• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Halo Infinite Season 2 preview

onesvenus

Member


KING OF THE HILL
The return of the king (of the hill)!
ogOl9ZZ.jpg

You know how the game is played, but there's a little bit of a twist to this one. A neutral hill spawns on the map and two teams battle it out to control the hill and earn points. When a player enters the hill uncontested, it is captured and begins earning 1 point per second into a capture bar. When a team's capture bar is full, they score 1 point and a new hill spawns somewhere else on the map.

LAND GRAB
Control those zones, Spartans!
S4qQiVK.jpg

At the start of the match, there are 3 neutral zones around the map. When a player captures a zone, it is locked and gives their team 1 point. When all zones are captured, there is an intermission before 3 new neutral zones spawn. The first team to score 11 points wins.

LAST SPARTAN STANDING
Objective: Survive.
0O1Vrml.jpg


Last Spartan Standing is based around the Lone Wolves theme of Season 2.
In this free-for-all experience, 12 players spawn on Big Team Battle maps with a confined loadout and 5 respawns. Once a player runs out of respawns and can no longer participate, they can either spectate or leave the match without penalty.
If a player gets a kill in the match, they can upgrade to a different weapon—something players of "Escalation Slayer" will no doubt be familiar with. The match ends when there is just one Spartan left standing.

Fun modes

Ninja Slayer – You've got infinite ammo Energy Swords and Grappleshot loadouts, with only Grappleshots and Power Equipment on-map. What ya do in this mode is swing around and hit people with swords.
Vampireball – This is something I was inspired to try after a long-winded post I made about Oddball on Reddit drummed up some interesting discussion. In this Oddball mode, the Skull carrier is no longer nerfed—instead, the Skull is a one hit kill and has 50% Shield Vampirism (which, if you score a kill with the Skull at full shields, say, bleeds into an Overshield).
Rocket Repulsors – Infinite ammo Rocket Launchers and Repulsor loadouts, with only Repulsors and Power Equipment on-map. This might be a good time to remind everyone that you can deflect things like Rockets with the Repulsor equipment… or super-jump yourself upward to avoid an explosion…


Last Spartan standing sounds awesome.
 
Last edited:
It's unforgivable to think that my first ever Xbox experience on OG Xbox launch day was Co-op Halo, 21 years ago. Yet this game STILL doesn't have co-op. very, very disappointing. I hope it's in the next update, but something tells me that co-op will be quietly shit canned.
 

Codes 208

Member
Meh, none of those modes sounds interesting to me, let alone "fun", maybe except the new Oddball which is what the mode should've been from the get-go. But still no dedicated Domination/CTF/Oddball playlists is a sad joke.
Actually the one where you can bum rush with unlimited grapple and sword sounds very chaotic and im totally for that.

The game needs an action sack playlist, standard game types have too many sweats rn
 
Last edited:

93xfan

Banned
Sounds good. Wish they had a progression system like MCC though.

Glad to see KotH return though!
 

jorgejjvr

Gold Member
3 Debbie Downer posts already.

These updates will keep coming, the game will grow, this time next year it’ll be the game everybody wanted. Play others until then.
people forget this is how many free to play start

I remember Apex season 0-2 be a drag, then they figured it out by seaon 3 and on

the core gameplay is good and fun, and in due time, its going to be a great experience hopefully. If they add a BR, its a done deal
 

John117

Member
After that I finished Halo Infinite campaign, I played few times at Halo Infinite. I love campaign, multiplayer also but I don't hear the necessity to return in Halo for multiplayer.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
When is the PC optimization coming? Season 56? The game runs like crap once you get to the open world. And in MP is very demanding for what it is.
 
And? Just because a game eventually becomes a finished product doesn't excuse the shitty release and lack of content we have now.
How does a 'finished' GaaS launch? Apex Legends and Fortnite have had modes and features added since they launched. I assume you railed at them for being 'unfinished' when hit originally? Since they continue to get updates they may never be finished so perhaps you'll never be happy.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
But do we need the same angry comments from the same people in every Halo thread?

No is the answer.

The real question is, do we need the same astroturfers defending shitty products?

No is the answer.

How does a 'finished' GaaS launch? Apex Legends and Fortnite have had modes and features added since they launched. I assume you railed at them for being 'unfinished' when hit originally? Since they continue to get updates they may never be finished so perhaps you'll never be happy.

