Halo Infinite is set to receive a new Drop Pod update next week that will focus primarily on quality of life improvements and fan-requested features. Changes to visor cross-compatibility, helmet attachments, and additional ranked playlists are on the way for Halo Infinite on August 9.
Currently, Halo Infinite is in the middle of its second season of content, titled Lone Wolves. Halo Infinite’s season 2 was initially intended as a shorter season, lasting less than Heroes of Reach before getting extended to accommodate for more development time on missing features for the game. As of this writing, Halo Infinite still lacks a Forge mode and a co-op campaign, although co-op is showing some signs of life with recent playtest sessions. Overall, the Halo community has been waiting for several fixes and improvements to the game, along with more content as season two has been considered relatively weak in its content delivery. Next week's update may prove that 343 Industries is keen on delivering its promises to fans and is trying to make up some lost ground.
In a blog post shared on Halo Waypoint, 343 Industries has detailed Infinite’s next Drop Pod update, stating that it has a more significant community focus and will lay the groundwork for community-requested features in the future. The first significant change is how every current and future visor color will now work on all helmets and across all cores. Prior to this update, players would only unlock visors specific to one of five armor cores in the game, a major sore spot for the Halo Infinite community. The image below shows Eaglestrike's Night Wisp visor on a Mark V core helmet.
Additionally, changes to helmet attachments in the Mark VII armor core now allow players to swap attachments between different helmets. Many fans have requested this feature for some time; however, 343 Industries had to take multiple considerations in art style changes and clipping issues before finally implementing the feature. Not every Mark VII helmet in Halo Infinite will be able to use every helmet attachment, but 343 Industries assures that the selection is much more extensive now. The developer will also include a full list of possible combinations in the patch notes when the update launches on August 9. Below is a Mark V Stalwart visor attachment on a Mark VII helmet.
Lastly, 343 Industries is adding more ranked playlists shortly after implementing the changes detailed above. The developers state that Ranked Doubles will launch two weeks after the Drop Pod update releases and is accompanied by a Social variant and a Competitive Skill Rank reset. 343 will monitor the health of Ranked Doubles in the coming weeks, and if the playlists find traction, it will experiment with adding new Ranked game modes to Halo Infinite. Microsoft’s flagship first-person shooter still has lots of ground to cover before it fulfills all its promises; however, Halo Infinite’s August Drop Pod appears to be making steps in the right direction.
Halo Infinite is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Source: Halo Waypoint