343 Industries have promised to make improvements to Halo Infinite's much-maligned cosmetics, though admitting that it may take them some time to address the issues.
Halo Infinite might be free-to-play, but that doesn't mean fans aren't out there complaining their little faces off. Honestly, the continuous negatively that gets directed even towards objectively fantastic games is very tiring. As expected, though, 343 Industries are bending over, letting the Reddit-Twitter crowd have their way with them, and promising big changes to the game's cosmetics system.
Now, that isn't to say that changes wouldn't be nice. Some changes would be nice, especially to the insane Battle Pass (which has since been patched), but they're such a minor part of the overall game experience that it doesn't really matter all that much. It's curious as well that 343 Industries felt they not only needed to correct the problems, but that they needed to add a caveat that “changes will take time”. What could possibly have caused so much outrage?
I mean, the poor dude literally apologized for not responding to the first-world-problem obsessed adult babies… for literally in transit during the Twitter rage. He was travelling and couldn't Tweet for a few hours… shock, horror! This tells us two things: 1. Those Tweets must have been pretty rough, and 2. Something must be seriously broken. Let's take a look at the problem, and how 343 intend to address it.
What is Wrong With Halo Infinite's Cosmetics?
As adult babies go, Halo Infinite's community are pure class. That's not to say I don't like Halo. I freaking love Halo! It just means that a lot of Halo fans are… well… how do I put this? Let's just say that they derive a lot of joy from complaining about things. The problem with Halo Infinite's Cosmetics is, in essence, that they are insanely hard to get, due to a pretty problematic weekly challenge system, and the broken Event Pass and Battle Pass.
The latter here is being resolved, as we previously reported, but the weekly challenge system is in need of quite a bit of work. Now, you could purchase cosmetics with real-world money, but that is insanely expensive (even for a free-to-play game!), so it's not the best option. Adding insult to injury, Halo Infinite's cosmetics do not, themselves, look the most crash-hot either.
Some premium-themed cosmetics are upwards of $15 USD in the Item Shop, so utterly unaffordable, and the various “passes” (weekly, event, and battle) still take an insane amount of time to upgrade, so we do understand that there's a bit of a problem here. Adding injury to insult is the fact that the Tenrai Event is actually an LTE, so if you miss it, you will have to wait until January to resume.
That all being said, what are we here to do in Halo? Well, we're here to pick up some awesome weapons and beat/shoot the poop out of each other. Why are we doing it? Because it is fun! Halo Infinite is free-to-play, after all, so is there really this much need for players to get so emotional about this particular problem? Honestly, we don't think so.
Been traveling so slow to respond - but please know the constructive feedback is being heard loud and clear. Changes will take time and our priority this week is giving the team a much deserved break for the holiday after a long final stretch. Thank you for understanding.
— Brian Jarrard (@ske7ch) November 24, 2021
343 Industries Are Fixing Halo Infinite's Cosmetics
It is not exactly clear what changes will be made to Halo Infinite's Cosmetics systems, though changes are coming to Battle Pass Progression and Experience Gain. Whilst Brian Jarrard, 343 Industries' community director, did admit that changes were being made and that the developers are listening to the “constructive criticism” given by fans, there is so far no indication of what will be done.
Another important thing to note, that too often gets overlooked, is that the developers are (surprise!) actually humans, who need a rest. Jarrard said that 343 Industries' “priority this week is giving the team a much deserved break for the holiday after a long final stretch”. He then thanks us for our “understanding”. Mate, we do understand you, it's okay.
We all need to sit back and realize that Halo Infinite is, technically, still in Beta, and they are asking no money for it. The team over at 343 Industries has developed a top-shelf experience that not only rivals its competitors, but outshines them by a great deal, in 2021. The developers should be congratulated, hell, celebrated for this achievement. We certainly wish them a very Merry Christmas, and hope that they get the rest that they deserve for putting this incredible game into our hands.