I was happy with Halo 2. With Halo 3. With Halo Reach. It isn't hard to release a good, complete MP product. Stop defending shitty practices.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
This is the devs fault. Just like with Battlefield 2042. Both of these devs deserve all of the criticism they receive.
.
Infinite’s MP was always launched as F2P, live service with post launch updates planned.

Battlefield 2042 was MP only and cost $60.


The real question is, do we need the same astroturfers defending shitty products?

No is the answer.

Infinitely preferable to see people engaging with the thread topic and not griping about unrelated arguments.

The most complaints about the MP was the lack of content. You yourself cite a lack of content as a key issue in this thread. Well, guess what this thread is about?
 

ZehDon

Member
More content is good, but pretending King of the Hill is a new mode is not enough to revitalise the player base. If customs worked, players could've designed all of these new modes on launch day. Six months in, the core parts of the game are still garbage.

3 Debbie Downer posts already.

These updates will keep coming, the game will grow, this time next year it’ll be the game everybody wanted. Play others until then.
How many multiplayer only games survived an entire year with little to no players? Currently, the MCC has more daily players on Steam than Halo Infinite, and the game is dropping down the Xbox list week to week. The game is done, pal. 343i dug themselves a hole with their disaster of a launch, and now they're stuck pretending that fans are excited for "Vampire Ball" while the community is screaming for fundamental fixes to virtually every major element of the game - fixes that are, at best, eighteen months to two years away.
 
I still fail to understand for the last 10+ years how KOTH, land grab, territories, extraction and games where you're in a fixed position are greenlit so much by 343. Honestly there are far better game types out there that don't create that McDonalds style fast food gameplay. Stockpile, ricochet, flag, bomb, headhunter, oddball, invasion and anything that tries something new beyond "here's a box now stand in it while you get shot and grenades thrown at your fixed position" is far more welcomed.

Is it that hard to look at the most popular FPS games for the last 5+years and realise free roaming gameplay is the cornerstone of what people want to play. Fuck this watered down esports shit all the time. Apex, Fortnite, Warzone etc all enable players and squads to choose their battles to engage or flee while enabling all sorts of interesting play. Design the maps better, get creative with gametypes and FFS stop rehashing the same old shit.
 
Last edited:

elliot5

Member
I still fail to understand for the last 10+ years how KOTH, land grab, territories, extraction and games where you're in a fixed position are greenlit so much by 343. Honestly there are far better game types out there that don't create that McDonalds style fast food gameplay. Stockpile, ricochet, flag, bomb, headhunter, oddball, invasion and anything that tries something new beyond "here's a box now stand in it while you get shot and grenades thrown at your fixed position" is far more welcomed.

Is it that hard to look at the most popular FPS games for the last 5+years and realise free roaming gameplay is the cornerstone of what people want to play. Fuck this watered down esports shit all the time. Apex, Fortnite, Warzone etc all enable players and squads to choose their battles to engage or flee while enabling all sorts of interesting play. Design the maps better, get creative with gametypes and FFS stop rehashing the same old shit.
Nah i like these objective types. The Last spartan standing mode is something fresh
 
Nah i like these objective types. The Last spartan standing mode is something fresh

I love objective too but something more like Zanzibar flag/bomb, Avalanche flag/bomb, Reach's stockpile etc. Standing in a zone, run to a zone, blow up, repeat is just so blah blah blah. There's no nuance, movement skill, stealth, distraction, counter cap/arm etc. I've never been a fan of FFA anyhow.

Perhaps Last Spartan Standing might have some freshness to it but it's not exactly play with your buddies in a party/coordinated team fun variant if you ask me. I do respect it's something new but feels more like a trial of a larger BR game in the works or network test than a fully fleshed out BR mode. If they had Forge or mods available the community would have built such modes in weeks I'd imagine.
 

Havoc2049

Member
Looking forward to King of the Hill as I've always loved that mode in past Halo games.

I hope the new maps go back to the creativity of past Halo map designs.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Looks good but I would have preferred more maps rather than more modes tbh.

Looking forward to jumping back in though!
 

Ozriel

M$FT
More content is good, but pretending King of the Hill is a new mode is not enough to revitalise the player base. If customs worked, players could've designed all of these new modes on launch day. Six months in, the core parts of the game are still garbage.

