Bungie outlines Halo: Reach changes

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 20 September, 2010

Betrayal! Campaign matchmaking!

Bungie will tweak Halo: Reach's betrayal system and implement campaign matchmaking in early October, the developer has announced.

At the moment the science fiction shooter can boot players out of games after just one team kill. Reach uses a betrayal system similar to the one in Halo 2, where players accumulate strikes against their betrayal count not just for kills, but for non-fatal damage to team mates.

"Even internally, we've already talked about tweaks to the current system and we're looking into deploying a solution," community man Eric Osborne wrote.

"Don't worry; it's something we can configure without a major update, so you can expect to hear back from us soon about some modified betrayal booting conditions."

Cooperative campaign matchmaking, omitted from the game to prevent players from seeing Reach's ending straight off the bat, will be implemented in early October.

"The first matchmaking update for Reach will occur in early October and consist primarily of fixes for bugs and balance issues," Bungie revealed.

"We're not done testing them all yet, but when they're ready we'll fill you in on all of the little details. We'll also be adding some game types and Forge maps. Co-op campaign will be going live in October as well.

"Campaign matchmaking will not take into account what your current progress is, so if you're worried about spoilers make sure you finish campaign before jumping into this playlist!"

Bungie promised to make "nimble and frequent" changes to matchmaking. Rocket Race, Firefight Versus and other gubbins "are all in the plan and will be deployed sometime down the road".

Bungie also took the time to reiterate to Reach quitters that they will be punished.

"Some people are attempting to game the Arena system by quitting before they turn in a poor performance," Osborne said.

"These people aren't very bright. While your Arena Rating is used to give you a good gauge of your present performance levels in any given match, Trueskill is still in full effect, underpinning the matchmaking experience and informing your ultimate Seasonal Rating.

"The only achievement you'll be unlocking by quitting out of games is one that's not worth any Gamerscore. We call it Quit Probation. You'll also end up in a lower tier Division than you would have had you had sacked up and stuck it out. Chumps."

Oh, and there's a short word for the "small number" of gamers who have received a disc read error with Reach. The answer? Call Microsoft customer support for troubleshooting assistance.

Reach, released last Tuesday, is a pretty big deal. The UK's best-selling game made $200 million in a day, and is the biggest game Microsoft's ever released.

It's also pretty good.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (30) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • the_sas_man #1 2 years ago

    nice tweaks I say!

  • Eraysor #2 2 years ago

    Haven't really noticed any problems; it's been great fun so far. Looking forward to the return of rocket race too!

  • Dr.Frappers #3 2 years ago

    Good news - i'm glad Bungie are keen to optimise their last Halo game.
    Was worried that they might not give it as much support as Halo 3 seeing as they have their new IP to attend to. Put my mind to rest - they're such a passionate developer.

  • peteb #4 2 years ago

    I was reversing a warthog the other day and accidentally ran over a team-mate. Of course I was booted, but you could clearly see that it was an accident. I guess giving the "to boot or not to boot" option to a raging 13 year old will nearly always result in you getting kicked out, no matter if it was an accident or not. Not a big fan of this system to be honest so I'm glad they are looking to make some tweaks here.
    Edited by peteb at 20/09/10 @ 13:20

  • MasterNameless #5 2 years ago

    Woo. Bring on Rocket Race. I was a huge fan of it before they removed it from the Halo 3 playlists.

    As it was a VIP system, and about the racing from checkpoint to checkpoint, you couldn't kill each other by conventional means - only by rocketting someone off the map, or by assassinating them with a melee from behind. One of my favourite moments in Halo was when a a friend and I were taking a corner in the mongoose to be confronted by another team member blocking our way. He fired a rocket just in front of us, the explosion causing us to do a forward flip over his head. Mid-flight, whilst upside-down, I managed to assassinate him before we continued our forward flip to land on the wheels on the mongoose again and continue on to get the final checkpoint and win the race!

    I still have the video saved Halo 3, and am very much looking forward to trying to repeat the stunt in Reach! :D

  • MaFlippinHeadHurts #6 2 years ago

    Absolutely loving this game, almost finished the campaign and can’t wait to give my full time to online.

    My wife frickin hates everything Halo…..for some strange reason!

    @ Peteb - I can't understand why you have the option to boot someone after just one betrayal. I was betrayed last night by someone throwing a hand grenade, which was clearly an accident and it came up with the option for me to boot them - daft!

  • Bravestinsane #7 2 years ago

    Well i like to collect 100% of the achievement's in any game i have so Bungie thanks for encouraging me to quit games for this unlock, to me you have caused exactly what you tried to prevent.

  • Spency #8 2 years ago

    I've only felt the need to boot someone once after they killed me 3 times in the first few minutes of a firefight match. He was clearly just chucking grenades willy-nilly.

    @Bravestinsane
    I don't think you get a real achievement for quitting out of games. I think he was joking. It's not on the achievement list anyway. And it also wouldn't make much sense for the exact reason you gave.

  • Scarbir #9 2 years ago

    Bungie, read this! In a Custom Game, it would be fantastic to adjust the number of vehicles in a map. The number of Warthogs, for example, can make or break the balance in any map. Pleahease...

