After nearly a year since launch, Halo Infinite is at last adding Match XP alongside a reconfiguration of progression systems. The struggling live-service has gone from bad to worse during this year, which saw a mass exodus of players, an inability to maintain a consistent content schedule, and the cancelation of a long promised feature for Halo Infinite's single-player campaign.
At the time of writing, Halo Infinite has a recent positive review score of 43% on Steam, far below the all-time figure of 70%, which is still rather low for what was intended to be Microsoft's flagship title with the Xbox Series X/S. It is the result of several disappointing months which saw frequent delays for anticipated features, and even when the long awaited Forge Mode had a release date announced, the news arrived with the cancelation of local cooperative for Halo Infinite's campaign, breaking a promise from 343 Industries. However, the upcoming Winter Update is set to be the FPS's most significant for a while, and the developer has started providing detailed information as to what players can expect.
In an update posted to Halo Waypoint, a hub for Halo news established by 343, a Match XP Beta will reportedly be introduced, which makes way for certain changes to the progression system. A free 30-tier Battle Pass addition will be available for Spartans to work through, aided by new Challenges and Ultimate Rewards. With Match XP, players will now be rewarded for time spent in any game mode, and is affected by performance, such as Win/Loss, MVP, and Top 50% of Team. An image of how it appears in-game is provided below.
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Halo Infinite's Match XP is apparently classified as a Beta because values will be continuously monitored and adjusted based on user feedback and data. Additionally, Challenges will be "redirected," still rewarding XP, but being geared towards earning items for customization. Challenges required to receive the Ultimate variant is to be reduced from 20 to 10, the requirements are to be generalized, and weekly Challenges will not be limited to specific playlists.
The Winter Update is allegedly the beginning of all Challenges being made "playlist agnostic," the fruits of often critical feedback from Halo Infinite players. Given that the changes seem positive, allowing a Fireteam to no longer be concerned about individual challenges as a group, it will likely be some time before Halo Infinite can truly compete in a crowded live-service environment.
Halo Infinite is now available on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Halo Waypoint