Good thing additional content is coming with Season 2, in less than two weeks.

The gameplay - the core of the game - is FAR from garbage.

From the blog post, it’s clear that most of these required some thought that go beyond basic ‘customs’.

How many multiplayer only games survived an entire year with little to no players?

Doesn’t apply to Halo Infinite. Nearly 9k Peak concurrents on Steam, and many more on console isn’t ‘little to no players’
And that number is most likely going up with the addition of more maps, more modes and the eventual addition of Forge

Currently, the MCC has more daily players on Steam than Halo Infinite

This is false. MCC got a bump from some new content, but it’s back below Infinite by some margin.



The game is done, pal. 343i dug themselves a hole with their disaster of a launch, and now they're stuck pretending that fans are excited for "Vampire Ball" while the community is screaming for fundamental fixes to virtually every major element of the game - fixes that are, at best, eighteen months to two years away.

Head over to the Halo subreddit and the reaction to these new modes is quite positive, with a lot of folks excited for these updates.

I can’t think of any fixes the community is clamoring for that are years away. Most of the most requested additions are Forge and a custom games browser…and Forge is currently lined up for Season 3 around July/August.
 

ZehDon

Member
The gameplay - the core of the game - is FAR from garbage.
Actually, the fundamentals of the game - an online multiplayer game - would be the technical underpinnings that enable the multiplayer to function. From poor connectivity, rampant simulation desync issues, PC cheaters, and laggy games, the fundamentals of Halo Infinite are actually pretty terrible. Some of these issues were also present in Halo 5, and they were never properly fixed. As of today, 343i has made zero progress in resolving any of them. In fact, some of the issues are becoming worse as the player base continues to dwindle.

From the blog post, it’s clear that most of these required some thought that go beyond basic ‘customs’.
Not really. A version of most of them have been created in previous Halo titles by fans. The amount of work to throw them together should be minimal at best. If it required more than a few hours for any one mode, 343i are in serious trouble.

Doesn’t apply to Halo Infinite. Nearly 9k Peak concurrents on Steam, and many more on console isn’t ‘little to no players’
A massive AAA F2P shooter that is less than six months old has fewer PC players than The Sims 4, an eight year old single player offline family simulation game. That's not just "little to no players" that's a painful embarrassment. Halo Infinite flopped.

This is false. MCC got a bump from some new content, but it’s back below Infinite by some margin.
As of today, sure, Halo Infinite, Microsoft's brand new massive budget high profile F2P shooter from their premier franchise, now has a massive 800 daily average players more than the MCC, a collection of old console games spanning two decades that launched in a fundamentally broken state that took years to fix. This isn't the "win" you think it is.

Head over to the Halo subreddit and the reaction to these new modes is quite positive, with a lot of folks excited for these updates.
Hand a person dying of thirst a bottle of piss and they'll still thank you for it. As I said in my previous post, more content is good - but it's not enough. As I said, 343i are stuck pretending people care about their miniscule content updates for years to come.

I can’t think of any fixes the community is clamoring for that are years away...
Think harder.
Removal of the challenge progression system and an addition of a pure XP progression system is slated for late this year, meaning it will be likely delayed. Taking them at their word, that's over eighteen months since the community explained during the flights that the progression system was fundamentally broken, and a year after everyone who played the game explained it made the game worse. And they're still in the design phase, according to their blogs.
According to 343i's blog posts, a complete overhaul of the armour customisation system to remove the garbage "armour core" restrictions will require a complete re-working of every item in the game. This was explained to be an on-going set of work that is set to takes years to complete.
A re-do of the UI is apparently almost impossible due to engine limitations, which means things like simple game-mode selection, armour selection screen improvements, and even changes to their MTX store layout require fundamental re-writes of the game's engine. This places that type of improvement squarely in the Infinite 2.0 basket, which is at least two years away.
A complete overhaul of the MTX approach to the game is also set to be on-going. They haven't figured out how to make XP boosts work properly, for example, because the challenge system prevents it from functioning logically. To date, 343i have no solution.
The investigation of the aforementioned networking issues has only just started at 343i, with the "mid-season patch" adding in telemetry systems for them to start tracking the issue. They took care to set expectations for fixes here: this will be an issue that will take years to properly resolve, and its worth not this was never fully fixed in Halo 5. Their recent GDC videos, in which the two-simulation system of Infinite was explained, has led some in the community to believe the desync issues cannot be resolved at all.
In addition to the above, 343i need to ship all of the missing features that past titles launched with - Co-op, Forge, Firefight, Campaign mission selection - and all of the respective content. Co-op was delayed two times already, Forge is MIA, and 343i refuse to acknowledge Fightfight. We're talking years for the full set of features, just to get Halo Infinite to where it should have been when it launched last year. Only then can 343i can actually start making anything new that would advance Halo Infinite.
Fixing all of the above is going to take eighteen months to two years of full time work, and that's being generous considering the glacial pace 343i have been operating at.