    They won't read this, will they?

  • kinky_mong #10 2 years ago

    Tweak my nipples hard Bungie!

  • sharky_ob #11 2 years ago

    @Bravestinsane

    Amazing, even less wit than an American. Achievement Unlocked indeed.

  • smithdown #12 2 years ago

    Is the Campaign Matchmaking different to System Link with friends in the same room? Cos Me and 3 mates are planning a 4-way romp through the campaign on Legendary this weekend in the comfort of my gaming attic, I'd hate it if we couldn't join up.

  • Bravestinsane #13 2 years ago

    @Spency

    Ahh ok cool, not getting it for a couple of days, gonna do the trade in offer they have at game, MW2 for 50%.


    But thats good to know, if its just a pointless in game achievement i don't care lol.

    @Sharky...

    Wow waspy much?

    I was making a valid point about how i like to complete all my games whats your problem with that? Mummy not wiped your bottom on time today? You got a rash hmmmm?

  • HoriZon #14 2 years ago

    Finished the game and moved on.

  • kinky_mong #15 2 years ago

    @Horizon: But you were playing it just a few hours ago and unlocked a few achievements?

  • FogHeart #16 2 years ago

    "Finished the game and moved on...."

    "No way near as good as Halo 2 and 3.
    Sold my copy on Amazon!"

    Now all we need is someone to use the 'gathering dust' cliche and we have a complete set!

  • Yossarian #17 2 years ago

    Bungie, read this! In a Custom Game, it would be fantastic to adjust the number of vehicles in a map. The number of Warthogs, for example, can make or break the balance in any map. Pleahease...

    They won't read this, will they?

    You can do this by editing the map in Forge.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #18 2 years ago

    MY COPY IS GATHERING DUST!!!

    [/spoiler]Well, the box is as the disc spends so long in my Xbox ;-)

  • MasterNameless #19 2 years ago

    My Xbox and PS3 are both gathering dust! I use them almost everyday, but don't hoover or dust very regularly so they'll gather dust whether I use them or not. ;)

  • CaptainQuint #20 2 years ago

    My dust is gathering copies of Halo Reach. I love the game that much I buy another copy each day and store them in various places like the shed and garage.

  • Skooch #21 2 years ago

    Some people just deserve to get booted first time. Below is a verbatim text conversation I had with someone on the weekend who chased me down and team killed me. Obviously, I booted him first time as he was clearly an idiot :)

    Player: "DICK"
    Me: "If you don't team kill then you won't get booted"
    Player: "IF U DONT NICK KILLS N U WONT BE A DICK"
    Me: "It is called TEAM slayer for a reason"

    Accused of kill stealing in team slayer! Like I said, some people just don't deserve a second or third chance.

  • OwningXylophone #22 2 years ago

    Can't wait for the changes to the betrayal system... I was playing rocketfight over the weekend and one of my team mates ran straight into a group of enemies using sprint just as the other 3 of us peppered them with rockets from jetpacks, my rocket hit first netting me a killtacular and a betrayal and low and behold I was booted.

    Honestly, he was the one that should have been booted for being a retard... Who gets up close and personal in a game of rocketfight?!?!?!

  • Spanky #23 2 years ago

    pswii6o "Hopefully people will start paying attention and only boot people who are being cunts......not ones who are there to win. "
    Already happening, i was shooting at a player trying to take down one of my teams Wraiths, i killed him(maybe not sure, the whole lot blew up) as the Wraith blew up and i heard the "BEEEETRAAAYED" ring out, didn't get booted. Maybe they should give the betrayed player a little replay of their death then guilt would be obvious.

    Guess the moral of the story is don't play with fannies.

  • SomaticSense #24 2 years ago

    I guess my question is:

    Why Bungie think the current Betrayal system was a good way at all? I mean, it's not like they had a public beta period for the game where they could iron stupid problems like this out before the games release, or anything...

  • icematt12 #25 2 years ago

    Yet I took it like a man, abandoned by my *cough* teammates and spawn camped by 4 or 5 elites. As it was in matchmaking and not arena, I hope the quitters ended up worse off than my -18 result.

  • Shotofen #26 2 years ago

    How about a way of playing Firefight CLASSIC via matchmaking? I. want. this. now. I hate the one round, can't die, score attack version of firefight...the only firefight currently available in matchmaking (besides the Vs. mode).

  • BillMurray #27 2 years ago

    Aww, i read that as 'Rocket Face'.

  • TelexStar #28 2 years ago

    No mention of fixing the oh so laggy firefight and co-op modes that plagued ODST? Shame.

    Still, thoroughly enjoyable game in solo campaign and MP matchmaking.

  • CrispyLog #29 2 years ago

    I was playing Firefight in the rocket launcher only mode and as a fired a rocket into a big group of Covvies that just jumped off a dropship some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to zoom in with a ghost and try to run them over, which doesn't work in a ghost anyway. Needless to say I was booted. Yet you have annoying people who ruin the game but don't teamkill (though they team damage and cause you to get killed) who don't get kicked. Get PC on them and bring in vote to kick.

  • sharky_ob #30 2 years ago

    @Bravestinsane

    Good comeback. You really put me in my place.