343 Industries has posted a detailed blog on how fan feedback from the Halo 5: Guardians beta has impacted development of the game. From weapon tweaking to movement speed, just about every aspect of Halo 5 has been altered based on user feedback from the beta and the Halo Community Feedback Program, a collection of over dedicated 19,000 Halo players polled for their opinions on the game.
While ‘beta’ has become synonymous with ‘demo’ in recent times, the Halo 5 beta was much closer to the true definition, getting the game in players hands early to help balance the all important multiplayer game. As a result 343 is making a large number of changes to the game and a lot more features will become optional. The highlights of these changes include:
- Increased base speed and reduced sprint speed, and a toggle to disable sprint in custom games
- Adjustment of scope for the sniper rifle and DMR
- Reducing the bonuses for automatic weapons when in zoomed ‘smart-link’ mode
- Opt-in for death-cam and Spartan multiplayer chatter
- Improved skill matching and team balancing, though 343 reinforced their stance that only team results should contribute to a players skill rating, not individual efforts
- General improvements to matchmaking
Josh Holmes, executive producer for Halo 5, described the beta as “an amazing gift for us” in terms of feedback. It sounds like Halo 5 will be a better game for the experience, and hopefully it will be a lesson to other developers that a beta can be used as more than just a stress test for server loads. You can check out our impressions of the beta here.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.