Match XP is finally arriving in Halo Infinite in the Winter Update, after months of being criticized for its lack.
After over a year of development, Halo Infinite is finally introducing Match XP and reorganizing progression mechanisms. This year, the ailing live service has seen a major exodus of gamers, an inability to maintain a regular content schedule, and the cancellation of a long-promised feature for Halo Infinite’s single-player campaign.
At the time of writing, Halo Infinite has a recent favorable review score of 43% on Steam, which is well below the record of 70% but is still fairly low for what was supposed to be Microsoft’s flagship game with the Xbox Series X/S. It is the result of several disappointing months that saw frequent delays for anticipated features, and even when the long-awaited Forge Mode had a release date announced, the news arrived with the cancellation of the Halo Infinite campaign’s local cooperative, breaking a promise made by 343 Industries. However, the next Winter Update is expected to be the most major for the FPS in a long time, and the developer has begun sharing comprehensive details on what players may anticipate.
According to an update provided to Halo Waypoint, a repository for Halo news developed by 343, a Match XP Beta will be launched, paving the way for modifications to the advancement system. Spartans will be able to work their way through a free 30-tier Battle Pass addition, helped by additional Challenges and Ultimate Rewards. Match XP rewards players for time spent in any game mode and is determined by performance metrics such as Win/Loss, MVP, and Top 50% of the Team. Below is a screenshot of how it looks in-game.
Matchmaking in Halo Infinite XP seems to be a Beta because values will be constantly evaluated and changed depending on user comments and statistics. Furthermore, Challenges will be “redirected,” still awarding XP but focusing on obtaining things for customization. The number of challenges necessary to get the Ultimate version will be decreased from 20 to 10, the conditions will be standardized, and weekly Challenges will no longer be restricted to certain playlists.
The Winter Update is said to be the start of all Challenges becoming “playlist agnostic,” the result of often negative criticism from Halo Infinite players. Given that the improvements seem to be favorable, enabling a Fireteam to no longer be worried about individual issues as a group, Halo Infinite will likely take some time before it can properly compete in a packed live-service environment.
