When Halo infinite launched last fall, it came up with something new for the franchise: weekly rewards. Some players said these challenges “were not glory” and wrote them off. Others considered them boring and unforgiving. But a select few actually stuck to the fight for the entire season. Kotaku caught up with one to see what on Zeta Halo they were thinking.
“Player glory is one of my favorite hobbies and I am a finisher for the series, ”said MixMaker117a Halo infinite player who has previously hit the coveted SR-152 rank in Halo 5and who recently completed each weekly challenge of Halo Infinite’s first season, in a talk with Kotaku.
Halo infinite, developed by 343 Industries for Xbox and PC, is the first game in the series to feature multiplayer mode that can be played for free. Like many games based on a similar model, it has a match: 100 levels that you progress towards by completing challenges. Each week you are assigned 20 challenges, typically based on specific weapons (“kill five enemies with the PvP assault rifle”) or game modes (“earn 5,000 cumulative kills in tactical kills”). You can use disposable items called “challenge swaps” to switch to any challenges that may prove unfortunate for your playing style.
Once you have completed all 20 tasks, unlock this week’s “Tile Challenge”. You can not exchange it, and it is the same for all players every week, but successfully completing it gives you a cosmetic option – a visor, an armor coating, a background for your scoreboard in the game – that you can not get anywhere else way.
Last week, the final keystone was rolled out Halo infinitefirst season. That Social Media brags seeped in quickly. “Props man, idk how you had the will to do it tbh,” a player wrote in response to another who said they had completed each weekly challenge of the season.
For some players, though, it was less a matter of willpower than it was a love of the game.
“To begin with, I just ranked in combat with friends, as challenges are tied to progression,” Mix said. “I completed the match pass pretty quickly and just decided to go for the magazines from there.”
Read more: Oh no, I have maxed out Halo infinite‘s Battle Pass
In terms of how he coped, Mix noted that he beat out the weekly standard challenges is not too steep a climbprovided you are aware of the order in which you complete them and when you use your challenge swaps.
It is the end stones that made up the real test.
“Every time they give you a game mode-specific weekly challenge and it does not have its own playlist, you really have to dedicate a lot of time and patience to meet that challenge, ”said Mix. “I can see how it deters a lot of people.”
For example, one week required you to win three games Capture the Flag in Halo infinite‘s ranked playlist, which Mix said was the season’s toughest. There is no dedicated playlist for the mode; it randomly cycles in between rounds of Slayer, Oddball and Strongholds. So you’re up to RNG’s whims. Worse, even if you end up getting into the right matches, you still have to trust your teammates to play well. (According to figures from the state-tracking site Halo Data HiveIn, about as dead-point average as one glory player can have a payout rate of 48%. I play most team games.)
In contrast, the easiest challenges involve the kind of thing you can complete via attrition: earning 50 kills in a given mode or completing a certain number of matches in a certain playlist. At the center are the skill-based goals. To earn last week, for example, you had to score three “perfect” kills – meaning you defeat enemies with as few shots as possible. (If you’re still struggling, a tip: Use the shortcomings. Two for the body, one for the head.) These challenges can be frustrating, but are not quite as bang-your-head-against-the-nearest-desk as those that require you to trust randos.
Sometimes the reward is simply not worth it. Early in the season you could earn the delicious Willow Tea armor coating, which Halo infinite style gods declared one of the best of the season. Last week’s reward was the Bell Toll visor, a sleek black piece that fits just about any armor coating. (Mix mentioned both options as the two best rewards of the season.) But 343 Industries filled many of the temporary weeks with cruft-like emblems – things you can barely show off to other players.
“Vehicle emblems are hard to see,” Mix said, calling in particular the Driving Offensively emblem as the most cruel offender. (Driving Offensively was available as a keystone reward three separate weeks this season, once each as an unlock for armor, weapons, and vehicles.)
To Halo infiniteSecond season, which starts tomorrow, 343 Industries said it will renew its weekly rewards and make up for the disappointing offers in favor of things you actually want to earn. The prospect for the first few weeks of the season already looks worth the effortconsisting of a mix of weapon skins, vehicle coatings and player positions.
Mix, for its part, is happy with the changes. “Weekly rewards should always make the player want to hone,” he said. “I think season 1 was very inconsistent that way, so I love that 343 listens to feedback and makes changes.”
He plans to win another perfect streak, aiming to complete each challenge in season two.
“Now that I’ve played down, I actually think I want to be able to paint more effectively,” he said. “The addition of more game modes and playlists will also help the pursuit. At the end of the day, I love achieving glory goals, so weekly challenges are right up your alley. ”