Halo’s 20^th birthday is around the corner and one of the ways we’re celebrating is with a brand-new Halo Waypoint. More than just a fresh coat of paint, the site and forums you have known and loved for years are getting a total overhaul – 20 has never looked so good.

Pointing The Way

Way back in June, we sat down with the Waypoint crew and talked about all the work they were doing to prepare for what we’ve been affectionately calling “vNext”.  If you missed that, you can catch up on it at your leisure but the long and short of it is… Our baby’s all grown up!

Right away, you’ll notice a massive difference in aesthetics. Along with the updated visuals, the Waypoint team has worked very hard to make the site functional, informative, and, perhaps most importantly, accessible. We want Halo Waypoint to be your go-to source for all Halo news. For some of you that will be via normal website navigation while others like to check things on the go and thankfully, both of those experiences have been accounted for and carefully considered while the new website and app were under construction. Yes, I said app! Grab the official Halo Waypoint app for both iOS and Android and get the 411 on what it can do so you can get to Waypointing on the go. Updates to both the website and app will be rolling out over time so be sure to check for them periodically.

The site may be new but most of the content should be familiar, and you’ll be able to find the news, esports info, the forums, our Halo Insider program, and links to external sites like Halo Support and the Gear shop. A lot of our recent Inside Infinite, Community Update, Canon Fodder, Community Spotlight, and HCS articles have been brought over for you to view in the new setting. If you’re looking for something specific that didn’t make the move, you can always check out @Halopedia’s great archive of all available articles and content. So how do you find it?

Checking out the NEWS header in the navigation bar you’ll see this excellent gallery of recent works:

From here, you can narrow down if you’re looking for something specific related to the community, esports, or a game. If you find yourself needing to report in-game issues or looking to grab some official swag, you can click the “Support” or “Gear” links in the nav bar to be directed to the Halo Support Site and the Halo Gear shop respectively.

Fashion and Function

On the personal level, you’ll be able to tweak your displayed Service Awards and let your fellow Spartans know where else they can find you by providing social links to popular channels:

Once Halo Infinite launches, you’ll be able to hop in and customize your Halo Infinite Spartan appearance with the plans to further expand this feature to weapon and vehicle coatings in the future.

You can also check on your Battle Pass progression, your challenges, and check out what’s in-store without needing to hop in game. If you can’t get to your console or PC, you’ll be able to shop at your leisure from the palm of your hand.

If you have any codes from things like Rockstar, Jazwares, etc., you can still redeem those on Waypoint from your profile page too. As an added bonus, you can even update your Halo Insider profile directly. So be sure your DxDiag is up to date, that you are opted in for the platforms you prefer, and you’re all set.

Fancy Forums

And, finally, my personal favorite, the long-awaited Halo Waypoint forum refresh is here!

You can find a link to the forums in the top nav bar and jump back in. For those on mobile, the forums are well optimized for web view or you may opt to browse via the Discourse app (available on iOS and Android) instead. The choice is yours and from having checked them both out, the experience is fairly similar. The forums have been streamlined, updated, and given a total face lift. While they’re not here yet, we’re working to bring over the existing forum posts so don’t worry, all is not lost forever! (As someone with more posts than I care to admit, this made me exceptionally happy.) Regulars will notice that the Community Support forums have been removed and this is an intentional change to ensure that all support related requests go directly to Halo Support so they can best serve you, the community.

That’s just what’s on deck for today. As the saying goes, we’re just getting started, and when Halo Infinite launches later this year, there will be additional updates coming. Plus, as time goes on, you can expect improvements and updates to all facets, from app to website.

In the meantime, revel in the glow-up and let us know what you think!