this iteration which “must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.” May as well have left it out of subsequent titles like Halo 2 did. I didn’t imply that the TTK needed to be instant just that the weapon could stand to be a little better at just out of melee range. Which again, close range to you seems to start and end at 2 spartans essentially hugging each other.

The BR is effective in just about every range. No reason to even include the AR if you’re going to be starting with that monster.
Sidekick is fine, the fact that it headshots and fires as fast as you can pull the trigger makes it a viable secondary weapon. More situational sure but not bad by a long shot.

The bulldog is balanced by not being as strong as the original with a TTK being heavily dependent on your proximity to your target if I had to guess. There’s nothing stopping you from just backing out of its range and out-gunning it. I would assume that infection wouldn’t use the bulldog but would rather use the old shotgun balancing as its certainly possible. At the end of the day you’re making an unfounded assumption and then labeling a gun that has yet to release on a game that is months from release bad because it’s not the same as the one you’re used to. I don’t like to use the T word but you’re certainly acting like it.

5

> 2533274873409464;4:
> > 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> > 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?
>
> I didn’t know mid range was considered to be anything other than me pressing my face into the other team’s booty cheeks because that’s the only time it does reliable damage. Point blank. You certainly do have a habit of assuming how I play the game as this isn’t the first time. I didn’t know you record and watch my screen. Wild. I do, use it to open up for a melee attack, but it’s not good at even doing that. Why use it as a close range melee combo weapon when most other weapons including the BR and especially the SMG do it better? As it stands I consider the AR to be hot garbage that just steps on other weapons toes but does their job worse and especially doesn’t conform to what the devs want with this iteration which “must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.” May as well have left it out of subsequent titles like Halo 2 did. I didn’t imply that the TTK needed to be instant just that the weapon could stand to be a little better at just out of melee range. Which again, close range to you seems to start and end at 2 spartans essentially hugging each other.
>
> The BR is effective in just about every range. No reason to even include the AR if you’re going to be starting with that monster.
> Sidekick is fine, the fact that it headshots and fires as fast as you can pull the trigger makes it a viable secondary weapon. More situational sure but not bad by a long shot.
>
> The bulldog is balanced by not being as strong as the original with a TTK being heavily dependent on your proximity to your target if I had to guess. There’s nothing stopping you from just backing out of its range and out-gunning it. I would assume that infection wouldn’t use the bulldog but would rather use the old shotgun balancing as its certainly possible. At the end of the day you’re making an unfounded assumption and then labeling a gun that has yet to release on a game that is months from release bad because it’s not the same as the one you’re used to. I don’t like to use the T word but you’re certainly acting like it.

I think you bring up some interesting points regarding the Assault Rifle. It is true that Halo has always struggled a little bit with the balancing of the AR. It is also true that the BR beats out the AR in most every gunfight. I think that’s ok because the BR is a precision gun and therefore requires more precise aim/more skill to use. I do believe that is where the problem lies in trying to balance the AR. The assault rifle, and most fully automatic guns in shooters, are by nature supposed to be more forgiving and easier to use. You just kind of spray and pray in most games with an auto and things usually work out. In Halo, spraying and praying usually does not work out so well because Halo has a longer TTK and headshots are the key to victory. Now you could make the AR be able to headshot, but then I feel that the AR would be overpowered or dominate too much at close range. Or you could do what they did for Halo 5 and not allow the AR to headshot, or maybe it had a very slight headshot multiplier, and then it just kinda sucks. I do feel that the AR in Halo 5 was made more to set up melee attacks like Commando said, but I feel the SMG did do a better job at setting up those melee combo kills. This was probably due to the SMG’s faster rate of fire compared to the AR, as well as the fact that the SMG didn’t suffer from too much of a range reduction compared to the AR.

All in all, I think it’s a tricky thing to try to balance the Assault Rifle to make it a truly viable starting weapon. I’m sure there’s a way to do it, but if there is I can’t see it lol. I think Halo always has to make precision weapons the go to because that is where the skill gap lies for most players. At the end of the day, Halo has to reward the skillful players because that’s how Halo is. Unfortunately that means that autos tend to suffer a bit.

6

> 2533274866022405;5:
> All in all, I think it’s a tricky thing to try to balance the Assault Rifle to make it a truly viable starting weapon. I’m sure there’s a way to do it, but if there is I can’t see it lol.

There should none.
A starting weapon needs to have disadvantages otherwise there would be no need to get other weapons at all.
There would be only AR and power weapons.

