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Season 1 Outcomes Report – Live

On Bazaar, two Spartans with BRs are running side-by-side
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  -  2 years ago

Last week we put out our Season 1 Outcomes report, to be transparent about the feedback we’ve received since launch and provide the team’s responses to emerging themes in the community. It covered the input we’ve received on areas such as Accessibility, Audio, Multiplayer, PC, Sandbox, and UXUI in a large post here on Halo Waypoint.

This week, we’re doing another Outcomes report (almost like an Outcomes pt. 2) that’s focused on our Live Team’s responsibilities. In it, we’ll cover feedback on Halo Infinite’s Customization, Shop, Battle Pass, Progression, Challenges, Ultimate Rewards, Events, Theater, Observer Mode, and more.

A Spartan with an unmounted turret walks around Fragmentation.

You will definitely see similarities in key feedback themes from the tech previews that carry over into Season 1. In the months leading up to release, the team was fully focused on launching Halo Infinite with very little room to begin work on the majority of these areas (many of which are quite significant in scope). In some cases, work on these common themes has been happening already while in others, new insights and data gleamed from Season 1 has helped to further refine scope and priority for the team to address moving forward. 

To set expectations, please keep in mind that this is not meant to cover all the upcoming work we have planned for Halo Infinite – nor does it have specific timelines for every item. It will, however, cover many of the common feedback areas that you’ve seen raised and discussed online with a focus on what’s landing in Season 2. We’ll have more to share around the specific timing of features and content in the future. As Joseph noted last month, the team is also actively working towards shipping fixes, features, and updates in more agile ways during our seasons.


TL;DR 

We recommend reading the full blog below as well as last week’s larger Season 1 Outcomes report to get the full picture, but here’s a quick look at some of the Live Team’s updates that will be coming into effect when Season 2 launches on May 3. 

Shop 

  • Bundles will have more consistent value across different offerings 

Battle Pass & Progression 

  • Season 2’s free track will have more customization content than Season 1’s 
  • Players can earn 1000 CR in the S2 Premium Battle Pass 
  • Weekly Challenges will see continued improvements 
  • Ultimate Rewards will be higher value cosmetics such as visors, coatings, and stances, and no longer have emblems or backdrops, throughout the course of the season. 

Theater & Observer  

  • Theater & Observer will have updates to address overall stability, issues caused by viewing multiple films in a row, and problems that arise when observing multiple matches in a row 

That’s just a taste of what the team has been working on though. To see what else we have in store for mid-Season 2 and beyond, keep on reading!


A Spartan holding a Needler uses a Threat Sensor.

Live

Customization

  • Feedback: Players want to be able to use customization content across different cores (cross-core customization)
  • Feedback: Players want items that make up a Kit to be able to be used individually
  • Feedback: Many would like to use multiple attachments on their vehicles, weapons, and Spartans
  • Feedback: Desire for more and higher-value customization content through free methods 
  • Feedback: Watchdog and Red Shift armor coatings do not look like what was shown in 2020

Live Team Responses

  • Feedback: Players want to be able to use customization content across different cores (cross-core customization) 

Enabling customization across different armor cores has been the largest point of feedback when it comes to customization. We agree that there is room to have better customization by lifting core restrictions where possible. For right now, we’re pursuing options that will allow players to use certain customization items on different cores. Due to the way the core system was initially built, getting items to work on various cores will take time, may not even be possible for all items, and will likely require us to do it piece-by-piece. As we investigate what expanding to cross-core customization would require from a tech perspective, our initial focus is on enabling as many helmets, visors, and armor coatings across different cores as possible. In short, our goal is that we will be incrementally moving to a model that has coatings and visors working across all cores; with helmets and chest gear working across canon cores as our first focused changes to make in the system.

  • Feedback: Players want items that make up a Kit to be able to be used individually 

Similar to the point above, players who unlocked a Kit (e.g. Noble Team Spartans or HCS Team Kits) wanted to be able to use the individual items within that Kit with other customization content to create unique combinations. 

Kits were meant to give players the feeling of becoming a character (Noble Team) or wearing a team’s uniform (esports), but we understand the desire to use a Kit’s specific items in other customization combinations. In a future update, we’ll be changing the Kit system so that it will allow players to sport individual items from their Kits to use on their own personal Spartans.

A view of all HCS team armor kits lined up side-by-side.
  • Feedback: Many would like to use multiple attachments on their vehicles, weapons, and Spartans 

Using multiple armor attachments, weapon model changes, or vehicle model changes, when they don’t overlap with one another is also asked for frequently. Our focus is currently set on cross-core customization and Kits, but we wanted to acknowledge this, and we’ll see what we can do. 

