Halo: Master Chief Collection Patch Out Now Aims to Improve Matchmaking Times, Team Balance

Halo: The Master Chief Collection developer 343 Industries has released a major patch for the beleaguered Xbox One shooter, promising to improve matchmaking times, success rates, and general stability. The update should also improve team balance, parties, custom games, and achievements.

It's the latest patch for The Master Chief Collection, which stumbled out of the gate upon release in November. 343 Industries has released numerous patches for the game, which has undoubtedly seen improvements since launch--though some players are still reporting a less-than-optimal experience.

Going forward, Microsoft says it continues to work on future content updates for The Master Chief Collection that should "address further issues." 343's work to fix The Master Chief Collection is impacting future game releases, as the developer just last week announced that twin-stick shooter Halo: Spartan Strike has been delayed to 2015.

The Master Chief Collection's launch woes aren't going to impact the upcoming Halo 5: Guardians beta, it seems. It remains scheduled to begin December 29.

The full Master Chief Collection December 7 patch notes are below, courtesy of 343.

MATCHMAKING & PARTIES

• Made improvements to matchmaking team balance
• Made an update to improve matchmaking search times and success rates, specifically expediting the "Players Found" and "Connecting Session" search phases
• Made improvements to prevent a player's rank from resetting unexpectedly
• Made an update to resolve an issue that allowed players to be placed into an incorrect lobby after a matchmaking game
• Made improvements to prevent the party from being disbanded upon returning to lobby
• Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the "Match Found" screen
• Resolved an issue where Team Slayer matches in Halo 3 could separate players onto individual teams
• Resolved an issue where players could be placed into a group of 7 players and unable to find more
• Made improvements to ensure that the party-leader is prompted to "Bring Party" when leaving a lobby
• Made an update to ensure that split-screen players cannot be divided onto different teams
• Made improvements to ensure that clients are not kicked from parties at the end of matchmaking games with a "failed to connect" error
• Made an update to ensure that Halo 2: Anniversary matches do not continue indefinitely after entire opposing team quits
• Made an update to ensure that parties are not separated when the party leader navigates through multiple titles

CUSTOM GAMES

• Made improvements to prevent manual team selection from getting reset after a Custom Game match
• Made an update to ensure that the "Make Party Leader" command functions correctly

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Made an update to ensure that the "Too Close to the Sun" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "Monopolized" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "Devastating" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met
• Made an update to ensure that the "You're Joking" achievement unlocks when prerequisites are met

GAME-SPECIFIC

• Made improvements to Halo 2: Anniversary objective pickup, specifically in regards to objective "juggling"
• Made an update to Halo 3's movement input, specifically to resolve a deadzone issue which affected moving in a straight line
• Made additional improvements to Halo: CE fall damage scenarios
• Made an update to resolve a Halo 2 Classic campaign issue where a black screen could overlay the gameplay screen

STABILITY

• Made a variety of stability improvements across the following areas:
  • Matchmaking
  • Custom Games
  • Halo 4 Campaign

MISC.

• Made an update to ensure that clan tags appear in the post-game carnage report for all players
• Made an update to ensure that players are sorted by team in the post-game carnage report
• Made an update to ensure that emblems are displayed correctly in the post-game carnage report