Its designed as an easy to use defense weapon.
And because it does not require the skill to aim its needs to be weaker and/or has less range.
The Halo 3 AR was too strong at release and had to be nerfed. Thank god.
What we had then became the fundament of Halo gunfight and should remain this way.

> 2533274873409464;1:
> Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line.

This worries me a bit.
Playing a game for 1 or 2 years to get one of the main weapons significantly nerfed/buffed or rearanged wouldnt feel “fresh” to me.
We see what metashifts in CoD means. Nothing. There is a weapon that kills now 0.0025 seconds faster?
Lets EVERYONE use it and otherwise play EXACTLY like before.
Thats very meh… Id rather like new maps or playlists.

7

This topic went quickly from the OP’s thoughts about the whole update to a debate about the AR… not that that discussion isn’t interesting, you all have valid points. I think the team is in the right direction in trying to make starting weapons not feel completely disposable, but that raises balancing issues, since they can’t overshadow the other guns in the map. Maybe the key to make that balance work better than in past games lies in those new damage types, and auto weapons will have a viable niche within kinetic weapons like being more effective against shields or vehicles.

I like the idea of lower tier shotgun, since I love that weapon. I’m very excited for the new vehicles and equipment as well, that land vehicle that sits between the Warthog and the Scorpion has me intrigued.

Sadly they haven’t spoken a single word about sprint in order to confirm our suspicions that it has been toned down.

8

> 2533274873409464;4:
> > 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> > 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?
>
> I didn’t know mid range was considered to be anything other than me pressing my face into the other team’s booty cheeks because that’s the only time it does reliable damage. Point blank. You certainly do have a habit of assuming how I play the game as this isn’t the first time. I didn’t know you record and watch my screen. Wild. I do, use it to open up for a melee attack, but it’s not good at even doing that. Why use it as a close range melee combo weapon when most other weapons including the BR and especially the SMG do it better? As it stands I consider the AR to be hot garbage that just steps on other weapons toes but does their job worse and especially doesn’t conform to what the devs want with this iteration which “must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.” May as well have left it out of subsequent titles like Halo 2 did. I didn’t imply that the TTK needed to be instant just that the weapon could stand to be a little better at just out of melee range. Which again, close range to you seems to start and end at 2 spartans essentially hugging each other.
>
> The BR is effective in just about every range. No reason to even include the AR if you’re going to be starting with that monster.
> Sidekick is fine, the fact that it headshots and fires as fast as you can pull the trigger makes it a viable secondary weapon. More situational sure but not bad by a long shot.
>
> The bulldog is balanced by not being as strong as the original with a TTK being heavily dependent on your proximity to your target if I had to guess. There’s nothing stopping you from just backing out of its range and out-gunning it. I would assume that infection wouldn’t use the bulldog but would rather use the old shotgun balancing as its certainly possible. At the end of the day you’re making an unfounded assumption and then labeling a gun that has yet to release on a game that is months from release bad because it’s not the same as the one you’re used to. I don’t like to use the T word but you’re certainly acting like it.

“must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.” It’s called BR starts, trust me a beefed up AR will only make the game worse and will result in the weapon being removed from playlists and pro-matches.

the BR is supposed to be effective at all ranges, jack of all trades while master of none. Why start the player with a useless weapon when the enemy team already has map control and power weapons, what are you going to do? spray their sniper down with your AR?

“just walk backwards” isn’t valid considering 343 gave it extra range for that very specific purpose. Short answer is simple, the shotgun is supposed to be a power weapon with a weakness ( all power weapons have one ) and that came from the reload between devastating shots, now we are stuck with a generic scattergun with extra range and no reload consideration. I look forward to the bulldog being removed from most ranked playlists and most gametypes.

9

> 2535458188883243;3:
> > 2533274873409464;1:
> > >
>
>
>
> > 2533274873409464;1:
> >
>
> 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?

I lol at people who who complain about weapons being overpowered for games that haven’t released yet. How could you possibly argue any weapon in the sandbox is over powered at this point?..

I have no problem with an ‘auto shotty’ variant of the shotgun. I hope there’s still a more powerful pump shotty though.

It’s a fairly common shotgun split found in most games anymore.

  1. Pump shotty with super high damage, only effective at very close range, and a low rate of fire.
  2. Auto shotty with lower damage, slightly longer range, and a higher rate of fire.

It’s not really a big deal, as the counter to both shotguns are the same. Keep your distance and blast away with your longer range weapon. Don’t forget to back up during firefights with shotties instead of trying to close in for a melee finish.

