Halo 4 Matchmaking Update: 6.3.13

[343iBot]

This Monday’s Matchmaking Update welcomes the long awaited Halo 4 Weapon Tuning Update as well as other Matchmaking updates. Starting today, several of Halo 4’s multiplayer weapons have been slightly tuned to provide optimal Matchmaking experiences. To see the full details of this update and how each weapon has changed, check out last week’s Halo Bulletin. 

In addition to weapon tuning, the following updates have also been applied to Matchmaking:

The “Slayer Pro” game mode in Big Team Infinity Slayer and Infinity Slayer now has an Assault Rifle loadout. Also, the “Global Skill searching,” or CSR matching duration, has been increased once again for all playlists. This increase will help ensure that Matchmaking is primarily searching for both teammates and opponents at your per-playlist CSR level.

The Majestic DLC playlist has returned as the “featured DLC” playlist. We will continue to offer a variety of DLC maps in this slot, and may update the game types, maps, and even team sizes moving forward to keep DLC content fresh and available in Halo 4 Matchmaking. The Community Forge Island playlist has been retired.  In Capture The Flag, the overtime period has been increased from one minute to two minutes in order to allow for even more nail-biting, and “big party matching” has been turned on, which ensures that parties of three or more will get matched with parties of three or more. In King of the Hill, the hill point limit has been increased from 25 to 50, and the score to win has been increased from 150 points to 250 points to provide more control-based game play.

Lastly, the multiplayer design team has been updating all of Halo 4’s maps with new weapon (ordnance) locations, new weapon drops, updated starting, vehicle, and objective spawns, and even new Forge objects to diversify and balance gameplay. Full details of these changes are below.

 

Abandon

Sniper rifle above gold lift
Sniper rifle next to red spawn by the cliff
Overshield placed on 1st floor of center structure equidistant from both team spawns
Red flag moved to bottom of gold lift
Blue flag moved back closer to cliff

Adrift

Overshield placed in center of map below Mantis
Twin Sniper rifles placed on the corners of the map
Needlers replace the frags in the center room in the corners
Adjusted cover and line of sight in the top hallways to help attackers in objective modes

Complex

Moved spawns farther apart and in proper “bases”
Flags are now moved to their respective “bases”
Red team Sniper rifle moved to the 2nd floor of their “base”
Rocket Launcher replaces Sword in the courtyard

Exile

Mantis replaces Scorpion and placed equidistant from both team spawns
Laser spawns in center cave
Railgun is in front of each team spawn replaces SAW
Removed Gauss Hog and replaced with Rocket Hogs for each team

Exile CTF

Team spawns and flags pushed back into their respective “bases”
Sticky Det spawns in Banshee hangar (no Banshee)
No team Warthogs
Gauss Hog spawns in the center of the map and is flipped onto its side
SAW in front of each team spawn
Beam rifle spawns in the cave over by the Scorpion bay

Haven

Rotated team spawns 90 degrees to oppose each other on the opposite axis found currently in matchmaking
Sword spawns in the upper center
Concussion rifle spawns next to closed ramp
Sniper rifle spawns next to open ramp
Lifts are now at the drop downs to allow more flow to the upper level
Colored lighting to distinguish player/map orientation
Miscellaneous grenades placed around the map

Landfall

Moved spawns and flags to opposite corners of the map. Blue flag in lift room and red flag by sea side
Shotgun, sniper rifle, and Overshield are initial weapon spawns

Longbow

Gauss Hog at each team spawn
Banshee at each team spawn
4x Shade turrets at the center fort on the ridge
Overshield in center cave
Beam rifle and Rocket launcher at each team spawn

Meltdown

Fuel Rod replaces Incinerator cannon at each team spawn
Gauss Hog at each team spawn
Plasma turrets inside each side bunker
Scattershot at each side bunker

Meltdown (CTF)

Mantis at center of map under bridge
Beam rifles on top of the side bunkers
Plasma turrets inside each side bunker

Ragnarok

Added Rocket Hog to vehicle set

Ragnarok (CTF)

2x SAWs at each team spawn
Railgun in the field opposite Pelican crash site

Solace

Removed Incinerator from low center
Sword is alone at low center
Fuel Rod spawns on the side of the map equidistant from the team spawns

Vortex

Gauss Hog at each team spawn
Mantis at each team spawn
Banshee low center equidistant from team spawns

Thanks for checking out the details of today’s update. We hope you enjoy these changes, and we’ll see you on the virtual battlefield!
 

Discuss

[VanMan]

PLEASE remove  “Slayer Pro” game mode in Big Team Infinity Slayer and Infinity Slayer!!! It sucks! There are enough "Pro" game types for campers and snipers and etc. if they want, but no more automatics in the most basic playlists. Make it a seperate game type, if you want to keep it!

[Ransom]

I like the slayer pro gametypes, but it should be moved to a seperate playlist. That way, people who want to play it can play it and those who don't can avoid it entirely.