  • Feedback: Desire for more and higher-value customization content through free methods 

During Season 1 it became apparent that players wanted more free, high-quality customization content to chase, earn, and wear. As a result of that feedback, we updated the Tenrai Event Pass after its first week to remove Double XP Boosts & Challenge Swaps and add even more customization content. We also re-evaluated the Event Passes for Cyber Showdown & Tactical Ops to ensure that they met player expectations for rewards as well. Season 2 will improve on the free experience by slowly removing armor core limitations to enable more customization options with those free items, having better customization items as weekly Ultimate Rewards, and having even more customization content in Event Passes and the free track of the Battle Pass. We’ll share even more specifics in the Battle Pass & Progression section below. 

  • Feedback: Watchdog and Red Shift armor coatings do not look like what was shown in 2020. Additionally, new weapon coatings look similar to Watchdog weapon coatings. 

Last, but certainly not least, we’ve seen the requests to have the Watchdog and Red Shift armor coatings more closely reflect the initial renders we released in 2020. We want to make this right in a future update.

A Spartan with the Watchdog armor coating is holding a Cindershot.

Shop

  • Feedback: The price of Shop offers can vary between offers seen as having similar value
  • Feedback: Desire for more purchase options, including a higher rate of rotation and allowing the purchase of individual items within bundles

Live Team Responses

  • Feedback: The price of Shop offers can vary between offers seen as having similar value 

After launch we received lots of feedback around our Shop bundles and pricing. Since then, we’ve started selling items individually when possible, tried to better standardize pricing based on value, and focused on reducing prices across the board. We’ll continue to gather these learnings throughout the season and will carry them forward into the future.

  • Feedback: Desire for more purchase options, including a higher rate of rotation and allowing the purchase of individual items within bundles 

We also agree with all this feedback around allowing the purchase of specific items within bundles, increasing the rate of offer refreshes, and even potentially adding a second page. We’ll be looking to improve these aspects of the Shop in future updates.

A Spartan with a white armor coating is sprinting with a BR on Bazaar.

Battle Pass & Progression

  • Feedback: Desire for a “Career Progression” system separate from the Battle Pass 
  • Feedback: Award per-match XP that takes performance into account
  • Feedback: Players want the Battle Pass to contain more value across both free and Premium tracks 
  • Feedback: Some Challenges can be too situational, such as the Killjoy challenges 
  • Feedback: Some Challenges can be misconfigured or worded in a way that results in players not making progress when expected 
  • Feedback: Value of Ultimate Rewards varies too much, desire for consistent higher-value rewards 
  • Feedback: Double XP boosts running off time is not preferred 

Live Team Responses

  • Feedback: Desire for a “Career Progression” system separate from the Battle Pass 

A Career Progression system is in the design phase right now. We want to nail it out of the gate and that’s going to take some time. 

  • Feedback: Award per-match XP that takes performance into account 

Additionally, we know there’s a desire for per-match, which also leverages performance, to plug into this system as well as the Battle Pass. Per-match XP is on the way and will land this year. 

  • Feedback: Players want the Battle Pass to contain more value across both free and Premium tracks 

For S2’s Battle Pass, we want to focus on improving the value we provide to the players on both the free and Premium tracks. To do so, the free Battle Pass will contain even more customization content than S1’s – including the Lone Wolves armor core early on the in the track. As for the Premium track, we’ve added Credits as another reward tier and will allow players to earn up to 1000 CR. 

Additionally, Season 2 will also have better weekly Ultimate Rewards and improved Event Passes, giving players plenty of opportunities to earn customization content for free. 

  • Feedback: Some Challenges can be too situational, such as the Killjoy challenges 
  • Feedback: Some Challenges can be misconfigured or worded in a way that results in players not making progress when expected 

We’ve been doing our best to address Challenges that end up being too situational, misconfigured, or confusing whenever feedback pops up around them. Please continue letting us know when specific ones don’t meet your expectations. Anytime you believe you should’ve made progress on a Challenge, but didn’t, please report it to us using the Halo Support site. The Support team has been tracking reports of various Challenge-related issues and brings them directly to us for evaluation. Lastly, as of this week, we’ve removed the Killjoy Challenges from all challenge decks, and you won’t be seeing it again anytime soon. 

  • Feedback: Value of Ultimate Rewards varies too much, desire for consistent higher-value rewards 

Ultimate Rewards, which are earned by completing all your Weekly Challenges and the Ultimate Challenge, have seen highs and lows throughout the season. The feedback here has been heard and we’re happy to say that Season 2’s Ultimate Rewards will feature rewards at a higher and more consistent quality bar. That means they will focus on content like coatings, visors, and stances, and no longer have emblems or backdrops, throughout the course of the season. 

