The second season of Halo Infinite began today, bringing with it a slew of new maps, modes, and cosmetics to the popular multiplayer shooter. In patch notes that are so long that they have a six-chapter table of contents, developer 343 Industries outlined all of the minor adjustments.
Some of the information contained within isn’t new. From the start, we knew Halo Infinite’s second season would include a number of modes, including King of the Hill, the return of Attrition, and the introduction of the battle royale-like Last Spartan Standing. We also knew it would nerf the undoubtedly overpowered but entertaining mangler to a ground, a decision praised by pros but one from which we will never recover.
But we had no idea how much 343 would nerf it. Its melee damage was reduced by 25%, and its ammo stores were cut by 25%. On the good side, the ravager, which 343 previously stated it was considering enhancing, has been given a boost in utility: adversaries can now be killed with two regular bullets. The weapon’s alternative firing, a kind of charged-up burst, has also been increased in power.
The least useful vehicles in Halo Infinite have also been greatly upgraded. For starters, the banshee, a fragile, difficult-to-control flying aircraft dubbed the “badshee” by players, was completely rebuilt. You now have complete control over its speed. The bomb’s cooldown has been lowered, as has the basic plasma cannon’s. The chopper is also more powerful on land: you may destroy any vehicle (except tanks) by smashing the chopper’s grill into it. When it comes to vehicles, it appears that bots will now automatically enter as “either passengers or gunners.”
A number of changes have been made to the equipment in order to extend the life of the players. The portable drop wall, which is one of the most useful pieces of equipment in the campaign, will now spawn faster and absorb more damage. And the over shield, which was previously quite effective, now adds half a shield bar on top of that.
All of these changes come on top of a few major increases in quality of life:
- You may now adjust the thickness of player outlines, which is a tremendous help for gamers with low vision or vision impairment.
- Switching the rocket launcher no longer takes 47 seconds.
- Planting a grenade on an opposing tank’s pilot will instantly kill him.
- For the 11 of you who objected, the hyper-specific Jorge-052 armor kit’s left shoulder pad now has the proper texture.
The changes are, for the most part, more than welcome. However, two inaccurate phrases in the update have already irritated some of Halo Infinite’s most ardent fans: “Velocity gained from landing into a slide on a ramp has proportional reduction based on fall height” and “Removing or adjusting collision on small props and thin ledges.”
To put it another way, Halo Infinite’s “skill jumps”—basically, using not-quite-official movement tactics to zip about the map—are now in jeopardy. On the Streets map, for example, you might crawl over what appeared to be a purely ornamental awning and onto a pathway that would otherwise require looping halfway around the map. That one, it appears, is no longer available. Others have vanished, such as an electrical box that served as a ledge in the Live Fire map.
