It’s been a long few months for fans of Halo: Master Chief Collection – and, after all they’ve gone through, the game finally received its most substantial and effective multiplayer update, which fixed the majority of MCC’s matchmaking issues.
Users have been plagued with issues since launch back in November last year – some can’t connect to multiple games in a row, others experience severe disconnection issues, and more can’t connect to the matchmaking portion at all. The game launched riddled with bugs and glitches, but the last few weeks have seen some remarkable progress.
343 Industries has been working hard on this update for a long time now, to the point where it’d been delayed to ensure efficiency, and 343 had considered beta testing. The update itself focuses on matchmaking and party stability, plus some individual fixes for Halo: CE and Halo 2, the patch notes of which you can read here.
According to Halo: Master Chief Collection players across the internet, the patch actually significantly improves matchmaking stability and search times, which is the largest issue plaguing those wanting to dive into multiplayer – lack of connection, or taking too long to establish one.
My post-update Halo experience
My experience since the patch has been incredibly positive.
Since launch, I have played Campaign, Campaign Playlists, Custom Games, Forge, and lately Spartan Ops, with little-to-no issues. While I have had an amazing time on each, I have longed to play the multiplayer. Before the patch, I could only play the Team Slayer playlist – even then, once in a blue moon. No other playlist would load, and I would be stuck in a never-ending search for players with whom I couldn’t connect.
After the patch, however, I have found a game every time I searched, and within a few minutes – notably, Big Team Battle, one of my all-time-favourite playlists, is actually working. Words cannot describe how fantastic this development is.
Matchmaking time is still slow, but that’s my internet’s problem; other users have logged matchmaking times of roughly 30 seconds before launching straight into a game. I have only experienced one disconnect so far, and very little latency in-game.
Overall, the patch is a leap in the right direction for 343 Industries, who seems hellbent on making up for Halo: Master Chief Collection‘s launch. At this stage, there are still a few things that 343 can add to make the game a more fluid, enjoyable experience, but I believe Halo: Master Chief collection is well on its way to becoming the game fans deserve.