343 Industries has released the latest patch notes for the Halo: Master Chief Collection, and it looks pretty promising.
The main focus of this patch seems to be its notoriously dodgy multiplayer mode which is set to receive more matchmaking improvements. Other areas aimed for improvement include stat-tracking changes, party fixes and general stability refinement for the collection’s four campaigns.
It’s fair to say that Halo: Master Chief Collection had a pretty rocky release, and fairly large issues were present from day one - the majority of which were present in the multiplayer portion of the game which is a pretty essential experience.
Many players were understandbly upset about the sorry state of the game’s multiplayer functions - and who can blame them? Multiplayer is, after all, the backbone of the Halo series, so to see it so completely broken felt like a bit of a slap in the face to loyal fans. In a bid to win their hearts back, Microsoft recently announced that they would offer a free month of Xbox Live as well as the Halo 3: ODST campaign as a free download as an apology of sorts. All of which is welcome - but we’d go one further and ask for the superb Halo: Reach to be added as well.
Although the new patch currently has no official release date, 343 did say in a recent Halo Waypoint blog entry (which also details the patch notes) that it will be available for download “within the next few days”.
Here’s the full list of changes:
MATCHMAKING:
- Improved matchmaking search success rates.
- Made an update to reduce instances of “Awaiting Privileges” matchmaking errors.
- Made an update to ensure player counts more reliably match the expected numbers for each playlist.
- Fixed an issue where player would sometimes appear to be searching in an incorrect “FIND GAME” screen.
- Added countdown sound effect to the voting timer.
GENERAL MULTIPLAYER:
- Made several improvements to party joining through the in-game Roster.
- Made an update to ensure that the mute icon is visible while in Matchmaking.
- Fixed an issue in Halo 4 where players could equip the same weapon as their primary and secondary weapons.
GENERAL CAMPAIGNS:
- Made several improvements to stat tracking for Halo: CE, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.
- Made changes to Halo 3 and Halo 4 scoring to ensure that players are not penalized for destroying empty vehicles.
GENERAL MENU:
- Lowered the music volume level in multiplayer menus.
- Fixed an issue where friend emblems in roster would show up as default when exiting a game session.
- Made updates to UI and menus to improve multiplayer status messaging, such as when a player joins your lobby.
CONTROL LAYOUTS:
- Made an update to the Halo 2: Anniversary “Legacy” Stick Layout.
STABILITY:
- Made stability improvements across multiple titles for campaign and multiplayer
Maddy Richards reviewed the single-player aspect of Halo: The Master Chief Collection last year, though sadly, due to the many issues with the game’s multiplayer, we chose not to add a score to the release. That said, the game still offers excellent value for money: a compilation of Halo‘s 1 through 4, there’s plenty of meat in the package to digest even before you get to the multiplayer. Chuck in a brand new remaster of Halo 2, complete with new CG cutscenes, and there’s plenty to keep you occupied while 343 works on fixing all of issues with the game’s online modes.
” these are four 9/10 campaigns bundled together with varying degrees of remastering and increased frame-rates. Not since Super Mario All-Stars on the SNES has a whole series of games been thoroughly overhauled and bundled together in a complete, and comprehensive package,” Maddy wrote in his Halo: The Master Chief Collection single-player review.
