Oh, Bungie. Even though you'll be leaving the Halo universe soon enough, you just seem to keep on giving.

As of right now, throwing Halo: Reach into that disc tray of yours just got a whole lot better. Bungie has thrown into effect their October Playlist Update, with a crazy slew of changes that might make some Reach players really happy. Also, campaign matchmaking has gone into effect earlier this week, so if your ready to take down some Covenant fools with random strangers, then this is for you. Peep after the break for the whole list of multiplayer changes, and boy, it is a big list.

Playlists

  • New Playlist: Team Snipers
  • New Playlist: Living Dead
  • Rumble Pit
  • Lineup rebalanced to offer more kill, less frill.
  • Removed Infection, Safe Havens, Race, Rally, Headhunter Pro
  • Removed “Classic” gametypes
  • Team Slayer
  • Removed all Snipers gametypes
  • Team SWAT
  • Added SWAT Magnums gametype
  • Team Objective
  • Removed 1 Flag Classic
  • Removed Headhunter Pro
  • Removed the following gametypes from Hemorrhage due to the size of the map with only 8 players:
  • Multiflag Classic
  • 1 Flag CTF
  • 1 Flag Pro
  • 1 Bomb Assault
  • Removed Oddball and Hot Potato from Boardwalk
  • Multi Team
  • Removed SWAT
  • Removed Classic gametypes
  • Removed The Cage
  • Changed weighting for Rocket Race so it does not have a 100% chance to appear in Slot 3
  • Big Team Battle
  • Removed Multiflag from Boneyard and Spire
  • Invasion
  • This playlist now offers 3 voting options
  • Firefight
  • Updated Firefight playlist gametypes to be a full set instead of 1 round. Adjusted skull progression.
  • Removed Friendly Fire
  • Score Attack
  • Removed Crash Site
  • Added Mythic Score Attack
  • You can no longer pickup other weapons in Sniper Attack

Maps

  • Zealot/Arena Zealot
  • Arena Zealot is now used for all Slayer gametypes
  • Players can no longer stand on the edge of the generators in space and crouch to shoot below the shield
  • Asylum
  • Softkill zones added to the tops of the Sniper buildings
  • Boneyard
  • Modified respawn zones for Slayer gametypes
  • Hemorrhage
  • Modified respawn zones for both bases
  • Respawn timers for all Warthogs on Hemorrhage should now be 120 seconds

Gametypes

  • CTF
  • All CTF gametypes should now have a player respawn of 10 seconds
  • All Classic CTF gametypes now feature Flag At Home To Score and Touch Return
  • Flag At Home To Score disabled for all non-Classic CTF gametypes
  • Modified Flag Return and Flag Reset times:
  • 1 Flag on Small maps use 10 second return and 30 second reset
  • All other CTF gametypes use 30 second return and 45 second reset
  • Assault
  • Assault gametypes now have a player respawn time of 10 or 15 seconds depending on the map

In addition to the Playlist changes, we’re also introducing two new Forge Map Variants with this update, Cliffhanger andAtom. Atom will be on display in the Team Slayer, Team Snipers, Team Objective, Multi Team, and Big Team Battle Playlists. Cliffhanger will be found in Rumble Pit, Team Slayer, Team SWAT, and Team Objective.