Let me start off by saying I think it’s great 343 has heard the complaints about progression and implemented some changes so quickly. It gives me hope that this can all be resolved. The actual game is a total blast to play and Im finding that I cannot wait to start a new game right after completing one.
However I think the community in part is focusing on the wrong aspect of these issues. It seems like everyone is obsessed with progressing through the battle pass as fast as possible to unlock all of the customization. That’s great and I totally get that, but too much focus on this aspect is leaving out the elephant in the room.
The current system simply does not encourage players to play the way they want to. 343 has emphasized player choice in all of the marketing for this game, and in reality if you play the way you want you do not progress. I’m not sure if I want to pick up the Rocket launcher or sniper over there, when my challenges have to do with BR Kills and Commando Kills. I’m not sure if I want to help my team capture that stronghold, while there is an enemy warthog driving around whose destruction by my hand would would satisfy one of my challenges.
These challenges are forcing myself, and I’m sure many others, to choose between playing the game the way it’s meant to be vs selfishly lone-wolfing around for XP.
343 updating the game to give is 50 XP per match no matter what is fine I suppose, but it’s not enough to progress through the battle pass in the slightest. I’m still going to have to abandon my team to get my 5 sniper kills, and I’m still not incentivized to grab the enemy flag when I still need 6 more BR kills.
The solution to me is pretty simple. There needs to be skill based XP. Challenges are supposed to be inherently supplemental, it’s in the name. It’s a challenge for the player to pursue in order to receive a BONUS reward. It shouldn’t be the only means for rewards period.
50 XP per match, no matter what is fine. It’s not a lot, and if you sucked and didn’t perform well you shouldn’t get much more in my opinion. But let’s say the winning team got an extra 50 on top of that. And let’s say you personally get an extra 25 for being a top performer based on the game type (most flags captured on your team etc.), maybe that’s another 25 XP. Maybe being the overall MVP on your team, based on objectives, kills, assists, etc. earns you 25 XP. Let’s say you did all of that without satisfying one of your challenges. You might have gotten a few more BR kills towards that challenge, but you didn’t have to spend the whole game working on it because you played the game the way you wanted to, did well, and the game rewarded you for that.
This is the way it should be. There is nothing more frustrating than playing this game (which is a lot of fun, do not get me wrong) and realizing at the end of the match you didn’t do what any of your challenges wanted you to do and have absolutely nothing to show for the skill you showed and the positive impact you had on your team and the outcome of the match. It’s mostly frustrating because we have had ranks in Halo since Halo 3 and progression since Halo Reach. Many of us fans have been playing Halo 5 for the last 6 years and are used to receiving XP amounts based on performance. If me or my team in general did really bad in a Warzone match and lost, I didn’t get as much XP and vice versa. And I know that ranked games in infinite track your skill, but it adds nothing to progression and there still needs to be something more general that spans across multiplayer.
I really hope 343 sees this because this is the fix we need. Helping people get through the battle pass faster is not the real solution. Players really just want to feel like their time and their performance matters and goes towards something. The current system is so bare bones it’s hard to imagine how it was thought to be a good idea. Halo 5 had tons of commendations, rewards, and awarded XP based on performance. That needs to be built on, not stripped away and replaced with this. After a brand new player’s 5th game in a row without finishing any challenges and only having a quarter of the xp needed to go up one level in the battle pass, whether they kicked -Yoink!- or sucked hard, I’m afraid people will leave.
Just to end positively, I’m loving the gameplay. The new modes are a blast, the sandbox is amazing, the maps are interesting, and the graphics are beautiful. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to give this a read.