Halo 4 Update Brings Community Forge Playlist, New Specializations

The first of four announced improvements to Halo 4 has just gone live on Xbox Live as an automatic update for the game.

The latest update brings an all new playlist called "Community Forge Test" that adds six new maps created by community members of Halo 4 in the game's built-in map editor, Forge. All six of these maps—Despair, Garrotte, Relay, Scyhte, Shutout, and Simplex—were specially selected by 343 Industries for their quality. Each of them is designed for 4 vs 4 combat in Infinity Slayer, Capture the flag, SWAT, and King of the Hill modes.

343 Industries intends to use the maps as a testbed for featuring future maps. The selected maps will remain on the playlist for a short period of time while the studio tests them before adding them. There is a possibility that these maps will make it into a permanent playlist in the future. The studio has created a forum thread on Halo Waypoint to solicit feedback for these maps. 

In addition to the new maps, the sixth episode of Spartan Ops is now available, adding five new co-op missions to the game. The series will be going on a brief hiatus before it returns.

Finally, two new armor specializations have been added to Halo 4 for players who've reached Service Rank 50. The two specializations, Pioneer and Pathfinder, were previously only available to players who purchased the game upon its release. 343 Industries will release another two specializations early next month.