10

> 2533274873409464;1:
> > With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.). Halo Infinite truly is unlike any Halo before it when it comes to our support and commitment to the game and our players.
>
> This part stood out to me because of the section in parentheses. Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line. This makes me hopeful that if a need in the sandbox isn’t met they can stretch a weapon or vehicles stats to meet that need or add new ones if the prior fix can’t be accomplished or like the post said just to keep things fresh. Meta shifts in particular get me excited. There are so many times I’m playing any of the previous Halo titles and I think, “Man, this weapon is good but maybe it’s a little too good.” Like the CE pistol or the Battle Rifle in most games. The ability for them to look at any particular weapon and go, “That one isn’t used as much as the other ones or isn’t as effective as it should be, let’s figure out why.” Is fantastic.
>
>
> > The Tools of Engagement principle
> > …
> > (Fluid movement, accurate gunplay while on the move, clear roles for every weapon, vehicle, etc.)
> > …
> > one of our major goals was to remove redundancy in the sandbox.
> > …
> > - Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions. - To abide by the Lone Wolf principle means that we must provide the player with the necessary items and features to empower them to be effective on their own. Teamwork will augment the experience, but we need to ensure that the player can feel powerful on their own. One way that we achieve this is by looking at designing, tuning, and balancing the starting loadout for players in multiplayer. The basic traits, tools, and weapons must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.
>
> This part also stood out to me probably the most out of everything. Clear roles for weapons, redundancy reduction, effective starting loadouts. What do I think when you say starting loadout for a standard game of Halo? Assault Rifle and Pistol. There are so many times where I’m playing a match, I pick up my assault rifle, spray enough bullets to level a house and yet my enemy is still standing. Not only that, but they turn around while I’m reloading the ol’ bullet hose and pop me 4 times with any given weapon and I’m dead. Which leads me to wonder why any developer would include a weapon so hilariously underpowered in any starting loadout. What’s its use? Just to be garbage to throw away and that’s it? The weapon is made entirely redundant when presented with the fact that the pistol is more reliable, powerful, and easier to use. Given what I’ve said here, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air to start with 2 weapons both useful in their own right. No more peashooters for primaries.
>
>
> > Players need to feel durable and strong when they have shields up. If we create a sandbox toy that violates that feeling, then we run into problems as we conflict with that foundational gameplay element. When that happens, we move away from that experiment and try something else.
>
> In most Halo games but ESPECIALLY Halo 5 I feel like I’m made out of wet tissue paper 9/10 times. In previous Halos I know I can take 4 or 5 good shots before my time is up but in 5 it feels like in an instant I’m dead. As if I’m just an unarmored combatant. I’m eager to see how they’ll make the player feel tough in this iteration.
>
>
> > expect to see some minor differences between multiplayer and campaign when it comes to acquiring equipment, the frequency in which they can be used, etc.
>
> I’m eager to see equipment make a return and I figured equipment being balanced differently from campaign was a no-brainer.
>
>
> > Equally important is how the equipment feels on the opponent’s end. Not only that it’s balanced, but that there’s engaging counterplay or clear telegraphing that give players on both sides an opportunity to display skill mastery.
>
> This is interesting. In Halo 3 I found that a lot of equipment just kind of left the victim high and dry. Hawk a shield drain at someone and you get a free kill. What’s the target going to do other than slowly shuffle away from it in a vain attempt to survive? Even shooting it hardly changed anything. Never blew it up in time to make a difference. I wonder how they’ll implement this “counterplay”.
>
>
> > …and this terrain is order of magnitude(s) more difficult. While this caused a significant re-tuning of the core vehicles that have been in every Halo, when you see the gorgeous environments of Infinite, I think it’s worth it.
>
> I’m hoping this means that the land vehicles will be less floaty and slippery. I always imagined warthogs and mongooses to have more traction than the pitiful stuff we see in the games. Maybe have the classic Halo “drift” be bound to a separate button for offensive maneuvers?
>
>
> > if the sandbox isn’t tuned correctly vehicles can become oppressive quickly. Specifically, what this means to me is that if the Golden Triangle doesn’t provide counters to vehicles – they will be dominant.
>
> cough cough banshee on spire cough
>
>
> > The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading…
> >
> > We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience…
>
> Its like they were talking about me specifically. The shotgun always lands in the top 3 of my most used and coveted weapons. I always memorize the shotgun spawn and to have one that’s more readily available and easier to use makes me super excited.

