Halo 5 Getting Major Warzone Changes

Halo 5 developer 343 Industries continues to support the 2015 Xbox One shooter. In this week's Halo blog post, 343 announced that it is planning a major-sounding update for Halo 5's large-scale Warzone mode. 343 lead multiplayer designer Lawrence Metten said there have been too many lopsided Warzone matches, so the team is going to make some big changes to make for a more balanced experience.

"Over time, the Warzone battlefield has changed as players have become more and more skilled at the game mode. However, not all of these changes have benefited all parties-- since launch, we've slowly seen the Warzone 'blowout rate' (how often matches end in lopsided or blowout scores) continue to rise," Metten said. "The Warzone team is experimenting with some significant changes to the way Req Leveling works to facilitate more balanced Warzone matches."

The changes will include an adjustment to the Req Level that gets awarded in matches, while there will also be what 343 is calling a Req Level "drip." This will "slowly increase everyone's Req Level over the course of each match," Metten said.

Internal tests at 343 show that Warzone matches are more tightly contested, Metten said. "In our internal playtesting, these changes have resulted in more back-and-forth Warzone matches with considerably fewer players stuck at low Req Levels over the course of each game," he explained.

The Warzone Firefight and Warzone Assault modes are not changing with this update, which should go live "late next week."

You can read 343's full blog post to learn more about the Warzone changes and more.

Outside of the Warzone changes, 343 is working on a weapon-tuning update that will make changes to 14 weapons and one power-up. The update that includes these changes is targeted for this Fall; you can read more about what's changing and why here.

Other details in the Halo weekly blog post include word that Halo 5's Infection, HCS, and Mythic Warzone Firefight playlists will pay out double XP this weekend. Additionally, 343 said that Xbox One backwards compatibility support for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4 is "still progressing." We also learn in the blog post that Halo Wars 2's newest DLC leader, Yapyap The Destroyer, is rolling out right now, alongside other tweaks and additions which you can read about here.