In a blog from 343 on Waypoint and a video posted on the Halo YouTube channel, settings and gameplay for Halo Infinite’s ranked/competitive modes were revealed. Here’s what sets them aside from the social game playlist we played during the Technical Preview:
The BR (BR75) will be the starting weapon
- The blog states that the battle rifle was chosen as the sole starting weapon to promote players/teams to earn power on the maps and promote scavenging. Developers tested many loadouts and sandbox designs and found a “balanced spot which allowed for more diversity in weapon selection in competitive play.”
The motion tracker will be disabled
- The decision to disable the motion tracker (“radar”) was made to “push players’ map awareness and target acquisitioning skills to the forefront of the experience.” As many remember, the initial start of the motion tracker being enabled in the beginning of the HCS in Halo 5 wasn’t received well and a reasonable change was eventually made. Although, many still wished for it to be completely disabled like it was from Halo: CE to Halo: Reach.
Grenade hitmarkers will be disabled
- Grenade hitmarkers were a thing in Halo 5 and the majority wasn’t fond of them. The developers state in the blog post that the hitmarkers made grenades too powerful and gave players the ability to “‘fish’ for enemies” and “information should be earned, not given.”
Game modes will be Strongholds, Slayer, CTF, and Oddball
- Strongholds will be a little bit different than in Halo 5. There will now be a custom mini-scoreboard that shows ownership of zones so that players will be aware of what points are controlled without having to look around as well as scoring effects on the area capture object that your AI sits on. Scoring will also now be paused when an opposing player is capturing a Stronghold, rather than before when points were accrued until the Stronghold was fully captured.
Weapons/equipment/grenades will all have static spawns
Friendly Fire will be ON
A few things we noticed after quickly watching the gameplay video. The video is a Strongholds match on Recharge featuring former pro player and current member of the 343 Competitive Insights Team, eL ToWn. The player starts with the BR (as mentioned above) and with two frag grenades. In the center of the screen at the bottom we can also see the new custom mini-scoreboard. Icons of which Strongholds (A, B, and C) are controlled and being captured are displayed. The Grappleshot is on the map along with Camo and the Repulsor. As far as weapons appearing on the map, we see the Mangler, Commando, Needler, Plasma and Frag grenades, Distruptor, Energy Sword (as the power weapon), Plasma Pistol, and Shock Rifle. When eL ToWn depletes all the energy in the Energy Sword, the icon of the weapon turns red in the HUD. You can watch the video below.
