Halo: Infinite (Dec. 8th, 2021) - Xbox Series X

[JaegerDice]

This tinfoil hat nonsense that the playlists were designed to screw over players has to stop. It's Alex Jones level nonsense.

There might be a kernel of truth to the idea that the gamepass was designed to indirectly incentivize spending money by being super stingy with EXP, but anybody with a hint of knowledge or experience in the games industry knows a publisher is not directing the minutiae of how a developer groups online playlists.

Clearly spoken by someone who never played halo, obviously.

LOL, played every Halo since CE.

Well, except for Halo 4. 2-3 hours of that MP was enough to know it was trash.

 

[Blitzkrug]

I have my favorite modes too. My favorite mode is CTF, and I could really care less about Slayer, because honestly, at the end of the day, 90% of any match is Slayer. I roll my eyes at SWAT players, because I feel like they're the playing the wrong game. I don't understand the mindset of 'hey, let me play this game with a higher TTK and all sorts of different weapons, just so we can eliminate all the mechanics that differentiate it so I can 1shot kids with my spawn weapon'.

But when Slayer comes up in playlists (or SWAT in previous games), I didn't stomp my feet and pout, I played my best, finished the match, hoped for a different mode next game.

Another good example here. You feel like they're playing the wrong game style yet you feel the need to say that? I don't like SWAT either but i'm not going to bitch and moan about people who choose to play it, unlike yourself. Because that was the beauty of Halo; we could play what we wanted.

You really are arrogant lmao.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

There should definitely be separate playlists and more too like lone wolves and swat. We'll see if anything changes soon. Using mcc as a comparison probably isn't the best one though, half those playlists are dead, and honestly the only ones you find games in a timely manner are halo 3 and reach.

 

[JaegerDice]

Another good example here. You feel like they're playing the wrong game style yet you feel the need to say that? I don't like SWAT either but i'm not going to bitch and moan about people who choose to play it, unlike yourself. Because that was the beauty of Halo; we could play what we wanted.

You really are arrogant lmao.

Nonsense.

There's a big difference between being open to playing a number of modes built around the core mechanics and balance of game, versus a mode that eschews all of those mechanics and balance in pursuit of appealing to players of other games.

Next you'll tell me the next Dark Souls game should have a Devil May Cry mode.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I find it hard to believe playlists aren’t coming with how quickly 343 adjusted progression. They’re listening, and now you get plenty of XP for just playing, so the whole challenge argument goes out the window.

And yeah, 3 is the only Halo I can consistently find games for in MCC.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

This is from the day one blog. Things will change.

 

[Blitzkrug]

One more week until the campaign comes out.

Nah you're not allowed. jaegerdice and his friends have decreed this is fine therefore you will like it.

 

[Beau Knows]

I think I'll probably hold off on the campaign until the co-op comes out.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Played for 1.5 hours and went up 3 ranks in the BP without trying hard or using anything. People are gonna fly through this now. Had a match of every game mode and had a great time. The gameplay alone is too good to put down for me.

 

[S E P H]

Yeah, there are some issues going on...

- My BR for half of a BTB match the gun was lagging when I was trying to shoot and kept shooting two instead of three bullets, then would go as a machine gun.

- Some bullets from the AR do not register.

- The pistol reticle goes wonky at times.

- Extra: The brutal chopper is the most useless thing in the entire game, even moreso than the ravanger. It has terrible control, the guns are nerfed, and the boost is effin' useless.

 

[S E P H]

Yeah, there is a bit too much bitchin' about the game-modes. Some of my most epic match-ups happen in CTF and I just played two epic ones back-to-back just now. Stronghold is actually a pretty damn fast playlist and have played matches that only last seven minutes at top. Oddball is a classic and one of the best you can get. I think people are getting too hell-bent on challenges, do 1's and 0's cosmetic junk really do it for you? Not talking about you lot, but the idiots who are quitting matches for their specific challenges. With all of that said, you can't take something that was in previous Halo games and remove or retool it because of some form of micro-transactions. All the Halo games had a slayer dedicated playlist, I highly doubt 343 would be stupid to not have it when the full game comes out. Nonetheless, they did it in Halo 5 when they took away a dedicated playlist in every single Halo game, double team, and made it a "special" weekend only playlist to try and get player nums up. That was a terrible look on their part...

 

[chicagoskycam]

What the actual **** is the point of the horizontal shot on the heatwave? It's useless, lol

Meanwhile the vertical shot is a two-shot from AR range.