[Jayme Bruce]

The weapon tuning update is so bad and has ruined Halo 4 so much that I am genuinely considering scrapping it...

 

1. Why does the Battle Rifle damage need to be increased? The whole point of the Battle Rifle is that when you first start to use it, it feels like the underdog and you need to PRACTICE with it to be able to turn things around.

 

2. "A melee followed by two BR hits on an opponent will kill them" - who does this benefit exactly? 

 

3. "We have increased the strength of the ^Assault Rifle" - Already ridiculously over-powered and unbalanced, why make it more-so?

 

4. "The Carbine can now kills with 7 shots, not head shots obviously because that would be the obvious choice in a game that used to require an element of skill"

 

5. Of all the above choices, how could the Needler not be modified?

 

I am not sure about the Needler because whenever someone fires it at me, I manage to nip at most one shot to the head of an enemy with a DMR; if I am lucky I will be able to fire one shot out of my BR. BUT the tables turn whenever I use the Needler because regardless of how fast an enemy is running at me head on I can hold down the fire button and fire as many needles as possible at them but I will still die; The needles will explode, the enemy will walk off barely suffering anything and if it is a really lucky day the enemies shield may recharge.

 

6. Boltshot!

 

One thing I am surprised about is that nobody decided to increase the damage output of the Boltshot equal that of an Incineration Cannon.. in fact I am pleased it has not been touched at all. People complain about it acting like a shotgun but when your crouched alone in the box room on Exile with 5 enemies running at you and you can take out 3 of them with well planned Boltshot and melee hits it serves as a brilliant secondary weapon; especially so now that someone obviously addicted to Hardcore Deathmatch on Black Ops II has taken the reigns and decided the  ^Assault Rifle just wasn't strong enough.

 

I think a game update should work to even out the playing field not level the playing field completely so that us people who have spent hours on Halo 2, Halo 3, Reach and now Halo 4 need to completely re-adapt their playing styles. Especially for the sake of a few CoD addicted newbies who decided to test the water and try out a new game, realized camping and high-power weapons will never beat skill and accuracy and then force an update to suit them.

 

... A great game should never update itself for the sake of its audience, the audience need to update themselves and their playing styles to suit the game. I can see Halo 4 becoming the sore end of a once amazing Trilogy if these kind of updates continue.

 

Rant Over

[DaveAtStateFarm]

The weapon tuning update is so bad and has ruined Halo 4 so much that I am genuinely considering scrapping it...

 

1. Why does the Battle Rifle damage need to be increased? The whole point of the Battle Rifle is that when you first start to use it, it feels like the underdog and you need to PRACTICE with it to be able to turn things around.

 

2. "A melee followed by two BR hits on an opponent will kill them" - who does this benefit exactly? 

 

3. "We have increased the strength of the ^***ault Rifle" - Already ridiculously over-powered and unbalanced, why make it more-so?

 

4. "The Carbine can now kills with 7 shots, not head shots obviously because that would be the obvious choice in a game that used to require an element of skill"

 

5. Of all the above choices, how could the Needler not be modified?

 

I am not sure about the Needler because whenever someone fires it at me, I manage to nip at most one shot to the head of an enemy with a DMR; if I am lucky I will be able to fire one shot out of my BR. BUT the tables turn whenever I use the Needler because regardless of how fast an enemy is running at me head on I can hold down the fire button and fire as many needles as possible at them but I will still die; The needles will explode, the enemy will walk off barely suffering anything and if it is a really lucky day the enemies shield may recharge.

 

6. Boltshot!

 

One thing I am surprised about is that nobody decided to increase the damage output of the Boltshot equal that of an Incineration Cannon.. in fact I am pleased it has not been touched at all. People complain about it acting like a shotgun but when your crouched alone in the box room on Exile with 5 enemies running at you and you can take out 3 of them with well planned Boltshot and melee hits it serves as a brilliant secondary weapon; especially so now that someone obviously addicted to Hardcore Deathmatch on Black Ops II has taken the reigns and decided the  ^***ault Rifle just wasn't strong enough.

 

I think a game update should work to even out the playing field not level the playing field completely so that us people who have spent hours on Halo 2, Halo 3, Reach and now Halo 4 need to completely re-adapt their playing styles. Especially for the sake of a few CoD addicted newbies who decided to test the water and try out a new game, realized camping and high-power weapons will never beat skill and accuracy and then force an update to suit them.

 

... A great game should never update itself for the sake of its audience, the audience need to update themselves and their playing styles to suit the game. I can see Halo 4 becoming the sore end of a once amazing Trilogy if these kind of updates continue.

 

Rant Over

I don't want to make this reply long, but, have you played Halo 3? The Battle Rifle is perfect now! The Assault Rifle is fine too, they decreased the accuracy, and only made it 2-3 shots stronger. THEY NERFED the Boltshot because it was overused and OP. The Needler is just fine also, you just seem to be missing. Every time I use the Needler, guaranteed kill. The carbine was already under powered,  and the people who loved it can actually kill people with it now. 1 bullet isn't that big of a deal.