Will Infinite multiplayer be fun/rewarding to grind?

Games Halo Infinite
1

My much younger cousins and I are equally absorbed by these gun camo challenges in an another FPS we’re currently playing to pass the time until Infinite. I have to admit that it’s an addictive grind.

I want to differentiate “playing” vs. “grinding” here. I’ve played Halo Infinite, so there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s a fun game to play, but I want it to have longevity. My concern is that (sadly) I don’t believe even a fun arena shooter would last long these days without incentive to grind the game. That means rewarding challenges that offer cosmetics you can unlock simply by playing the game.

We all know Infinite is going to have unlockable cosmetics. That’s not a question. My hope is that 343 do it well, and that it’s fun/rewarding/addictive. In my brief experience with Infinite’s unlockables, I personally found it to be less intuitive than COD’s.

There’s something so simple and rewarding about their system. Each weapon is “leveled up” individually; at each level you unlock weapon attachments; in addition to the attachments you can unlock weapon camos by completing challenges with that gun (i.e. 10 headshot kills, 10 hipfire kills, etc.). Each newly unlocked item is clearly indicated in the menus with a rewarding green dot. This is all in addition to the Battle Pass, which offers new guns, operators, additional camos, etc…

Infinite is at an inherent disadvantage in this regard because there won’t be weapon attachments. Everything we’ll be grinding for in Infinite will be cosmetic, which is fine, but it has to be done right.

I want to be clear that I’m not suggesting 343 copy COD’s system, but in my opinion, in order for it to be “done right,” there are a few tenets that absolutely need to be adhered to:

  1. We need to be able to see what items are available to us. Give us a goal.
  2. Our progression towards those items needs to be clear & obvious.
  3. The items need to be exciting
  4. We need to be alerted when we unlock something new (i.e. COD’s green dot). It’s rewarding.

I’m going to sink hours into Infinite no matter what, but I know younger gamers likely will not if there isn’t a free, fun, and rewarding reason to grind it. This is my concern, because I simply haven’t seen enough from the tech previews to be confident Infinite will deliver in this regard. I hope I’m proven wrong.

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2

I mean, point blank:

  • The first battlepass progression leaked a week or so ago, seems reasonable.

  • You keep your battlepass past the season

At least as far as the Modern Warfare reboot is concerned: It’s intentionally overly-complex. CoD has attachments basically as busy-work and a way to hide/produce balance issues. It’s essentially an artificial way to make “progression” and give the player a sense that they haven’t done enough, etc.
“This gun isn’t good yet, I have to do more to get this week’s meta setup going”
(Which is also how Warzone works. Which is hilarious how people complain about RNG recoil, but love RNG BR]

In all honesty, grinding/cosmetics are annoying in pretty much every game. A lot of people fall for the psychology of it, which is why it’s so common now. (The Pizza Skin in R6 comes to mind).

A lot of people like daily and weekly challenges, which is what Halo Infinite seems to be basing it’s leveling system around (another thing people fall for is seeing a number go up). 343 got lit up for leaning too heavily into the challenges for XP thing too. Which they adjusted, so I think the system may evolve over time. :smiley:

Overall I think it’s pretty simple, you constantly have challenges to complete/swap out. It’s minimalistic and if you need it, it’s there.

You shouldn’t be driven to play by unlockables though, that’s like chasing status or gambling addiction when it concerns loot boxes, etc. But that’s a can of worms for Dr.K to handle, not me. I just wanna shoot things

3

With all due respect, I think it’s a bit pretentious to suggest that people are in some way naive because they enjoy grinding for unlockables. Everyone is free to enjoy a game however they choose to enjoy it. I’m a completionist, and I enjoy the challenge of unlocking cosmetics via sometimes-tedious challenges. I wouldn’t dare speak for everyone, but I can also speak for the large group of people I personally play with, and they enjoy “the grind” as well. I understand some people may not enjoy it, but I think it’s fair to say that most young gamers today are captivated by this way of playing.

In no way am I suggesting that Infinite’s battle pass is terrible. The Heroes of Reach Battle Pass I saw looked awesome, and the ability to switch between battle passes at will is a policy all games should replicate. But as I said, COD has their weapon progression and camo challenges IN ADDITION to their battle passes, and it’s totally free.

At no point was I even being critical. I’m a positive person and I want nothing more than for Infinite to be a massive success. I simply expressed concern. I hope Infinite’s multiplayer offers enough incentive, outside of the battle pass, for people to want to sink a lot of time into it.

4

Dude I’m 28 and I LOVE grinding for Cosmetics, but I don’t like cosmetics that are super hard to unlock through challenges, but at the same time can just be purchased for 10$. Why even have the challenge at that point?

5

I completely agree with this. The appeal for me is earning cosmetics that are difficult to get that can’t simply be bought.

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I mean alcoholics say they don’t have a problem or they have it under control :stuck_out_tongue:

I’m not suggesting it’s harmful or that you have a problem btw, just being sarcastic

To clarify, I was more pointing out that Halo Infinite seems to have a stripped down approach compared to what’s out there. It’s more straight-forward and you can swap challenges, etc. It doesn’t feel predatory, more like "Hey, just do things, but like maybe try some other modes/guns out while you’re at it please"

Which is more approachable for the public then like “Get 15 blinded kills with the Odin while having the short barrel and 24x scope attached” etc. (* I say that despite being closer to the gold riot shield than I care to admit*)

7

I like the idea of the weekly capstones. Like oh you’ve completed all your challenges for the week? He’s an extra big challenge to reward some gear.

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8

Same. I wish 343 would at least add daily challenges to MCC to make unlocking armor feel less like a slog, but that’s way off topic for here. Just hoping Infinite has constantly rotating challenges.

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9

I honestly think that making a game “Grindy” isn’t actually a healthy thing. 343i have been pretty clear that they want players to have fun and play at their own pace with Halo Infinite.

Your BattlePass levels up through challenges.
There are weekly “capstone” rewards for completing all your weekly challenges.
There’s also rewards for certain Ranked MM ranks.

Outside of that I don’t believe there is any kind of grinding for Armour or Weapon Coatings. Which I’m glad. I’m tired of games wanting players to sink in time and grind over and over just to get a cosmetic reward.

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Play the game to have fun. If people just keep playing only to fill little boxes, then what’s the point ? It seems like you prefer quantity over quality content.

11

Fears realized.

The game is amazing, but the progression is terrible. The fun gameplay is enough to keep diehards playing, and casuals will play for a while, but without improved progression those casuals will grow bored relatively quickly and they’ll move onto something else.

And to be clear, I’m not suggesting 343 ignore hardcore fans and cater to casuals. Progression systems don’t have to affect gameplay. If you don’t care about the unlockables, you certainly don’t have to grind for them.

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No not its not. I have played 1000s of hours of Halo and without a progression system I can’t be -Yoink!-. I refuse to continue buying into this microtransaction meta that is plaguing modern games.

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13

I thought Titanfall 2 had a somewhat fun grind. You could unlock everything by just playing the game. Some stuff was locked behind a paywall but that was purely cosmetic.

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