Halo 5 Patch Preview (Available Now!)

UPDATE: The Halo 5 "Overtime" update is now available!


Hey folks - Great news, the next update for Halo 5 has cleared certification and is on target for release this Thursday, 11/2!

Here's what you need to know:

• The update itself should start rolling out around 9AM PT on Thursday, 11/2.
• Once everything is live and verified, we'll then pull the trigger on launching the landing page on Waypoint and will get the word out across our social channels.
• At approximately 1PM PT, a few items requiring back-end configuration work will go live - this includes things like the Arclight being returned to its previous value in Warzone and the new Commendations.
• Lastly, at approx. 2PM PT, the new Halo 5 Local Server app will be available for download via the Windows Marketplace.

Note that unlike prior releases, there are no new REQs being added to the pool with this update so there's no need to hold off on opening packs and waiting for that propagation to occur. But please do note that if you'd like to earn the new Commendations, those won't be live until approx. 1PM PT (we'll get the word out once the work is complete).

Here's a look at the patch notes for the "Overtime" update:

New / Updated Features

• Halo 5 now looks better than ever with 4K UHD support for Xbox One X!
• Play Ball! Oddball and Oddball FFA return as official game modes:

- New Oddball medals added
- New announcer voice over audio added
- New Oddball skull object added (it’s back!)

• Host and play low-latency Halo 5 multiplayer matches with the Halo 5: Guardians Local Server app for Windows 10 PC (to be released at approx. 2PM PT 11/2)
• Support your favorite HCS team with new weapon skins for Splyce, Luminosity, and Str8 Rippin. Current release dates: Luminosity 11/7, Str8 Rippin 11/21, Spylce 12/5
• Represent your Halo World Championship home region with new United States, Canada, UK, Mexico, and Australia weapon skins. These skins will be available during the Halo World Championship 2018.

• New Weapon Tuning for 14 items deployed across all game modes (full details HERE)
• New Commendations added:

- Brute Plasma Rifle
- Sentinel Beam
- Gravity Hammer
- Reach Grenade Launcher
- Wasp Destroyer
- Wasp Gunner
- Grunt Mech Slayer

• Assault changes:

- Changed default settings for Assault to have ball explosion damage enabled on score
- Changed default settings for Assault to no longer include double thrust for a ball carrier

• Forge changes:

- Added the Relic Sword to the weapon palette
- Added Forge entries for the new Gunfighter Flagnum

• New Custom Game Options:

- Oddball support on default Custom game maps coming soon (in the meantime enjoy the new Oddball playlist - launching 11/2!)

- Ball Mode Options:
- Ball Type: Allows selection between the default UNSC Ball and the newly added Oddball Skull for use as the game ball
- Ball Explosion Damage: Allows enabling/disabling of explosion damage when the ball is scored in an Assault mode
- Score Per Kill While Carrying: Allows configuration of points awarded for killing an enemy player while carrying the ball
- Ball Carrier Traits -> Melee Damage Modifier: Added a value for “Standard Weapon Melee Damage”, which configures ball melee damage to be exactly equivalent to that of a normal weapon melee

• Respawn Menu Options

- Player Follow Camera Enabled During Respawn: Enable or disable the Player Follow Camera screen during respawn
- Follow Camera Allow Enemy Player Selection: Allows the selection of enemy players in the Player Follow Camera screen during respawn
- Enable Stacking Team Spawn Influencers: Increases the chance of spawning with teammates
- Spawning Mode: Choose between default spawn selection and random spawn selection

• Flag Mode Options

- Flagnum Type: Set the type of Magnum (standard or Gunfighter) that will be wielded when holding the flag

Improvements & Fixes

• General stability fixes
• Improved JIP (“Join in Progress”) rules for Social playlists

- Added thresholds that will prevent JIP in Social playlists depending on the remaining score to victory, score differences between teams in a match, and time remaining in the match. These are tuned on a per-game-mode basis with the goal of reducing negative JIP experiences.

• Fixed a number of exploits for Warzone

- Fixed ability to get inside bases to contest
- Fixed ability to get under the world
- Fixed ability to destroy the core when you should not be able to
- Fixed an issue where the red team shield door would sometimes not have proper collision

• BTB Assault matches now group properly under their own category in the Service Record
• Fixed an issue where REQ currency would sometimes not recharge properly when joining in progress to Warzone modes
• Fixed an issue where players who JIP’ed into Warzone games were not leveling up
• Fixed an issue where JIP’ing players sometimes caused momentary hitches
• Added a fix for the “black screen” bug (We believe this is addressed, and will be monitoring closely - please let us know if you experience this issue post-patch)
• Fixed a bug in which banned players could continue to play matches
• Fixed a bug where March on Stormbreak and Battle of Noctus home bases did not have player collision
• Fixed a rare crash players could hit if they died while picking up power-ups
• Increased the cooldown time on the Banshee's flip maneuver

NOTE: The Overtime update for Halo 5: Guardians ended up being larger than anticipated in terms of file size. Since the handoff for release, the team has found ways to further reduce the size of this update, and will be addressing this in a future hotfix.