Bungie recently gave out some pictures to Shacknews, a GameFly website, and the site also moderately detailed the new Halo: Reach multiplayer experience. But now Bungie officially gives out the info:
Active Roster- a way to view your friends and their game details via Halo: Reach menu, similar to what Halo 2 had, and what other games have, such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2. You'll be able to view game details (as you would usually be able to if you clicked on your friends' gamercard to see the game details), invite them to a game, join their game, all through the menu.
Queue-Joining- a way to join someone's, or a friends, game without having to worry that they'll forget you and leave you in the dust and start a new game. In easier terms, this will automatically bring you to the party after the game is over.
Connection Options and Social Options- a sweet way to keep chatty ten-year-olds from your game, and just keep it cool. You can choose up to several settings, including motivation (whether or not you really want to win, or you're just playing), team player (whether you're a every man for himself guy, or you're a team player), tone (whether you're a sarcastic jerk, or a polite British guy [PUN]), and of course, chattiness.
Voting- a new way to play matches, letting players pick their favorite gametype (if in a mixed-gametype playlist, also known as "Rumble Pit" in Halo) and their favorite map. There will be three choices, or you can pick "Other," meaning you don't really care.
File Sharing and Content Creating- a better version of the Halo 3 file creation and File Share, this will let players have their screenshots and videos, and let them directly upload them to Bungie.net. You will also be able to search for all this in the game, unlike Halo 3, where you had to go to Bungie.net and search for them. You will also be able to create and save over thousands of gametypes, maps, screenshots, videos, and more, instead of the previous limit of a hundred on Halo 3. This will be available to this in the multiplayer beta coming May 3rd, 2010; at least the screenshots and videos will, as they are confirmed.
Armor Abilities- the sweet customization returns, and better than ever. With this, you can have emblems, colors, helmets (expected, not confirmed), and more. You'll also be able to have cool power-up-like-things (great title) that will enable you to have a one-up on everybody else. This includes the current confirmed ones, Jet Packs, Active Camouflage, and Sprint. Among others that are not confirmed are radar-invisibility, and crouching down to avoid an explosion, or impact of a vehicle; those again, not confirmed.
Ranked and Social Combined- is a new matchmaking feature in the Halo franchise. You will be able to play regular ranked games, at least most of the time, when you're playing alone, but when you got a big party, it will move onto a social-like playlist, making the competition similar to yours. This will also let previously-ranked playlists become social playlists, without any big confusion. Unfortunately, one thing we hate is the way you'll be able to bring more players into a game then a team is supposed to have. This will obviously separate the party members, but could cause some craziness with boosting and more.
Arena- a new Trueskill matchmaking feature, that will let those highly competitive players play their game. Similar to a Sports season, playing a few daily games will give you a Daily Score, or Rating, which will then add up for overall season points. Once the season is finished, the matchmaking system will put you into a division, which means you'll be playing among players with similar skill or ratings. Sort of like a big ongoing tournament, right?
EXP and Military Ranks Per Playlist Removal- a scarcely detailed reveal that EXP and Military Ranks per playlist will be removed, and that the whole system is going to be different. Involved in this is some "cR" number (104cR, as seen in the picture), which we have no idea what it is. Bungie says they will be releasing details this upcoming Friday, March 26th, 2010, in their weekly update.
Service Tags- or as some know as 'clan tags' are going with the Halo 3: ODST look now, instead of the usual Halo service tags, which made players use one letter and two numbers (ex: C42, P90, etc). The Halo 3: ODST way, which again will be the Halo: Reach way, consists of your choice of letters and numbers (ex: HAII, PEGI, E492, etc). It is currently unknown if the service tags will make you choose four letters/numbers, or if you'll be able to have less, like the Call of Duty series uses right now.
UPDATE:
What cR is- "cR" is credits, which is kind of like EXP and money combined. Instead of playing through a campaign (which you still can do, still earning cR, too), you can earn cR by solving challenges, which will be updated weekly and monthly (longer ones will take monthly), and you can go purchase armor upgrades with the cR. The cR and purchases have absolutly no effect on how you play the game, just appearance.
Player Investment System- And unlike previous Halo games, what you get in matchmaking, will effect the campaign. Your colors, emblems, armor, and more will be your Lone Wolf character in the single player campaign, and co-op, if Reach will offer it. Cutscenes (cinematics), and regular campaign will show your colors and armor, which is downright badass. Various new helmets, shoulder looks, and more will appear in Reach. Not just your usual from Halo. But never forgotten, the single player still plays a role with the cR. Achievements and Challenges will earn you cR, and the campaign will also be having weekly and monthly challenges, although not separated from the multiplayer's. As used in the picture, one challenge is kill 150 enemies in any game mode in Halo: Reach.
You can also get Commendation medals, which is your usual "Killjoy," "Double Kill," Wheelman," etc. medals. Earning those brings in credits, and you can see the amount of Commendation medals via someones Service Record. From there, you can tell what type of player this player is. As explained on G4, you can hear about how good your friend is at sniping, but you can really see what they're good at when looking at their Service Record. You can also see what type of player they are, with Bungie's system calculating how long they've used a weapon and how good they are with it.
Bungie is set to detail this all better in their Weekly Update on Bungie.net Friday, March 26th, 2010.
Stay tuned for updates.
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