The Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta is a resounding success. 343 Industries shared some metrics from the beta, as well as revealing some changes they are making as a result of the feedback they’ve received.
A total of 2,539,847 hours were played, with 20 million matches and 181,389,366 total kills. 19,000 people signed up for the Halo Community Feedback Program as well, and 343 has credited them with giving them the feedback they needed.
Case in point, 11 per cent of people in the program revealed via survey that they did not like sprint. 343 is not removing sprint completely, but players will be able to toggle it on or off in custom games.
You’ll also be able to turn off other Spartan abilities, like Ground Pound and Spartan Charge, for more classic games.
They also revealed these changes:
· Faster base movement
· Faster and more responsive strafing
· Reduced top sprint speed
· Ground Pound controls modified to avoid accidental crouch jumping
· Tuning for Spartan abilities Thrusters, Clamber, Ground Pound, etc
· Reduced bonuses for auto weapons with Smart-Link and headshots
· Better sniper rifle scoping
· DMR scope position adjusted
· SPNKr Rocket Launcher added, as Legendary version
· Removed mid-air grenade detonation from weapon fire
· Toggle weapon vibration feedback
· Post-death replays added
· Less medal frequency
· Toggle Spartan chatter
· Highlights on weapons to make them easier to find and pick up off the ground
343 explained these changes in detail here, but the main takeaway is that 343 hasn’t removed anything they added in, but have made adjustments so that players who don’t like them won’t deal with them as much.
Of course, the biggest issues with the game remain matchmaking and performance landmarks. 343 pledges that the game will have the best online matchmaking upon release. Subsequently they are not letting go of 60 FPS, and will definitely raise resolution from 720p, although they fell short of guaranteeing 1080p.
Halo 5: Guardians will release later this year on Xbox One.
