Halo Weekly Update – Halo Wars 2, Project "Haggar", and More

HALO WARS 2

A new year, and the first Weekly Community update by Ske7ch is live with very awesome news on Halo Wars 2 and more.  As the Weekly Update kicks off, we start off with a quick reminder of the Halo Wars 2 Blitz Beta will start next Friday, January 20, and will be available to everyone on both Window 10 PC and Xbox One. The beta will feature 1v1, 2,2 and 3v3 Blitz PvP multiplayer on the map Providing Grounds. For more details on the beta, you can read about it in this blog post from Dan Ayoub.  Once we get hands on with the beta, the site to deliver your feedback will be located in the link here. Also, if you still have the first Halo Wars 2 beta from the summer of 2015, it should auto-update and will be ready to go, and if you don’t have it, then you will have the option to either download it from the store on either your Xbox One console or your Windows 10 PC.
If you also happen to be a fan of the new character Atriox, then there is a new a new wallpaper for your desktop you can download here.
 

RETAILER PRE-ORDERS

As the launch for Halo Wars 2 draws near, there will be pre-order bonuses available at participating retailers as shown below.


Also, if you have pre-ordered the digital version of the Halo Wars 2: Ultimate Edition, an early access code will be available for use, which will be playable on Xbox One and/or Windows 10 PC, and as a reminder, the Halo Wars: DE codes are still being sent out 7 to 10 days after you place the purchase.
 

HALO LEGENDARY CRATE

In case you didn’t catch the news last week, the next Halo Legendary Crate, which you can purchase here, will include Halo Wars 2 themed item such as a poster and an Atriox sculpture as shown below.


As a quick reminder, you will need to order the Legendary Crate by Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. PST.
 

THQ NORDIC PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP

This part isn’t considered news worthy as said in this update, but in case you were interested, on Wednesday, THQ Nordic issued a press release about a publishing partnership with 343 Industries and Microsoft for the physical release of Halo Wars 2 on Windows 10 PC, which is good for fans who don’t prefer a digital copy of the Halo Wars 2 for PC. This will also grant digital access to the Xbox One version via “Xbox Play Anywhere.” As an important note, the physical version of Halo Wars 2 for Windows 10 still requires a one-time, non-transferrable online activation at installation via a digital token.
 

HALO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

For this year’s Halo World Championship, it will start in St. Louis on January 20-22, and will be streamed via Twitch.tv/halo starting at 10:30 a.m. CST, Friday through Sunday. During the event, there will be some Halo 5 REQ codes given out throughout the weekend. If you are going to be attending the event at St. Louis, then you will get to play teh halo Wars 2 Blitz Mode at the event, and you will also be getting the exclusive legendary emblem to use in Halo 5: Guardians.
 

HALO 5 MATCHMAKING

As of now, the new Season for Jan-Feb 2017 has officially started. In addition, Team Arena officially ended its “Preview” phase and has it’s final map layouts and settings that will be utilized for this year’s Halo World Championship. All of the official variants are available in the “official HCS” Gamertag’s file Share, and should be available for Halo 5’s matchmaking playlists in the near future. As shown below is the new Jan-Feb 2017 season emblem.

Starting Friday, the current changes will help increase teh amount of RP and XP earned in specific playlists including the awards for all Arena boost REQ cards. Last week, the RP payouts for the weekend Mythic Warzone Firefight playlist were increased but after further evaluation and feedback, it will result result in even a higher payout in exchange for the tough challenge players will face.  Also, Legendary Warzone Firefight RP payouts are also being bumped up slightly.
The amount of XP players will earn in the Infection playlist starting tomorrow will also be getting boosted as a testing evaluation on some of the overall XP gains across the overall multiplayer experience. Lastly, the amount of RP and XP being awarded with the use of boost REQ cards is going to be increased, which means whenever you burn an Arena jackpot, RP & XP boosts, Win, etc., it will be rewarding higher results.
Based on the feedback on Warzone Fireteams, players who tend tend to play solo or in smaller groups have been very positive with the adjustments made resulting with the “blow out” of wins/losses decreasing.  Moreover, Companies that have large rosters and are acquainted to playing with 12-man pre-made Fireteams were not satisfied with the change.  The 12-man Fireteams maybe still active, and the Warzone Community is currently looking for ways to accommodate them.  As the 6-man Fireteam limit test continues, the team at 343 industries is focused on testing out other ideas for a special 12-man specific Warzone playlist to accommodate larger groups that were impacted by the reduction negatively.  As the weeks moves on, we will expect a test playlist should be live, but will more likely experience longer match times due to the 12-person requirement.
 

WARZONE MYTHIC WEEKEND

The Warzone Mythic Firefight playlist for January 13-15 will take place on Raid on Apex 7. If you happen to succeed, then your efforts will be rewarded with extra RP!

 

PROJECT “HAGGAR”

Earlier this week, the cat was coming out of the bag with the announcement of a “canceled” Halo title codenamed “Project Haggar.” This project, possibly starting several years ago for Xbox 360, was something both 343 and Mega Bloks contributed to, but didn’t come to fulfillment. Personally this looks like a game that had lots of potential to introduce a younger audience to the Halo series, and does in fact look like it could have been a lot of fun to play.

Later, 343 Founder & Studio Head Bonnie Ross made a statement in response to the enthusiasm about this cancelled project:
Over the past few days, footage has recently made the rounds of an exploratory Xbox 360 project we worked on several years ago, known as “Haggar.” Since then, we’ve received a lot of great feedback from the community. Haggar was something we prototyped with our friends at Mega Bloks that focused on the elements of action, exploration and user creativity found within the Halo universe. Haggar had a lot of fun ideas and invention behind it, but ultimately didn’t progress beyond the early prototyping levels that are shown in the recent video. This is just one example of several similar projects we have evaluated throughout the years – a process that we continue exploring on an ongoing basis.
It may be sad to hear about the cancellation of this project, but due to the amount of positive feedback it has been getting from the Halo, there is a chance it might potentially see the light of day (fingers crossed).
 
And that will be it for this Update, and we will keep you all up to date on what 343 industries will have on store for us in the near future.