It would be great if you had three one-shot guys lined up, lol. Other than that it's always vertical for me and very effective.

 

[chicagoskycam]

Everyone has favorite game modes and when there is no dedicated playlists for certain modes, its frustrating for players when their fav modes don't come up in over 3 hours of gameplay. That's not an exaggeration either. Its already happened to me several times.

Yeah, you're in quick play for a CTF challenge and you can't seem to get a game. I would be shocked if they did not break out game modes when the game launches. If we are well in to December and it's still like this I'll be annoyed.

The double XP can really rank you up now if you have a bunch of easy challenges Qued up to finish. It's actually an hour total but countdowns from the moment you activate it. Activate one before your 1st game of the day if you have easy challenges to complete.

 

[Hammettf2b]

 

[Blitzkrug]

https://v.redd.it/ao4cnh9krs281

 

[S E P H]

https://v.redd.it/ao4cnh9krs281

LOL, the new KSI?!

 

[JaegerDice]

Finally said 'f*** it' and jumped into ranked to get my 10 placement matches done. Ended up in Platinum 6, which is ok I guess, given I'm still shaking off habits and 'feel' from Destiny 2 PVP.

At this point, after many hours with the game across every mode, I'm ready to say this is the best, most balanced weapon sandbox of any Halo ever. That doesn't make it my FAVORITE, as there are some omissions (at least so far) that I really loved, and some versions of weapons from previous games that I personally preferred, but by and large I understand the changes.

Except the Commando. It's redundant and unsatisfying to use, with no clear purpose in the sandbox.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I hit Gold 5. The ranked placement matches were so fun, super competitive. People actually play the objective.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Seems like everyone is getting placed high gold to high plat. I placed gold 6 and went on a tear to get to plat 1. And when I mean tear, I mean I was going like 15-2 and games were complete stomps.

Either I'm better at this game than I think (unlikely since I was a mid plat in 5 ranked) or something isn't quite right with the ranking system. Because my opponents felt like total bots.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I don’t know all that goes into it but do know some that got ranked silver and bronze that played together.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

I finished diamond 1 after my games. I think the ranking system is pretty wonky though, basically everyone in my games from the 2nd game on were high platinum or diamond, but some of them should've been lower for sure. Just a weird system, you can win games but not gain or even lose progress. It doesn't help how if people leave or DC it's pretty much GG, and 95% of kills coming from one gun gets kind of old.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Halo ranked has always been about "my BR skill beats your BR skills" outside of 5, but even that that largely devolved to pistol v pistol because of its stupidly good fire rate and how gross it was at pretty much all ranges. The sidekick having drop off and accuracy penalties at range is definitely a good change.

The ranking system doesn't make any sense as it is I think. It might weigh individual performance a bit too heavily which are letting people stomp lobbies full of really poor skill players and essentially elevating everyone to gold/plat when there should probably be more spread out. It legit feels like the quick play lobbies are way, way more competitive than ranked which makes zero sense

Shit even some of the diamond player streamers I watched didn't look like diamond level compared to games like say, siege or other games

 

[JaegerDice]

It kind of makes sense that most players on the bell curve would fall in Gold and Platinum. They’re the middle ranks with two tiers above and below (Bronze, Silver and Diamond, Onyx).

I do think it’s kind of dumb that you can only get as high as Diamond 1 in placing, but I guess those Diamond players that get squeezed under the cap wont stick in platinum for long.

 

[chicagoskycam]

I finished diamond 1 after my games. I think the ranking system is pretty wonky though, basically everyone in my games from the 2nd game on were high platinum or diamond, but some of them should've been lower for sure. Just a weird system, you can win games but not gain or even lose progress. It doesn't help how if people leave or DC it's pretty much GG, and 95% of kills coming from one gun gets kind of old.

Halo has always been about the BR but power weapons can change the course of the match. Sniper, Sword, etc. Ranked should be all team communication and crossfire, however, I do love that this version has no radar for flanking.

 

[Leafs at Knight]

Halo has always been about the BR but power weapons can change the course of the match. Sniper, Sword, etc. Ranked should be all team communication and crossfire, however, I do love that this version has no radar for flanking.

Yea I get that the br is the most popular and overall best weapon, but it just gets stale after awhile knowing that mostly every fight is who hits their br shots faster and better. To me halo has always been more about the sandbox they build, and in ranked that isn't show cased at all. Also like no one using mics even in ranked, and barely anyone even uses the ping system. Maybe I'll go for onyx, but even after doing placement matches, it kind of got stale. It doesn't help how people leave/DC often.