For the first time in the Halo series, the Halo Infinite multiplayer is free-to-play to players on both Xbox and PC. With this transition comes the need to structurally rebalance just how you reward players, which is something that 343 Industries, similar to other developers before them, is struggling with.
After surprising their fanbase with the full multiplayer on November 15, a little under a month before the Single-Player component is set to release. Quickly this release earned its title as a ‘beta’, with minor issues needing to be hammered out. The biggest of the complaints fans had about the game mode was the battle pass which took a lengthy amount of time to earn levels, which despite the pass never expiring upon purchase still felt like a lot.
Now, the first multiplayer event in Halo Infinite is live and it has similar received fan criticism. Entitled Fracture: Tenrai event, the event features the Yoroi Samurai Armor as its big reward, which was heavily advertised in the build-up mode launching. It features its own, free, event pass that has tiers of unlockables similar to the main battle pass, however, it’s the actual process of unlocking that has drawn the ire of the community.
Similar to the core battle pass, levels are only unlocked through the completion of event-specific challenges. Players only have a limited number of challenges they can complete at a time, meaning that there are many points during the earning process where you physically cannot make progress on. This has been compounded by the fact that despite fixes being made to the core battle pass, it still feels slow and sometimes unrewarding.
Other complaints lodged against the mode were a lack of cosmetic rewards, with multiple XP unlocks as well as consumable challenge swaps. Yet another complaint was toward the limited usage of certain color options which are limited to certain types of armor.
On their part, 343 Industries is aware of the issues players have with the mode. Community director Brian Jarrard stated via Twitter that “the constructive feedback is being heard loud and clear.” The studio was quick to make changes when they receive pushback against the battle pass, which bodes well for the game moving forward. There is still work left to be done, but 343 Industries has proven receptive to feedback to help the game grow moving forward.
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