I’ve listened to the community over the problems with Halo Infinite, and I have watched 343i’s responses and promises over the weeks/months and there is a lot of contention between the community right now. It seems to be one side that accepts Halo for what it is, a base game that will be built upon over the coming months/years. And another side that looks at what was stripped away from previous Halo games to create Infinite. I can say I definitely sit on the side of the latter, and have been thusly unimpressed with much of what Infinite is. I see the gaming magazines giving it rave reviews, when I would maybe give it a 6.5/10.
Before I start getting the verbal lashings in the comments, let me explain my position more wholely.
First, I understand and accept that games have moved to an in-game shop model to sell cosmetics. Many games do this; ESO, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty, etc. It’s the new business model that we all get to accept. However, 343i has taken it to a whole other level. The amount of restrictions on the armor is a main driving factor as to why I feel it is priced way too high. The bundles don’t necessarily bother me, but how they build the bundles does. For example, the $20 set in the shop this week is the same color armor coating 3x (one for each armor core that currently exists), 2 different weapon coatings (1 for the BR, and one for the sniper and bulldog), and then the nameplate, armor emblem, vehicle emblem and weapon emblem. Seems like a good deal right? That’s 10 items for $20. Except, lets break it down further. If you remove the armor core aspect of it, you are really only getting 1 armor color coating, and if you look at how Fortnite has their weapon customization built, you are paying for a very limited aspect to two weapon wraps., out of all the weapons available to you in-game. Your 10 items for $20 just dropped to about 6 items for $20. When you REALLY look at it, who pays attention to armor/vehicle/weapon emblems or nametags other than the player themself? So broken down, the $20 set is probably only worth $10 when compared to other games offering similar cosmetic build-styles.
I’ve heard the argument a lot about $20 or $10 for a color, and that is a very legitimate argument. Looking at games that allow you to customize your armor color, they often have an extremely wide pallet of color options, all available for free by unlocking them in game, or they are already accessible. Offering additional colors in the shop goes against what other games are doing and thusly, Halo Infinite must be a step above the other games, not only in gameplay and replayability, but in offerings with that color that people would actually want (hence the success of the cat-ear bundle).
The other aspect is the inconsistency in value of the bundles. The cat ear bundle comes with an armor coating, the cat ear helmet attachment, and two weapon key chains for $10.00. However, the weapon bundle in the shop with the weapon attachments comes with 3 weapon wraps (one for each weapon in the bundle - br, pistol, ar) and 3 weapon attachments (one for each weapon - br, ar, pistol). Seems like a good deal, 6 items for $15, but really its 1 color and its extremely limited (not useable across all weapons) and the attachments are limited to those specific weapons. The value of the set just dropped substantially when compared against other games of similar customization types.
The next bundle, for $5 comes with 2 shoulder cosmetics, a helmet attachment, and an armor coating for $5. Well, breaking that down, the color is limited to 1 armor core, as is the helmet attachment and shoulders, and they seriously break out the left and right shoulders to make it seem like you are getting more for your money.
This is why there is an argument that the shop is predatory in pricing and many are boycotting until it is fixed. I’m not arguing to remove the shop, but I do want to see the prices fixed.
Another major sticking point has been the challenge system and how that was implemented/integrated into the game. Players were promised they could play the game and the modes they wanted and the challenge system would compliment that. We are now 5 weeks into the game (I know, still in its infancy) but players are still getting challenges they don’t like to do, and their only options to teach the system they don’t like it are to use challenge swaps. We receive a limited number of those from the battlepass, but what then? Once those run out, then players are forced to either “teach” the system that’s what they want to do by completing them, or by spending more money in the shop to buy challenge swaps and hope they get a challenge they’d rather do. Many already don’t like the challenge system because it takes away from in-game performance (why try when everyone gets the same xp in the end anyway right?), but this just piles on more problems. It would be different if players were provided options of what challenges to do each week, and THEN use their swaps if they picked one that was too difficult for them, or if when using a challenge swap they could pick from a couple different ones, instead of getting force-fed another challenge that they might spend a swap on.
I understand player skill is different across the board, and for some this may not be an issue, but there are many who do find it an issue and one that should be addressed since the system is literally set up to make you spend money. 343i can deny it all they want as a way to buy time to fix what they “broke” but it is built to force you to spend money on something you get literally no permanent benefit off of.
I could continue onto the server desynch issues, the lack of protection from aim-botters and hit box trackers and the like, the fact btb is still having an issue and nobody seems to know why, and the other laundry list of things wrong with Halo Infinite right now, but this post is already very long.
I have been enjoying Halo Infinite, and am glad to see the esports scene was extremely successful (minus the major technical glitches) this past weekend on Twitch and Youtube. I just hope that 343i starts to listen to their player base sooner rather than later on their pricing models and how cosmetics were built to work. If it takes a complete rework of that part of the system, then so-be-it, but it definitely does need to change and I hope they make good on their word from their latest live stream.
One final note, just to give you an idea of where 343i’s heads are really at. In the live stream, they apologized for not catching the marketing mistake about the Yoroi armor and what cosmetics were advertised as free. That wasn’t them apologizing for putting the armor into the shop, lets make that clear. They were not apologizing for putting the armor into the shop. They were apologizing that they didn’t catch the fact it was advertised as free. They never had any intention of giving that armor for free, their original intention was to charge $20 for it, but marketing messed up and they didn’t catch it before it released. THAT is the only reason they added it into the “updated” battle pass. It wasn’t because we wanted the “cool” stuff to be free and they realized the error in their ways, it is because their internal departments didn’t talk to each other correctly.
Just more food for thought.