A new game update is coming with the Halo Infinite Drop Pod. Releasing on August 9th, the game update will bring quality of life updates and balance changes to Halo Infinite.
First, here’s a rundown of what’s not in the upcoming Halo Infinite Drop Pod:
- Forge will enter open beta in the live retail game next month. It is not in the current Drop Pod.
- While co-op network campaign support isn’t coming tomorrow, it is still on track for a “late August” release.
- Ranked and Social Doubles will launch two weeks after this Halo Infinite Drop Pod.
Below is a full list of the notes from the August 9th Halo Infinite Drop Pod. They are also listed on Halo Waypoint.
Boss Level Gamer has plenty of Halo Infinite coverage ready for you. Our Halo Infinite review was published at the game’s launch. We (mostly) liked what we saw but still had some concerns. We also ranked the Halo Infinite weapons list for multiplayer. Finally, check out our ranking of every Halo Infinite multiplayer map from worst to best.
Halo Infinite Drop Pod – August 9TH, 2022 – Full Notes
Install Size
- Update only (all platforms): approximately 2.0 GB or less.
Patch Notes
NEW FEATURES
- Added support for cross-core visors for ALL cores
- Introduced support for more attachments on Mark VII helmets – a full list can be found here.
- Challenges are now available to view in the “Pause” menu during gameplay. As of now, challenges will NOT live track, but work is being done to add this in the future
MULTIPLAYER
- The volume of a nearby player’s shield recharging has been lowered, especially when the recharging player is out of the line of sight.
- Choppers will no longer continue boosting after being disabled by a Dynamo Grenade’s EMP effect.
- The M41 SPNKR’s damage radius has been improved and now more consistently damages enemies.
- A fully charged shot from the Plasma Pistol will now correctly deplete all Shields, including active Overshields.
- Mark Assists and medals related to the Mark system will now appear correctly when the Superintendent AI is equipped.
- Players can no longer mark enemies who are obscured behind waist high cover.
- Headshots more consistently register on enemies without shields when using precision weapons such as the Mk50 Sidekick or the Stalker Rifle.
- In Custom Games, King of the Hill now goes to Overtime when both teams have the same score as time runs out.
- In Free-For-All King of the Hill matches, the mini scoreboard near the bottom of the screen no longer shows unused meters and the full scoreboard shows the following stats:
- Points
- Score
- Kills
- Deaths
- In Custom Games, Attrition rounds now consistently end when a team is fully eliminated.
- While spectating a player in Observer Mode on PC, player weapons will no longer shake when the camera moves up or down.
- Resolved an issue where dropped Equipment could not be picked up near the lower light bridge on Catalyst.
- Observers will no longer be counted as a member of the enemy team in Attrition Custom Games.
- The outline of the Danger Zone’s final circle will no longer appear early in Last Spartan Standing Custom Games.
- Dropped weapons will no longer accumulate during Tactical Slayer matches.
MENUS
- The fourth Challenge slot will now always be enabled when a Premium Battle Pass is equipped.
- Visor colors will now appear correctly when using the following helmet and attachment combinations:
- Cambion helmet with the UA/Februus attachment
- AKIS II-GRD helmet with the TAS/Lantifrid attachment
- Land Grab and Last Spartan Standing now have unique Game Mode icons in various menus.
- In the Ranked Arena playlist menu, changing the Ranked Queue type now correctly updates the Estimated Wait tooltip.
- Error messages now consistently appear in matchmaking playlist menus.
BALANCE CHANGES
Grappleshot
- To maintain multiplayer balance, players will no longer be able to exit a vehicle to cancel an enemy’s Grapplejack.
Developer Notes:
Vehicle conversion, trading from one team to another, is critical to balance in Big Team Battle and Arena. If we can encourage vehicles swapping teams at least once per match we can safely make vehicles strong. The Grappleshot plays an important role in the Sandbox to cause vehicle conversions. There was an unintended mechanic where exiting a vehicle would stop a Grapplejack, we fixed that unintended mechanic so the Grappleshot can better play its role and vehicle conversion is more frequent.
Light and Medium Vehicles
- Non-tank vehicles, such as the Ghost or Warthog, are now more resistant to small arms fire. All of these changes apply to Multiplayer and a few apply to Campaign as well. See the Developer Notes for a full breakdown of the changes in each mode.
