Halo Waypoint

Halo Waypoint
Developer(s):	Certain Affinity and 343 Industries
Publisher(s):	Microsoft Studios
Platform(s):	Website; Xbox 360 (obsolete); Mobile devices
Release date(s):	September 26 2009 (Website); November 5, 2009 (Xbox 360); December 2011 (Mobile) September 29, 2021 (Mobile re-launch)
Rating(s):	ESRB: Mature (M) for Blood and Gore, Language, Violence; CERO: (C) Ages 15 & up; PEGI: 16+ (Europe only)

Were you looking for Waypoint, a UNSC news source, or Navigation point, also called "waypoint"?

Halo Waypoint is the official online portal for all Halo-related content. It showcases Halo news, updates, lore, stats, and other related Halo materials.

Overview[edit]

Halo Waypoint's official banner.

Halo Waypoint provides users with various kinds of Halo information, including information on members of the Halo community, various machinima videos and gameplay strategies and tutorials. It also allows players to access their own gameplay-related data. Most major announcements regarding the Halo series are also posted at Waypoint.

Versions[edit]

Waypoint is accessible online at halowaypoint.com as the primary Halo website.^[1]
A mobile version of Halo Waypoint was released for the Windows Phone 7 (and later 8), iOS, and Android platforms for free, though it lacked a number of features found on the web and Xbox versions. An additional feature called ATLAS was released in December 2011 which showed detailed diagrams of Halo: Reach multiplayer maps and near real time game player and weapon location stats in Matchmaking and Custom Games. ATLAS was free on the Windows Phone 7 and available for $4.99 on iOS and Android.^[2] 343 Industries discontinued support for the Waypoint the original mobile apps on August 1, 2014.^[3]
On September 29, 2021, a new version of the app was released on iOS and Android.

Succession & Restoration[edit]

The Halo Channel was a next-generation iteration of the Waypoint concept and is available on the Xbox One and Windows 8.1.^[4] The Halo Waypoint website received a visual and organizational overhaul on October 14, 2014 in preparation for the release of the Halo Channel and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.^[5]

Following the release of The Master Chief Collection on PC the game's terminals , which previously could only be viewed through the Halo Channel, were incorporated into the game itself. The Halo Channel ceased to be updated, its various other functions were absorbed back into the web and mobile versions of Halo Waypoint, and as such, Halo Channel was rendered obsolete.

History[edit]

On July 23, 2009 Halo Waypoint was announced as an Xbox 360 application that would feature several Halo Legends videos.^[6]

The Halo Waypoint website launched September 2009. The site provided basic information on the Halo franchise detailing the games, and also supplied weekly updates involving the Halo Community, but it lacked the stat tracking and achievement records the subsequently released console app featured.^[7] Following this, many marketing sites for Halo, including the Halo Wars Launch Site.

On October 19, 2009 the Xbox 360 Halo Waypoint was first shown in a preview video, and on October 30 it was available to Xbox Preview members.^[8]

On November 5, 2009 the Halo Waypoint app on Xbox 360 was publicly released.

On August 4, 2010 a Beta forum was added to the website which allowed communication between Halo fans on the site. That same day, many marketing sites for previously released Halo media, such as the Halo Wars Launch Site, were removed and redirected to the Halo Waypoint site instead. On December 15, 2010, the Halowars.com forums went offline and were subsequently merged with the Halo Waypoint forums.^[9]

On September 14, 2010 the website was redesigned. This redesign removed the timeline feature and previously found on the site, and a footer at the bottom of the page that changed every time the page refreshed.

On February 26, 2011 a Beta stat tracker was added for Halo: Reach on the forums.

On September 8, 2011 a Gamma forum was created for the testing features that was going to be used in the final build of the forums. This subsequently lead to the Beta forum ending and leading to the final build of the forum to be completed.

On March 31, 2012 Halo Waypoint officially took over all record-keeping responsibilities from Bungie.net.

On October 13, 2014, the web version of Waypoint received a massive overhaul, which included the removal of some of the elements found on the site since its launch. The Xbox 360 version did not receive such an update, and as such these features could still be found there.

