Huge Halo Wars 2 Patch Coming Soon, See The Patch Notes Here

A "huge" patch for Halo Wars 2 is on the way, developer 343 Industries has announced. In its latest weekly blog post, the studio said this patch, due out soon, will address "a number of the most common issues being reported by some players."

The patch fixes a bug where players could get stuck at the loading screen and another where some PC players saw a black screen when booting the game up. It also adds a welcome-sounding feature on PC that will alert players if they have old drivers.

There are a number of gameplay changes, too, including a fix for a problem where units would become unresponsive in the Blitz mode. It also clears out an issue where some units could receive a 4X speed boost, while friendly cloaked units will now appear on the minimap.

The patch does not include any balance changes for the game's units, though 343 is tracking player feedback and will adjust the game accordingly in the future.

You can see the complete patch notes below, along with a list of known issues that 343 is tracking and may address in future updates.

The patch does not have a release date yet, but the goal is to have it out ASAP, 343 said. It will arrive first on Xbox One with PC to follow because PC is a "much more complicated platform."

Additionally, 343 said Halo Wars 2's ranked playlists are scheduled to be released later this month. 343 intentionally held back ranked playlists at launch so as to be more welcoming to new players.

"We know a lot of you are very eager to participate in ranked seasons and a bit more hardcore competitive multiplayer so hang tight, it's coming soon," 343 said.

In other Halo news, 343 also revealed some major changes to Halo 5 regarding its motion sensor that will go live next week--you can read more about that here.

Halo Wars 2 Patch Notes:
Crashes/Errors/Performance

Fixed an issue where players could get stuck on the loading screen
Fixed an issue that caused some PC players to see a black screen on startup
Several "desync" fixes, one of which covered most of the tracked occurrences
Fixed a variety of PC crashes that were hardware-dependent
Fixed a Network Error on opening Blitz Packs
Fixed some AI issues in Skirmish that could cause performance hits
Fixed some performance hitches in Cooperative Campaign
Made performance improvements on various hardware
Overall multiplayer performance improvements
Fixed some crashes that could occur when loading a saved game
Fixed an issue that would cause a Campaign mission to get stuck after loading a save
Fixed a bug with joining a party and getting a network error
Added a driver check on PC to alert users to the presence of old drivers
Fixed an issue that caused players to disconnect from multiplayer games at the beginning of the match
Gameplay

Fixed issue with "Detect" on some starting units not working properly
Fixed an issue with getting the Palmer's Pure Gold Achievement
Fixed some bugs with Kodiaks in Campaign
Fixed a bug with garrisoned Snipers not getting additional stats
Fixed issue with squads getting stuck trying to garrison if another squad beats them to it
Gold medal can now be more easily attained in ‘Hold the Line'
Fixed a Cyclops and Reaver pathing bug where they would sometimes stop moving
Fixed an issue with units getting stuck in bases after being made
Fixed various skull functionality not working on some units or abilities
Fixed some cross-skull interactions between Annihilation and Pestilence
Fixed some Locust pathing issues in Blitz (even though they're driven by Grunts)
Fixed an issue with units becoming unresponsive in Blitz
Fixed an issue in Blitz with units getting a x4 speed boost in a specific situation
Fixed a conflict created by swapping d-pad functionality in Blitz
Fixed an issue with the Blisterback not recovering from damage in Blitz
Fixed behavior of Marines sometimes failing to get new targets after throwing a grenade
Friendly cloaked units now appear on the minimap
Made some adjustments to Scarab creation
Tweaks to Grunt Mob, Bloodfuel Grunts, and Bloodfuel Locust
Holo Decoy can no longer be used on Pelicans or Spirits
Fixed card level of units affected by Holo Decoy not showing over clones
Glassing beam always creates vision now in Blitz
Adjusted AI to make better use of Healing and Cloaking fields
Skirmish AI now uses Extraction and Teleport
AIs have been practicing their Domination game
Metagame

Fixed a bug where parties were always assigned to Team 1
Fixed a rare issue with users not actually getting to play the leader they selected in Blitz
“Halt” cinematic should no longer be unlocked early in theater
Fixed some daily/weekly challenge issues where they were not tracked in some playlists
PC players can no longer tab target to whisper to themselves
Phoenix Log page adjustments
Pause menu adjustments
Set default difficulty of AI to normal from easy
Cosmetic

Cleaned up some language localizations
Fixed a bug with UI textures failing to load
Fixed some minimap graphical issues
Fixed a PC issue with starting army text overlapping some UI
Fixed some issues with individual card pack opening animations
Fixed an issue with a terminal for a red barrier not having a display string
Fixed a Domination icon issue, where it would rotate briefly when being recaptured
Fixed an issue with Health bars getting stuck on the screen
Fixed some issues with particles randomly shooting across the maps for various objects
Adjusted transparency on locked skulls in the side panel
Radial menu has been cleaned up a bit
Added extra visual indicator to aid players when they are selecting cards
Made some enhancements to the leader selection carousel
Audio

Fixed an issue with the announcer constantly reporting Zone B is contested when it's not
Fixed an issue with the Condor being able to be heard through fog of war
Fixed incorrect audio playing on some units when damaged
Fixed some issues with units calling out the wrong attackers
Fixed an issue with using right trigger or mouse wheel would cause audio spam
Added audio to Plasma Mines deploy
Added a variety of sound effects, and adjusted timing on some existing ones
Last, But Not Least

Under-the-hood preparation for future ranked multiplayer
Known Issues

We are still working on a fix for a known issue where a game can sometimes freeze or result in a very low frame rate
Investigating some reports of performance issues with cinematics
Investigating reports of the mini-map occasionally being unresponsive on PC
Occasional infinite loading screen when loading into consecutive missions in co-op
Game can sometimes hang indefinitely when restarting a mission
Unit balance feedback and assessment is ongoing by the design team