Developer Notes:
Feedback has been consistent that small arms fire is too effective at taking down vehicles (outside of tanks). To provide a significant buff against most infantry weapons, we made the following changes to light and medium vehicle armor:
Global (Campaign and Multiplayer)
- Reduced damage from High Impact on Light Vehicles from 160% to 155%
- Reduced damage from High Impact on Medium Vehicles from 128% to 125%
- Reduced damage from Shock on Light Vehicles from 30% to 25%
- Reduced damage from the Disruptor’s Super Combine and the Dynamo Grenade on Light Vehicles from 75% to 30%
- Reduced damage from the Disruptor’s Super Combine and the Dynamo Grenade on Medium Vehicles from 50% to 20%
- Reduced damage from the Disruptor’s Super Combine and the Dynamo Grenade on Heavy Vehicles from 20% to 10%
Multiplayer only
- Reduced damage from Bullet on Light Vehicles from 35% to 30%
- Reduced damage from Bullet on Medium Vehicles from 20% to 15%
- Reduced damage from Explosion on Light Vehicles from 80% to 50%
- Reduced damage from Explosion on Medium Vehicles from 45% to 30%
- Reduced damage from Hardlight on Light Vehicles from 100% to 75%
- Reduced damage from Hardlight on Medium Vehicles from 100% to 70%
Warthog
- The Warthog can now be knocked around more easily by players using weapons such as the M41 SPNKR or the Repulsor Equipment.
Developer Notes:
Players were feeling bummed they couldn’t knock the Warthog around as much as they expected. It has been a part of their core competency for decades now so we wanted to give players more pushing power against the Warthog.
- Increased horizontal impulse from 0.65 to 0.7
- Increased vertical impulse from 0.9 to 1
- Increased angular impulse from 0.65 to 0.7
Miscellaneous
- Introduced back-end changes to allow enabling of region select in a future update
- Added new HCS Regional Bundles to the Store
- Vaulted the Season 1 HCS Regional Bundles in the Store
Known Issues
- In Last Spartan Standing Custom Games, bots do not level up after gaining enough score to improve their loadout.
- The Xbox app or Microsoft Store app version of Halo Infinite may download extra data upon launching the game.
A full list of patch notes can be found over on the Halo Support site: https://support.halowaypoint.com/hc/en-us/articles/8273360479380-Halo-Infinite-Drop-Pod-August-9-2022
What Is a ‘Drop Pod’?
To make it simple, a Drop Pod is just a fancy name for a patch in Halo Infinite. Drop Pods will release when they are ready, rather than aligning with a specific date (such as a new season, or event). Drop Pods can contain anything from new content, quality of life updates or bug fixes.
Here’s what 343 described them as:
Our player-facing term for QoL updates that land during Seasons is “Drop Pods.” And much like their ODST namesakes, these release vehicles are meant to drop in hot, just as soon as they’re ready. Our target is one Drop Pod every month, and you can expect Drop Pods to vary in scope and size.
Source: https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/halo-infinite-update-april-2022
Where’s Co-op Network Campaign? Is That Not in This Update? Is It Still Coming in August?
The goal for co-op network campaign support is Late August, per the Halo Infinite Roadmap. As far as we know, it is still on track for this month.
Where’s Forge?
Forge is currently scheduled to enter open beta in the live retail game in September. This will NOT be flighted and will be available in your standard version of Halo Infinite. It is not included with this Drop Pod.
Where’s Ranked and Social Team Doubles? What About the Csr Reset?
Doubles and the CSR reset will be added/happening two weeks from the launch of the August Drop Pod, as outlined in the reveal blog.
On the multiplayer experience front, this update will make it easier for us to implement more Ranked playlists moving forward. Kicking things off will be Ranked Doubles, which is set to land two weeks after the Drop Pod’s release – along with a CSR reset. Additionally, a social Team Doubles playlist will be accompanying Ranked Doubles on its launch day, meaning Halo Infinite will be getting twice the 2v2 fun.
Source: https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/august-drop-pod-preview
Where Can I Find the Option for Region Select? Wasn’t That Coming in This Drop Pod?
As outlined in the August Drop Pod Preview blog, the August Drop Pod is only introducing back-end changes to allow enabling Region Select in a future update. There are no user-facing changes relating to Region Select in this Drop Pod.
More information can be found here: https://www.halowaypoint.com/news/august-drop-pod-preview
