News & Updates | 4-21 - Added several impressions articles, and an interview. Updated the vehicles section to confirm the Mongoose is in the Beta.
What | Public Beta of Halo: Reach's multiplayer matchmaking and related features across four maps and about a dozen game types.
When | May 3rd - ending TBD, but expected to run about three weeks. (Begins April 29 for media and Friends & Family invitees.)
How | Download and launch the Reach Beta through the 'Intel' menu of the Halo 3: ODST Campaign disc.
Official Reach Sites | Project Page | Developer Blog
Official Media | Trailers and ViDocs | Screenshots | Character, Weapon and Vehicle Renders | Artwork
Bungie | Bungie.net | Bungie Podcast | Bungie.net RSS | Youtube | Twitter | Facebook
Press Coverage | Recent previews and impressions.
Note: Most images in this post are thumbnails, click for a larger version.
Current Playlists | When the playlists are announced, I'll list and link them here. Expect playlists devoted to Arena play, objectives, FFA, Invasion and Generator Defense.
MatchmakingVeto System | Accept the initial map/gametype combo, or vote for one of three alternatives - or none of the above.
Active Roster | A list of all Friends playing Reach, the members of their Party, their status, and player details integrated into the main UI. Useful for quickly pulling teams together, or joining one.
Queue-Joining | If a Friend is in a non-joinable game (i.e., Matchmaking), this will automatically add you to their Party when they become joinable.
Connection Settings & Social Preferences | Options to set connection priorities (quick search vs. strong connection, etc.) and enable matchmaking to bring together like-minded players. Social preferences are just that, and will inform but not determine matching.
Open Mic | Halo 3's push to talk is gone, in favor of open team mic, all the time (though other options are available).
Four-player splitscreen | All playlists support 1-4 players per screen, except Generator Defense which supports 2-player splitscreen. TheaterSaved Films | Similar to Halo 3, games can be saved and reviewed from any perspective.
Screenshots | Screens can be taken from saved films, which are then transferred to bungie.net for review or can be uploaded to File Share for distribution. Bungie.net Integration | The Beta will feature a large subset of the final b.net support. See here for details.Service Record | Game history & career stats, in addition to global stats
File Share | Screenshots, Films (Rendered Videos for Bungie Pro members supported), File tagging and searching integrated into the Reach UI
Gameplay | Significant new systems and additions that impact combat.Spartans vs. Elites | The different player models are no longer equivalent - their capabilities are very different and feature prominently in the certain game types. Usage | The Spartan is the default player model for most game types. In Invasion and Generator Defense games, games are one-sided with Elites attacking and Spartans defending.
Size Matters | Relative to Spartans, Elites are significantly larger, have more health, move much faster, and recharge their shields more quickly.
Health | Spartan health bars recharge in sections: up to the nearest third lost. (i.e., lose nearly all your health, it recharges 1/3 back). The remainder requires health packs. Elites health recharges completely. Loadouts | Playlist-specific combinations of weapons and Armor Abilities, selected in the pre-game lobby and between spawns. See Weapons and Ordinance section for more details.
Assassinations | An optional flourish added to from-behind melee kills, triggered by holding down the melee button. Essentially a way to rub in a kill, they render the player vulnerable for a few seconds as they are performed.
Targeting Bloom | The targeting reticule will bloom and recede with each shot fired, indicating the decay in accuracy between shots. Rapid firing is less accurate than firing methodically.
Spawn System | Players can selection from a list of spawn locations after dying. In addition, in the Invasion game type players are paired with a fire team partner (or "battle bro") and can choose to spawn by them, co-op style, as long as they are away from enemies. Player Rank & Reward Systems | Halo 3's Ranking and XP systems are scrapped, in favor of a Credit-driven system to track and reward player investment in Reach.Rank | All-encompassing representation of a player's investment in Reach, driven by Credits. The more lifetime Credits earned, the higher the Rank. Rank has no impact on matchmaking - that is driven by Trueskill, which is entirely behind the scenes ( not displayed) in Reach.
Credits (cR) | Awarded for playing Reach (Campaign and MP) and achieving certain goals. In the Beta, credits pay out for completing and/or winning games, and for Commendations.
