GH057ayame wrote up the following article on Beyond Entertainment’s forums to show what 343 has done since launch to improve Halo 4. It’s heavily skewed towards competitive players. The article does have many good points. On we go…

If someone asked me, “Ghost, what’s the most common question that you get asked in regards to Halo?” I’d simply respond with, “Why should I still believe in Halo?”

After many months of hard work by 343 Industries, I felt that it was time to answer that question in its entirety… That it was time to finally summarize, recognize, and appreciate the definitive actions that they’ve taken as a whole in order to restore my faith in Halo. So without further ado, I present to you… The List:

Community Support/Misc.

• AGL/UMG
  • Twitter Support
  • HaloWaypoint Bulletins
  • Halo 4 Sign-In Update Banners
  • Halo 4 Global Championship Invitations
  • 343 Employees Commentating/Attending
• Pro Player/Competitive Community
  • Twitter Support
  • Weapon Tuning Update Invitations
  • Halo 4 Global Championship Invitations
  • Streams
  • Media
  • Team Throwdown Playlist
  • Frank O’Connor mentions that 343 Industries will be looking towards “more traditional tournaments in the future”
• Forge Community
  • Community Forge Playlist
  • Forge Creations within Standardized Playlists
  • Highlights Forgers’ Creations
  • Gives Back to the Community
• Endless Community Interaction & Support
  • Twitter
  • TwitchTV
  • Facebook
  • NeoGAF
• Halo TV series from Executive Producer Steven Spielberg
• Frank O’Connor mentions that 343 Industries will be looking towards “more traditional tournaments in the future”

Matchmaking

• Competitive Skill Ranks
  • CSR Introduction (In Response to Community Feedback)
  • Matchmaking Balancing
  • Similar to Former Halo Ranking Systems (Ranked 1-50)
  • Individual vs. Team Scoring Methods
• Weapon Tuning Update [Global]
  • Faster Kill Times
  • 4-Shot Kill Battle Rifle
  • 7-Shot Kill Covenant Carbine
    • Decreased Projectile Spread/Increased Accuracy
  • Nerfed DMR
  • Buffed LightRifle
  • Improved Automatics’ Functionality
  • Improved Vehicles’ Functionality
  • 2-Shot Beatdown with Battle Rifle
  • Weapons Added On Maps
    • Similar to Team Throwdown Playlist Locations
  • Increased Player Movement
    • Matches the Team Throwdown Playlist Settings
  • Optimized Spawning
• Matchmaking Improvements/Updates
  • Double-Layer Overshield
  • 3-Minute Static Timers for Ordnances
  • Forced 5-Second Player Respawn Timers
  • Return of the “Red X” Death Indicators
  • Weekly Matchmaking Updates
  • Join-In-Progress Parameters
  • Search Time Parameters
  • Solution for “Backing Out of Lobby” Flaw
  • Nerfed Boltshot
  • Slayer Pro Added to Infinity/Big Team Infinity Slayer Playlists
  • Complex Removed from Infinity Slayer
  • POD Selection Refinement

Tournaments

• Halo 4 Global Championship
  • $500,000 Prize Pool
  • Free Entry
  • International Eligibility
  • Thorough Monitoring, Investigation, and Security
  • Online Tournament
    • Variety of Game Types
    • Format & Structure
  • LAN Tournament
    • Competitive (v4) Game Types
    • Location/Exposure – RTX, Gamescom, PAX
    • Format & Schedule
    • Hardware (GAEMS)
  • Invitations through AGL Tournaments
• Infinity Challenge
  • Online Tournament
  • Free Entry
  • 1^st Place Prize – UNSC-themed Ford F150 SVT Raptor
  • 2,800 Prizes

Playlists

• Team Throwdown Playlist
  • Frequent Updates
  • Community Controlled
• Legendary Slayer
  • Weapons on Map without Ordnance Drops
  • Radar Enabled
  • Mimics classic playlists
  • Classic weapon set
  • Single Loadout
  • 4v4 Map Rotation
  • No Armor Abilities
• Legendary BRs Debut (In Response to Community Feedback)
• Rumble/Doubles Pro
  • Four Precision Rifle Loadouts
    • Leads off with Competitive Community’s Weapon of Choice – BR
  • Loadout identical to Team Throwdown Playlist Settings
    • No Secondary, 2x Frags, No AA, Resupply, Explosives, No Radar
• Rumble BRs
  • Team Throwdown Playlist Settings in FFA
• Team Doubles Playlist
• Team Snipers Playlist
• Big Team Skirmish
  • Replaced Objective Playlist
  • Enabled 8v8 Objective Gameplay
• SWAT Playlist
• Multi-Team Playlist
• Grifball Playlist
  • Community Monitored
  • Frequent Updates
• Team Action Sack Playlist

Maps

• Pitfall
  • Classic Competitive Halo 3 Map
  • Includes MLG Forge Alterations
• Skyline
  • 4v4 Competitive Map
• Vertigo
  • 4v4 Competitive Map
  • Geared for Extraction
• Forge Island
  • Free-To-Download Forge Canvas
  • Natural Palette
  • Terrain/Water

Halo on Xbox One

• 60 Frames Per Second
• Dedicated Servers
• Joshua Menke’s Matchmaking System
• Quinn DelHoyo’s Weapon Balancing Expertise
• Andy “Bravo” Dudynsky’s Competitive Insight
• Jessica “bsangel” Shea’s Community Control

So once again, I think it’s safe to say, “We’re in good hands.”

-Ghost

HFFL: As I said, Ghost’s article is heavy on pro-player/competitive aspects, but there are several points within that are good for any Halo fan. The biggest thing we can take from this list is that 343 is trying to make up ground that was lost at release date.
The hopes for many a Halo fan, myself included are that these types of updates happen to the next Halo game, BEFORE launch, so that it’s a more complete ready-to-go out of the box game.

-Sal