What you need to know
- An upcoming Halo Infinite "Drop Pod" update has been announced, and it could potentially go live as early as next week.
- The update includes numerous health buffs to Halo Infinite's light and medium vehicles, various bug fixes, and improvements to the game's Ranked Arena matchmaking systems.
- The specific release date for the update is unknown, but Jun. 14 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET is a good guess since this is when Halo Infinite's weekly resets are.
In a new blog post on Halo Waypoint, Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries has announced a new update for the game that may come as early as next week. This is the first of Halo Infinite's new "Drop Pod" patches, which are quality-of-life updates intended to resolve or improve issues related to balance, performance, and stability. In this Drop Pod, players can expect buffs to vehicles, numerous fixes for gameplay bugs and UI-related issues, and some improvements to Halo Infinite's Ranked Arena matchmaking systems.
Many players have voiced feedback that vehicles often feel too squishy in Halo Infinite's multiplayer, and in response, 343 Industries is increasing the health of light (Banshee, Mongoose, Wasp) and medium (Warthog, Chopper, Ghost, Shade) vehicles in this update. Additionally, the developers have also adjusted the controls of the Scorpion tank in order to make the vehicle feel less frustrating and more intuitive to drive. These changes will hopefully make these vehicles feel more useful and viable in Arena and Big Team Battle.
The Drop Pod also brings a slew of fixes for critical bugs and performance issues that have plagued Halo Infinite for quite awhile, including a fix for an exploit that allows players to ping opponents through walls and an increase to the speed and responsiveness of the game's UI. Stability of the game on Xbox One consoles will also be improved, and a bug that displays unlocked Event Pass rewards as locked will be squashed as well. Many smaller issues are being resolved, too; make sure you check the Halo Waypoint blog post for a full breakdown of each fix.
Lastly, the patch is also implementing two changes to Halo Infinite's Ranked Arena matchmaking that are intended to improve match quality. The first is a restriction that prevents players from jumping into Ranked unless they've played 25 full games of Social multiplayer, which will make it easier for the developers to identify cheaters on new accounts and will also ensure that new players have some experience under their belt before they try competitive. Secondly, the update will make it so that friends can only play Ranked together in a Fireteam if their Competitive Skill Ratings (CSR) are within a certain range of each other. There are no restrictions below 899 CSR (Gold 6), but above that, a range of 900 CSR is introduced. Between 900 CSR (Platinum 1) and 1500 CSR (Onyx), this range will shrink to a minimum of 600 CSR as you rank up.
Note that the developers haven't provided a hard release date for the Drop Pod, so it's unclear when exactly it will release next week (if it does). Our best guess is Jun. 14 at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET, as this is when Halo Infinite's weekly resets are.