In 2021, in preparation of the launch of Halo Infinite, Waypoint once again received a visual and technical overhaul. Waypoint received support for Halo Infinite, including new ways to engage with the game's system from the Waypoint website and the mobile app.^[10]

On January 13, 2022, all Xbox 360 Halo online services were shut down, and with them the Xbox 360 version of Halo Waypoint.^[11]^[12]

Website Content[edit]

Content on Halo Waypoint is divided into seven main categories: Games, News, Esports, Community (including Insider program and Forums), Support, and Gear (formerly Shop/Store). There is also a profile section for the user to explore their own game progress, stats, customization, and Waypoint activity.

Games[edit]

Main article: Archive:Halo Waypoint/2009 to 2014/Games

Players can find information for each and every Halo game, organized by title. The web version displays only limited galleries as well as links to service records and related forums.

The Xbox 360 version featured extensive galleries, as well as access to trailers and videos.

News[edit]

News gives users info on the current Halo news, such as the Halo Community Update, info on the newest game released, and so on.

Esports[edit]

Esports gives users info on Halo Esports news that is happening.

Community[edit]

The main page displays recent articles and blog posts, as well as Waypoint's Twitter and YouTube feeds. Additional links provide easy access to the newsfeed, eSports information, the Halo Community Feedback Program, Spartan Companies, and Waypoint forums.

Forums[edit]

An easy menu directs players to the Waypoint forums where they can discuss Halo media and content with other players. The forums originally featured several ranks and badges which could be unlocked. In 2021 the ranks were discontinued, and the badges restructured.

Gear[edit]

The Gear link redirects to the Xbox Gear Shop which features physical items for sale including clothing, action figures, books and more.

Website Profile[edit]

In the a player's profile allows them to view their basic Halo stats, recent forum activity, and Waypoint Service Awards. Players can view their basic stats for every nearly Halo FPS game from Halo 2 Vista through Halo Infinite . The Halo Infinite, Halo: MCC, Halo 5: Guardians and Halo: Fireteam Raven service records also feature links to the more extensive stats pages.

Halo Infinite service record[edit]

The Halo Infinite service records allows users to interact with their battle passes, view challenge progression and their current ultimate reward, purchase items and credits from the store page, and view multiplayer statistics. Statistics included are total multiplayer games played, total battle pass ranks, total multiplayer kills, time played, performance for last 20 games, as well as other features. On the Halo Waypoint mobile app, customization for spartans is also available.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection service record[edit]

The MCC service record denotes MCC rank, overall statistics, rewards unlocks for the most recent season, multiplayer statistics by game, playlist ranks, information on the player's 20 most recent multiplayer matches, and campaign progress including collectibles (terminals, skulls, audio logs), and campaign high scores and fastest times for each level both solo and co-op.

Halo 5: Guardians service record[edit]

The player's comprehensive Halo 5: Guardians includes detailed Arena, Warzone and campaign stats, game history, commendations, medals, Requisitions and achievements.

Halo: Fireteam Raven service record[edit]

The Halo: Fireteam Raven service record allows users to connect their Xbox accounts to a Fireteam Raven Arcade cabinet, allowing users to save their progress to their accounts. It also allows players to see stats for levels they complete and see a global score leaderboard.

Xbox 360 & Windows Vista games[edit]

Waypoint also included only the most basic statistics pages for Halo FPS games originally released on the Xbox 360 (Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, Halo: Reach, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 4) as well as Halo 2 for Windows Vista. Statistics displayed include: games played, kills, kill-death ratio, and achievements unlocked.

Obsolete and Discontinued[edit]

The following features were found on previous versions of Halo Waypoint.

Xbox 360 version[edit]

The Xbox 360 version of Halo Waypoint was co-developed by Certain Affinity and 343 Industries, and ended up leading to the cancellation of an unnamed Halo game being pitched by Certain Affinity at the time.^[13]^[14] It was released by 343 Industries as part of the Xbox Fall Update on November 5, 2009. In May 2012 Halo Waypoint was updated to include Kinect compatibility. The Xbox 360 version was last updated with the release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection in 2014; for the next seven years the application was still accessible, though the information was no longer current.