Commendations | A persistent record of player behavior in numerous areas. Examples include Headshots, assists while driving the Warthog, and more. Credits pay out for reaching Commendation milestones.
Armor Customization | What you do with all those Credits: customize your Spartan (and Elite). In the Beta, customization is limited to the helmet, chest, and shoulders. Each piece can have multiple augmentations, and require a level of cR earned to access. (i.e.: 10,000 lifetime cR earned to access, 500 cR cost to purchase) Armor is cosmetic only.
The Arena | A ranked, ultra-competitive set of Slayer playlists featuring an overarching seasonal rating model. Ratings and Divisions are Arena-specific, and separate from the overall Reach Ranking system.Level Field | Spartan vs. Spartan or Elite vs. Elite, using fixed Loadouts. Utilizes Trueskill for matchmaking (which remains hidden).
Personal Rating | In each game you receive a Rating based on your individual performance (even on team games). The rating formula will be published prior to the Beta start.
Daily Rating | Play a certain number of games to get a Daily Rating, which is an average of your best game ratings that day.
Divisions | Achieve a certain number of Daily Ratings to enter a Division (Steel, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Onyx). You progress up - and down - Divisions over the course of a Season based on your Daily Ratings.
Seasons | Seasons span a calendar month; the Beta will run for one Season. At the end of a Season, your Divisional Rating becomes final, and your performance becomes part of your Service Record (e.g. Top 10%, Silver Division). All Ratings reset after each Season.
New Gametypes | Generator Defense and Invasion will be in their own playlists. The other gametypes will be mixed into Arena, FFA and Grab Bag; I'll update what appears where when that information is published.Invasion | Players: 6v6 | A multistage, Elites vs. Spartans objective gametype, set entirely on Boneyard in the Beta. The objective is for the attacking Elites to capture a Data Core.
- Each team is formed of three pairs of fire teams, with Elites attacking and Spartans defending.
- Players can choose to spawn by their fire team partner, if they are away from the opposing team, or choose from the list of spawn locations.
- The game takes place over three distinct phases, with new Loadouts, vehicles and sections of the map unlocking at each phase.
- Phase 1: Attackers try to unlock the Vault the Data Core is located in by capturing a set of territories.
- Phase 2: Attackers open the Vault to access the Data Core.
- Phase 3: Attackers steal and transport the Data Core to a Phantom for extraction.
- Each Phase lasts four minutes; if the objective is not completed on time, the game ends. Completing a phase extends the game into the next.
- In the Beta, a game of Invasion is one-sided, to increase matchmaking churn.
Invasion Slayer | Players: 6v6 | A Slayer-focused Invasion variant, also Elites vs. Spartans set on Boneyard.
- Scoring is based on kills, first team to 100 kills wins.
- Similar to Invasion, the game evolves in Phases, unlocking Loadouts and vehicles at each: Phase 2 begins when a team hits 25 kills, Phase 3 when 50 kills are reached.
- Roaming reinforcement territories move around the map, and can be captured to air-drop in additional supplies (which drop after a countdown and can be taken by either team). The air drops get better from Phase to Phase.
HEADHUNTER | Players: FFA - 8 | FFA game blending Slayer and objectives.
- Players drop a single flaming skull when killed which must be collected and deposited into a depository - which moves frequently - to score points.
- The number of skulls a player is carrying is displayed in a waypoint over their head which everyone can see.
- Game ends when 1) time is up, where the player with the most skulls deposited wins, OR 2) when one player deposits 10 skulls at once.
Stockpile | Players: TBD | Team-based objective game where the goal is collect and score neutral flags.
- Four flags spawn randomly in any of ten locations, for either team to snag and return to their capture zone.
- Every sixty seconds, all flags in the capture points are scored, and the flags reset at new random locations.
- Only flags inside the capture point (even being carried) when the timer sounds at the end of each minute scores a point.
- Opposing teams can remove flags from the enemy capture point before they are scored.
- The game runs for ten one-minute rounds, with the team scoring the most points at the end winning.
Generator Defense (Network Test 1) | Players: 3v3 | A network test disguised as an objective gametype, Elites vs. Spartans.
- Elites attack, with the goal of destroying three generators on the map, with Spartans defending.
