‘Halo 5’ Ghosts Of Meridian Live, Warzone Firefight Beta Incoming For Xbox One
343 Industries pulled the trigger on the Ghosts of Meridianupdate for Halo 5: Guardians on Wednesday. The latest free update for the exclusive Xbox One first-person shooter brings two new maps and a host of new REQs. Firefight fans will also get their first taste of the upcoming co-op mode thanks to a beta test launching next week.
Ghosts of Meridian comes with a new Arena map called “Tyrant” as well as a new Warzone map titled “Skirmish at Darkstar.”
“Tyrant” is a small symmetrical map built for Capture the Flag and Assault game types. It takes place on an asteroid orbiting a star that plays host to a Forerunner base. Power weapons for the map include the ubiquitous Sniper Rifle along with a Scattershot for those that prefer close-range combat. Each base features a grav-lift/man cannon.
“Skirmish at Darkstar” will be the smallest Warzone map yet for Halo 5. However, 343 Industries’ Josh Holmes says it is the densest in terms of cover and choice routes, although it doesn’t match the other Warzone maps in terms of overall landmass.
Prometheans will be using stolen UNSC vehicles at the beginning of the Warzone encounter in “Skirmish at Darkstar.” Players will need to navigate between the bases without getting run over. There are plenty of ground cover and tight spaces to use to help while on foot.
A plethora of new REQs is included with the Ghosts of Meridian update including three different Gravity Hammers – Tartarus’ Gavel, Grinder, and Corpse Maker – each with their own specific perks. For example, Tartarus’ Gavel boosts movement speed, shield strength, and jump height. Meanwhile, Grinder delivers an electromagnetic pulse that can temporarily disable vehicles.
The Warzone Firefight beta is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, April 14, and will run through Monday, April 18. As previously covered, the mode will debut in the Warzone Firefight update planned for this summer and doubles the player count from Firefight in previous Halo releases from four to eight.
The increased player count comes with a corresponding increased enemy count. Warzone Firefight will feature “the most on-screen enemies in the history of the franchise,” according to 343 Industries. This includes new “Mythic” tier enemy bosses for players to encounter and bring down.
The Warzone REQ system will be in place during Halo 5‘s new Warzone. Players will be able to use their REQ cards to call in weapons, vehicles, power-ups, armor mods and more. This includes REQ cards for enemy items, so you could deploy a Covenant Ghost against Covenant forces, for example.
You can check out the multiplayer and sandbox fixes to Halo 5 on the Xbox One below. Click through to the patch notes for the full details, including all the new additions to Forge.
Multiplayer
- Fixed exploit that allowed players to hide inside Armory base geometry in Warzone
- Significantly improved the speed and responsiveness of the REQ Menu, especially for players with a large number of REQs
- Favorited friends now appear at the top of Active Roster
- Fixed issue where players that a join a match in progress did not have full REQ Energy to start
- Reduced instances where the assaulting team could be spawn blocked on Warzone Assault maps
- Fixed issues with invisible environment boundaries allowing vehicles to push players out of normal map boundaries
- Fixed issue where some players who had recently dealt damage to a Boss did not receive Takedown credit when the Boss was killed by a teammate
- SWAT DMRs added to the SWAT playlist
- Fixed an issue that caused the Event Feed to not display at the end of a round or match
- SWAT game type options have been balanced to allow for even weighting between Magnums, BRs, and DMRs
- Gravity Hammer is now the starting weapon in Grifball
- Reduced Boss Takedown damage requirement from 10% to 1%
- Random Weapon and Random Vehicle REQs can now unlock the most up-to-date REQs, including those from Ghosts of Meridian
- Daily Win Bonus Packs can now unlock the most up-to-date single-use REQs, including those from Ghost of Meridian
- Players can now “ping” their location in a game when alive to alert teammates by pressing UP on the d-pad in Warzone or Arena
- Fixed an issue that caused explosive barrels to not be explosive when the Deathless option is turned on in Custom Games
Sandbox
- Fixed a bug that caused the Spartan Laser to deal incorrect damage against shields
- Fixed a bug where damage dealt to Gungoose Cannons did not properly transfer damage to the rest of the vehicle. (The Spartan Laser is excited about this change, too)
- Mantis armor has been increased
- Reduced the explosion radius of the Whiplash
- Needler projectiles now do damage to Wraith and Scorpion weak points
- Fixed an issue where Rail Gun aiming light can be seen through geometry
- Fixed server crashes surrounding picking up powerups
- Fixed a bug that made picking up powerups impossible
- With Speed Boost activated, Spartan Charging now kills upon impact
- Hydra Launcher now only locks onto the torso of enemy Spartans
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to perform a Spartan Charge after performing a Thrust in mid-air
- Fixed a bug with Phaeton damage regions that resulted in incorrect weak spot hit markers
- Slightly reduced bloom for the Halo: CE Pistol
- Improved readability of shields popping immediately after they begin to recharge
- Lowered the damage of an uncharged Plasma Pistol shot when fired upon a Ghost’s weak point
- Fixed a bug that did not allow Ball holders to pick up grenades
- Fixed a bug with Advanced Sensors’ speed threshold that caused players to show up on radar in some cases where they were not moving at Sprint/Thrust speed or faster
[Image via Halo Waypoint]
