Ranked Play and Precision Starts

Games Halo Infinite
1

We have the impression that the settings we’ve played so far in the flight are social settings. After all, we are starting with an Assault Rifle and a sidearm.

It seems as though 343 is aiming at a Halo 3 style matchmaking experience with predominantly AR starts for social and Battle Rifle starts for Ranked. I have my reservations about this idea, especially since we’ve already had a match composer in MCC which allows players to specifically design their social experience–including precision loadouts. But I digress.

The big question for me is: why haven’t we got a taste for what Ranked or HCS settings will be like for Infinite? I have to assume they exist and are different than what we’ve played, because I have trouble believing 343 intends professional play to have Assault Rifle starts.

But are only the truly hardcore HCS players going to get to play precision starts? Is BTB going to launch in December without even the option of a Battle Rifle loadout variant?

What does the balance of the game even feel like with Battle Rifle starts–can we at least get some gameplay footage prior to launch? And at 2 months from launch can we at least get clearer confirmation of what the playlist offering is going to look like?

I have my issues with AR/Sidekick loadout, but I don’t begrudge any players who are enjoying it–it is just not the Halo experience I’m interested in. And with how little the idea of a precision loadout is being addressed by the developer, I’m starting to worry a large swath of the community is being left in the dark–or worse: hung out to dry.

If there isn’t a match composer or an array of playlist options with a precision loadout, I fear this game will fade out more quickly than it should. Maybe I’m being irrational, but it seems like an easy enough thing for 343 to address. I don’t need to know all the details, I just would like to know I will have more to look forward to than a dozen or so map/mode combos in a 4v4 exclusive HCS playlist.

I, for some reason, also feel the need to state the importance of precision starts in Halo, even though it is an argument that has been made thousands of times before, but the AR/Sidekick loadout has me thinking it’s still something someone at 343 needs to hear.

In lieu of typing out all my thoughts on the subject, I’ll just link this video:

Halo Infinite Utility Weapon Video

If you’d like to fight me in the comments about how the Halo Infinite Assault Rifle is somehow the best starting weapon ever to grace FPS gaming, feel free. But let me be clear: the TL;DR on this thread is not AR bashing, it’s advocating for playlist variety and options which have existed for every Halo game ever, and asking 343 to clarify what we can expect for this game at launch. After Halo 5 I think we can all agree that a game which only caters to one group within the community at launch is a mistake.

2

It’s going to be interesting to see what settings they use, it’s quite exciting. We already know grenade hitmarkers are off for ranked so they are clearly thinking about the competitive impact different areas of social will have, and should therefore be different. Personally I think Team Slayer should be BR/AR starts. Hardcore/HCS could be either BR/Sidekick or BR/None.

I think the AR should be included in spawn settings for Team Slayer ranked as this will make the game more accessible to players of all levels and ultimately the goal should be to make ranked play fun for everyone, not just the elite players. To get the best games we want as many people playing it regularly as possible and I think the seasonal rewards will definitely help achieve this, but ultimately people will only play it if they enjoy it. SWAT is a good example of that. Even non-competitive players regularly play ranked in H5 because they love the gametype settings.

The best of the best will gravitate towards Hardcore/HCS playlists anyway so it won’t affect them either.

3

We may get lucky and they will tell us what they are thinking for Ranked and HCS. 343i has been really communicative so far so I bet they will sometime before the game comes out but who knows. Maybe we will be in the dark about this.

However, I do think they definitely need some kind of precision start for those game modes. IMO preferably the BR start.
I think it would be nice having the BR and AR start but they probably should make sure the AR doesn’t outshine the BR as many people are saying it does at the moment.

4

Unfortunately with the current balance, I don’t think BR/AR starts are very likely. The AR is too effective at range and the BR kills too slow. They just don’t seem balanced to be used in the same loadout.

Maybe for one playlist, but currently balanced I wouldn’t be very interested. Would feel very rock/paper/scissors at some ranges.

I’d remove the headshot modifier from the AR and speed up the ROF on the BR. I’d happily have the BR be more difficult to compensate too.

5

> 2533274833576927;4:
> Unfortunately with the current balance, I don’t think BR/AR starts are very likely. The AR is too effective at range and the BR kills too slow. They just don’t seem balanced to be used in the same loadout.
>
> Maybe for one playlist, but currently balanced I wouldn’t be very interested. Would feel very rock/paper/scissors at some ranges.
>
> I’d remove the headshot modifier from the AR and speed up the ROF on the BR. I’d happily have the BR be more difficult to compensate too.

The AR in it’s current form should be left to social. How effective the spay is should not be in a competitive setting.

