There are tons of updates in development studio 343’s latest patch for the buggy multiplayer modes in the Xbox One’s month-old Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Just how effective those are, however, is a bit hit or miss, according to my and some other players’ experiences.
Here’s the full list of fixes, according to 343:
MATCHMAKING & PARTIES
Made improvements to matchmaking team balance
Made an update to improve matchmaking search times and success rates, specifically expediting the “Players Found” and “Connecting Session” search phases
Made improvements to prevent a player’s rank from resetting unexpectedly
Made an update to resolve an issue that allowed players to be placed into an incorrect lobby after a matchmaking game
Made improvements to prevent the party from being disbanded upon returning to lobby
Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the “Match Found” screen
Resolved an issue where Team Slayer matches in Halo 3 could separate players onto individual teams
Resolved an issue where players could be placed into a group of 7 players and unable to find more
Made improvements to ensure that the party-leader is prompted to “Bring Party” when leaving a lobby
Made an update to ensure that split-screen players cannot be divided onto different teams
Made improvements to ensure that clients are not kicked from parties at the end of matchmaking games with a “failed to connect” error
Made an update to ensure that Halo 2: Anniversary matches do not continue indefinitely after entire opposing team quits
Made an update to ensure that parties are not separated when the party leader navigates through multiple titles
CUSTOM GAMES
Made improvements to prevent manual team selection from getting reset after a Custom Game match
Made an update to ensure that the “Make Party Leader” command functions correctly
ACHIEVEMENTS
Made an update to ensure that the “Too Close to the Sun” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
Made an update to ensure that the “Monopolized” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
Made an update to ensure that the “Devastating” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
Made an update to ensure that the “You’re Joking” achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
GAME-SPECIFIC
Made improvements to Halo 2: Anniversary objective pickup, specifically in regards to objective “juggling”
Made an update to Halo 3’s movement input, specifically to resolve a deadzone issue which affected moving in a straight line
Made additional improvements to Halo: CE fall damage scenarios
Made an update to resolve a Halo 2 Classic campaign issue where a black screen could overlay the gameplay screen
STABILITY
Made a variety of stability improvements across the following areas:
Matchmaking
Custom Games
Halo 4 Campaign
MISC.
Made an update to ensure that clan tags appear in the post-game carnage report for all players
Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the post-game carnage report
Made an update to ensure that emblems are displayed correctly in the post-game carnage report
The biggest issue plaguing the Collection since its release has been the trouble players have connecting to multiplayer matches across any of the four Halo games in the collection.
In my own experience, even smaller matches would take upwards of 30 minutes to connect to, if they connected at all. Having tried the game a bit today, post-patch, that seems to have been fixed.
I’ve been able to connect to each of the multiplayer match options in testing today, and other players have been reporting the same. I’ve even joined lobbies to resounding hoots and hollers of affirmation from other players’ mics. People looking to join 16-player matches in Big Team Battles can expect to have longer wait times, but you can connect to them eventually.
Things aren’t as steady for all players, as reports on Reddit, Halo Waypoint and NeoGAF show that results are all over the board, with some players still not able to connect to any matches.
Most of the teams I’ve been placed in as of today have been fairly balanced, which suggests that another of the Collection’s faults may be fixed by this patch. The worst lingering issue I’ve experienced, though, is with keeping a party together when leaving a match to go back to a lobby. Our own Kirk Hamilton was booted from my party three times during testing today.
Let us know in the comments if you’ve been playing and how your experience has been.
To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find her on Twitter at @tinaamini