I love your reaction to everything. It’s nice to see Halo fans who don’t try to cancel 343 at every possible moment. As for that last bit, they did say that each Inside Infinite will cover a separate topic of discussion around the development areas of Infinite, this one being about the Sandbox and the previous one being about Graphics and world. I imagine soon, maybe the next one or in a couple months, they’ll go into detail about the rewards system, challenges, premium micros, and the processes and acquisition of coatings and customizations via a season pass and other in-game unlocks, which no doubt will explain more about coatings, what they are and how you unlock them, as well as maybe how many you start with in-game. Have patience young grasshopper, all will be revealed in time.

11

> 2535458188883243;3:
> > 2533274873409464;1:
> > > With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.). Halo Infinite truly is unlike any Halo before it when it comes to our support and commitment to the game and our players.
> >
> > This part stood out to me because of the section in parentheses. Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line. This makes me hopeful that if a need in the sandbox isn’t met they can stretch a weapon or vehicles stats to meet that need or add new ones if the prior fix can’t be accomplished or like the post said just to keep things fresh. Meta shifts in particular get me excited. There are so many times I’m playing any of the previous Halo titles and I think, “Man, this weapon is good but maybe it’s a little too good.” Like the CE pistol or the Battle Rifle in most games. The ability for them to look at any particular weapon and go, “That one isn’t used as much as the other ones or isn’t as effective as it should be, let’s figure out why.” Is fantastic.
> >
> >
> > > The Tools of Engagement principle
> > > …
> > > (Fluid movement, accurate gunplay while on the move, clear roles for every weapon, vehicle, etc.)
> > > …
> > > one of our major goals was to remove redundancy in the sandbox.
> > > …
> > > - Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions. - To abide by the Lone Wolf principle means that we must provide the player with the necessary items and features to empower them to be effective on their own. Teamwork will augment the experience, but we need to ensure that the player can feel powerful on their own. One way that we achieve this is by looking at designing, tuning, and balancing the starting loadout for players in multiplayer. The basic traits, tools, and weapons must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.
> >
> > This part also stood out to me probably the most out of everything. Clear roles for weapons, redundancy reduction, effective starting loadouts. What do I think when you say starting loadout for a standard game of Halo? Assault Rifle and Pistol. There are so many times where I’m playing a match, I pick up my assault rifle, spray enough bullets to level a house and yet my enemy is still standing. Not only that, but they turn around while I’m reloading the ol’ bullet hose and pop me 4 times with any given weapon and I’m dead. Which leads me to wonder why any developer would include a weapon so hilariously underpowered in any starting loadout. What’s its use? Just to be garbage to throw away and that’s it? The weapon is made entirely redundant when presented with the fact that the pistol is more reliable, powerful, and easier to use. Given what I’ve said here, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air to start with 2 weapons both useful in their own right. No more peashooters for primaries.
>
>
>
> > 2533274873409464;1:
> > > The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading…
> > >
> > > We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience…
>
>
>
> > 2533274873409464;1:
> > Its like they were talking about me specifically. The shotgun always lands in the top 3 of my most used and coveted weapons. I always memorize the shotgun spawn and to have one that’s more readily available and easier to use makes me super excited.
>
> 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?

Do you do anything on these forums other than complain and b****? Every post I see you on, you’re negative and hating on literally every Halo game that came out after Reach, including MCC. Find something useful to say or just do us all a favor and leave. You’re not contributing to anything, helping anyone, or offering any interesting suggestions or ideas, nor do you even partake in any proper discussion other than “Cancel 343”.
The Assault rifle has been lacking for a while, it doesn’t feel as powerful as it should in close or mid-range. The early days of Halo 5 had an excellent and effective assault rifle but since then it hasn’t been anywhere near as strong. I also don’t understand how you view the sidekick as a joke when you haven’t even played the damn game yet?? DO you not understand the role and function the new pistol is meant to take? It’s not supposed to be a mini-DMR like it was in Halo 5.
And as for the Bulldog, it’s a shotgun. Skill and shotgun don’t belong in the same sentence. It’s a close range spread shot weapon. All they did with the bulldog was make it a primary weapon like the AR and BR instead of making it a power weapon. I don’t see the problem with that. And when or if you play Infinite, put in a ticket and complain about it being too op if that’s how you feel mate.

12

Big things I noticed from the update:

  • all launch content is in the game and being polished. I suspected this for a while , but it is good to have confirmation on this. At this point, I think the game will be more than ready for a fall release.

  • post launch updates are already in the works. This is exciting news, curious what they will be.

