Halo Wars 2 Open Beta

The Start menu of the Beta

The Halo Wars 2 Open Beta is a phase of the development of Halo Wars 2, developed by Creative Assembly and published by Microsoft Studios. It was publicly announced at E3 2016. The beta ran from June 13 to June 23, 2016.

Overview

The beta opened on June 13, 2016. Players could enter it by going to the Xbox store and downloading it for free. The Beta was only available on Xbox One as the developers could not make the PC version ready for a beta release in time, leading to them doing a second beta for the PC later on.

Timetable

• June 13 to June 16: Domination was available on Ricochet. Domination is the classic RTS gameplay from Halo Wars, now with all-new units, leaders, special abilities, and the amazing depth of Halo Wars 2. Players will build their bases and armies, and battle for control of the map and supremacy on the Ark.
• June 17 to June 23: Deathmatch was available on Veteran. In Deathmatch, players will plan and build a base and army – but instead of fighting for map control, they'll fight until only one player remains standing.

Included features

The beta test featured a taste of the features from the final multiplayer experience. The features were:

Leaders James Cutter Atriox UNSC Units and Buildings Firebase Combat Center Command Center Marines Jackrabbit Gunrabbit 1-slot Minibase 2-slot Minibase Armory Fortify I, II, III Adv. Logistics I, II, III Combat Reinforcements I Jerome-092 Barracks Infantry I, II, III Hellbringers Cyclops Sniper Garage Vehicle I, II, II Warthog Gauss Warthog Wolverine Kodiak Scorpion Canister Shell Airpad Air I, II, III Hornet Nightingale Vulture Leader Power Units ODST Supply Pad Heavy Supply Pad Generator Advanced Generator Towers Tower Emplacement Watchtower Siege Turret Banished Units and Buildings Banished outpost Stronghold Citadel Fortress Grunt Squad Banished Chopper 1-slot Minibase 2-slot Minibase War council Fortify I, II, III Adv. Logistics I, II, III Combat Reinforcements I Warlord Raid camp Infantry I, II, III Suicide Grunts Hunters Elite Rangers Jump Pack Brutes Foundry Vehicle I, II, III Eklon'Dal Workshop Marauder Reaver Barukaza Workshop Locust Banished Wraith Apex Air I, II, III Engineer Banshee Shroud Blisterback Harvester Augmented Harvester Power extractor Augmented Extractor Turret Sensor Tower Shield Generator Native Units and Buildings Domination Point Aggressor Sentinel Garrison Power node

Maps Ricochet (June 13–16) Veteran (June 17–20) Gametypes Domination (June 13–16) Deathmatch (June 17–20) Playlists Halo Wars 2 Beta

Non-playable units or items

During the beta. The following units or items were only visible or usable during building, or leader power, animations.

UNSC

• Drop pod: Drops ODST with leader power.
• Condor:Drops off a UNSC Firebase
• Pelican: Drops off UNSC buildings and is usable with a leader power.
• Pelican Gunship
• Darter: If a supply pad is on the field, Darters will take Supplies to it.

Banished

• Lich: Drops of a Banished Outpost
• Spirit: Drops off Banished buildings and is usable to transport troops.
• Spirit Gunship

Differences

General

• When it comes to leader powers, the leader powers was a tree-base system where the player is granted 3 leader power points at the start and 3 again when the progress, this system was later changed to a wheel-base system and the player is now granted a single leader every time.
• Many units had different visual projectiles.
• Every unit and buildings had a red, small hp bar with no segments.

Leader powers

UNSC

• UNSC Raid I: In the beta, the infantry units capturing power points and also making the infantry mov faster were two separate leader powers. There was a leader power absent from the launch titled "Adrenaline" that was in charge of making the infantry moving fast.
• Close Air Support: Only just a visual difference, when the Pelican Gunships arrive they turn all their wings 90 degrees down.

Banished

• Eradication: The leader power can friendly fire.

Infantry

UNSC

• The Marines had an extra Assault Rifle member in their unit, when fully upgraded the unit had 6 total marines (5 Assault Rifle marines and a rocket launcher Marine).

Banished

• The Jumpback Brute had an extra member.
• The Hunters' upgrade had a fuel rod gun icon in them.
• The Warlord had a separate model that was later turned into the Chosen.

Trivia

The development name for this beta was Legdrop.

Gallery

• 

  Screen that you get when you first access the beta.

• 

  Settings screen Controller.

• 

  Settings Controls 1.

• 

  Settings Controls 2.

• 

  Settings screen tutorial video.

• 

  Find Match: Playlist info (June 13–16).

• 

  Find Match: Cutter leader info.

• 

  Find Match: Atriox leader info.

• 

  Ricochet Loading screen (June 13–16).

• 

  In-game Pause Screen

• 

  In-game Controls screen 1.

• 

  In-game Controls screen 2.

• 

  In-game Cutter Command tree.

• 

  In-game Atriox Command tree.

• 

  In-game defeat screen.

• 

  In-game post game lobby domination (June 13–16).

• 

  Pre-order screen.

• 

  Main menu: Deathmatch playlist (June 17–20).

• 

  Veteran loading screen (June 17–20).

• 

  Stats from the beta

See also

• Halo Wars 2