- Spartans can lock down generators for ~30 seconds at a time, after which the generator must cool down and is vulnerable.
- Power weapons are distributed via air drop to random locations on the map.
- Team with most generators destroyed after one round of offense each wins.
Returning Gametypes | Modes coming back from Halo 3 for another round.Territories | Three Plots | Players: TBD | A returning staple, and in the case of Three Plots, a return of a classic from Halo 2. Capture territory markers to score points. In Three Plots, capture and hold territories to accumulate time - the team that tallies up the most time captured at the end of the round wins.
Slayer | Team Slayer | Slayer Pro | Slayer Covies | Players: TBD | The staple gametype. Slayer Pro is a hardcore variant with DMR starts, no radar, and Sprint as the only Armor Ability, while Slayer Covies is Elites vs. Elites.
Capture the Flag | 1-Flag CTF | Players: TBD | Red vs. Blue. You know the drill here.
King of the Hill | Crazy King | Players: TBD | Another returning staple. Hold down the hill, which moves regularly in Crazy King, to score points. The team or player with the most at the end of the game wins.
Oddball | Players: TBD | Hold the ball, er, skull, get points. The player or team with the most, wins. MapsSword Base | Playlists: TBD | A five-level deep indoors map with an open space between sides, reminiscent of Boarding Action or Prisoner.
Powerhouse | Playlists: TBD | An asymmetric, midsized map set in and around a hydraulic power station.
Overlook | Asymmetric, open map featured only in the Generator Defense playlist in the Beta.
Boneyard | The largest map in the series to date, set amidst the skeleton of a decommissioned ship being disassembled, used only for Invasion (in the Beta).
(See the GTTV footage and Invasion section for media.)
Armor Abilities | The evolution of Halo 3's Equipment, Armor Abilities can be used indefinitely, after a short recharge. They are selected as part of a Loadout.Jetpack | Elites and Spartans | Enables flight for a brief time. On the downside, it's noisy, makes you an easy target, and you can take fall damage if you drop from the max height.
Active Camo | Elites and Spartans | Renders the user nearly invisible, and scrambles the radar of anyone nearby, including the user, altering players that someone is camouflaged. The faster you move the more visible you are.
Armor Lock | Elites and Spartans | User locks into place and deflects all weaponry and vehicles - effectively a temporary invulnerability. The ability has three levels of effect, from a brief pause to a prolonged stance with an EMP fired off at the end to drain shields and disable vehicles - friendly and hostile. The user is stationary and thus exposed for retaliation.
Sprint | Spartans Only | Enables Spartans to briefly run about the same speed that Elites move at native speed. Cannot fire weapons while sprinting.
Evade | Elites Only | A diving roll that enables Elites to shed locks (Needler, Plasma Launcher), get behind opponents quickly and dive into cover with speed. can be used twice before recharging. Returning Weapons | In addition to frag and plasma grenades, the following weapons return from Halo 3, tweaked but functionally similar.New Weapons | Weapons new to Halo: Reach.
Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR) | The new BR. Single-shot, 3x zoom, the go-to rifle for mid to long range.
Magnum | The same stopping power as the DMR, in a smaller package. Higher rate of fire is offset by the 2x zoom, shorter range and lower accuracy when firing rapidly.
Grenade Launcher| AKA, the "pro pipe". Single shot per magazine. Secondary fire: hold the trigger to "cook" until ready to serve; "cooked" grenades let off an EMP, ideal for knocking out vehicles.
Plasma Repeater | The AR for Elites. Rapid-fire plasma weapon.
Focus Rifle | A cross between the Beam Rifle and Sentinel Beam, it fires a long-range sustained beam that cuts through shields and armor in seconds.
Needle Rifle | The Covenant answer to the DMR. Fires needles at mid to long range; if three impact on soft tissue (ie, not shields) they super combine and explode.
Plasma Launcher | Fires 1-4 explosive, tracking plasma missiles, with a charge up similar to the Spartan Laser. Vehicles | Six Halo staples return for the Reach Beta, largely unchanged from Halo 3. Of note: the Warthog chaingun can now overheat. The Mongoose is included, but no media has been released of it yet.Extra Special Thanks to HBO's Louis Wu for web hosting.
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