After a very rocky launch that left players largely unable to use multiplayer in any way, Microsoft and 343 has been on the defensive, offering not just one apology, but a second, in addition to cutting matchmaking features in an attempt to ease the overburdening load on the servers. Bonnie Ross, head of 343 Industries, has said in his second apology to the fans. “I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries. Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved.”
To that end, 343 is making good on its promise. Today saw a fairly sizable update, 523 MB’s of matchmaking optimization, bug-fixing, lobby improvements, and stability improvements. In addition, it is listed as the first of more updates, so further improvements should be coming on the horizon. A full list of updates can be found below, or on the original patch notes post. Players will be prompted to download the patch on their next log-in.
For players still on the fence, now would be a good time to consider picking up the Halo: Master Chief Collection, especially given how good even just the single player campaigns are, in addition to the multiplayer improvements.
Matchmaking
- Made improvements to the way the matchmaking system handles player matching
- Made improvements to the team selection process to improve team balancing
- Made an update to the party system to improve searching with parties (2+ players)
- Made further improvements to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player
- Made an update to ensure that players do not enter a non-joinable state after searching for a match
- Made an update to ensure that the “Game Session” UI does not persist after leaving a matchmaking lobby
- Resolved a variety of incorrectly displayed matchmaking prompts
- Improved matchmaking roster presentation during team creation phase to remove roster flickering
- Corrected a “connecting to host” message that incorrectly displayed during the matchmaking searching phase
- Made an update to ensure that FFA players do not appear as if they are on the red team in the pre-game lobby
Party, Lobby, and Custom Games
- Made an update to ensure that custom game settings persist between matches
- Made an update to ensure that player’s player emblems load correctly when returning to lobby
- Made an update to improve nameplate and emblem display
- Improved the display of emblems in the “Games Session Details” screen
- Made improvements to parties to ensure that parties are merged when the host joins another player and “brings party”
- Made an update to improve party stability after completing a matchmaking game
- Made an update to ensure that players are joinable after playing a matchmaking game
Stability
- Made a variety of updates to improve UI stability
- Resolved stability issues that occurred while viewing medals in “Player Details”
- Made an update to prevent stability issues caused by controller disconnects
- Made an update to improve post-game-carnage-report stability
- Made an update to address in-game stability for Halo 2
- Improved matchmaking stability while searching with parties (2+ players)
- Addressed a crash that could occur after searching in the Halo 2: Anniversary Rumble playlist
- Resolved a variety of miscellaneous stability issues to improve overall performance
Achievements
- Made an update to ensure that the “Zealot” achievement is unlockable
Taylor Hidalgo
@NukeLassic
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