  • several mentions of unannounced vehicles and weapons. Honestly I like that they are keeping some of these under wraps, I like to have some surprises going into the game.

  • newly improved weapon balancing, and giving more weapons there own damage types.

Here is what I expect moving forward.

  • Most updates until e3 will not give us any major trailers, maybe a few screenshots, maybe even a few short clips if we’re lucky.

  • E3 will give us our first multiplayer footage, and likely an updated campaign demo/ trailer. This campaign trailer will be from an early mission in the game. My guess is we will not see any footage from second half or at least last few missions of the campaign until launch. I think 343 is trying to keep the story as much of a surprise as possible.

  • I think fighting dates will be announced in the next month or 2, but not actually happen until summer

13

> 2533274882898126;11:
> > 2535458188883243;3:
> > > 2533274873409464;1:
> > > > With Halo Infinite, the investment we have made to our tools allows us to be more responsive to balance issues and opportunities (and of course we are also committed to keeping the game fresh via meta shifts, new weapons, vehicles, etc.). Halo Infinite truly is unlike any Halo before it when it comes to our support and commitment to the game and our players.
> > >
> > > This part stood out to me because of the section in parentheses. Meta shifts, weapons, and vehicles sounds like the game we get on launch is going to be much different a year, three years, and five years down the line. This makes me hopeful that if a need in the sandbox isn’t met they can stretch a weapon or vehicles stats to meet that need or add new ones if the prior fix can’t be accomplished or like the post said just to keep things fresh. Meta shifts in particular get me excited. There are so many times I’m playing any of the previous Halo titles and I think, “Man, this weapon is good but maybe it’s a little too good.” Like the CE pistol or the Battle Rifle in most games. The ability for them to look at any particular weapon and go, “That one isn’t used as much as the other ones or isn’t as effective as it should be, let’s figure out why.” Is fantastic.
> > >
> > >
> > > > The Tools of Engagement principle
> > > > …
> > > > (Fluid movement, accurate gunplay while on the move, clear roles for every weapon, vehicle, etc.)
> > > > …
> > > > one of our major goals was to remove redundancy in the sandbox.
> > > > …
> > > > - Player Goal: The player feels that they can stand alone and be effective without teammates or AI companions. - To abide by the Lone Wolf principle means that we must provide the player with the necessary items and features to empower them to be effective on their own. Teamwork will augment the experience, but we need to ensure that the player can feel powerful on their own. One way that we achieve this is by looking at designing, tuning, and balancing the starting loadout for players in multiplayer. The basic traits, tools, and weapons must allow the player to be effective from the moment they spawn without the need to scavenge for “good” weapons.
> > >
> > > This part also stood out to me probably the most out of everything. Clear roles for weapons, redundancy reduction, effective starting loadouts. What do I think when you say starting loadout for a standard game of Halo? Assault Rifle and Pistol. There are so many times where I’m playing a match, I pick up my assault rifle, spray enough bullets to level a house and yet my enemy is still standing. Not only that, but they turn around while I’m reloading the ol’ bullet hose and pop me 4 times with any given weapon and I’m dead. Which leads me to wonder why any developer would include a weapon so hilariously underpowered in any starting loadout. What’s its use? Just to be garbage to throw away and that’s it? The weapon is made entirely redundant when presented with the fact that the pistol is more reliable, powerful, and easier to use. Given what I’ve said here, it’ll be like a breath of fresh air to start with 2 weapons both useful in their own right. No more peashooters for primaries.
> >
> >
> >
> > > 2533274873409464;1:
> > > > The Bulldog is an exciting new shotgun weapon that is fast-firing and fast-loading…
> > > >
> > > > We’ve found that there are a lot of players that want to be that “in-your-face CQC front-liner” but have never had a more readily available, less powerful, but still effective, shotgun that allowed them to play that role frequently across the multiplayer experience…
> >
> >
> >
> > > 2533274873409464;1:
> > > Its like they were talking about me specifically. The shotgun always lands in the top 3 of my most used and coveted weapons. I always memorize the shotgun spawn and to have one that’s more readily available and easier to use makes me super excited.
> >
> > 1: the AR has never been useless, stop using it at mid range when the BR is clearly favored, it’s role has always been a close range melee combo weapon. This isn’t COD where every weapon needs to have a TTK within the same milisecond, if you want effective starting weapons choose BR and AR, the sidekick is a joke.
> > 2: They made a noobproof shotgun with less skill than the SAW in H5, just run around and laser people with a longer range shotgun not having to think about your reload or getting up close, this is good how? won’t this ruin infection?
>
> Do you do anything on these forums other than complain and b****? Every post I see you on, you’re negative and hating on literally every Halo game that came out after Reach, including MCC. Find something useful to say or just do us all a favor and leave. You’re not contributing to anything, helping anyone, or offering any interesting suggestions or ideas, nor do you even partake in any proper discussion other than “Cancel 343”.
> The Assault rifle has been lacking for a while, it doesn’t feel as powerful as it should in close or mid-range. The early days of Halo 5 had an excellent and effective assault rifle but since then it hasn’t been anywhere near as strong. I also don’t understand how you view the sidekick as a joke when you haven’t even played the damn game yet?? DO you not understand the role and function the new pistol is meant to take? It’s not supposed to be a mini-DMR like it was in Halo 5.
> And as for the Bulldog, it’s a shotgun. Skill and shotgun don’t belong in the same sentence. It’s a close range spread shot weapon. All they did with the bulldog was make it a primary weapon like the AR and BR instead of making it a power weapon. I don’t see the problem with that. And when or if you play Infinite, put in a ticket and complain about it being too op if that’s how you feel mate.