On January 13, 2022, all Xbox 360 Halo online services were shut down, and as a result the Xbox 360 version of Halo Waypoint is now completely inaccessible.^[11]^[12]

Universe[edit]

"Universe" was a section of the Halo Waypoint website which included Universe articles from after 2014. Any articles written before 2014 could only be viewed on Halo Waypoint on Xbox 360 until January 2022, when they became completely inaccessible.

From 2014 to 2021, the web version was updated, current, and continually expanding. Categories were Characters, Species, Factions, Weapons, Vehicles, Tech, Locations, and ONI Files (Conversations From the Universe, Cold Storage Reports, Eleventh Hour reports, Halo 3 Terminals, OPERATION: Red Flag/ 93893, PoA Tech Communications, Reach Data Drops). Information was presented in text articles with accompanying images.

When Halo Waypoint was updated for the release of Halo Infinite, the Universe section was removed.

Profile[edit]

In the web version, a player's profile allowed them to write a brief bio, view their recent forum activity, and their Waypoint badges. In 2021, the forum activity was moved to the Forums section and Waypoint badges were replaced by Service Awards.

A drop-down menu provided links to the service record for each game from Halo 2 Vista through Halo 5: Guardians. Until September 2021, the Halo Wars, Halo: Reach and Halo 4 service records also featured links to the more extensive stats pages found on Waypoint and HaloWars.com prior to the October 2014 overhaul. Career Milestones were first replaced by a simple total of the Gamerscore unlocked across all Halo Games with achievements (except Halo 2 Vista) which itself was completely removed in September 2021.

Halo: Spartan Strike service record[edit]

The player's Spartan Strike service record included basic statistics, mission progress and high scores, and achievements unlocked. Discontinued September 2021.

Halo: Spartan Assault service record[edit]

The player's Spartan Assault service record included basic statistics, mission progress and high scores, and achievements unlocked. Discontinued September 2021.

Halo 4 service record[edit]

The Halo 4 service record displayed the basic information of the player's Halo 4 career including: Completed Specializations, Player Since, Last Played, Total Playtime, Spartan Points, Challenges Completed, Campaign Completion, Spartan Ops Completion, total Commendation progress, number of achievements unlocked, the four Top Medals earned, games played by mode (campaign, Spartan Ops, War Games, and Custom War Games), most used weapon, and most played variant.

Complete Halo 4 statistics could be found in the Halo 4 Stats web app. Players could view detailed information regarding their play in campaign, custom and matchmaking War Games, and Spartan Ops. This included statistics, game history and progress towards current Challenges, as well as specific Achievements and Specializations progress. Players could also view Domain Terminal and Spartan Ops videos.

Players could view all of the same information for everyone on their Friends list, or simply compare their friend's basic stats to their own. In the Xbox 360 version, this feature was known as "Barracks".

Discontinued September 2021.

Halo: Anniversary service record[edit]

The Anniversary service record which outlined basic campaign progress on each level and difficulty. The record displayed achievement progress, and denoted the number of Terminals unlocked, Skulls collected, and objects scanned in the library Library. The terminal videos could only be viewed on the Xbox 360 version, which could be viewed by pressing "X" while in the main menu or by manually accessing the "Classified" menu. Discontinued September 2021.

Halo: Reach Stats[edit]

The Halo: Reach service record outlined a player's Service Record, Stats (including weapons stats), Game History, and Challenges. The PC version of Waypoint also allowed players to view Medals and Commendations, File Share, File Sets, Recent Screenshots, Xbox Downloads and Tag History. Bungie.net medals did not appear on Halo Waypoint.^{[Note 1]} Originally, players could view and compare their detailed Reach stats with their friends' in the web version. This was discontinued in 2014, however on the Xbox 360 version under Halo: Reach Service Record players could compare their basic Reach stats using "Friend Compare" and their general career stats using "Player Card Compare".

