Throughout its lifespan, Halo Wars was updated with a number of Title Updates to fix game balance issues, patch bugs and make other quality-of-life improvements. The updates were released as free parts of the game's downloadable content throughout 2009 and 2010. Title Updates 1-4 were developed and released by Robot Entertainment due to the closure of Halo Wars developers Ensemble Studios, while Update 5 was developed by 343 Industries.
Title Update 2
Title Update 2 was released on May 12, 2009.[1] Note that the release of the Strategic Options Pack was considered Title Update 1.
General
- Flaming Warthog and Honor Guard Wraith skins now available in multiplayer to players who have those skulls.
- The option to show Unit Hit Point bars above units is now available.
Balance
- The number of points to reach all ranks has been reduced. General now requires 2.4 million, down from 3.2 million, and other ranks have been reduced accordingly.
- The max number of points you can get in a single match has been capped.
- The Prophet of Regret's land speed is now reduced to match other leaders.
- Vampire Tech Upgrades now increase damage done by 15% in addition to their other effects.
- Anders Cryo Bomb Upgrades now cost 50% more supplies.
- Anders Hawk Upgrade now costs 50% more supplies.
Bug Fixes
- Multiplayer Matchmaking and Connection improvements have been put in. Players should find that their 2v2 and 3v3 teams no longer split up.
- 'Ready for the Sequel' Achievement should now be rewarded properly.
- Units on Exile and Crevice should find it easier to traverse the map.
Title Update 3
Title Update 3 was released on July 17, 2009.[2]
Balance Changes
- UNSC Warthogs Gauss cannon damage against tanks and other heavily armored vehicles reduced by 25%
- UNSC Warthogs build time increased by 3 seconds to 25 seconds
- Anders research time bonus decreased to 25% from 50%. Her Research cost bonus remains unchanged at 50%
- Covenant and UNSC turrets have 5% increased health and 5% increased damage
- UNSC Elephants have a 20% more health
- Grenade damage type now has 25% additonal damage against Warthogs and other medium armor ground vehicles.
- Recycle basic cost return fixed to be 50% for constructed buildings.
- Locked down bases when unlocked will now release units inside very quickly, which means that when under attack a player can now build a fighting force while locked down and then release them much more quickly than before
- UNSC Leader powers disabled at the start of Reinforcement Matches
- Players no longer receive points for team killing.
- Self Destructing/Recycling buildings now gives points to opponents
Bug Fixes
- Players should now find it much easier to play System Link games
- Fixed Covenant Shield Generator Exploit
- Invisible Units should now have invisible health bars
- Players will no longer be able to scout opposing bases by using the area-select tool
Title Update 4
Title Update 4 was released on December 18, 2009.[3]
Balance
- Grunts now do more damage to air units
- The Scarab now has 25% more health and does 25% more damage
- Gremlins now requires 2 reactors to be built
- The Arbiter now takes 25% more damage while raging
- Hunters now focus their Assault Beam much faster
- Brute Chopper is more effective vs. air
Bug Fixes
- The Cryo/Reactor Glitch has been fixed
- The Multiplayer Lobby should now work better for people with misaligned controllers
- Y-Abilities should no longer have their cooldowns reset erroneously
- Profiles that had problems accruing points in Multiplayer should now be able to gain points properly
While not listed in the official patch notes above, TU4 also brought additional changes to the Halo Wars multiplayer rank system.[4]
Title Update 5
Title Update 5 was developed by 343 Industries following the the decision to close halowars.com and fold its services into Halo Waypoint.[5] The patch was originally intended to be released on December 15, 2010, though was delayed and later released on March 23, 2011.[6]
Patch notes
- Fix the Theater issues that are preventing some players from viewing some cutscenes
- Some backend work to prepare the game for disconnecting from HaloWars.com. This was a fairly significant amount of work, as we wanted to be sure that multiplayer for the game still functioned properly without HaloWars.com and other backend support.
Sources
- ^ Official Halo Wars Community Site, Halo Wars Title Update #2 Patch Notes Discussion (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2017) [archive]
- ^ Official Halo Wars Community Site, Halo Wars Title Update #3 to be released July 17 (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2017) [archive]
- ^ Official Halo Wars Community Site, Halo Wars Title Update 4 to be released 12/18 (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2017) [archive]
- ^ Official Halo Wars Community Site, New Halo Wars Rank Numbers (General now 960,000 Points) (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2017) [archive]
- ^ Official Halo Wars Community Site, Halo Waypoint Transition (Please Read) (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2017) [archive]
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Halo Wars Title Update Information: "The udpate went live today in the early AM hours. Happy to hear you got it ok!" - Kiki Wolfkill (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]