angry? :^)

It’s not my fault Halo has taken such a far fall from grace, and the community is certainly a factor with how split it is. One of the disadvantages of making a game for everybody is now everybody is wanting their own version of the game and since 343 has expanded the scope of what Halo has taken on community wise, it only makes sense to have warring factions wanting their own version of the game.

The AR was only lacking in Reach and CE, Halo 3’s was easily the most balanced with appropriate range full auto and burst functionality with damage not too high. The sidekick clearly takes inspiration from the quickdraw Magnum in H5, a mostly useless sidearm with lackluster damage outside of close range. Your point of “you haven’t played it yet” isn’t valid since you haven’t played it either and 343 has not shown any gameplay for either side to use as proof, I am allowed to make assumptions based on the small amount of gameplay provided ( plus I’d rather have a competent sidearm that is actually useful rather than another H2 pistol which is useless without dual wielding ). You can like the Bulldog if you want, but it is a less skilled weapon than the classic shotgun ( even a shotgun requires a couple braincells to not run out and get lasered so your point of no-skill is invalid anyhow ). Halo is based around melee, guns and grenades and the bulldog ruins the first by being a primary weapon, shotguns are meant to be power weapons, simple answer ( Halo is an arena shooter with a heavy focus on mid-range precision weapons and map control, shotguns don’t fit this at all ) so why bother with a fundamentally weaker shotgun that people are going to use the same way, ontop of looking generic and uninspired and making infection less fun?

14

One thing that got me intrigued from this update was the in-depth “damage types” system. Can’t wait to see how that gets implemented.

I also like the sound of the Bulldog, and something which is annoying me is the massive amounts of people saying the M90 Shotgun has been “ditched” from the game, despite absolutely no evidence that this is the case.
To me it seems like a cool idea to have a more available and versatile shotgun weapon for players who want to play in that style, while keeping the power-weapon shotgun still a rare spawn with limited ammo so the game still has that “oh h*ck, they have the shotgun” factor.

I’m curious to see how the Grapple Hook will slot in with their vision of bringing back the one-time-use equipment system. It seemed from the trailer that the Grapple Hook was something you’d always have access to, an innate ability with a cooldown. However the way they were talking about it in the January Update seemed to imply it was more of a pickup.
I’m not honestly sure which I’d prefer. Having it a one-time-use pickup would lend it more weight and prevent it from dominating the meta in multiplayer, but having easy access to the grapple in Campaign would allow for more expressive play and freedom of exploration. I’ll just have to wait and see how it pans out in-game!

There were loads of other stuff that struck me, but the one i’ll end on is this little story of the Hunter battle from auld Joe. It’s an intriguing one. I am not sure I was totally convinced by what he was saying, I found myself agreeing, “That does sound like a bug…”.
I’m keeping an open mind and staying optimistic about it, but one of the things I love about halo is how each enemy has a strategy that can defeat them, and it rarely if ever feels unfair (with the exception of that dire mechanic in Halo 5 where your AI teammates would stand next to you as you bleed out, flat out refusing to revive you. God that was irritating).
So if i’m caught mid-battle with a hunter and don’t have any options for grappling, I don’t want to feel like I’m unfairly trapped into a corner. But I am pretty confident that this won’t be the case, just something that flashed through my mind as I was reading it (“Why can’t I just sidestep it and ping it in the back with a pistol like in CE!?” … that would be too easy though :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:).