The service record features an image of the player's in-game Spartan armor. On August 1, 2014, this image ceased to be updated.^[3] The service record itself was discontinued in September 2021.

Xbox 360 exclusive features[edit]

Most of the following features were once found on the web version of Waypoint. From 2014-2022 they could still be viewed on the Xbox 360 version. Following the shutdown of Xbox 360 Halo online services on January 13, 2022, they are now completely inaccessible and cannot be viewed at all.

Universe[edit]

Found in the main menu was a list of Universe entries on places, people, vehicles, and so on. These specific entries were not the same as the ones on the website.

Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn[edit]

Found in the main menu, "Forward Unto Dawn" was available to players who have either paid for access to Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn or purchased the Halo 4 Limited Edition. Players could view exclusive photo galleries and watch the complete film, bonus videos, and character interviews.

Halo 4 Intel[edit]

Main article: Halo 4 Interactive Guide

Previously known as the Halo 4 Interactive Guide on the Website. Players could obtain detailed information about Halo 4 in this guide. Information was organized in the following subheadings: Basics, Story, Enemies, War Games, Weapons, Vehicles, and Armor.

Waypoint career[edit]

The player's Waypoint Career recorded a player's progress through the entire Halo series. The Waypoint Career displayed Career Milestones, Awards, and basic individual stats summaries for all eight games, including Halo 2 Vista.

Career milestones[edit]

Main article: Career milestones

Milestones were achieved as a player's Halo gamerscore increased. Only Xbox 360, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8 achievements contributed to career milestones. Halo 2 for Windows Vista and Xbox One achievements were not supported. The original cap of forty milestones at launch was increased incrementally with the release of additional games and achievements. The number was raised to its final level, 100, on July 15, 2013.

Awards[edit]

Halo Awards were medals that a player could earn by unlocking related achievements in the Halo games; essentially, they were groupings of achievements. As an example, the Vehicle Specialist award was unlocked after completing several vehicle-related achievements. Awards were also given in tiers; the more achievements a player unlocked, the higher the tier of their award would become. (For example, completing "extra" vehicle-related achievements would increase the Vehicle Specialist award's tier.) Tiers were indicated by the number of lines at the top of the awards, just beneath the ribbon. Locked awards appeared silver; once a player has reached a high enough tier, the awards became gold. Only achievements on the Xbox 360 were listed on Waypoint, and as such Halo 2 Vista and Xbox One achievements were not included. Halo 4 achievements and Halo: Spartan Assault were only added to the Joint Service, Elite award.

Achievements[edit]

The Xbox 360 version of Waypoint allowed players to view every Halo achievement from every Halo game released on the Xbox 360, as well as the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions of Halo: Spartan Assault. The achievements could be viewed from their own record in the Waypoint Career menu. Halo 2 Vista and Xbox One achievements were not included.

The web version of Waypoint allowed players to view these same achievements, which were instead displayed in their respective service records.

Classified[edit]

Main article: Halo Waypoint Classified

Terminals and other unlockables were recorded under Classified. There were five separate Data Sets: Alpha Halo Archive, Requiem Archive I, Requiem Archive II, Section 3 Archive, and Draetheus V Archive. These were found though numerous ways, most notably through the Section 3 ARG.

Avatar Awards[edit]

Several avatar awards) could be unlocked through the Xbox 360 version of Waypoint. To unlock an Award, the player had to complete a specific task in one of the Halo games and then open Halo Waypoint on their Xbox 360 while signed in on their Xbox Live profile. There are 10 avatar items which could be unlocked and vary from a Monitor prop to armor variants such as ODST helmets.^[15]

List of avatar awards[edit]

