In today’s 343 Social Stream, we got our first glance at Halo: The Master Chief Collection running on PC. More specifically, we got to see the first title coming to the PC version, Halo: Reach. This is a WIP build set to be shown off at E3 in June, with beta testing on Steam planned to begin sometime after. If you’d like to check out the demo of the 5th campaign mission, “Tip of the Spear”, check it out below.
On top of that, we got a detailed blog post explaining some upcoming planned features coming to the MCC in later updates. If you’d like an extremely detailed explanation on the upcoming features, be sure to check that out. A quick summary of planned features includes:
●XP Progression throughout the MCC
●Seasons
●Daily & Weekly Challenges
●Firefight Matchmaking
●Halo: Reach Campaign Playlists
Halo: Reach had a huge focus on earning credits to purchase armor and customize your spartan, and the new overall leveling system for the MCC is planned to be the evolution of that concept. All matches played on dedicated servers will reward XP, no matter which Halo game it is. By leveling, you will earn Season Points that can be used to purchase emblems, nameplates or other customization elements. The Seasons will change and reward different things, with the first season focusing on Halo: Reach unlockables. No content that is currently available in the game will be locked behind this new aspect either, so you won’t have to worry about losing anything.
Challenges were also a big part of Reach, and are planned to make a return to the overall collection. Daily and Weekly challenges will test your skills in a variety of modes and offer some nice diversions for fans looking for XP in fun ways. These challenges are planned to reward seasonal points. Those who grinded their way through the ranks in Reach will surely remember the challenge system and how it helped break up the monotony of ranking.
Reach will also be added to the social match composer, with most of the gametypes defaulting to use the TU settings. The TU(Title Update) was a late patch for the game that altered some aspects of gun bloom, bleed through, and armor lock. The majority of the community would definitely agree to this, as it was widely preferred to the default settings. That’s not to say the default settings won’t exist, however, they just won’t be as prominent. MLG settings will also be applied to the ranked Reach Hardcore playlist that will feature zero-bloom-no-sprint settings.
Overall, it looks like MCC is becoming the collection we all wanted it to be back when it launched in 2014. It’s been a long journey, but it’s starting to look promising for PC users jumping in for the first time and for returning Xbox users ready to come back. We should be hearing even more details on MCC during E3 in Los Angeles.
