It is hard to fathom that the first month of 2020 is already ending! And with it, we have another Development Update that includes news about Halo: Reach – the first title released for MCC on PC. 2020 is shaping up to be an action-packed year for Halo fans old and new! Since the launch of Halo: Reach last December, many of you have been playing, watching, and talking about Noble Team, Matchmaking, Firefight, and everything in between. This month’s blog is going to cover today’s patch for MCC on both PC and Xbox One, upcoming flighting plans, along with a deep dive into requested and in-development game features. We’ll also chat about the plan for February’s in-game events, matchmaking changes, and will wrap-up with an overall project update on MCC. There are some juicy details this month! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//34690208/c900913cdcfb4d20705f15741a84458b3e766702.png[/img] Before we get started, in case this is your first time joining us, our goal for these monthly blogs is to share insights into MCC's ongoing development and share details on what’s currently going on with the game. If you want to learn more about MCC’s history, please feel free to check out the Halo: The Master Chief Collection section within Halo Waypoint’s News section which includes a wealth of insights into the journey to bring MCC to PC. But enough about the past, let’s get into today’s game patch for MCC on both PC and Xbox One. [h2]GAME UPDATE – JANUARY 29, 2020[/h2] A new game update went live today which includes additional options for Social Matchmaking, additional game content to support events in February, and several bug fixes to areas related to accessibility and stability, as well as some improvements to our behind-the-scenes reporting tools. We know there’s still a sizable list of improvements the community has been vocal about since launch. Many of these issues (PC & Xbox) were known and on the team’s radar prior to launch and some others didn’t surface until the game was out in the wild. With each small patch that doesn’t address these larger lingering issues (i.e. the audio problems some players have experienced) we know it can lead to frustration and disappointment across the community. Please know that the team has been steadily attacking a slew of bugs while also working on quality of life improvements and working towards a larger patch for MCC that will be next up on the release schedule. This will likely entail another flight for Reach as well. We appreciate all the feedback and Halo Support tickets you’ve filed, and we thank you for your continued support and patience as we work to improve Reach and bring the remaining five titles to MCC on PC. Here’s the full list of everything included in today’s update. [h3]NEW FEATURES & CONTENT[/h3] [i]Additional details for the New Features & Content items can be found below in the design update section for rotational playlists, featured content, and events for the month of February.[/i] [list][*] Featured playlists in Match Composer [*] New nameplates for future events [*] New upcoming Matchmaking content[/list] [h3]ACCESIBILITY BUG FIXES[/h3] [b]PC Only[/b] [list][*] Fixed an issue where pressing the spacebar would search for a player while typing a Gamertag in the “Find Player” prompt.[/list] [b]Global[/b] [list][*] Fixed bugs where pop-up messages were not read properly by Narrator & Xbox Game Transcription. [*] Fixed bugs button prompts were not read properly by Narrator & Xbox Game Transcription. [*] Fixed bugs where on-screen text was not read properly by Narrator & Xbox Game Transcription.[/list] [h3]GENERAL FIXES[/h3] [b]Xbox Only[/b] [list][*] Fixed an issue where the Main Menu would not appear after passing the title screen when launching for the first time.[/list] [b]Global[/b] [list][*] Fixed a rare crash related to player stats and leaderboards. [*] Reduced some excessive diagnostic reporting to improve performance. [*] Improved player reporting on dedicated servers when identifying potential anti-cheat violations.[/list] [h3]PLAYLIST UPDATE[/h3] [b]Social 1v1[/b] [list][*] Removed Magnum secondary from Halo: Reach Head to Head based on community feedback. [list][*][i]Social 1v1 is intended as a warmup arena for the Halo: Reach Hardcore playlist, so it’s important that the settings match.[/i][/list][/list] [b]Social 4v4[/b] [list][*]Team Slayer option has been replaced with “Precision Slayer” and “Auto Slayer.” [list][*][i]Historically, we’ve compromised by combining these into a single selection. We fully understand that different players have different preferences here, so now we offer players choice over their starting weapon/experience.[/i][/list] [*]Precision Slayer includes weapon starts of DMR, BR, or Magnum. [*]Auto Slayer includes weapon starts of AR, SMG, and Halo 4 loadout starts. [*]Rotated in featured Halo: CE Anniversary category for Halo: Reach which contains maps and game settings which emulate Halo: CE. [list][i]This has been a commonly requested addition and rotational categories provide great opportunities to expose this sort of content.[/i][/list][/list] [b]Social 8v8[/b] [list][*]Reduced hill movement timer from 120s to 90s and reduced score to win from 250 to 200. [list][*][i]Out of the box, Reach’s base King of the Hill variant does not support a 90 second hill rotation option. The 120 second timer was longer than we liked so we took the opportunity to add the option for this variant. As the hill spends less time in each location, players will spend a bit more time moving between hills, so it was important that we reduced the score to win slightly to match this. We weren’t able to add the 90 second option globally as this would require all King of the Hill variants in the game to be rebuilt, but players seeking a 90 second timer for custom games can use the Big Team King variant as a base.[/i][/list] [*]Replaced Territories with 3-plot Territories on Tempest. [list][*][i]As a symmetrical map, Tempest is well-suited to 3-Plot Territories. In 4v4, this game type was already paired with this map and, after seeing some intense matches of it played in the recent Big Team Battle Throwback Throwdown tournament, we wanted to make it official for 8v8 as well.[/i][/list] [*]Rotated in experimental AR starts category containing AR start versions of all core Halo: Reach 8v8 map and game variants. [list][*][i]The range utility of the DMR makes it incredibly effective on some of the more open battlegrounds common in Big Team Battle. This leads to many engagements occurring at extreme range and can result in stagnation where players are discouraged from using certain movement options. Many players have requested that DMR starts be replaced with AR / Magnum starts in 8v8. We have concerns that this would leave players too vulnerable off spawn, leave them ineffective against vehicles, not provide enough starting ammunition, and lead to “snowballing” (where the score gap between two teams grows exponentially) when some players gain control of long range rifles. However, we wanted to give players a chance to try it for themselves. Depending on feedback and data, we’ll consider pulling Big Team AR starts into the core categories more permanently.[/i][/list][/list] To read the rest of the update which includes a flighting update for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, design updates, and more, check out the full article on [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-january-2020]Halo Waypoint: MCC Development Update – January 2020[/url]. If you'd like to catch up on previous MCC Development Updates, here are the links: [list][*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-pc-halo-reach]MCC PC & Halo: Reach Announcement[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-april-2019]MCC Development Update – April 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-may-2019]MCC Development Update – May 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-june-2019]MCC Development Update – June 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-july-2019]MCC Development Update – July 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-august-2019]MCC Development Update – August 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-september-2019]MCC Development Update – September 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-october-2019]MCC Development Update – October 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-november-2019]MCC Development Update – November 2019[/url] [*] [url=https://www.halowaypoint.com/en-us/news/mcc-development-update-december-2019]MCC Development Update – December 2019[/url] [/list]