If you ask me, the best part of Hello Infinite is Big Team Battle, an epic 24-player mode that lets you reunite with up to 11 friends on an Xbox, cloud, and Windows computer – but is fraught with matchmaking errors that prevent games from running, kicking out your friends, or even crashing the game. Today, 343 Industries is making another attempt to make things better with a new patch that is already live.
The register of changes in the adjustment from February 3 is quite basic, mainly saying that there were unspecified “service improvements” for the matchmaking of Big Team Battle and that “[p]the layers need to find complete matches faster and more consistently. ”
But before that, 343 Industries telegraphed that today could be the essential solution we’ve been waiting for. Here is what a developer wrote in the Halo Infinite forums six days ago:
Using the telemetry we received from the current fix on January 19, we were able to make a new version with an update that we believe should address the main issue affecting the BTB playlist. The studio held a successful playtest today and plans to send it in for certification on Monday. Once submitted, it will take some time to go through the certification process and find out if it is approved. Once it is approved, we will start preparing to release it to the public. As a little more of the internal release process is about to take place, the earliest we expect this current adjustment will be next Thursday, February 3rd.
Today is February 3 and here is a match patch in Big Team Battle exactly on schedule.
Will it really be on the amendment is still in question: 343 thought they had nailed it on January 19, only to be disappointed to find it unresolved. But I have to give them a huge compliment for being so transparent with the players, quickly acknowledging that they need more work. And speaking of communication:
Hey guys. In November, I said we would #HaloInfinite update of our seasonal roadmap, Co-Op and Forge in January. We need more time to finalize our plans, so what we share is something you can count on. This work is my top priority and we will have an update as soon as possible.
– Joseph Staten (@joestaten) February 1, 2022
I won’t know if it’s Big Team Battle until tonight, when I might be able to convince my friends to try Big Team Battle one more time. They swore after too many tempbans to leave the match in solidarity with others who were kicked out due to mistakes.
Here is the rest of today’s change log, which only covers multiplayer and should come with a 1.1 GB download:
Enhancements to the matchmaking service for Big Team Battle (BTB). Players need to find complete matches faster and more consistently.
Scorpion Tanks and Wraiths will appear more often on BTB cards.
Fireteam members in BTB matches will have the Fireteam Marker color selected, but they can still start the match in different areas of the map.
The rules for joining in progress have been updated to avoid matchmaking in games that are almost complete.
Oddball changes in both ranked and multiplayer arenas: If the result is a draw when the round timer expires, one minute is added to the timer. If the result is a draw at the end of the extra minute, then the round will be declared a draw. The match will end if two separate rounds end in a draw and the victory will go to the team with more rounds won.
The Free-For-All Slayer version of the Halo Championship Series (HCS) has been added to the list of custom game modes.
In custom games, changes to the Free-For-All Slayer, FFA Oddball, Neutral Flag, and Tactical Slayer game options are updated correctly.
More Scorpion tanks and flying Wraiths on the Big Team Battle maps? I squeeze my thumbs away from me.