I don't begrudge people their enjoyment of the game, so please continue to have fun it - but please don't try and pretend that Halo Infinite is doing great. The game's on life support, and 343i are years from pulling off a turn around. It'll see a bump when Season 2 launches, sure, but it'll die off just as quickly as it did at launch because none of the issues are actually fixed. And 343i have told us those fixes are months and months and months away.
 
Last edited:

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Let's see if they can bounce back, I dont know if I'm convinced. I'm slipping into the camp that 343i really took too long and interest has literally fallen off a cliff.

I feel there are too many issues with balancing etc and server lag. I witnessed quite a few issues when I picked it back up.

I still enjoy it but its far from what I expected. Not saying they cant turn it around, but i think its a tall order tbh.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
I don't begrudge people their enjoyment of the game, so please continue to have fun it - but please don't try and pretend that Halo Infinite is doing great. The game's on life support, and 343i are years from pulling off a turn around. It'll see a bump when Season 2 launches, sure, but it'll die off just as quickly as it did at launch because none of the issues are actually fixed. And 343i have told us those fixes are months and months and months away.


Not a single person here has said it’s doing great. But it’s not ‘dead’ or ‘dying’, and added content (maps, modes, Forge) will bring a lot of folks back. Network issues will be fixed or ameliorated.

But all that is immaterial. This should be a thread to discuss the Season 2 content. Even r/Halo, as toxic as it can be, has threads discussing the content without digressing into the old griping at 343i. Would it be so hard to stay out of Halo threads or avoid derails since you feel the game is ‘dead’?
 

ZehDon

Member
... and added content (maps, modes, Forge) will bring a lot of folks back...
Not really. Halo Infinite is still a multiplayer game, and it must obey the laws of multiplayer games. A few new maps and missing modes isn't enough. They'll need to do a 2.0 re-launch in order to get enough players back in to reach critical mass, which keeps lots of players coming back day after day. And as I described, the necessary feature set for that 2.0 is at least eighteen months away. Until then, I doubt anyone's coming back.
Network issues will be fixed or ameliorated.
They weren't for Halo 5, which suffers them to this day.
... This should be a thread to discuss the Season 2 content...
I did discuss Season 2 content: it's pithy content that should've been there at launch, and it's nowhere enough to justify a three month Season 2 delay. You're the one who felt the need to pull apart my simple reply with a wall of text pretending that Halo Infinite was doing great. I'll continue to discuss Halo Infinite as I see fit. Check my post history: I was very excited for Halo Infinite, and I wanted Halo to be back. I have my Halo Infinite Series 2 Elite controller, I loved the flights, I bought my Season 1 Battle Pass. But two maps and simplistic modes that should've launched with the game after seven months, and none of the fundamental technical issues even being approached? That's an embarrassment, and I'll call it as such until 343i do better.
 
And? Just because a game eventually becomes a finished product doesn't excuse the shitty release and lack of content we have now.
All big mp launched with less content but now they all are top most played games out there.

Example
Fortnite- Half assed launch, took epic more than year to make it good.
Apex same as above.
Rainbow six siege- Horrible launch but bounced back.
FF14 online - same.
Destiny 1 and 2 - same as above.

So Halo is now same.
 

BigLee74

Member
Nobody in here is saying Halo is doing great, so LIES!!

Some people however can appreciate that this Halo is not a single release with bug fixes a la releases from years of old, but has been designed from the outset to grow and expand in the years to come.

It definitely released light, and it’s initial expansion is slower than hoped, but it will get there, and folk will come back/shift over from MCC.

I’ll bet my wife on it (win/win for me).
 
Top Bottom