For example, here’s the first five weeks of Ultimate Rewards in S2: 

  • Week 1: Sentry Stance 
  • Week 2: Battleship Haze MA40 AR Coating  
  • Week 3: Alabaster Cognac Razorback Coating  
  • Week 4: Amber Yesterday Visor 
  • Week 5: Spring Mountain Stance 
A render of a Razorback with the Alabaster Cognac coating. It appears mostly white with a thick red stripe in the center, going down the length of the car.
[Alabaster Cognac Razorback Coating]
  • Feedback: Double XP boosts running off time is not preferred 

Double XP Boosts utilizing time is a little more complex than it may appear on the surface. We’ve seen the recommendations to use Halo 5’s Double XP Boosts, which work on a per-match basis. However, since Halo Infinite currently leverages Challenges for XP (though per-match XP will be landing later this year), there’s a chance a player could not meet the requirements for the Challenge in that game, and therefore not get any rewards for a per-match boost. Since you don’t know when you may complete that Challenge, we instead opted for time-based boosts to make sure players could knock out multiple Challenges or get a handful attempts to knock out a specific one. Based on feedback from last year though, we did end up bumping the Double XP Boost timers from 15 minutes to 30 minutes, and then doubled it again from 30 minutes to 1 hour. Although it isn’t perfect, we do think this is a fair approach for the time being. 

Longer term, however, we do agree with moving away from time-based XP boosts – especially with per-match XP coming in a future update. We’ll have more to share on both of these at a later date.

An image compiling the art from all of Season 1's events.

Events

  • Feedback: Desire to have modes from Events persist in some fashion after the event ends
  • Feedback: Winter Contingency was good, but not having an Event Pass to track progress was confusing
  • Feedback: Event Challenges can get stuck behind regular challenges, meaning players need to leave the event before they can return
  • Feedback: Tenrai is fun but limiting progress per week made it feel tedious at times
  • Mixed: Recurring Tenrai events are appreciated by players who missed them or could not maximize progress in a week, but not as appreciated by highly-active players

Live Team Responses

  • Feedback: Desire to have modes from Events persist in some fashion after the event ends 

This Season we’ve had Events end and their mode’s time in matchmaking end with it. The feedback around this approach was not unexpected, but we wanted to give it a try to see if it could help spice up events. Now that we’ve given it a try though, we will be doing a better job of making Event content available in the normal matchmaking rotation starting in Season 2. The MP Team shared more about playlists in last week’s blog as well. 

  • Feedback: Winter Contingency was good, but not having an Event Pass to track progress was confusing 

Winter Contingency was a great holiday event with festive rewards, but the confusion around how to unlock the customization content proved to be too confusing. If we do run another simple event like this, we’ll be sure to leverage the Event Pass feature in-game so players know what they’ve earned and what they’re working towards. 

  • Feedback: Event Challenges can get stuck behind regular challenges, meaning players need to leave the event before they can return 

We did take steps to reduce how often Weekly Challenges could get in front of Event Challenges, but there’s still more we can do here. Down the road, we want to have separate Challenge lists so that Weekly Challenges aren’t blocking Event Challenges and vice versa. 

  • Feedback: Tenrai is fun but limiting progress per week made it feel tedious at times 
  • Mixed: Recurring Tenrai events are appreciated by players who missed them or could not maximize progress in a week, but not as appreciated by highly-active players 

As for Tenrai, we’ve seen positive results overall with this recurring event. We increased the amount of progress players could make in a single week which has helped quite a bit. Even though we’ve seen some players believe repeating events can get stale, many appreciate the opportunity to catch up on weeks when they have more time to play. We like this Fracture format as it stands right now, but we will continue to look at ways to improve it even further.

Theater & Observer 

  • Feedback: Desire for additional bug fixes 

Live Team Response 

There’s a handful of improvements for Theater and Observer coming with a focus on addressing overall stability, issues caused by viewing multiple films in a row, and problems that arise when observing multiple matches in a row. We're constantly making improvements to both of these features and you should start seeing the results with Season 2's release. 

A Spartan with an AR and Active Camo on their hip is walking around on Deadlock.

Closing

Thank you for reading our second, Live-focused Outcomes for Season 1. This was essentially a “part 2” to last week’s Outcomes blog covering the rest of the multiplayer experience. If you missed it, be sure to check it out here on Waypoint. 

Your feedback is an integral part of how we prioritize future Halo Infinite work, so please keep it coming. If you want to participate in surveys and future Halo Infinite flights, make sure you’re signed up for the Halo Insider program. To provide your input outside of surveys, join the discussion on our Waypoint forums, Twitter, reddit, etc. We’re always keeping an eye out for feedback. 

As a reminder, if you ever run into any bugs or issues with the game itself, please file a ticket on the Halo Support site (aka.ms/HaloSupport) so the team can track it and investigate it. 

And, finally, don't forget to read our “Closer Look” blogs that dive further behind the scenes. These in-depth blogs share the inner workings of specific Halo Infinite systems and outline what we’re doing to improve them: 

Thank you again for your continued support and feedback during Season 1 of Halo Infinite. We hope you’re looking forward to Season 2, and we’ll see you online!