[Updated] Halo Infinite players report Battle Pass leveling system (or abysmal XP progression) ruins gameplay

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…

Original story (published on November 16, 2021) follows:

Halo Infinite, the long-awaited Microsoft exclusive FPS, has finally arrived. However, players don’t seem to be very happy with the progression system.

Many Halo Infinite players are reporting that the battle pass leveling system or progression is extremely slow. So, they don’t feel like their effort is really rewarded (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

According to the reports, the problem would be in the low amount of XP received for winning matches. Some players feel that the reward is not equivalent to their performance in the game (1, 2, 3).

I’ve had several games without any progression towards challenges. Feel unfulfilled by those matches and that I’ve wasted my time by getting nothing out of my gameplay. At least with previous titles, there was a grind for levelling and that levelling felt rewarding but feeling like I’m being pushed to play a specific way just to gain XP feels iffy to me and just isn’t fun.

I feel like I have to constantly go out of my way to progress. It’s unnatural and in some cases just not fun as I feel forced to deviate from how I wish to play.
Source

Some players report that, after winning about 7 matches, they had received so little XP that they were still at level 1.

Is it just me or is the battle pass progression WAY too slow in this game compared to other games? I dont know if its a bug or creative choice but I’ve played like 7 or so rounds where we won every single one (including one where i was top leaderboard at 27 kills) and yet I’m not even level 1? Am i just crazy or does the progression feel wicked slow?
Source

Apparently, the progression system prioritizes challenges. In other words, the Halo Infinite leveling system is highly dependent on completing the daily and weekly challenges.

Challenge-focused progression is a problem for many. Players report that they can’t enjoy the game the way they want, as they will always have to worry about completing challenges if they want to progress.

The current system does feel like a waste really. Instead of trying to enjoy each match and playing however I want, I’ll have to focus on only completing the challenges just so I could get some xp to level up bp. Rather prefer the cod way where you get decent xp for matches finished and daily/weekly challenges give bonus xp.
Source

Some players report that the reward for winning matches is 100XP. But, on the other hand, completing challenges rewards 200XP.

This makes many players feel that the match reward system is not fair. It does not take into account how well they played, as they will always receive the same small amount of XP per match.

The game has just come out, so it is not yet known if the developers are aware of the complaints.

In the coming days, if there is any new development in this regard, we will update this article. So, stay tuned with us.

IST 1:12 pm: Members of the team behind Halo Infinite (1,2) have come out to give a response to this bug.

IST 10:32 am: Speaking on the Battle Pass progression issue, a Halo Community manager says that they will be making targeted tunings to their model later this week.

To start, we’ll be adding “Play 1 Game” challenges to help make sure you consistently progress through the Battle Pass by playing matches the way you want.
Source

These changes are said to be hot and ready to drop. When the update is made, it’ll need to reset your Challenges.

This will include your progress towards Weekly ones. To make up for this reset, the game-makers will be granting this week’s Ultimate Reward, the Sigil Mark VII Visor, to everyone who logs in from Nov 23 – Nov 30.

IST 04:39 pm: John Junyszek — a Halo community manager — took to Twitter to share details regarding the upcoming tweaks to progression in the game via an update tomorrow.

These are the changes that players will notice:

After seeing how XP was earned with those changes, we noticed that players were starting their sessions with slower payouts than we’d like. To address this, we will be increasing the XP payout for the first 6 matches of each day. An outline of this update can be found below: (Source)

1st Game = 300XP
2nd Game = 200XP
3rd Game = 200XP
4th Game = 100XP
5th Game = 100XP
6th Game = 100XP
7th+ Game = 50XP

We believe this increase will help address those slower initial payouts while also benefiting those of you jumping on each and every day. (Source)

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