Welcome to the monthly newsletter, here you will see Xbox, Halo and Community News from the past month. This will be a meatier post, enjoy .
Xbox News
** Games with Gold **
On the heels of a great start to summer, July will see the Games with Gold roster take on four newcomers – and four fantastic games, at that. As with last month, Xbox One will get two dedicated titles and two Xbox 360 titles through Xbox One Backward Compatibility, for a total of four completely free titles thanks to Games with Gold. Xbox 360 gamers, of course, also get access to the latter two titles.
On July 1, The Banner Saga 2 is launching into Games with Gold! This epic, story-based, role-playing game continues its emotional journey across a breaking world. (Available from June 1-30 on Xbox One)
** Backwards Compatible Games in June **
Since the release of Xbox One Backward Compatibility with the New Xbox One Experience it has been one of the most popular features included in the update. Xbox fans have been enjoying the opportunity to play some of their favorite Xbox 360 titles on their Xbox One, with more titles being added regularly to the list of available games.
The following is the list of games released in the past month:
- Blood Knights
- Comic Jumper
- Crystal Quest
- Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara
- Fallout: New Vegas
- I Am Alive
- Joe Danger Special Edition
- Red Faction: Battlegrounds
- Babel Rising (not avail in Xbox 360 store)
- Brain Challenge
- Flashback
- Left 4 Dead
- Portal 2
- Foul Play
- MONOPOLY PLUS
- SEGA Bass Fishing
- XCOM: Enemy Within
- Anomaly Warzone Earth
- Aqua
- Lazy Raiders
Halo 5 News
** Latest REQ Drop **
The time has finally come – Warzone Firefight – the eighth and largest content release to-date, is available now in Halo 5: Guardians! Warzone Firefight is overflowing with content that includes three new maps, two new armors, the Halo 2 Beam rifle, customization options including HCS Pro League skins, Score Attack for campaign, a new Forge canvas, a new UNSC air vehicle, the hilarious new Warzone boss and of course, the titular Warzone Firefight PvE game mode.
The Warzone Firefight content release is packed to the brim with all sorts of Halo goodness and here’s the full rundown of what’s coming in the Warzone Firefight content release:
New Game Mode – Warzone Firefight: Warzone Firefight is, by far, the biggest content release since the launch of Halo 5: Guardians! As a result of the beta in April, 343 Industries has taken player feedback to improve the game mode for launch, such as increasing the difficulty each round and adding brand new bosses and vehicles – including the hilarious (and deadly) Grunt Goblin boss and the powerful UNSC VTOL, AV-49 Wasp, deployable as a REQ vehicle in all Warzone modes and available to use in Forge. Check out Polygon and IGN to get a sneak peek at both of these new additions to Halo 5: Guardians.
New Campaign Feature – Score Attack: As detailed on Halo Waypoint, the Warzone Firefight content release will include a new way to play Halo 5: Guardians’ campaign – Score Attack! Campaign scoring makes a return to Halo 5: Guardians, enabling players to compete against their friends for points and medals in online co-op play or solo. Remember – in Score Attack, the points do matter so be sure to defeat enemies with style and flourish!
New Maps – Attack on Sanctum, Prospect and Molten: The free Warzone Firefight release brings three new maps across multiple game modes: Attack on Sanctum, Prospect and Molten. In the Attack on Sanctum map for Warzone, revisit the Covenant homeworld of Sanghelios, or take it to the rocky roads of Prospect for Warzone Assault. For Arena players, Molten will be a hot new Arena map – be sure not to fall into the stream of lava!
New Forge Canvas – Tidal: Since the release of a new super-charged Forge mode for Halo 5: Guardians in December, Forgers have been hard at work creating some of the most unique, creative and innovative maps ever seen in Halo. The Warzone Firefight release brings a fan-requested canvas, the ocean-themed Tidal. No longer will players have to struggle to find water to Forge on – it’s literally everywhere on Tidal!
New REQs Items: Warzone Firefight adds several new REQ items, including the Cinder and Cyclops armor sets, Covenant vehicle and weapon variants, HCS Pro League weapon skins and additional customization sets.
** Spartan Company: Achilles Progress **
We are making progress towards the Achilles Helmet. We have improved overall just 2%, however, we are now only 12 max commendations away from Achilles. See our closest below:
HWM Community News
** Warzone Meta **
A new section on the Newsletter, a section dedicated to the Meta and changes on the strategies that we see and use on a day-to-day basis in Warzone. To start with, we have several changes due to the last Content Update and more specifically, with the Warzone Boss Refresh.
Here a few things to note:
- Updated Bosses - Boss encounters updated across all Warzone maps
- Randomization - Some Boss spawns are now selected randomly each match
- Mythic Bosses - Mythic Bosses can now spawn in Warzone, Mythic Takedowns are worth 200 VP
- Victory Points - Point value for Legendary Bosses reduced to 100 VP
- Increased speed of REQ Energy regeneration from 35s per level to 30s per level
- Mantis Boss can no longer be splattered, and has increased Health
- Elite bosses can no longer be assassinated until their shields have dropped
- Faceplate of Knight bosses can no longer be shot off to kill instantly
- New color hierarchy for bosses in Warzone to better reflect their difficulty
- Incineration Cannons now have reduced REQ energy cost
- The default Plasma Caster now has reduced REQ energy cost
- All Gravity Hammers outside of Tartarus' Gavel now have reduced REQ energy cost
As we get acclimated to the changes, keep an eye on the Ops Help Thread for more information. Feel free to post any ideas.
For questions, check out the help thread here
On a separate topic, with the revamping on our Wednesday events, we have had some great practice write-ups from our games with great feedback by Sarge, Muffin and each Squad Lead. You can read those here
** Upcoming Events **
We have a special event coming on July 12, the HWM Fantasy Draft #3, hosted by Cinco. With the great success of the first two events, it has become a great staple of our community and there is still time to sign up. The twist on the latest event is the new captains; by popular demand will be our newest Wheelmen. They are as excited as I am to take this challenge head on and take all the glory.
Make sure to sign up here
Lastly, don’t forget to look at the calendar of events and participate on one of the regularly scheduled events, which include Criporc’s Monday, Wheelmen Wednesday and many others!
** New Blues **
Please take your time and congratulate our newest Blues on our Announcement Forums
- HWM Vos
- HWM Mzoga
- HWM Jimmy Jam
- HWM Spartan KEB
That's all for this month's newsletter
PS: Before I go, if you haven't done so already, make sure you visit our Introductions Area and say hi to our newest members!
Thank you for reading and have a great day!
See you all online soon