6

> 2533274796540656;5:
> > 2533274833576927;4:
> > Unfortunately with the current balance, I don’t think BR/AR starts are very likely. The AR is too effective at range and the BR kills too slow. They just don’t seem balanced to be used in the same loadout.
> >
> > Maybe for one playlist, but currently balanced I wouldn’t be very interested. Would feel very rock/paper/scissors at some ranges.
> >
> > I’d remove the headshot modifier from the AR and speed up the ROF on the BR. I’d happily have the BR be more difficult to compensate too.
>
> The AR in it’s current form should be left to social. How effective the spay is should not be in a competitive setting.

AR in it’s current form is a freakin precision weapon itself LOL

I feel like HCS starts should be BR. It’s more efficient than the sidekick and most likely to be so as past titles have used it.

7

> 2533274801036271;2:
> It’s going to be interesting to see what settings they use, it’s quite exciting. We already know grenade hitmarkers are off for ranked so they are clearly thinking about the competitive impact different areas of social will have, and should therefore be different. Personally I think Team Slayer should be BR/AR starts. Hardcore/HCS could be either BR/Sidekick or BR/None.
>
> I think the AR should be included in spawn settings for Team Slayer ranked as this will make the game more accessible to players of all levels and ultimately the goal should be to make ranked play fun for everyone, not just the elite players. To get the best games we want as many people playing it regularly as possible and I think the seasonal rewards will definitely help achieve this, but ultimately people will only play it if they enjoy it. SWAT is a good example of that. Even non-competitive players regularly play ranked in H5 because they love the gametype settings.
>
> The best of the best will gravitate towards Hardcore/HCS playlists anyway so it won’t affect them either.

> We already know grenade hitmarkers are off for ranked

This is awesome to hear because, as you said, it means they are keeping in mind the competitive scene. Agree with BR/None starts, finding a secondary weapon just adds to the strategy/decision making process when you spawn IMO.

8

I’d honestly really like BR starts in BTB. Maybe it would be okay to have BR/AR starts there. Maybe a separate Ranked BTB playlist.

9

Well written OP. I am in the same exact boat as you. I’m all for people having their social AR/Pistol starts, but at this point I’m very concerned if they even have BR starts as an option for competitive play.

I wholeheartedly believe if there isn’t BR starts playlist at launch, the competitive scene will die off faster than it did in Reach.

10

My predictions:

  • They ban motion grenade, grenade hitmarkers, maybe some power weapons to keep sniper rifle and launcher in rotation
  • We will play CTF, Strongholds and new mode
  • Probably BR/Sidekick starts to satisfy legacy and h5 pros
  • Ranked system is very similar to Halo 5 with ranks up to onyx(according to UI in a flight)
  • Allies only radar
  • Rules/map combos will update every season

Honestly, I don’t think they will do massive changes. It will be a follow up to what HCS was during H5 with some tweaks here and there.

11

Is it out of line to suggest Auto Starts and Precision Starts can be two different gametypes in the same playlist? We ain’t gotta be separatists about this.

12

BR starts could be amazing in this game if the BR wasn’t so, so much slower than every other iteration. Its ROF needs to be bumped up to land it around a 1.2 second perfect TTK. As it stands now, I’d honestly rather have Commando starts.

13

> 2533274805469694;11:
> Is it out of line to suggest Auto Starts and Precision Starts can be two different gametypes in the same playlist? We ain’t gotta be separatists about this.

I mean, with the MCC match composer, I feel like we already have a more nuanced solution to this problem. For people that don’t mind either they can just select both. But I’m not one of those people and I’m sure that there are AR fans who feel similarly.

I’m also not at all interested in AR/Sidekick starts for Ranked play.

> 2693447455724344;12:
> BR starts could be amazing in this game if the BR wasn’t so, so much slower than every other iteration. Its ROF needs to be bumped up to land it around a 1.2 second perfect TTK. As it stands now, I’d honestly rather have Commando starts.

Yeah the rest of the sand box is just so deadly in this game, it makes little sense to me why they made the BR so slow. Unless they are actively trying to avoid a precision jack of all trades/master of none starting loadout–which is an incredible misstep in design imho.

I agree the Commando is the close to the correct ttk but it requires alot of reloading and has other flaws.

My ideal would be something like a Magnum (put a DMR skin on it idc) somewhere between the Halo 5’s and CE’s, but I doubt that’s going to happen. So buffing the BR seems like the most common sense solution.

Even then though, the Infinite BR is pretty easy. So although it needs to be faster, that’s not all that I would change.