Halo Waypoint Monitor: Log In to Halo Waypoint for the first time. An Avatar 'prop' which adds an idle animation to the player's Avatar in which their character summons a Forerunner Monitor who bobs and hovers around them playfully.
Rookie Helmet: Unlocked Halo 3: ODST's Campaign Complete Achievement (Any difficulty). A 'hat' for Avatars, made in the image of the helmet worn by the Rookie.
ODST Armor: Unlock Halo 3: ODST's Good Samaritan Achievement. A costume for Avatars which dresses them up in a recreation of the combat armor worn by Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in Halo 3: ODST.
Black ODST Shirt: Unlock Halo 3: ODST's Tourist Achievement.
ODST Hoodie: Unlock Halo 3: ODST's Dark Times Achievement.
Recon Helmet/Dare's Helmet: Unlock Halo 3: ODST's Vidmaster: Endure Achievement. Unlocks a 'hat' for Avatars, made in the image of the famous Recon helmet. Referred to as "Dare's helmet" when worn by female Avatars and as "Recon" for male Avatars.
EVA Helmet: Achieve Milestone level 50 in Halo Waypoint. Comes in red or blue color schemes.
Halo: Reach Beta Hoodie: Participated in the Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta. A green hooded sweatshirt for Avatars with "Reach Beta Tester" written on the front and the Noble Team emblem on one shoulder.
Halo 4 - RAIDER Helmet: Unlock all technical specs for the RAIDER Spartan-IV armor variant.
Halo 4 - Raider DSTT Helmet: Unlock all technical specs for the Raider DSTT Spartan-IV armor variant.

Unlockable Reach Armor[edit]

Players could also unlock seven armor pieces for Halo: Reach in a similar manner to the avatar awards. These pieces could only be viewed on the Xbox 360 version of Waypoint under the Halo: Reach Service Record. The following were unlockable in-game content:^[16]^[17]

Military Police (Base): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 15 and unlock The Soldier We Needed You To Be achievement from Halo: Reach.
Military Police (CBRN/HU/RS): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 20, unlock the Pink and Deadly achievement from Halo 3: ODST and the Military Police (Base) Helmet.
Military Police (HU/RS/CNM): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 25, unlock the Fear the Pink Mist achievement from Halo 3, the A Spoonful of Blamite achievement from Halo: Reach and the Military Police (CBRN/HU/RS) Helmet.
CQB (Base): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 20 and unlock the Folks Need Heroes... achievement from Halo: Reach.
CQB (HU/RS/CNM): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 25, unlock the Campaign Complete: Heroic achievement from Halo 3: ODST and the CQB (Base) Helmet.
CQB (UA/HUL): Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 30, unlock the Campaign Complete: Legendary achievement from Halo 3, the Gods Must Be Strong achievement from Halo: Reach and the CQB (HU/RS/CNM) Helmet.
UA/Base Security [W]: Reach Waypoint Career Milestone 30 and unlock the Yes, Sensei achievement from Halo: Reach.

Trivia[edit]

In the Halo universe, Waypoint is a major news source and interstellar mail delivery system.^[18] This is most likely a reference to Halo Waypoint being the official source of news on the Halo universe.
On Xbox 360, Waypoint was considered a game as this was the only option available when it was released (downloadable apps were not introduced until more than 2 years later). The "game" bears an ESRB rating of M for "Blood and Gore", "Language" and "Violence".

Gallery[edit]

Logos, Icons and Screenshots[edit]

Halo Waypoint's first cover, 2009-2010.
Halo Waypoint's second cover, 2010-2011.
Halo Waypoint's third cover, 2011-2012.
Halo Waypoint's original official banner, 2009-2010.
Halo Waypoint's official banner, 2010-2012.
Waypoint's first title screen 2009-2010.
Waypoint's title screen 2011-2012.
Waypoint's title screen 2012–2022.
Halo Waypoint mobile app icon for Android and iOS 2011-2014.
Halo Waypoint mobile app icon for Android and iOS 2021-present.
Halo Waypoint mobile app for Windows Mobile.
Halo Waypoint's old Blog Background's info from 2011.
Background seen while viewing pages in the Halo 4 Stats portion of Halo Waypoint.com
Old version of the site.
One of the Milestones a user could unlock.
Classified section "Section 3 Archive" image.
Classified section "Requiem Archive" image.
Classified section "Requiem Archive 2" image.