Greetings, friends of Chief. Today, we’re talking new stuff, including more Ghosts of Meridian, Warzone Turbo, and more. Let’s go!

To start, we’d like to thank those of you who have provided feedback in region-specific matchmaking threads on Waypoint as well as r/Halo. Earlier this morning, the team made a series of adjustments that should improve the experience and matchmaking speed for players who have been impacted. Hop on and let us know how it goes. Next, let’s talk about this weekend’s featured playlist: Warzone Turbo.

Greetings! Welcome Back. Glad you’re here. We’ve got a quick update today, but some good stuff inside. Let’s dig in.

We’ve returned from the Halo World Championship, which was a glorious celebration of fine-tuned multiplayer skill. This weekend was not only a historic time for Halo esports, but also a special weekend for me as a fan of competitive Halo. On the finest Halo stage yet, 16 teams from around the globe met in Hollywood to determine which was the best squad in all the world. Between Allegiance’s comeback in the quarterfinals and road to the finals, Epsilon achieving the first top 8 finish at a major North American event, and CLG’s dominance all weekend, the event was one for the history books. Memories were made, champions were crowned, new features were teased, and the HCS Pro League was announced. In short, we are indeed just getting started, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Thank you all for tuning in and making the Halo World Championships the most-watched Halo tournament in history. To catch the finals video on demand, head here.

Over the past few weeks, our teams have been preparing for the Ghosts of Meridian update, keeping an eye on feedback on things like Warzone Assault gameplay, sandbox tuning, region-specific matchmaking (we’d love your feedback in this thread), and more. The MP team continues work on new modes, has recently updated Torque and the Mantis REQ level, and just today, based on feedback, we’ve loosened the parameters within social playlists to make them feel “a bit more social,” and also added some of our favorite community maps to BTB and Grifball. More on that later. Continue reading →

Welcome back, readers. Another Friday has arrived, which means the weekend is here, and we’re one week away from the Halo World Championship, as well as one week closer to the Ghosts of Meridian and plenty more Halo 5 goodness.

Earlier this week, the services team released a series of updates aimed to help Arena players at high skill levels find matches faster, and also to ensure that Onyx players are seeing the appropriate amount of CSR movement after wins and losses. We’re hearing things are working well. Additionally, we’ve been keeping an eye on reports from players around the globe, and working with top players in international regions to determine further improvements that can be made to matchmaking. Keep the feedback coming. Continue reading →

Hello, friends! I hope this week finds you well, and that you’re enjoying the Hammer Storm goodness. We’ve got a light news week, but let’s start by looking ahead. Into the future.

Last week, we gave you a look at what’s to come over the next few months. Contained within these above updates – represented here as diagonal slices of delicious artwork and newly revealed titles – are new multiplayer modes, maps, vehicles, weapons, and REQs, as well as game updates and improvements based on your feedback and requests. We truly are just getting started, and we hope this small look into the future of Halo 5 has you excited for the road ahead. Continue reading →

Greetings, friends. Another week has passed since the last formal community blog, which means the weekend is here again, and this is cause for celebration. Also worth celebrating is the impending arrival of the Hammer Storm update. Let’s talk about that and more!

PERMANENT SOCIAL PLAYLIST

As we mentioned last week, based on feedback from across the internet as well as the Halo Community Feedback Program, the multiplayer team has kicked off a permanent social playlist that will feature a variety of offerings. Single game modes (Social CTF, which just went live, for example), variety playlists, new game types, community playlists, and more will all live in this new location. We’ve also been keeping an eye on your feedback on matching/skill matchmaking within social playlists. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll see you online. Hopefully, I don’t end up getting assassinated on the front page of r/Halo again.

HFFL: This is definitely a step in the right direction!

THE (HAMMER) STORM IS COMING

The Hammer Storm update draws near, and we are so darn excited that we’re moving our livestream up to an earlier date. We simply cannot wait until Friday to do this stream. Here are the details:

Hammer Storm Live Stream
Tuesday, Feb 23 at 3:00 p.m. PST
Twitch.tv/Halo & The Halo Channel

HFFL: Hmm, I had heard the update was coming early next week. With the live stream being moved up, I hope it’s safe to say that we will be getting the actual update on Tuesday as well. This is NOT confirmed though.

We’ll see you on the stream, which we’re packing with lots of sweet new stuff like new game types, an Arena map debut, fresh new REQs, and more. Speaking of, though we’re saving some of the stuff for the stream itself, we thought we’d show off some early looks at the upcoming Arena map as well as a few new REQs that are on the way. Continue reading →

Greetings! The Halo community team is back on the road, currently spread throughout Germany, Australia, and those who might still be stuck in the snowy mountains of Aspen, Colorado. This specific blog is coming to you from Cologne, Germany, and has been beamed up to the satellites for worldwide perusal. If you’re reading this, the transmission has been successful.

We’ve got a quick update today, but one that covers a variety of topics which may interest you as we dig into recent updates as well as items in the works.

First things first, Infinity’s Armory launched last week just before the X Games festivities kicked off. We hope you’re enjoying Infinity’s Armory so far and are looking forward to what’s on the way.

Before we move on, a quick word about last weekend’s X Games adventures. Traveling down to Aspen to watch some of the best players in the world compete for X Games medals was truly one of the highlights of my career, and one of the most enjoyable moments for me as a Halo fan. There was a certain energy in the air that was quite unique to this competition. Perhaps it was the altitude, but more likely it was a sense of something new to fight for, on an all-new game, in front of an audience comprised of new interested parties in addition to captive veteran viewers. This was Halo 5’s first major live event in North America, and it’s my hope, whether you tuned in all weekend long on twitch or caught the recaps each day on ESPN, that you enjoyed what you saw, too. We can’t thank you enough for supporting the game we all love, and hope you’ll join us for more in the coming weeks and months. Lastly, congrats to EG and CLG, who put on some of the best finals we’ve seen in quite some time.