Halo: Reach’s Matchmaking details surfaced!
Below are all the details:
Active Roster: This is a throwback to Halo 2. When you boot up Halo: Reach, right at the main menu or lobby, you’ll see a list of what your Xbox Live friends are doing in Reach. You’ll get detailed information about any friends playing Reach including who they are partied with, what game they are in (plus score and remaining time), and more.. Basically, Bungie wants to make it so that you do not have to utilize the Xbox Live Guide to find out what your buddies are doing in Reach.
Queue-Joining: In Halo 3, it was difficult to join friends that were already playing in a match. You had to wait until they were finished. If you started a game while you waited, they would then have to wait for you. Instead of going back and forth, Reach supports queue-joining. It will automatically join up as soon as your friends are joinable.
Matchmaking Connection Options: The options for finding games in matchmaking are now more open to the player. If you want to play in games with good connection, that can be set in the options. If you want to play against players of similar skill, that can be set aswell. The same goes for finding players that speak the same language.
Arena Playlists: Possibly the largest change in Halo: Reach is the Arena. This is a Slayer and Team Slayer set of playlists entirely geared toward the hardcore. If that wasn’t enough, players will be rated and placed into skill divisions in month-long seasons.
The rating system is aslo smart enough to realize that kills aren’t the only determining factor behind skill. This is especially true for team games where assists play a huge roll. Similarly, players that have a greater kill/death ratio (had more kills than deaths) will rank higher than players that die as much as they kill.
There’s quite a few more here.
Reach is due later this year with a beta coming in May.
