— Level progression is slow —
Day one, we only had the daily and weekly challenges. Now we currently have no daily, a measly 50XP per match, and the weekly challenges. My biggest gripe with this is that players are not rewarded at all for performance, length of matches and continuous play. I have played almost 150 matches and have only just gotten to level 15. I have only reached this level through dedicated sessions of 6 hours or more a night and find it hard to imagine that anyone is going to want to continue for such little gain when the average player might only get several games in or a couple of hours (if they are lucky) to do that.
Extra XP for the following would be nice:
- Performance, via either medals earned and/or statistics for the appropriate game type/overall KDA performance.
- Continuous play, rewards (such as XP or even a small multiplier) for match streaks on the day, week and/or season would be a nice touch, especially for those who can’t play a lot but can still be rewarded for playing a set number of games per day/week/season, etc.
- Length of game type, bigger rewards for game types such as Big Team Battle. A Quick Play match will usually go for about 5 or so minutes. BTB will often go for much longer yet you will only get the same 50XP for it.
— Season and Weekly Rewards —
First off, the most unsatisfying reward has to be the Challenge Swap. You take all that time to level up and you receive these and a bunch of barely effective XP boosts. Not only that, but it is classed as the free reward. So anyone who enjoys playing the game but can’t afford to get the battle pass, the only cosmetics you will get is a visor, an armour colour, a stance and a chest piece by level 21. Need to be rebalanced with more free rewards or a better reward system in general.
The Weekly Ultimate reward nearly took me the full week to get which is just too long. Should take two to three days out of the week max to earn. On top of that, I hope they give out some sort of additional XP or bonus for people who beat the challenge when they give the first Ultimate reward for free. All that time will be essentially meaningless otherwise.
— Quality of Life Suggestions —
- Report player option in the main menu options and in game menu.
- Too many players seem to be idle in BTB, forcing teams to play without 1-3 players in a lot of matches. Needs to be a vote to kick or a better kick idle player functionality based on total time idle rather than last input.
- Don’t cancel the countdown to start searching for a game when a host decides to look at other sections while waiting.
- Allow host to cancel searching if a game has not actually been found yet.
- If players are in a fireteam and attempt to do enter a mode that cannot be entered with a fireteam, prompt the player about leaving first, rather than counting down then prompting. This gives the player two opportunities to stay with their fireteam and avoids an unnecessary count down.
- There are less betrayals in Infinite thanks to the removal of friendly fire. However there seems to be a lack of consequence for those who deliberately betray multiple players via vehicle. Reporting and vote to kick are viable options but I think restricting the offending player from using vehicles for a period of time could be feasible as well.
- Better method for placing players who are in the same lobby, into the same squad of a game. As I have stated above, I have played roughly 150 matches and most of them with friends. I have only recalled twice where 3 or 4 of us have been playing, where we have been put into the same squad.
— Gameplay Suggestions —
- Extending the lunge range of the plasma sword and melee hits. The formula appears to have changed from previous Halos and I feel most people are frustrated by this, particularly those having multiple air swings with the sword.
- The plasma pistol is practically useless with the current shot tracking. Shots can be easily evaded with little effort.
- The Mangler and Bulldog are fairly inconsistent and need to be fixed when it comes to damaging enemies. You can point blank shoot at an enemy with them and they will barely have their shield taken down. Other times you can take two shots close-mid range and it will drop them.
- Allow players to select a power up (excluding cloak and over-shield of course) to start with and have a cool down for recharging it. Sometimes it is almost impossible to get a power up and by the time you even grab the one you want, you end up being killed before being able to use it in an appropriate scenario.
- SMG, Plasma Rifle, Brute Shot, Carbine, Fuel Rod, Spartan Laser etc. Why are these weapons no longer in the game? I feel like weaponry should be expanded on, not replaced.
— Bugs —
- Can move and shoot at the start of a game when the screen is black before listing the players in a squad
- AR and explosions have killed myself and others when in heavy cover. Almost feels like a latency issue but haven’t had problems with my ping during those times so bringing it up just in case.
— Conclusion —
Overall I think the gameplay itself has been quite nice bar a few of the things mentioned above. Some of these things may already be in the works and keeping in mind that it is a beta, I think it is fairly clean and it should be well and truly polished by the time of release. I think the main concern that needs to be rectified is the level progression/reward system. I know that the multiplayer is free to play but there has to be sufficient rewards for playing it, regardless of battle pass or not. Considering the feedback being given by everyone, I am hopeful for positive changes and improvements.